Website Finished

Another project was my website which I am happy to say I sent for publication today 28 June, 2008. It took me about three weeks to build that thing. Again, like I mentioned before, I am no computer guru. Sometimes I question my own sanity as to why I get myself into things like this that I know nothing about. I think it boils down the fact it was a challenge as well as a money issue of course. It is always cheaper to do things yourself right? Plus doing it yourself gives you ultimate control over the outcome.

Again I can say I learned so much by the experience and it's always good to learn something new although I can say I am quite thankful that is done. Again at times I was pulling my hair out but it really turned out well and I can always revise it if I think I need to when I learn more about designing websites. It should be up and running but the 30th of June. Please visit at www.faeriemoundbooks.com. You can read an excerpt from my novel Haversham Hill and inform yourself about other things I am working on.
Happy reading. Sunni

First Book Published

My first book, Haversham Hill, was published on 16 May, 2008. As you can imagine that was a happy day for me. A big accomplishment fulfilled. It is now available to buy at Amazon or in my Createspace E store.

All this came about, or maybe I should say came about sooner, because of my entry into the ABNA Breakthough Novel Award contest put on by Penguin Books and Amazon. I had already written this piece but that gave me cause to polish it out in time to enter it. Of course there can only be one winner and out of 5000 entries the odds weren't too good at being that one. You ask if they were to hold the contest again would I enter it? Absolutely. It was a very good experience for me and there are some awfully good writers out there.

As a result of being an entrant I had the opportunity to self publish my novel through Createspace. This was another experience. Working with them was great and I will use them again but everything you have to go through is something else again. That is if you are no computer guru - like me.First off everything had to be put into a PDF file and uploaded to the publisher. One file for the insides and one file for the cover. I hardly knew what a PDF file was much less how to make one. That entailed a month of research on my part while I pulled my hair out and anguished over it until I finally found a program I could work with that would make PDF files. Now it is so easy I wondered why it took me a month to figure it out. I probably shouldn't even admit that. I am an endless pit of story ideas but when it comes to computers and computer programs I really do need a show and tell.

The cover was the next challenge to tackle. Createspace gives you a template to work with so that part is all fine but it had to be done in Photoshop or some program similar to that. I am not at all familiar with programs like that as I have never had any call to need a program like this. This is where the indie author guides helped me tremendously. There is a fellow ABNA entrant who posted the how to's on her website. I could easily follow the cover instructions step by step. Now she has the guides published in one book to help indie authors with the whole process. I highly recommend it if any of you are thinking about an endeavor of this sort.

I know there are some of you who will wait to get picked up by a publishing house the old fashioned way but I think it is highly unlikely for a publisher or agent to take a chance on a new unknown author. I really see self publishing as a wave of the future. It fits in so well with the world wide web and the times we live in.With self publishing you have the satisfaction of doing it all yourself, the price is reasonable, the royalties are probably better than what you'll get with old fashioned publishing unless you become a big name, and you keep control over your work. I would recommend it if there is someone out there who wants to publish a book. As a reader, I am not concerned about purchasing a self published book if it is an entertaining read.

To those of you out there going through this process, I say never give up. You can do it. It was a big learning curve for me but it is always good to learn something new. Right? And I am much smarter now so the next one will be easier.If you would like to read an excerpt from my book or to buy my book please visit my website at: www.faeriemoundbooks.comIt should be up and running by the 30th of June, 2008. Blessings. Sunni


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