Self-Publishing Blog
On the topic of self-publishing, in print or electronically, fiction or non-fiction. Help for the new author in the new world of self-publishing.
Author L.C. Evans Passes
January 12, 2012 | 
Author It is with great reverence and sorrow that I share the news of the death of L.C. Evans. A fellow author and kind friend to everyone at Kindle Boards, Linda will be missed. The announcement came from Barbara Silkstone early this morning:
It is with great sorrow that I share ~ We lost one of our own last night. Our beloved and lovely lady, Linda Evans succumbed to her battle with cancer.
She fought this disease like a tiger. A lady tiger.
Linda was always kind and generous with her time. She was never too busy to help a friend or respond to a fan. She guided many newbies and held the virtual hands of many old-timers.
Her daughter Jenny will be taking over the promotion of her mother’s books. It would be wonderful if we could support the sales of LC Evans delightful novels to help defray her medical bills. If you are so inclined please post Linda’s bookcovers and links whereever you can.
I have a feeling Linda is watching us right now.
We love you girl!
If you know anyone who reads romance or wants to try it out (or if you’d like to yourself), Linda could spin a tale unlike any other. The proceeds will go toward her medical and final expenses and to her family in this most difficult time. You can look at all of her works here.
When I think about the inevitability and the long, unknown eternity ahead of each of us, I wonder if I will be remembered. Yes, yes, I will be remembered by my close family and friends, and even by some acquaintances, but it is a sneaking thought that creeps up every time something like this happens–will anything I do now matter to anyone after I’m gone?
In looking over the body of comments on the Kindle Boards post and glancing at Linda’s books on Amazon and the reviews, I can clearly see that she will have no problem with this. She will live on, not only through her family and close friends, but through perfect strangers who have enjoyed her work and told others about them. Those little mentionings and whispers across libraries, book stores, coffee shops, and whatever other medium–Linda will live in those forever, a testament to her skill as a writer and her beauty as a person. How many people have been touched by this storyteller, and how many more yet will be touched through the perpetuity of her body of work? More than we can ever know.
Some additional links in remembrance of L.C. Evans:
- The World Has Lost…[a truly talented author, LC Evans] – written by the editor of her final book, Lynn O’Dell.
- L.C. Evans’ Author Central page
- Kindle Boards: LC Evans (announcement)
Thank you for remembering Linda today.
Posted in Personal Blogs, Self-Publishing Blog, Site News | 
Tags: Farewell, LC Evans, Linda C Evans | 
No Comments » Another Christmas, Another New Year
Whew, what a year it has been. A year of good things, a year of bad things, and everything in between. A decision to “restart” myself and my writing (turning the zombie novels loose for free, starting anew with fantasy, for those who haven’t been tuning in).
Thankfully, The Circle of Sorcerers (http://circleofsorcerers.latenitebooks.com) didn’t bomb. If it had, we’d be in a little trouble–no new material for quite some time. But, thankfully, it didn’t. It’s done well enough to support the next book at least, so I can keep going forward with new stories. (And, of course, I owe that to the fans for their support.)
With The Consuls of the Vicariate, I hope to have more. More of everything, and more than anything, I hope people will like it. We saw the conclusion of the story arc with Gustav Drakar in the first book, and we’ll be moving forward to the arc with Andolis Drakar in the second. After that… well, you’ll have to see how Consuls ends to know where we’ll be going next. 
Hopefully, it will be ready in February, and I foresee the third (and the *currently* planned final) of the series out for release in June.
The audiobooks will follow on a schedule that is self-supporting. If there’s enough interest in the first audiobook (which, I must say, has been well-received and is doing well) and it at least pays for itself, I’ll commission the same actor (if he’ll have me) for the remainder of the series.
For now, back to work. Thanks for all the support.
Posted in Mages of Bloodmyr, Novels, Self-Publishing Blog | Tags: epic fantasy, fantasy, Mages of Bloodmyr, novels, The Circle of Sorcerers | No Comments » Pre-publication Reviews: Not for Indies?
With my latest release, I didn’t concern myself much with pre-publication reviews, but I did do them with every release of The Survivor Chronicles. I thought long and hard on the issue, and I decided not to worry about it this time around-instead, I went into overdrive after the release to send out review requests.
Why? I had several thoughts about the issue, and time management, editing to a final manuscript, and time vs. release issues disuaded me from the practice. In this article, I’ll discuss a bit about the pro’s and con’s of pre-publication reviews, what they are, and why they didn’t work for me this time around.
Hatchett Publishing Tries to Validate Itself
A huge legacy publisher. A leaked memo. What does it mean for us? Still, pretty much nothing, but it’ll be fun to poke around and laugh.
So, without further ado, let’s get after it.
The Author Turns 29 Tomorrow
It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the 29th anniversary of my existence. 30 is only around the corner.
What do I want for my birthday? Well, if you’re here reading this, you’ve likely already given it: your support. Even though I’d love to hear more from you guys who visit, I know there are lurkers out there who come by regularly and read the posts, check out the books, and enjoy the works. So, my birthday present has already been fulfilled in the form of the readers who’ve enjoyed my writing and supported the effort.
So, tomorrow, November, 30th, 2011, I’ll be taking a day off. Worry not, though; I’ll be back to work on December 1st, and I should have some very exciting things to announce. Thanks for everything!
Mommy, Where Do Zombies Come From?
I write about zombies, and I’ve found that I don’t talk about them hardly enough. Of course, I’m trying to write the final novel in the series, so there’s precious little time to indulge the blog sometimes. When I have a free minute, I tend to use that for posting tutorials and articles, as well as news and updates about how things are going, but I want to indulge, for a moment, the subject matter of the books: zombies and the undead, specifically those affected by the Revelation virus.
eBook Formatter – Free Tool in Beta
I’ve uploaded a new tool for the other authors out there looking to release their books in electronic format. It is called eBook Formatter.
Formerly known as KindleProcessor, the tool has changed names and been made free to use. Since you can use this tool to format really any kind of manuscript into HTML format and upload it to PubIt! or Kindle Direct Publishing, I decided a more generic name would be better. Oh, and people like “free”, too. So, it’s free now.
Enjoy. It’s currently in the beta stage, but it’s stable. If you find any weirdness or bugs, let me know so I can fix them.
Writing for Squidoo
I’ve been writing for Squidoo for a couple of days, and it really helps me to break writer’s block and get energized for working on the novels. The zombies are coming along at a steady, albeit slow, rate, and I’m deep into editing the fantasy novel.
Anyhow, on Squidoo, I’m writing author help articles, so why not check them out? Here’s a list of Brian Kittrell’s lenses on Squidoo.
Hopefully, I can get the fantasy book finished and get back to the zombies in A World Forsaken quickly. Good stories take time, and I’m trying to make this last book of The Survivor Chronicles something that you can sink your teeth into.
The Very Basics of Covers with Lightning Source Print on Demand
I’ve made a couple of videos (well, cut one long one down, I should say) demonstrating the very basics of cover templates with Lightning Source’s print on demand services
Circle of Sorcerers Cover Art Finalized
I have just about finalized the cover art for The Circle of Sorcerers in both paperback and hardcover. I have included links here to keep the front page loading fast.
Thanks for checking it out, and let me know what you think via comments!
Posted in Mages of Bloodmyr, Novels, Self-Publishing Blog | Tags: circle of sorcerers, cover art, cover design, Mages of Bloodmyr | No Comments » Author Video Interviews in the Works
I’ve always loved watching my favorite writers on video interviews, even if it’s just to answer questions from emails and interviewers not necessarily in the same room. Therefore, I’ve purchased a “home studio kit” after researching the best camera for me. I went under $200.00 for a rather nice setup with a tripod and microphone jack on the camera. I watched numerous reviews on the model to make sure it would do what I want. For the kind of needs I have, I think it will perform more than admirably.
Just wanted to share this with the world out there. I find myself often watching videos from Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman, and the different authors interviewed by Borders and Barnes & Nobles, and it just feels like you’re there in an audience listening to them. You can also portray much more on video than you can with print, so I’m very excited to be more “face to face” with my reader friends and fans starting in September, hopefully.
Like my other videos, I will have to spruce them up with some video editing effects and such for that professional touch, but it should still be a great deal of fun.
As a side note, I am prepared to do email interviews on camera from any interviewer or fan who has questions once I get everything setup. This would be much in the style of your question being shown in text, then video of myself answering it the best I can. It’s guaranteed to be rough around the edges at first, but I will try my hardest to get it right and make the video something worth watching.
Stay tuned!
Distribution to Australia
With all the paperwork turned in, Late Nite Books will soon be available to Australian retailers in paperback (and, when they are produced, hardcover and case laminate).
In addition to the existing distribution network of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and any place which can order from those markets, Australia and Oceania have been added to the global distribution channels.
This is all thanks in no small part to Lightning Source out of Tennessee, my personal neighbor to the north. Thanks, Mary Gnetz and everybody at Lightning Source for the amazing job they do every day!
Do I need an ISBN?
What is an ISBN, and do you need one? If you plan to self-publish your books, maybe. They’re an extra cost for doing business in the publishing landscape, and I’ll explore the pro’s and con’s of having your own ISBN for your book in this article. I do recommend having your own registered to you, but we’ll get into that in a moment.
22,000+ words in two weeks?
And I’m still not fried somehow. It’s been a little over 10 days, and I’ve averaged 2,200 words a day, but I’ve only written for four of those days. I got burned out after the first 11,000 in two days, but I’m back at it.
Why, you ask?
There are two books coming out this year, of course. A World Forsaken is due out by the end of September, and Circle of Sorcerers needs to go to editing by August 21st. It’s mid-July now, that’s why!
Why finish so late, you ask?
There was a lull between book 3 and work on these two titles. Frankly, I got depressed. Real depressed. Sales were declining, a string of terrible reviews were cast, and I lost hope and confidence in my ability. Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? I asked myself on a daily basis. Well, the answer I came up with is simple.
No one is perfect, and very few will write a best-seller when they first get started. Even if you write a great book, there are plenty of people who won’t like it. Forge ahead, find the audience, and speak to their hearts. It’s all you can do.
I’ve never been the egotistical type of writer; I have passion and dedication to what I do, but I don’t think of myself as the best thing since sliced bread. I’m a writer – I write stories, and people either love them or hate them.
I’ve already enjoyed a great deal of success with my stories, so I take that as a sign that somebody somewhere is enjoying them. Although readers don’t often share their feelings in reviews, and no matter how much I wish they would when they enjoyed the books, I get encouragement from those who take time to write to me on here, on Facebook, or through email and tell me about it. So, to the fans, I respectfully say, “Thank you!”
In closing, I’ll summarize: we’re on schedule.
Posted in Mages of Bloodmyr, Novels, Self-Publishing Blog, The Survivor Chronicles | Tags: self publishing, writing | No Comments » Amazon Tagging Returns with Changes
Amazon’s popular tagging feature allows readers and authors a chance to perform search-engine optimization on their favorite titles. In essence, you can add “fantasy” as a tag to fantasy books to help them gain exposure, and other people can tick the box to “agree” to it. The more a keyword is tagged, the better it’s exposure.
Recently, the tagging functionality was taken off from the U.S. Kindle store. Why? To sum it up, there are three commonly-agreed possibilities with no word from Amazon.
- The $9.99 boycott. People were complaining eBooks were priced the same as (or, in some instances, higher than) their paper counterparts. Readers put tags expressing their disdain for it. This was not a small, constrained incident.
- Indie authors participating in “tagging circles”. I did it. It’s good as long as it’s done responsibly. For instance, an author may want more people to tag “fantasy” on his fantasy book. The tag is appropriate for the book. In other cases, authors may want a tag like “Stephen King” to be exposed to people searching for Stephen King, even though the book isn’t, in fact, written by the master himself.
- In a sort of twist to #1, Amazon may have seen undesirable tags like “bad book”, “trash”, and so forth littering the pool. They may have taken a break to remove them or add a word censor of sorts.
What does this mean for the rest of us?
Welcome!
This is the official home page of the Late Nite Books imprint and author Brian Kittrell.Connect with me:
Email: brian@latenitebooks.com
Twitter: @Brian_Kittrell
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