C.K. Burch's Blog, page 216
February 28, 2015
thecaliforniakings:It’s been quite a bit since the last...
It’s been quite a bit since the last installment in this series, but let it never be said that King Chris ever gave up on anything! (except for Darkest Dungeon, that sh*t was a mess) Starting back up where left off, James Lee Quatermain is investigating an icy Arctic temple, filled with traps and trouble. With the Nazis left for dead outside the temple, is there any true danger that Quatermain can face? Join us as we dive back into Deadfall Adventures!
thecaliforniakings:Unknown to the rest of the California Kings,...
Unknown to the rest of the California Kings, King Chris decided to hit the ol’ record button on Fraps whilst the men were readying up for a Payday 2 mission. What followed was all the King working together (for once), and playing like pros. Unedited! Uncensored! Unrealistic teamwork! This is A Night With The Kings on Payday 2, playing the Hector: Watchdogs mission! Notice that King Shon laments that no one was recording this. Surprise!
thecaliforniakings:So we decided to do some side quests seeing...
So we decided to do some side quests seeing as we weren’t high enough level to continue the main quest line. This is what happened. ENJOY! LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE THIS S*IT PLEASE? PLEEEEASE???
Poontangs be:
Chris - Idaho Jack (Wilhelm)
Casey - Pancake Detective (Claptrap)
Shon - xX_b1g$pend3r_Xx (Athena)
Chad - xX_4chad2swag0_Xx (Nisha)Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/theonlycaliforniakings
Tumblr - http://thecaliforniakings.tumblr.com
February 27, 2015
You lived long and prospered, Mister Nimoy. Here’s to the...
You lived long and prospered, Mister Nimoy. Here’s to the final frontier.
I'm finally setting a goal to get myself published so I was wondering if you could tell me about your experience of self publishing through Amazon.
I’m going to make sure that I tag assertedbullet in my response because I’ve been meaning to answer his ask for a while now, but between work and depression (more on that later) I’ve not had the time/confidence to answer. Also, everything I mention below will be related to Kindle publishing verys print publishing through Amazon’s CreateSpace, which is also a simple and powerful tool, but the easiest method for self-published authors doing this first time is the Kindle system. Anyways, forgive the lapse of time, let’s dive right in.
First off, self-publishing through Amazon is incredibly easy and user-friendly and not intimidating in the slightest. Going through other site — Smashwords, for example — is incredibly intimidating as they have fantastic formatting requirements that border on the ridiculous. If the formatting isn’t correct, they won’t publish it; at least, that’s how it was when I first published through their site, but that was a little over four years ago. Things may have changed. I do, however, recommend at least looking over their formatting requirements, as the positive side of my experience with them has been that I have a pre-set format on my OpenOffice which lets me write without having to worry about tabs or paragraph sets or anything like that. Pros and cons.
But back to Amazon. User friendly. You sign in, sign up, upload your files, set your price, they do a brief spellcheck through your document, and that’s about it. Your book shows up on the marketplace pretty damn quick, usually in about twelve hours, sometimes twenty-four. Very easy, and you get the great experience of feeling as though, wow, there I am, I’m published on the web. That’s so crazy.
However, it’s all about the buildup and the execution thereafter.
It’s one thing to read those stories about people who have digitally self-published and made millions — Amanda Hocking, for example — it’s another thing entirely to execute it yourself. Self-publishing is not the hard part. Self-marketing is. Now, depending on your expectations of your book, whether you’re looking to make money or you’re just looking to have the experience of being published on the web, you’ll find yourself in differing corners. For me, I’ve always wanted to make a career out of being self-published. But unless you’re willing to pay a bit of monies to others to help spread the word about your work, you’ll find it a difficult time getting numbers rolling. I would advise to focus on the book itself — your writing, your story, your method. After all, if you don’t like the book, no one else will.
I recently had a meeting with a gentleman who was interested in having me edit a book for him. As we sat and spoke, he began introducing ideas of where he wanted this project of his to ultimately end up, and as his ideas and scope ballooned far beyond the notion of a novel, I realized that the breadth of his vision was bigger than his focus. One thing that is incredibly important about writing and self-publishing is to maintain your focus. I’ve made the mistake of looking beyond the pages and out at the horizon of where I could go beyond my book itself, when in reality I should have been looking at the book. Keep your focus. Write a book you want to pick up off the shelves, not a book that you’re planning to have fly off the shelves. Write it. Draft it. Write it again. Give yourself the time and effort to realize what you’re trying to achieve. Once you feel like you’ve accomplished the realization of your vision, then turn your brain into the field of where it can go.
I could probably write something really crazy long (like I already haven’t, har dee har har), but this is the summary: your book should come first. Self-publishing via Amazon is quick, easy, responsive, and fun to watch when numbers do actually roll in. It’s an incredible feeling. Friends and family will certainly help in that regard. Self-marketing is an entirely different ballgame versus self-publishing. But it will come in time. For now, focus on your book, and how you feel about it. And then widen your scope. The rest will come in time and hard work.
CK Burch
Check out this GoDaddy hosted webpage! http://ckburch.com.
Even though it is a work in progress, I have a new website up! You can connect with me, send me business queries, check out where I am on the web, and stay tuned for new information coming soon about a new project I’m really excited about and also really anxious over. It’s gonna be big, and for an independent that’s kinda nerve-wracking, but I believe in it. That’s what matters.
Come join the fun! And be sure to drop me a line if you’re curious about having me possibly do some editing work for you. Whether it’s a small project or a big one, I’m looking for freelance editing work, and for those of you who are newer authors who aren’t sure where to go or who to invest in, drop me a line and we can talk without having to worry over prices or big commitments. I’ve been there myself, and I know it can be difficult trying to finalize that draft.
