Archive for November, 2011
Books, eBooks and Links
Posted by: | CommentsHere are some interesting book links I found recently. I haven’t checked them out thoroughly so make up your own mind on their value!
New York Times – Jacketcopy Blog
It has an interesting survey of ebook readers and Kobo was ahead of Kindle. Way to go Canada!
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BookGlutton – share your opinions with other book readers
Writer’s Digest – always a popular favourite
Auxilary Memory – a blog entry about online bookclubs and cataloguing your own library.
… and, of course …
Goodreads – an Amazon affiliate where you can vote on our books!
Ebooks are here to stay!
Posted by: | CommentsNow halfway through our 2011 Christmas Craft Show season, I can safely say that ebooks are here to stay … I actually love them myself and who would have thought!!
We are getting so many requests as to whether our books are available on ebooks (they haven’t had time to read our info sheet yet) or they have noticed it and comment that they will definitely be buying them on Kindle, Kobo, Sony, iPad or their Smartphone. So many options now. I’ve also been able to adjust Robert’s thinking that this is a good thing … except for one thing – we have lots of books in the basement to sell so we’re a long way from switching totally to technology!
With so many books and so many readers that live at a distance from us in the Pacific Northwest in British Columbia, this is definitely the way to go. From our sales reports and the cheques coming in, I know how popular eReaders are first hand. If we can get readers to purchase many books instead of just one (due to their meeting us at a local market then not purchasing again due to high shipping costs), we can only be winners.
A fantastic bonus of ebooks is the ability to make the print larger … far easier on the eyes than using a magnifying glass for those with vision issues. I demonstrate my Kobo’s varying font sizes at the shows and people are amazed. I think we should be selling ereaders too!!
The other bonus for us is that our books will be available to an international audience even when we can no longer sell our paper books at markets. Of course, we’ re hoping this day is a long time in the futu
re, but what do we know!
So please pass the word to all your ebook reading friends who love good historical novels, and we thank you 
I needed more editing time … just get on with it!
Posted by: | CommentsRepublished from our old blog but still time appropriate:
Yes, the manuscript achieved its first deadline and went to the printer (Friesens in Canada). I mean, we don’t play around, these books are printed for real not POD (print on demand … translated aka one-at-a-time). We tried that with our first book and it wasn’t worth the money etc. We also tried a small POD print run a couple years ago (for our galley copies) and weren’t happy with the quality … a year later when we ran into them and complained, they told us they were having trouble with their printing press. In fairness, they did reprint the copies we had left but their effort was too little too late. POD has come a long way, but we’re not ready for it just yet.
We have always given our readers the best bang for their buck and that’s one reason they are repeat customers. This requires a bit of extra effort and expense. It also means that if you don’t get it right the first time it can add hundreds, perhaps thousands of extra $ onto your next printing costs. That doesn’t count the lost sales due to poor quality and perhaps most important … bad critique from readers. Believe me, that kind of news travels fast these days.
But I digress, the subject is my editing. Actually, the issue was my lack of (time to do the) editing. This is something like the TV show I love to watch … Flip This House … a husband and wife team take a product and under a tight time schedule turn an old house (read unfinished book) into a dream house (read money-making novel)! Hey I like that analogy and, yes, I often get ideas from watching TV!!
Race For A Treasure - our latest (2008) stand-alone co-written novel was planned to arrive for an early November deadline to begin our Christmas Craft Show season – well our plans began going awry as soon as we sent it to the printer. One of those unforeseeable problems arose and after some extra work with the printer, it is finally on track but will be 1-2 weeks late!
I have to hand it to Friesen’s thought, they have done their darndest to keep me on track!
So, the lesson for this issue … you must get it right the first time!! Time wasn’t on my side this year and it’s hard to admit to my husband and our eagerly waiting fans that I am not Super Woman after all!!
During the editing process there is so much to deal with that time can easily get away from you. Your brain can only work so quickly (especially when you’re in that ‘senior’ category). You simply do your best, BUT make sure it produces a book you are proud to put your name on and it hasn’t cost you your last $.
The editing process is so complicated and I have so much to share while it’s still fresh in my mind … let’s make it a separate issue … so until next time.
Happy editing and publishing.
I love WordPress!
Posted by: | CommentsWhat a great invention! Anyone in business knows that an impressive website is a must these days and I have been working on webpages for over 20 years (from the beginning of the internet). Finally our 2 websites are once again getting organized and I couldn’t be happier. They have certainly evolved since my first Netscape page so many years ago!
Today I’m also using the WordPress widgets from iThemes (and I’m learning Builder as well) which makes it a lot faster as they do so much of the setup for you. iThemes is a great help considering I am getting so slow at this. I hope you enjoy your visit … stop by often or subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up with my additional tips for authors and self-publishers.
Take a look at our main website … if you’ve visited before, it is now so much easier to find things and use the shopping cart. I have so much more I want to add, including photos and a video, I wonder how long it will take me to figure it all out (including finding the time)!!
Thanks for visiting.
JRobertWhittle.com is live again!
Posted by: | CommentsYes, with Tara’s help yesterday, we managed to get the Store and website completed so we’re now officially back in business!! Thank goodness … that was so tricky and a huge rush before beginning Christmas shows this weekend. I realize that unless you are a member of our Fan Club or receive our emails which we are now sending out (Vancouver Island went out on Wednesday), you may not even realize we were having major issues. We hope you’ ll visit more often now!
The rest of the emails (Canada, USA, England, Australia, Germany etc) will go out next week.
This website still has some links to change to the new site but if you are having a problem here, go to jrobertwhittle.com and take a look around.
Don’t forget to support your local crafters and artisans … have some fun and take in a craft show or two in your own area this weekend You’re supporting local business and possibly even your friends. You could be pleasantly surprised with all the different wares crafters have these day, and the price is always less than store-bought. Make sure to check quitting times as hours at many shows have shortened due to less traffic in the evenings. Thanks!
