Monday, July 29, 2013

My Summer Vacation (and some oddball questions)


So you know how I'm always right on top of stuff? And got home three weeks ago... yeah, that.

I FINALLY stole my daughter's memory card and downloaded some pics from our vacation...






Here we have Thing 2 traipsing out onto a precipice in the Badlands... will you look at that?  Amazing, right?








Thing 1 in another direction
Pretty windy that day...

Then we went on to the Black Hills and drove through an animal safari thing...

Caribou, I believe...

napping grizzly...

Then we drove west into Wyoming which was initially unimpressive, but MAN, do I wish pictures could better capture Bighorn Pass... This tunnel is making my Endangered series (because when I blow up the tunnel nobody can get in and out of that part of Wyoming in the winter *cough*)




And finally YELLOWSTONE!!!

Lovely buffalo...
Burbling (stinky) geyser
I dub this 'the pretty one' (love that blue!)
And of course, Old Faithful.
There are pics missing--times the camera wasn't charged that I need to pull off the phone, but that's a good start.



And then there are these things...

Bookplates

I had a reader request (among a few other things) bookplates. Are these something the publisher normally GIVES authors? Just not mass paperback type authors? I'm not even sure what they ARE... Has anyone every just GOTTEN them for promo? Has anyone had them made? Worth the expense? Is this a common request?


Kindle Direct Publishing Select

So y'all know I'm self publishing in serial, yeah? And my PLAN is to publish serially, but then bundle and have them also available as what will effectively be a trilogy of normal-length books...

So there is this formatting thing to learn, and all the sales venues want different stuff... so I am TOYING with doing the initial release ONLY on Kindle, whereby for 90 days there is only them... allows me to have that first free for a total of 5 days (which I will do as I release each of the others) and then by the time I have 4 out and am ready for that first bundle, I can pull it OFF the select and learn all the other formatting..

But I'm not sure. I don't want to exclude Nook, iBook, or other readers... And I think Kobo allows me to PERMANENTLY have that first one free (which is what I'd like—Amazon price matches, so it would be free there, too)


What do you guys think? Worth learning all the extra stuff to keep the extra control? Or is that KDPS enough easier that I should go for it?



15 comments:

Old Kitty said...

Wow! Love these pics - so wild!! The geysers are fab - and such huge animals! Thoroughly NAKED!! Brilliant!

I love bookplates!! I work in a library and we USED to have bookplates done specially for all our books (very ornate and just lovely) then cuts came and now they are no more..!

Sorry, not much help but they are lovely!

Take care
x

Natalie Aguirre said...

Love the pictures. The buffalo is awesome.

Sorry, I'm not sure the best way on publishing. Some of us(including me) don't have Kindles, so you might think about that in deciding.

Crystal Collier said...

On Kindle Select, yes, I think it's a good idea to go exclusive for the first 90 days. Kindle is where 70%+ of all e-book sales come from, so I say go with it and eat the elephant one bite at a time after that. You can be learning formatting for the other mediums during your 90 days.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

I don't have answers, but I think that Kindle has more sales than other eReaders. Great idea, BTW.

I must go to Yellowstone. I must. I love that Pass. It is worth adding to a story.

jack welling said...

I'm watching and learning from big sister on all this serial epub release business; but, it's wearing me out.

I'm confident in being Writer, Inc. However, writer/publisher/marketer/distributor/retailer is maybe beyond me.

I think I understand the attraction. As I slog through my plotting exercise right now,I'm not sure I could face it if release management were at the end of the line.

Watch. Learn. I'm going to need a whole new brand of coffee if I follow you. Clearly, fortune favors the naked.

j.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Some great pictures! If that tunnel blows up, I'll know who to blame.
I'm bummed when books are only available on Amazon. I have the app on my iPad, but I still prefer the iBookstore. (Also because I have a life's supply of iTunes gift cards.) But you have to do what will work best for your series.

erica and christy said...

My parents took us on a similar vacation when I was 18 and my sister was 16. This summer I've just been - gone - nowhere too special, just gone from anything writing related. (and I loved your previous post about college shenanigans. oh, my, the shenanigans. . .)
erica

CA Heaven said...

Nice pics. Yellowstone is a cool place. I've seen these boiling sulphur and carbonate pits when I visited the park many years ago. We were in Big Sky, Montana, on a science conference and drove down to Yellowstone on a day trip >:)

Cold As Heaven

Hart Johnson said...

I definitely don't want to NOT be available for other readers! But I do think the practicality of delaying the others for a couple months while I learn the formatting might balance. And the trouble with the iPad stuff is I can't upload unless I own a mac of some sort (which just strikes me as wrong)--I may be able to find one to borrow, but it's impossible to format for iTunes except on a Mac Machine.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Beautiful photos!

Hart, you need formatting tips or help, let me know.

Tina said...

Oh, how I love Yellowstone. Did you go to the paint pots - is that where you found the pretty one? That's where we saw our buffalo.
I've never been to the Bighorns, but we'd like to go someday.
As to your self-publishing questions, I defer to L. Diane Wolfe, who literally wrote the book on it. Good book. She's in my sidebar if you don't already know her. Well, she's there even IF you know her...
Tina @ Life is Good

Tina said...

Oh, I went back and read your comments and see that yes, you know L.Diane...my bad.
Tina @ Life is Good

Yolanda Renée said...

Looks like an awesome vacation!

Thanks for sharing!

Helena said...

Loved the photos, even of the Badlands which do indeed look pretty bad.

Other commenters here know more about the techie aspect of e-publishing than I do, so I'll defer to them. But I wish you the best of luck and super sales with your fab serial.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

It sounds like a good plan, but I really don't know much about any of it. Like your first commenter, I don't own a Kindle either (and don't really want to).

I enjoyed your vacation pictures!

Kathy M.