Still Here!!!

It's getting crazier by the minute!

My apologies, oh patient readers, for not posting for the past month. My new cosmo career has had me working like a dog both mentally and physically - but that's been a really good thing.

But the biggest craziness has been my focus on finishing up my final draft to publishing as an eBook. All of my extra time and energy has been sitting here at my overwrought computer as I slash away unnecessary fodder and add additional hints of information to tie the loose ends of my story together. The effort is sooo going to be worth it!

Yesterday a group of about 25 of us got together to have a meeting for the Indie Writer's Alliance (see us at www.indiewritersalliance.com and www.readersmatrix.com ) to discuss the early experiences of our illustrious leader. He just started a blog tour for his recent work. Since most of us weren't familiar with such an event, he spent several hours giving us the low-down on what it is, how to organize a blog tour, and how the tour progressed at the end of the first week.

I'm exhausted twice over now just thinking of all the additional work still left to do AFTER completing the final draft.

He also informed us that eBook sales have surpassed traditional paper sales on Amazon.com - another important milestone in the rapidly changing publishing industry. Sales of Kindle for last Christmas were huge and are expected to be even bigger this season. Then with all stores closed Christmas Day, where do you think these new Kindle, etc. owners are going to look to populate their new toys?

Exactly!

So our gang is pushing hard to have our eBooks published by September. I'm still pursuing the end of July, but I still want to ensure I put out the best possible work. We'll see where things stand by the end of the month.

So just in case you don't hear from me for awhile, please know that I'm still here plugging away on my handy-dandy computer. Then look for me and my pals on www.readersmatrix.com

Your positive reviews will be most appreciated then. :-)

Publishing Potential

The last few days have been quite interesting.

Last night was our writer's group night, and we had alot of fodder to discuss. At the recent OWFI conference in Oklahoma City, the group attendees found out some great information on self-publishing and promoting Ebooks through Amazon.

Didn't know this, but for about a year now Amazon has been allowing any and all indie authors to self-publish free of charge under their Kindle site. This is quite the breakthrough needed for many first-time hopefuls.

So now our little group is attempting to learn more about this avenue and how we can collectively promote our own work as well as one another's. At the conference, a little old lady mentioned how she'd posted her work for Kindle and how with a little self-promotion, her sales grew to 1,300 in one month.

Now that may not sound like alot to you, but for a never before published author that is heaven!

So the one who attended this workshop has had one of his novels available for Kindle purchase on Amazon for several months. He's done no publicity thus far, had it priced on the upper end of the Ebook spectrum, and has sold seven copies. After attending this workshop, he's now lowered his price substantially and plans to start promoting it next month. He's also working on a collective website where indie authors can promote their work.

This has the potential to be a real opportunity for our writer's group. I've already gone online and created a posting page. Now I just need to finish more of my novels-in-progress. Think I'm going to try and make it a priority these next severals weeks until my return to the workforce. After that, my time is not my own.

But it has the potential to be...