Createspace - Paperback submission done!

In the insanity I label as brilliance, I realized that I needed to go ahead and work on getting my paperback version of Deceived uploaded to Createspace so that I could spend some time working on the formatting and perhaps even review a physical copy before my Aug 29th release date.

Although the createspace website is uber helpful and walks you through every step of the process, I am a hater of Microsoft Word (namely because of my own ineptness), and spent a lot of time yesterday reloading various files to get this page tweaked or that page tweaked.

The cool thing is that by today I'll have 2 copies of the book in my hand! One of course to check every page for formatting errors that yours truly made, and the other for my momma, who would beat me if I didn't give her a first edition - mistakes and all.

With that item checked off my list for now, I'm onto trying to discern which book bloggers to contact to see if I could guest blog, share a copy of my book and get a possible review. I found about 40 that I liked the other day that were taking submissions, and I've used excel (YAY CPA Stuff!!) to create a tracking log, focusing on the blogger sites that have the most hits, followers and who love the genre I'm writing in.


For all my new writer friends out there - what did you do to promote your book and how did it work out for you?


Hope your day is fantastical!
LS.

Virtual Book Tours, and Blogging, and Expo's - Oh MY!

I've realized that I don't need an external hard drive to hold all of my data, I need to figure out (quickly) how to utilize more of my brain... hello Lucy? (Odd, but interesting movie).

I've been researching the idea of virtual blog tours and I really like the idea behind them. Realizing quickly that I could hire 3 people to simply research blogs and create the tour, I've turned to a blogging site that seems respectable to help me put on a tour. I've simply sent them an inquiry, but we'll see where it goes.

For any of my author friends - have you used this and what was your experience?

Blogging is quite a time consuming thing and I find that I rarely get a response from anyone that reads it. Is that the norm as well? I guess in my own adventures I rarely respond on a blog unless posed with a question that I feel I can answer in a manner that might benefit someone, but it is odd writing on a site everyday and not actually conversing with the people reading it. I am quite dedicated to keeping this one alive and trying to remain focused on writing.

I'm far too much of an extrovert for a one-sided convo!

And onto Expo's... what can I say? They honestly seem like a fantastic place to be in order to meet the people in my local community and surrounding cities. Is it fair that I'm taking my teenager and a few of her friends to help me sell the copies of my first book? Having a large bowl of candy (chocolate) on the table doesn't seem like a bad idea either.

Anyone attended an expo and if so, how did it go??

So my head is full of information and trying to process it while starting a bookkeeping business, dreaming about a food truck (next years venture), writing songs and working full time, amongst a few other insane things, is nothing less than exhausting and yet - I'm super excited about simply having one person read my book and find themselves lost in the space known as fiction for simply a moment in time.

Hope you guys are having a fantastic day. :)

LS.