K.B. Walker's Blog, page 4
March 4, 2013
Did you know you can post reviews on Smashwords?
I’ve had my first review on Smashwords, for A Life Less Lost. It’s a doozy, as they say in the States and I’m thrilled. To read it, just click on the link http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/19453
With Amazon apparently set to increase its greediness quotient, perhaps readers and writers should support this alternative. As you’ll see from the range of related articles, Smashwords has launched “Read and Ebook Week” with lots of discounts so now would be a good time to go have a look.
Image via CrunchBase
Related articles
Smashwords Promotion (legendsofwindemere.com)
Smashwords: Read An Ebook Week 3-9th (raptorsclaw.wordpress.com)
“Read An Ebook Week” Means *Lots* of Free Ebooks
(nfaa.wordpress.com)Read an Ebook Week (dlmilesbooks.wordpress.com)
Read an Ebook Promotion Week at Smashwords (deborahweetman.wordpress.com)
February 23, 2013
‘I’ll never buy a Kindle’
Cover via Amazon
And I kept saying it for quite a while. I had all the usual complaints.
‘I like to feel a book in my hands, not a piece of plastic.’
‘What about the bookshops and libraries?’
‘It’ll never catch on.’
As a self-publisher with my own publishing company, I realised that it was getting harder and harder to self-publish as the printing costs were increasing and I couldn’t keep up with big firm’s special ‘2 for 1’ offers and low budget books. Something had to give.
‘Make your books as ebooks’, a friend suggested. I looked at her as if she’d suggested a trip to the moon. Eventually I was worn down, after having decided that I’d published my last book. (Weaving Through the Years, 2012).
‘You’ll need a Kindle so that you can check them as the text sometimes get corrupted when files are converted to PDF format,’ another friend said.
So I bought one. And the sky didn’t fall down, Chicken Licken.
‘Why don’t you upload all your books to Amazon?’ my nephew Richard suggested. (He’s the technical part of my publishing company; the ‘Ric’ of Linric).
‘How do I do that?’ I asked nervously.
‘I’ll do it,’ he offered. Phew! What a relief. And half an hour later, that’s what he’d done. All eight of them! And no need to change the format either – they all went in Word format.
It was very nice to see them on Amazon, available as downloads, but really, I thought, not much point, as no one will buy them, even though I had some good reviews.
I was wrong. The first and second month I only sold one download each month. So then I forgot about it. I didn’t know how to access my sales reports anyway at that time. But next time the nephew looked for me, I’d sold 16 downloads each month in the third and fourth book. And two of the sales were from America.
No books to be printed and stored in my house.
Pure profit!
Well, apart from Amazon’s cut of course. And I’ve just had notification that Amazon is making first payment this week. Momentous!
So if you are in the same boat as I was, my suggestion is to just go for it! Or have a techy-savvy nephew handy if you can’t do it yourself. You never know ‘til you try?
And my Kindle? Well, it’s a bit dusty. I still don’t like it and prefer a book, except of course, when I go on holiday. Then it gets dusted off and is an important part of my luggage. The only problem I have now is that I want to download my own books on to my Kindle. But it’s ‘not possible at the present time’ according to Kindle Direct Publishing, without paying for them. Pay for my own books? Humph!
If you search for Linda Sawley on Amazon you’ll find paper & ‘e’ versions of all her books.
Related articles
ebook filetypes & my quest for noting and annotating PDF’s (ath3nas.wordpress.com)
Used eBooks 101: How Amazon Can Legally Resell eBooks (the-digital-reader.com)
Smashing my Words (inkspeare.wordpress.com)
Kindle eBook Sales Surpass Figures for Print (savoo.co.uk)
February 20, 2013
Scrapbooks, the new book trailer?
How do you bring a book to life, when introducing it to potential readers?
While artists and musicians have a fairly immediate way of presenting an image or a four minute song, it is harder for writers to capture the imagination of readers.
Of course a great cover and an interesting blurb are always the first steps to entice readers’ curiosity. Previews and excerpts allow a peek into the story and the author’s writing style.
But in an age when people’s attention span is short and immediate, authors have been finding new ways of attracting audiences to their books.
The book trailer has now been around for some time, and many authors have utilised the media to advertise their upcoming or published book. I had a go at it myself, with my first novel, “Playing on Cotton Clouds” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-on-Cotton-Clouds-ebook/dp/B007WFK3B2 – and uploaded it on my Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2QcSh6MZJg
For my second novel, “A Summer of Love”, http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Summer-of-Love-ebook/dp/B00B3MKEQ4 I wanted to try something different. I wanted the readers to have a feel for the characters, the atmosphere and the writing style, as well as the plot, immerse them in the book experience, and somehow I felt a trailer was not the best way to convey it.
In the past I had used some images to present short passages from the book on my Facebook author page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michela-Sacchi-OBrien/16450121895 and I thought that perhaps I could do something a little more creative with it. So I developed the idea of a scrapbook, arranging the images on artistic backgrounds and accompany them with brief excerpts from the book. There are interesting ideas for compositions on the net or on photo and design softwares, which also provide guidance on how to put it all together.
The result can be seen on my blog http://words-in-a-jar.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/a-summer-of-love-scrapbook_16.html
I think it really captures the essence of the book, allowing readers to get a feel for the story in a quicker, broader overview, and hopefully piquing their interest enough to make them want to read the novel.
What other creative ideas would you suggest to effectively promote a book?
A SUMMER OF LOVE – Michela O’Brien
Blurb
Successful artist Jonah Briggs is a man who has made mistakes. Aged just eighteen, he was sent to prison for two years, leaving his family shattered and his first love, Sally, to wait for his return.
But at eighteen, two years seem like a lifetime, and some promises are hard to keep.
When Jonah reappears in her life, Sally finds herself torn between him and Ewan, the young Cornish farmer she has married, divided between loyalty and passion, duty and love.
Over the course of almost two decades, through meetings and partings, secrets and revelations, and two momentous summers, Jonah will have to confront his past and heal old wounds, while Sally will face the consequences of her choices – whether to follow her conscience or her heart.
Related articles
An Extract from “A SUMMER OF LOVE” by Michela O’Brien (crookedcatbooks.wordpress.com)
Crooked Cat Valentine’s Newsletter! (crookedcatbooks.wordpress.com)
It’s time for – A Summer of Love – on Monday Moments (crookedcatbooks.wordpress.com)
February 12, 2013
What did the teenagers ask?
Monday morning I found myself behind a microphone being interviewed by five very bright, polite teenagers from King James’s School, Almondbury. They had been reading my novel, Once Removed, and asked some searching questions. Two Valleys Radio has a “listen again” facility, if you’d like to hear for yourself. This is the link: http://www.twovalleysradio.co.uk/listenagain/two-valleys-book-club-kb-walker/
January 29, 2013
Dark Horse Theatre Premiere
Inspirational playwright and director, Vanessa Brooks, gave a talk and ran a workshop for the Holmfirth Writers’ Group last night. She is currently the artistic director of Dark Horse Theatre company, a leading vocational trainer of actors with learning disabilities, developing skills in preparation for work in the industry at the highest level. She is very excited about their current play. This is what she had to say,“SING SOMETHING SIMPLE is shaping up to be a terrific comedy. We begin rehearsals in just over a week, three terrific London based actors will join Dark Horse actor Joe Sproulle to work on a show that’s all about love, life, friendship and happiness and its’ so good to be working on a piece that makes you smile! I hope lots of people come along, enjoy a cracking plot which goes at a lick and some fabulous physical sequences worked up to Easy Listening classics such as ‘Volare’ ‘The Party’s Over’ and ‘I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts’! SING SOMETHING SIMPLE is a comedy for everyone seeking an antidote to troubled times and I just know its going to be a great night out at the theatre.”
Sing Something Simple
A BRAND NEW WORLD PREMIERE
COMEDY FOR ALL THE FAMILY
THE EXCLUSIVE WORLD PREMIERE TOUR
“MY NAME IS SPENCER PARKIN AND I CAN’T SING…CAN YOU?”
Spencer’s Mum is a jazz singer, his best friend Bonnie plays the mandolin and his brother Kit is heading for pop stardom. Craving the spotlight Spencer goes on his own quest for musical fame which leads all the way to the Royal Albert Hall, inspired by his granddad the legendary Gerry Parkin, session singer extraordinaire.
Surprising, warm, laugh out loud funny and packed full of wonderful live and recorded performances of everyone’s favourite songs like that’s amore!, the party’s over, I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts and spread a little happiness this wonderful comedy is a bright and fizzy antidote to the winter blues.
A full length play written by well known playwright Vanessa Brooks, with set and costume by Pip Leckenby who has designed on Broadway and stunning digital projection by Tony award winner Mic Pool this is a world premiere not to be missed.
Subsequent to the show opening for the very first time at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield the production goes on the road to selected venues nationally for it’s UK world premiere tour.
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
Date Wednesday 6th March at 7.30pm–Thursday 7th March at 1.30pm and 7.30pm
Box Office: 01484 430528
Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells
Date Friday 15th March at 8.00pm–
Box Office: 01892 678678
The Cockpit, London
Date Wednesday 27th March at 7.30pm–Thursday 28th March at 7.30pm
Box Office: 020 7258 2925 (From noon, Monday to Saturday)
Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Date Wednesday 3rd April at 7.30pm–Thursday 4th April at 1.30pm and 7.30pm
Box Office: 01723 370541
For further information, photographs and interviews with Writer, Director, actors and production team call: 01484 484441.
January 26, 2013
Fishcake Publications ~ the story
I’ll let my guest, Martin Rothery, tell us his story.
The Birth of Fishcake Publications.
It all started when I was made redundant in December 2011 and I thought ‘Oh no, what am I going to do now?’
Firstly, I didn’t panic.
Secondly, I was relieved, as I’d been miserable in that job anyway.
Thirdly, I took stock of my life, looked at my skills and ambitions and made the big decision – I was going to work for myself. But doing what?
Publishing.
A big leap, I know. So how did I come up with this fantastic plan?
Well, I’d been laying the foundations for a few years. I’d started writing in 2008, attending creative writing classes through adult education. I’d attended various workshops over the years to get a feel for all types of writing. I’d joined the Holmfirth Writers’ Group which provided a great support network, and where I was lucky enough to spend some time as treasurer. As a group, we’d also launched two anthologies. This provided some great experience.
But most importantly, I’d written a book that was ready for publishing and so I had something to act as the launch vehicle for my business. However, I found writing was the easy part. Starting a business is scary when you’re unsure what you’re doing. Luckily, I found plenty of free business courses and the most useful ones were run by Her Majesties Revenue & Customs, which was quite handy since these were the people I feared the most.
So, in February 2012, Fishcake Publications was launched with my first book, COWS!. Initially launched as an eBook, a printed copy soon followed. This has now sold over 110 copies in the UK and the USA, which I’m quite pleased with (although I’m striving to sell more!)
I have also released a book called Nonagenarians in memory of my grandparents and containing poetry written by them. This is currently free on Smashwords, as I wanted to share this with as many people as possible. It was also produced in a small booklet which raised over £140 for the Parkwood Methodist Old Folks Luncheon Club, a cause close to their hearts.
Fishcake’s latest release was a book called Souls of Darkness and was a collaboration between three authors (me being one of them). I am currently marketing and promoting this and, hopefully, there will be a printed copy available soon.
At the end of last year, I was also very pleased to launch my own website www.fishcakepublications.com (of which, I am proud to say, I did all the work myself). I now offer my services to the public in general. I am especially keen to help new unpublished writers, as I believe every new writer needs a step up the ladder and if someone’s taken the time to write something, it deserves to be read. I have received a few submissions over the last few months that I’m very excited about, and I hope I will be able to bring to the world in the near future.
After doing all this, my advice to anyone nowadays is, if you believe in your ideas, don’t be afraid to give them a go.
Amazon Kindle links:
Cows! http://www.amazon.co.uk/COWS-ebook/dp/B0075L8DM4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359042480&sr=8-1
Souls of Darkness http://www.amazon.co.uk/Souls-of-Darkness-ebook/dp/B0088DCG4Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1359042495&sr=1-1
Nonagenarians http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nonagenarians-ebook/dp/B0078MXHQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359043823&sr=8-1
Smashwords links:
Cows! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/129478
Souls of Darkness http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/168150
Nonagenarians http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/237120
Related articles
Smashwords Streamlines Publishing (selfpubadvocate.wordpress.com)
January 16, 2013
Smashwords ~ Friend to Readers and Writers
Publishing is a very competitive business.
Businesses have to make money in order to pay their staff, rent and other bills. You only have to watch the news to see how many big established businesses, like HMV & Jessops, are failing in these difficult financial times, to realise that the pressure to make money never lets up.
Busy readers tend to buy authors they know or a quick bargain from the supermarket or a well-publicised ebook from Amazon. Fierce competition to sell books to these readers drives publishing houses to “play safe”. Playing safe makes it extremely difficult for unknown authors or unusual stories to find a place with these companies.
Image via CrunchBase
Enter Smashwords. Owner and visionary, Mark Coker has provided free tools and an easy to access platform for self-publishers and independent publishers to get these new writers and fresh stories out into the market.
For readers this is an opportunity to access exciting new books and, because they are inexpensive to produce, at very low prices. Sometimes they’re even free.
Writers are able to generate coupons on their books to provide incentives to readers, free copies for review and other promotional purposes.
And this competition encourages the big houses to keep their prices reasonable. So three cheers for Smashwords!
Today I was generating a coupon for my memoir, A Life Less Lost, and thought I’d share it with you all. It’s had great reviews but my favourite bit of feedback came from a friend of my son. She told me, “I couldn’t put it down and was up until 3am reading. At one point I was gripping the book so tightly my knuckles were white. I was thinking please be alright, please be alright, until I stopped and remembered that I knew what was going to happen.”
As a New Year’s treat, I’m offering the coupon to anyone who’d like to download a free copy before the 16th February. If you’d like to know more about the book, please point your cursor over My Books (above) and click on the A Life Less Lost page from the drop down menu.
Promotional price: $0.00 Coupon Code: XY74F Expires: February 16, 2013
Related articles
Go Read This | Smashwords: Smashwords Supports EPUB Uploads With Smashwords Direct (eoinpurcellsblog.com)
Learn E-book Publishing Success from a Master (brilliancereviews.wordpress.com)
Smashwords Launches Smashwords Direct (the-digital-reader.com)
Smashwords Sets New Record in 2012 With $15 Million in Revenue, 190 Thousands Titles in Their Catalog (the-digital-reader.com)
Smashwords Direct Offers ePub Uploads for Indie Authors (goodereader.com)
January 2, 2013
Bullying ~ what’s the solution?
Jeff Gardiner, fellow Crooked Cat author, discusses bullying in this post, a subject that affects people all around the world and across the age groups. Amongst adults it often takes passive aggressive forms but is still destructive and difficult to cope with.
My contemporary novel MYOPIA explores the important topic of bullying, suggesting a number of non-violent responses. Jerry is bullied for wearing glasses and through his own belief that being shortsighted is not a disability but a new way of looking at things, he begins to find himself drawn into the dark world of prejudice and ignorance. People can be loving and compassionate; but we also have the potential to be cruel and brutish. We all need to work together to stamp out this malicious and thoughtless behaviour from all areas of our lives.
Whether it’s physical, verbal or emotional abuse, all bullying is an insidious practice, which we should take seriously. Victims can feel that they are somehow to blame and it certainly affects self-esteem and crushes feelings of self-worth. Bullying can change an individual’s behaviour and view of life. Being psychologically broken is devastating, embarrassing and potentially life threatening; as shown powerfully in K.B. Walker’s poignant novel ‘Once Removed’. If you find yourself being bullied then there are two things to consider: firstly, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT; secondly, you need to act quickly to stop it escalating or happening to others.
Sometimes victims are scared to act, fearing that telling someone else will lead to even worse punishment. This might be true in the short-term, but attempt to think long-term. It’s happening anyway, so why not deal with it? The other thing to consider here is that if you manage to stop the bully then you are also saving others from being affected in the same way you were. By stopping the vicious cycle, you have bravely helped others from being bullied. Therefore doing all you can to stop bullying will improve things for you in the long-term and stop others suffering too.
I believe all responses to bullying should be non-violent – although I do think you should physically defend yourself and protect others from being hurt. Here is something you could try: stand up and stand tall the next time someone tries to bully you. Don’t be aggressive and perhaps stay quiet, but most bullies are cowards and don’t want victims who are confident or who stand their ground. If you can, attempt to remain unaffected; after all, what the bully most wants is a reaction from you. If you give none they may well get bored and leave you alone. In MYOPIA, Jerry invites the bully round his house for a cup of tea. This is certainly unexpected (and potentially stupid) but Jerry has carefully planned something, which will teach him a lesson without hurting him.
Bullies are cowards; picking on what they hope is easy prey. Sometimes bullies are being bullied themselves or are responding to something painful in their own lives. This never justifies bullying which is heinous and needs to be stopped, but bullies are possibly crying out for attention. For some people even negative attention is better than none at all. Jerry learns a great deal, not only about himself, but also about the boy who is making his life such a misery.
If you are a witness to bullying, or you know someone who is a bully, then what are you going to do about it? Doing nothing makes you part of the problem.
Jeff Gardiner’s MYOPIA is an ideal book for teenagers, teachers, youth workers and parents -available from www.amazon.co.uk or www.crookedcatbooks.com. For more information see Jeff’s website at www.jeffgardiner.com and blog http://jeffgardiner.wordpress.com/
Related articles
Parents: are you part of the bullying problem? Take this quiz. (boston.com)
What Makes a Bully? (education.com)
Kids Bullying Kids. How to Stop It. (atlantablackstar.com)
2 teen bullies arrested for fracturing 14 year old victim’s jaw (japandailypress.com)
December 26, 2012
New Kindle?
There are some amazing reads available from the Crooked Cat collection, in lots of different genres. Pop over and have a look!
December 22, 2012
A Christmas treat or two
Holmfirth IMG_3464m (Photo credit: Philip Talmage)
At our recent Holmfirth Writers’ Group meeting, Mary Walker lead us in a “fan-fic” writing workshop. Richard Raby wrote this wonderful story, as a result. I know you’ll be able to guess which classic fiction it was based on!
“Bump, bump, bump . . .
“What’s that big thing Poet?” said Playwright.
“It’s the Writers’ Block said Pooh and we’re going on an Expedition to get rid of it”
“What’s an Expition, Playwright?”
“It’s when you go off in search of Inspiration”, said Poet, “and we are going to go together to find it.”
“What does the Inspiritatioin look like, Poet?”
“Nobody knows, but when we find it we’ll know we have.”
“How will we know?”
“We’ll know because it will creep up behind us and suddenly strike us”, said Poet.
“Oh dear, Poet” said Playwright, trembling a little. “I don’t want to be striked by the Inspiritatioin”
“Come along”, said Poet, “you’ll be safe with me”.
Playwright felt a little better for this. “Where shall we start looking, Poet?”
“We’ll go and ask Christopher Author because he’s big and clever and knows everything”.
So, off they went through 100 Page Wood to look for Christopher Author and when they came to the bridge which crosses the Stream of Consciousness Poet said “We’re going to play a game which is called Poet Sticks. We’ll throw the Writers’ Block into the stream then run to the other side and the one whose Inspiration appears first wins the game”.
But the block just sat in the water and the Inspirations didn’t appear so they forgot about the Expedition and went back to Poet’s house where he remembered he had some jars of brandy.
And as they went Poet hummed a little hum to himself: “Isn’t it dandy how a Poet likes brandy – wiz, wiz, wiz, I wonder why that it is?”
And Playwright was happy and said “Will we find the Inspiritation tomorrow?” And Poet said “Yes, or another day . . . because some days it doesn’t want to come, and if it doesn’t want to, you can’t make it”.
“But it will come, won’t it Poet?”
“Oh, yes – it always comes – and if we wait together it will be better than waiting not together because the Inspiration knows how to hide from people who are looking for it the hardest. So we’ll go and hum a ‘We don’t mind if we find you or not’ sort of hum and then it will think we don’t care about it and it will come to us because even the Inspiration wants to be friends sometimes.”
“But we’ll always be friends, won’t we, Poet?”
“More than always” said Poet “because being friends is longer than forever and better than best”
“That’s good”, said Playwright.
“Yes”, said Poet, “isn’t it?”
Breaking news: Bookmatchers.com is now up and running. It’s a brand new website to help readers find new books to match their reading tastes. And authors, why not add details for your books?
Related articles
Book It! (nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com)
