One more questions about publishing stories

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela Kambarian

1. Do you think I should use a pen name?

I would, yes ... for exactly the reason you mention. (Or I'd use pen-names for all my marketing niches and write fiction in my own name, more likely, but the principle's the same).

Originally Posted by Angela Kambarian

3. Should I add images from Google images

Only if you want to be sued and/or prosecuted. "Google images" are not there for people to take!

Sorry - I don't know the answers to your other questions.

Thanks
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Angela Kambarian 13 years ago

Thank you, Alexa! I appreciate your input.
Yeah...using Google images might be a tad risky...
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- Michael Shook 13 years ago
  
  Pen name for sure if you are publishing in a different market than your main business.
  
  If you charge over a certain amount, then you get 70 percent of the price you sell it for. Somewhere between 4.95 and 9.95 I would imagine would be an OK price to test out.
  
  Kindle only publishes in B&W (to the best of my knowledge) I geuss it would depend on what your book is like if images would enhance the reading experience. I don't see a lot of books with pictures in them. On the cover, or maybe if the book is aspecial gift edition or something, but usually not graphics. So IMO, it is probably better to skip those.
  
  It does not cost money to publish on Kindle.
  
  It is only daunting the first time. If you can handle clients in a marketing business, you can publish to Kindle.
  
  Yes, you will probably have better sales if you promote your Kindle book. There is a lot of searching on Amazon, and their search functions works really well. But there is also a lot of product, so anyhting you cna do to bump up your traffic would help.
  
  Thanks
  
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TrekkieGrrrl

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela Kambarian

1. Do you think I should use a pen name? What if some of
my marketing clients stumble upon my stories? Don't
want this to happen. I want to keep my creative writing
and marketing careers separately.

I would certainly use a pen name. I do for my niches.

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tpw

13 years ago

I would definitely use pen names in your situation too. I use more than a dozen pen names.

I have no idea what you should charge.

Fotolio.com will let you buy the right to use images for cheap.

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Steve Powers

13 years ago

It is a good idea to use pen name when posting articles on websites. Using google images is risky unless you get permission of that.

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cashcow

13 years ago

Well I am going to go against the grain here and say there is no need for you to use pen names.

These are fiction stories you are referring to, right?

What would be the problem if your marketing clients saw them?

I imagine there are plenty of people that write fiction and have regular jobs as well. I don't really see how that would affect you negatively, in fact it might have the opposite effect and show you as a well rounded and talented person that actually has a life outside of marketing.

On the other hand, using a pen name is no big deal either. Plenty of authors do that too!

Lee

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schttrj

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela Kambarian

Hello again, guys!

Last week I posted a question about publishing short
stories online. Some of you mentioned Kindle Singles,
which is a great idea.

I have a few more questions...:confused:

1. Do you think I should use a pen name? What if some of
my marketing clients stumble upon my stories? Don't
want this to happen. I want to keep my creative writing
and marketing careers separately.

2. How much do you think I should charge?

3. Should I add images from Google images, to
enhance the reading process? What do you think?
And does it cost money to post on Kindle? Never done
this before...Seems like a daunting task

I will
also need to promote it...I guess...

Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

Well, for the first question, I can always say that if someone finds out their hired copywriter is actually Sidney Sheldon in disguise, they would be more than happy.

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Angela Kambarian

13 years ago

Originally Posted by schttrj

Well, for the first question, I can always say that if someone finds out their hired copywriter is actually Sidney Sheldon in disguise, they would be more than happy.

Wow!! Guys, thank you so much for responding to my questions.
I appreciate it. I really do!

Sidney Sheldon? Nah...not yet. Maybe some day. You never know

Let me explain why I would like to use a pen name.
Some of my stories are a bit explicit and contain
some black humor. My style is a bit...how should I
put it..."rough around the edges". I am not writing
spiritual stories or poems about the beauty of nature,
the ocean and the trees. You know what I mean?
That's why I decided to use my pen name.
My second name is Roberta. So, I will probably
call myself....Angela Roberts or Angie Roberts

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cashcow

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela Kambarian

Let me explain why I would like to use a pen name.
Some of my stories are a bit explicit and contain
some black humor. My style is a bit...how should I
put it..."rough around the edges". I am not writing
spiritual stories or poems about the beauty of nature,
the ocean and the trees. You know what I mean?
That's why I decided to use my pen name.
My second name is Roberta. So, I will probably
call myself....Angela Roberts or Angie Roberts

ohh, probably a good idea then

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bengirwb 13 years ago

kindle is easy and free to publish your material, fiction and non-fiction.
You will get 70% of the sale price for ebooks priced 2.99 to 9.99, but only 35% for books under 2.99 or over 9.99
My book has a lot of photos which are black and white. Kindle can only produce black and white, but might include color in future models since the Barnes and Noble Nook can use color.
A big plus for Kindle is that a reader does not need to have a Kindle. Amazon will download a free Kindle reader to an iPhone, iPod, iPad, Blackberry, Android devices, PC and Mac.
Similar situation with the Nook.
It's easy to upload your book to Kindle, although it takes 24 hours for your book to go live.
There is a preview feature before you hit the "publish" button, but most authors will order a copy of their own book to make sure everything turned out OK (you will get back 70% of what you pay as your royalty).
The dark side of Kindle is that Amazon will take 90 days to send your royalties.
Within a week of uploading my book (a travel guide), it hit the Amazon Kindle Best Seller List for its category and stayed there for 6 weeks.
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- Angela Kambarian 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by bengirwb
  
  Within a week of uploading my book (a travel guide), it hit the Amazon Kindle Best Seller List for its category and stayed there for 6 weeks.
  
  Oh, my God! This is so cool. Congrats!!
  I guess selling "stuff" on Kindle is not one of those pie-in-the-sky dreams...It's a realistic scenario, provided you have something interesting to say (or an explicit story to tell )
  
  Also, I am gonna have to figure out how to promote my stories.
  Blogging can be time consuming and it is not so easy to
  attract traffic to your blog, unless you optimize it or advertise
  on Google which I cannot afford...
  
  Thanks
  
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TrekkieGrrrl

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela Kambarian

Wow!! Guys, thank you so much for responding to my questions.
I appreciate it. I really do!

Sidney Sheldon? Nah...not yet. Maybe some day. You never know

Let me explain why I would like to use a pen name.
Some of my stories are a bit explicit and contain
some black humor. My style is a bit...how should I
put it..."rough around the edges". I am not writing
spiritual stories or poems about the beauty of nature,
the ocean and the trees. You know what I mean?
That's why I decided to use my pen name.
My second name is ****. So, I will probably
call myself....Angela *** or Angie ***

Just a thought - not sure if it's a good idea to put your possible/probable pen name in conjunction with your real name.

Google is far-reaching, and this forum gets high results in searches.

JMHO, YMMV, LLaP.

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Michael Shook

13 years ago

If your content is "a little rough around the edges" maybe you could try one of those name generator things. The ones that people use to get their stripper names or anmal names or gangster names.

Some of the results sound very strange, but just looking around them a little bit might help you come with a name that sounds OK, but is not related to your real name.

I am not sure you could use them right out of the box, but sometimes its hard to get an idea of what a name should be when you have never had a pen name before.

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Angela Kambarian

13 years ago

Originally Posted by JMichaelZ

If your content is "a little rough around the edges" maybe you could try one of those name generator things. The ones that people use to get their stripper names or anmal names or gangster names.

LOL

Thank you, Michael!
Well...my stories are not THAT explicit.
If you have read Sex & the City or one of
Joan Collins' novels, brimming with
expletives and "outrageous" sex scenes, you might be
a tad "underwhelmed" by my stories...even though
they also happen to be a little "rough around the edges".
I guess using a gangster name would not be necessary...
but I will jot this idea down for future projects.

Thanks
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Michael Shook

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela Kambarian

LOL

Thank you, Michael!
Well...my stories are not THAT explicit.
If you have read Sex & the City or one of
Joan Collins' novels, brimming with
expletives and "outrageous" sex scenes, you might be
a tad "underwhelmed" by my stories...even though
they also happen to be a little "rough around the edges".
I guess using a gangster name would not be necessary...
but I will jot this idea down for future projects.

No problem.

I have found that you never know where ideas are going to come from.

I hope your book does great.

Thanks

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cashcow

13 years ago

It's not a pie in the sky dream at all... check out this story about an author who after being rejected by publishers many times self published her own books last year and has since sold 164,000 books:

Authors catch fire with self-published e-books - USATODAY.com

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Angela Kambarian

13 years ago

Originally Posted by cashcow

It's not a pie in the sky dream at all... check out this story about an author who after being rejected by publishers many times self published her own books last year and has since sold 164,000 books:

Authors catch fire with self-published e-books - USATODAY.com

Thank you again, Lee!
I will definitely check it out.
Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands,
as opposed to waiting for some publisher to give you time
of day. This MAY or MAY NOT happen...

Thanks
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Angela Kambarian 13 years ago

Oh, one more thing...
I think a good way of selling your stories is to tap into social media...
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GuruGazette

13 years ago

Hi all,

I've been publishing non-fiction Kindle books since the end of 2008 and wanted to lend a little insight here

The regular Kindle reader displays images in 16 color gray scale. All other editions of the Kindle software (Android, PC, ipod, iphone, etc) show images in color if the device has a color screen.

I own both a second generation Kindle and I use the Android Kindle software because I love to read

Photos/images are rare in fiction books but not unheard of. Offhand I can't remember coming across any fiction Kindle books that had pictures though, just a few special edition copies of hardbacks I own.

I don't see any problem with including them but they're not really needed in fiction unless they illustrate a charactor or place (i.e. the author's rendition of what Frankenstein looks like). As noted though, do NOT just take from google images or some website.

Pictures tend to enhance non-fiction when used well. My photography book for example, shows an image I created that explains the differences in aperture settings because this concept (and the common terms of "step down" or "open up") is one of the most difficult for new photographers to grasp. That particular book has several pictures to show examples of techniques and teachings, but I do have a couple of books with no photos too, so I believe it depends on the particular subject matter and target market.

Hope that helps a bit,
Kathy

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Angela Kambarian 13 years ago

Originally Posted by GuruGazette

Pictures tend to enhance non-fiction when used well.
Kathy

Good point, Kathy.
For instance, if you write a book about...
let's say..."10 Ways to Prevent Diabetes"...
images could certainly make a more
powerful impact. When it comes to fiction,
it's totally unnecessary. I just wanted to
present my stories in an interesting way. However,
using Google images is out of question (unless
you would like to spend a few days in a state
penitentiary...)

I could use some of my drawings, by the way.
I am a good artist. My next question will be about
selling artwork online. But that's the next step...

Anyway! This weekend I will be editing my stories
(a.k.a masterpieces).
I hope it's not too soon for me to start shopping for
a new Mercedes. What if it sells well?? You never know
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One more questions about publishing stories

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