Archive for Joyce Sandilands
Introducing our eBooks …
Posted by: | CommentsMoved from our “Books, Marketing and Self-Promotion” Blog … originally posted June 2011, now updated:
Great news! All our books are now available in ALL formats at Smashwords.com … in June we added Kindle to that site although they have been available at Amazon.com/kindle for a year now. So now we eagerly wait to see how they will be accepted … or if they are even found! We have put this off for many years waiting to see how ebooks would be received and also how secure they were from being copied … so this summer we took the plunge into the new revolution in book distribution.
Here’s an interesting tidbit of Amazon fair trade … if you’re Canadian and buy your Kindle ebooks direct from Kindle, you are not helping the author or publisher get their fair share. Amazon keeps half of the commission (35%) whereas if you are a US purchaser, the author/publisher gets 70% . We have Kindle books available at Smashwords if you wish to help us out!!
We recently had a free giveaway of one of our ebooks via our J Robert Whittle Fan Club page on Facebook . If you’d like to receive these special offers, go on over to our FanClub Page and join us. Don’t forget to set your FB notifications to receive emails.
In these tough times, we want our books to be available to the countless thousands of supporters who have been there for us in the past 12 years and to the other countless thousands who have heard about our books via media publicity and word of mouth … so if you like our books, now you don’t have to pay shipping or visit Victoria, BC to purchase them. Naturally, we’d love it even more if you decided to buy our paperback books through our website but hey, we understand!
Where can you find our ebooks?
Smashwords.com is a unique ebook provider for self-published authors and they work FOR the author (because the owner, Mike Coker, is an author and knows how tough it is for us). Also, Smashwords is presently in negotiations with Amazon and it’s now looking like ebooks in the Smashwords’ Kindle format will be available on Kindle at the end of 2011. This could be a benefit to both readers and authors but time will tell what happens as it could also be confusing.
I have now had my Kobo eReader since my birthday in March and absolutely love it. I was having some issues with it crashing and the WiFi not downloading my books, so they replaced it and allowed me to upgrade to the new model … the one with the touch screen. That happened in early June and I’ve read almost 5 complete novels since then. Not bad considering I haven’t read for my own pleasure since I started editing Robert’s books! I find I’m a much faster reader now which really shocked me!! A week ago, I bought my first Smartphone, a very new Samsung Android, Galaxy S2. So, now I have both Kobo and Kindle handy at all times.
I think I would rather read than work 
If you read ebooks solely on your computer … I liked Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). I’m able to categorize my books into genres, purchased, etc.
If you’re a writer who is considering epublishing, I highly recommend Smashwords.com and the Facebook Group: Indie Author Group … a highly motivated group of authors and wannabees who share info and promote with and through like-minded souls. Come check it out.
So, thanks for visiting … and happy reading to all!!
Part 2: Can a self-published author (of fiction) succeed?
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Publishing our first book, Lizzie: Lethal Innocence
Our first book was ‘Lizzie‘ and the print run was 500 copies (Dec 1998). This was the recommended ‘test’ print run in those days and was the only printing we have ever had to borrow money for … and it was our own!! “Part 1″ explained the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing via a large publisher, today referred to as ‘professional publishers.’ I don’t give them capitals because I, myself, am also a ‘professional publisher and feel I have earned the title too!’
The loan lasted only 3 months … the time it took Robert to gain the confidence to sell 500 copies of our first novel at coffee shops, grocery store lineups, the recycling depot etc.. We even had money in the bank at this point and printed our next run of 1,500 copies of the same book! The following year we printed a further 4,000 copies (they were selling like hotcakes as word-of-mouth spread!).
The sequel to ‘Lizzie,’ Lizzie’s Secret Angels was launched on April 1st with a big party at the Victoria Art Gallery. 
This was the only ‘book launch’ we ever planned – there simply was never enough time. Besides which, one of the things we did for marketing was to collect their contact information and this was before the Internet! We began by phoning and sending snail mail to our customers and then later, used email. Our launches happened regularly after that, each year at a market or Christmas Show. It worked well enough for us.
I was early on to receive the math lesson from my husband that graduating to larger print runs meant less money paid up front and more in our pockets with each book sold. We began selling from our booth at markets (1999), craft fairs (1999), and the ferry terminal (2000). We have never looked back!!! Of course, the icing on the cake was when we reached 5,000 copies in the first 2 years (Canadian standards for a bestseller).
I hear there are not many indie-publishers that can boast about this kind of success and it has continued for us for 13 years. Oh yes, it has been hard work for both of us, especially with the economic upheavals of recent years.
As an aside here, I should admit that we made a few mistakes along the way. If you are a new writer and ‘wannabee’ an author, you can learn from these mistakes. That would prove that I am doing a good job with this blog! Read about our Mistakes in Part 3.
Note: In case you happened on it, I had an earlier blog called: Of Books, Marketing and Self-Publishing … but it’s now closed and some of the posts will eventually show up here, along with a couple blogs on my hobbies.
Outdoor markets are winding down, winter shows … I won’t say it!
Posted by: | CommentsLast Thursday was the last Sidney Street Market and already it’s September. Where did those three months of summer go?! In hindsight it seems a mere long weekend in time! I guess that’s what happens when you’re busy and life seems to be passing all too quickly.
Meanwhile, Robert is still busy selling books to cruise ship tourists and whoever else is walking Victoria’s streets and happen on his Bastion Square Market. He’s had a good run of it overall, despite the lack of sun until June. Tourists didn’t arrive until July either. He works so hard and this master salesman (as many call him) looks only to the positive, although he will be happy to finish once the cold weather sets in. They finish two weeks early this year at the end of September bowing to economic factors.
I’m still cutting the dandelions from our dry ‘grass’ and trying to find time to begin ‘wintering’ the garden. I’ve enjoyed all the flower baskets Robert did up (a huge hobby of his) and brought onto the patio for me to enjoy from the kitchen window (and water)! You see, we have those 4-legged critters who love to chomp off all our flowers … deer they are called and anything but dear to me … the bane of a garden’s existence in our area (and many others across North America I hear by the news).
So, now that my Blog is starting to look like a blog, enough of this indoor stuff … I’m going to take advantage of the sun … finish the lawn and take my frustrations out on some pruning …
Yes, we’re on eBooks!
Posted by: | CommentsThis post has been copied from the Newsletter Page on our main website at www.bestsellingbooks.ca
HOT NEWS!! EBOOKS … EBOOKS … yes, ALL OUR books are available as ebooks at Amazon/Kindle (USA, UK and Germany) and Smashwords.com (includes Kindle but here they are DRM free). Also available at your favourite ebook store (Kobo, Sony, iPad etc.).
Yes, the big news in books these days are eBooks and we are continually being asked if our books are available as eBooks. The answer is YES and we are seeing ebook sales increasing every month, especially via Kindle! The wonderful part is that readers are now able to afford to purchase more than one book … our ebooks are all under $8 and sometimes we offer specials through Smashwords and our 
Facebook FanClub page.
Formatting all our books for eReaders was Joyce and Tara’s project for 2010/11 and we’re happy to announce Kindle and Smashwords have them all. Smashwords has more up-to-date files as Joyce reads them again herself and tweaks those minor errors that are now easier/less costly to correct than on a printed book.
A TIP: unless you want to miss some of our news and future ebook specials, you must join the J Robert Whittle Fan Club
* A note on Kindle purchases … GREAT NEWS … Kindle is now giving us full commission for all purchases from Canada and UK … as Amazon bows to pressure from International authors, we are thrilled to be able to make it easier for our Kindle customers!
I have owned my own KOBO ebook Reader (Chapters Brand) since March ’11 so I can speak from experience on this subject. I simply love my Kobo, but it did have some issues early on and I was thankfully able to replace it with the new Kobo Touch which arrived in June. It’s a lot easier to read in bed now (no heavy books) and so easy to turn the page (you touch it very lightly). I even have several books on the go at the same time for the first time in my life. I have now read 3 novels which I would never have done by carrying a book around with me!
I never waste time in a doctor’s office etc. anymore … it’s great!
Everything about the New Kobo Touch is superior to the earlier model. They have done a great job. I rarely get time during the day to read, but I have everything from novels (our own included which I have never had time to re-read!), business books, motivational books etc., and with the Touch, it always leaves you the last 5 book covers to easily open next time you turn it on. It bookmarks your page so it opens to that page when you open each book.
This is also the solution for LARGE PRINT … people are discovering eReaders due to their ability to enlarge the text size and change the font, making it just right for people who previously needed large print books (I make mine larger too). So much easier to hold instead of a heavy book for my arthritic fingers.
Did You Know … you don’t have to own an eBook Reader … there are many FREE programs and Apps. available for computer, Smart Phones and iPods. One I recently discovered is Bookworm for all ePUB formats (not for Kindle). Kindle has their own FREE eReader. Adobe Digital Additions is great and free for ePub versions as well. I also recently found out about the iPod App for Kindle which a friend uses.
A New Beginning
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome to my newly formatted website … now a blog. I will have some fun putting this together as time goes by but for now we are under construction as I learn how to put things where I want them.
I have several other blogs but this is the first fancy one which I can dress up (format) to my heart’s content! I’ll introduce you to some of the other things we do in our spare?? time and what I/we did in the past. As always, however, I must remember that I am actually working because this is all so much fun for me I sometimes forget the working aspect!
So I’ll just remind you that our main website is still BestSellingBooks.ca aka JRobertWhittle.com
This is where you will find all 10 of my talented and handsome husband, J Robert Whittle’s amazingly popular books which remain my focus and will for many years to come. Many of our novels are set in the area where we live – Victoria, BC and the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Robert still sells the books at Bastion Square and I am still publishing, producing and looking after the websites.
From the time we started writing/publishing books in 1998, our original website morphed into different things and finally ended up as our Indie-Publishing Blog Of Books, Marketing and Self-Promotion Blog with tips and links for self-publishers (the old terminology). I will eventually incorporate that blog into this one as I rarely have time to post there anymore, but that’s in the future.
If you don’t know about our books these bestselling (3) and award-winning (2) novels are the product of my husband J. Robert Whittle‘s amazing imagination and natural talent which we fortunately discovered in 1995. The books are only available through our website, craft shows and craft markets in British Columbia, Canada and a few select local bookstores in Victoria, BC and Vancouver Island. Phone calls are also welcomed (250-477-0192) and we encourage local residents or visitors to phone us and make arrangement to either pick up books (save shipping charges) or we will deliver for a much smaller fee.
To find out more about us, how I met Robert (his Bio) and why we do what we do, read both our biographies. When I published the first of our books in Dec. 1998, weren’t we surprised when people wanted more!
A New Novel … ‘Race for a Treasure’
Posted by: | Comments November 18, 2008 (transferred from our former Whitlands Publishing blog)
From award-winning authors J. Robert Whittle and Joyce Sandilands comes a new international adventure / mystery novel.
Race For A Treasure has a myriad of wonderful characters and events move along as all of the Whittle’s page-turning novels tend to do. The novel uses Spain’s well-known reaction of suing anyone who locates an old Spanish shipwreck containing treasure so they can claim it as their own.
The Coolridge Family is not about to let them in on
their secret, however, and try desperately to outwit them as they travel halfway around the world to Vancouver Island, BC. Adding a little romance to the plot adds a different twist as the family confides in several people willing to help them along the way. Travelling across the South of England and then to Spain turns it into a rollicking cops and robber-type mystery. Tossed into the mix is a generous amount of history and international locations.
Again, a Whittlesque novel that will surely be enjoyed by young and old alike … and, at last, a novel for teen boys!
