411 on Books, Authors & Publishing

A guest post:

A few years back I wrote a Facebook post complaining about trying to fix some problems with my formatting on Amazon. I had another author tell me there were some issues, and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

To be honest, I’m surprised – with my technical talents – that I was even able to get my book uploaded on Amazon. So trying to fix a formatting problem wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully, now I have found a wonderful formatter who I pay to do this!!

However, two years ago I was still struggling to do it by myself. In true Facebook fashion, I had lots of sympathy from authors who’ve been in the same boat. Yet, only one person offered to help. It was Jo from Inknbean Press. She said she was in the office and was formatting some of their author’s books and offered to format mine.

My novel is self published and I’m not their author. I was stunned, to say the least, at her generosity. I had recently been working with a small, new publisher for my Death By Broken Heart novella and it ended badly. To have someone offer their time to help me, restored my faith in publishers.

I sent my novel to her and she formatted it. That started a great friendship over the next year. So when it came time to look for a publisher for my new mystery, I sent it to Jo. But, it took a long time for them to get back to me. They were backed up at the time. Sadly, I decided to look around elsewhere. Since I kept going back and forth on the idea of just doing it myself, I held off for several months. When I finally decided that I needed a publisher and started shopping it around, Jo noticed my post and said they were interested if I hadn’t found someone already.

I had one other small press I was looking at, but the fact that Jo is so helpful and understanding, plus I had lots of great comments from their authors. Since I was already FB friends with many of them, I asked around and got wonderful testimonies. I knew this press would work with me and not force their ideas on me.

I even had leeway with covers. If I didn’t like the cover they did I could pay for my own. Since I used a friend for my other three books I figured I’d take this option. My cover was one of the things the other press and I couldn’t come to agreement on.

Now, some people will look at the name, sales record, marketing plan, or financial gain when choosing their publishing. For me the most important thing is trust, understanding, and feeling like I’m part of the family. That is exactly what I got with Inknbean Press!!

Don’t get me wrong, I did check out other author’s book sales, look at their covers, and ask lots of questions. Although I want to be treated fairly, I also realize this is a business. Make sure that when looking for a publisher they can balance the business with the personal.

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Kriss Morton Writer, Designer, Blogger, Publicist, Reviewer, Chaos Creationist,  Alaskan, Cabin Goddess…
cabingoddess.com  |  thefinishingfairies.com

Brian Heffron, already known for his handmade poetry chapbook “Sustain me with Your Breath” has created an inspiring, honest, and real experience for readers with his “Colorado Mandala”. This tale is told with tender care from Paul’s POV, who seems to be a bit lost in the world around him, but functioning, productive, caring, trying to work and live life, and moving on after his war experience. Supportive of his closest and dearest friend Michael, who seems to be tormented, self-destructive, and lost, he is not surprised when he reads a journal entry that positively sheds light on why Michael behaves the way he does and how connected he is with Sara in a way that he never wants her to know.

PTSD is represented in a very real way in this novel. Today we see PTSD as a recognized condition. In the time period that the story takes place, there would have been little or no knowledge of what it was or why or how to deal with it and that, in and of itself, was a huge problem for Veterans in this time period. The reader definitely gets a bird’s eye view of what life would have been like for the average male in that time frame and how very different war and the resulting PTSD can affect people. Paul and Michael were both definitely affected by their time in the service, but in very different ways due to having had different experiences.

As Michael and Paul both move through the story, I had a sense that the world was moving around them and they were both trying to figure out how to fit in it after their experiences in the Vietnam War changed them forever. The location and events around them were vividly described so that this south-eastern mountain girl could almost feel the heat radiating up from the desert sands and the brilliance of the stars at night over the terrain.

From an editorial perspective, I found the book moved along at a nice pace but then ended too soon. The character development could have been more thorough. I would have preferred a bit more description about their physical appearance and characteristics to be able to “see” them more clearly while I read. There were many proofreading errors as well, including repetitive words, transposed words, and punctuation errors (especially serial commas) that caused me to stumble as I read.

Despite the proofreading errors, my comments on the editorial perspective are subjective and somewhat influenced by simply wanting the book not to end when it did. That can certainly be attributed to the writer having endeared these characters to me and peaking my interest in the events around them with his skill and obvious passion for the story.

I would definitely recommend this book.

About the Author:

Brian Heffron’s work of literary fiction mines the complex landscape of 1970s post-Vietnam America to chart the love triangle of a former Green Beret, his lover, and a young wanderer in Colorado. A former writer/producer/director for PBS, Brian Heffron’s passion for adventure first took him to sea as a sailor, delivery skipper, and celestial navigator on a trans-Atlantic passage. He is an established national poet and this novel distills his poetic sensibility Colorado Mandala into a  deeply lyrical work of fiction. You can learn more about Brian here: www.brianheffron.net and you can purchase this novel by clicking on the cover image where you will be directed to the Amazon page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>Debra L Hartmann, Author, Host of the Talk Radio with NO Radio show, and Professional Editor at http://www.theprobookeditor.com