Before the pandemic, and trying to get tenure, and relocating to a new state, and… I was a writer in search of an agent. I researched, queried, went to conferences, entered contests, followed up on leads, and tried to take each rejection as just another step in the process of becoming a traditionally published writer.…
So joining an MFA program has, no surprise, sucked up a lot of my time in the last couple of months, but I think I’m going to try to start sharing out some of what I’m doing in my classes to the blog. This wasn’t technically an assignment, but we’re talking a lot about workshopping…
The paperback formatting was definitely the hardest practical part of the self-publishing process. It gave me a whole new respect for copy editors, book designers, and I can’t even imagine the skill it would have taken to create these things before the computer era. It made me feel grateful to live in an era where…
For six years I’ve had an item near the top of my yearly to do list – publish Rell. The ebook is now available through Amazon – it’s taken so much work to get this far, and even if it sells 3 copies I’m so excited and a little proud of myself that I’ve finally…
So tonight I officially have the ebook version of my first novel Rell all formatted, loaded, and ready to rock on Amazon. All I have to do is hit the “publish” button and it will be live. I’m holding off because I think I can have the hardcopy (paperback) formatting finished within the next week.…
I’ve been hesitant to post about this – because I said this last year and then hit a giant roadblock, but…if I keep on track with my “last read through” goals, my novel Rell will be fully ebook formatted and ready to rock by the end of this week. I’ve tentatively set a publishing date…
Just finished the novel Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson about an editorial assistant juggling too many publishing jobs. First of all – of course I had to read a book with that title! One aspect of the novel that stuck out for me was the protagonist’s pain at the disconnect between the actual love…
I feel confident enough in to officially announce that my novel Rell is going to be available as an ebook through Amazon in November 2020! Yay! You can click here to see the ebook cover and read the book description. In addition, starting next week I will have the first two chapters available for free.…
Thanks to lots of hours on Pixabay and pouring through my own photos I think I’ve decided on this photo for the cover of Rell. It’s by Pixabay photographer DaveInTucson and I think it captures the atmospheric desert vibe of the novel’s setting. For the books cover I’m going to focus on the hills and…
Spent three hours today working on getting a novel manuscript ready for ebook publishing with Amazon. One good thing about going through the agony of multiple hopeful, encouraging query letters before just deciding to publish on my own is how little I care about making tons of money with this book. Yes, money is great,…
Jenel Alan 