So, as you know, I'm an author. I write books. I love it, and I will never stop until I have to, or Jesus comes for me, but even when I get to Heaven, I'm pretty sure I'll be talking, blogging, writing, you know - - stuff I do now, only I won't make any mistakes. I won't need to go back over my work to see if I've said something too many times, or to put in fewer or more commas!! It's an unending battle; let me just say that. Free publishing though - - you can't beat that.
I wrote "Jude's Almost Daily Blog" book about three years ago, but I published it in May 2021 because I didn't have the money to publish it in December 2020. I literally had to save for several months to pay for it to be formatted and then to have the cover made. NOPE...not anymore. I have Canva for the cover, I use MS Word for the writing as well as the formatting, and through a bit of cussing and fussing, I can make things happen. I still had to go back over the videos this time; a few steps in the process just seemed to leak out of my head.
In 2006, I wrote a poetry book. Again, I had to save money to have it published. I had to beg a woman to let me use her photo for the outside cover. I explained to her that I would give her credit, but I would not pay for it. She expected money after it was published. Again, let me say this one more time...it's a POETRY book. No one in their right mind would have paid what Amazon was asking to begin with, but poetry books are only (usually) picked up by libraries!! I'll never get rich off the poetry book, in fact, I'm thinking of lowering the price so low that I only make .50 on each book just to see if I can sell enough to break even on what it cost me.
Today, it didn't cost me a DIME. I uploaded the original interior after I made two small corrections, and after I took off the credit for the book cover because I didn't use her cover, I used one I found on Canva. Thank you, Canva. They have a Pro app you can buy, but I used the free version, and I'm just as happy. I don't need anything fancy anyway; I've always been the rather basic type. Don't give me diamonds, but I will take a good rock. I like rocks.
I uploaded "Periwinkle" the poetry book, and I uploaded the 2nd book in the Blog Book series, "Jude's Almost Daily Blog Book 2" and yes Tex, you are in this book. No Tex, you can't complain about it because all I do is sing your praises, telling people how wonderful you are, and yes before you make that face; I got permission to print the photo I used. It was from when you were at CCHH.org.uk on YouTube and Isaac Bannister gave me permission in writing. You're a handsome man; the world should see you for who you are. Don't worry, I didn't tell the world about what happened up in the Highlands on that dark and snowy night...or was that just in my head? Yeah, they'll never know, either way.
Anyone and everyone who wants to tell their stories, write songs, write poetry, write textbooks, catalogs, children's books, or anything really can go to www.canva.com and get a free account. They can write in their favorite word processor, format it in Word, and then save it as a PDF. Ingram Spark accepts PDF files only. So, you'll make your cover and save it in PDF through Adobe, and you'll do the same with your Word document. When you upload it you'll be asked a few questions about your book such as whether is it paperback or hardcover, what color of paper will you use, does it read left to right, and do you want it to be a glossy or matte finish. They also ask you about the size of the book, the page count, and the type of book it is as well as the audience you're seeking.
The blog books are family-oriented, fun, light, and somewhat quirky. I have two short stories in there too; they're tougher, a bit harsh really, but they are good. I always add about 12-15 poems in my blog books as well. Shake it up. I added about 30-32 photos; all black and white. I was absolutely surprised that it doesn't affect the price! It may have if they were color. I don't know. I just added good black-and-white photos. One or two may not be as good as they could be, but they'll suffice for what this book is. It's not an end-all book; it's fun. You can pick up the book and read a few blogs, put the book down, and do it again later.
So then, as of today, I have 5 books published through Ingram Sparks; and since they count the eBook and the hardcover as individual titles I could say 7, but I won't. I have:
- Jude's Almost Daily Blog (Book 1)
- Jude's Almost Daily Blog Book 2
- Periwinkle (Poetry)
- Murder Book (thriller novel)
- Of Kilted Pleasure (romance novel)
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