A Delay In Publishing My Book...

To my dearest friends and followers,

Initially, I stated that my book The Story Of Hollyhocks (Tales from Beyond the Veil book 1) was going to be released on April 25th. That's tomorrow. 
This post is to tell you that, unfortunately, that will NOT be the case.

I was previously uninformed that the publication date and sale date were two different things. I'm completely new to publishing and so I have a lot to learn. XD
As I have stated in previous posts, I am publishing through IngramSpark. When I set up my book title, I decided that April 25th would be the day to publish my book. When I was asked what I wanted to set my sale date to, I selected April 25th, wondering why it was asking me the same question a different way.

Here's what I learned for any other writers out there trying to publish with IngramSpark for the first time: the publication date and sale date are NOT the same thing. The sale date should be set 30 days AFTER the publication date. The reason why is this: The publication date is when the book becomes available for distribution to retailers. It means that the book will take time to reach said retailers, and then it will take time for those retailers to put the book on their websites. Once that is complete, the book will then be available for pre-order until the sale date. On the sale date, the book will then be available for purchase.

Due to that information I learned, in addition to some technical issues that IngramSpark is working out for me, I had to set my publication date to May 1st. Sometime after that, my book will be available for pre-orders. I'll keep you posted about that on my blog, along with Facebook and Twitter.
The on sale date for my book is now May 29th, 2020.

I'm a little bit disappointed, and I apologize for the false advertisement I've been posting about my book. We learn as we go...

On the bright side, I'll have an extra week to go through my book and fix any errors I've missed.
Thank you so much for reading!!

Yours truly,
Me

More about my book:
Book details and synopsis

Alice In April.

Down The Rabbit Hole

To my dearest friends and followers,

On Monday, the physical proof copy of my book arrived!! It looks so good and feels so good to have my actual book in my hands!! Any other creatives out there know that feeling of seeing a finished work and being like, "I made that." It's so satisfying. I'm about to send in another revised version. Once it's accepted, I'll probably order yet another physical proof copy just to make sure everything is to my satisfaction.

Approximately two weeks from now, I'll be a published author!! The release date is April 25th, so make sure you get a copy when the time comes!! XD

Many Locked Doors

On a different note, I began working on something else this week. One of my favorite artists, Jane Davenport, started Alice In April. It's a list of creative prompts for people who are in "self-isolation limbo" as she put it. She encourages people to make art everyday, using the list inspired by Alice's Adventure's In Wonderland, but she also encourages people to create whatever the prompt brings to mind - it doesn't necessarily have to be from the book.

Drink Me

I decided that I wanted to do my best to follow the prompts from Alice's Adventure's In Wonderland, so by the end of the month, I would basically have the entire story illustrated. 
I love the story of Alice, so this prompt list is really fun for me. I'm using watercolor and pens to create my art. I was supposed to start on April 1st, and do one each day, as there are 30 prompts to match the 30 days of the month. Instead, I started on the 5th, so I'm behind. I did, however, start with the first prompt and am going in order.

The Pool Of Tears

As you can see, I have completed the first five prompts. The first drawing, Down The Rabbit Hole, I was inspired by Jane's own interpretation of the prompt. The second drawing, Many Locked Doors, I created from memory, inspired by the room we see in Tim Burton's adaptation of the story. The third drawing, Drink Me, I created based off of a photo I took of one of my tiny fairy bottles. I honestly had a lot of difficulty interpreting the fourth prompt, The Pool Of Tears, but this is what I ended up with. I'm not super happy with how it turned out. Lastly, I created the Cheshire Cat, or The Cat Grinned, sort of meshing together the cat in Disney's animated version of the story and Tim Burton's adaptation. 

The Cat Grinned

I've been trying to make each painting look really wonky and brightly colored to match the sort of LSD look we see in both films. XD I'm still struggling with using my blog since my computer update, so if the images look blurry, just click them to enlarge them. They should be ok after that. My apologies!!

Today's prompt is We're All Mad Here, so we've yet to see how I will interpret that one, but I'm really enjoying these so far.

Thank you so much for reading!! Check out the hashtags #aliceinapril and #janedavenport to see other people creating from the prompt list!!
Also, here's a link to her blog so you can check it out for yourself:
Jane Davenport Alice In April

Yours truly,
Me

Indie April.

To my dearest friends and followers,

This week has been absolutely crazy for me!!
It all started last week when I finished the final edits and revisions of my book and I was ready to format it and then upload it to IngramSpark. Basically, what sort of happened was, my laptop kinda went kaput and I needed a new one.

I had a deadline of the 31st of March (because there was a promo going on that expired on said date). The laptop wasn't supposed to arrive until Sunday evening/night, which meant I had basically a day and a half to format my entire manuscript and cover. Thankfully, it arrived TWO days ahead of schedule which was completely unexpected!!
I was able to download and install Adobe InDesign and format my book with the help of this video (huge thank you to the man who uploaded it)!! 

Anyhow, I finished formatting the entire book and cover on Monday evening... 
I also uploaded it to IngramSpark and got the title approved!! They then sent me the eproof. Several live chats, emails, and a phone call later, I have the physical proof on its way to me. It should arrive later today or possibly tomorrow. XD
I'm so excited as I'm nearing the end of this long process!! Of course I still have a lot of marketing to figure out and do, but I'm so ready to have my book in print.

The release date for my upcoming novel is April 25th, 2020!!
I didn't really plan to have it released this month, but it sort of works out in time for #indieApril.
Here is the link to check out more about my book and take a look at the cover. I'm still trying to figure out my new laptop, so that's why I didn't attach a photo of the book cover here and why the photo in the link I attached might be a little bit blurry.

Thank you so much for reading!! I'm looking forward to updating you about my book these next three weeks as we get closer and closer!!
Stay safe, stay inside, and read more books!! Support local, support indie. #indieApril

Yours truly,
Me