GA COMO

The experience was worth it! Here's how the week progessed and what I got out of COMO. First, I was supposed to be helping out in the SELA booth. I arrived Wednesday afternoon and no one was around for me to know what I could use table wise. So, I set up my books and afghans and could have condensed myself down to half a table if needed. I came in Thursday morning bright and early and found I had been condensed to a corner of the three tables where no one could see me. Talk about feeling dejected. So Gordon finally comes over to the table and tells me that they had a cancellation, so he was going to let me move to that booth and have my own booth - YAY! The moving all my stuff was a pain but it was worth it for 2 reasons. I was placed right next to Rainbow Books (A book distributor) and across from State Standards Publishing. Mimi (State Standards) mentioned Follett (another distibutor) with whom they work, so Friday morning I wandered around and happened upon Follett's booth. Talked with them for a few minutes and they referred me to the Mackin booth (another distributor). I went over to talk to them. So that is three distibutors and a couple of booths up from Rainbow Books was a fourth distributor, Davidson Titles. I met the rep there yesterday and after talking to the folks from Rainbow Books now knew I had to work on getting my books in with the distributors. So I'm in contact with createspace about how distributors would go about getting my books to distribute to the schools. Mimi, with them doing state books, was a good contact since I can get her into the homeschool conferences and she can get me places I need to be for my books - like in with all these distributors - lol. I also talked to several other folks and a couple of the ladies are wanting to publish their books so I've lead them to createspace and my experience and both are going to jump on that bandwagon. The last contact I made was just meant to happen I think. I was about to leave after the author reception and had stopped in the restroom and there was a lady in there. We started chatting as we were leaving and I found out she was staying in the hotel right next to the one I was staying in and that she was heading out to dinner but was carless and was going to try to ge a shuttle or taxi to get somewhere to dinner and then to her hotel. I asked her if she would like to join me at the S&S Cafeteria for dinner since our hotels were right next to each other and I was heading that way and didn't really want to eat alone. She said yes, that it sounded good as she hadn't eaten at an S&S in a long time (neither had I but I was just wanting to eat there since it was near the hotel). I asked her if she wanted to follow me to the cafeteria and that's when I found out she was without a car so we rode together and just being a kind soul and offering some company for dinner and a ride to the hotel, she paid for my dinner. I thank you, Ms. Val. The company was excellent and the dinner was delicious. I did sell 2 books and 36 or 37 bookworms and 2 chances on the red, white, and blue afghan but I think the contacts I made were exactly why I needed to be at COMO this week. I hope everything works out with the distributors and that I can be there next year. Just a note, I went to take picutres of my booth set up and all but my camera wouldn't turn on, so I think the battery is dead and I didn't have my charger so couldn't take pictures. Overall a great time and I'm tired so will bid you all a good night. E :)

Createspace announcement

No, they are not going belly up. No they are not changing names.

I received an email today regarding the Pro Advantage plan on createspace. For those of you who are published with createspace already, you probably received the same announcement. For those of you considering publishing with createspace, some good news for everyone. The Pro Advantage plan has been discontinued, but not to fret you still have the ability to get your books listed in the expanded distribution.

What this means for authors publishing using createspace is what we were paying for books under the pro advantage plan is now the same for every one, which in turn means higher royalties on our sales. The pro advantage allowed us to list our books with Ingrams (bookstores), Baker & Taylor (schools and libraries) and Createspace direct distribution. It would cost us $39 each for the titles we listed with the pro advantage, with a renewal of $5 per year to keep the title active. Now, the expanded distribution is only $25 and from what I'm reading, this is a 1-time payment on each title to get the same distribution as what the pro advantage gave us.

This makes me a happy camper because I have a short book that I just wasn't too thrilled with ordering too many copies at once because it wasn't cost effective and realistically for the cost to print the book and what I'm retailing it for, I wasn't making very much royalty wise. Now that the pro advantage is gone, the book will cost me the same as my state books to print and I can leave it listed through amazon and my createspace store and not have to worry about paying that $39 to have expanded distribution. I won't feel so bad about ordering copies of that book to have on hand now. Doing a happy dance over here for this new announcement - :)

Keep on writing, see you in the postings - E :)

Finally Home Kindle and Nook half-price sale is on

Finally Home is now half price on Kindle and Nook (regular price $3.99; now $1.99). Download your copy soon because this price won't stay up for long. I will return the Kindle and Nook to regular price about noon on December 24. Nook now has egifting so you can purchase a copy and give as a gift to a friend's Nook; Kindle has already had the option of making your purchases gifts. So give a book to someone you know who likes reading something written like a Nancy Drew mystery.

If you do get either a Kindle or Nook copy or you gift a copy to someone and you would like me to send them a personalized message and e-signature, make sure you stop by kindlegraph and request your free kindlegraph or have the person receiving the gift request a kindlegraph.

Also, remember print copies are on sale for $10 with free shipping anywhere in the United States and shipping to be calculated for sales outside the United States at the time of purchase. Print copies can only be ordered via email (eeldering @ gmail . com - no spaces) with the subject of "Finally Home sale". I sign all my print books that I send out, so if you are ordering this as a belated gift, please indicate in the body of the email to whom to make the book and where to send (if outside the United States so shipping can be calculated). I will send you an email directing you on payment. Books will be sent out after Christmas so they should arrive to you or the person you are giving to before Januar 1st but no later than the following week.

Finally Home released

Finally Home is now availsble in all formats. Please visit my website to order a copy or you can get your ebook copy on kindle, nook and smashwords. If you order a copy from any place other than directly from me and would like it "signed" and a personal message added, you can request a kindlegraph here.

Those of you who have preordered a copy, you should have yours by the end of next week - see you in the postings - E :)

Rewriting completed manuscripts, a good idea or not?

Check out my posting on the Writers on the Move blog about whether or not rewriting a completed manuscript is a good idea. Did I make the right move? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Don't forget order your copy of Finally Home and receive a free crocheted bookworm bookmark in your choice of autumn, Christmas, primary, spring, summer or winter colors (all are varigated colors representing the seasons except for the primary colored ones - I just happened to like it and so decided to add it to the mix of seasons). Orders can be placed directly on my website and copies are only $15 which includes shipping. If you plan to give a signed copy as a gift, now is the time to order your copy so that you have it in time to put under the tree. See you all in the postings - E :)

It's here!

Finally Home proof copy is here. If you would like a copy for a Christmas present, now is the time to order. Once I go through the book, I will be releasing it to the public, and since I will be out of town a good bit next week (from Wednesday through Sunday, but not all in the same place - lol), I will be placing an order early Friday morning (from all the orders received between now and Friday morning) to ensure I have copies of books on hand for the Savannah's Children's book festival next weekend and to send out to all who have placed their order early. If you do not place your order with me (send me an email - eeldering@gmail.com with Finally Home order in the subject line) by mid morning Friday, your copy may not get to you in time for Christmas since I will have to place the order for copies after Thanksgiving, but it is possible that your copy could be received in time for Christmas. Usually I need a 2-1/2 to 3-week lead to order books, get them, sign them and place back in the mail. All orders placed between now and Friday will also receive a free bookworm bookmark in your choice of autumn, Christmas, primary, spring, summer or winter (one per book ordered, so if you ordered 6 copies, you could request one of each color - lol). Please indicate which one you would like when placing your order and also remember to tell me to whom to make the book.

Copies are $13 plus $2 for shipping per copy for the first 2 copies; 3 or 4 copies shipping is $5; and over 4 copies shipping will be $10. If you want to order from my website, you can check out the book page here and place an order that way. Email and website orders are direct from me and will be sent from me. If you do not want to email me but order directly through paypal, you just need to use my email addy as my paypal addy. If you want to order from amazon.com, check back the first of next week to place your order. Remember if you order a copy from any place other than a direct order and you want it "signed", you will need to go to kindlegraph and request your personalized note. You do not need a kindle to request a kindlegraph; these can be sent to any valid email addy (they come in as a PDF).

For advanced praises on Finally Home, stop over at Ms. Faye Tollison's site and check out her September postings. See you all in the postings - E :)

Finally Home preorders

Preorders for Finally Home are being taken now. Any order between now and Friday of this week will receive a free bookworm bookmark. Orders may be made from the website or directly through paypal (eeldering@gmail.com). Please indicate to whom to make the books to and which bookworm you would like - autumn, Christmas, primary, spring, summer or winter.

Here are the bookworms for color identification:

See you all in the postings - E :)

Finally Home proof copy ordered

So money is in the bank right at 1 AM. I jumped on createspace and have ordered the proof copy for Finally Home and the republishing proof of Train of Clues. I also ordered 3 more copies of each of the state stories that are published since I have two events next week, back to back. The hope is that I will have my proof copies by Wednesday or Thursday of this week and will be able to release Finally Home officially Friday and order a few copies to have on hand for the Savannah Children's Book Festival the weekend of the 19th. That will be my official launch date if all goes well.

I am getting my new van today - and I can't wait. After that I have tons of errands to run and then come home to work and be available for the class visit with Mr. Hughes' class. See you all in the postings - E :)

Finally Home revisions completed!

I put the final touches on Finally Home tonight. The manuscript has been sent to Heather for her magic touches and hopefully next weekend I'll be able to upload to Nook, Smashwords, and Kindle so it will be available as a download first. Hopefully the print version will be shortly thereafter. I will order the proof copy on the 7th of November and should have that by the end of the week so that I can sign off and say that Finally Home is published.

Don't forget once it is published, you can request an e-signature/personalized message (kindlegraph) here. You don't have to have a kindle to receive a kindlegraph but you do need a twitter account to log in to kindlegraph and start requesting them. A valid email addy will get the file sent to you as PDF.

For more stories and what's coming, visit my website. See you all in the postings - E :)

The Proposal on Kindle and Smashwords

I have posted my short story, The Proposal, on kindle for the low price of only 99 cents. It will be coming to smashwords soon. Hope you all will stop by and download a copy and enjoy an April Fools Day humorous romance story.

UPDATE (10/24/2011): The Proposal is now up on Smashwords and I'm giving away copies for free - all you need is the coupon code here and you can download the story to any reading device you have - Link to book: The Proposal; Your coupon code is EY62X (not case sensitive). Since putting up late yesterday afternoon, I've had two persons get the download and I thank you both. Hope you all enjoy it.

For your free e-signature and personalized message, please visit my kindlegraph page and make a request. You only need a twitter account to sign up for kindlegraphs and you can request from over 2000 authors right now with more being added daily/weekly.

Three other stories will be added in the coming weeks, all for 99 cents, except I'm sure I'll submit one of them as a freebie for 2 weeks and then will revert it back to 99 cents. I'll probably run a few contests in the upcoming weeks for prizes. Stay tuned - E :)

The Proposal cover

Heather has done it again. The cover for The proposal is right on target - The Proposal is an April Fool's Day marriage proposal with many of practical jokes proposed as well. This is a 3rd place winning story for a contest Armchair Interviews ran a few years ago. So, what do you think? - The perfect cover for the perfect fun story - E :)

Finally Home revisions

Revisions are tedious and time consuming, especially when you need to mull over rewriting complete chapters. I've finally figured out what to do with the two chapters I need to rewrite to get the house back in the spotlight. After completing work and before TV time, there will be a couple of hours of revisions and a final read through so that I can get the story to Heather for her magic. Finally Home should be at least epub'd the beginning of next week but no later than the end of the week; the goal being to have it published in some format before Halloween and then hopefully in print format by the first part of November. I will keep you all posted - thanks for sticking by me and anxiously awaiting new stories. - E :)

Bookmark for Finally Home

After being offline for over 3 days, I got in touch with my wonderful illustrator yesterday (really late last night) and asked her if she could do a bookmark so that I could print out a few for an event next weekend and this is what she came up with - the wording on the back is the back cover blurb for Finally Home. I hope to at least have it epublished this weekend and print published shortly thereafter - at least by the first part of November. Let me know what you think of the bookmark.

Heather does such a wonderful job and she did my bookmark up in under 30 minutes. Then there were a few adjustments to be made (size wise) but when I saw it I knew this was perfect - simple yet says everything it needs to say. As soon as I epub the story, it will be linked on my website so you will know where to find it. Remember if you order any book from online or my website or through amazon, you may go here to request a kindlegraph for an esignature and short, personalized note.

There will be a virtual launch party and of course some prizes and giveaways when the book is print published - so stay tuned for that - E :)

Happenings for October/November

During the next 4 to 6 weeks, there will be a lot occurring for both the JGDS series (see that blog) as well as for my other stories.

I will be participating in a sort of blog tour several times in October and November, hosting authors from the Honey Bee Authors blog as well as have some postings about my upcoming releases there; Geography Awareness week, the Sugarfoot festival (where I hope to announce that Finally Home is in proof copy order status), the SCISA teachers' conference in Columbia, SC; GIS Day in Charlotte, NC; the Savannah Children's book festival in Savannah, GA; and of course the release of four other short stories that had been previously published as ebooks. This is exciting because it means Heather will have four more covers for my stories in that time and I will be getting my name out there more and more.

I am still participating in the Writers on the Move monthly blog postings and this month's article is on revising/revisions (keeping in theme with my almost completed revisions of Finally Home. Check out that article on Wednesday on the Writers on the Move blog. Hopefully you all will gain some insight into the revision process.

Next month's posting will be tied in to Geography Awareness week which is November 13 through the 19.

Revisions are almost completed on Finally Home and I hope to have to Heather this weekend for formatting for both print and ebook. I hope to at least get the story ebook published by the 21st of October and print published shortly after that (at least proof copy ordered by then so that I can release it right before Halloween, since it is set around that time). I am trying to come up with a contest for the release of Finally Home to tie it in to Halloween, but am at a loss right now. I will continue working on a contest and make that announcement as soon as I can. Please just keep checking back to see what is going on with Finally Home and release contest. Spook you all in the postings - E :)

WOTM workshop after package

For those of you who didn't have a chance to register for the "self-publishing using createspace" workshop that Nancy Famolari and I copresented last Friday, the handout and transcript are now available here. There are several other packages from previous workshops available as well and you never know when something will be a right fit for your needs. See you all in the postings - E :)

Come visit me at WOTM

I've posted an article about self-publishing on the Writers on the Move blog. Stop by and leave a comment.

Don't forget this Friday is the free workshop that I'm copresenting with Nancy Famolari about self-publishing using createspace. If interested, please register by sending an email to eeldering at gmail dot com with the subject "Createspace Workshop" so that I can put you on the email to receive the instructions and handout. See you all in the postings - E :)

Writers on the Move free workshop

On Friday, September 16, Nancy and I will be copresenting a workshop on self-publishing through createspace - looking at the different ways to go about using this free service. But is it really free? For info on registering for the workshop, check out the Writers on the Move blog.

Hope to see you all in the workshop. We will be using everywherechat again for the workshop. Registration confirmation email will include instructions on how to access the workshop. E :)