Print books, Ebooks, and Audio books, which way do I go?

Writers have a lot of decisions to make. The process does not stop when you type ‘The End’. You have to decide how you will publish your work. Are you going to self publish or send it to a traditional publisher. Then if you decide to self publish you have to decide if it’s going to be an Ebook only or will you be doing a print book also.

When you decide to do a print book it’s a process. With an Ebook you have just a front cover to design, but when you do a print book it’s a whole new design ball game. This process is a little more complex. You have to get your page count and then figure the size of the cover including front, back, and end. If you’re off very much the cover will roll to the back or front, bleeding over. Yep, been there. It’s a decision you need to make sure you’re ready for.

Then of course you have to decide who you’re going to print through. I use CreateSpace powered through Amazon. They’re easy to work with and using Expanded Distribution by print books go out to larger distributors and book stores online. I’ve set up an account with Lightning Source but only have my Ebooks listed right now with them.They have a hefty setup fee that I’m having to decide if I want to do right now.

Another decision is the type of cover and paper color. The first run I did was a learning experience. I did the white paper and didn’t like it as much as the cream colored paper. The white paper has a different feel. Of course all of mine are paperback, but you can do a hardback. Also you can do matte finish now on the cover. Decisions, Decisions…

The publishing process is a many faceted thing. You don’t just write the book and step away. Well you can, but you’re not going anywhere if you do that. As for me I choose to go all the way. I have my books in print and Ebook.

Oh and there’s another side to publishing. Audio books… I took the leap into audio books back in the summer. It’s a new type of process. I’ve enjoyed meeting the narrators of the books. It’s fun to listen to someone read your book. I use ACX with is through Amazon also. They’re easy to use. Just set up an account and download your book. Then start listening to excerpts from various narrators. When you find one you like send them a message asking them to audition for your book. Once you get a couple of auditions then pick one and go with it. You can make pretty good on audible books.

So are you ready to publish that work. Sure you are. Just take the step forward and go for it. If you need any help just check out the link at the top of my site, Horseshoe Publishing. We’re here to help with the process.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Exploring your heart…

I’m a hopeless romantic and if you haven’t gotten that through my blogs where have you been? In my writing I express the romance and love that’s in my heart. I hurt when my characters hurt and laugh when they laugh, of course my son thinks I’ve lost my mind much of the time. I’ll just laugh out as I’m writing. He just looks at me and shakes his head. Oh well, I have to be a little crazy to be an artist, right.

Since I’ve been working on my Christmas romance I’ve experienced many feelings. I’ve been angry, happy, sad, mournful, cold, and then excited. This book runs the whole lot of feelings. I’ve tried to carry my reader into a new world. Hopefully one that they will want to explore further with the second book. Whoops did I just give away a secret? Yes I did. Well the cats out of the bag, There will be a book two for The Alpine Romance. It’s funny how it just hits you when something needs to be carried to another plateau.

I’ve also been working on finishing book two in the “Lean On Him” Christian series. This one has to be visited in spurts. The book has taken a toll on me emotionally. A couple of months ago I put an excerpt on Avon Romance submission pages and a kind lady came in to tell me how emotional that scene made her. It brought a smile to my face. My editor read the first chapter and when she turned to me she had tears in her eyes. Yep, it’s going to be a emotional romance. I just hope it inspires my readers to find romance and hold on to it, because you never know when it will slip away. Sometimes we lose the love of our life, but there’s always the chance to find love again, you just have to open your heart.

So to me, writing romance explores your own heart. Can you write romance if you don’t believe in it? I really don’t think so. I think you have to believe with all your heart that romance is real and that love can be found in the oddest places. Every book I’ve written has taken a different angle of love. Maybe it’s the love lost, then found again, or new love found, but held away by force. Whatever the way, the love always shines through. That’s what makes romance one of the top genres right now. We all need something to hope for, to wish for, and to know it exists if only in fiction.

My challenge to you is this. Explore your heart to find the part of it that expresses how you feel. Pull on it until you’re just drained and then you’re ready to pour it out in fiction. Some days when I close my laptop I’m exhausted, but content. I’ve explored the many emotions of my characters and made it through. That’s what draws in the reader, the pull of your heart to theirs.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The Writing Process Blog Tour

This blog tour is where writers and authors answer questions about their writing process and I was honored to be a part of this cross promotion. My friend and fellow author Ana Calin posted hers last week. You can check out her writing process here: http://anaatcalin.com/2013/11/11/the-writing-process-blog-tour/

On with the questions…

What am I working on?

I am currently working on a couple of things. The one closest to the finish line is “Open The Heart – A Alpine Christmas Romance” and it should be out before Thanksgiving. This is a book close to my heart as it hits on one of the items on my bucket list – going to Switzerland. It’s a heartwarming story of love that is unexpected. Also I’m working on a sort of time travel romance “Finding The Right Time”. I hope to have it out before Christmas.

I’m working on several other manuscripts that are still in the works, but very exciting time.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I feel like my writing is different because of the style. I write from the heart and of course most authors do. My romances are clean, yet passionate, but your teenager would be safe reading these. I try to make the characters real, not something that comes out of a box. I want my readers to relate to them on a natural level. They have everyday problems and solve them in everyday ways.

Why do I write what I do?
I write romance because I’m a passionate person. I’ve been reading romance novels since I was 13 and fell in love with them. I love to help my readers feel like it’s possible for them to be happy, or even find happiness in the relationship they’re in. Maybe my writing will carry them away for a moment or two. I also want them to realize that you don’t have to be rich, or a beauty queen to have romance. A lot of writers only write about billionaires and people that are superficial, but I try to write about real life people.

How does your writing process work?
My writing process is quite simple. A lot of my ideas come to me as I lay awake at night, but also when I’m people watching. I love to sit and just watch people. After the inspiration hits I immediately sit down and outline the story out from start to finish while it’s still hot in my mind. Then I expand each line of the outline into a chapter or two. Sometimes as I write I change up my lines, but the story stays on the same course as the original inspiration.

Hope everyone has a great Monday.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The Fear Of Failure

Who’s ever had a fear? Come on, you know you’ve had some kind of fear in your lifetime. We all do, but how do you handle that fear. When I started writing many, many years ago, the biggest problem was I had a fear of publishing. Why? Well, think about it, it’s putting yourself out there. You’re putting your name out there, your reputation and sometimes your creativity.

Ok, so I have fears. I’ve had so many writers message me about this. They’ve written one or more manuscripts, but they fear publishing it. I always tell them to go with their heart. If they get some people to read their work and they like it, then go for it.

Here’s a list of reasons I feared publishing and sometimes still have a couple:

1. I feared what others would think. (I’ve gotten over that. Now I just don’t worry about it as much. I’ve learned to just write what I love and put it out there.)

2. I feared putting my name on something that would go all over the world. Actually it’s been a blast. Have only had a couple of weird encounters, but mostly have gotten over this one.

3. Crazily enough, a fear I still have every time I hit publish is that I’ve accidently downloaded the wrong file and it will be the character list or outline and not the manuscript. I did actually put the wrong cover on CreateSpace one time, but when I did the file check I discovered it and made the correction. That was a close one.

4. Reviews. You may think this is the same as #1, but it’s not. This is the fear of the dreaded bad review that just makes you feel so deflated. But I’ve learned to deal with those also. I’ve only had a couple of bad reviews and fortunately if anyone reads the review they’ll realize that in some instances the person didn’t read the book to begin with. One bad review was because the characters names were the same as one of my older books. Really! One fan said a negative review of one of my books actually caused her to get the book and she loved it. Funny how things work out.

5. The fear of complete failure. It’s so real in every author’s mind when they publish their work. What if nobody buys my book? I had that fear at first, but as the sales went up I realized that maybe that wasn’t a fear worth having. I’m not a bestselling author, but I’m pleased with the sales I’ve had. Since I’ve only been publishing for a little over a year, I can’t complain.

Well, what’s your fear when publishing, writing or even blogging?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Amazon Associate – Yep I’m on board now.

I’ve looked into the Amazon Associate program for a while, but hadn’t decided to jump until this week.Well, I’m now an Amazon Associate member and have a Amazon Store. I like having the actual buy links to my books.

Of course, since I’m not the most computer literate person, I’ve been unable to attach the buy links to my WordPress Website, but I do have them on my Blogger website over at http://stephaniehurt-author.blogspot.com/. I know I’ll figure this out for my WP website, but after a couple of hours of reading help pages and trying everything, I had to step back.

As for thee program itself, it’s fairly easy to set up. If I can do it, then most everyone can do it. So if you get a chance click over to my new Amazon Store and let me know what you think. http://astore.amazon.com/stehuraut-20.

Now I’m just going to sit here by the crackling fire and sip my coffee as I finish my Christmas book. I’m so excited about this one. Can’t wait to give you a little snippet, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What Category does your book fall in?

First off I want to send out my prayers to all my friends in the Philipines. I hope all of you and your families are safe and unharmed.

Categories!!!

This is a quandry for most writers. There are so many genres now. When I was younger you had Romance, Historical Romance, Science Fiction, Mystery, Christian, and Non Fiction. I’m sure there were more, but that’s the ones I remember in the book stores. Now there’s everything from Young Adult to Shifter Paranormal and beyond.

As a writer this is something that always blows my mind. If you put your book in the wrong category it may not sell as well as in another category. But how do you choose? On Amazon and Smashwords I do a lot of research. It takes a little time, but it can help you to move up in the ranks.

Here’s how I research:

1: I write down the top 5 categories I think my book would fit in. I look at the many facets of my book. Does it have any suspense? This could put it in a suspenseful romance category. Does it have paranormal aspects, mystery, horror, or historical? All of these things play into the choosing.

2: Don’t fall in love with these 5 categories because this step could throw them completely out of the list. Then go to Amazon or Smashwords and search that category. I learned a lot from doing this. I used to put all my romances in the Romance category. Then after researching it, that category is overrun with books. That means it will be harder to climb the charts. Then I started stepping out of the general category box and pull out the big guns. It really helped.

3: Amazon has a nifty little tool in the help section. It gives you the list of the most popular categories and the side lines that go along with it. Go to your KDP dashboard and then to help. From there all you need to do is type categories in the search box then it will give you the main categories then just click on yours and there you are. It help my sales immensely.

This is just a couple of ways to select your categories. Believe me that is a big part of your book sales.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The love of writing

Do you love what you do? Whether you’re an accountant, doctor, writer, factory worker or a housewife, you have to love what you do. It helps keep you going. I love writing. I also love being an accountant and children’s ministry director. It makes things so much easier when you love what you do.

When I have a story in my brain I look forward to every time I open my laptop. It’s exhilerating just getting the story out to everyone. Maybe what goes through my brain doesn’t appeal to you, but some people like it. According to some of my adoring fans they love it, which for a writer is awesome to hear. That means I’ve accomplished part of my goal and thats to reach someone with my writing. A couple have asked me several times, where on earth do you get all these story lines.

What’s fun is when you’re writing and you actually laugh out loud or wipe tears. One of the stories that I’m working on is a Christian romance that is about grief and going beyond the loss of a spouse to find love again through faith. As I wrote the death scene I kept a box of tissues next to me. I wrote it while thinking of what if this was me. How would I react or feel? How would I handle telling my child? How would I move on from there? It was a very eye opening experience.

That’s what the “Lean on Him” series is all about. It’s to help people realize that faith can get you through life’s many facets. Life throws so many things at us and sometimes we need to be reminded that we are stronger than we think.

Another thing I love about writing is living my characters lives through their eyes. I emmerse myself in the character and imagine the way I’d respond to certain things. I get to live anywhere in the world through my characters. I get to experience things, ride horses, own a ranch, go to Switzerland (childhood dream), and so much more. Through my characters I get to right wrongs, build faith and just be myself. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Fans help make it a wonderful experience also. Hearing from those that love my books helps inspire me. It’s great when someone sends me an email and asks when’s the next book coming out. Some fans keep up with me through this post, my Facebook, Twitter and other areas. It’s awesome to talk to someone from across the world that has been touched by something in one of my books. That makes it so worth every long night, neck strain, finger trauma and everything that comes with being a writer.

So, come join me for the adventure that is a Writer.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Following the crumbs…

I’m just going to say it. Yes, I started another work in progress. I readily admit I have a problem. It’s called writers overload. I have way too many stories spinning in whats left of my brain. The story is the Christmas story that should have been started over a month ago, but I was working out the pieces and how to’s. I’ll give you a little hint, it’s going to be part of a lifetime dream of mine. I’ll get to live out my dream in fiction.

As for writing, we have to follow the crumbs to get to the goal. Each chapter, each outline piece is a crumb. Sometimes the crumbs are more visible than others. When the crumbs are large and right in front of us we can write for hours without stopping. Then other times the crumbs are so small that we have to search for them. That’s when writer’s block comes in and our mind strays away from the task at hand.

When writer’s block hits you have to step back. The more you try to get it back, the further you’ll push it away. Maybe it’s another story that needs to be finished that’s taking over. Maybe it’s something in your personal life like a load of laundry that’s calling out to be put away. Go put it away and then sit back down.

Another problem I have is the inevitable sore neck from sitting over the laptop tapping out my thoughts. I’ve learned that when my neck gets tense I have to step away for a little bit. The tense feeling overwhelms the writing ability. It takes over the thoughts and ideas. Usually I do some neck rolls and stretch, then take a little walk to loosen up. If you’re not careful it will compound itself and the next day will be out completely.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday. Enjoy this day and remember, it’s only another day of the week, try not to think of it as Monday. Yeah… Right… Time for more coffee 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday morning chill in the South

There was a definite chill in the house this morning as I crept out of bed and headed to the kitchen to make the coffee. It felt good to wrap up in a throw as I watched the news and waited on the coffee to brew. My son actually wore a hoodie this morning. I love this weather. It will bring on the Fall transformation of beauty in the trees.

I’m working on several manuscripts. I can’t seem to stay put on one particular one. Hopefully this morning I can focus on just one. Hopefully my Christmas editions will be ready in the next couple of weeks.

How do you stay focused and away from the other characters and stories crowded your mind? Sometimes a deadline can put a wall of to the over crowding, but most of the time theses stories and characters just keep right on pushing their way through. Let’s just hope I can stay focused for the hour I have before going to the office.

Today’s question: Does anyone else have several manuscripts playing inside their head? What are you working on today?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Is your main character perfect?

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a reader. The trend I’ve seen over the years and I won’t be saying how many, has been that the hero or heroine was perfect. They were always beautiful, handsome, flawless and a perfect body. That’s what people wanted to read.

Well, I’ve noticed a new trend. I’ve read a couple of novels lately that had not so perfect main characters. I think it’s refreshing because we’re not perfect. We have flaws, it’s just a fact. One of the books even stated that the leading man was not overly handsome, actually the writer went on to explain that his beauty came from his heart. I think that’s what we all need to hear.

Take Jane Eyre for instance. She’s not perceived as a beautiful woman. She’s more let’s just say severe. But you still come to love her for her heart that eventually warms. It’s one of my favorites because I love the stories of a plain, poor girl getting the rich flawed man.

So, how does your main character look? Is he ruggedly handsome or does his beauty come to you from his heart? Is she gorgeous and built like a model or does she need to exercise to stay at a maintained weight?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…