LizAnn Carson

Releasing stories into the world

Tag Archives: book launch


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Long, Hard Slog: Book(s) Launch

Amanda Pat Mel SmallDone.

Oh, my goodness, is that ever a beautiful word. So beautiful that I came close to writing five thousand words for NaNoWriMo* yesterday, out of sheer relief. As if the weight of a whole bookstore resting on my shoulders for the last few months had suddenly lifted. I could float away.

The first three books of the Calter Creek series are out there.

As part of this mass release, I’ve also put out a box set with all three books, at a bargain price. So that’s four books. All at once. Agghh.

And if you want to know what a writer’s life is like, here’s a reality. It’s been months of obsession and plodding, a slog through editing and proofing, to launch four books at once.

Problem is, I’ve been working on the critiquing and editing for so long, I no longer can tell if they’re any good. Do other authors get to that point, I wonder? I used to love these three books, each in its own way. Now, I’m numb. And honestly don’t care if I ever see them again. Yeah, probably not the best way to sell them! Burnout is real, folks. And in fact, I rarely hear about authors going back and re-reading their books. If you’re an author, do you? I’d like to know.

So let’s assume that if I didn’t have faith in their quality, I wouldn’t have released them, okay?

What happens next? Well, if it were only NaNoWriMo, I could kick back, not worry too much about whether I actually produce the 50,000 words, and take some time off. But it’s not only the next Calter Creek novel swirling around in my weary head. Hard on its heels is a fantasy-romance trilogy, tentatively called Come by the Hills. It’s still in planning, but my world and main characters are fairly well drawn, and I’m itching to get to it.

The other good thing about finally having these books launched is that there’s time to do other things. Housework, for instance. (My family would agree that this is a very good thing.) Actually cooking a meal occasionally. Getting in touch with friends who probably doubt that I’m still on the planet.

Have a look at the Calter Creek page to see the covers, synopses, and brief extracts of the three new books: Amanda, Pat, and Mel.

And if you’re wondering why I chose these simple book titles, instead of something more, well, romantic, I suppose I should admit that I’m not all that great at coming up with titles, so to some extent this is a cop-out. As well, though, there are several series I follow, and it drives me a little nuts to try to remember which heroine went with which book, especially if I want to re-read.

More soon!

LizAnn

* NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. It’s a self-challenge to produce a 50,000 word book in the month of November. Julie will be considerably longer than that, but the 50,000 is a good, if challenging, target.


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Book Launch

OMG, I did it. Seducing Adam is available on Kindle. I’m not a mere writer anymore; I’m an author!

Golly gee. It’s even selling!

Amazement and total exhaustion. Because this has been, and still is, a labor intensive process.

It’s my own fault. I’m a do-it-yourself kind of gal, working on a do-it-yourself kind of budget. I have friends who have had someone else produce their (admittedly gorgeous) book covers. Who have hired editors and copy editors. Who, being better organized (or more in the know) than I am, launched their baby with blog and Facebook fanfare. Who had someone else do all the technical stuff to get a book Kindle-ready and on the e-shelves.

Not me. Do-it-yourself all the way, although the only part of launching Seducing Adam that was even remotely fun was the book cover. I do a lot of collage work, including electronically, so at least I know how to work with layers in my graphics editing tool (Paint.net – and a big shout-out to them, it’s a wonderful product, and free). But that doesn’t mean I’m perfect at it. The book was barely out there when I spotted a big hole – How did that get there? How did I miss it? – in one of the roses on the cover. Recreate, resubmit. Pray.

Those are basically the steps to self-publishing an ebook – rework, submit, pray, rework, resubmit, pray, repeat.

And the editing. Part of the rework-resubmit sequence has to do with stumbling over just one more typo in there. I hate to admit it, but by the time you’re satisfied that it’s as good as you can make it, you may still love your baby, but you’re thoroughly sick of it at the same time. There’s a reason they say you shouldn’t proofread your own stuff. Even dragging your pace down to one sentence at a time, your eye glosses right over the word you know is in there, because it should be in there – but for some inexplicable reason, it isn’t.

Isn’t this fun?

I’m doing the same kind of process with Createspace now, and I hope to have the paperback released within the month. Not sure though, because it’s the holiday season, and that’s going to slow down cross-border traffic for ordering a proof copy. (I’m in Canada, Createspace headquarters isn’t.)

What you don’t see is the stiff neck and sore shoulder muscles. The neglected housework. The nerves. Oh dear goddess, the nerves. Rather like watching your firstborn get on the bus to kindergarten for the first time. It seems simple, but you’re well advised to plan to devote your life to it for a while. Or be very patient.

I’m just about ready now to move on. I have two more books written, the first volumes of a trilogy. (You’ll find the first chapter of Calder Creek 1: Amanda at the back of Seducing Adam.) These need work – but revising is more fun than writing, for me. First drafts are killers.

Sick of it or not, I’ll miss Adam and Stacie. They’ve been such a part of my life for the last many months. I know them. I love them. I like that my chosen genre is romance, so I can give them their happy ending.

Please check the Seducing Adam tab on the website to see Chapter 1. I’d be so happy if you bought a copy, doubly happy if you left a good review. Whatever, I wish you happy reading.