Author Olivia Boler

writing is fun
February 14th, 2012

Hey, all you Nook & iPad peeps!

It’s my duty to tell you on the blogosphere that The Flower Bowl Spell is now available through Apple’s iBookstore and/or iTunes. To answer my aunt Deetje, yes, you can buy books through iTunes. Movies, TV shows, and podcasts too, as well as other stuff that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with tunes, but there you go. If you are an iPad or iPhone or iPod user, go crazy! It is also available in the Barnes & Noble online store for all you NOOK fans out there. And yes, it’s still just $0.99 in both stores. As my author colleague, the talented Tina Boscha, would say, “WOOT WOOT!”

Sooooo…FYI, I’ve received some feedback from friends and family who have finished the book. And of course all the things they say are very nice. Some have even written reviews on Amazon. OK, two have, plus there’s another review on Goodreads. Thank you, readers! I know I’m starting to sound like the dreaded broken record, but please do post your thoughts about the book after you’re done because the more reviews there are, the more new-reader interest there will be. Yay, fun! And if it helps, I’ll tell you something sad: I haven’t had any new Kindle sales in days. Days, people! Clearly, I need to do more promo work, I hope without spending any money or as little as possible. Is this possible? Must I break those eggs to make an omelet?

Well, before I get out those eggs, let me wish you and yours a Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 3rd, 2012

Premium Status and Kindle Love

The good news: The Flower Bowl Spell got Premium Status approval from Smashwords. Whoo hoo! [fist pump] That means they will ship it to Apple (iBooks/iPad/iPhones), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Sony (Sony eReader), Kobo, and Diesel for purchase through those channels.

The bad news: It won’t be up for sale at those places for two to three weeks. Boo hoo! [pout] Smashwords has the book in its shipping queue, they only ships on Thursdays and Fridays (today is Friday, and it didn’t ship), and then it takes another one to two weeks for the book to be available with those purveyors of fine e-lit.

The good news: You Nook, Kobo, and iPad users can upload the book NOW from Smashwords‘ website. You can then download it to your readers. You can find directions on how to do this here. Even Kindle users can do this, although I did upload it separately with a different ISBN (actually, it’s just Amazon’s ASIN, but what do you care really?), so Kindle users can get it NOW on Amazon.

Did I mention it’s 99 cents everywhere! That’s $0.99, in case you missed it the first time.

Next on the agenda: Uploading the paperback version to CreateSpace, wrestling with my website, and drumming up interest from readers/buyers other than my family and friends. Oh boy.

 

January 29th, 2012

Twiddling my thumbs as Amazon uploads my book

Finally, finally, finally! I uploaded my novel, The Flower Bowl Spell, to Amazon for the Kindle. I really hope it looks good. The preview made me worry that the cover and my author photo are going to somehow get converted to tiny pixellated images of cameras with an exclamation point. Still waiting on Premium Status for Smashwords, but have sold a few copies and had some sample downloads, huzzah!

Apologies also for the lack of maintenance on my Publications page. I know, I need to get some hyperlinks in there, and I will make it so, very soon! I promise. This whole formatting and uploading thing has hold of all my attention, and also the strange loss of many of the WordPress widgets when I went from having a straight blog to my own domain name. But that’s boring. The fact is, I was up late last night (that means 1 a.m.—it’s a wild life I lead), trying to figure out where all my sexy widgets went. So that, and putting off my actual paying work has been the M.O. the last couple of days. In fact, I’m starting to feel almost as anxious about it as I do about all the stuff I have to do for indie publishing. Stress—what a motivator!

January 26th, 2012

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.

 

January 13th, 2012

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.