A Lesson on Indie Pub from a Woman Who Knows Nothing---you're welcome

First of all, PHEW, we survived the birthday bash!

I said I was going to talk about Indie Pub today.

All I’m sayin’ is…it took me a minute to figure out what Indie Pub even stood for.

A bar crawl through British Bars?

“First I’m heading to the Pig and Finch Pub, then I go on to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Tavern, and I’ll end at the Black Friar.”

Since I’m alone this is an indy pub crawl right?

Indie Pub….someone who publishes novels about car races? No, that’s Indie 500 Pub.

Anyway, what this amounts to is, I’m wandering in the wilderness (yes, I’m going from a British Pub reference to Moses, stay with me, there is a prize at the end)

So Indie Pub….Independent Publishing? Individual Publishing, India Publishing?

What it boils down to is I KNOW NOTHING about publishing my own books.

I like to think I know how to WRITE them, but then at that point, it’s someone else’s job.

And by ‘someone else’ I mean RUTHY.

Yep, Ruthy is who found me in the desert and drew me back into a place where people cope and talk to each other and use fancy electronic stuff like a computer and Amazon and such.

So we had to WRITE THE BOOK. (honestly, sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle!)

Then we had to get it to Ruthy….a huge GAP HERE in that no one edits it.

Mary, the queen of the simple misssspelllld words has no EDITOR??? No one to notice all the words Spell Check missed?

I type ‘THE” “hte” about 90% of the time and with spell check….well, I had to go back and retype ‘hte’ because my computer fixes it. They have spell check in Blogger comment boxes now, on my email. Once in a blue moon I’m forced to go type something without spell check and it is SHOCKING how sloppy I’ve gotten when someone else fixes my mistakes for me.

THERE IS A METAPHORE FOR ALL OF LIFE THERE…..Just FYI.

So I hired an editor. I was almost giddy to get Aaron McCarver to do it for me because he was my editor at Barbour for years and I loved working with him.

Then I fixed everything exactly as Aaron told me to do. (he works well with comma addicted people) and sent it to Ruthy who kept sending us stuff from The Killion Group like…book covers. They also formatted it, which is a word that means something about not using the tab button I guess??? Anyway, they know this stuff and formatted it so it was all ready to upload.

They were terrific to work with and I understand they would have uploaded it for us, too, but of course we had Ruthy to do that. And also that might not be true.

What really struck me about this whole process was…do you remember the old Vanity Publishing days? I know so many people who paid THOUSANDS of dollars to own an overpriced book they couldn’t get in bookstores. That was what self-publishing looked like not THAT many years back.

PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT.

Do not let some company tell you that for only $4000 they will do it all for you. They will edit, they will create a cover, they will print and ship books to you. Which you will then either have to go out on a speaking tour to sell, or you can trip over them in your garage for all eternity, leaving the disposal of them to your grieving children after your death. (Upside, by the time they’re done they won’t be nearly as sad that you’re dead)

And now the book is coming THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!

To celebrate I am doing FOUR giveaways today.

I’ve got a novella just out called The Advent Bride. NOT indy pubbed but it’s ebook only and costs $0.99. It’s part of The 12 Brides of Christmas.

The Advent Bride...which costs $0.99 so if you don't win, seriously consider buying it. It's ebook only and it's book #1 of a twelve book series of Christmas novellas called The Twelve Brides of Christmas.

New--The 12 Brides of Christmas! You're invited to a Christmas wedding...that is twelve of them! Discover the joy of an old-fashioned Christmas romance with these twelve heart-warming stories. Brand-new stories from renowned inspirational fiction authors will take you into the heartland of historical America. Releasing each week starting October 6, you'll want to read all of them.

#1: The Advent Bride Melanie Douglas is alone on the Nebraska plains, teaching school to get by. She finds a unique box with hidden drawers to use over the advent season to engage a young boy in his schooling. When Henry O’Keeffe sees a positive change in his son, he has to see for himself what this new teacher is doing.

Next Pammy Hillman, my Seekerville Buddy and I are in this same collection!
I'm giving away her book, too. The Evergreen Bride!

The 12 Brides of Christmas book #3

Mississippian Annabelle Denson dreams of visiting cousins in Illinois and seeing a white Christmas. In the face of her excitement, Samuel Frazier hides his growing affection for her behind a quiet smile and a carpenter’s lathe. Samuel starts to worry that if she goes, Annabelle won’t return. Can he convince her to stay?

 

 

THEN (yes hang in there, more giveaways) Hope for the Holidays-Historical Bundle

Four award-winning and best-selling inspirational authors take you back to times gone by with this heart-warming collection of old-fashioned romance at its best! From 20th century Boston to the forested hills of 19th century Idaho, these talented romance writers offer a taste of faith, hope and love in this delightful collection.

Including my contribution to the collection..."Sophie’s Other Daughter" by Mary Connealy ...this is Sophie McClellen from Petticoat Ranch, she had four daughters and this is the story of the fourth one....Laura McClellen is just answering a call for her big sister, Doctor Beth, at the Reeve's home. (I told Beth's story in my Rita nominated book Doctor in Petticoats) Ike Reeves shows up for a surprise Christmas visit, exhausted and filthy. Ike claims the right to escort Laura home and outlaws after Ike turn a simple ride into a fight for their lives.

And Hope for the Holidays-Contemporary Bundle ...

yes you're reading that right CONTEMPORARY. I wrote a contemporary.

If it helps ease your fears that I've abandoned the BRAND....it's a contemporary cowboy....so it should be okay.

Six heart-warming romances from award-winning, best-selling and multi-published authors will make you smile your way through the holiday season... and beyond! In today's busy, commercial world these sweet stories remind us of the true spirit of Christmas: faith, hope and love... and the greatest of these is love! Six happy reads at one low price! Merry Christmas!

Including my contribution to the collection...."Hope for Christmas" by Mary Connealy the hero of this book is Tanner Harden IV...great-great-great (oh who knows how many greats???) grandson of Belle Tanner and Silas Harden....Kelsey is alone, lost, pregnant, stuck in a blizzard and surrounded by wolves. And then things get worse.

The last two are our INDIE PUBBED SEEKERVILLE NOVELLA BUNDLES!! We teamed up and wrote a bundle of Christmas stories...and they are both ebook only and cost $2.99-each.

I'm giving away one each of all four of these books today...to four separate winners. Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing.

http://www.maryconnealy.com