Thursday, January 24, 2008

Underwater Adventures.


Well, I am so close to being published that I can almost smell the glue. Yesterday I sent in my inside galley corrections, so it is just a matter of time before the product is finished. What am I talking about? Well my children's book, of course. No, this one does not rhyme, but I did draw all of the illustrations myself. The story is about twin brothers. One is an Octopus and the other is a Wolf dog. It is a wonderful heartfelt story filled with action, danger, and brotherly love. "Underwater Adventures of Wolf dog and Octopus" is my first venture into publishing. I am self publishing it through Author house. If any of you writers out there are interested in checking them out you can log on to their website at http://www.authorhouse.com/ They have really made the self publishing process easy. Most of it has been completed by either email or fax, and they are very quick to answer all of my questions. So far, I am only out about $800 for the process, so they are relatively affordable. I guesstimate that I will probably have about $1200-$1500 invested in the finishing product. I will be sure to keep all of you informed about the process of the book, and for sure once it hits the store shelves. It will be sold on Amazon and Barns and Noble and several other chain retailers. You will even be able to purchase it through Author house. So keep your eyes peeled for further details, and I will thank you all for you support. Oh yeah, Nathan and Forrest will thank you too. After all, It was there college fund I spent to get the book published.

8 comments:

Kookaburra said...

Good luck with everything, Cecile. It must be really exciting to know that you are this close (thumb and forefinger pinched together)to being a published author. What a wonderful achievement.
Mark.

Gig said...

Cecile,
I will be watching for news of your book being published. What a great feeling that has to be! I have ejoyed reading about your boys and the many things you are involved in.
Gig

bindhiya said...

Cecile,

I will be looking out for your book too....We buy only books for Serene, no toys...cause lead paint scandal plus she like books, pens and paper. she even read to her dolls.
Hope you had a wonderful day.
love
bindi

cher said...

ok, first- the job. no one can make these decisions for you. one thing to really consider though would be the schedule and how that works for you and your boys. a supervisor position is great because you can intimidate people, and the bonus is that its all new people, so you can start fresh and really whip the ship into shape, and feel powerful and mighty doing it. however, there is a lot to be said about loyalty and comfort in what you know. 6% is nothing to shake a stick at really.

secondly, that joke was funny....

3rdly, that is awesome news about your book. i never knew of such self publication stuff. its a cool idea. and really not that expensive. my question is, how do you get paid from it?

Cece said...

well, I get a royalty for each copy of the book that is sold. If it is purchased through b & N or Amazon or other chain retailer the royalty is .75$. If it is purchased through the online store at the Authorhouse website I get a royalty of .74$. Frankly, it is cheaper to purchase through the Authorhouse website, because the price is basically wholesale. I believe it will be sold for $7.99 on the Author house site, whereas, it will be listed for %12.99 on the other chain retailers. The increase has to cover the cost of shipping the books to them, their profit, ect. But yeah, it isn't too bad. So if you do want to publish something through them, tell them I sent ya. (I sort of get an incentive for referrals!) Let me know if you have any other questions about the process, I'll tell you all I know.

cher said...

well, i am kinda curious how much money you would make if you were published by a big company instead of publishing it yourself.

Cece said...

Well, I'm not totally sure. I do know that anymore it is extremely hard to get a book published if you are either A. an unpublished author, or B. don't have an agent. It pretty much costs as much to hire an agent as it does to self publish. After that, most of the publishing stuff is the same. According to the information that I have read and researched, you actually make higher royalties when you self publish because you are cutting out so many other middle men. I'm not totally sure though, because this is my first time. You see, I'm a virgin. ;-)

CSI Seattle said...

This is fantastic! I am very happy for you. I think that all of us would like a post dedicated simply to the wonderful feeling you will have the moment you hold the first copy of your book. You should be proud of yourself. I am pleased to know you.

My son Preston will be a proud owner of your book, that I will gladly read to him.

Well done,

Brian