Tag: book publishing

Lifeliners

by eileentroemel, posted in Book Tour
Lifeliners
by Stefan Vucak
Genre: Science Fiction
When everybody is against them, it is tough being a lifeliner, as Nash Bannon found out. Lifeliners are ordinary people…almost. They can draw energy from another person; they live longer and are smarter. Scientists claim that Western high-pressure living and growing sterility in developed countries has triggered the rise of lifeliners, and homo sapiens will replaced by homo renata within ten generations. So, what’s not to like about lifeliners? Protest marches by extremist groups, riots, attacks against lifeliners, repressive laws enacted by governments everywhere, were portents of a dark future. Young, successful, Nash Bannon did not like what was going on, but he thought he had the world at his feet and life in Australia was good, provided no one found out he was a lifeliner. A chance encounter with Cariana during a lunchbreak develops into something he considered important. The Australian government calls a snap election, and Nash stands as a Senate candidate on the Lifeliner Party ticket. Unless lifeliners rise up and fight for their rights, they can expect sterilization, incarceration, and possible extermination as democracies everywhere turn into autocracies. To survive, the Lifeliner Party must employ the same dirty tricks the government used against them, but they were not prepared for what awaited them.
Stefan Vucak has written eight Shadow Gods Saga sci-fi novels and six contemporary thrillers. He started writing science fiction while still in college, but didn’t get published until 2001. His Cry of Eagles won the coveted Readers’ Favorite silver medal award, and his All the Evils was the prestigious Eric Hoffer contest finalist and Readers’ Favorite silver medal winner. Strike for Honor won the gold medal.
Stefan leveraged a successful career in the Information Technology industry, which took him to the Middle East working on cellphone systems. He applied his IT discipline to create realistic storylines for his books. Writing has been a road of discovery, helping him broaden his horizons. He also spends time as an editor and book reviewer. Stefan lives in Melbourne, Australia.
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Converting Paperbacks from Createspace to Amazon

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

I’ve got over 30 books in paperback.  I’ve been with Createspace, KDP and Smashwords from the beginning.  Now Createspace is closing down.  Amazon started it and is folding it back into Amazon. 

I’ve tried the Amazon paperbacks and the process is about the same as Createspace and the quality is there as well.  Changing from Createspace to Amazon isn’t horrible but what to do about the 30+ novels I already have.  Do I want to keep them all in paperback?  Should I consider not publishing in paperback since most of my sales are ebooks?  What about the journal I created?  Should I keep that in paperback form?  It isn’t in ebook – obviously.

It’s a lot of work to set up each book.  When I’m publishing, it takes around 3-4 hours just to get them uploaded and all the settings the way I want the book to be.   Do I really want to take all that effort for items which I don’t get a lot of sales on? 

Also if I’m going to do this, then I want to redo some of the manuscripts.  I know there are spelling / grammar errors as I’ve reread them and been annoyed by them.  A lot of the newer books, I have a better routine so there are fewer but the earlier it was published the more likely I am going to want to update the manuscript.  In reality, I’ve already done updates to the ebooks.

All of this ran through my head but I decided I do want to continue offering paperbacks and it’s good to have paperbacks for my own purposes.  I wasn’t sure how it would work to discontinue my Createspace copies and go to the Amazon copies.

Thankfully all of this was addressed by Amazon.  I went in to see how complicated it would be.  It wasn’t.  The paperback option is listed right with each of my books.  For the latest, I was able to go in and use the same file and convert them in a under 15 minutes (roughly).  The longest part is when they do the review, which is typical.  Their message is slightly humorous and suggests a cup of coffee or making a sandwich. 

So far I’ve converted about half of them over to Amazon.  The ones I have left, I will spend a little more time reviewing the manuscript before I convert.  Hopefully this review won’t take me too long.

The nice thing, my prices to the public have gotten slightly lower in most cases.  This might encourage sales.  I had one book at 19.99 which no one bought but I revamped a little, changed margins and so on in an effort to reduce the number of pages.  To be fair, the book is long but still few people are going to invest that much in a book.  I managed to get the price down $7. 

Hopefully the rest of the conversions don’t take me too long and I’ll be all set.  The only other thing I have to figure out is how to get the books which don’t have an ebook converted over. 

Obnoxiously Early

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Sunday I was up at 6:30 which for me on the weekend is too early.  I slept from 3:00 am to 6:00 and would have liked more sleep but by 6:30 I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  The good thing about being up that early – I got a lot of writing things done. 

I finished another step in pre-production for another poetry book.  I redid the cover for Secret Past and uploaded it to all the places as well as several other items on my to do list.  I worked on production of Moments in Spirit and failed miserably at making it through the process.  It is available electronically through Smashwords but there are issues (background not with the text) and I need to spend more time on it. 

After a couple of hours fussing with the file trying to figure out what wasn’t working and not getting it to work, I gave up and hit my recliner.  I worked on the story I’ve been working on for a week.  I decided to show more of the antagonist in this story.  There are flashes of her throughout the story but I actually took the time to write up a synopsis of her. 

Normally I don’t do this as I like my character so just develop.  However, with her it will have to be more subtle.  I won’t be telling her story per se but overlapping her story with the protagonists.  This means I have to work harder to show who she is. 

Writing the synopsis and little scenes for her.  It helps me to keep her darker.  I haven’t written a lot of dark characters and it was kind of fun to tap into motivations that I don’t normally explore.  With good characters it is all about protection, overcoming, and higher purpse type qualities.  With a bad character it is much more self -motivated – gathering power, me oriented desires, and revenge at any slights, real or otherwise.

I don’t know that the little scenes for her will make it into the story. I think some of them will have to but they help me see how someone like her would work.  She’s power hungry and she likes being that way.  I like that. 

I know there are at least eight major scenes left in this book.  I’m sure there will be others as I illustrate how the main characters live and adjust to their new life together.  I’m already at over 43,000 words and can’t wait to move forward. 

I want to be careful not to let the details bog down the story.  No one wants to read lengthy descriptions on all the details in a life.  It gets tedious.  It will be a matter of finding the right balance between giving the details and keeping the adventure and action moving forward.  The more I think about it the more excited I get about it.  It will be fun to see it develop and expand into more than just some strange imagining in my head.

School… very possibly…

by eileentroemel, posted in Uncategorized
This has been on my mind for a while now.  I’ve actually filled out a lot of paperwork and am moving forward with going back to school.  I have sent in my financial aid forms and my application.  I don’t know if I will get enough to go or get accepted to the college.  I don’t know if I really want to be the old lady in the classes.  I’ll be looking at a second and possibly a third bachelor’s degree in English Writing and English Book Publishing and Editing.
Here’s what I do know.  I want to learn more.  I want to fine tune my writing and editing skills.  I’d like to be a better writer.  Will it help me to get published?  I haven’t a clue.  I’ll have to take at least two classes (6 credits) to be considered part time.  When I look at the schedule of classes though, I want to take eight or ten of them.  This of course would be WAY more than a full load. 
Here I am 47 years old and considering going back to school.  This almost seems foolish.  I’m not getting a degree that will further my ability to make money in my day job.  It might help with my writing business but there is no certainty about it. 
There are tax advantages to going to school.  I’ll get a tax credit for being a part time student.  If I wanted to I could defer my student loans (not going to happen I don’t think). 
I think between the two degrees there are about 14 – 18 classes I would have to take.  If I take two classes a semester, it will take 7-9 semesters which is about four years.  If I get student loans I could put money aside and take summer classes which would decrease the amount of time I would be in school. 
Then there is the social factor.  I’m not all that interested in the socializing or even the group work of going to school.  I think this is the part that worries me the most.  It is hard for me to think about being in classes with a lot of other people.  I have to try to remember names and get along with everyone.  I’m not sure at this stage in my life I want to play nice with others.
I have a lot to think about before I make my decision.  There is still information I need.  I have to finish off my application process.  I have to see about financial aid.  There is a lot to do and what if after all this work I don’t get accepted or get the money needed?  Will I be disappointed?  Am I crazy?