Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 59

Marketing is Eating my Brain: Advantages and Disadvantages of the Ebook Revolution

I've had a couple of things up on Smashwords and Amazon for several months now, but I never really got serious about this whole publishing revolution until I decided to put Yseult up as an ebook. Ok, so I've written hyperfiction before (hyper-what?), but that was back in my former life, when I was concentrating more on literary criticism than fiction. My creative writing ideas at the time reflected the research topics I was writing about for my day job.

Ebooks now are a completely different a...

Results of KDP Select Promotion: Yseult #20 in Historical Fantasy

… and that's PAID for Kindle.

I am stunned and amazed at how well my first freebie promotion worked. I can't say exactly how many free downloads Yseult got, but when I first checked after the promotion, it was at over 8600 units. Now it's at over 8700, with 31 units borrowed (for which Amazon pays authors a per unit price, depending on the funds in the Kindle Prime borrowing pot). So no matter how you look at it, it's a couple hundred dollars in a couple of days. The price for the cover...

Yseult #1 in Epic and Historical Fantasy

When I came home last night from my father-in-law's 86th birthday celebration, I avoided the computer for a while. First my hubbie and I watched the late news: the embarrassment of the present German Bundespräsident (of which he is unaware), further crises of the Euro (which we here in Germany don't really notice, except that books on Amazon are getting more expensive), etc, etc. Finally, after all the bad news, which wasn't really news, since we could have prophesied it, I turned on my...

Yseult Snack Rating: Buffalo Wing Blue Cheese Kettle Chips

That's the summary of the first review Yseult received on Amazon. I have never heard of the "snack rating" before, but I have to admit I like it, since I love Buffalo Wing Blue Cheese Kettle Chips, spicy and sweet and salty all at once, an incredibly intense flavor sensation. If they had those things here in Germany, I would probably be a couple more kilos overweight than I already am.

So anyway, the week has been a washout as far as new writing is concerned. I wanted to try to balance...

Ebook Madness: Preparing "Yseult" for Kindle

Yseult has now passed review and is available on Amazon as an ebook. It took me a lot longer than expected, but in the next few weeks I want to try and get a couple of collections of my previously published stories up, so perhaps with practice it will no longer seem quite as complicated.

I know there are lots of resources on creating ebooks out there, but everyone's process is different, and perhaps my experience can help some folks who tend to work more like me. Here are the steps I took in ...

"Yseult" is off to Amazon – now what???

I didn't make it before the new year, but today I finally got Yseult up to Amazon as an ebook! It's still in the review process, so I don't have a link for it yet, but it's a huge relief to have that done. I've opted for KDP Select, so I can't put it up on Smashwords for another three months, but I've heard a lot of success stories regarding KDP Select, and my Smashwords sales with my novella and story collections have been more than modest. Seems I don't have much to lose making Yseult

Yseult cover update: We're just about there!

I got a new version of the "winning" cover for Yseult back from the artist today, Derek Murphy of Creativindie Covers:

This is probably very close to final, if I can't think of anything that still needs to be done. I like the sword being more central in this version, and the wall keeps her from looking like a mermaid, I think. I had a bit of a weakness for the warrior chick, but those who already read the book and voted were strongly in favor of this cover. I'm pretty happy with it now...

Yseult: Covers and Edits

I'm afraid I'm not going to get Yseult up by Christmas after all, too much Christmas-like stuff going on for me to spend as much time on e-book creation as I'd intended. Besides, even though this book has been through so many hands, has been critiqued and edited and translated, I'm still finding a lot more minor typos and little things to change than I had expected. I'm about halfway through the 750 page manuscript now after a week of work, but I also already have all my Christmas presents...

Thoughts on Rereading a Tale of High Passion

Ah, my heart! my heart! It is weary without her.
I would that I were as the winds which play about her!
For here I waste and I sicken, and nought is fair
To mine eyes: nor night with stars in her clouded hair,
Nor all the whitening ways of the stormy seas,
Nor the leafy twilight trembling under the trees:
But mine hands crave for her touch, mine eyes for her sight,
My mouth for her mouth, mine eyes for her foot-falls light,
And my soul would drink of her soul through every sense,
Thirsting...

Villa Diodati Workshop Report

I meant to write this report some time ago, but life around were was crazy after I got back from the workshop and a short trip to Alsace.

A bit of background first: the Villa Diodati Workshop is our "local" speculative fiction workshop — local here meaning Europe. What draws us together is that we all write science fiction and fantasy in English, whether that is our native language or not. The original idea was that those of us writing in English in the midst of a culture speaking another...