It wasn't supposed supposed to be scary, self-publishing a book on Kindle. I wasn't particularly excited about it. I saw self-publishing as a way to get Black Veil Angel out of my hair for good. It worked so well with the two shorts I published, after all, and I wasn't really nervous about those two. It was really no big deal, and once they were published, even if by myself, they were finalized in my mind. I had struggled so long with BVA--and even after deciding to publish, the process dragged on and on.
But then it just stopped dragging.The instant I saw the image on iStockPhoto I knew it was THE ONE. I had been looking for months, but I'm glad now I didn't try to force it with another image. As the final cover started to come together I got more and more excited.
I'm really happy about the title change. "Black Veil Angel" had a couple of things about it that I thought didn't represent the book. First of all, if you've googled it, you know that the term black veil angel is a common name for a type of angelfish. It wouldn't be a huge leap for a reader to expect at least some symbolism involving a fish tank. Another is that confounding word "angel." It's used in the Christian angel way so freakin' much that I thought it would give potential readers the wrong idea. Especially with the Light on the cover.
Skin and Scales is more descriptive, fits the tone of the story, and plus I think it sounds pretty cool.
I wasn't going to do any promotion beyond a quiet link here on the blog. But once the cover was finished and I started the actual publishing process, I found myself making author pages on Goodreads and Amazon, almost like sleepwalking. I wrote a blurb and all the front matter of the book in a single afternoon. No major problems formatting the manuscript. It was just time, I guess.
I had planned not to care, based on my previous self-pub experiences. What I didn't take into consideration is the fact that this is a full-length novel. A novel I worked on for several years. A novel which ushered me through the hardest time of my writing life thus far. (Hopefully forever.) Maybe I do care, a little.
Skin and Scales will be available exclusively on the Kindle for three months. Woo!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Hey, I like this theme.
ReplyDeleteSo, how'd you do it? The conversion to Kindle format, I mean? Or did you upload the Word document you had? I'm interested in the process you took.
Good luck.
Thanks. I didn't do anything fancy. I just followed the guide in changing the chapter headings and making the TOC and page breaks and such in the Word document, then uploaded that. It turned out very clean, though I was disappointed there's not font control for chapter headings or title page. I guess I'd have to upload individual images for that, and I don't think it would be worth the trouble. Not to mention the file size increase.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Sharri!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is gorgeous. And the title is really hot...I love it. Now i have to figure how to get "kindle."
love always,
c
oops...this is claud...practicalslayer@yahoo.com www.practicalslayer.com
ReplyDeleteThanks, Claud! There's a free download of the Kindle app here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
ReplyDeleteI use it on my PC and on my phone. Hm, maybe it would be worth putting a link to that on my website.
I like the name change. I think it's a much better representation of the book than BVA. Plus, using "angel" in the title has a lot of "this is a romance book" connotation to it, too.
ReplyDeleteLooks good! Much success with it! :)
Glad you like it.
ReplyDelete