Author Fairs

Over the past couple months, I've been lucky to attend a few author fairs at libraries in the Chicago area. I started attending these events back in 2006 when Stones of Abraxas was first published, and I loved them then. Now that I've got my self-pubbed version of Stones out, along with the Heroes of Abraxas sequel and My Life as an Earthworm, they're even more fun because there are more books to talk to people about. For these most recent fairs, I also brought promotional postcards for the upcoming nonfiction book I wrote with my aunt, psychic Louise Helene. The book is called I Saw Your Future and He's Not It, and it's going over big with readers.

One of the things I find most interesting about author fairs and other book signing events is that you can never tell who's going to be most interested in your books. When a 12-year-old boy walks past my signing table, I used to automatically assume he'd like my YA fantasy novels with a dragon and gargoyle on the covers. And sometimes he is interested in fantasy, but a lot of times he's not. One time there was a kid who I thought would love fantasy, but he came over and picked up my nonfiction book about Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. When I looked surprised, his mom explained, "He's really interested in dictators." Go figure.

At least half of the people I talk to and sell YA books to at signings are adult women. Sometimes they're looking for a gift for kids or grandkids, but more often they're looking for themselves. I understand where they're coming from because at least half of what I read is classified as young adult.

Maybe most surprising is that it's not just women who are picking up the promo cards for I Saw Your Future and He's Not It. Men are curious, too. Mostly they're dads who have daughters, and they're eager for help in warning the girls away from lousy guys. The book's title really strikes a chord for those dads, I guess.

So, like books, it seems that you can't tell a book reader by his/her cover.

Aurora Library Author Fair

What are you doing Saturday, September 8? You say you're standing up in your sister's wedding? Skip it and do something fun instead! Admit it, you never liked that clown she's marrying, anyway. Instead, come on down to the Aurora Public Library for their Third Annual Catch a Bunch of Authors Fair. Meet authors, see the latest books, and get your copies signed. What a great way to spend a Saturday! It's way better than having to make small talk with distant cousins while doing the Chicken Dance.

The event is scheduled for 1 to 3 p.m. in the Prisco Community Center (attached to the library) at 150 W. Illinois Ave., Aurora, IL. Lots of Chicago-area authors will be there with a wide range of books. Fiction and nonfiction for adults and kids of all ages will be available. And I guarantee no one will corner you and ask the uncomfortable questions you'd get at a family wedding. You won't have to think up good responses to, "Why aren't you married yet?" or "When are you going to start a family?" or "Do you think I ought to have this mole checked out?"

So, I'm looking forward to seeing you at the Aurora Author Fair. Make sure to stop by my table where I'll be signing copies of my Abraxas YA fantasy novels and my brand-new-hot-off-the-presses-the ink's-still-wet YA novel My Life as an Earthworm. We'll have a few laughs, chat about books, and, what the heck, maybe do the hokey pokey in honor of your sister's special day.

Giving stuff away for fun and profit

Whether authors are publishing their own books or they're with a traditional house, a central concern is how to get more books sold and into the hands of readers. And that's exactly what I'm obsessing about lately. Since the spring when I released STONES OF ABRAXAS and its sequel HEROES OF ABRAXAS under my Kissing Frog Books imprint, I've been trying to figure out how to effectively promote them. And what I've discovered is that promoting a self-pubbed book is even more of an uphill battle than getting a traditionally published book out there.

I've had a few books traditionally published (including the original edition of STONES OF ABRAXAS in 2006), but I've never done the self-pub thing before. So I did some research and asked other authors who've been successful with publishing their own books. The authors all generously gave me advice that worked for them. I implemented their advice, everything from using social media (including this very blog here), to trying to get reviews, to setting the price for the first ebook in my Abraxas series at free so people will get hooked and want to buy the next book. Then I sat back and waited for the royalty checks to roll in. I'm still waiting.

I had especially high hopes for the tactic of setting the price of the STONES OF ABRAXAS ebook at free, since it's worked so well for many other authors. So I priced it as free at Smashwords, then found out I can't make it free at Amazon's Kindle store unless I join the Kindle Select program. On its surface, Kindle Select sounded great because among other things your book is part of a lending library program and you earn royalties every time it's downloaded through the library. But I learned that the problem with Kindle Select is that you have to promise to exclusively publish your ebook through them for at least 90 days. I didn't like the idea of shutting out other booksellers, so I published my books for Kindle, but didn't enroll in Kindle Select.

Did that mean I couldn't set the STONES ebook price at free? Not necessarily, according to fellow YA author, Megg Jensen. She told me that Amazon wants people to let them know if a book is available for less than their price at another website. So I let them know it was free at Smashwords. That was a month or two ago, but it hasn't changed yet at Amazon. Not to worry, says Megg. She said that I might have to make a nuisance of myself until the price eventually gets changed. So Nuisance Land, here I come.

That's where I'm at right now as far as trying to promote my three self-pubbed books. If anyone has any suggestions that might help further, please let me know. Obviously, I can use all the help I can get.

New Stones of Abraxas is here!

Finally! The new print edition of Stones of Abraxas is available through Createspace and by the end of the month, ebooks for Kindle and other formats will be out there, too. Even better, Book #2 of the Abraxas Pentagram series, Heroes of Abraxas, will also be for sale within the next month. I know it took forever. Believe me, it was frustrating to see my first Abraxas publisher leave the young adult market, which meant the book went out of print. Then I saw my second publisher go out of business entirely before either Stones or Heroes could be released. But now, thanks to the miracle of self-publishing, those books can be available again.

You can see the funky new cover for this edition of Stones as the profile picture for this blog. I have the Heroes of Abraxas cover, too, and while I love both of the covers, but I'm especially fond of the emerald green and gargoyle on the Heroes cover.  Thumbs up for my cover artist!

Right now, I'm busy working on Book #3 in the Abraxas series, called Rulers of Abraxas. I promise this one won't take nearly as long as it took me to get Book #2 out there! I'm also working on publishing a few other manuscripts that I've finished in recent years and will announce when those are available. It's so cool to have the ability to release books when and how I want. This modern technology thing is really beginning to grow on me.

If you get a chance, please head over to Createspace's e-store and check out the new print version of Stones of Abraxas. It's been a long wait, but don't they say good things are worth waiting for? https://www.createspace.com/3803104

Happy publishing, everyone!
Kim

New Stones of Abraxas edition almost here!

It's almost here! I've just placed an order for the first proof copy of Stones of Abraxas. Hopefully it will look as good on paper as it does on the computer page. It took a long time – way longer than I'd expected – to get it to this point, but now I'm really happy with the result. The print books should up and available for sale on Amazon by the end of April, and I hope to have the ebook versions available soon after. At about the same time, the Heroes of Abraxas sequel will be available, too.

I find myself looking back on the past months and wondering why it took me so long to get this done, but the fact is that self-publishing a book requires a lot of steps. Since this is my first attempt at self-publishing, there was a steep learning curve. Oh, and there was the work I was also doing to finish my latest nonfiction manuscript and find a publisher for it. The good news is I did find a publisher for that one, and the book will be out in January 2013. More about that in an upcoming post.

Anyway, here's what I've been doing to get Stones of Abraxas ready for prime time:

-        Edited the manuscript once, twice, three times, then another time for good measure. I added a few things and deleted others from the original version that Medallion Press had published back in 2006.

-        Researched publishing options and decided on Amazon's Createspace.

-        I figured out how to use Createspace's online publishing tools, including formatting my manuscript to work in their system.

-        Found an artist for the book cover. She did a great job on a very cool looking cover. Now she's got me on the schedule to work on one for the Abraxas sequel.

-        Put the inside and outside of the book together and ordered a proof copy.

-        Used the book cover to order promotional postcards to pass out at book signings.

So far, that's it. Now I wait for the books to show up while I get the ebook version formatted. After that, I get to start the fun part: Book signings and other promotional events. I've got a couple lined up, but there should be more soon.

That's it for now. I'll be posting the new cover on my website soon. Thanks for checking on the progress of the new edition of Stones of Abraxas. It will be available again very soon. Thanks for your patience!

Kim

I'm not playing favorites

I feel horribly guilty. Over the summer my goal was to get my first two Abraxas books self-published. I failed. Miserably. Here it is mid-October and while the first one has been edited (about a dozen times) the second one is still on my clipboard. But it's been languishing there for weeks because I've been playing favorites. There's another manuscript that I've been working on - the nonfiction one that I've been writing with my aunt - and all my time is being spent on that. Of course, that one has an interested publisher so it makes sense to spend time on it. Still, I feel guilty about not devoting the time to Abraxas that it deserves.

The limited progress I've made lately on Abraxas consists mainly of deciding to form my own publishing company to publish the books myself rather than going through another company like Createspace or Smashwords. It will take a little more work, but the cool thing is that I'll be my own publisher and own my own ISBNs. So I've got to get on that by filling out the paperwork and paying the fees to create the company and get the ISBNs. Which I intend to do - just as soon as I finish my nonfiction manuscript.

So when those nagging feelings of guilt strike me every time I look at my Abraxas manuscripts, I tell myself, "It'll be just a little longer. Definitely by the end of the year. Or maybe spring. Summer's nice, too."

Editing - Again!

Stones of Abraxas was first published in 2006, and before I even queried my publisher about it, I'd edited it a zillion times. Then there were the two rounds of edits with the professional editor. Then there was me hunched over the finished, published book scanning for typos. So when I decided to self-publish it now that it's out of print, I figured that just one quick, final go-through would be fine. But no. The obsessive writer/editor/red pen owner in me can't let it go.

After a week, I'm only half-way through with this round of edits. I've started to think of this upcoming version of Abraxas as the literary equivalent of a "Director's Cut." Nothing serious is being changed, but I can always think of better ways to phrase things. That's probably good. It probably means I'm a better writer now than I was six years ago when I completed this manuscript the first time.

I'm going back to my editing now. And when I eventually finish, I'll be doing the same thing with Heroes of Abraxas. Remember when I thought that this self-publishing thing would be easy and quick. I was so young and naive - about two weeks ago.