I would like to ask for advice/help from any independent authors who come across this blog post.
While the books I would like to publish through Amazon at some point are not done, I am trying to make sure I understand the process before I finish one of the books so I am ready when they are.
Question 1: I was reading through Amazons page on KDP, and such, it mentioned that I have to have exclusive rights to my book to publish them. Do I have to do anything special, pay some company in order to claim I own my book- as in copy right or something- or is it by default mine unless I sold it to a publishing company?
Question 2: What about commissioning the cover of the book? I have commissioned it from a friend and she knows I want it for a book cover. Am I golden to use it as the cover with amazon, because I have permission from the artist?
Question 3: Is there a link you can give me to a good source for independent publishing, in case I have any other questions about the process?
Question 4: What do you suggest about editing? I know there will be errors that I won't catch and I would like to fix that, what do you suggest for getting a story edited before publishing?
Thank you so much, for anyone who helps me to answer these questions!
I have read various tips and such in blogs, but it never hurts to have a nice large rang of advice on a topic.
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About WOVaN Project & Modern Magic:
The search is finished! I did find the story. I also found a whole bunch of old crappy stories I wrote 11 years ago as well. I did find a few old Floppy's which could have more stories. I am glad my parents haven't gotten rid of their old tower yet, we have a new one, but the old one is still nearby and it has a floppy drive, at some point I will boot that old puppy up and about a half hour later I can pop in the floppy and see what is on it, assuming they still work.
WOVaN is coming together nicely. If you haven't guessed yet, WOVaN is going to be a collection of short stories. It will be a series- I have MANY short stories. The first won't have too many, a small collection. There is a completely new story-ish, the first paragraph is from an old story I found, but after that is all new that I have been working on. I think it's at 3,000 words, it might end up as a Novelette and be the focus story of the collection and then a couple shorter stories. We will see how it goes. One story you may recognize from here, but I changed and edited it. Then some older stories I wrote years ago- fixed up and edited.
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| One of many Shrimp we caught. Big suckers. |
How I am doing:
Started my new job last Tuesday! I work 4-10. Yeah, that is right, three day weekends baby. I think I am going to love this job! NDA doesn't let me talk details, but I work for Microsoft thru Volt, game testing. Don't look to me for leaks, I want to keep my job. XP Lol, but I am enjoying it. Bugging and Crashing a Natal (Kinect) game. Fun, fun. The people I work with are so much fun. I have finally found the perfect work environment. I don't want to leave this job anytime soon!
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| Me and a Shrimp. See! Big suckers. |
Friday- I went shrimping with my dad, grandpa and uncle Scotty. Spent time on my grandpa's boat from 6am to about 5pm. Good times. I am happiest on a boat. I want to have my own boat one day and just spend hours out on the water, perhaps a few nights. I love laying down on a boat and rocking in the waves. So calming. I can't describe how relaxing being on a boat is for me. Being on a boat rids me of nausea, that's how relaxing it is.
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| Cute little Dwarf Cuttlefish. |
Oh, lets go to Book corner for a moment:
I still have so many books I want to read, I have over 120 samples waiting to be read and about 34 books I bought or found for free waiting to be read. I recently finished reading Gunship by John Davis. (The links are for Amazon) I believe the third book is due to be released soon, but I am not sure when. I haven't read the second book yet, Glimmeria, but it is on my list- in fact I should grab the sample to remind me. I did rather enjoy the book. It had a nice Firefly feel to it. I can match parallels to some of the characters. While the format of the books was hard to get used to, it was a great story. You grow to like the characters and so you want to continue to see how they are, if they are okay. If you enjoyed the show firefly, you will surely enjoy Gunship.
Right now I am currently catching up on Asimov magazine and then I will be back to reading Blood Skies by Steven Montano (
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| Me at Snoqualmie Falls on Mothers day |
I don't know if this really fits into book corner, its a blog. I stumbled across @Suzisquared on twitter last night and by proxy I found her blog - Vampire Sexual Secrets. I have read a good deal of it by now and I will read more later tonight. But I have fallen in love with her blog and her Vampires. Ideal. That is the best word I can use. I have been seeking out Vampire since I was 4- so ever since I can remember I have gotten my hands on anything Vampire I could and while I will enjoy them on some level, some not, some I do love, but more often then not I would feel something is missing. Her Vampires, are probably the only ones that have made me feel- 'I finally found it.' Like I can take a breath and relax because I have found what I have been looking for all my life. I can't wait to get to the actual story, I am so excited. I have been reading through the other parts of her blog, which talk about her Vampires, the characters, and explaining things. Then I will read the actual story, which I am antici------------pating. Sorry, Rocky Horror Picture Show, can't help it.
Oh, and have you seen the English trailer for Kingdom Hearts? I am so excited to play! Can't wait! Already pre-ordered at Gamestop, and there will be a collectors edition through Gamestop, so when that is pre-orderable I will upgrade to that. Release date is nearly here! 7/31/12!
Alright, I think I have talked enough. Sorry for the lack of Short Story or a WOTDS. Had a busy first week of work, still getting used to it and I am feeling a little off. So what writing I can do I am putting towards WOVaN right now. This blog post- I have been slowly working on since last week. So my apologies, next post I will see what I can put together for you to read. For now, if you haven't read some of my other stories here is the WOTDS Guide and Short Stories Guide. I will leave you with that and back to editing WOVaN for me.
~Nekodra
Nekodra-blog@hotmail.com
@Nekodra
You have questions...I have answers (maybe)
ReplyDelete1) As long as you wrote the story, you're fine. There should be nothing else you need to do to claim exclusive rights. It's your work, you own it.
2) You should get something in writing from your friend either relinquishing copyright of the cover to you or giving you unlimited rights to it (just in case). This of course assumes they created it and didn't swipe it from somewhere (ie they have the right to transfer it to you). Generally this is just to cover your butt in the future.
Once again, otherwise you should be fine.
3) if you have questions about self-publishing etc, I would recommend making an account at kindleboards.com and visiting the Writers Cafe. There are a ton of authors there at all levels of experience and many of them are very helpful.
4) editing is a big debate amongst writers. Regardless, whether you pay for it or get your friends to help you, you should have a 3rd set of eyes checking out your work.
For a first work, to keep costs down, I would recommend a proofreader for typos and multiple beta readers for story suggestions. That being said, if you have the cash a full out editor is always the best choice.