Author Camela Thompson
Connect with me!
  • Home
  • Books
    • All The Pretty Bones
    • Blood, Spirit, and Bone
    • Visions & Bones
  • Events
  • Blog
  • About Camela Thompson
  • Contact

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

5/29/2016

4 Comments

 
by Camela Thompson

When my publisher announced they were going out of business, my first response was panic. The fear stemmed from the unknown learning curve I faced, not the rush to find another publishing house. I had been debating whether or not to move over to self-publishing, and the end of Booktrope gave me the nudge I needed. My day job as an analyst involves a lot of focus on planning for the future, but this time I had no idea what to expect.

Patricia D. Eddy is my editor and a life saver. She talked me off the ledge a few times and reassured me by giving me simple next steps. I signed up for a state and city business license, negotiated terms on the creative contract with my team, and then set about deciding what to do with my books. I didn't want to lose momentum I had gained from a sale back in March, but I had no idea what I needed in order to get my books up on the major platforms. 

Publish as is or make updates?

Knowing I had a month to get the new versions prepared gave me plenty of time to give the writing in All the Pretty Bones a facelift. I didn't change the storyline or characters, but I changed some of the language. Writing is a lot like playing an instrument or painting. No matter how long you practice and perform, there will always be something that can be learned and improved upon.
Picture
All of this work didn't go over well with my assistant.
Which formats?

Layout seemed like a black art to me. I've done graphic design in the past, so cover design doesn't intimidate me as much as interior layout. The thought of learning multiple programs to format for ebook and print seemed daunting. There's also the matter of sales volume. Around 99.9% of my sales volume comes from ebooks. I'd like to make the print version available eventually, but I'm not feeling a lot of pressure to do so in the immediate future.

Which platforms?

A self-published friend recommended I forgo publishing for the Nook. After reviewing sales, I decided to move forward with establishing an account with Nook Press and questioned signing up with iBooks. In the end, I signed up for the following:
  • Nook
  • KDP (Amazon)
  • iBooks
  • Kobo
My books aren't currently available on Kobo, but the platform is popular in Canada, and international Bookbubs can be more affordable (at the time of writing). So far, every platform has been very straight forward to use once you have a formatted file to upload.

How the heck do you edit layouts?

Like I mentioned, this started as a complete mystery and fueled my one freak out evening. Which is ridiculous now that I've worked with Vellum. It's awesome. If you have a Mac, I wouldn't recommend anything else. I can format a book in under an hour, which is freaking fantastic.

Like I mentioned, prepping the print version hasn't been a priority, but I'm told I'll need InDesign and a lot of whiskey.

Where does this leave me?

I'm pleased that my books will be offline for a minimal amount of time. My files are uploaded and ready to go. Now I can focus on wrapping up the final proofs for book three and start writing again. It has been strange to not have the chance to write. I can't describe how much I'm looking forward to falling back into a routine.
4 Comments
Stacy
5/31/2016 11:28:08 am

This is fantastic news! Thank you for all of your hard work!

Reply
Camela Thompson link
5/31/2016 01:06:15 pm

Thank you for reading my books!! It's nice to know the effort is well spent.

Reply
Sue
6/2/2016 09:04:15 am

That's good news. I am looking forward to reading the third installment.

Reply
Camela Thompson link
6/2/2016 08:09:48 pm

Now that the books are back up (almost), I've emailed my cover designer 😊 I hope to have a cover reveal out to my email list very soon. I'm so glad you are enjoying them!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Camela Thompson

    I'm a Paranormal Thriller and Horror writer by night and a Business Analyst by day. My left brain and right brain get in arguments from time to time.

    My Books

    Categories

    All
    All The Pretty Bones
    Dogs
    Fiction Writing
    Guest Post
    Horror
    Influential Writers
    Interview
    Lupus
    Nonfiction
    Non Fiction
    Recipe
    Review
    Social Media
    Stalker
    Vampires
    Writing Conference
    Writing Tip

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    July 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

© Camela Thompson. All Rights Reserved.
Contact | About Me
Proudly powered by Weebly
✕