Visiting Author: Renee Stevens with "Challenging Fate" and a contest!

Self-Publishing: Views of a First-Timer

First off, let me say I was terrified at the thought of publishing my own stuff.  So many things went through my mind.  I had absolutely no idea where to start.  From the constant editing and re-editing, creating a cover, formatting the story, where to offer it, promoting the story, and generally just a lot of first time jitters!  Lucky for me, I had some great support!

It’s really not as terrifying as I thought it was going to be.  There’s a lot of editing to be done, that’s for sure.  I had a great team to help me through it and help me get the word out.  I think I went through Challenging Fate a total of about five, maybe six times.  I’d read through, send it to my team, they’d read through and send it back.  I’d make the corrections, read through it again, and then do the final read through just to make sure I didn’t miss something major.

Cover creation could have been a nightmare, from finding the correct images to putting it all together, but I had Cia to help me get it all together.  The images were the hardest part and once they were found, I turned it over to her and she came back with the perfect cover for my story, I definitely owe her a ton of gratitude for the hard work she put into the cover! 

Then there was the formatting, which to be honest, really intimidated me.  I wasn’t sure what to do or how to go about it.   Once again, it was my team to the rescue.  Whenever I had a question, there was always someone to ask.  I won’t say I didn’t make mistakes that I then had to go back and fix, but they were easy to fix.  Mainly it consisted of creating a table of contents and making bookmarks, then linking those bookmarks into the table of contents.  Once I got the hang of it, the formatting went relatively quickly.

Converting “Challenging Fate” from a Microsoft Word document to the ePub version was extremely simple with the correct conversion software.  Amazon made converting it to Mobi extremely simple so that wasn’t any problem at all.  Now all that was left was uploading it to Amazon, All Romance, and Gay Authors.  Since “Challenging Fate” was written as part of a collection called “Flights of Fantasy” I had already discussed it with the other two authors: Alicia Nordwell & Lugh MacFey.  We were going to make the stories available on all three sites.

Gaining publishing status was a little confusing, but one thing I will share with all authors looking at doing the same thing, make sure to read all the available FAQs on the different websites that you are looking to upload to.  They are extremely helpful and make gaining publisher status on websites such as All Romance and Amazon relatively painless.  Without reading them, you might end up as confused as I found myself at times. 

And then it came down to getting the word out.  I made sure to post on twitter, on facebook, on my personal blog.  I posted on yahoo groups.  I even contacted a few friends who I knew had offered to offer promo spots to authors on their blogs who also got the word out when “Challenging Fate” was released.  Now it’s time to do a month of weekly giveaways and this week I’m lucky that Cia has allowed me to give away a copy on her blog!

Now for the giveaway!  Leave a comment on this blog, and your email,  to enter for a chance to win a copy of my eBook!  Comments can be left through Monday, August 12th, and the winner will be announced on Wednesday in Cia's Wednesday Briefs post.  All commenters will also be entered for a chance to win either a $10 Amazon gift card or a $10 Gay Authors Gift Voucher to be given away at the end of the month on my own blog, Nature of the Heart! 

 

Blurb:

Maki waited years to discover what dragon spirit the fates gifted him with. He anticipated his first flight, his parents at his side, as he launched himself into the sky for the first time. Best of all, one day he'd find his mate and spend the rest of his life with someone by his side. Unfortunately for him, things didn't go exactly as he'd always planned.

Excerpt:

His hands and feet started to tingle and he could feel the beast inside him struggling to break free.  Maki rushed from his bedroom into the family room where his parents were talking quietly about their day.  He grinned when they both looked at him expectantly; he hadn’t been the only one waiting for this day.

“I think it’s going to happen.”  Anticipation coursed through his veins as he waited to see what kind of dragon was hidden inside him.  He had thought a lot about it over the years and had finally decided he wanted to be a Red.  Not because of all the abilities that Reds had, but he wanted more than anything to be one of the protectors of his clan. 

“Are you sure?” His father stood and started towards him, a grin nearly splitting his face as he led Maki outside, his mother following close behind.

“I can feel it.” He looked up at his father and held out his hands so that he could see the way his flesh quivered as though something was moving just underneath the surface.  Maki did as he’d been taught and wrapped his arms around his body and meditated, closing his mind to everything except the dragon spirit welling up inside him. 

He closed his eyes and felt the spirit reaching for the surface.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see what happened during his first transformation, it was just so overwhelming.  He could feel the magic swirling around him, whipping his clothes around his body. 

The winds died down and the gasp from his mother rang in his ears followed by some very colorful words he’d never heard come from his father before. 

“Holy fucking hell. Son of bitch, stay the hell back. How the hell could this shit be happening?"

Available For Sale At:

Amazon
All Romance
Gay Authors 

For more chances to win the gift cards and a copy of my eBook if you don't win here, join us for the rest of the giveaway tour on the following dates!!

August 17th: Decadent Delights "Challenging Fate eBook Giveaway"

August 24th: The Land of Make Believe "Challenging Fate eBook Giveaway"

 August 31st: Nature of the Heart Amazon Gift Card & GayAuthors.org Gift Voucher Giveaway