Nov 02
Here is a list of the first things I did when starting to Self Publish
Reason
The reason I decided to Self Publish was because I wanted to get more involved with my books, and plus, honestly, I didn’t want to wait on the slush pile. I did the research online on all the cons of self [...] [...more]
Posted: under Self Publish Progress.
Here is a list of the first things I did when starting to Self Publish
Reason
The reason I decided to Self Publish was because I wanted to get more involved with my books, and plus, honestly, I didn’t want to wait on the slush pile. I did the research online on all the cons of self publishing and how it has a certain stigma, but I figure, if I could spend thousands of dollars for a wedding which is ONE DAY, for someone that I love, why can’t I do just as much time and effort on something that I love. It is said not to think about making a profit or being a big time Best Seller, though we all dream of such things. I have come to a decision to at least TRY. So…here I am, and I’m going to try. I’ll put in the effort, do the research, and stumble my way to selling my books. And if I just get a few strangers to buy and actually like it, that would be wonderful to me.
Step 1 – Write the Book
Of course is to write your book. Some people have a problem with this first step, but since I’ve been writing since I was 12 years old, not novels mind you, but writing period. My first novel took a few years, and the 2nd took exactly 1 year. The rest, NaNoWriMo helped me on that. National Novel Writing Month was great! You just write and write. You don’t worry about grammer or spelling or anything mechanical. Just write. This helped me with books 3-5.
Step 2 – Copyright
I’ve sent my books off to the CopyRight Office. Not one at a time, but I lumped them all together on one CD as I completed them, along with my short stories. In this way, I saved money for each of them. When my books are completed in paperback format, I’ll have to research how to send in for copyright then. But I saw you can do it electronically now. When I did them it was still in paper format. CopyRight Office.
Step 3 – ISBN
Since I’m planning to continue writing more books, and I have five (5) already, I went ahead and purchased the block of 10 ISBN numbers from U.S. ISBN Agency. It cost me $275.00. I didn’t buy the barcode since I found out I could get it done for free here. You can buy indiviudal ISBN numbers, however for $125.00. There are some companies who offers ISBN in their packages, but make sure, from what I’ve researched, that you own the ISBN number and not the company.
Step 4 – Editor
I found my Editor on Guru. And I also asked for them for editting samples. There are those who are reluctant to do that because there are people who just try to get free services. But if you explain that you just want 1 sheet editted to make a decision on who you want to edit your book, some will agree to do that for you. I found that it was easy for me to figure out which editor I would like to edit my book with how they editted the sample. I’m in the middle of this stage with editting my first book of The Calling Series: The Made. This is costing me $700.00
Step 5 – Book Cover
I’m in the middle of this step, but I did some research. I found someone to do the art and current after the 1st and 2nd draft, we’re not into coloring now. I also found a Book Cover designer on Guru as well. This is costing me $400.00
Step 6 – Blogging
This is the step I doing now. Heh. Heh. And I’m just started but it’s going to help me stay encourage as I go along.
Step 7 – DBA
Went to the County office and picked up a DBA (“Doing Business As”). In Houston, Texas, I had to look for “Assumed Name” however. I got one for my pen name, seeing that I’m into writing steamy Romance novels; but it’s not for being anonymous. Can’t be if you’re famous. But it will help so that the guys in the suit don’t walk to my office and say, “Uh…your image…” LOL!. I got an Assumed Name for a publishing company as well…just in case I need it. I didn’t add the word “Publishing” so that I can use it for anything I might want to in the future. I’ll just add “A Publishing Company” if that is what I will use it for. I’ll have both names for 10 years and then I’ll have to renew.
Step 8 – Promoting Online
I’m simply gathering information on promoting online and the kosher way of doing this. I don’t want to spam bulletin boards or blogs with “Buy my Book…Please!” LOL! But I’ve learned if you honestly add you input in areas, and have your signature with you website, then you don’t look so selfish.
So that’s where I am so far. I’ll add more as I get to these few steps and tell you the yeahs and nays of my progress. I continue to research other steps at places such as So You Need to Publish Your Book, and watch other authors doing to same as:
Michael R. Hicks (Kreelan Warrior).
Write it! Publish it! Market it!
I actually put in a order for Michael Hick’s book, and if I’ve done that just by researching other authors self publishing, I’m sure other readers and writers (who are also readers) would probably do the same here. And the word would spread.
Until next time….
Nov 02
I wanted to put out there a list of sites that really, really helped me with my website. I’m a beginner HTML person, and I can get around with a few things here and there, but I needed a lot of help. I designed my first website from scratch using Dreamweaver to get a [...] [...more]
Posted: under WebDesign.
I wanted to put out there a list of sites that really, really helped me with my website. I’m a beginner HTML person, and I can get around with a few things here and there, but I needed a lot of help. I designed my first website from scratch using Dreamweaver to get a basic idea of designing one, but it didn’t quite look professional enough. So I bought a $30 template from TheTemplateStore and updated it for my new site and I’m really loving it.
Here’s my old website: http://www.oldsite.zhollis.com
And here’s my new one: http://www.zhollis.com
I mentioned before, for my new website, that I used Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe Fireworks and Swish, which all together can cost over $1,000. I had a friend who I borrowed from, though you can get a trial version of Swish. However, my old website, I just picked up a basic design at oswd. Also at a template store, not at the one I used but anyone that sells templates, they can provide you with websites with programming that you can update yourself without having to buy stuff like Dreamweaver. You simply look at the templates that use CSS based layouts. But if you can find a Free Template to update, I would go that route.
CSS - Yeah. That was a new one for me too. What is it? Well basically, if you have like hyperlinks on all your different pages and you wanted to update the look of all of them without having to update every…single…page, you would put a “class” next to every hyperlink, and in the css coding, you can change the color, or what happens if someone hovers their mouse over a hyperlink, in the CSS code that styles your hyperlinks…and it updates all of your pages at once! Pretty cool thing, but you have to know CSS to use it.
I go here to find out the basics of CSS – Introduction to CSS
So on to my list of useful tools….
++++++++++++++
Free web tools to help you design your website.
I use Dreamweaver, but if you want to save some money, here are some free software to help you design your page.
NVU
Hot Dog
Coffee Cup
Free photo editor – GIMP
This was great for me to use. Especially for those pictures where you want to cut out an image and have it floating on top of another image, like your personal photo. I wanted the background to be transparent, where the background of the picture doesn’t have to be a specific color like white or black, because this might not blend in very well with the background of your website. What I’ve learned is that .jpg .bmp .gif can’t have transparent backgrounds–but .png can. GIMP help me put these images, like this one 
on my site.
HTML – The easy way to understand it.
I use this site all the time to help me figure out what a string of commands mean.
Introduction to HTML
Neat Scripts to add to your website.
I didn’t use any of them, but with my first website, without a template, I was trying to figure out how to do those neat DropDown Menus that are on some sites these days and I found the code at this EarthWeb site
The actual code for the drop down is here:
How to Make a “Contact Us” Form
I really needed help on creating my own form, and the basic HTML site, though it helped with some things about forms, didn’t quite help with HOW to get the information from the form to my email box. PHP Tutorial: Writing Your First PHP script: Feedback Form Script, help me SO SO much. It helped me understand how to get it working and the little bitty things that you have to know like the position of certain strings in the “mail” section and how you want it to look in your personal email. When I change my website to a template, I had to redo my form, and I completely forgot how I got it working. I came back here, did my refresher course, and BOOM…done.
Dealing with Bots
Bots are those robots, or automatic programs sent out by people who spam your email, website, “contact us” page and comments areas. So you know those images in a box where you have to type the characters of the image before hitting the submit button for a form, and the image changes each time you use it? Those can help out with thos nasty little bots. I found reCAPTCH on some Author websites and I was like, “Hey, where they get that?” With some research I found it and it’s just something to help out with those party pooper Spammers. It was a bit complicated to install and the directions on the actual site doesn’t help much at all for us basic HTML users, but this site helped me out A LOT and helped me get it up and running. Installing eCAPTCHA with PHP
Photo Slideshow
My first slideshow on my old website, I used a
Slideshow on Homepage with JavaScript. I couldn’t blend in the background though, yet it was very useful. For my new website, I learned Swish.
That’s about it. All the information dumping I could put on here that helped me. Whew! Hope it helps you out with your next web adventure.