Things are happening!!!

Just when I am beginning to wonder WHEN I might be working on My Roommate’s a Jock (because there is a proposed release of December,) I get an e-mail with a document to fill out asking me for “blurb” details. YAY!!!! I saw the e-mail in my inbox from the publisher and opened it immediately!

It asked for character details/bios and my mind started swirling with Cole and Ellis! Man I miss those guys! I’ve been dying to read through that MS for a while now but held off because I’m consumed with other things right now. But truthfully, I can’t wait to go through the editing process with DSP and “remember” all the things I liked about writing that story! The questionnaire asked things like: What genre fits your story best? I answered Humor (because I think it’s freakin’ funny,) Contemporary, and Holiday (because I originally wrote it with a “Christmas theme” in mind. The original title was Cole for Christmas but there were lots of stories called that.)

This is my original blurb:

It’s easy to become cynical when life never goes your way.

Cole Reid, a college senior, has been a social recluse since the age of fifteen. His obsessive/compulsive behavior, and controlling, sarcastic nature have driven half the population away, where as the other half of humanity hates him because he’s gay. As he sees it, he’s bound to drive any prospective friend away, let alone find a boyfriend, so why bother? After Cole’s roommate of three years graduates, the housing department assigns Ellis Montgomery to his campus apartment. Ellis’ presence is problematic at best. He’s messy for one thing, but he’s also gorgeous, straight, and represents everything Cole has tried to avoid since the tenth grade—he’s a jock!

Amid the chaos of frat buddies, camping expeditions, and meddling parents, Cole and Ellis develop a fast and firm friendship that goes against Cole’s glass-half-empty attitude. Is there more brewing below the surface of Ellis’ amazing blue eyes, or is it simply Cole’s reawakened libido that drives him to look past the fact that his roommate’s a jock and see there’s way more between them than camaraderie?

What do you think? DSP may change it a little because they know more about marketing than I do. But I like the way it sounds. Especially the first two-three sentences!! I am looking forward to seeing what the cover will look like too! Can’t wait!!

So gear up for a sarcastic yet hilarious romp this December! Cole and Ellis, and their friends Rob and Russ, will knock your socks off!

Speaking of covers…. OMGosh! The cover for The Cost of Loving is AWESOME! We are almost finalized with the draft! Little tweaks left. I can’t wait to reveal it. Gotta wait though. The MS is still with the editor. Finishing editing is the next priority. Once that stage is done the rest will not take long. While editing is going on, I have been looking into ISBN#’s and the legaleeze of Kindle disclosure agreement stuff. I’m making sure I understand it before hitting the “accept” button. I have an e-mail in to my accountant. I want to make sure I understand about “collecting taxes” and crap. I don’t think I need to do anything but report my income on my tax return, but it doesn’t hurt to ask my CPA. Self-publishing has lots of steps and costs! The HOPE is that it is worth it in the end. Paying for cover art (including stock photos,) editing, ISBN #’s, possible bar codes, etc. adds up! And then, with it being ME doing all this stuff, I have to set my own price! How do I go about that?

Yes, there is a “guideline” sheet on Create Space etc. I’m not sure how many pages it will end up being. When Love is Not Enough is “officially” 315 pages. My MS (on my computer) is 284 pages. On the pdf there are 4 pages added to the front as normal things like title page & disclaimers. The actual story ends on page 312 with my bio on the next page and two pages of DSP stuff following that. So if I do the math— 315-6=309 for the actual MS pages which is 25 pages more than I had originally. This is due to formatting I figure. This is about an 8% increase. If I take my # of pages of TCOL which is 331 and add 8% that would make 358 pages. That is a long book! What do you think is reasonable? DSP charges $6.99 for WLINE in eBook (when not on sale etc…) and $17.99 for paperback. Are these prices good? I know there are sales and give-always etc and I am sure I will offer the same things when I market TCOL. The Cost of Loving is a longer book but I was considering the same price range. IS that good? You as a consumer, would you pay that? Is it reasonable? Then I THOUGHT I read something in the “rules” about undercutting other places of sale by 20% which would make the price like $5.59 for an ebook I know I am throwing numbers around and thinking out loud but these are things that go through my head. I still have their pricing table/chart to consider.

I know now why publishers like to stay around 100k words because the cost to print it is higher. Even eBook wise because there is a “delivery charge” per megabyte. It’s odd, because you (I) never think of the Internet as having delivery charges but DATA costs to download. Like on my phone plan, for example, I have unlimited Data but some plans you are charged. I guess the same principle applies to Data online. Some Internet is limited and has a charge per kilobyte (or whatever.) And I do NOT get what I charge in case you were wondering. I get a percentage. Create Space and Amazon get the rest. Just like a publisher they give me royalties off the sales. Writing is seriously NOT a get-rich-quick sort of career! And when you hear it said that WRTING the book is the easiest part, they are not kidding! Everything afterwards is work and costs money!

Would I change anything knowing what I’m in for now? No. I guess not. I love my stories and my characters and if sharing them with the publics takes the extra work of self-publishing—so be it! Plus, I’m learning new things! Learning is always good.

So these are my thoughts for now. Feel free to comment below! (I love comments)

Laterz!

Wade