The Churning Of Creation

The Churning Of Creation

This is a Very Interesting Time for me, as I Find some part of myself going more Internal for the Sake of Producing My Novella “I Died Once“, and all the Many Steps that, that will entail…

It’s Not a Conscious thing, no… I can just tell I’m going in.

With My Poetry Book, “Winter, Lust, And Wonder” it basically went like this…

 

 

 

 

Winter, Lust, And Wonder;

1) Wrote The Poems (Sep-Oct, 2011)

2) Design The Cover (Which was a Simple Solid Maroon Color)

3) My Sister Edited Them (December, 2011)

4) Customize The Computer Documents for Both Ka-blam, and CreateSpace, (This is probably what took me more time than anything else, lol) the Two Different Printing Companies I was considering using to Print The Book. Kab-lam Originally, but after I tried to Reorder some from them, and they took over a Month (Might have been 7 Weeks, I can’t Remember), I started Researching Options, which lead me to CreateSpace (More about all of that Here Self Publishing).

5) Order Samples Of The Book from Both Printers

6) Call a Local Bookstore, and ask them if they’d take a look at a Sample of the Book. They looked at it, and decided to carry it on Consignment, which was fine by me… In fact, I was Thrilled, Lol (February, 2012)

7) Create Custom Colored Covers for the Bookstore, as the Manager said that “Brighter” Colors would help it show up better on Bookshelves, as it was a fairly small, thin little book.

8) Ask 5 or 6 of My Favorite Bloggers if they’d Read, and Write a Review of My Poetry Book on Their Blogs (The Review Links can be Found Here)

9) Create a Kindle Version of it (March, 2012)

10) Join a Special Kindles Club which allowed me to Offer a Free Sample of the Digital Copy, on 5 Different Days, of my choice… I did it twice, the First was 2 Days in a Row, to give people time to hear about it, and do it… The Second time for 3 Days in a Row… All and all I gave away 52 Copies of the Digital Copy, which I’m glad about… By the time I started doing that, I just wanted to get My Writing into People’s Hands, especially My Published Writing.

11) Create New Black Cover Copy (As seen above), with Larger, Purple Customized Font, and Offer it for Less Money than the Original Version… This was something I did as a way to get it into more of My Reader’s Hands… The Bookstore Charges like $8.50 I believe, I was Charging just $5.00 for the Black one, which could be Ordered online.

12) Tweet about My Poetry Book from Time to time.

After that, it’s been all about My Novella, “I Died Once“

I Died Once;

1) Wrote it Sep-Nov, 2011

2) Good Response about The Ending from My Favorite Writer in the Blogosphere, so I left it alone

3) Had a Concept for the Cover, and Searched for it online… Found a Drawing I Liked, Contacted the Artist, and got Permission to use it on the Cover (Monica Gomes @Smog). She does Amazing Work.

4) Waited April and May to see if My Sister could find time to Edit it… She Edited My Poetry Book, but is much busier these days, so I decided I had to move on

5) Asked My Good Friend Kirsty (La Plume Noire) , who is also My Favorite Photographer in the Blogosphere, and one of Three of My Assistant Editors over at My “The Dark Globe” Site, if she would help me Design The Cover (Which is at the Top Left of Thsi Post), using the Picture I got from The Artist. I worked with Kirsty on the Look/Banners Etc. of The Dark Globe, and also had her help me Redesign the Cover of My Second Poetry Book (Which I have yet to Publish), “Dream Shift“… And I really Love what she came up with. (The Photo on this Cover comes from Another of My Favorite Photographers, Kristina @ Little Trot)

6) Wrote a Post about My Blog Hitting 8 Months Old, which Included a Questionnaire, asking for Feedback about My Writing Content on the site… This Lead to a Great Follower by the Name of Beth filling one out, and giving me all kinds of Input on My Blog Series… She also said she’d do the same for My “Novella I Died Once”, and My Current “Fantasy Novel Project, Chess With Agatha”… Once she did a Review for “I Died Once”, she Offered to do a “Line Edit”, which I hadn’t heard of, but Basically it helps to Clean it up… And that is something I wanted to do with My Novella before I gave it to an Actual Editor… As like I’ve said many times before, The Work I Post Here is Very “Raw”, often right out of My Head… So the Grammar Etc. leaves much to be desired. Beth was Extremely Helpful, and She will be doing the same for me in the Future, once I can supply her with a Semi Decent Copy of My “Chess With Agatha” Novel.

7) Write an Author Page for My Novella… Something I didn’t do for My Poetry Book, but I feel it’s the right time to do it with My Novella… I’ve Written a First Draft, but Need to Rewrite/Edit it

8) Contact The Local Bookstore that is Carrying My Poetry Book, and Ask them if they’d consider looking at My Novella once it is Complete… They said yes, woot

9) Hire an Editor, I will do this once I generate the Funds to do it, which I’m working on doing with my “Kickstarter Project“… I’m a bit tight on money at the moment (Join the Club right, lol), so I finally decided to give this a try, as My Nephew who is a Professional Dancer, recently had Great Success  with it for a Short Ballet Piece that He’s Choreographing, Designing/Writing, and Dancing in. I don’t need near the amount of money that he needed, I figure a couple hundred dollars will give me a flexible budget, and then I added in more to cover the costs of the Rewards that Contributors will be receiving. It’s actually gone quite well the first hand full of days, as I’m at 43% of My Goal so far, so I’m Pleasantly Surprised. Like I said before, I don’t actually know a lot of people, lol… But the people, and family that I am close to, I am very close to.

10) Complete The Back Cover of the Book, I need to figure what I want the Back Cover of the Book to look like

11) Customize The Documents for CreateSpace, My Favorite Part, Lol… I will do this once I have a Finished Edited Copy of My Novella… Which will be in 6 or so weeks from now I hope.

12) Self Publish The Book, which will Put it online for sale, and also allow me to Order Copies to Sell, or Give to the Bookstore

13) Give a Sample to The Bookstore

14) Create a Kindle Version

15) Get it in the Kindle Special Club

16) Market it Via Twitter Etc.

17) Do a couple Blog Posts about it

18) Ask some Bloggers to Read, and Review it on their Site

Sooooooooo…. This is why My Mind is going a bit Inward right now… Which makes it a bit more Challenging to Focus on Writing “New Content”, which is basically what I Fill My Blogs with, Especially This one.

But, in the name of continuing to Average Writing 800 to 1,200 Words a Day, I will Continue to do New Content as well as all of the Tasks above… Phew, Lol

Poems just Come and Come… And they’re Extremely Therapeutic, as well as Emotional for me

Nuff Said

I Hope some of the Info. is Helpful to you Fellow Future Self Publishers…

And if there’s any More Specific Info./Questions that you have about any of the Path I’ve taken, Feel Free to Post a Comment, or E-Mail me at JadeDark68@Yahoo.com

I’ll gladly offer you any Info. I might have to save you some time during your own journey, should any of these aspects appeal to you.

Thanks for Reading/Listening, and Thanks as always for your support.

DarkJade-

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