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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jul 17 2017, 12:54am
Post #1 of 18
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I've done it! Self-published on Amazon
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I have talked about this before - my fictional book on Vikings in modern-day Newfoundland - and now I've done it! I took the plunge and self-published on Amazon. Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521753377 It's available as both an e-book and paperback. Amazon has started a new program where you can get print copies of your e-books, and they don't look bad! Although this isn't a Tolkien-type fantasy book, I think you'll see that some of the characters were inspired by Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies. You may also notice that my pen name is derived from my nickname on this site. Check it out and let me know what you think!
I'd say I've entered my second childhood, but I never left the first!
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 17 2017, 3:48am
Post #3 of 18
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I don't know what kind of screening/approval process is involved in self-publishing through Amazon. If your book is good, I hope it finds an audience and perhaps interest from a more traditional publisher. You may even end up needing a literary agent.
"Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall.” -- The Doctor
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jul 17 2017, 3:31pm
Post #5 of 18
(1228 views)
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Not much of a screening process
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They do have guidelines about obscenity, and of course will remove your book if they discover you've plagiarized anything. They expect you to hold the copyright, of course. Yeah, it's a risk going it alone, but I've read absolute horror stories about people taking 10 years to get any kind of a deal, with or without an agent. And I've got no idea how to get an agent. I guess I'll see what happens. In the meantime, I've started on the next book, which may take a couple of years to get finished and polished and all that. At least I'm not spending money on a vanity publisher!
Check out my new book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521753377
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Ettelewen
Rohan
Jul 17 2017, 5:28pm
Post #6 of 18
(1216 views)
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I'll want to check this one out.
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Nuradar
Rohan
Jul 19 2017, 11:04am
Post #7 of 18
(1186 views)
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Well done, you should be very proud.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jul 20 2017, 7:10pm
Post #9 of 18
(1163 views)
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I ordered a kindle copy. I can't promise when I'll read it, but I'll certainly take a look. Many years ago our dear Kimi helped me self-publish on lulu.com. Since then I've self-published many books. Lulu has a feature where you can automatically publish your e-book on several platforms, including kindle, nook, i-tunes, etc. I've also put most of mine directly on amazon. It's a good thing I didn't quit my day job; every couple of years I get a royalty check for $25 or so. :-D But I wish you better success than I've had. Your subject matter made me think of an old family saying (something that started on a family vacation in 1970 and became a kind of meme): "Put down your book and look at Newfoundland!" <3 I'm interested in the new program where you can get print copies of your e-books. I get my print copies through lulu, and they're lovely. How does it work on amazon?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GNU Terry Pratchett ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories leleni at hotmail dot com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jul 20 2017, 7:31pm
Post #10 of 18
(1163 views)
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Better be good!
****************************************** "You have my sword." "And my bow." "And my axe." "And my giant flying eagles."
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jul 21 2017, 12:53am
Post #11 of 18
(1146 views)
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Of course I think it's good, but I'm always open to suggestions!
Check out my new book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521753377
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jul 21 2017, 1:00am
Post #12 of 18
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Thanks very much! I've bought some books from TORn authors, including Lily Fairburn - what is your pen name? I'll look you up! Well Amazon's print book (not the CreateSpace program) is a new program, really in the Beta stage. You put your book into a pdf, and really you have to do everything yourself. It took me four tries to get everything lined up right, and there is a black border around the cover art - something I'm going to have to tweak a bit. But on the other hand, there's no upfront cost, and I was able to keep the print book's price down. You're right about the day-job, LOL! But I couldn't see submitting to publishers and getting rejected OVER AND OVER. I just read about a lady in England who took 10 years to get a book deal, even with an agent. She'd written 4 books in that amount of time. I just bought one of them on Amazon myself - yep, I do that.
Check out my new book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521753377
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jul 21 2017, 1:10am
Post #13 of 18
(1142 views)
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is my real name: Karen Deal Robinson One of my books, Beyond the Wall, mentions TORn a few times :-) I already have pdf versions of my books formatted for 6"x9" on lulu. I'll have to look into that. Thanks! I sent manuscripts out for about 20 years and got fed up. I may never be a best-seller, but at least I have beautiful copies of my books to enjoy myself. :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GNU Terry Pratchett ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories leleni at hotmail dot com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jul 23 2017, 12:23pm
Post #14 of 18
(1116 views)
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I've read the first two chapters and am enjoying it
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I've never read any books set in that time and place, so it's refreshing. In my youth I read a lot of books set in ancient Rome and ancient Egypt and Palestine, and your book reminds me a bit of those, just because of the pre-industrial setting. About what year is your book set in? I'm guessing about 800 CE? I'm enjoying so much learning about a time and place I know nothing about. Your use of so many details (travel by canoe and dogsled, for example) really brings it to life. In a way your story reads like fantasy, just because Tolkien and Lewis were so into the "Northern thing". But it also reminds me of the classic Western, with the older warrior called out of retirement. And I was reminded a bit of one of my teen favorites, "Mara Daughter of the Nile" where the slave girl is recruited by two sides in a palace intrigue and ends up being a double agent. One technical piece of advice: as a kindle reader, I really hope you'll add in a table of contents at some time. I had to learn to do that when I wanted lulu.com to publish my e-books across several platforms; they said it had to have a clickable table of contents before they would do that, because that's what readers want. And as an avid kindle reader, I agree. It's kind of a pain the first time, but once you've learned to do it, it's not too bad. The basic idea is that you select the text at the beginning of each chapter ("Chapter 1", "Chapter 2" etc.) When you've highlighted the first one, apply a Heading Style, as explained here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Add-a-heading-8a361157-3705-45c7-b90a-feab81cb3b2f Repeat for each chapter heading. Then create a table of contents as described here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-a-table-of-contents-5eaadd8f-efa5-4791-84ba-746383b97ecb Your readers will thank you! :-) I'm looking forward to the rest of the book, and to future books.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GNU Terry Pratchett ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories leleni at hotmail dot com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jul 23 2017, 10:01pm
Post #15 of 18
(1094 views)
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Actually I set it in 1000 A.D., and of course at that time there weren't any horses in North America, hence the dog sleds. I tried to research both Norse and Innuit - always could do more research - and both were using dogsleds at that time. Man, that sucks about the TOC, I tried to set that up but I guess I didn't quite get it right, bummer! I'll try again the second book.
Check out my new book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521753377
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jul 24 2017, 3:16am
Post #16 of 18
(1077 views)
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Oops, my apologies. I found your TOC
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For some reason when I did the "go to" command on my kindle (which is a pretty old model) it didn't find it, and when went to the beginning, it took me to your first chapter. But when paged back, there it was. So it's probably all right. My model is probably just so old it doesn't quite mesh correctly. So my apologies; when I checked it and saw that it was there, it occurred to me that my instructions probably sounded condescending. Anyway, yes, I'm enjoying it. :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GNU Terry Pratchett ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories leleni at hotmail dot com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 30 2017, 5:50pm
Post #17 of 18
(1017 views)
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Well, for both of us! Congratulations on your first book! And it's become my first download onto the Kindle app on my recently-acquired tablet - seriously, I've never done this before! So - congratulations, and thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jul 30 2017, 7:40pm
Post #18 of 18
(1006 views)
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You're welcome, and many thanks!
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Hope you like it!
Check out my new book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521753377
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