Author Olivia Boler

Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

February 10th, 2012 by Olivia Boler

Create Space for Me

I feel like I’ve been neglecting my blog, even thought it’s only been a few days. Tweeting and Facebooking about The Flower Bowl Spell have been taking up my writing time, and I get the feeling I need to stop spinning my wheels and make something happen—namely the paperback version and reviews. I know the latter must be done ASAP, but here is where I truly feel I need some kind of road map. I’ve done this review hunting before, and it’s really time-consuming with no guarantees of success. Kind of lot publishing!

I did spend an afternoon looking at the Create Space website, feeling a little more and more daunted by what I have to do on the technical side. What’s holding me up? The cover. I have a lovely cover designed by a lovely artist, but I need to figure out the “bleed,” that is the size it’s going to be. The thing about ebooks is they don’t have true page counts, but I need to figure out my novel’s page count now so that I’ll know how wide the spine will be. Blah blah blah.

Create Space also gives you a nifty calculator to figure out what your royalties will be. I was planning on making the book really inexpensive—like under six bucks—but the profit margin is so dismal, I think it’ll be more like $14 or $15. You’d pay that for a nice paperback, right? The royalties are best if readers order from Create Space directly. They’re slightly lower if the book is ordered through Amazon, and then they’re really, truly, madly, deeply bottom of the barrel if ordered through the Expanded Distribution option (meaning, if I make the book available for order from local bookstores and for libraries). I am so going to make it available this way—money is not the main issue—because I want readers who don’t want to order online to be able to support their local independent bookstores. Heaven knows, they need all the help they can get. My neighborhood is down to one general interest bookstore. Yikes. So, I plead with you, dear readers and bloggers: Go out and buy a book this weekend. You’ll be happy. Trust me.

Oh, and speaking of being happy, have you bought my ebook yet? Well, what are you waiting for?

Happy weekend, people.

Tags: Create Space, ebooks, Expanded Distribution Channel, independent bookstores, independent publishing, indie publishing, Olivia Boler, paperback books, royalties, self-publish, self-publishing, The Flower Bowl Spell
Posted in Publishing, Writing | No Comments »

February 7th, 2012 by Olivia Boler

Olivia’s author interview with Dina Santorelli

Blogger Dina Santorelli, who is a fellow freelance writer working on a novel, posted her interview with me this morning on her blog, Making ‘Baby Grand,’ the Novel. I have been following this series of author interviews as well as Dina’s weekly writing tips, which I think are just so helpful. You can read my interview by clicking here. Cheers!

Tags: author interview, Dina Santorelli, e-book, independent publishing, indie publishing, Kindle, Making Baby Grand the Novel, The Flower Bowl Spell, traditional publishing, writing tips
Posted in Publishing, Writing | 2 Comments »

January 26th, 2012 by Olivia Boler

Welcome to Olivia’s new website

This has been quite a day, an up-and-down day. I uploaded my first eBook this morning on Smashwords. It’s called The Flower Bowl Spell, and you can buy it for $0.99. What a bargain, right?

A little bit about me. When I was about 28 years old, in 2000, I published my first novel with a small press. The book is called Year of the Smoke Girl, and you can find used copies on Amazon. I thought I’d hit it big! I wrote more novels, short stories. Even a novel-in-stories. I quit my day job as a paralegal to write full time as a freelancer. I queried agents and publishing houses. None wanted to represent or publish my new work. In the meantime, my editor passed away and so did his publishing house.

Flash forward to 2011. Ebooks are hot. Self-publishing is no longer considered a one-way ticket to Loserville. Some of my writer friends have made it. Some are still keeping their day jobs. I’m about to turn 40, and it seems time to give myself a very big gift—the gift of publishing one of my novels, one that I think has a chance to be successful.

So today, 25 January 2012, I did just that.

Tags: Amazon, ebooks, independent publishing, indie publishing, Olivia Boler, self-publishing, Smashwords, The Flower Bowl Spell, Year of the Smoke Girl
Posted in Publishing, Writing | No Comments »

January 25th, 2012 by Olivia Boler

A typo already??? Uploaded to Smashwords today!

Drum roll please…So, I just uploaded the novel to Smashwords this morning. I should shout hurray, right? Not so fast.

First, I’m not providing a link to the book (although if you go to Smashwords and search Olivia Boler or The Flower Bowl Spell, you’ll find it) because I immediately found a glaring typo in the dedication—a period next to a comma [.,] that is not in the original document I uploaded. What the what??? There’s another huge typo at the very end in the title, About the Aauthor. Yes, it reads “Aauthor” on my eBook files but again, NOT on my original document. I haven’t gone over the whole thing with a fine-tooth comb, so I shudder to think what I’ll find inside the doc once I do.

[NOTE: I am adding this paragraph after I initially published this post, but don't want to bug you all unnecessarily with a whole new post. I figured it out! Before you submit your Word document to Smashwords, you need to ACCEPT ALL CHANGES in the document! This is very, very important, otherwise, typos you think are fixed (even after you've hit SAVE) might show up in the eBook files Smashwords creates!]

Also, I am waiting to hear back from Smashwords about my “Premium status” in their catalog. that could take a week or two. I’ll keep you all posted.

But typos are the least of my problems right now. I am trying to revamp my website, oliviaboler.com, on my own. Let me just say, I am not a web master. Ha! That’s certainly clear, since my already long neglected, decrepit website has completely disappear. Which is why, again, I am not linking it up here. I have lost hours since last night trying to figure it out on my own, the whole FTP, PHP, blah blah blah. Oh, these are the times independently publishing is so daunting, and I wish some kindly editor had just taken on my book and dealt with all this minutiae herself.

OK. Got to call tech support, get groceries, and upload to Amazon. What are you doing today?

Tags: e-book, formatting, independent publishing, indie publishing, Olivia Boler, self-publish, Smashwords, typos
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing | 6 Comments »

January 24th, 2012 by Olivia Boler

Olivia Boler gets a 7×7 Link Award nomination. Yay!

The 7×7 Link Award

I am happy to tell you, fellow bloggers, that my little blog that could has been nominated for a 7×7 Link Award (apparently not related to 7×7 Magazine). Thank you, The Flying Yenta, for this exciting nomination! And I love your blog, too!

So, there are three requirements of the award, and here they are along with my fulfillment of them:

I. Share something about yourself that others don’t know.

Man, this is hard. I have so many personal secrets…just kidding. Not really. Um, something you don’t know that I’m not too embarrassed to share. Well, if you know me, you know that I am half-Chinese. If you don’t know me, then you think I’m “Mediterranean” or Latina or Jewish or Native American, etc. But no, I’m Chinese. My father’s Caucasian genes (mostly Austrian and maybe Italian with some English, Irish, and French) just really dominate. And here’s a bonus share: Even though it’s so uncool to do in my PC San Francisco community of foodies, etc., I sometimes take my kids to McDonald’s. Gasp! What can I say? I love me some french fries!

II. Link seven posts from your blog that you think are worthy.

1. The Scary Next Step

2. Can you feel the excitement???

3. The nit and grit of indie publishing—edit, draw, format, shoot

4. Getting down to the funky business of writing

5. Reading your stories aloud is a good thing

6. So, Olivia, what do you write?

7. Flower Bowl Spell cover revealed!

III. Nominate seven other bloggers that deserve the award and haven’t received it yet.

(Note: I’m not sure if these blogs have or haven’t been nominated. If they have, then they are surely deserving of a repeat nomination.)

1. Kana’s Chronicles — Kana Tyler is “a writer, an explorer, a coffee-drinker, a recovering addict, a barefoot linguist, a book-dragon (“bookworm” doesn’t cover it), a raconteur, a minister, a sailboat skipper, a research diver, a tattooed scholar, a pirate, a poet, a spiritual adventurer, a photographer, a cartographer, a joyful wife, a mom (and Granny), an island-girl at heart… A list-maker! ” And she’s generous with her freelance writing tips. Thank you!

2. Olivia Everett — The blog of Karla Mouncey-Jaggers who is writing a series about Olivia Everett, “as she fights her way tooth and nail through the vampire politics that saturate London.” What fun!

3. Peter Denton — Pete is a writer chronicling his creative writing progress, which is so inspiring!

4. Making Baby Grand, the Novel — The blog of Dina Santorelli, who gives us regular writing tips as well as super-duper helpful and fun debut novelist interviews. I love it.

5. Sue Healy — She had loads of success with her writing in 2011, and she has writing advice and wisdom we can all use. Excellent stuff.

6. The Bird Sisters — The blog of author Rebecca Rasmussen, whose debut novel, The Bird Sisters is a soaring achievement (pardon the pun!). Read it!

7. Siobhan Fallon — Of course I have to include Siobhan Fallon, one of my bestest writing friends (and just plain old friends) whose debut short story collection You Know When the Men Are Gone, published by Amy Einhorn Books (of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help fame) is taking the critical world by storm making major “Best of 2011″ lists left and right. So go buy it now!

Yay, recognition! It’s good to know I’m not writing into a black hole. Thank you, blogging community!

Tags: 7x7 link award, blogging award, e-book, favorite writers, independent publishing, indie publishing, Olivia Boler, self-publish, Siobhan Fallon, The Flying Yenta
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing | 7 Comments »

January 13th, 2012 by Olivia Boler

That Scary Next Step

So, here’s my progress report on releasing my novel into the world, like a baby bird that has just learned to fly:

I have gone through all of my copy editor’s edits.
I have the cover.
My sister-in-law/photographer sent me a link to the photos she took, and out of 58, I have to narrow it down to 5 (so far, I like more than that).
I need to write my acknowledgments page—and have someone proofread it (and make sure that someone is included).

Then it’s time to upload it! I’ve only read through the Smashwords style guide once, and I’ve barely glanced at Amazon’s, so those are two major tasks that need doing.

This might be a good time to mention that I’m quietly freaking out a little bit here. I’m like that. I’m not one of those people who says, “OK, my ducks are in a row, so let’s take that next step!” and then goes ahead and does it. I hem. I haw. I ask the question, “Are you sure the ducks are in a row? Maybe they need a little adjustment? Perhaps they aren’t lined up precisely so?” And I don’t actually do anything about rectifying this. Not right away. Instead, I run errands, do chores, take on a freelance project, write a blog entry, read a book, or watch TV. (In my defense, some of these things need to get done!) Because the moment for taking that next step doesn’t feel…quite right. To be more frank, it’s scary. When I send my baby bird (or duck) out into the world, it’s all on me whether it flies or falls (that is to say, has a major typo, formats weirdly, etc.). Such is the nature of indie publishing. I know what I need to do. I just. Have. To. Do. It.

Tags: Amazon, baby bird, e-book, freelance project, independent publishing, indie publishing, Kindle, progress report, publishing anxiety, self-publish, Smashwords, writing process
Posted in Writing | 12 Comments »

January 2nd, 2012 by Olivia Boler

Of books and puppies

Happy New Year, people! Okay, it’s January 2, but it’s still a new year, and better late than not at all. Yesterday, I was busy cuddling up to my friend’s new puppies, Jem and Scout, who are adorable mini Goldendoodles, and here’s a heartstring-tugging picture of them:

Jem and Scout, photo courtesy of Theresa H.

Are you totally melting? Believe me, they are just as adorable as they look.

As you literary types know, Jem and Scout are characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, brother and sister, and Scout is the narrator. This is one of my favorite novels, so in honor of Harper Lee (and all of you who named your children after the esteemed authoress), I’m sharing a list of the books I read in 2011. I started keeping track of what I read each year about 10 years ago, when friends kept asking me to recommend books and I could not readily recall any titles off the top of my noggin. My mother-in-law also inspired me to try completing a book a week, for she sets herself the goal of reading 52 books a year. I’ve never reached that, although I came closer than I have since first having kids, reading 38 books last year.

I do wonder if my Kindle and e-reading programs on my iPad, iPhone, and computer have something to do with this. I’m certainly not less busy than I was in 2010, when I read 27 books. Far from it. A writing colleague, Claire Light, mentioned on her blog that reading on the Kindle had increased her speed of reading by about 100 percent, if my memory serves. And if you check out her blog, you’ll see her 2011 reading list reaches 130! How would reading on these electronic devices help? I’m guessing it’s their portability, or the fact that when I check out e-books from the library I have to get them back in 3 weeks. What do you think? Has e-reading made you a faster reader?

OK, here’s my list:

*Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Matched by Ally Condie
*The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
*Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
Evermore by Alyson Noël
*Refresh, Refresh by Benjamin Percy
Jenny and the Jaws of Life by Jincy Willett
The Matchmakers by Jennifer Colgan
*The Genius in Children by Rick Ackerly
†Octavia Boulevard by Yvonne Daley
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
*The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen
*I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson
†Family Poems by Larry Beresford
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Switched by Amanda Hocking
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Torn by Amanda Hocking
*One Day by David Nicholls
*State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
The Romantics by Galt Niederhoffer
The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher
†It Only Happens Now and Then… by Mary P. Hamilton
*A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
†Roads Without Hills by Charles McKinnon
*†Damascus by Joshua Mohr
Ascend by Amanda Hocking
*The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
†Count Edweird Lefang’s Rhymin’ Halloween by Eddie Morales
†Cold Comfort by Ellis Vidler
Sleeping With Paris by Juliette Sobanet
*You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

* Olivia’s Favorites † Read for a review or article

Tags: 2011 reading list, Amanda Hocking, Ann Patchett, Claire Light, e-book, e-readers, Kindle, puppies, Siobhan Fallon, Suzanne Collins
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing | 4 Comments »

December 25th, 2011 by Olivia Boler

A Life-changing Book Review of Cold Comfort by Ellis Vidler

Here is my holiday gift to you, dear blogging friends: a book review!

Typically, I write book reviews for pay, but for this one, my reimbursement is the thrill of possibly winning a new Kindle e-reader. Even if I don’t win the Echelon Press contest, I will be victorious nonetheless, because I really enjoyed reading Cold Comfort, which is marketed as a romance and suspense, but really, the romantic elements are sort of incidental, IMHO. The story is a thriller that centers on a perfectly ordinary woman, Claire Spencer, who runs a Christmas tchotchke store (hey, how about a little holiday reading material, right?) and is being targeted for murder. Through a friend, she enlists the help of Ben Riley, a broad-chested ex-Navy man who seems to have endless governmental connections and manly man talents for getting out of dicey situations. He carries a Glock, so that tells you a lot, but he also paints moving seascapes and is haunted by the memories of the clients he hasn’t been able to save.

The story is told from both Claire’s and Riley’s 3rd-person points of view, and the author, Ellis Vidler, does an excellent job of distinguishing their voices. Claire is a no-nonsense lady and Riley is really a dude’s dude. Out of curiosity, I looked up Vidler on Smashwords just to find out if the author was a man or a woman, because I just wasn’t sure, and that is a very good thing (I will let you discover the answer for yourself). The story hits the ground running so to speak, with Claire attacked in the driveway of her Williamsburg, Virginia, home within the first few paragraphs. Who is after her? She’s a nobody. Or is she? The mystery spins along at a fairly speedy clip with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing, and anxiously swiping those digital pages to the very end. Borrowing from Goodreads rating system, I give this one 4 out of 5 stars.

And with that, to all a good night.

Tags: book review, cold comfort, echelon press, ellis vidler, goodreads, Kindle, romance, Smashwords, thriller
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing | No Comments »

December 21st, 2011 by Olivia Boler

Flower Bowl Spell cover revealed!

Isn’t that just always the way? You finally get some down time, and then that cold you’ve been fighting decides to jump on your back and give it all its got. So, even though I just got my edits from my talented and hard-working copy editor this morning, I can’t dive right in. The cold doesn’t help and the down time is fast disappearing. There are kids at home on winter break, relatives to visit, freelance work, holiday gifts to be wrapped (we observe Christmas, although in a secular way. My 6-year-old has been asking about the meaning behind it all, so I gave her a rundown of pagan winter solstice coupled with the birth of Jesus Christ. She absolutely loves Jesus now and weeps when she thinks of him dying on the cross.)

Anyway, I did get some beautiful cover designs from Fena, my cover artist, and this is the one I decided on after getting opinions from a few close friends who are familiar with the story:

The book centers on a magickal urban witch (yes, I opted for the “k” in magick to distinguish it from magician magic, at least in my mind) and fairies, and Fena really captured that without being cheesy. No, it’s not a young-adult novel or written for children, although I think there is definite crossover appeal with the former.

I also created a Facebook Author Page, so be sure to “like” it, and please spread the word! I’ll put writerly updates and thoughts there. I also need to set aside a day to revamp my website. I actually want to start using WordPress to build it and need to find a day to give myself a crash course in doing that.

That’s all for now. Happy holidays!

Tags: copy editor, cover art, e-book, edits, facebook, Fena Lee, magick, Olivia Boler
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing | 5 Comments »

December 14th, 2011 by Olivia Boler

Can you feel the excitement???

I’m waiting for my sister-in-law Andrea to show up and take my author photo, and thought I’d check in since I’ve got all this pent-up nervous energy. I’m not crazy about gettin’ my picture took, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. And Andrea will make me look decent. Hey, I even got my hair cut yesterday, which came with the usual lecture on using a good conditioner (yes, I only go to the salon about two times a year, which is partly why I haven’t found a permanent stylist—I’m too embarrassed by my split ends).

So, my manuscript is with my copy editor, hurray! I worked on it over a few days, and decided to format it for Smashwords first. I did the best I could, but got hung up on details like using page breaks or not, and whether to put the acknowledgments (still drafting that) at the beginning or end. Really, quite dull. But oh so very important! I’ll worry about KDP and CreateSpace later.

Another option I found out about while lurking on the Kindle Boards (really, I should just go ahead and officially join), is PubIt, which is Barnes & Nobles’ version of KDP. Several authors on the Boards do all four plans (Smashwords, KDP, PubIt, CreateSpace) for each of their books in order to reach as many readers as possible, so I think that’s what I will try. Each one has slightly different formatting requirements, so it will be a lot of busy work, but in the end will save money.

And now the sexy news: I got my book covers! Fena created two beautiful covers, but I’m not quite ready to share them yet because, task master that I am, I’ve requested a few, um, tweaks. She’s really so talented and approachable. When I get that all ironed out, I will debut whichever one is the winner. Or maybe I’ll ask you all for your help.

Also, I’ve been thinking of putting up the prologue to the novel I’m publishing, The Flower Bowl Spell, on this blog. Would that be a fun thing to read?