Archive for May, 2011

Embarrassed about watching Hentai?

My “watching Hentai theory” is a mixture of: Adam and Eve, Gone with the Wind, Stephen King, and Mutants. I have these theories and beliefs in my head and so, being what I am, I wrote about it.

I even created an entirely new website just for these kinds of thoughts of mine, and I wanted to share it with ya’ll.

My novels aren’t the “religous” types, and it they do contain sex–probably too risqué sex scenes for some–(hey, that’s what I write!), but usually, I put some kind of “faith” or “belief” system in them, because that’s a piece of who I am.

So, yeah, I’ve been called a “Heathen” and my Belief “questioned” and also been told that I was “going to Hell” because of my new thought processes about the Bible stories. But, honestly, my Faith has strengthened since my personal research on the stories. And I’m only quoting what’s Biblically written. I’m not saying what’s NOT in there. I’m just telling what IS in there. And, as someone told me, “It’s just YOUR version of interpretation.” Hey, sure. And that applies to every person who tells you anything about the stories in the Bible.

All-in-All…it’s pretty much magical and wonderful to me! And anything magical, ALWAYS has my attention! Heh. Heh.

I’m sticking to my current theology…until something makes it change and proves otherwise. 🙂

If anyone of you guys and dolls decide to take a gander, pre-warning, it’s pretty long winded. Well, let me be honest, it’s VERY long winded. So, if you have an hour (er…well actually a few days), just like reading a book, go take a look and let me know what you think. If you want to comment on what I said, just post it back here on this blog post.

Here’s the link.

Embarrassed about watching Hentai?

Book Trailers and FREE eBooks

Yep, I made some Book Trailers and I’m giving away FREE eBooks. You can find the ebooks at Barnes and Noble Nook and at Smashwords

My favorite word…FREE. And why am I offering my books for FREE you ask? Well, just two of them. I just can NOT give me baby, my first born creation, The Made, out for free. But the other two, I don’t mind.

I’m not making any money anyway, so why not build up a fan base with some FREE stuff! As I write this, I currently have over 1,100 downloads/views of Ruby, Flesh and Heart on Smashword…and counting. I’ve been giving them away for free since February and I’m just now posting that fact. Heh. Heh. I have this goal that when, or if, I reach 5,000 downloads/views, then I’ll make them “payable” again. The hubby set that number. I figure that would be a good goal to reach. And who DOESN’T like the “F” word when it comes to stuff?

FREE!!

Book Trailers


Yep. Decided to make me some Book Trailers while I was at it. You can view them all on YouTube under my PenVizion (that’s with a Z) User Name. I downloaded the Windows Live Movie Maker and did some test runs with Microsoft Clip Arts before actually buying some Stock Photos and Stock Music to use. I went to Dreamstime for the photos and bought the music at AudioJungle. I must say, these two sites got some great stuff! I downloaded like 27 images for about $140.00 and the songs were like $14.00 each (with $2.00 added for using PayPal, making them $16.00 each). I just listen to the music just for fun because I love the way they sound. I replay and replay and replay….

My lessons learned on working on Book Trailers?
When I used the Clip Arts and then changed the photos to what I bought from Dreamstime, I had to redo the fonts, lighting and transitions because the photos were just too different, and the “mood” of the pictures changed the entire theme.

Wasted Money?
There was just one (1) song and one (1) picture that I didn’t use. I think that was pretty good. I learned to do the Movie first and then just run the movie and play the music off of AudioJungle before buying the song…just to see how the song looked with the Movie Photos. It took me four (4) entire days to complete them. And I’ve posted them on my Author Page on Amazon, on Smashword, in this blog, on my website, and in Facebook.

Hope you like them as much as I do. THEY WERE A LOT OF WORK! So, of course I’m gonna really like them!

Enjoy the show! 🙂

I’m not PC Literate…Can I still Self-Publish?

If you’re not very PC Literate and you want to Self-Publish, then… well….

I really, REALLY tried to find a positive answer for that kind of question, and I couldn’t find one for you. 🙁

UPDATE (November 19, 2011)!!! I’ve now concluded that you can go to Smashwords and they can give you a list of companies that would format your book for you. Then Smashwords would upload to all the different formats and platforms. Easy Peasy! Otherwise, you’ll have to find services like I’ve stated below, and still learn how to personally manage your business…which is what it is…a business.

WhatsAPC

Unless you have a lot, and I mean A LOT, of money to pay five (5) or six (6) other people to do all of the work for you…then I would head to a local community class and take some PC courses.

There were a few different discussions on the Absolute Write Water Cooler Forum site about people who don’t have much PC skills, or asking for help in this or that area. And the same answer came back again and again.

You have to learn it.

You need to try to save as much money as you can by learning and doing what you can for yourself. That’s the first word in self-publishing…self. You have to do it yourself.

And please read the below one hundred times

Please do not undertake Self-Publishing in a light manner.
Writing IS the easy part.
There is a horrible stigma among authors and readers looking down on those who self-publish because they put together a terrible book. It makes all self-published authors look bad.

That’s basically what someone stated in the forums and I’m reiterating. It needs to be as professional looking as you can make it. It’s a label on yourself, and you really want yourself to look good, right?

So yes, there’s A LOT of time of trying to put just the beginning steps of self publishing, in line, which I listed on my Blog Page: My Steps To Self Publishing. And I’m STILL doing things to perfect and add my books to places. It’s been three (3) years and I still haven’t started on my marketing, which I think I’ll do on one of my next novels that I publish. It might not take you that long, however. Life caught up with me…being a new parent, commuting, more responsibilities at the job…etc. etc. So, it’s taking me some time to get to the right spot.

But as I take my steps, I’ll jot them down for you. In the mean time, get going and take some PC classes. You’re gonna need the skills to help you through this.

And also, Be Careful out there! If you want to pay someone, then be aware of companies who make their money, NOT from selling books, but from the authors themselves. Checkout any company you want to use at SWFA’s website of Preditors & Editors

Until Next time!