Writing

When being a writer has nothing to do with writing!

bobbibowwoman5 Comments

I’ve self-published four books since May. Let that soak in. MAY!

Sure, they were mostly written by March. I simply needed a great editor and for me to learn how to format. EASY! Once I finally learned how to format, the process went faster. Really, it was more like work-work-work-work-wait, work-work-work-work-wait. But it was an exciting time. Last week I announced Goldfish Diaries as “live” on KDP/Amazon because I had received and approved my proof copy for the collection of goldfish comics.

The hard stuff was behind me, I thought. Silly me.

This week has been full of wrestling with kdp and my bank, both saying they have the right data and not able or willing to communicate with each other. Then a box arrived from kdp with eight copies of Goldfish Diaries – printed so poorly they are going back.

I apologize for being negative, but I bet all the money I made in royalties last month (okay it’s not much) that self-publishing authors will be nodding their collective heads as they read this. As hard as writing is…and it is quite a challenge, it pales compared all the work it takes to self-publish.

The attitude is becoming less prevalent, but when people learn that you publish the book yourself, there is some kind of judgement made about your work. Truth be told, when someone hears you self-publish, the response should be…WOW! You’re not only a writer, but a cover designer, a publicist, an accountant, a format specialist, a business and mail office worker as well as your own cheerleader.

I can’t wait to get back to writing. But until then, I have a few dozen phone calls to make as a self-publishing writer.

Goldfish Diaries

bobbibowwomanLeave a comment

How it all began…

                After knocking around Twitter for a time, I fell into a wild crowd. I became part of a global community using hashtags like #FP (Friday Phrases), #Iamwriting, and #writingcommunity. At first I stayed in the shadows. One Friday a tweet formed in my mind. I don’t even know where it came from. I checked my word count, and hit “tweet.”  The earth didn’t shatter. No one replied, “Get off, this is for writers.” 

                So I challenged myself to post at least one tweet each Friday. I noticed that keeping my words under 140 characters helped my wordsmithing skills. I kept coming back. The participants were encouraging and during the week would often speak of their “works in progress.” Some were published authors, others just loved words and sharing thoughts.

                After a few months participation, and meeting some of the most lovely people around the globe, the oddest question popped into my mind. What if I was a goldfish? Of course I knew about “fish out of water” themes in movies and books. But, what about a real fish? What would she have to say? And just like that, Goldfish Diaries was born.

                For over two years she would come to the surface each Friday and play the #FP game. With the encouragement of those on twitter, I started drawing this precious being with a big heart and so much to learn from the world. And now she has her own book, which I share with you.

Click on Goldfish Diaries

Clip2Comic – An app that made all the difference.

bobbibowwomanLeave a comment

For a long time, I’ve wanted to write children’s books.  There were stories I wanted to share. However, the artist in me wanted to illustrate these stories as well.

Along came these magical apps that could change pictures into comic-style or watercolor pictures.  It was not until I tried Clip2Comic created by Digital Masterpieces that felt I had struck gold.  This easy-to-use app allowed me to input pictures from my iphone and then use a variety of styles to change them into comics.

I loved the results, so I went to work.  First, I wrote the story, then created a type of story board where I connected pictures with a particular sentence or paragraph.  Once done, I needed models willing to act out the story while I took pictures using my iphone.  I mean MANY pictures. For example, in my first book, A Gift at the Door, I took over 200 photos in order to get about 30 to use. If you wish to do this, make sure you have willing and patient models.

The picture above of my granddaughter and my husband were taken with an iphone and have 72 dpi (dots per inch).  It’s important to state that because Kindle’s print on demand (KDP) requires 300 dpi.  Something I had to figure out.

The live shot was then, using the Clip2Comic app, translated into the style “Cartoon.”  This was one of the fourteen different styles offered in this app.  I made sure all my pictures used the same style.  I loved the look, but the picture was still 72 dpi and would not be accepted by Kindle. So, I still had a ways to go.

Here was my work-around.  I printed out all thirty of my chosen pictures (not the 200)  on good quality photo paper.  I then scanned each picture with a dpi of 400. I used my Epson ET-4750 for both printing and scanning. I had to do a bit more color editing to make sure it looked as good as the original. Once that was done, I had my illustrations.

I’m hoping that if folks out there want to be their own illustrator, my process may help them accomplish their dream.

Radio show CC

bobbibowwomanLeave a comment

I announced this week about a radio show I was on talking about my new book, “Double Take.”

Feedback:

  1. Good show, clear audio
  2. How can Deaf and HH people access the same information???

For #2, warning….sharp learning curve for me. I leaned how to download a mp3 on YouTube and then used 1/2 auto captioning and 1/2 editing. So, -Fingers Crossed!!! Here we go!

Click on the link Radio Show, transcription, and you should see a one picture youtube video with rolling captions. I notice I do say “hello” to myself (oops) but most is okay. I made sure I showed when Dave spoke (DD) and when I responded (BB)

Enjoy!!

Business Cards…

bobbibowwoman2 Comments

(Or how I got my techno-groove on)

I have an opportunity to meet with someone about my new young adult mystery, Double Take. While thinking about what I would say, it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have a business card. Yikes.

So I started designing one. While looking up ideas of what others had done, I ran across a cool QR code creator called QR Code Monkey

I designed the front of the card to match my more playful side and the back to satisfy that part of me that loves to geek out. With a regular QR reader app, you can hover over the left side and *bing* you are transported to my Amazon author page. Hover over the right side, *bing* you’re looking at our Pyrofuse website.

A good Epson printer, medium weight linen paper, and a good cutter did the rest. I now have my first author business cards.

Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions. Would appreciate the feedback.

What have you been up to?

bobbibowwomanLeave a comment

Self and book “Double Take”

I’ve taken quite a break from my blog…

Not sorry…

I’ve been making one of my dreams come true.  I wrote a book; a real gosh-darn YA mystery.   It’s about a these two fresh and eager first year students at a local community college.  They’re twins! One is Deaf and the other one is hearing.  There’s a event at the college and these two step up to solve the mystery surrounding the event (no spoilers here).

Some “behind the book” information:  Writing was a lot of fun and very challenging.  However, there was a steep learning curve when it came to cover design and learning how to format a book so I could release the paperback and ebook at the same time.

My author page links to both styles of books.  A neat kindle feature, there is a “look inside” feature for the electronic book if you want to read the first few pages before buying.  Bobbi Bowman Author Page