Dee Palmer's Blog, page 10

One thing I have discovered that I love, is working with people in the States. I go to bed and wake up to all this amazing stuff, not that the time difference is that big because I happen to think some are just crazy people working and reading until the wee hours. But I am so grateful they do because look at this – my first ever review :)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24815019-never-a-choice

Ok so I got this message in my in box this morning from blogger Missy’s Book Blog:

“Ok can I kill Kt yet! My heart has been pounding! I am at 85% and it is 4.03 am here! I can’t put this down!”

I won’t lie, I had tears in my eyes!  I wasn’t joking when I said I had been careful picking my Beta readers so other than my editor, these new people are completely unknown to me. I am super grateful they are giving their time to read my book. I am an unknown after all  and there are always lots of books to read, and from my end it could always go more than a little pear shaped if they hate it. But I need reviews and I basically know about ten people on Facebook and Twitter so I am tentively testing the blogging waters.

So this message is absolutely welcome and wonderful – HUGE smiley face :)

Pleased the Amazon upload went ok with a little delay on the cover image but that’s all sorted now and I get a sample of the paperback this week to which is scary real. Oh oh and my first blogger is actually reading it now and posted a ‘must look out for teaser’ – Missy ‘ Book Blog :mrgreen:.

Facebook  a different  matter. From my author page I could boost the post of the pre -order post and considering  I know about 10 people  on fb  I thought it a good  idea.  First rejection  was because of too much skin, excessive suggestive sexual content etc. I mean come on guys it’s a freaking shoulder! !! Any hoo  so I cut out the offending flesh and are left with a little jacket material  and the title but nooooo  that would mean too much text content so that got rejected too.

So cap on hand I’ve had to go back to my cover designer and see if she can produce something  remotely  eye catching within these uber conservative parameters.

So reluctant husband turned into ‘not managing to’ husband. Can’t be helped  so I  have tried to copy edit one last time but honestly  I can’t see the wud for the trees! It’s gone now, off to the formatter fairy and I guess the next people to read it will be you !

I’m definitely a little on edge. I have handed my baby (my book) to my reluctant husband for a final copy edit before I send it to the formatter to work their ebook magic. It really isn’t his thing but I printed it out and shuffled the pages so it makes no sense (I would hope ;) ) but it means he can concentrate on the grammar, which is proving troublesome. Not because I am especially bad at spelling but I do, on occasion, have speedy careless fingers and spellcheck only works if the words are actually spelt wrong!

So I’ve gone a little clean crazy, I’m like a demon with a duster trying to distract myself. He has until Wednesday and after I send to the formatter it should be back to me early next week. I can then upload to amazon for pre-orders and send out some ARCs. I should also have book 2 back from my editor by the end of this week and I’ll have those amendments to keep me busy :)

I did leave my editors report and MS alone for a whole week, which is really good for me. I have spent the last three and a half days on planet ‘Choices’. My husband has given up trying to engage in any form of communication as I stare blankly back at him when he asks the simplest thing. But I have made my amendments, deleted where advised, added and padded and copy edited. Which I can do until the cows come home – and is a real worry. Every time I look at a page I see more errors. Not huge but enough to piss me off. So I have printed it out and shuffled the pages, so I can focus on the words and grammar, not the story. Hopefully this will leave it clean and shiny; ready for the formatter on the 27th. I can send my ARCs out on the 2nd and upload to Amazon on the 10th. I think it will be available to pre order from then and released on the 20th.

So I have actually given myself a deadline. I got my MS back from my editor last Friday and although there is definitely some work to do, I was hugely encourage by her positive appraisal:

“The is an excellent example of erotic fiction, and will naturally be compared with successes like Fifty and Crossfire. Bethany is a charming protagonist, and the reader cannot help but warm to her, ensuring they stick by her story right to the end.”

Sorry (not sorry) I had to put that in again because it just makes me smile. Anyway, I have put the report and MS down and started to look into the other stuff. I uploaded the title onto Goodreads and started to put the information into Createspace for the printable version but the formatting has left me cold. The learning curve felt like scaling the Matterhorn so I have booked my book in to a professional on the 27th Feb. I have booked a release date of the 20th March which gives me an Amazon KDP deadline of March 10th. Still pretty bloody exciting :)

Can I call it a review when it’s actually feedback from my editor? Well yes I can because she is the first person to read it that isn’t family or my friends that i’d take a bullet for, so I think it counts as a review:

“The is an excellent example of erotic fiction, and will naturally be compared with successes like Fifty and Crossfire. Bethany is a charming protagonist, and the reader cannot help but warm to her, ensuring they stick by her story right to the end.”

Phew! Can you guess how big my smiley face is right now? :) Much bigger than that!

I have pulled the best quote (obviously) from her report and there is enough work, rewriting, editing, deleting etc. to keep me out of mischief but for now i am going to bask and do what my editor told me to do – put the report and MS down to let the recommendations take hold, for at least a week (I know she said 2 weeks but no chance).

Think its likely to be a March release date, maybe Feb depends how tricky making the changes turns out to be.

Hope your excited – again with the smiley face :)

xdee

I have definitely been procrastinating this week but in the best way. I have read three amazing books that I couldn’t put down but it has meant I haven’t started my next project which I had planed to do :( But hey there is always next week. I am in limbo though because although I have had the next cover back from the designer which i’m pretty pleased with, I know my editor started work on book one last weekend and i’ve heard nothing, not a peep! And its all i can think about so it might be wise to not start anything just yet. I’m completely new to this so I have no idea if thats normal, if she’s crying in her cornflakes having to read my work of just … well I always assume the worst so arghhh. It’s been a while but it feels very much like a ‘will he call?’ scenario. God I hope so!

I know I said Happy New Year  in my last post but its worth repeating because I really hope you have a great one!! I think 2015 is all about putting ‘it’ out there. I know I intend to release all three books of mine in the first quarter of the year so that is pretty huge and I have tentatively started to break down my new story into chapters but there is some research to do and a whole lot of blanks to fill. But I love this, so much there is no hint of a moan – because they come much later and hopefully in the arms of a hot alpha :)

Talking to my other half and being very vague about what I have swirling around my brain distracting me, I could see he looked a little miffed I wasn’t in a sharing mood but he has no idea the effect an involuntary judgemental eyebrow raise, (especially has he doesn’t read this genre) can have on me and my story is very much in the nursery stage, delicate, fragile and in need of nurture. So tight lipped and protective I am going to start in earnest next week.