There are a lot of challenges to self publishing and I think I've hit each one of them this week.
​I put the first four of My children's Hayden series into one book. First I uploaded it to kindle and ran a special free promotion on it. Then I thought that while I have it all together why not make a book out of it as well. This is where my challenge came in.
​The book now had 112 pages all color. I know the trim size I wanted and ran my numbers for the cover. Creating the cover and the interior, I thought I had it all set. After all I've done this many times before. But not this many pages in full color.
​I sent it off to Create Space and figured it was done. Oh no it wasn't.
​Because of the page count, they said that the interior margines were not correct. I went back over the book and looked and I didn't see much wrong and fixed what I found. In the process I decided that some of the pages didn't quite match up to the text so I added pages to make it come out the way I had intended. This little frustration project took me all week and I've just sent it off again.
The good thing with Create Space is that I can send in as many corrections as I have to in order to get it right.
​Now on to problem number two for the week. I had my novel Broken Branches reformatted for Kindle. This time we included an index of chapters to make it easier for readers to find their place. We also created a new cover, this is the third cover the book has had. I hope it's the last. I got it on to Kindle and then had to change the cover on the book. You guessed it, problems. the design had my name at the bottom but too close and would be cut off in the printing. Back we go and because of the holiday my cover designer is MIA until next week.
​Sometimes we wonder if all the time and frustration is worth the hasle. For me the challenge to self-publish is definetly worth the trouble. Although this week was frustrating in the extream, when it's all done I can sit back and say I did this and be proud of my accomplishment.
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I'd love to hear from readers or other's who are self-plublishing.
​Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

TI don't get to blog very often and I wear many different hats. I thought I might let you in on how my life can be. I keep telling myself that I'll get better at managing my time but I never do.
​For the last four years I have been learning my craft of being a writer and   co-founded www.ArtisansofBooks.com or ABC Books 4 children & Adults, inc.. The name has changed slightly over the years. We started with about twelve children's authors and soon found that adult authors also needed our help.
​We started the group because we wanted to share the information we had learned the hard way and to help authors avoid the expensive mistakes that we had made. We now have fifty members and are a 501c3 organization.  Tomorrow we will be donating some of our books to homeless children in the Sarasota County School system.
​My other hat is worn as the president of the National League of American Pen Women, Sarasota branch. We support artist, muscians and writers and give achievement awards, in the spring, to deserving high school seniors, in the Sarasota and Manatee County schools.
​I wear my  author's hat when I'm writing my own books. I have two I'm working on. One is a sequel to my first novel, Broken Branches. I'm hoping to make a series about the characters and the Green Lady Inn. The other is Blood Orange. Back in the mid eighties, the Medeline Cartel of Pablo Escobar was dropping cocaine in the orange groves of rural Florida. I plan on having one of them finished by Easter.
​My last hat is my marketing hat and I guess I wear this one the most. I'm learning more all the time and have a great coach in D. D. Scott.
I'm so proud to say that an International best selling author read Broken Branches and I've included her review here.
​Review by D. D. Scott - www.DDScottville.com
This book has two of my favorite things wrapped into one terrific story: a great paranormal mystery and a great romance. I loved everything about this book, from the setting, to the characters, to the story line and beyond. The writing is solid and makes for a great reading experience. And, I'm thrilled that this is a series! I'm anxiously awaiting the next book!

  Even fantastic author are over looked because most authors do not like to market themselves. Luckly I like the marketing end of being a writer. I enjoy events and meeting people. However most marketing in now being done on line in social media. 
​I now have a marketing coach to help me learn all I need to know to get my books noticed. I have .www.DDScottville.com in my corner. We meet once a month at a coffee shop in Sarasota The Three talk stratigies. She is an international bestselling author and she is teaching me her tricks of the trade.
​She is also reading my first novel Broken Branches. I have a hard time putting a genre to my novels. I had this one as a murder mystery and she said it's a paranormal romance/mystery. Who knew?
​My suggestion to every author is to ask for help if you need it and want it. we all get our work edited. It's the same thing.
​she had another suggestion about packaging my books together or creating sequels. So far my adult books have been stand alone novels. I'm working on a sequel to Broken Branches and hope to have it ready in 2017. I also have a children's book that I'm having illlustrated. I love to write the books and now I'm learning more about the marketing things.
​Remember to support Independent authors when you see them at Art and Craft Fairs. I have read some very good books by Independent authors. I have just finished Three Bridges by RJ Coons. this is the second in his series about Blain Sterling, a park ranger in Venice. His colorful discriptions of the area are wonderful.  They make you feel like you are there. His characters are well developed and come alive on the page. Speaking of pages. The plots keep you interested and have you reading well past your bedtime.

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