#like $10 from lulu.com

[kithj]

😇💗

[moonlightreal]

"Why doesn't she self publish?"

Why haven’t we gotten Strange Fate? Why hasn’t Ms. Smith just self published it? A question posed by Jen on Goodreads and hey, it got me thinking!

Short answer: we don’t know.

But I can think of a few possibilities.

1) Simon & Schuster owns rights to the series and is blocking publication in some way. Maybe they’re saving it in hopes that paranormal romance becomes the big thing in YA again. YA has its fads, there was girl meets vampire, then dystopian, and right now on my library’s suggestion page it looks like a “loads of representation, possibly too much representation” fad is fading into a “books for girls who love true crime podcasts” fad. So Strange Fate really missed its popularity window so there’s no need to rush, maybe the publisher prefers to save it and see if it fits the next fad better.

The problem is that I don’t know enough about publishing contracts to know what rights a publisher has.. I have read that the publisher of a series gets “right of refusal” on any new books in it, but if S&S had a chance at Strange Fate and said no, would Ms. Smith be free to shop it around or self publish, or would S&S be able to just sit on it? I don’t know. Anybody know a successful published author they can ask?

2) Strange Fate isn’t finished. We’ve heard that it’s finished… a bunch of times… but it has also been rewritten a bunch of times. There was the 1999 Strange Fate with Blade the vampire, the Strange Fate with Brionwy’s story in Sarah’s dreams, the Strange Fate with the Night World characters in Sarah’s dreams, and the latest update we have is that Ms. Smith is “rewriting it completely” in 2022. With all of these rewrites Strange Fate may just be starting over and over and never quite getting to all the way done and publishable before it needs to start over again.

3) Strange Fate isn’t any good. LJ Smith is a good writer. But she went through family illness stuff that was bad enough that she wasn’t able to write for 10+ years and then had a major medical emergency that left her in a coma. Meaning her brain was not doing ok, and the brain is where the writing happens. Strange Fate has also been in development hell for 20 years, with multiple changes and rewrites. Oh, and during this time teen life and YA literature went through some really big changes. If this kind of thing happened to a hundred writers with a hundred books, most of them wouldn’t be able to overcome it! We want to see Ms. Smith overcome it because she seems cool and the universe has been unkind to her and we want to see her succeed, but if she doesn’t there’s no shame in being defeated by impossible circumstances!

4) Maybe Ms. Smith doesn’t know about the self publishing options available today. She was a writer in the nineties when stuff like ebooks, patreon, kickstarter and lulu.com were not a thing yet. Does she know she has all these options? Does she have an editor to explain them all? We don’t know.

5) And if she does know about them she may not want to take advantage of them. Ms. Smith was a full on very popular published author in the 90s, and self publishing would be a step down in pride. It would also be a step down in money; self-published books don’t usually make it onto the shelves at B&N or at libraries., and a self publisher won’t handle the marketing for you like the teen branch of Simon & Schuster will. I have no idea how well off Ms. Smith is, she must be making some kind of royalties from the TV series and reprints, but she had major medical issues that must have cost a lot.

So that’s my guesses. I don’t know the truth but I bet it’s one of these, maybe more than one together. What do you think?

[cowandcalf]

I posted 1’602 times in 2021

64 posts created (4%)

1538 posts reblogged (96%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 24.0 posts.

I added 4’166 tags in 2021

#h50 - 1436 posts

#mcdanno - 850 posts

#steve mcgarrett - 679 posts

#danny williams - 506 posts

#alex o'loughlin - 256 posts

#scott caan - 172 posts

#fan art - 93 posts

#❤️❤️ - 71 posts

#h50 bloopers - 53 posts

#love it - 50 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#ideal world: magnum goes to higgins later in the ep and while she's hacking something he's like 'did you know that commander mcgarrett and

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

McDanno - Steve and Danny - H50 1.20

70 notes • Posted 2021-08-09 10:09:01 GMT

#4

My books from lulu.com have safely arrived. They are huge, like phone books from ancient times😁! I love them so much! My two longest, most precious fanfictions in book form. It’s amazing!

71 notes • Posted 2021-09-15 17:00:14 GMT

#3

Fanfiction writers are rebels. We bring the good stuff. We write awesome shit. We’re rough and wild. We don’t back down from anything. We conjure up worlds many have no ideas they even exist. We’re the cool kids. We buck the trend. We ship with so much passion it creates a damn fire. Our stories suck people in to never let them go. That’s freaking talent. Fanfiction writers are badass. We emanate the vibe that comes with inner freedom to write twenty fucking coffee shop AUs because we crave them for our OTP. We get what drives us. We speak a secret language. Either you’re in or you’re out. There’s nothing in between. We’re rock solid. We write what we love. Fanfiction writers are damn awesome writers! Don’t you ever believe anything else! We’re rebels!

94 notes • Posted 2021-06-05 06:24:23 GMT

#2

Waiting ends here, guys! The first chapter is up. The last part of my long journey has begun. I can’t tell you how excited I am to let Steve and Danny find the way back to each other.

My Soul Is Calling You Home

Summary

After that fateful summer of 1993 nothing stayed the same. Both, Steve and Danny, had tried to move on. Danny made a living as a cop working with the NWPD, taking care of his family. Steve served in the Navy as the outstanding SEAL he had become. The deep emotional trauma the guys had lived through, getting separated, had marked their hearts with unhealed wounds. Despite the life they had built apart from each other it was fate that made them move back to Hawai'i. They would meet again after all those years. Their souls were calling them home by a love bigger than life with no chance to ever shake it off. At their second first meeting, Danny and Steve were grown men with years of life apart from each other. Love is a sacred being, it never lets go of those who belong together.

This story is the sequel to my High School AU 'Eyes As Blue As The Ocean'.

Keep reading on AO3

107 notes • Posted 2021-04-24 12:08:22 GMT

#1

Steve to Danny: „It‘s all you, babe. I can’t get my cast wet.“ - H50 1.20

116 notes • Posted 2021-08-08 13:15:03 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[thosethatglowgold]

Those That Glow Gold has gone live!

There is 3 versions you can choose from:  Paperback, Hardcover and eBook.

But what if I’m not sure if I will like it?

Well, I have the Prologue posted here. I also have an open call for asks, where I will post a random page (One person has already taken me up on my offer). Think of it as a chance to “flip” through the book before buying it. I want to make sure you enjoy the book, so if there is anything I can do to help you buy it, let me know.

A note about Lulu:

Lulu prints the book on demand, meaning that a book is not made until you order it. It took them a week to print my books and several days for them to get to me by mail. But, Lulu is saying because of COVID, it may take up to 3 weeks to get your order to you. Keep that in mind if you want a book by a certain date.

What if I don’t want to buy on Lulu.com?

That’s cool! The books have an ISBN, so they will show up on other sites (for example, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, etc.). You will be able to order them from your favorite bookstore, or even request them from the library.

Okay, ready to buy!

Awesome! Thank you for buying the book. Lulu runs coupons on a regular basis, they are located on the top of the page in yellow when you go to the site. I will also post them here (under the tag #coupons). They are usually 10-15% off on any printed books you buy, so make sure you get the code before you check out.

I don’t think I want to get the book.

No worries! It may not appeal to everyone. Can you share this post if you can though? Someone who follows you may like it. Thanks so much if you do!

I have a question:

What? I didn’t cover it in this massive post? No problem, send a message and I will answer as best I can.

Thank you in advance to anyone who decides to get the book! I hope you enjoy it.

[big-pipe]

The Shurik'en Series! A Mac Mathews Novel... A Super Agent, Super Ninja and his B.O.O.T. Team Stands for BLACK OPS ON TERRORISTS... Elite Black Operatives Force take on the Megalomaniac Terrorists and their Sleeper Cells around the Globe! In the Year 2030 the CIA has Been Replaced by the H.I.F. High Intelligence Force! Authorized by the PENTAGON Order this SUPER SPY THRILLER Series Direct and save $20 USD from the Author/Creator R.D. Lyons THE ORIGINAL BLACK OPS ON TERRORISTS Author/Creator for just $69 USD for The Super Ninja 🥷👏😳Boxset! Included # 1,Shurik'en Super Ninja 🥷 I the Origin! #2 Shurik'en II - The Shinobi Black Ops On The Black Dragon 🐉😎👌and the #3 BONUS Book True Shinobi Secrets Decoded! Find out the Truth of the Real Origin of NINJA! It is not what you think! Think Art of War. Find out about the New Millennium Superhero of the 21st century! Just $69 USD and Free Shipping in North America, 10 -15 Business Days International Destinations add $20. Interested email regdlyons@gmail.com Receive FREE with your Paid Order by PayPal to regdlyons@hotmail.com "How to Mind Map All Your Goals to Super Success 🙌😀 A Powerful Visualization and Goal Reaching Tool! ORDER Now! Please message https://facebook.com/RegDLyonsSupernaturalMysteryActionThrillerAuthor/ 🙏❤💖🙂😊💕🙏 See the Super Ninja Boxset on Lulu Press here Lulu.com/spotlight/RDLyons Watch for SHURIK'EN III - Levels of EVIL 😈🙏Must be dealt with for the sake of the Salvation of the Entire World! Coming Spring/Summer 2022 Watch for it! Thank you for Reading this Post and Please Like and Share Everywhere! https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ53bEvHY65/?utm_medium=tumblr

[truemeg]

I’m going to answer this publicly if that’s alright @trolleybitch​ just in case anyone else is curious too!

But to publish a physical copy of my fics, I use the website lulu.com!

It’s an online self-publishing website, and you can either make your own ebook, physical book, comic, magazine, and other kinds of books too. 

Specifically for publishing fics as a book, you format your document, and the website walks you through choosing the size you want, making a cover for it, a back cover, putting in summaries, the title, author, and formatting it. And once it’s done you can order however many copies you want! 

For example, this is what Cross Check looks like:

I had to figure out some page formatting to get it to fit in the right dimensions so if anyone wants to know that, just ask and I’ll have to go back into my docs and figure it out again because I don’t remember.

The website also has templates that you can use for covers if you’re absolutely useless like me with photoshop/editing softwares. The above cover was just a template from the website.

And then you purchase it for yourself! I believe this was about $10 total, I don’t remember for sure, and I’m not sure what international pricing may be. It also depends on what you choose for your book too (like paperback vs hardcover, the kind of paper you want, etc). But when you have an account you can save your project and go back later and purchase more if you want. Like I can always go back in and get another copy of this, all the settings and stuff are saved.

And I want to do the same with Reasons To Be Missed once I write the sequel!

[pdfjs]

Portable Document Format (PDF) Files

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format specification and related computer software products developed by Adobe. The true benefit of PDF files is they display and publish documents which look exactly the same on most computers. The PDF standard permits people in various locations to work with exactly the same documents. That is important once I work as a Real Estate agent. Contracts and other legal records have to be shared among most parties. It's very important that ever party view the records exactly as do all the other parties into the Real Estate transaction. Read on for the responses.

There are many software tools for manipulating and creating PDF documents. Some programs are free instruments among many others are not. Some important tools are the equipment which can create PDF files from Microsoft Word documents. This free software can be downloaded from the Microsoft site. Microsoft Office 2010 has got the rescue PDF feature builtin.

This is an entirely totally free for personal use application that depends upon Ghostscript software to produce PDF files. Ordinarily, you can find both Cute PDF Writer and the company Ghostscript programs at the identical download location. After you search using these keywords recorded in order of importance:"CutePDF Writer download-free," you will find the link into this CutePDF official site and the links to download the CutePDF Writer program. CutePDF Writer permits any program to publish data as a PDF file. Microsoft Office 2003 and sooner can make PDF files by printing to your CutePDF Writer printer.

The Open Office GNU (GNU's is Not Unix) General Public License office package has the power to make PDF files. General Public License software is free for everybody to work with and can be generally very competitive with Microsoft Office services and products in features and performance. Subsequently OpenOffice can save them at a PDF or any of the Office formats that you choose.

Many scanners also scan and store data as PDF files. In some cases the scanner can create PDF files or JPG pictures. Later the scanner program can choose the JPG pictures and convert them to PDF files. This really is a really handy capability as it is possible to add, delete, and reorder the JPG graphics and convert them into one PDF file. Cheap Canon all-in-one printer scanners and Fujitsu scanners come with this software. There are additional allinone (AIO) printers that offer similar purposes. Just assess the comprehensive software functions or product reviews to determine what works are provided.

Creating PDF files can be an excellent software feature, however, converting PDF files into Microsoft Word DOC files that could be edited via Word is much better. There are PDF to Word conversion apps. Some work very well as soon as you recognize how to make use of them. Looking for"PDF to annotate pdf leads therefore sites that convert and email the term document to you or to some newer free PDF to Word conversion software. You may want to look in a few links and examine a program or two to locate an acceptable free program.

But whilst the switching PDF to Word approach is helpful, editing PDF documents directly is somewhat more effective. PDF editing is done by Adobe Acrobat which comes with several scanners. Otherwise Acrobat has to be purchased. It's not required to purchase the most recent and best version of Acrobat. The variant which is included with scanners has adequate features to do most PDF document edits. The Acrobat Version 9.0 which accompanies many new scanners has many Helpful features including:

Breaking PDF files into different files for every page of this document,

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Creating a questionnaire from a document that may be completed using a PDF reader program, and more.

Creating forms out of a PDF document is a terrific feature particularly once you work with lots of forms from diverse sources. A Real Estate agent uses forms specific to each locality. In Maryland you can find specific forms for every county in the country. Frequently they are sent as PDF files. The forms wizard enables these PDF files to be turned into molds which can be performed using PDF subscribers on any computer. For an individual whose design skills are nearly non existent and whose studying skills are somewhat greater, this is a true boon.

Yet another of use Acrobat feature is reducing the number of PDF files. It's simple for A40 plus page PDF file to transcend an e mail size limitation of 10 MB or 16 MB. Acrobat includes a record size reduction feature that sometimes solves this problem. When documents are scanned as full color documents they often are large files that cannot be e mailed. The easy solution would be to scan text documents since Black and White documents to decrease the document size. Color documents are the largest size, greyscale documents are somewhat smaller, and white and black documents are the smallest size documents. Scanning documents in a resolution of 150 dots per inch (dpi) rather than the usual resolution of 600 dpi or a 300 dpi reduces the document size helping it fit email size limits.

An internet search using the keywords:"PDF reader free down load" contributes to the download locations for fox it. Wow! This hunt also shows a fresh LuLu.com 3D PDF reader. Anything 3D is the current rage with Nerds. This fresh 3D reader begs to be analyzed.

Freeware always has strings attached which sell some thing. Some times these strings are a considerate sales pitch. More commonly free services and products come with an aggressive sales pitch very similar to that used to sell used cars. The sales page here's just a considerate sales pitch. This means that the soft drink 3D PDF viewer is still safe computer software to use on your PC.

Once you browse PDF files together with the Soda 3D viewer, then they are sometimes viewed as though they are a open source book. You turn the 3D pages. It really is very impressive. Looks like continuing testing of this free 3D viewer utilizing a PDF fill in the blanks form file is to be able. The PDF sort works! Whenever you work with computers, new products and technology appear daily. Please pardon my surprise with this brand new free 3D PDF viewer. It seems good, but using it within an extended time frame is the true test.

When working with PDF files creating them out of MSWord or Excel files is essential. However, following the files are created, you want to manipulate them. This means attaching webpages in to a single PDF file, adding pages, deleting pages, and exporting pages. Subsequently turning into a PDF file into a fill-in form is vital for most users specially the ones which don't write well like myself. Finally tools for reading and printing PDF files would be the most essential. Many applications can be found at no cost, but more critical users might want to purchase the more advanced level PDF editing and manipulation applications.

[benmparks]

another review of lulu publishing

Hi guys, a different kind of post! I recently published a book (buy here or here) through Lulu publishing and I thought I’d share my experience and some of the things I liked, and mostly the things I disliked about it. Overall I’d rate the experience a 4/10. It took a lot of effort on my part and the results were lacking in regards to the ebook release, but it was completely free so I can’t complain too much about the details.

Full review under the cut.

First, I’d like to explain why I chose Lulu above the competition, the “competition” mainly being IngramSpark and Amazon’s KDP. Those were the main three I saw when doing my research, and I did not even consider KDP because I didn’t want to work through Amazon because I’m trying to limit my connections to Amazon. So, the main one I did research into was IngramSpark, which looked good and like it checked the boxes I needed checked but it cost money. Lulu is completely free if you don’t want any (and I mean any) support, and after flip flopping for a bit I decided that price was most important. It was a passion project, I did not want to invest too much into it. I’ve also used Lulu in the past through NaNoWriMo to get a copy of my book, but it has changed a lot since then. Or my memory is bad, either way it was more complicated than I remembered.

Now onto my experience. Because I didn’t want to spend any money, I had to do everything myself which means formatting the interior and exterior. This turned out to be so much more difficult than I had thought it would be. I don’t want to drag Lulu too hard here, because it was mostly my fault, but it took me much longer than I had planned to fully format a print copy. Then when I went to format that into an ebook, it took another bit of time. For the print copy, I ordered a rough draft that turned out to look horrible despite me following their guide to a T, I ended up having to do a lot of outside research to get it looking like a real book for the final copy. Overall, though, the print copy came out fine and most of my complaints are due to my own failing and the nature of a completely free tool.

For the ebook, it took be two days of constantly working on it to get it formatted correctly and then the version that was released did not have a cover. I still don’t know why there is not a cover or any information in the download. Lulu definitely implies that the final copy will have a cover, but it did not. Along with that, Lulu lists the book as “In Distribution” but I don’t know what that means because I can’t find my book on any ebook platform. So, after spending days following every step in their ebook guide and doing a lot of outside research on formatting for epub, the book that was released had no covered and is not available anywhere but Lulu.com. 

The final step of the whole process is, of course, payment. I have an ebook and a hardcover print copy of these books up for sale on Lulu.com, I’ve had a handful of purchases, and so far I have received no money. I did some research because that confused me and turns out, again this is partially my fault for not doing full research, I get paid once a month and only if I make more than 5 dollars. Getting paid once a month isn’t bad, that’s totally fine, but I do have a problem that I could potentially sell just one copy next month and not get a dollar of it unless I can sell another copy. This is a small passion project that I am not expecting to sell like hot cakes, so this idea seems very real to me. If this is how all self publishing platforms are, then ignore this part and maybe I just am not up to this form of publishing.

Final words: Lulu does the job, I guess, but if you’re looking for an easy, quick process, maybe look to spend some money for professional help formatting everything. Next time, I think I’ll go a different route and pay a little money for more services and also do more research into payment processes to make sure no money is withheld from me. 

[christinaengela]

Hello friends and fans!

Welcome to my 44th newsletter – August 2020!

On A Personal Note

The 17th of July was a terribly sad day for our family because of the death of one of our fur-children, Ming. She was my little writing companion who used to sit across my shoulders sometimes, or on my knee while I typed away on my laptop.

I love all three our kitties, but Mingy-moo as I used to call her, held a special place in my heart… and to be frank, I miss her presence in my life terribly, as does Wendy.

Lily – our giant white mommy-cat, and Nyx – our little black one, were clearly in mourning as well. Their behavior has changed since she disappeared so suddenly from our lives, and even after a week, Nyx still hovers around the spot where Ming sat the last day she was with us, and Lily still searches the house for the missing kitty.

Ming used to do little things the other two kitties don’t do – some endearing, and some outright naughty – whose absence only makes her loss that much more tangible. Somehow the house seems so much more quiet and empty. Something is missing, and for weeks the empty-nest feeling has hung over it like a pall. It will be a while yet before we lift ourselves up again, and move on.

Then, in the early hours of Friday 24 July, more bad news! Someone asshat with sticky fingers burgled our Golf! Fortunately they were unprepared and set off the alarm and fled, leaving the driver side door open. There was some good news with the bad – there was no damage at all. The enterprising individual must’ve used a ‘slim-jim’ or similar tool to lever the lock open via the window channel, so no windows or locks etc. were damaged. I figure they also probably tried to steal the wheels – and then discovered I had a lock-nut on each wheel, because the only thing the bastards seem to have got away with is one single, solitary wheel-nut!

That aside, on other, much happier fronts, I completed another two paintings since last time we spoke – bringing my total number of paintings to five – and then I returned to writing again! On that front, among the BIGGEST news items I have to share with you this time, is the release of the audiobook version of “Blachart” – it’s finally here – and after three weeks of availability, I’m happy to report that it’s doing very well! More about that below!

Art

I also indulge in painting from time to time – and no, I don’t mean walls! The following paintings are in my portfolio:

“Human Nature” 2017 A4 acrylic canvas

“Balancier” 2020 A2 acrylic canvas

“Rescuer” 2020 A2 acrylic canvas

“The Awakening” 2020 A2 acrylic canvas

“The Earth Wept” 2020 40x40cm acrylic on canvas

I completed “The Awakening” on June 5, and started “The Earth Wept” just a few days later. “The Earth Wept” is on 40x40cm canvas and I finished that on July 12. I’ve also since renamed “Untitled” to “Human Nature”.

You can read more about my art projects on the Art page.

What do you think of them? Feel free to let me know!

Music

Yes – I also make music from time to time!

A selection of music tracks I made using eJay and other similar apps between 1999 – 2008 are available on my YouTube channel.

You can read more on the Music page on my website!

Activism

For those of you interested in my activism-related posts and activities, you can follow them at “Sour Grapes: The Fruit Of Ignorance“.

Current Writing Projects 

In the past few weeks I deviated from writing and went into art for a while, delivering four new completed paintings in a little over a month! In the meantime however, I made a return to writing by starting the long awaited next title in the Galaxii series!

Book 4 – still under a working title – is currently at a little over 18,000 words and growing by the day!

Editing

On the editing side of things, my friend Brandon Mullins  has been getting me into a proofreading and editing sideline over at Moon Books Publishing, and I’ll let you have any news on that as it happens!

I’ve just received the first submission for a new project entitled “Captain Jockstrap and the League of Do-gooders”! Yes, it probably is as silly as it sounds – but that’s the idea!

In the meantime, I still have a horror anthology on my desktop, which still needs a couple more submissions to reach publishing length – and more than that wouldn’t hurt! There will be no payment to writers, but participation will help get your name out there. If interested, please send them along to christinaengela@gmail.com.

Marketing – The Dreaded “M” Word! 

Portfolio 2020!

I thought it would be nice if I could produce a neat, organized catalog of all my books that interested parties could download and browse – a free, distributable and shareable catalog, and so I created “Portfolio 2020!” – a listing of all my currently available titles!

Portfolio is more than that though, because it also contains a biography as well as synopses for most of my titles – and I have a plan to update it regularly, perhaps on an annual basis! Portfolio 2020 is available as a free download from my website.

Videos

In July, I made a new book trailer video for the audiobook version of “Blachart” – and so did Nigel Peever as it turned out!

https://christinaengela.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/blachart-video-by-nigel-peever.mp4

Aren’t they great? 🙂

Sales

Getting my writing available in audiobook format seems to have been the ticket I’ve been waiting for, and these are truly exciting times for me as a writer! At this stage I have only one audiobook out, my first, and with its first month almost complete, sales are really encouraging! For the past month most of my marketing has been aimed at promoting “Blachart” and upcoming new audiobook titles “When Darkness Calls”, “Malice!” and “Demonspawn”. With more to follow, these items really could be the thing that helps promote my writing and blow those doors open that so far have tended to keep me out!

Publishing

Under recent releases this month, these are the six books I’ve released so far this year!

  July really has been a month of change. Not only was there a death in the family, but it’s also the month I closed my account with Lulu.com – the self-publishing platform I’ve used since 2005. Although I am angry with Lulu, and sorely disappointed in what they’ve done – and how they did it – I am grateful for what they did for me over the years. There’s no way I would’ve had the foundations in self-publishing I have today, were it not for Lulu. At one time, they were the ONLY self-publishing platform that would take on writers from South Africa – let alone being willing to accommodate paying us via PayPal!

Sadly, I simply couldn’t get to grips with the awful new changes Lulu inexplicably inflicted on loyal users that – in my view – rendered the platform unfriendly and totally useless. In the second week of July I redistributed the titles that were based on Lulu between Moon Books (publishing eBook, paperback and audiobook via Amazon) and eBooks via EBooks2Go, Draft2Digital and StreetLib. Frankly I think some of them that were available only on Lulu will have an even wider reach as a result. I sent Lulu the account deletion request on the 20th.

Unfortunately, due to Lulu’s short-sighted idiocy, I now have to edit and update “The Pitfalls of South African Self-publishing” as well – there’s an entire section covering how to self-publish a book via the system Lulu just casually chucked into the bin that needs to change. Frankly, I’m thinking I’ll need to base that portion on EBooks2go instead – since their system is far simpler and easier to use, not to mention less fiddly.

Also as a result, I’ve had to update purchase links on my website and social media accounts that referred directly or indirectly to my books via Lulu. If you find any I haven’t got round to fixing yet, please drop me a line and let me know! 😉

Hally Park Publishers

For quite a while now I’ve been working to expand my marketing reach, and in the spirit of that endeavor I recently contracted with Hally Park Publishers – a South African small press who also list suitable self-published titles on their website – to list my eBooks!

It’s taken a little time for them to appear on their website – after all, I’m not the only author they have listed, and I have just over 30 books – so I’m sure that was quite a job! Nevertheless, the first fifteen appeared on their site during the night (yes, I’ve been watching)!

The advantage of this arrangement – that is, listing my books on a local South African book selling site – is that it’s a new local market which already attracts its own traffic! Additionally, the prices are displayed in Rands, as well as my books being displayed alongside titles by other local authors – which should attract more local readers looking for some local literary South African flavor!

You can view my listing there by clicking on the link, or the screenshot below!

Audiobooks

“All That Remains” JEA (2019)

“See Them Aliens” MBP (2019)

“Blachart” MBP (2020)

I mentioned previously in my post “Coming Soon! “Blachart” – the Audiobook!” back in May – and in my newsletters for June and July that I’ve been eagerly awaiting the audiobook release of “Blachart” – and I’m sure you have too!

On the July 10th I got a notification that “Blachart” the audiobook was available on Amazon! As I promised in February this year, “Blachart” has (finally) been released as an audiobook! It doesn’t usually take this long to go through the production process, and I’m sure the current pandemic must’ve had something to do with it – but regardless, the eagerly-awaited finished product has arrived at last! And – WOW – what a product it is!

Narrated by Nigel Peever, “Blachart” – book 1 in the Galaxii series – is 10 hours 26 min long, and is nothing less than a rip-roaring sci-fi adventure! You can read more about it here.

I’ve also had to review a string of auditions for “Malice!“, “When Darkness Calls” and “Best Served Cold” – and I have to comment on the diverseness of the sort of voices, accents and personalities that sent their auditions in! Wow! For a writer, nothing encapsulates the diversity of one’s audience more than listening to a variety of people, male and female, reading words you wrote in a variety of accents! It’s even more of a compliment when you can hear them enjoying it as they do so! “When Darkness Calls” is narrated by Miciah Dodge, and Michelle Innes had me covered in goosebumps as she read an excerpt of “Malice!” in her Scottish accent! Currently, “Malice!”, “When Darkness Calls”, and “Demonspawn” are in production, and we’re still looking for a narrator to read “Best Served Cold”!

Coming Soon

In the meantime, here’s a look at the covers for the coming audiobooks of “When Darkness Calls” and “Demonspawn”:

Reviews

You can see all my previous reviews here.

Currently Available Titles

I now have 29 unique titles available in 4 series (not including books I’ve been the editor for, and my 16 free promotional items)! My books are available in three different formats: EBooks, Paperbacks and Audiobooks. Click the links or images below to view titles available in these formats.

Communication

Below are links to a few of my most recent posts and articles since my last newsletter:

Expand The Brand: Hally Park Publishers

Guest Writer #4: Lee Hall

Coming Soon: “Malice!” – The Audiobook!

Coming Soon: “Demonspawn” – The Audiobook!

“Blachart” – TWO Audiobook Trailers!

“When Darkness Calls” – Actually A True Story

A Visit To The Archives!

“Blachart” – A Writing Journey [cross-posted on Moon Books website]

Unleashed: “Blachart” – The Audiobook!

Free Download! Portfolio 2020!

Another Round At The Crow Bar #43 July 2020

If you want to see more articles, just click on the category links below:

Elements of Horror

FAQ Answered

Fun Facts

LGBT Heroes

The Tech Side

Secret Weapons of the Resistance

Writing Advice

Guest Writers

Newsletters

Interactions

Fan Mail, Reader Reviews & Honorable Mentions

I very pleased to have quite a few items to show you this month!

Parade.com shared one of my quotes in a listing titled “150 of the Best Relationship Quotes and Sweetest Couple Quotes That’ll Make Your Heart Flutter” on July 08, 2020. “Regardless of what language it is said in, ‘I love you’ stays beautiful, and two hearts beating together make the same sound. It is the language of Love.” – Christina Engela

The Satanic Church of South Africa shared my academic book “Satanism: The Acid Test” on their website resource page! (found on July 12, 2020) This is of course, what this book is supposed to do – educate people, demystify the occult, and relieve people of their ignorance!

Miciah Dodge, the narrator recording “When Darkness Calls” sent a message via ACX on July 07:

Jennifer Shepard really seems to have liked my article about “Blachart”! (July 11, 2020):

The audiobook version of “Blachart” received a gracious reader/listener review on the 5th of July:

On July 21, Brandon Mullins, CEO of Moon Books Publishing shared the following compliment for “Blachart” in a publishing group on Facebook:

On July 26, Scott M. Darrah gave me his opinion of the audiobook:

Miciah Dodge, the narrator for “Christina Engela’s Strangely Compelling Scifi Stories vol 1”, “When Darkness Calls” and “Duck Blind” sent me this nice email on July 26, 2020:

I display my Fan Mail, Reviews & Compliments with pride, gratitude and humility. You’re always welcome to have a look.

Hate Mail & Horrible Mentions

On July 17, somebody thought it would probably be hilarious if they spam bombed my inbox with email notifications for a fake account they created in my name – on an Asian Dating Site in Indonesia! Unfortunately for them, I left the factory with a warped sense of humor, so instead of being bent out of shape by their ‘ingenuity’ all they did was give me a few good laughs… I mean have you seen half the profiles on any dating site?? Anyway, I know how to filter and block email addresses – and the admins of said dating site were kind enough to delete the profile for me when I asked nicely, so – better luck next time, whoever you are!

I’m rather proud of my hate mail, and you can review my collection here – but be forewarned, don’t do it while eating or drinking, or you might choke while laughing!

Interviews

All my interviews are linked to from this page. If you would like to do an interview with me about my work, please do get in touch!

In Closing

Well, that’s all for this time, folks! 🙂

Thanks again for all your support, friendship and interaction!

Feel free to email or message me via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn if you have any comments or questions!

Until next time, keep reading!

Cheers! 🙂

Catch me on social media!

Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Academia | Minds | Instagram | GoodReads | Author’s Database | Library Thing | YouTube | Pintrest | Stage32 | The Book Marketing Network

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

Show your appreciation for Christina’s work!

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2020.

Another Round At The Crow Bar #44 August 2020 Hello friends and fans! Welcome to my 44th newsletter - August 2020!

[eloarei]

About the process of creating a book (the not-writing part)

I was asked recently about if making a book was easy or tedious or whatever, and I realized that was actually something I’d like to talk about. I’d never done it before (and still I only have a little experience), but I’ve been teaching myself and it’s been... fun?  Behind the cut (that’s still a thing, right?), I ramble about formatting, PDFs, fonts, and some other stuff. (Also pictures, though most of them are the same as the ones I posted yesterday.) 

First of all, I had to pick a Print-On-Demand (POD) website. That was easy for me, because finding the website was actually what made me want to make the book. I used Lulu.com, which has worked very well for me the two times I’ve used it. (It has a bunch of bad reviews, but honestly I got just what I paid for both times. They apparently offer editing and marketing services; I can’t vouch for those because I only used the POD service. But personally I wouldn’t trust anyone to edit or market my book, let alone some randos on some website. They’re a POD site. That’s what they’re good at, so that’s what I use.)  It would have been almost too easy if they just let me copy-paste the text to them, but understandably they wanted a PDF. PDFs are kind of the bane of my existence, but I downloaded a template from them (for a 6x9 inch novel, with appropriate margins) and then copy-pasted my fic into it using LibreOffice. (I’m so-so about LibreOffice, but it does create PDFs reasonably well.)  From there... well, then I had to go through the process of reformatting it. I’d copied the text from my AO3, and that meant that it had spaces between every paragraph and no indents, which is how AO3 fics are typically formatted. It was a lot of Tab-Left-Down-Down-Down-Backspace-Backspace-Enter-Repeat. For 140k words, it took a few casual days.  After the bulk of that was done, I realized the indents/tabs looked... weird? They were too big. ^^; Luckily there was a setting in LibreOffice to change them all automatically. I almost cried at the thought of having to do it manually haha.  Adding data to the headers and footers came next. I chose to only add the page number to the footer, and nothing to the header. Normally people will have the author’s name on one side, and the book’s title on the other, but I skipped that for the time being. Not sure if I’ll do it for the ‘official’ release.  (Somehow my footer ended up being too small, so that’s something I need to look into.)  Next I had to pick a font and a font size. I decided to do something a little gimmicky: I have alternating chapters that take place in modern and historical times, so I chose different fonts to represent those chapters. For the historical chapters I chose “Century”, which is a serif font (meaning that it has little embellishments, like “Times New Roman”), while for the modern chapters I chose “Verdana”, a sans-serif font (meaning that it is sans/without the embellishments, like whatever font Tumblr uses).  It’s typically agreed that novels are best in serif fonts, because it’s easier to read them for a long session. The embellishments make the letters blend together into visually recognizable words, which is apparently how we read, as opposed to looking at every letter individually. However, because I wanted to be quirky, more than half of my book is in sans-serif, which I’m just hoping doesn’t annoy people.  I used Verdana size 11 and Century size 12. Even so, the Verdana still looks too large to my eye, so I’ll probably change it again.  After that was mostly aesthetic formatting, which was the actual fun part. I tabbed down I think about 10 spaces at the start of every chapter, then went back up a space or two, increased the font size and changed the font to something slightly fancier and wrote the chapter title (which for me were just “Chapter Five”, etc).  (UPON FURTHER SCRUTINY, apparently not all of my first chapter pages are tabbed down the same amount. ugh. ^^; They’re close but not identical. How messy.)  Under the chapter titles, I simulated “drop caps” on the first phrase of the chapter, because I didn’t have a good drop caps font. I just did this by retyping the whole phrase in caps, and then changing the first letter to a slightly larger font size.  Next were a few easy things: a title page, a few silly “praise for” pages of reviews I got from online readers (these probably won’t be in the “official” version; they just make me smile), a mock-up copyright page (mock-up because I don’t actually have a copyright or anything yet), a short dedications page (mine was just one sentence), and then an empty page so that the story text starts on the right, which is standard. I have bought another self-published book which otherwise looks pretty good, but it starts the story on the left page and it’s just so jarring.  At that point, the PDF was pretty much done. I added a few other little touches, like some little fancy dagger icons during in-chapter scene transitions. I ended up with the “the end” page being on the left, which, again, is really awkward, so I found a chapter that only had like two lines on the last page, and went back in and deleted a handful of words in the chapter so that it would end on the previous page instead.  THEN came the fun but agonizing part, as I’m not as much of a graphic designer as I sometimes wish. I had to make a cover. The other self-published book I bought looks really nice with a beautiful illustration on the front, but the spine and back had just tiny white text, and didn’t even include a synopsis. So I downloaded a template for a 6x9inch wrap-around cover, tossed it up in Photoshop, paint-bucketed it black, and went to work. I pasted in my synopsis in off-white sans-serif font about the same as my internal font, and bolded some of the key words for... ease of skimming and/or funsies? At the top I added a short dialogue exchange from the first chapter that I thought represented the story as a whole, chose a different font that stood out, and gave it a red shadow so it would stand out more. For fun I added some faint red blood-splatters behind the text.  For the front I chose a big bold block-letter font in off-white, then gave it a red and a yellow shadow so it would stand out. I rasterized the font (turning it into a picture), and then used the tool to highlight the letters, and splashed some red blood-splatters on them. I did the same for the spine. (Though really what I should have done was copy the logo from the front and resize it. Silly me. Now the two logos don’t match.)  I used Unsplash.com for a few free photos that I quickly manipulated into a passable cover art. Ultimately, I would like to have something either professionally photographed, edited, or drawn, but what I found was vaguely similar enough to what I wanted that I figured it’d do for now.  Maybe the last thing I had to do (besides uploading it all to Lulu) was decide on a pen-name! I ended up going with L.A.Rayborn, instead of my legal name. I used my legal first two initials, but chose my birth surname (which is twice removed from my legal name, since I was first adopted and then married). To be perfectly honest, the reason I chose not to use my legal name is mostly because I don’t want to associate my in-laws with possibly-sensitive content that they probably wouldn’t like.  SO. Then it was done, and I uploaded it to Lulu, and chose a few options on the site, such as cream pages instead of white, and matte exterior finish instead of gloss. (I highly suggest the cream for novels, but the matte is really just personal preference.) I paid them (I ended up getting it printed and shipped to me for under $20), and then about 2 weeks later I had the 400 page darling in my hands, ready to be eviscerated with a set of neon hi-lighters!  After this current round of edits, I already know there’s a ton of stuff I’m going to have to fix (and this is to say nothing of the story).  1. The font is slightly too large, but could probably use a 1.5 or maybe 1.2 spacing between lines. I’ll have to fiddle with it, and see what others do.  2. The back cover text is too close to the edges to really look good.  3. The page numbering just looks odd for some reason.  4. Figure out how to get the page numbers to stay off the copyright and dedications page, etc.  5. MORE THAN ANYTHING, I need to change the... I’m not even sure what to call it? I need to make the text space out evenly so that it creates a block on each page, rather than creating messy ridges on the right margins. I didn’t even think of this until I got the book and started comparing it to professional books I’ve read and enjoyed. It seems like a very rookie mistake. 

(lol I’m in the process of changing the main character’s name, which is why the crappy MS Paint edits.)  PHEW, that was long. But hopefully my journey was at least a little insightful. Please do let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions about how I could better format the book for the “real” printing! 

[hollyethecurious]

is there anyway to get a hard copy of your fics? i know you have copies, but can we buy them too?

I can give you a direct link to order a printed copy if you’ll contact me directly off anon. So far, I have formatted for hard back printing, through lulu.com:

The Legend of Captain Killian Jones 

Dark Hook Comes to Storybrooke

A Knight for a Swan

Varcolac: A Hybrid Tale

What Lies Beneath the Mask  

The costs (for printing and binding through lulu) range from $13 to $31 depending on the book, and does not include shipping. Lulu.com does run discounts fairly often, and I believe you get a 10% off code when you sign up for an account.

I should also add that I do not receive any profits, and none of these are available for retail sale. 

I would like to give a shout out to @flipperbrain, @artistic-writer, and @cocohook38 for their amazing artwork that has been used for some of the covers, and in some of the illustrated copies. They deserve all the flails!!

[tallismanrogue]

It's now official, "The Trial And Sentence of Jefferson Pugley" has been released! Grab 'em while their hot at lulu.com/shop/eamon-standing/the-trial-and-sentence-of-jefferson-pugley/paperback/product-24310684.html… Soon to be available from Amazon and the like. I believe there's a discount code LULU10 for 10% off until Nov 21st so get a few while it's good!

[littlewalken]

Dec 23

Wibbly wobbly timey wimey dolly wollies

WWhy does the official sculpt of Ten look like he’s having an existential crisis? And putting the helmet on/taking it off scrapes his nose. Off the top of my head I can’t say if he’s still on that body or I put him on another. The paint job isn’t bad, I’ve never touched him up or anything.

I couldn’t afford a regular 10 but I could manage space suit 10 and it took nothing to get the head off and pop it on one of the DMLs. Now I want to pop him on one of the Chinese Ken clones so he’ll finally had the Tennant build. 

There have been a few casting changes over the years. These pics are from the sewing book I made back in the day. It’s at Lulu.com, do an author search for Kim Reed. Full sized patterns for many boy dolls from 22-30cm. 

Four is a sculpt form wantedmall.com who did the 10/Crowley. 

A Monty Python Dead Collector as 12

The Master is a Click-N-Play/Power Team Elite, you have to look carefully at the sculpts because they change them up a lot. I guess I have about 50 of the individual sculpts and whomever is making them does a good job. Paint can be hit or miss but you can take acrylic to them.

Pegasus Four.

The ponies’ TARDIS is a paper bag. 

Everyone snuggle your pony!

I know anything worth doing is worth doing for money but unless you were The Doctor there is like no way in Hell I could be convinced to make another set of My Little Time Lords. 

Unless it was under The Doctor’s orders. 

In all seriousness because I’ve done 2 sets and a spare Four and it takes all sorts of carving, sculpting, and thin layers of paint to make sure they stick to do those little bastards. 

Not that I’m going to need a new iPod because the batteries are dying on the other two I have. 

But mad props if anyone actually sends one of these pics to one of David Tennant’s social media and Georgia responds because we know he doesn’t have any idea what a Tweeter is. 

[doctorwhonews]

The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1987

Latest from the news site: This November sees the release of the Fan project The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1987. The publication is the latest project from Terraqueous Distributors, who earlier this year released The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1972It proved to be far more popular than we anticipated. Even before its release, people started to ask "what's next? Well, we love the sixth Doctor, so the decision to do another classic-style annual was very easy. This time continuing from where World Distributors finished their run of Doctor Who annuals. As children growing up in the eighties, collecting those wonderful books. A lot of fans were disappointed when after 21 years, the annuals stopped being produced. Those original 28 books (including two omnibus', a spin-off, four Dalek Annuals, and a k9 annual). hold such fond memories for us, that we felt the need to celebrate them. Like our previous release, we have been blessed by the kindness of such well-known names from the worlds of Doctor Who, Frazer Hines, Alister Pearson, and David J Howe have all contributed to the publication, joining a large number of Doctor Who fan writers and artists. We are so grateful to everyone who has supported this project. The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1987 is a not-for-profit publication and is released through LULU.com's print-on-demand service at a price to be determined. Please visit the Terraqueous Distributors facebook page for further details and updates. Doctor Who News http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2019/10/the-unofficial-dr-who-annual-1987.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[authorelizabethdmarie]

NEW COVER for the book release coming September 12, 2019!

I am so pleased with the redesign for my upcoming Snow White retelling release! As an independent author, I do it all: the writing, editing, proofing, marketing, AND the book cover layout and design. Of course, I have wonderful friends and family who help with their skills in each of these areas. I am blessed to have their input in helping make each book shine.

Since I am changing printing platforms (going back to Lulu from Amazon) for this release, printing will be in a slightly different size and style. So, even though I had already designed a cover, I made the necessary adjustments and tweaks. Like: moving the series title banner above instead of in the middle, and changing the font for “Snow”, as well as moving and adjusting the text on the spine. Nothing too major, but all for the better just the same!

Just 10 more days, and this beauty will be available for all you book lovers out there at Lulu.com!

[Elizabeth D. Marie writes for teens and adults. She has published 10 novels along with other fiction works, and Guarding Snow--as her 11th novel release--is book 5 in her clean, epic fairy tale retellings series, Crown of Stars. Each one can be read and enjoyed as standalone stories.]

[fallxnprxnce]

Is there somewhere we could read your books, by chance? :o

{out of exile} Omg, I wish. I really, truly wish. There are so many reasons why my writings are not really available for me to put out there, even though I’d love to. Let me share with you my tale of woe, lol.

With one of my epic fantasies, Blood is Thicker, the issue is that I believe it to be too heavily-inspired by Game of Thrones, and there for I will never publish it, as I do not want to get sued.

My other epic fantasy, Comes the Praete, is not finished yet unfortunately. For whatever reason, I got 600+ pages into it and only have a couple chapters and some epilogues left to write, and I just crapped out. I wrote down copious notes on what I intended to do with it, though, so someday I will finish it. That one I would like to publish someday.

As far as the series that Aryx ( @after-the-fxll ) is in, The Vulture and the Dove, the issue is that there are 7 books completed and 2 not completed. While I can just drop the last two books from the series, I don’t want to do that as Aryx is in the 8th one I believe. Also, the books are vastly different lengths. The first three combined are fewer pages than the fourth. I could combine the first three into a trilogy, but even so, they just seem too simply to publish, and the whole series seems a bit amateurish and disorganized to do so anyway.

With the world that Channe ( @fxcelessqueen ), Jix ( @xleafyheartx ), Lylia ( @amethyst-eyed ), and Aurelien ( @a-very-proper-shxde ) are in, The Mask of Truth, the problems are numerous. There is one major book that is 500+ pages and not finished, a collection of several short stories that are finished, and they are all so terribly written that I would have to redo all of them in order to publish them. I wrote them over a decade ago, and my writing has improved considerably since then. While the world and its characters are very developed in my head, in maps, in timelines, and even fictional languages I created for some of my races, the actual prose I wrote years ago does not do it justice.

I have two other completed books that are not fantasies. One is sort of a murder mystery and the other is... I actually don’t know, heh. That’s never a good sign when you can’t tell your own genre. Modern fantasy? Horror? Horror-drama? Something in there, haha. But yeah, the horror one has major and I’m afraid deal-breaking issues with the main villain and part of the plot, and the murder mystery needs a chapter added and some overhauling on the ending. I need time to do this and in 2-3 years I have not found that time, heh. I hope to publish both of them someday, but today is not that day.

Now, what I would LOVE to do is set up a website somewhere where I could share my writings and get feedback from people, but I have neither the time nor the knowledge to set up a website (I’m something of a derp with computers), and I’d have to figure out a way t keep people from stealing my stuff. I’ve tried to post excerpts of writing before and it was stolen, so I’m a little wary about that. But if I could do this then I wouldn’t have to publish, which... I’m honestly not convinced my stuff is really worth of publishing. My writing isn’t bad, but it isn’t superb either. It’s just kindof there, heh. So if I had a website to just share instead of trying to publish, maybe that would be more realistic? I dunno.

Years ago, I thought I wanted to try to have a writing career. Yes, I know, how naive was that, right? Needless to say, I no longer think I have a career in writing. I published two books, the first one of which got some pretty bad reviews and it’s sequel got NO reviews because I think 99 cents was too steep a price for it? There’s a sobering thought. Plus the first book has a really embarrassing typo in the LAST PARAGRAPH that the publisher won’t let me fix and so many people pointed out in their reviews. Ugh. Just... just ugh. But honestly, a major reason why I published these two books was for my mom, who loved them both. She passed away a year and a half ago, so... I’m glad I did it while she was still here. 

So yeah, all I have that’s publicly available are those two books which, honestly they are not written very well... I wrote them years and years ago and I have improved greatly since then, so... (sigh) yeah, I’m not sure you want to spend the time on them. But if you really want to give it a try, I will place the links below to B&N, but they are also available through Goodreads, iTunes, and the original publisher, Lulu.com. The first one is free:

Genuine Magic (first book)Genuine Myth (sequel)

The only other public writing I have besides Tumblr is my limited collection of fanfics from a smattering of fandoms. Here is a link to my list on Fanfiction.net, but I have put them all on AO3 as well if you prefer that site.

So yeah, sorry to disappoint, but this is all I have up publicly right now. But... like I said, the OCs mentioned above have like 10-12 years of writing and a whole lot of supporting characters and information behind them, so feel free to send in random asks about them, send me meta topics to write about, or anything else you wish. Or if you just want to know more about a specific book/series or how my muse fits into the world. Words cannot express how much I LOVE IT when people ask me that stuff, so please go nuts. At least then I get to use the information for something while the poor books are sitting on my computer collecting cyber dust. XD If you do read anything I write, though, please let me know what you think of it, even if you hated it. Praise is awesome and criticism helps me grow as a writer, so I welcome any feedback anyone has! =D