Urggh…my eyes are blurring. I’ve been working in Paint Shop Pro on logo designs all evening. I’m still not satisfied, I may chuck everything out and try a completely different approach. I do like the font and text, though. I logged into my account at Net1plus and punched through the request for the lowest level of “Premium” hosting for my domain, which is presently listed as “parked” with them. They’ll have to get back to me. I’ve been looking at other publisher’s websites, as well as a most entertaining site called Web Pages that Suck, which is not merely snarky, but legitimately addresses poor website design and what not to do. Its intentions are serious but its examples are hilarious. You wouldn’t believe some of the sites in their “10 Worst” lists. I think I joined Independent Publishers of New England, but after I punched through my PayPal payment for dues, I filled out the “application” and it crashed. So I better get in touch with them. *sigh* This is the group whose meeting I’m planning to attend next Saturday. I printed out the agenda and Mapquest directions today. There will be a presentation by Storey Publishing and a tour of their facilities.
So that’s what I’ve done today. Once I open Paint Shop Pro, that’s it, it’s all over. What a time-sucker!
I’m feeling a little dumb because I’d posed a question on the self-publishing list about how to have your book considered for book clubs. Turns out the answer was sitting right there in the lengthy and often-referenced New Self-Publisher’s FAQ on the Creative Minds Press website, which is a thorough and excellent source of information and which I had not exactly memorized (yet). For book clubs, you need to submit your book about the same time as the pre-pub ARCs go out, apparently. So, off my book will go, for the Science Fiction Book Club. Why not? The worst they can say is no.
That’s not the worst that the reviewers can say…I’m a little nervous because I was looking up books in the same genre (i.e. vampire fiction) and size (trade paperback) to get typical trim size, price and page length comparisons. I noticed that Lee Killough’s Blood Games got a perfectly dreadful review from Publisher’s Weekly. So, there are two undesirable results you can get from pre-pubs: (a) no review; (b) a really bad review. Wah! I’m trying to remind myself that two of my favorite vampire authors, who also write “good guy” vamps, typically get excellent reviews from PW. Sheesh, this reviewer really hated Killough’s book. 🙁
I’m going to bed!