Thursday 2 October 2014

Kindle In 30 Days Challenge: Day 01—Orientation, Mindmaping, Writing, and Publishing

This Saturday, October 4, 2014 Mili Fay Art will be at Wychwood Barns’ Art Market.  This means that, as always, I'm tweaking the last minute details when it comes to special offerings.  A few minutes ago, I was cutting up new “Warriors Of Virtue” mock post-cards we will be giving away.

I am writing this to explain, that though I am very excited about the challenge, the challenge has to fit the time frame of my busy schedule.  This means that the practical portion of the challenge will have to wait for a later date.  Today, I have been going over the materials Kristen Eckstein has provided.

The bonus materials Kristen Eckstein has offered are amazing!  I was wondering how I'm going to create a Kindle book without using a programmer (since I want to learn how to program my own books), and it looks like she is providing the answer with her Self-Publishing On Kindle Course.  While printing and cutting, I have been listening to her welcome video, Bob The Teacher’s “Mindmap My Kindle Book” webinar, as well as the Freshman Level 101 Training Videos.

Level 101 Training is for beginners.  The first video on writing talks about dumping all of your ideas out in 10 minutes, then seeing if you can group and organize them into books, then deciding which book you should be writing by evaluating in a ranking system which is the easiest to write and which one you are most passionate about writing.  As I have already written my books, this video only held mild interest for me, but I do think Eckstein’s technique is a good way for would be authors to organize themselves.

The second video is about publishing.  Eckstein talks about what you need to get to be a professional publisher and if you should create a brand under your company name for publishing.  In the earlier posts, as you follow my journey, you can pick up on what you need to get to self-publish in Canada (you can also check out the “Resources” section of this blog).  However, I highly recommend you get Anderson’s Book if you are publishing in Canada and seek out similar books for your country if you are not.

Most of the second video is about what goes into making a good book cover—individually and then as a series.   Apparently, I should not have used “By” next to my name, because it is the sign of an amateur.  However, when I was designing “Animals In My Hair”, I felt adding Mili Fay alone would be too cut off.  Instead of saying “Animals In My Hair… Mili Fay”, I wanted my readers to say “Animals In My Hair by Mili Fay”.  I felt it flows better.  Also, “Mili Fay’s Horsing Around” sounds better to me than “Horsing Around… Mili Fay”.  (Doesn't that read a bit kinky?)  For “Warriors of Virtue”, I will have Mili Fay separate, because I want the title to stand apart from me as an artist, since this will be a book with illustrations rather than an illustrated book.  Does that make sense?

Do you think adding “By” next to your name is amateurish?  I’m curious to know.

No one has remarked anything of the sort to me this past year while I was selling my book.  The usual reaction upon someone seeing my book is eyes widening and the person saying: “This is self-published?”  So… I guess I did do a good job.  Though, to be honest, a year later there are some things I wish I could change.

November is the important month for me this year, and by November I would dearly love to have “Animals In My Hair” and the first part of the “Warriors of Virtue” series up on Kindle.  I love “Warriors of Virtue”.  It is my Harry Potter.  The idea took a hold of me when I was reading “The Lord of the Rings” at 14 and I still feel the same passion I did then.  Out of all of the books bouncing around in my head, it is the one that is the truest reflection of my soul.  I really hope people like it, because unlike “Animals In My Hair” and “Horsing Around”, “Warriors of Virtue” is very personal. 
If you would like to be Beta readers of the series, let me know and I will add you to the list so you can maybe receive a free preview copy.  Or you can join Mili Fay Art's Review Crew at the bottom of this post. ;-)

Now, before I go back to studying Eckstein’s video on Marketing 101 (the topic I really need help with), I’m just going to leave you with the 5 post-card images I will be giving away this Saturday.

Wishing you only the best!

Mili

Warriors of Virtue--Part 01 Inside Illustrations (5/8)
(Feel free to share these images as long as you do not remove the copyright, or modify them in any way.)








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Mili Fay, a Toronto-based artist, classical animator, illustrator, writer, and singer, is an award winning graduate of Sheridan College and Art Instruction Schools.  In November of 2011 she created Mili Fay Art determined to support the world one artwork at a time.

Her latest published work is Animals In My Hair; a story about a boy who goes for his first haircut only to find endangered animals falling out of his hair.  Recently chosen for the INSPIRE! Toronto International Book Fair’s Programming (November 13th – 16th, 2014) out of 700+ submissions, Animals In My Hair, is the world’s first ever Artwork Book; a new type of picture book that seamlessly combines the best features of fine art, picture books, activity books, and educational books.  In accordance with Mili Fay Art’s vision, 30% of all profits from Animals In My Hair book and merchandise will be donated to wildlife conservation.

To find out more about Animals In My Hair, and/or to purchase the few remaining FIRST EDITION copies of the initial print run, visit: http://bit.ly/AnimalsInMyHair


Mili Fay Art: “Together we support the world one artwork at a time.”