M-F: 9-5pm PST

Tag: publishing

Because I’m Happyyyyyyy!!!!!

StellaLove4LifeLeave a Comment on Because I’m Happyyyyyyy!!!!!

Image

 

Yes! I did it! I finished my first draft of Claude’s Conquest: Maura’s Men Book Two!!!! I’m so excited I’m doing a little dance as I type!  It’s the weekend so I’m going to enjoy this writers high a bit longer before the reality of the editing process sets in. I also have a cover reveal in the works so look out for that soon!!!! Hope everyone is having a good weekend as well!

A word of advice, never give up! Always finish what you start and when if in doubt check out this AWESOME POST by Jodie Llewellyn to lift your spirits

If you want more awesome updates feel free to sign up for my mailing list HERE!

and if you want to catch up on my world the first book of my Paranormal romance series Maura’s Men is available for HERE only 99Cents!!!

Love4Life Newsletter

StellaLove4Life1 Comment on Love4Life Newsletter

Love4Life Newsletter

Use this link to sign up for the Official Stella Williams Newsletter

Feng Shui or Forget About It???

StellaLove4LifeLeave a Comment on Feng Shui or Forget About It???

https://twitter.com/StellaLove4life/status/465970458941075456

Ever had that one chapter that was crucial to your plot line but you just couldn’t find the perfect place to put it?  That’s my latest dilemma as a novice writer.  There are about four different places I could put it but they all are somehow off.  Putting it at the beginning makes other chapters seem less powerful.  Sticking it in the middle disrupts the emotional flow. Putting it closer to the end is too far into the story for it to work the way I need it too.  I could just scrap the whole thing ore re-write it, probably the safer and smarter idea, but I like it how it is. I’m tabling it for now but once I’ve gotten the rest of my first draft completed I will definitely come back to it.

 

My First Book Trailer: Maura’s Men Series

StellaLove4Life2 Comments on My First Book Trailer: Maura’s Men Series

xcvrcl-crop

Check out my Book Trailer Here! Maura’s Men Series.

Book trailers have been around for quite some time but for the self published it can be a pretty daunting task.  Not wanting to spend a whole lots on production, free alternatives like creating one on your own have started to gain traction.

I didn’t feel like mucking around with video software so I opted for a simple and free alternative, Animoto.  Not only do they have plenty of stock photos, video clips, and music but the end result is a pretty professional looking video clip up to 30 seconds long (need a paid subscription for longer videos).  Animoto is not the only site out there offering free video making, but I found it worked the best for me.

 

If you want to try a few out for yourself here is a detailed list from a fellow blogger. FREE VIDEO MAKERS

 

 PURCHASE Xander’s Claim: Maura’s Men Book One HERE

Growing Pains of the Self-Pubbed

StellaLove4LifeLeave a Comment on Growing Pains of the Self-Pubbed

Image

I love writing.  There is rarely a day that I don’t want to be in front of my computer or curled up with a notebook, crafting my own personal masterpiece.  What I didn’t expect was how much extra comes along with getting my work out there for others to read/enjoy.  My first novella only took me two months to get the first draft completed with basic edits and I was super stoked.  I raved about it to family and friends and immediately posted it on, the ever so easy, Kindle Direct Publishing. Big mistake, it went nowhere, there were lots of grammatical errors and I had issues with the sizing of my cover.

It took another two months just to fix the more glaring issues, and it was only then that I realized I still had to actually market my book. It wasn’t enough that I told family and friends.  I needed to build a social media presence, get involved on writing sites, and of course start a blog, not only to help build a following but to have another platform to promote my work.  All of this without being an annoying spammer.  It may only take one to write a compelling story but it literally takes a village to get that story going places.

Thankfully, I’m learning from my mistakes with the first novel, “Xander’s Claim” , and have a solid plan for the second.  It might be more work than I anticipated but no one said your dreams would come easy.

 

%d bloggers like this: