Coming Soon -- Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology

Tales from Indies

an anthology

by Smashwords Forum Writers*

Anticipated Publication Date: Monday, November 16, 2015
Free with Smashwords Coupon BU68H

Just in time for the Holidays. This free collection of eleven pieces, with an international flavor, includes short stories, an essay and chapters from completed works with themes ranging from science-fiction, fantasy, historical retellings, to paranormal romance.

Tales from Indies writers are: Bret Allen, John Chapman, Shelia Chapman, Şerban Valentin Constantin Enache, Julie Harris, Kell Inkston, Alan James, Ian Kotze, Jennifer R. Povey, Ria Stone, and Bonnie Turner.

New and experienced writers, join Smashwords Forum to explore and meet other writers of all ages and genres as well to gain useful tips about formatting, writing, promotion, cover art design, coding, and more.

*The Smashwords Forum is an independent website not affiliated with Smashwords.

Smashwords Forum: http://smashwords-forum.proboards.com

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com

Sample Genres - Courtesy of Smashwords

Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology 2015 -- Seeking Submissions

Let's Thank Johannes Gutenberg for Desktop Publishing, eBooks & more

In my opinion, the name of Johannes Gutenberg is probably as well known as Albert Einstein.

Gutenberg revolutionized the printing process by creating moveable type around 1439 and his methods were used in the printing industry until the prototype Linotype hot-metal typesetting machine was introduced in 1886. (Note: the Linotype inventor, Ottmar Mergenthaler, is less well-known than Gutenberg.)

The Linotype typesetting machine revolutionized and dominated the print industry until the invention of phototypesetting around the 1940s.

You can learn about the history of the Linotype hot-metal typesetting machine in the marvelous movie: Linotype Film at http://www.linotypefilm.com.

Learn about the development of phototypesetting in Hot Metal to Cold Type, a film in the online history of the printed word at PrintngFilms.com

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a film history of The Compugraphic 7500 phototypesetting machine which was one of several phototypesetting machines popular with small newspapers and graphic shops in the 1970s.

Compugraphic introduced a modular typesetting unit just as personal desktop computers were being introduced by Apple and IBM in the 1980s. Eventually, typesetting and some printing functions became the mainstay of personal computers.

More links:

History of Compugraphic

http://www.prepressure.com/prepress/history/events-1970-1979

Pre-Order Mocktails

At the moment, I use Smashwords more than other online publishing venues but I am still a novice at this game of epublishing.

So, I experiment a lot.

Smashwords has a pre-order option. You follow Smashwords' publishing guidelines like usual but you select a date in the future that the eBook will be available.

I choose to try the pre-order option when I published Mocktails because I felt it gave me time to work out any kinks in the formatting. I choose to create my own .epub because Mocktails has an image on almost every page, so keeping the page format was important.

Plus, using the pre-order option gives me more time to market Mocktails. You can offer a special pre-order price and then once the work is available, you can change the price.

So, Mocktails is available to sample and to buy at the pre-order price of .99¢ US. Once it is published on September 16, 2015, the price will be $1.99 US

Mocktails are drinks that resemble popular cocktails like a: Bloody Mary, Cosmopolitan, Golden Dream, Manhattan, Margarita, Piña Colada, Sombrero, Tequila Sunrise, and more, except there is no alcohol in a Mocktail.

As a former bar maid, I fell in love with the cocktail glassware, fancy garnishes and flourishes like salting the glass rims. The alcohol held less attraction. That is why I love Mocktails.

In the tradition of Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook, many of these Mocktail recipes are a bit frugal and do not require fancy equipment or exotic ingredients.

Enjoy a Cosmopolite, Juanita, Mock Champagne, Piña Loca, Sunset Cooler, Stone Cold Sober, Taíno Bay, Virgin Mary, & more.

Have fun making your own Mocktails.

Consider investing in one or two fancy glasses. A beautiful glass adds elegance, while garnishes add color, flavor and fun to these Mocktails.

Enjoy making over 15 Mocktail recipes in this booklet.

Mocktails, the eBook, is available on

Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and other online retail outlets.

Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology 2015

Smashwords Forum (SWF) writers are planning to publish an anthology of short stories and Chapters from existing works in 2015.

The anthology will be published on Smashwords for free (but there is some discussion on pricing it at .99 and giving the money to charity.)

We are doing this to promote SWF writers. It will be used as a marketing tool by the participating authors to reach a wider audience.

But, whether we publish or not will depend on how many writers participate.

If you are a self-published author and have published on Smashwords, consider joining Smashwords Forum. You will meet a lot of talented people with lots of great ideas. You can learn from their experience about topics like: how to market your work, how to avoid various self-publishing problems, and more.

Becoming a member of SWF is free.

Surprise! People Like My "Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook" (RKFNC) eCookbook

Smashwords has added a new feature: A Daily Sales Report.

My novel El Sueño de Gina has had low sales but after spending months promoting the POD, I went over to Smashwords to see how things were going.



That's when I discovered the Daily Sales Report. To my surprise, it was RKFNC that had some sales from some surprising places:  Sony, Apple, PageFounder, Diesel and the big surprise was Barnes and Noble.

It was such great fun creating the cookbook that I am working on a second edition.




As I have said before, I give Ted Summerfield (The Backward Approach to eBook Success) credit for the idea of creating an eCookbook as a way to promote my novel.

Ted also created Smashwords Forum for Smashwords authors. It's a great place to find out how to publish on Smashwords and some of the formatting and marketing issues SW authors have encountered and much more.

Choosing a Book Cover Designer

Ok, you've written the best story you could. Maybe you had some beta-readers give you feedback. Maybe you got it professionally edited. Now, you feel you are ready to publish your story but you need a cover.

Many say that a great book cover gets you the attention you deserve. I agree, I do think a professional-looking book cover is important.

The question is do you contract the services of a Book Cover designer or DIY (Do it Yourself). Obviously, that is up to you. Research your options. Below are some resources.

Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, an online publishing service, offers a free Style Guide which has information on creating a quality book cover and steps to get a list of book cover deigners to find an artist to help you.

Besides writing my novelette which included a lot of research on various topics, I had to pick a book cover designer from dozens of possibilities and it was a learning experience.

I searched online. I used Mark Coker's artist list.

After interacting with several book cover designers, I learned: designers have different styles, different prices and to my mind, different customer service skills. Just looking at their website can tell you alot about the deisgner, not only about their style but about their customer service approach.

Look at a few book cover designer's websites to get an idea of the range of styles.

Look at the book cover artists samples and if possible testimonials.

It is helpful if you find some book covers you like, so you can communicate with the book cover artists. You may need to learn some new terminology about typefaces, the type and size of image files you will need not just for your ebook cover but for your website and more. If you are creating a cover for a POD, you will need back cover information like a book summary, reviewer quotes, and a spot for a barcode.

Once you find a few book cover designers you like, contact them, usually through email. Look at their response to see if they have taken the time to be clear about their turnaround times, costs, number of proofs and more.

I found several book cover designers' replies were off-putting. One designer did not even have an email, you had to use a contact form. I felt that made the artist inaccessible. Also, I would not use a designer who did not offer multiple forms of contact including a mailing address.

Method of payment for services is another thing to consider. When I was looking for a book cover designer, my only payment method was by check and that did not work for some designers.

Price was a factor because I had limited funds. Plus, some artists' style did not suit my story.

But, I got lucky, my book cover designer and I worked well together. I think Jolenene Naylor produced great covers for Gina's Dream/El Sueño de Gina. I am not an artist but Jolenene made it fun letting me select various elements for the cover.

Unfortunately, I do not think Jolenene is taking any more clients, but you can check her site for updates.

For my second book, Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook, I did it all myself, including making a good looking book cover using Apple's Pages software. One article by Michael Canfield helped me make the cover.

Also, encouragement from Ted Summerfield's free marketing guide, The Backward Approach to EBook Success helped me in my struggles to make my own book cover.

I don't want to make it sound easy. For me, it wasn't. Lots of research and countless attempts trying a wide variety of approaches took a lot of time and effort but the result was worth it.

Note: The RKFNC cover artwork is from Wikipedia Commons and I followed the credit guidelines.

Updated 1/15/2015

WorldCons - World Science Fiction Conventions and more

Every year since about 1939, science fiction fans, writers, artists and more gather to honor some of science fiction's favorite authors and artists.

If you are an author of science fiction, going to a WorldCon is a great experience and a marvelous opportunity to promote your works.

In 2015, the World Science Fiction Convention will be held in Spokane, Washington, USA from August 19-23, 2015. The Sasquan SF WorldCon is the 73rd SF world convention (http://sasquan.org/)

It is at the world convention that the city for the world SF convention to be held two years out is selected. So, at Sasquan, the city for the 2017 WorldCon will be selected. Helsinki, Nippon, Montreal and Washington, DC are the candidate cities.

Kansas City, MO is the site for the 2016 WorldCon to be held from August 17-21, 2016. For more information, go to: http://kcin2016.org/

For more information on WorldCons, go to: http://worldcon.org/.

There are many other science fiction conventions around the world. They are usually smaller and more focused on local authors or particular genres like Star Trek or fantasies. See this site for listings: http://upcomingcons.com/science-fiction-conventions.

As an author, you have many promotional opportunities. These are just some of the opportunities: participate in a panel discussion, rent a table in the Dealers Room to sell your books and such, leave flyers on the various information tables, and more. But, you need to plan in advance and you need to be invited to participate in the panels.

eBook Orchard -- A New Online Bookstore

Recent controversies, such as the battle between Amazon and Hachette Books, have illuminated that royalties for the sale of an author's works are in a great deal of flux, often to the determent of the author's income.

Ted Summerfield, an author and founder of Smashwords Forum has developed a new online bookstore, eBook Orchard, for authors, to give authors more control over the sale of their works.

Blog Post
http://punzhupuzzles.wordpress.com/2014/12/20/an-ebook-store-by-authors-for-authors/

Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/ebookorchard

Twitter
@EbookOrchard

As Ted notes on his blog, eBook Orchard is in its testing phase.

Happy New Year !!! El Sueño de Gina is officially published by The Write Place!

Happy New Year 2015!!!

I am bringing in the New Year with a Dual Book in English and Spanish, Gina's Dream/El Sueño de Gina. Published by The Write Place (http://www.thewriteplace.biz/bookstore/product/56-gina-s-dream-el-sueno-de-gina).

It has been a pleasure working with The Write Place. They are a full-service publishing house. The staff are knowledgeable, talented and responsive to author inquiries and suggestions.

From now until January 8, 2015

Gina's Dream/El Sueño de Gina is 30% off in print or ebook formats.

In Gina’s Dream, Kit Brennan, SETA’s (Space Exploration Through Astronomy) Assistant Director, meets an unusual woman at a convention. She claims she is an alien. What is he to believe? What is he to do?

Kit’s co-worker sees her as a threat, first to his friend and then to humans. The co-worker seeks to discover Gina’s secrets to stop her.

Gina has broken the emissaries’ primary rule by telling Kit who she is. But, she is here to defend her world from a future invasion by humans. As Gina’s safety is threatened, what will she do to defend herself?

Caught in the middle between his co-worker’s fears and her defense, Kit has few choices but to let Gina follow her dream.

What would you do if you met an alien?

El Sueño de Gina

Traductor, Ileana Silva

En El Sueño de Gina, Kit Brennan, asistente del director de SETA, se encuentra con una mujer excepcional en una convención. Ella dice que es un extraterrestre. ¿Qué es lo que creer? ¿Qué ha de hacer?

Un compañero de trabajo del Kit la ve como una amenaza, primero a su amigo y luego a los humanos. El compañero de trabajo trata de descubrir los secretos de Gina para detenerla.

Mientras tanto, Gina ha infringido la regla principal de los emisarios diciéndoles Kit quién es. Pero ella está aquí para defender su mundo de una futura invasión por los seres humanos. Como se ve amenazada la seguridad de Gina, ¿qué va a hacer para defenderse?

Atrapados entre temores a su compañero de trabajo y la defensa de Gina, Kit tiene pocas opciones pero para dejarla seguir su sueño.

¿Qué harías si te encontraste un extraterrestre?

(PR crédito: Google Traducir)

~~~~~

Gina’s Dream began as an idea after reading several research papers, in the early 1990s, where basic life functions were being manipulated for singular purposes without regard for the universe’s ecosystem.

Several characteristics run through Ria’s stories. Characters confront moral dilemmas with honesty, truth, fairness, self-responsibility, compassion, common sense, respect for science, curiosity, hard work, and optimism. Characters question the status quo. Spirituality, dreams, faith, and a belief in contributing to community and society to improve the lives of others now and in the future are underlying themes.

Category: Fiction

Genre: Science-Fiction/Romance/Predictive Fiction/Social Commentary

Audience: 12+ Adult 

Length: Novelette

Language: English/Spanish

No illustrations

*Pen Name

Contact:

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RiaStone

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitsBitesBooks

Blog: eBooks & More (http://riastoneblog.blogspot.mx)

Amazon: Author Page

Email: Ria.Stonemail@gmail.com

Whew, in the Home Stretch for Publishing Gina's Dream/El Sueño de Gina as a Dual Book POD and eBook

Being a writer, you make alot of choices. It is especially hard if you don't have an expertise or skill in a particular field of writing.

While I have always loved writing, my writing was usually work-related. I have written and designed newsletters, user manuals, news articles, press releases, letters-to-the-editor, essays, resumes, business cards, and stationery, and a movie review blog.

I had a stash of fiction stories in various stages of development, but, I never planned on publishing my fiction. Then, in 2011, when I found myself with a whole lot of time on my hands, I decided to jump in and publish one of my fiction stories, Gina's Dream.

What a trip this has been. Two and a half years in writing, researching, editing and negotiating with an editor and a book cover artist. Plus, I had to learn the publishing software for Smashwords, Library of Congress's copyright software as well as setup a website and blog. I think there were at least four other software packages in the mix.

Then I pushed the button on Smashwords and published Gina's Dream as an eBook October 2013.

Then, I went straight into marketing and promotion.

While I struggle to "find my audience", I had some wonderful adventures during my research. I wrote an article about writing for Boomer Cafe and also interviewed an amazing author, Antoinette G. Lane, who wrote a biography of Guy Williams, an actor best known for starring as Zorro for Disney's TV show in the 1950s.

A suggestion many marketing columns and books suggested is 'offer something free.'

So, I dragged out an old cookbook I started and worked to created an eCookbook. That process is a whole other story but I published it on Smashwords and on Amazon, another software package and TOS to learn.

The eCookbook, Recipes from the Kitchen from a Frugal Non-Cook was very popular when it was free. When I put a price on it, $1.99, most of that interest faded.

I joined several forums, including Smashwords Writers Forum, and met more fascinating people, including an author of erotica. I setup a Twitter account and tried to learn how to approach that media. One major downfall was I fell into a Twitter hole for weeks. Already addicted to print, Twitter is a whole new addiction.

Because several people wanted Gina's Dream in print form, I made the decision to get Gina's Dream translated into Spanish and get a POD as a "dual book." I got lucky. I met a wonderful woman, Ilena, who translated Gina's Dream for a price within my budget.

Now, I had self-published an eBook and a eCookbook on two venues.

This time I choose a small publisher, The Write Place, to get a "dual book" POD and eBook of Gina's Dream/El Sueño de Gina. I was lucky. Things went pretty smoothly, just a few minor changes. The process is in the final stages, hoping to offer a pre-release promotion soon.

I won't list all my expenses but it would probably take 100 years to recoup my costs at the current rate of sales.

The research continues. Marketing never ends.

This has been a major learning experience and one I will never regret.