Traveling gets the creative juices going…Especially Las Vegas!

Posted by - August 23rd, 2010

After my vacation trip to California for my High School Reunion and then the drive out to Las Vegas to spend a few more days, it reminded me of how going to new and/or old familiar sites can help out with my visual scenes instead my head.

Especially Las Vegas!

There was so much to see and do. I haven’t been to Vegas in about 7-8 years, and Man there’s so much that had changed! I don’t think the Monorail was around the last time I went (or at least wasn’t available). And then there’s the Wax Museum and the shows (saw Lion King and KA by Cirque du Soleil). Just walking around in a place full of sites can get your mental juices flowing. Mine did.

But of course, as I’ve said before, writing has slowed a bit again due to life and changes. I have had a lot to do at work and when I get home, I just want to sit down and watch a Netflix movie.

Yet today, I had time to finally sit down and write in my blog. I was getting kind of close to the end of the month and would have missed it, but I had a relaxing night and no late scheduled work hours for today. So I’m all in the clear to write something!

So I’m off going to go do just that.

Until next time 🙂

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Nothing Much Going on…

Posted by - July 22nd, 2010

So, it’s been very slow around here. Yep. Life. And doing what I would like to do. Work’s been busy, mental stress been active, lots of child rearing to do…just busy, busy, busy.

And that’s what happens when weeks and months go by and you don’t have much to say.

I’ve been trying to write on my 3rd book for The Calling Series: Creations, but it’s been like a paragraph here and there. Just one of those time periods in your life where you can’t get what you enjoy doing, done.

And I missed another month putting up a blog! Sigh. That’s how life is. However, I’m glad I had the steam going when I did. It will come back. It always does. Just a slump in life right now. 🙂

Until Next time!

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Marketing Redemption

Posted by - May 29th, 2010

Got two approaches with the magnets advertising on my car.

The first one, I wasn’t prepared. I was too busy changing a diaper, trying to get out of the car and get inside to Outback with the mother and hubby, that when the potential customer approached and said “Science fiction Novels, huh?” I just said, “Yep” and kept changing the diapering and getting the bag, bottles and baby blanket together. DOH!

I could have kicked myself!!

I didn’t think that people would actually come up and actually talk to me about what I had advertised on my vehicle. It’s been on there for a few months and no one had said a thing. I tell ya! I HATE Missed Opportunities!! But, in the meantime, they tell you something.

Get prepared!!

So, the next time, I was ready. I had already mentally thought about what I should do and say the next time someone comments on the signs on my car. And it happened again. Mom was in town again, visiting, and we stopped to pump gas. I was sitting in the driver’s seat thinking about what I should get at the Flea Market (Called Trader’s Village, actually) since Mom wanted to go shopping. I needed a new shower cap, and I wanted to find some kind of loop earrings and I also wanted something to store the bows and barrettes for my daughter’s things….

“Novels, huh? You don’t meet writers in person very often.”

My redemption! “Yep,” I said, “That’s what I do! Here…” I fumbled around through my wallet and I gave him my business card.

“Good luck,” he said.

With a great big smile, I said, “Thank You! Appreciate it.”

A GREAT BIG SIGH! HURRAY!! I was so very happy that I was able to make up for ignoring the first customer by being too busy. I tell ya. Being too occupied and busy, busy, busy and you miss out on things.

But redemption is such a sweet flavor!

Now, I’m working on updating my business cards. As I said before, I need to have something more general, more like a logo or motto or something. I had went back to my designer and got that done. I just now need to go to VistaPrint and get that image on my new business cards. I got it right for the cards, but the poster… Unfortunately, it wasn’t turning out as well as I planned. It wasn’t filling up the entire space.

Being that I have so little time now to do anything, I tried an hour to convert the picture to the size for the poster, and have it fill in the entire template on VistaPrint, but to no avail. I kept having a lot of white space on the sheet, no matter how I tried to cut, size and crimp it. Gimp would be able to resize the picture file, but I just couldn’t get it right on the template for some reason. I went back to my designer and ask for her to help me. So I’m gonna wait for that file and try to do the poster again.

So little time…

I would love to get to my other two novels this summer–get those up and running–but I just don’t know. I have to get up from bed at 4:30AM, out the house by 5:30AM, drop the daughter off by 6:00AM, at work by 6:30AM, shutdown laptop and office at 3:20PM, get to daycare by 4:00PM, and I’m back at home by 4:45PM. Then there’s dinner for me and the hubby to do, feeding the daughter, cleaning dishes and resting and putting the daughter to bed by 7:00PM. Then more resting and catching up on TV shows recorded on our PC that’s connected to the TV (Smallville, Fringe, Medium, Lost—that’s one that I can scratch off…nice ending!–, V, Flash Forward..and what happened to Heroes??…Stargate Universe), Thank Goodness We Can Skip The Commercials! Then I take a shower at 8:30PM and down into bed by 9:00PM.

And somewhere in there, I’m supposed to do 30 minutes on my Wii every other day, but haven’t been on it for quite some time.

I’m guessing for the summer, with no shows to really watch (well, there is Eureka, True Blood, Sanctuary, Caprica and Dexter coming up sometimes during these months or end of the year), I could get back with my editor and work on The 9th Symbol and The Calling Series: Jetta.

I guess you can say if I cut out all these TV Shows, then I could get something done. LOL! But that’s my dinner, feeding daughter, and resting on the couch time. And on the weekends I try to catch up on my Netflix moves (three in rotation at a time), and figure out what I need to post next on my blog.

It’s only the weekend that I can get a few other things done that I couldn’t do during the week, and most of the time its not anything to do with writing and books.

Sigh

I need a vacation.

Until next time!

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Car Magnet and General Marketing

Posted by - April 25th, 2010

I’m driving around with my car magnets, and they look pretty good.

I would upload a picture of it, but it came out pretty dark from my cell phone. And why I haven’t taken one with my camera? Too lazy right now. I still haven’t downloaded what’s in the camera now…lots of baby pictures!

I got the car magnets done at Whole Magnet Signs

After realizing that my car magnets just has two of my books, I asked my Book Cover Designer to make a general “logo” so to speak. I’ll be writing more books than just that (and I actually have three self-published). So, I gave her my idea of what I would like. Not sure if I already posted this, but oh well, my mind seems to not hold as much memory as it use to. But anyway, I told her I wanted a Mad Hatter image, a fairy, a space ship and my Wendh Prince guy from my very first book on the cover. And it came out just like I liked it. She added all three books that I currently have self-published in the picture as well, which is okay with me because it just gives a sense that I have more than one book. So here it is…

poster_final_forWeb

The next thing I want to do is get this on my business cards. I had created business cards before, LOTS OF THEM, from Vista Print, but they all have just my first book on them. Now, I’ll have a general image to put on posters and business cards to hand out, and that’s much better.

Wow, I’ve posted quite a few things in April. That’s because I’m finally getting some sleep and more time for myself as my daughter gets older. She is now 8 months and counting. A routine definitely helps everyone out. The Hubby gets to get his bike riding in, and I’ll soon be getting back to my 3rd book of the Calling Series.

Until next time. Tootles!

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So what’s a Feedburner? Twitter, Facebook and such…

Posted by - April 24th, 2010

Okay, so I’m still learning more about websites and blogging, and I got a comment about “feedburner”. Huh? So what’s that?

Off to my favorite pal…google.

So I found out it the word “feed” was a way to provide “subscription” to a website so that people can keep up on the updates. I saw those types of things on website before, little buttons or links for Twitter, Facebook, RSS and you click on it to subscribe to the site so that you’ll know when there’s updates. I’ve never played around with that. And since I randomly post (trying my darnest to post at least once a month) that would be a very good feature so that people would know when I’ve added something new.

So I went to WordPress to find a Widget. I found “Fixed Social buttons”. Not sure if that’s going to do what I would like it to do, but it looked neat.
I selected RSS, Facebook and Twitter, since I know those sites. I also wanted to find out more on “feedburner” so google had something where I entered my site. I had to sign in with my gmail account, of course. So I created a Feedburner.

After all that, then I realized that I might just need a Facebook, Twitter and MySpace account. I already have a personal account with Facebook, but Unfortunately, DARN IT, facebook/zhollis is already taken! So I create a page off of my personal account. And then went back to Google Feedburner and clicked the “Publicize’ and then “Socialize” thingy on the side and added a Twitter account so that I can have Feedburner updated my Twitter with my blogs and then have Twitter update my Page on Facebook (using the “Smart Twitter for Pages” App in Facebook). Round Robin kind of thing.

Twitter Setup Issue
I was needing to get the confirmation email from Twitter…and that took a very long time! And, of course, I got like four (4) confirmation emails because I kept resending it. And in the mean time, my password for Twitter didn’t work! I tell ya! Trying to make a STRONG password and I messed up on something. Twitter didn’t have me retype my password to make sure I was typing it correctly. So, I tried to have Twitter send me an email, clicking the “forgot” link. I pressed it a couple of times and looked in my email. Hmmm. Of course, I should have waited the same long-time-period that it took to send me the confirmation email. Duh. So then, of course, I got four (4) password reset emails. But when I got the first one, I was able to reset my password and then I had to go back and pick one the confirmation emails to get the account up and running with all the access. Whew!

The things you do and learn.

And so now I’m officially on Twitter and have a Facebook Page to help with Marketing. Unfortunately, now I’ll have to remember to type just 140 characters of interesting first liners in my Word Press so that it will good in Twitter.

And once I submit and Publish this post, I’ll look at both sites and see if it gets updated (Feedburner only begin working on new posts). And so the testing begins…. And I had to make some adjustments. I had Feedburner send “Title and Body” to Twitter. I just need the body sent to meet my 140 character limit correctly. Unfortunately, when I did an update on the same post, it didn’t re-do my Twitter. Oh well. But my Facebook Page got updated! KEWL!!!! IT WORKED!

IT”S ALIVE!!! IT LIVES!! HURRAY!!! HURRAY!!!

Hours of work and got something accomplished. I think I deserve some popcorn….

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Took the Plunge…Book Reviews

Posted by - April 18th, 2010

So, I took the plunge and submitted emails inquiring for books reviews. I dug around and did some research on possible places to submit, and also followed steps from Michael R. Hicks (Author of In Her Name, whose book I really, really enjoyed) as well, on where he was reviewed.

Emailed: Editor@bookloons.com at there BookLoons site
Went to The Book Smugglers and Submitted on their contact page
Emailed: fantasybookcriticblog@gmail.com from their website Fantasy Book Critic without being able to find the Review Policy, gulp, so I hoped they don’t get offended

And I got one response back from BookLoons who politely stated “I don’t have a reviewer for these but do wish you every success.” I thought that was very nice. Especially to take the time to write back and wish me the best. I love those types of rejection. It keeps me encouraged that I can at least get someones time to respond back, and that good enough for me.

I’ll continue on with researching on how to market my book. Maybe look into how to make a online book tour. 🙂

Until next time…

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Marketing on PrLog–Whatcha Think?

Posted by - April 11th, 2010

Marketing!
My PRLog Review….
So, I made the mistake on PRLog of marketing my books before I was really ready. I thought I could just update and resend out another marketing post later, but I didn’t read the rules. You can only market something ONE TIME. Which makes sense. I mean, you don’t want to see the same-ole-news-day-after-day now do you? So, what I’ve decided to do is that my next marketing on the site, I’ll be ready and refer to my previous books in my new “News” announcement.

You can see my PRLog marketing on my books here:

PrLog on Irid
PRlog on Ruby, Flesh & Heart
PrLog on The Calling Series: The Made

PRLog has an okay reporting system. It gives you Hits and the top 10 websites viewers came from to see the news, and Searched Words and Phrases (Ruby, Flesh and Heart got keywords: Cinderelaa, story, and kazakhstan??. The other two books didn’t display anything), and a chart that shows the activity for each day for last 40 days (The height of the bars corresponds to number of visitors).

So, I’m gonna definitely use PrLog again. And Hey! It’s free!!

And yes, of course, I’m procrastinating on my Marketing. Just like I was procrastinating on whether I wanted to use Lightning Source or not, and sending my book out for book reviews. Now the Marketing…I just need to do more research. The book reviews…I’m just plain terrified of those! I know it has to be done, but…you know..it’s just PLAIN SCARY! I mean, what if they think it’s horrible! Can I take it? I mean, I’ve been in critique groups, but that was different. I knew I needed to make some updates and wanted the thoughts, feelings and ideas. Plus, I’ve built relationships with those who critiqued my work. But just sending it out and seeing what others have to say? Just too creepy and scary!

So, I guess you wondering about my confidence in my work. Well, I think it’s entertaining and pretty good, but for the masses, I just have to wait and see. You know you have your typical friends and family that tell you they like what you wrote (and my editor enjoyed them), and then there’s the ABSOLUTE STRANGER’S OPINION. Now THAT’S what I’m actually waiting for…and terrified of.

Yeah. Yeah. It has to be done, and I’ll do it, really. I just need to sucker myself up to it. LOL!

Until next time!

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More on Lightning Source and PDF/X-1a:2001

Posted by - March 16th, 2010

It’s cool that I got some comments regarding all the troubles I had with the PDF/X-1a:2001 format. And the bottom line is…. Gottah buy the software to make it easier on ya!

I know that’s not what I would want to hear either (I said this before), but that’s what you’ll have to do if you want this format. But also remember that the Book Cover just has to be in High Quality. The text, or interior, has to be PDF/X-1a:2001. THOUGH…as I stated before, I have pictures in my interior and it wasn’t meeting the PDF/X-1a:2001 validation, and it went through all the same.

So if you already have pdf files, you can try to send them through and see what happens. Let me know how it goes!!

Writing!

I got some writing in this past weekend. It felt pretty good! I hadn’t sat down to write since January. And now I’m stuck! Don’t you just hate it when you sit down and write and things change and turn different than what you previously had thought in your head? That’s what happened with my book Creations. It’s the 3rd book of The Calling Series. Book 1 and Book 2 are already written, though only Book 1 is published (The Made). Book 2 is already written, I just need to get that edited, which I intend on doing along with The 9th Symbol, which is not part of the Calling Series–it’s a standalone. Book 4 of the Calling Series is still in the noggin, though I’m writing down notes as I go along with Book 3. Book 4 would be the last of the Calling Series, and I’ve titled it Nostrum.

Thank goodness for buying 10 ISBNs. I’ve got them all used up except one (1)!

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I’m on Barnes & Noble, Inc !!

Posted by - February 14th, 2010

And so it begins!

Yep. I periodically do a search for “Zhollis” in google and also look at other book selling sites to see if my books made it there, and so it has. I’m on Barnes & Noble, Inc!!! It feels pretty good to be somewhere else besides Amazon. I’m not putting down Amazon at all it just that I like to see myself on other sites as well. And that’s what Lightning Source does for ya.

I don’t see Borders picking up any of my titles yet, but I’ll keep checking. Thanks to Mobipocket, I do see my books in several eBook selling sights. Unfortunately, Mobipocket isn’t taking any new authors anymore, but there’s still Amazon and their very popular Kindle that appears to bring back a readership again. And this is great for us writers :). I saw on a Tyra show (not that I watch that show, it just happened to be on. I don’t watch much TV. I’m a website viewer junkie) that Halle Berry loves her Kindle because she can jump around and read like 30 different books at a time, and she didn’t consider herself a book reader. But hey!, if more people are into eBooks and reading, all the better, I say!

That’s all I have to report thus far on my progress. I’m been busy raising the kid (6 months now) and have limited time on my other stuff, so the weekend is basically the only time I can get some “me stuff” in.

Until next time 🙂

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Lightning Source — Received Proofs

Posted by - January 24th, 2010

Okay, so it was $315.00 for all three books to upload title and provide proofs. That’s $75.00 each for the title and $30.00 for each proof).

For all the trouble I had with the the format of PDF/X-1a:2001, and finally just having my Book Cover designer put them on Lightning Source’s templates (NOTE: My book covers were sent in without cropping out the rest of the template/white space. Just put the overlay on the template area and sent the entire sheet back the way they sent it to me)… they didn’t look too bad, though the packaging could be a bit better. It was just in a box and one of the books got bent (just a wee bit) during the shipping process. So the presentation wasn’t very nice…but maybe that’s just because their proofs. CreateSpace and Lulu put like shrink wrapped and bubbled stuffing and things to keep the books from moving about, but Lightning Source, the most expensive one for proofs, mind you, just had a tight fitted box, not securely sealed (just had the tabs tucked in and it could just easily be pulled and the books taken out and tucked back in with no problem…then you could just get an empty box–but stealing my books…I guess I wouldn’t have minded too much 🙂 ).

But no matter. I’m in and the hardest part is over and the distribution is what is the main goal here.

The printing quality is okay, but I still like CreateSpace space overall for print quality. LuLu kind of squished the pictures in some of the covers I’ve ordered, and I’m still waiting back to hear what they’re going to do with one of my books that printed the first 45 pages twice (and at least it did print to the end).

So anyway, I’ve ordered Soooo many proofs between the three POD to get things looking right, or when I’ve had mistakes in my books. Hopefully, now I’m completely done with buying proofs.

So, now, I just have to approve my proofs with Lightning Source, and figure out what the next steps are.

Uh Wait…

Already, I’ve messed up. I uploaded the WRONG file for my Irid book. I’ve accepted The Made and Ruby, Flesh and Heart proofs, but Irid….gottah pay $40.00 for a revision. Sigh….

Until next time.

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