I’ve gotten about half of my last Libby Fox book proofed and edited. Novellas are so much easier to edit than novels! Did I really say I was going to concentrate on novels instead of novellas for awhile? Yes, yes I did. But I digress. Anyway, I hope to finish up the editing tonight, then it will be off to a couple of beta readers (one read it kind of as I wrote it). I hope to have this ready to publish in a couple of weeks.
I got my print proof of Starfane back. CreateSpace is so fast! I had the proof about three days after I ordered it. It all looks good to me, so I approved it and it’s already for sale on its on page on CreateSpace. It should be available at Amazon within a week.
Next on the printing front is a compilation of three of my earlier novellas, Club Blood, See Me, and Guardian Vampire. I jokingly told everyone I should call it “Loving the Dead and the Undead”, since there are two vampire stories and a ghost story. Surprisingly, a BUNCH of people actually liked the title. So I might use that. 🙂
How is everyone else? Are the holidays making you crazy while you’re trying to write?
lauralynnelliott.com 
Wow, Createspace is incredibly fast. I’ll have to keep them in mind. Love the name of the novella collection, has a nice sound to it, direct yet intriguing.
To answer your question: Yes, yes they are.
Have a great week Lauralynn 🙂
I’ve been completely happy with CreateSpace for my two print books and the print book of a friend that I formatted. (I formatted the book, not my friend, LOL)
I’m glad you like the name of the collection. It’s kind of catchy, isn’t it?
Oh, those holidays! Thanks, Gene!
LOL; because you would have formatted me very differently; I hope at least!
Ha ha, Jon.
hehe. Ignore the novella ideas trying to hit on you 😉 Novels. Yes. Novels. They’re the ones you really want. Don’t go for the easy ones. They’re not worth it. hehe. Good luck this week 🙂
I don’t know if I would say the novellas aren’t worth it. Guardian Vampire made me quite a bit of money…more than anything else I’ve written! 🙂 But in order to get the 70% royalty, I have to charge at least 2.99. And I don’t feel comfortable charging that for a novella. All my work is .99 except for the newest novella that’s 1.99. This last novella will be 1.99, but I’m going to start charging 2.99 for novels. I started out with .99 because I was new, but I’ve talked to a few people in real life and they said 2.99 is nothing. They would easily pay that for an ebook. So I’m definitely planning on a novel next. I’ve written three novels so far, and they are definitely more challenging than a novella.
Thanks for the good luck wish. I hope everything goes smoothly. 🙂
I’ve been pretty impressed with how speedy Createspace actually is. I’m not happy about having to charge so much for my books to have them on Amazon, however. *sigh*
Victorine Lieske charges $.99 for her books and I’m pretty sure she gets a healthy earning from them. She was even on the bestseller list. So don’t worry about the royalty too much, if it can give you readers. 🙂
Kate, how much do you have to charge for your books on CreateSpace? I only charge $9.99, but my novels are fairly short (50.000-65,000 words). When I do the compilation of the three novellas, I may have to charge more because the book will be longer. Did you do the expanded distribution? You get a higher royalty when you do that, so you can charge less and still get your royalty.
I’ve made quite a bit charging .99, but not enough to make a living. And this is a business, so I have to look at what’s best in a business sense. I’ve sold as many of the second Libby Fox novella at $1.99 as I have the first one at
$ .99. And, honestly, $2.99 isn’t a lot to charge for an author’s hard work. I used to disagree and felt like $ .99 was a good price, but I’ve seen other authors charge more and actually do better. I’ll always have some books at
$ .99, but I can’t make a living always charging $ .99.
I got soooo close to that Amazon top 100 list. I could almost taste it! But I only made it to 135. LOL
Amazing week. I can’t imagine what it’d feel like to get a proof of your work in print to approve – wahoo! Great week! And I LOVE the name of the novella collection…very HOT! 🙂
Thanks so much, Natalie! It always feels good to get that print book in my hand. I’m mostly an ebook reader, but I can’t deny that it feels good to see my print book. However, it’s always scary to open that package because I always worry something will be wrong…that I’ve done something wrong, or my cover artist did something wrong. But so far, both of my books (and my friend’s book I formatted) have looked great. 🙂
Thanks for giving your opinion on the title. Most people have given me good feedback on it, so I’ll probably go with that.
I wish I could write novellas. My brain always goes nuts and before I know it I have 100,000 words. Writers who can get a total compelling story in such a small number of words intrigue me. Kudos!
And people who can write 100,000 words intrigue ME. Seriously, it amazes me how different writers can be. I think part of my problem is that there are so many shiny new things to write about, and I’m chomping at the bit to write the next thing. LOL
You can definitely count me in as one who loves the title! Then again, I’m a sucker for anything with “undead” in it. Which sounded much better in my head. Anyway, moving on….
How exciting about the proof coming in and getting all your editing done! I’m doing a little happy dance, flag waving celebration for you! And hearing about good experience with some publishing stuff makes me want to hurry my butt up and finish something so I can play around with all that, too.
And I guess it can sometimes be a blessing that I live in a different state than my family, because it makes the holidays a little less hectic. Then again, working in retail probably makes up for what I’m saving there! Oi. But two 1K+ personal sales days in a row and it’s only the first week of December? I’ll take it!
Thanks for letting me know you love the title! It helps my resolve to keep the name. Thinking of titles is harder for me than writing a book, so when this one just popped in my head, I was like “What?” LOL
To me, the whole publishing process is exciting. I love formatting, especially for print. See, this is another reason I don’t want to be traditionally published. I love the whole process, the formatting, the business side of everything, all of it. And you WILL finish something and get it published. And I think you’ll enjoy the process, too.
All of my family is right here. And most of my friends. So the holidays are always about juggling stuff around so you can be with everyone. I think we’ve got it all figured out for this year, though. 🙂
Great week!
I’m always tempted to write novellas too, but novels are more popular … and the ideas on my head are always super complicated to try and squeeze them on novella word-count lol
Have a nice week!
Juliana, novellas are much easier for me. I’ve written a variety of both novels and novellas. I’m not sure novels are always more popular. One of my novellas sold many more copies than anything else I’ve done. But I really want to buckle down and get into the meat of a novel this time. I may try to finish one that I started in Round One before my mom had a heart attack and I had to abandon the project.
If your ideas are super complicated, you should probably stick with novels. The beauty of e-publishing is that you aren’t limited in your word count. You can do short stories, novellas, novels, and REALLY long novels. LOL
well done – and its encouraging to hear of your experience with create space I am just about to embark on getting my four up on crate space having just finished lulu and kindle – pricing is a difficult buisness I agree
all the best for coming week
Thanks! I’ve really had good experiences with CreateSpace.
Ok, Lauralynn, I’m commenting. Geez, I disappear for a couple of days and you’re sending out the rescue squad to find me. Hahahahaha! 🙂
So glad your Libby novellas are about wrapped up. I’m almost done with the cover for you to look at again and hopefully you’ll be ready to publish! Of course I have to get over lusting over the cover model, Jimmy Thomas, first. Yum! ***blushing***
I hope that novel you’re talking about maybe finishing is the gnome book. I know you’ve let me read what you’ve wrote so far and I’m anxious for you to finish it! It’s really good.
I’m glad everyone is liking the title for the “Dead and Undead” book. It does grow on you. Now to just get the cover to tie in all three novellas! Whew!
Well, you’re supposed to inform me of your whereabouts at all times. Hahahahaha.
I’m so glad we found Jimmy for a cover model.He has so many poses to choose from! 🙂
Yep, I’m talking about the gnome book. A lot of people seemed to be disappointed that I didn’t finish that one, so I think I’ll take another stab at it and hope nothing drastic happens in my life this time.
That’s the only title I thought of quickly for a book and it was supposed to be kind of a joke. But everyone likes it! I think you’ll manage to figure out a cover for this one.