Too many books, not enough time to write them

Are you a writer? Do you have endless books in your head, as I do? Or do you prefer to read the writings of others, something I also enjoy but which often leads me to the former. Being a writer can be irritating sometimes, especially when you have so many ideas and so little time. I want to take another three months out of my freelance soon and write my next book, or at least get it started.

But what book?

I have just posted my two completed Ghostwriter mystery books, Killer Twist and A Plot To Die For on Smashwords, but I have a third one already in the pipeline. It was originally intended as book number two, before A Plot To Die For swept into my imagination and took over. Loosely dubbed Last Writes, it's a cracking tale, one I desperately want to complete. I'm about 10,000 wds in. I know exactly how it will go. I might as well finish it.

But I have this other idea, see, that's just as intoxicating to me as a writer. It's a whole new crime mystery series called The Agatha Christie Book Club (see earlier posts). I am also 10,000 words into that, and it excites me even more than the ghostwriter books. It's just fresher, I guess, and has more marketing potential. So I would like to re-focus on that, if only to clinch the idea which I think is a corker. (Why hasn't anyone ever thought of it before?)

What do you think? Stick with the first series, extend that portfolio of titles? Or launch into something new?

All comments/critiques/advice most welcome. Anyone?

xo C.

Smashed at last

Almost exactly a month after my first attempt to upload my first ebook, Killer Twist (A Ghostwriter Mystery), to Smashwords (SW), I have finally succeeded, and not because I'm technologically savvy, I hasten to add. After formatting it in accordance with SW's Style Guide (three hours and a lot of sweat later), and adding a slick cover courtesy of designer Stuart Eadie, I pressed the publish button and expected instant success. My how delusional I was!

It didn't convert. Hmmm.

I tried a million different methods, I took out bolds and italics, I reformatted — no mean feat I can tell you— and tried again. Still no luck. And the stream of cries for help that I sent SW largely went unanswered (when they did bother to get back to me, they contained no useful tips at all. Just told me to try again. Duh!).

The problem with SW, as far as I can tell, is that if you have so much as a tab out of place the whole file does not convert. You have to get the formatting exact. Whatever I had done, it was clearly NOT exact. (Another problem with SW is the fact that it's free. I don't want to pay for it, don't get me wrong, but perhaps if I had, they may have responded to me faster and more effectively?)

I was left feeling frustrated, demoralised and pitifully low—it takes so long to write a book, edit it, get a cover designed, and let go of the whole, dreamy idea of ever finding a 'real' publisher, that when you finally decide to self-publish an ebook you just want the friggin thing to work! For a whole month it just wouldn't. My cover uploaded, it looked fabulous. But they kept rejecting my book.

Was this an omen?

Eventually I realised that I needed to bring in the Big Guns, or at least accept that I'm a Luddite and hire someone who isn't. Enter Amy Siders from US-based formatting business 52 Novels. We love her now! For a mere $45 (AUS$43), she formatted it in less than 10 days and got it back to me. At first, it still didn't work and I was beyond tearful. DAMN IT! Then I realised it had page breaks—a SW no-no—so she redid it immediately and PRESTO!

It's up. It's on the SW website.

Or, at least, it will be when they read through and approve. Right now you can search for it and find it, download it and buy it. But I guess it won't come up on the main menu for a few days. Fair enough. Someone has to manually check for errors, inappropriate language etc etc.

But the process has finally begun. Oh hail the ebook, and may I sell at least one!

xo Christina

Thwarted! For now...

So last time we spoke, I raved a bit about the glories—the ease!— of self-publishing via Smashwords. Perhaps I spoke a little prematurely. Sure, formatting the book was slightly tricky but hell, I did it, and I'm Queen Luddite. I got the cover designed, it looks hot, I have to say (thanks, Stu). And I uploaded the lot to Smashwords. They accepted it, yippee! Than they spat me back out. It seems I hadn't quite ticked all the boxes.

This process is a little trickier than I had anticipated. Doesn't mean it can't be done. Doesn't mean it won't be done. But there are a few hiccups I hadn't counted on. For instance, I didn't realise - duh! - that I'd need an ISBN number. A barcode as such. Why I didn't realise this is bizarre and a little embarrassing but there you go. How else can retailers know where to send my giant royalty cheques? Luckily for me, Smashwords recommended an Aussie ISBN website. I'm in the process of acquiring a book of 10 ISBN numbers (just $80 all up, people), then that's sorted for a few years/decades. (Really, with all this mucking about, you don't expect me to find any time to actually write anything else, do you?)

I also didn't realise I needed a US tax file number. The very thought sends shivers down our collective spines but, again, why I hadn't anticipated this, is beyond me. If you don't provide a tax number the US government withholds 30% of earnings. SO WHAT you might chorus? What's 30% of NOTHING? Then, you do the maths and realise that you're already giving your life's work away for a measly $2.99. Why let Uncle Sam take a whole dollar? What the hell did HE do? They don't even tax Bill Gates that much. (18% if you must know.)

Fortunately, I do have an old Social Security number from my three years working in the US, so I may use that. Or will that only open a can of worms? Will a helicopter suddenly descend upon the house, bright lights, a Swat team in place to demand where I've been for the past 12 years and why the hell haven't I been paying tax in God's Own Country?!

NOW we know what we needed publishers for.

I'm now in consultation with my Aussie tax bloke to find out the best course of action. Perhaps 30% ain't so bad...

But you know what? I still would rather go through all this crap then have to deal with a publisher, or not as the case currently is. Sure, a publisher would do all this for me, cross all these Ts, tick all the boxes. But I can still do it faster. They say it takes around a year for a publisher to turn a book around. So far, it's only been about six weeks for me. So we're doing okay.

Speak to me again in a month.
xo