A Work in Progress

E-publishing on Amazon is like fishing in an ocean: it's huge, overwhelming, and at any moment a huge wave could take you out. Could. Truthfully, for most things in life we  allow or make them happen. Luck helps, and bad things happen, but working -- and making sure we catch our fish (readers) -- requires a lot of ... work, continually. i.e. all the time. I wish I could say that just by putting a book out in Amazonland means I'm through. Hands off, let the bucks come in. But, I know this isn't the case. Things that we value --and want-- require work to achieve them. And this work requires patience. I read this great post over at a super blog called Writer Unboxed . The post goes into detail about the five top things indie (independent) authors need to work on, work with and utilize to get those book sales. It was discouraging and encouraging at the same time. Mostly, the article was eye opening. What does it say? In a sentence: In order to be successful as an in

Okay, here we go. So, you know that extremely worn cliche that says "never say never?" Well I'm going to use that cliche right now. Don't EVER say never because odds are in your favor that you will do the very thing you said you'd never do. For example, over the past eight years, I've told my husband that I will never self-publish. Absolutely never. (Look at my last post to see reasons to why I didn't want to). It just wasn't for me. Okay, now here's where I explain how I'm going back on that promise. I am self-published (e-published) now, and the book is up on Amazon Kindle today! I've about a million feelings going through me right now: I'm completely scared that my work is no good, completely expectant, hoping for cool things to evolve from it, and I'm completely enamored that I can publish a book myself and see it on Amazon just like all the big-wig authors out there. My book is called The Puzzle Master . It's a

Kindle E-publishing A few years ago, when Kindle came out, I was hurt. It sounds absurd, but as a writer, we view books as the actual evidence to verify our profession. How in the world was a writer supposed to be an author if their books were virtual? Did it count? Did it invalidate all the authors out there? What about the wanna-be authors who think they too can be authors all because their work is out there as a "book"? Now that we've all gotten a chance to deliberate over it, buy our Kindles or Nooks or Ipads or other e-readers, it seems that none of that matters. My thinking that e-publishing debased authors and their platforms was incorrect. Why? Because good writers, whether physically published or virtually published, still need the readers -- the public -- to consider their work good in order for it to fare well. I also used to think that e-pubbing was a cop-out; that this wasn't "real" publishing because an editor or agent or publisher did