AN INDIE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY: Happy Book Birthday!

 

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I’m delving into the world of indie publishing. Some authors go the quicker route and use a source like Kindle Direct to immediately get their books out there.

There’s nothing wrong going that route but I’ve decided to take a different path.

 

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I’m flying higher than a kite because today is my big day…

 

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO

LUNADAR: HOMEWARD BOUND!

 

It’s been a long three years, with the past nine months being truly a labor of love. I’ve spent every spare moment poring over author/publisher decisions covering areas including revisions, beta readers, more revisions, editing, and you guessed it…more revisions! I worked with my artist from my book cover concept to the final product. There is even a map of LUNADAR I sketched and put the original in a frame to take with me on book signings. I envisioned the details of my book trailer and found a company to produce it. I worked on all the legal stuff to set up Story Catcher Publishing, including setting up my accounting system, bank accounts, tax ID, business name, etc. Then I went to work on promotional items like postcards, banners, sell sheets, and I’m finalizing my media kit. I’ve labored over marketing…sending out flyers, letters, postcards…gave away free copies of the ebook, set up an educator’s Pay It Foward program, created the TWELVE WEEKS OF LUNADAR freebies giveaway, and awarded prizes for members of my LUNADAR STREET TEAM who left an honest book review of LUNADAR on Amazon. I’ve lined up book parties and book signings, with many more to come. I’ve even gone so far as to create props to include on classroom visits. I’ve covered all my bases and then began a countdown to when my “baby” would become a reality.

Now that LUNADAR is finally here, it’s time to give YOU, my lovely followers, some book “birthday” presents to help celebrate this grand occasion…

 

audio book

 

PRESENT NUMBER ONE:

 

The winner from week three of my TWELVE WEEKS OF LUNADAR forgot to leave their name with their entry form, so I will simply call them Mr. ART (from part of their email address). Congratulations and look for an email from me real soon on how to receive your prize!

 

LUNADAR cover jpg

 

PRESENT NUMBER TWO

 

Just in time for the paperback release, my ebook edition is on sale through mid-November for only $1.99.

Here’s the Amazon link…http://www.amazon.com/LUNADAR-Homeward-Bound-Donna-Martin-ebook/dp/B07FM1PDRC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539531623&sr=8-1&keywords=lunadar

That’s more than 60% off the regular price! And what a great Christmas present LUNADAR would make for those fantasy loving Kindle readers…;)

 

Week Four

 

PRESENT NUMBER THREE

 

With cooler weather heading our way, what better way to treat yourself after a long day of working on your “to do” list than by stopping by your local fast food place and letting someone else cook dinner for you? Week three prize of my TWELVE WEEKS OF LUNADAR is a $20 gift card to Wendys. It’s as simple as clicking on the pile of presents to the right of this blog post and entering for a chance to win! The winner of week three will be announced next Monday and all entries of each week will also go into the Grand Prize Drawing for a chance to win 12 copies of different fantasy novels, including an autographed copy of LUNADAR: Homeward Bound from yours truly!

There will be more exciting announcements and even more giveaways as we head into the holidays, so be sure and check back often! Now to take a moment and catch my breath before I start work on the final book in this trilogy…LUNADAR: Candra’s Revenge!

 

 

birthday

 

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LUNADAR cover jpg

 

 

Ruler by day, a reluctant pirate by night, 18-year-old Princess Ariana fights for her subjects in the waterfall city of LUNADAR. In a kingdom surrounded by fairies and mermaids, and ravaged by deadly Drundles, only a chosen few are trusted to guard her daughter, Candra, as the secret heir to the throne.

But it only takes one ill-fated meeting for Ariana to suddenly be plunged into an escalating web of secrets found in her father’s journal, a deadly kidnapping, and an ever-weakening resolve to turn her back on the call of the merman’s song.

With Ariana’s world falling apart and the future of LUNADAR at stake, how will she bring her father’s murderer to justice and fulfill a deathbed promise to protect Lunadar’s legacy?

 

donna

 

International best selling, award-winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection. Donna’s latest book, LUNADAR: Homeward Bound (a YA fantasy), ebook and print edition is now on sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, and other online retailers around the world.

An Indie Author’s Journey: Book Trailer Time

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I’m delving into the world of indie publishing. Some authors go the quicker route and use a source like CreateSpace or Kindle Direct to immediately get their books out there.

There’s nothing wrong going that route, but I’ve decided to take a different path.

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I have been sitting on this video for months…waiting for the time when I could share this gorgeous book trailer for LUNADAR: Homeward Bound with the world.

I’m quite pleased with the finished product, but it was a constant battle to try to upload to YouTube. I never could do it and began to wonder if every step of this publishing process was going to be fraught with overwhelming struggles.

Then I realized I was looking at things wrong.

It takes a village to birth a book and I was trying to do it all by myself, so FATE decided to put a few obstacles in my way to help me appreciate all the effort and teamwork that goes into the artful making of a book.

Finally, with the help of an old Taekwondo student (thank you bunches Malik!) this lovely book trailer is now uploaded for the whole world to enjoy.

So….

What do you think? Do you like it? Will you help me get the word out and share this video with your friends?

 

 

LUNADAR cover jpg

 

Ruler by day, a reluctant pirate by night, 18-year-old Princess Ariana fights for her subjects in the waterfall city of Lunadar. In a kingdom surrounded by fairies and mermaids, and ravaged by deadly Drundles, only a chosen few are trusted to guard her daughter, Candra, as the secret heir to the throne.

But it only takes one ill-fated meeting for Ariana to suddenly be plunged into an escalating web of secrets found in her father’s journal, a deadly kidnapping, and an ever-weakening resolve to turn her back on the call of the merman’s song.

With Ariana’s world falling apart and the future of Lunadar at stake, how will she bring her father’s murderer to justice and fulfill a deathbed promise to protect Lunadar’s legacy?

 

donna

 

International best selling, award winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection. Donna’s latest book, LUNADAR: Homeward Bound (a YA fantasy) from Story Catcher Publishing ebook edition is now available at Amazon and other online retailers, with the print edition coming out late fall 2018.

An Indie Author’s Journal: Setting Up Shop

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As I mentioned last week, I’m delving into the world of indie publishing. Some authors go the quicker route and use a source like CreateSpace or Kindle Direct to immediately get their books out there.

There’s nothing wrong going  that route, but I’ve decided to take a different path.

 

STEP TWO: Create Your Company Image

 

My writing “entity” for the past eight years has been THE STORY CATCHER. After much thought, I decided to expand on that concept and set up my own publishing house, appropriately named STORY CATCHER PUBLISHING (www.storycatcherpublishing.com), with only one author to promote…me.

Here are the steps I’ve taken so far to set up my company:

1) Bought new computer…$495. (I went with an HP laptop and one year of Windows 365 was included)

2) Used WordPress to create new business website…$100. (I could have gone with the free version but the step up gives me more features to create a more professional website)

3) Created personalized “.com” name for WordPress website and blog…$50. (I could have stayed with a “wordpress.blogspot.com” format, but again I’m trying to streamline a better overall professional look to everything I’m doing moving forward.)

4) Requested EIN number for new company…$0.

5) Set up Excel spreadsheets for monthly accounting of business expenses…$0

6) Used Vista Print to create business cards, car magnets, and banners…$96. (There are other companies like Moo.com, Gotprint.com, and Overnightprint.com to name a few, but when I saw this design on Vista Print, I just knew it would represent my company the best.)

What do you think?

 

SCP business card front(full color business card front)

 

SCP business card back(full color business card back)

 

SCP car magnet

(car magnets)

 

SCP banner(full color business banner)

 

Last week I promised a sneak peek at the book trailer I had created for my upcoming young adult fantasy book release early next year. I think the video is fabulous (and it only cost me $25), but I’m having trouble adding it to my YouTube channel. Maybe someone out there can help me out with the conversion of a google drive mp4 book trailer to a YouTube url?

Anyway, here’s the link to my book trailer I will be releasing next year for LUNADAR: Homeward Bound. Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!

http://drive.google.com/file/d/1hAmIB_fn0KMSaJsXzKRag9XkPsVe6GFd/view

Next week I will talk about the software I’m using to format my novel for publication as well as some questions you can use for your beta readers. See ya next week!

 

Author Profile Pic
International best selling, award winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection.