Question: What Would You Do Differently If You Could Start All Over?

What would I do differently with making my stories into ebooks if I could start all over? Hmmmmm . . . .

I would listen to those telling me that ebooks time has come. Get going on figuring out that whole process.

But, nope, I did not listen to anyone in that regard. I dragged my feet. I didn’t believe it could be true. Ebooks? You mean, like reading books off a Star Trek tablet? Are you kidding me?

And writing them that way? I want my paper and my nice pens!

Okay, actually, by that time, I had my first desktop PC, and from that moment on, I never looked back for my paper and pens. Kept a notebook for emergencies and vacations.

Most importantly, I was rid of that miserable typewriter! I loved my paper and pens. I did. I loved buying them, and I loved getting new notebooks. But–I hated typewriters. Hated them! Hated the ribbon changing, hated having to rip a page out if a mistake was made, and starting over. Auggggghhhh!

My new PC made all the difference in getting those stories written. And I could print out a copy of my manuscript in a jiffy! Well, it wasn’t such a jiffy if I had to print out more than one copy. Printed twenty-six copies for Quenton’s fifth grade class . . .

Anyway, instead of jumping into learning how to get started with ebooks, I spent another year and more playing the “send it out and wait for months game” with agents and publishers. All to no avail. I could have papered my walls with my rejections. In fact, I did. Rejections for the books and rejections for short stories and articles I’d written while waiting from those agents and publishers.

Just so you know, I did sell a couple of short stories and an article or two.

Helping a friend get a family history book self published finally fired up my motivation to self publish my own stuff. The POD publisher I was working with for my friend’s history book gave me his used copy of  Adobe Acrobat 4 so we could work together better on the book. With his help, I learned how to get a decent PDF created. I also sprang for an ebook creator for making HTML ebooks. Was fairly easy, and I liked that I got to create the total look of the book. And it worked really well for picture books.

Eventually, I was led to check out Amazon, and found I could sell my stories as PDFs there. I applied for and got my publisher’s contract with them. However, filling out the metadata really messed me up. I never did get a story in PDF up on Amazon.

Just when I thought my head would explode trying to break in on Amazon, they rolled out the Kindle and Kindle Publishing Direct. PDFs were abandoned while I learned next how to create a decent .mobi file. And learn I did! I also found software to create other formats like Hiebook, MS literary, and some others I’ve forgotten since they don’t matter anymore. Publishing to KDP and other places like Draft2Digital and Smashwords is easier. D2D is my choice now to convert my books and stories into the preferred ebook formats. They let you convert and use the resulted ebook wherever. Smashwords doesn’t. But I digress . . .

In March/April of 2010 I finally published Dalton’s Last Stand to the Kindle. Had I listened to those in the know years before, I would have had all those learning curves behind me so much sooner. Although, times change . . . new technology rolls out every day. I’ve taken advantage of some of it, ignored some, and am still scared of a lot of it. I’m more open to learning, though, than I was at the start.

My advice now?

Take a risk! Try something new! It just might work for you!

Please take a reading risk, and purchase Dalton’s Last Stand today!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.