I’ve updated my Intro to Allie McCormack video on youtube!
My Writing Plan: Week of March 23
There’s been no real change; I’m still working on the final revisions of A Gift of Jacinth, which will be released on June 4th. I’m back to being able to writing (which includes editing, revising, etc.) full-time, which is such a HUGE relief!!!
IN OTHER NEWS……
NEW RELEASE! SwanSong is available now as Kindle or you can also read it for free on Kindle Unlimited. The paperback will be here soon, I’m still fighting with KDP about the cover, but hopefully we’ll get it sorted out soon. A Gift of Jacinth is actually already available as pre-order for just 99 cents!
Beta Readers Still Needed! As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading: A Cat for Troy, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams paranormal romance series and Castles in the Sand, 2nd book of my Sons of the Desert multicultural romance series. The second wave of revisions of the first book of When Darkness Falls should be going into beta reading soon!
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd wave of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams series
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert series
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
- To Be Written Partial Manuscripts:
- HATED MATE, 5th book of Wishes & Dreams
- BEHIND THE CLOUDS, spin-off of Sons of the Desert
- INTO THE STORM, spin-off of Sons of the Desert
- Short Story: Amanda & Julian, spin-off of Wishes in a Bottle
Submissions I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THIS WEEK’S WRITING PLAN
(Not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Work on final revisions of A Gift of Jacinth for June 4th release (Priority)
- Set up Cover Reveal for A Gift of Jacinth, April 16th
- Xpresso Tours (done)
- Yours Truly Book Services (done)
- Premium Indie Reads
- Raffle
- Get When Darkness Falls: The Palace set up for 2nd wave of beta reading
Copyrighting a group of unpublished works
This went live at the Copyright Office this morning: You can now file a group registration for up to 10 unpublished literary works.
I just filed for a group registration this morning. The process is almost exactly the same as One Work by One Author, except of course, you list up to 10 titles instead of just one. You also can digitally upload or send by mail, just the same as other forms of copyright. I called the Copyright Office for verification; he said you are copyrighting the *content* of what you send, so send as much as you’ve got for each work, and that is what is copyrighted.
The fee (I just paid it) is $55. (Weirdly, last night when I put it in the shopping cart, it was $85, but when I went to pay this morning, the fee was $55… so it’s possible (though not likely) that the fee is $85 and somehow their system glitched and I got lucky.
The man I spoke to *also* said that you do not need to re-copyright these works once you publish them. Which made no sense to me, but we weren’t communicating well; I know too little about copyright to use the right catch-phrases so that he’d understand what I was asking. Maybe someone more experienced than me can clarify this?
He said if the title is different when you publish a work, there will be an option to associate the unpublished registration for that work with the new, published title. Also, FYI, the date of the copyright for that work will always be the date of the unpublished registration, not the date that the work was published.
My Writing Plan: Week of Mar 9, 2019
Things are pretty simple at t his point; SwanSong was released on March 4th as planned, and I’ve got the cover for A Gift of Jacinth, the 2nd book in my Wishes & Dreams series, and am planning a Cover Reveal for April 16th. I’m almost able to be back at my desk full-time (thank heavens!), and I’m plowing ahead on the final revisions on the manuscript before sending it for proofreading.
IN OTHER NEWS……
NEW RELEASE! SwanSong is available now as Kindle or you can also read it for free on Kindle Unlimited. The paperback will be here soon, I’m still fighting with KDP about the cover, but hopefully we’ll get it sorted out soon. A Gift of Jacinth is actually already available as pre-order for just 99 cents!
Beta Readers Still Needed! As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading: A Cat for Troy, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams paranormal romance series and Castles in the Sand, 2nd book of my Sons of the Desert multicultural romance series. The second wave of revisions of the first book of When Darkness Falls should be going into beta reading soon!
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd wave of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams series
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert series
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
- To Be Written Partial Manuscripts:
- HATED MATE, 5th book of Wishes & Dreams
- BEHIND THE CLOUDS, spin-off of Sons of the Desert
- INTO THE STORM, spin-off of Sons of the Desert
- Short Story: Amanda & Julian, spin-off of Wishes in a Bottle
Submissions I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THIS WEEK’S WRITING PLAN
(Not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Work on final revisions of A Gift of Jacinth for June 4th release (Priority)
- Set up Cover Reveal for A Gift of Jacinth, April 16th
- Xpresso Tours
- Premium Indie Reads
- Raffle
- Get When Darkness Falls: The Palace set up for 2nd wave of beta reading
Writing Milestones (Book Birthdays & more)
I decided I needed to make a blog post that I can keep updated, and look back on.
- May 8, 2000: The 1st chapter of TRUCK STOP won The Undiscovered Writer Contest (it’s a Milestone because that’s what got this all started)
- October 10, 2000: Finished (1st draft) TRUCK STOP
- November 10-24, 2000: Finished (1st draft) DANCER (yes, I really did… I wrote this in 2 weeks!)
- July 17-21, 2001: Attend my first RWA National Conference
- October 9, 2001: TRUCK STOP is released as eBook on thru SynergEbooks
- February 17, 2002: TRUCK STOP is released as paperback thru SynergEbooks
- August 10, 2002: Finished (1st draft) CASTLES IN THE SAND
- October 20, 2002: Finished 3rd person revision of DANCER, renamed SWANSONG
- August 21, 2004: Finished (1st draft) A GIFT OF JACINTH
- November 30, 2008: NaNoWriMo WINNER
- April 14, 2012: TRUCK STOP is self-published as Kindle & paperback on Amazon
- November 30, 2016: NaNoWriMo WINNER
- July 27, 2017: Finished (1st draft) WISHES IN A BOTTLE
- August 15, 2017: A CAT FOR TROY took 3rd place in Paranormal, On the Far Side RWA Chapter contest.
- November 30, 2017: NaNoWriMo WINNER
- December 7, 2017: WISHES IN A BOTTLE took 2nd place in Paranormal, Melody of Love RWA Chapter contest
- May 18, 2018: Finished (1st draft) A CAT FOR TROY
- October 22, 2018: TRUCK STOP is re-released as 3rd edition w/major revisions
- November 28, 2018: Finished (1st draft) WHEN DARKNESS FALLS
- November 30, 2018: NaNoWriMo WINNER
- December 6, 2018: WISHES IN A BOTTLE mini-trailer by The Book Khaleesi
- December 11, 2018: TRUCK STOP is released as Audiobook through Audible, Amazon and iTunes
- January 15, 2019: WISHES IN A BOTTLE is released as Kindle & paperback on Amazon
- March 4, 2019: SWANSONG is released as Kindle & paperback on Amazon
Colors Index:
Audiobook Birthdays
Book Birthdays
Contest Wins & Finals
Finished!
SwanSong is released today!
SwanSong has gone live today!!! You can find it on Amazon as Kindle or (shortly) paperback, or you can read it free with Kindle Unlimited. The cover was designed by the fabulous Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs, I’m so pleased with it!!!
Here’s the synopsis:
Sarah Pendleton was born into a life of wealth and privilege, raised in the shadow of her famous soprano mother and her father, an equally famous composer. Shy and retiring, Sarah has left behind the world she grew up in to make her own life in the coastal town of Santa Barbara, California.
A visiting University professor of Arabic literature from the small oil-rich country of Taqara, Khalid Al Mansour is the eldest son of a Taqaran diplomat and an independent American artist. He’s never settled down in one place, but that’s because he’s never found what he wanted… until one evening he sees the lovely bellydancer at a small, smoky cafe downtown.
Upcoming Cover Reveal: A Gift of Jacinth
All right, here we go looking forward to the next book already! Last night, late, I got the final version of the cover for A Gift of Jacinth, and I think it is GORGEOUS!!! I’ve already ordered a mug and bookmarks from VistaPrint, this is sooo exciting! The tentative release date isn’t until June 7th, so I’ve set a Cover Reveal date of Tuesday, April 16th. I am super excited about this one! Jacinth is one of my favoritest characters, and a really fun story that was a blast to write!!
I’ve actually posted the cover for my “In the Loop” patrons on Patreon… feel free to support me there and get the early peeks at covers, etc.! 🙂
A fabulous new review for Wishes in a Bottle
This fantastic review by Lex Allen for Wishes in a Bottle was posted on Goodreads… he really loved it! Check it out now!!!
My Writing Plan: Week of March 2, 2019
SwanSong release is around the corner, and I’ve put in the order for cover art for the next release this morning. I’ve been making a slow recovery from my back pain exacerbation; I’m not so much in pain anymore as mentally wiped out from dealing with relenting pain for almost 2 months. I’m starting to spend more time at the desk however and beginning to be productive. The current project is to work on the final revisions of A Gift of Jacinth, which is the 2nd book in my Wishes & Dreams series. I’ve set a tentative release date of June 7th.
IN OTHER NEWS……
NEW RELEASE! SwanSong’s release date is almost upon us! It’s available now as Kindle with a pre-order price of 99 cents until March 4th! You can also read it for free on Kindle Unlimited… the paperback will be here soon! Beta Readers Still Needed! As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading: A Cat for Troy, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams paranormal romance series and Castles in the Sand, 2nd book of my Sons of the Desert multicultural romance series. The second wave of revisions of the first book of When Darkness Falls should be going into beta reading soon!
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd round of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams series
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert series
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
- To Be Written Partial Manuscripts:
- HATED MATE, 5th book of Wishes & Dreams
- BEHIND THE CLOUDS, spin-off of Sons of the Desert
- INTO THE STORM, spin-off of Sons of the Desert
- Short Story: Amanda & Julian, spin-off of Wishes in a Bottle
Submissions I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THIS WEEK’S WRITING PLAN
(Not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Work on March newsletter for sending on March 4th! (Priority!)
- Start working on final revisions of A Gift of Jacinth for possible June 7th release
- Upload SwanSong paperback to KDP as soon as I get it from Eeva (Priority!)
- Send SwanSong final page count to Dar for paperback cover finalizing as soon as I get the file from Eeva (Priority!)
- Schedule Cover Reveal for A Gift of Jacinth once I have the cover from Dar
- Post First-Look Cover Reveal on Patreon for my “In-the-Loop” patrons
Breaking a Record
I’m just blogging this because I like to celebrate the little achievements 🙂 My previous record for Kindle Unlimited page reads in a day was 1,249 on 11/20/18…. as of right now, just after noon today, I have 1,465 page reads! 1,425 of those are Wishes in a Bottle, 40 for Truck Stop. It’s only noon, too… let’s see what we finish the day with!
Finally tally was 2,074! 2,034 for Wishes in a Bottle, 40 for Truck Stop… actually we could run 2 sets of records now because the 1,249 in November was for Truck Stop only. 🙂
TOTAL KU Page reads in a day: 2,074 on 1/27/19
Truck Stop: 1,249 on 11/20/18
Wishes in a Bottle: 2,034 on 1/27/19
Just to have this written down somewhere, here are the official normalized KU page reads:
Truck Stop: 345
Wishes in a Bottle: 559
It’s here! The Cover Reveal for SwanSong!
IT’S COVER REVEAL DAY!!! This absolutely gorgeous cover for SwanSong was designed by Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs. SwanSong is the 1st book in my 4-book multicultural romance series, Sons of the Desert, set in Santa Barbara, a lovely coastal Southern California town.
And yes! There’ll be a raffle I’ll be setting it up in the morning 🙂
SwanSong will be released March 4, 2019, and is available now for pre-order at http://bit.ly/SwSons1
My first review for Wishes in a Bottle!
I got my first review of Wishes in a Bottle!!! Jenny Schwartz, author of the two wonderful paranormal romance series, The Collegium and Old School, posted a 5-star review of Wishes in a Bottle!
“Wishes in a Bottle” by Allie McCormack is a heartwarming, emotional paranormal romance. Julian is sympathetic hero and the heroine, Alex, is appealing. Side characters have their own journeys (or the beginnings of them) but their stories don’t overwhelm the main romance. Julian and Alex’s love story exists in a web of other relationships, which is a realistic portrayal of how romantic love is part of other forms of caring. The magical element is excellently imagined and reaches a satisfying conclusion (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers). A wonderful book in with the real magic is the gift of compassion.
You can find it here on GoodReads!
My Writing Plan: Week of Jan 19
Remember last Saturday’s trip to the ER? Well, a nice gentleman sitting in the waiting room with pneumonia passed on the joy, and I’ve been sick as a dog since Sunday. So we’re still right where we were last Saturday at this time… I still need to finish the read-through of SwanSong, which I’d really hoped to have done by now. In the meantime, Wishes in a Bottle was released on time, YAY! And the Cover Reveal for SwanSong is coming up on Tuesday, January 22nd 🙂
IN OTHER NEWS……
NEW RELEASE! Wishes in a Bottle is my first release in EIGHTEEN (18) years! It’s available now as Kindle and you can read it for free on Kindle Unlimited… the paperback will be here soon!
COVER REVEAL! SwanSong Cover Reveal will be Tuesday, January 22nd, and it’s available now for pre-order 🙂
Raffles! There’s a new raffle for Wishes in a Bottle from January 15th to January 24th; it’s for a gorgeous Egyptian hand-blown glass perfume bottle… and yes, I made a Filmora Raffle Trailer for it! LOL! You can always see my new videos on my Youtube channel 🙂 Enter the raffle as many times as you like!
Beta Readers Still Needed! As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading.
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done:
- WISHES IN A BOTTLE, 1st book of Wishes & Dreams 3-book series*
- SWANSONG; 1st book of Sons of the Desert 4-book series*
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert*
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd round of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
Submissions I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THIS WEEK’S WRITING PLAN
(Not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Pour over SwanSong to make sure it’s ready for formatting (Priority!)
- Send out January Cover Reveal newsletter on January 22nd! (Priority!)
- Start working on revisions of A Gift of Jacinth for May/June release
- Send paperback page count to Dar for cover formatting as soon as I get it from TBK
- Upload paperback & cover to KDP and order proof copy as soon as I get cover from Dar
- Pick Raffle prizes for the Cover Reveal of SwanSong and get pictures sent to Xpresso
- Ship Raffle prizes as soon as I get the last winner’s name
A Reward!
It’s January 15, 2019, and WISHES IN A BOTTLE is released today! My first release in over 17 years deserved something very special, so I ordered this beautiful 1993 Lenox Carousel Horse from eBay as my reward!
Wishes in a Bottle is HERE!
Wishes in a Bottle was released today! This is my first NEW RELEASE since Truck Stop was originally published Oct 9, 2001… so over 17 years!! I’m so totally excited! Also I love this banner that Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi made for me 🙂 🙂
Wishes in a Bottle is the first book in Wishes & Dreams, my paranormal romance series. Originally it was just one book. Then Jacinth showed up and had to have her story written, so I had 2 books. Then Cat showed up in Jacinth’s story and wanted *her* story written, so then I had a series, LOL. THEN last October, out of nowhere, this shapeshifter shows up in my half-waking dream one morning, and wants in. That was my 2018 NaNoWriMo project and I got 53,000 words written on it. So now we have a 4-book series and… oh yes, indeedie, one of the secondary characters in that one now thinks she should have her story told. I told her she had to wait her turn, LOL. I plan to release the second book, A Gift of Jacinth, in May or June of this year.
Here’s the synopsis:
Long ago, Julian DiConti was caught in a powerful spell binding him to a Djinn bottle, forced to grant wishes to each owner of his bottle. Three wishes… of the right kind… could free Julian of his bonds, but after six hundred years, he is beginning to wonder if he will be trapped as a Djinn forever.
Enter Alessandra Taylor, good Samaritan extraordinaire. She’d gladly free Julian from the spell if she could, but he isn’t allowed to tell her how, and one by one she’s driven to use the precious wishes to help others. But where will that leave Julian, and the growing love between them?
I have a raffle going on to celebrate the release! Check out this cool video Raffle Trailer I made, and then Enter the Raffle here! You can have many entries, and it’s free!
And of course, the gorgeous, gorgeous mini book trailer of Wishes in a Bottle, made by Eeva Lancaster!
I actually have my own YouTube channel now, so fun! I’m making up videos for everything!
My Writing Plan: Week of Jan 12
Due to a day-long trip to the ER for an exacerbation of my chronic back pain, I’m running late on this. Not much has changed since last week. I’m still on the final read-through of SwanSong, which is due for release on March 4th. I’m just over half done, and I’m honestly not finding anything to edit. I’ve set the official cover reveal for January 22nd, one week after the release of Wishes in a Bottle… but… if you’re an “In the Loop” Patron on my Patreon page, the really beautiful cover is posted there for you to enjoy before anyone else gets to see it 😉
IN OTHER NEWS……
NEW RELEASE! Wishes in a Bottle is being released on Tuesday, January 15th! This is my first release in EIGHTEEN (18) years! Truck Stop was originally published by a small press on October 9, 2001….. so as you can imagine, I’m about expiring with excitement.
Raffles! My current raffle for the coasters set for Wishes in a Bottle is ending tomorrow night, at the same time the new release is released! You can still enter here: http://bit.ly/RaffleWish3, and there’s of course my Filmora Raffle Trailer for it here on Youtube. There’s a new raffle starting on January 15th, I’ll post that as soon as I have it and yes! I’ll be having another Filmora Raffle Trailer for it! LOL! You can always see my new videos on my Youtube channel 🙂
Beta Readers Still Needed! As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading.
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done:
- WISHES IN A BOTTLE, 1st book of Wishes & Dreams 3-book series*
- SWANSONG; 1st book of Sons of the Desert 4-book series*
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert*
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd round of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
Submissions I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THIS WEEK’S WRITING PLAN
(Not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Pour over SwanSong to make sure it’s ready for formatting (Priority!)
- Send out January Newsletter on January 14th! (Priority!)
- Start working on revisions of A Gift of Jacinth for May/June release
- Send paperback page count to Dar for cover formatting as soon as I get it from TBK
- Upload paperback & cover to KDP and order proof copy as soon as I get cover from Dar
- Pick Raffle prizes for the Cover Reveal of SwanSong and get pictures sent to Xpresso
- Ship Raffle prizes as soon as I get the last winner’s name
Life sucks… but then you get over it and get on with things!
I’m now officially way behind where I’d planned to be this month. Since 3 days before Thanksgiving, I’ve had a serious exacerbation of my chronic back pain (20 years and counting) … then Wednesday it escalated even more, and I wound up spending all day in the Emergency Room at the local VA Hospital. Where, I must say, they took *excellent* care of me! I’m now on a 5-day burst of steroid anti-inflammatory, plus I have Vicodin (yuck, I know, but when you gotta, you gotta).
I’m still not down to my usual baseline, but I’m definitely better than I’ve been since Thanksgiving, and spent the night studying, trying and discarding Facebook Ads, and finally got 2 AB trials set up. And I have hopes that I’ll get even better in the next couple days so I can actually *enjoy* my first new release in 18 years, when it comes out on Tuesday!
Also last night I discovered DIY Book Cover Design site. I pay for professionally designed covers, but all I get is the cover images. This site puts the covers on mockups for paperback, ereader & phone, and it’s WAY cool, I’m actually having a WONDERFUL time this morning playing and making mockups for my 3 book covers (the current book, the new release and the March release that I have the cover for but haven’t done a cover reveal for yet).
I must also say… it feels GREAT to not be sitting here in absolute agony!!! but also… a lesson I learn regularly but always forget “in the moment” so to speak… part if this was my own fault…. I should have gone to the ER LONG before this… back in December.
My Writing Plan: Week of Jan 5
Wishes in a Bottle is ready to go to Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi to be formatted for Kindle and paperback. It’s due for release in just 10 days!
So, now I’m on to the final read-through of SwanSong, which is due for release on March 4th, and I’m working on doing a cover reveal… but… if you’re an “In the Loop” Patron on my Patreon page, the really beautiful cover is posted there for you to enjoy before anyone else gets to see it 😉
IN OTHER NEWS……
Audiobook of Truck Stop
The Audiobook of Truck Stop is here!!!! It went live on December 11th and I’m a very happy camper! Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi has made me a mini-trailer which you can see on Youtube 🙂
Raffles!
OMG I discovered Filmora! So… I made this great little video for my current raffle, which you can see on my new channel on Youtube.
Beta Readers Still Needed!
As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading.
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done:
- WISHES IN A BOTTLE, 1st book of Wishes & Dreams 3-book series*
- SWANSONG; 1st book of Sons of the Desert 4-book series*
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert*
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd round of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
Submissions
I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THIS WEEK’S WRITING PLAN
(Not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Pour over SwanSong to make sure it’s ready for formatting (Priority!)
- Start working on revisions of A Gift of Jacinth for May/June release
- Send Wishes for formatting as soon as TBK is open for business (Jan 7) (done)
- Order banners for Wishes & SwanSong as soon as TBK is open for business (Jan 7)(done)
- Order Cover Reveal promo for SwanSong as soon as Xpresso is open for business (Jan 7)(done)
- Order NetGalley for Wishes as soon as Xpresso is open for business (Jan 7)(done)
- Send paperback page count to Dar for cover formatting as soon as I get it from TBK
- Upload paperback & cover to KDP and order proof copy as soon as I get cover from Dar
- Pick Raffle prizes for Xpresso’s Blitz next week and get pictures sent (Priority!)
- Ship Raffle prizes as soon as I get the last winner’s name
- Work up Editorial Review content for Amazon pages (done)
January Daily Writers #Hashtag Events on Twitter
I wanted to put these in a central place where I could find (and share) them…. so here we go! Here’s a quick list, then you can find the month’s questions below:
- #AuthorConfession
- #Character Chaos
- #MeetAWriter
- #TheMerryWriter
- #WIPTruthOrDare
- #WriterlyWIPChat
Below are the graphics for the month of January:
- #AuthorConfession
2. #CharacterChaos
3. #MeetAWriter
4. #TheMerryWriter
5. #WIPTruthOrDare
6. #WriterlyWIPChat
That’s it for now! Go forth and Tweet!
New video! Introducing Allie McCormack
OMG I have been having TOO much fun! I discovered Wondershare Filmora and spent the last 2 days making videos… well, I spent most of the 2 days learning how to use the program, i.e., deleting stuff and starting over, lots of hair-pulling, swearing, and general frustration, tons of caffeine, along with starvation and severe sleep deprivation for two days, but I finally got there!
The first video I made was a kind of introduction, a little about me, what I write, and my writing life. You can watch it below, or on my new channel on Youtube (because this is only the first video, mwahahaha!)
This was tons of fun! Really. Once I got past the steepest part of the learning curve it was more or less smooth sailing. I’ve decided to make videos for my raffles… since I’ve so far had good luck with raffles, and had a lot of fun sharing through that means, and well… it gives me an excuse to make another video!
My AllieMcCormack website got a makeover!
Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi spoke, and I listened! She said my website needed a facelift. It needed to be upgraded to current standards (I was using the old dinosaur MS FrontPage since 1994… because I *knew* it and was comfortable with it). Also, that there was too much social, chatty content. She said I needed it to be an author’s website, focused on books and writing.
Well, okay, so actually, I knew all this already. I did. But I’d been happy staying in my comfort zone. But her advice nudged me into doing my ostrich act, to actually doing something about it. I’d in fact already planned to see about moving my website design to WordPress, which I knew was going to be a pain to learn. My son-in-law was going to sit at my side and walk me through it when I went to stay with him and my daughter over the Thanksgiving holiday, since that’s what he does for a living. However, the company they both work for, Ontraport, decided to send them to Sydney, Australia to teach a certification class there. So rude 😛 So the Thanksgiving visit went on hold.
I did check out Wix, but you had to PAY monthly to host it on your own domain, and I was like, really? Are you fucking serious? So I walked away from that because, seriously, sorry about the language but that just majorly pissed me off. Anyway, I bethought me of my domain provider, JollyLeaf. I was really sure I remembered seeing web design software on my Cpanel, and so I popped over there, and sure enough! They offered SitePro, so I was off and running. Sort of.
SitePro doesn’t really come with any helpful instructions, just some stupid videos that are more designed to sell their product than show users how to use it. I spent a good 24 hours screaming and crying and tearing my hair out, and basically suffering through a rough learning curve. However, despite their sucky assumptions that users actually know what they’re doing already, their Customer Service people just ROCK! And a few emails later, I was in business!
So anyway, I totally rebuilt the site from the ground up. It looks entirely different from the old website I’d built back in 2000. And, following Eeva’s advice I left out all the extraneous stuff I’d had. Well, in my defense, for 17 years I’ve only had the one book. It’s not like I had new releases or upcoming books to announce, and so forth. And now I do! I was on there almost every day for about a week, tweaking things and getting it just right. SitePro even has a preview function so you can see how each page will look loaded onto a desktop, big screen desktop, tablet, phone and large size phone. Which at first was a little disconcerting, but I really got into the hang of moving back and forth, and arranging blocks of pictures and text so they looked optimal in all the different formats, and I wound up being a real fan of that function!
I’m really, really pleased with how it looks now. Please! Feel free to go check it out, AllieMcCormack.com!
My Writing Plan: Week of Dec 29
Things are moving along well. I’ve finished the final (and totally unnecessary except to make my Internal OCD Self happy) read-through of Wishes in a Bottle. So that’ll be off to Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi to be formatted for Kindle and paperback. There’s nothing more to be done with that except upload the formatted books to Amazon, and order a proof copy of the paperback.
So, now I’m on to SwanSong, which is due for release on March 4th. This is the first book of my 4-book Sons of the Desert series. Again, like Wishes, it’s been through massive edits and revisions, beta reading, and finally outside proofreading/copyediting, so I’m only doing a final read-through to satisfy my inner critic before sending it to Eeva for formatting. I’ve already got the cover for SwanSong (and a rockin’ series logo) from Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs, and it’s AMAAAZING! I’m not even to the point yet of doing a cover reveal… but… if you’re an “In the Loop” Patron on my Patreon page, it’s posted there for you to enjoy 😉
IN OTHER NEWS……
Audiobook of Truck Stop
The Audiobook of Truck Stop is here!!!! It went live on December 11th and I’m a very happy camper!
Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi is making me a mini-trailer, using clips from the audiobook 🙂
Raffles!
I’ve been amazed at the response to the few Raffles I’ve tried over these last few weeks! Since I really adooore swag, and I adore sharing, I”m going to keep doing raffles regularly. I’m going to town finding different kinds of things to share that relate to the books to give away, as well of course as free copies of the eBook and autographed paperbacks.
Beta Readers Still Needed!
As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading.
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done:
- WISHES IN A BOTTLE, 1st book of Wishes & Dreams 3-book series*
- SWANSONG; 1st book of Sons of the Desert 4-book series*
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert*
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd round of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
Submissions
I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THE WRITING PLAN
(not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Pour over SwanSong to make sure it’s ready for formatting (Priority!)
- Wow! That’s it!! I think this must be a record, I’ve never had only ONE item in my weekly Writing Plan before!!!!
My Writing Plan: Week of December 15
This week’s writing plan is the same as last week’s: I’m doing one last (I swear!) read-through of Wishes in a Bottle, doing important things like moving commas around. Actually it’s been through two rounds of beta reading, and to a proofreader/copy editor as well. It’s DONE! But… I can’t send it off to be formatted without just one chance to fuss with it. But once I’ve done that, it’s headed out the door to Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi to be formatted for Kindle and paperback. ]
IN OTHER NEWS……
Audiobook of Truck Stop
The Audiobook of Truck Stop is here!!!! It went live on December 11th and I’m a very happy camper!
Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi is making me a mini-trailer, using clips from the audiobook to announce the release once it’s live 🙂
Wishes & Dreams Paranormal Romance series
Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi made this incredible mini-trailer for Wishes in a Bottle!! You can also watch it on Youtube.
As a reminder, if you’re interested in being a beta reader, I’ve got my process outlined on my Beta Reading Team webpage, along with synopses of the manuscripts currently available for beta reading.
The Manuscripts
Manuscript Status:
- Finished Manuscripts, professional copy editing done:
- WISHES IN A BOTTLE, 1st book of Wishes & Dreams 3-book series*
- SWANSONG; 1st book of Sons of the Desert 4-book series*
- Finished Manuscripts, need copy editing:
- A GIFT OF JACINTH, 2nd book of Wishes & Dreams
- CASTLES IN THE SAND; 2nd book of Sons of the Desert*
- Finished Manuscripts, major revisions in progress prior to 2nd round of beta reading:
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- Book 1: The Palace (61,150)
- Book 2: The Dark Lord (90,500)
- Book 3: The Prophecy (39,400)
- A CAT FOR TROY, 3rd book of Wishes & Dreams
- WHEN DARKNESS FALLS (201,775 words, as follows:)
- In-Progress Manuscripts:
- MICHAEL’S QUEST, 3rd book of Sons of the Desert
- SHADOW CAT, 4th book of Wishes & Dreams
Submissions
I do still have a few submissions out there, but I don’t see anything changing my mind about self-publishing at this point, really. Okay, except an offer from Berkley. LOL. I could really go for an offer from Berkley. Who, by the way, has never heard of me 😛
THE WRITING PLAN
(not in any particular order except as indicated)
- Pour over Wishes in a Bottle to make sure it’s ready for formatting (Priority!)
- Arrange marketing/promo for Wishes in a Bottle release (scheduled for January 15)
- Arrange marketing/promo for Truck Stop Audiobook release (around December 12-19)
Banners & Trailers from The Book Khaleesi
I’m loving these banners and mini-trailer so much, I feel like I should show everyone, so they can go get theirs made too, LOL. These are made by Eeva Lancaster of The Book Khaleesi.
Truck Stop Banners:
Mini-Trailer for Truck Stop:
Banner for Wishes in a Bottle:
Mini-Trailer for Wishes in a Bottle:
….And more to come!
It’s here!! Audiobook of Truck Stop is available NOW!
I got the news this afternoon from ACX, the audiobook of Truck Stop has gone live on Amazon, Audible and iTunes!!!
Teri Campbell is on the run, on a bus ride to nowhere. An unscheduled stop on the wind-blown plains of Wyoming leaves her at M&J’s Truck Stop… and in the arms of Mike Gallagher, the young trucker who appoints himself her protector, who understands her as no one else could. But will her new life and her new-found love be enough when events take an unexpected turn? …and can even Mike keep her safe from the past that threatens to reclaim her?