Category Archives: e-book publishing

Writing about the King

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“The Irish – Be they kings, or poets, or farmers… They keep company with the angels, And bring a bit of heaven here to earth”~ Unknown 

My uncle, my mother’s brother, was named Joseph King. But he was called King his entire life.  Joseph was his father’s name (my maternal Grandfather’s first name).  King was his mother’s maiden name (my maternal Grandmother). If you ever met my Uncle King, you would never, ever forget him. And you’ll have a chance to meet in him my memoir. He was a lively character who really celebrated life! I believe he felt an obligation to live up to a reputation of being a magnanimous character.

Palm SundayToday, as we approach Palm Sunday, it seems fitting to dedicate this blog to him. The reason will become apparent if you read my upcoming book. The lifeline on the palm of my hand would most likely be very short, had King not become one of my saviors in life. The “King” is  part of my upcoming memoir “Gift of a Lifetime.” I share this small bit of insight into my story, as a gift to you this Easter season. I’m going to remember my King, enjoy Palm Sunday and celebrate the fact that spring is just around the corner. Hallelujah.

On Monday, I will posting a sample audio chapter of  Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected on All Things Fulfilling. The audio chapter is  for your listening enjoyment and it’s about Easter. Do return and listen in – you might learn something about this holy week you had never known before.

Star Time

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Fulfilling feelings are the best words I can find at this moment to describe how I felt on Saturday as I shared the proof copy of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected” with the attendees of the monthly Colorado Independent Publishers Association meeting.

At each monthly meeting there is “Star Time” – the opportunity for authors to take the stage, with microphone in hand, and make announcements of book signings, accomplishments, new publications and the likes. I am usually the observer. My chance always comes each month when the associate service providers to the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) stand and give a short description of how their company serves the industry of independent publishing. That’s the group I am accustomed to standing along side.

Finally, this month, I was in both line-ups! As a newly published author and a service provider! Hard to describe my feelings of accomplishment! Yay!!!

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Have you recently published a book and are looking for a little “star time?” There is nothing that says “STAR” better than winning a book award. The Colorado Independent Publishers Association is accepting non-member submissions to their annual book award contest, “The EVVYs.” For information on contest rules, and submission fees, please visit www.cipacatalog.com. You have until May 16th to submit! But don’t wait until the last minute!

This blog brought to you by www.AllThingsFulfilling.com. See you tomorrow –  over the next two days I will be sharing stories that are just a little messy. But I may as well take ownership, they are part of my personal history and story.

The Glory in the Challenge

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On Thursday, a very important package was delivered to my mailbox. It was a “proof copy,” the first printed and bound copy of my memoir “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.”

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As I opened the package, this is what I was feeling – HAZY!

IMAG0997 In the same blur that has existed for several years now, while the book has been in the making. Writing and publishing a book independently, if I must be candid, takes commitment, persistence, a “can do/will do/nothing is going to stop me attitude. I had determined from the start that I would take on the words of Robert Schuller as a challenge when he asked “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” I was out to answer that and prove it to myself!

Sure, there have been challenges along the way (some big and some small) but I never lost heart in what I was doing because I believed so strongly in the story that I knew one day I’d tell. Every time I got a little disillusioned with my progress, I’d remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who once said “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but rising up every time we fail.”

Here it is – the proof copy. I’m excited but not done yet. Another go round of proofreading faces me.

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You’ll learn more about why I felt it was so important to tell my story when you read it. It has to do with the beautiful traits of a character in it. Although categorized as a memoir, it’s far more than a family tale. There is meaningful value in the universal messages tucked between the covers.

Today, I present to you all my glory……………and by Mothers’ Day, you can share it with me, when you read my story! You can even have it any way you like it – in print from www.Bookcrafters.com and other major on-line booksellers, in an e-book or audio book format. For those who decide on the audio book format – you are in for a very special treat!

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.com. I’m so excited! This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Swinging Life Apart

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“One must learn to love oneself with a wholesome and healthy love so that one can bear to be with oneself ...” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

girls standing up on swing set

Last night I had a wonderful dream that I was back on the elementary school playground with my twin sister. So today in my blogging we are going to travel down nostalgia lane.

Remember those days? Pumping on the swing trying to reach the clouds high in the sky? My sister and I often competed with one another to see who could push the limits. She usually won the race because her stamina was much greater than mine.

We were both pretty fearless when it came to heights, but I may have been the greater daredevil. As soon as we crested the top, we’d let go, become air bound and jump to the ground, nearly giving my mother a double heart attack.

An advantage of being a twin is that you have a “built-in” playmate.The challenge of being a twin is that people often treat twins as if they are one unit rather than two autonomous people with individual strengths, likes and needs.

Years ago, child psychologists theorized it was best to keep twins together in the same classroom, but they have since learned not so! http://bit.ly/1lWgEdY. When seventh grade rolled around my twin and I began to learn what life was like with separate groups of friends. We were put into different classes and weaned away from one another, having to adjust to not being together constantly.

Even to this day, we have lots of mutual friends. It wasn’t until I married that we really were completely separated and life has never been the same for us since. In fact for four decades we have lived in different cultural and geographical climates.  One lives in the heat and humidity surrounded by a huge population of people, the other in artic temperatures in remote and intimate surroundings.

What we share are similar values that were instilled in both of us when we were little. You’ll learn more about my twin double troubles in my memoir, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Click for info & ordering

Do come back tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling. This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Relationships and the Journey

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“Work is holy, sacred, and uplifting when it springs from who we are, when it bears a relationship to our unfolding journey.” — Wayne Teasdale

Teasdale’s concept of work is interesting. I suppose he would say I have been doing some “holy work” since what I write about “springs from who I am” and what interests me as I have journeyed along with this industry of independent publishing. And I find my work extremely fulfilling – every day is an uplifting opportunity to share what I am doing through my writing.

Fortunately, there are others who are on the same path as I am, writing their own stories for film, books or through music in hopes of publishing it.  We share commonalities. I like the synchronicity of energy.

Marketing a publication (or product or service) successfully through the web takes skill in knowing how to identify your audience and how to reach out to prospective buyers. Have you been building the right relationships along your journey to independent publishing?

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This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

End of Year Reflections

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Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action ~ Peter Drucker

It’s clear that the industry of independent publishing or “non-traditional publishing” has brought compelling stories that ordinarily wouldn’t have had a chance of being published traditionally, into the marketplace.

digital publishing worldLooking back over the past years, I have read and worked with a wide variety of independent publishing clients who have produced e-books as a result of the “digital revolution.” Indeed, over the past decade there have been vast changes that have taken place in how books are published. However, one thing that has not changed is the impetus behind why people publish. Authors write to educate, inform, entertain and inspire others, whether the words are on paper or in digital format.

The Digital Book World Conference is only a few weeks away. Soon, the Book Industry Study Group will be wrapping up their research for 2013 which will reveal statistics about how e-books have fared over the past year in the marketplace. I look forward to reading the reports.

Lavar Burton will serve as host of the Digital Book World Conference. Industry leaders including Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon will be speaking and other notables in the publishing industry will hold roundtable discussions and panel discussions. Best selling e-book authors, such as Darcie Chan, who wrote an e-book called The Mill River Recluse, which was set in Vermont, will also be in attendance.

On January 13 at 5:30 pm (at the opening evening of the New York City Conference) a screening the film of Out of Print, narrated by Meryl Streep will be shown. This eye opening movie takes the viewer into a world where books-in-print are non-existent and books as we have known them are replaced by all digital publications.

To register to attend the conference, and to learn about the line-up of speakers and the schedule, please visit http://bit.ly/1lj8tGd.

As always, I look forward to keeping our readers informed on All Things Fulfilling about e-book industry developments through out the year 2014.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Seasons Greetings from CFS

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globe-www_naturalcollection_com_

Wishing You a

Merry Christmas

and Blessings for

A New Year Full of Joy

 From All Things Fulfilling!

This blog brought to you by

www.cornerstonefulfillmentservice.com.

A Company Specializing in e-commerce & e-marketing for Independent Publishers.

Minds, Metaphor and Imagination

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Have you ever wondered why we use metaphors in writing and speaking and the influence the imagination has on clearly understanding concepts?

children-quoteIn James Geary’s book, I is An Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way we See the World, Geary explores how children think differently than adults and thus their perceptions of the world are different. Intuition and pattern recognition also may play a part in children’s comprehension of concepts that are too big for them because they have not yet experienced certain ideas in life. Geary’s book is an interesting read for anyone who wants to know more about how children learn and think.

Metaphors are interesting. If you want to know more about the use of them in communication, http://www.brainpickings.org/  is a site that will stretch your mind and imagination. A summary of Geary’s book is posted on the site www.brainpickings.org, as well as other things for your brain to digest and to conjure about.

The beautiful child was the center of attention, with his golden curls and tuna fish complexion. – Author Unknown

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling, the blog of www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

E-Books: A Vital Option

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“The freedom to move forward to new opportunities and to produce results comes from living in the present and not the past.” ~ Brian Koslow

Shopping-CartIf you are ready to publish your manuscript, there are many choices to consider. Offering an electronic version of a book has become a necessity if you are an author who wants to reap the benefits in the digital marketplace. More often than not, potential book buyers want to know if a title “is available as an e-book?”

According to a recent article in Publishers Weekly Magazine, sales in e-books have dipped a little from when the Kindle and the Nook were initially rolled out. However,  e-book sales have remained strong, jumping a total of “4,456% since 2008.” That is a big deal and e-books have become a “billion dollar industry” according to the article. Here is a link so you can see all the e-book selling statistics from 2008 – 2012. http://bit.ly/Hc3JVq. We won’t see the 2013 book sales results for a few more months.

In my opinion, there will be more technological developments coming that will blow away any remaining doubts that e-books are just a passing trend. Especially as digital publishing becomes integrated into more classrooms and library catalogs.

Authors don’t miss out on a stream of income by failing to offer an e-book version of your title. And remember “if you are selling over the internet, you must be marketing over the internet” because that is where your potential book buyers hang out!

Speaking of hang-outs, thanks for frequenting this website. Do return tomorrow to www.AllThingsFulfilling.com tomorrow, the blog of www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Important First Steps to Publishing

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“It is not in the pursuit of happiness that we find fulfillment, it is in happiness of pursuit.” ~ Denis Waitley

The e-Book Extravaganza on Saturday sponsored by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) was well-worth attending. During one of the breaks, the President of CIPA, Dr. Patricia Ross came over to me and said “Sue, I’d like you to meet one of our new members.” Of course, the usual niceties followed.

I asked the new member if she was enjoying the morning, and she said “Yes, but I feel so uninformed! There is so little I know about independent publishing.” Dr. Ross told her not to be discouraged, and off the President went doing her job of hob-knobbing about the room.

CIPA 9 13 #1As the new member and I stood talking, I said to her, “You know, each and every person in this room started where you began today, knowing nothing. That is the reason you have joined this group -to get help, to learn, to network and become informed about your options.” There is a lot to learn and you have taken a very important first step. You have joined this group!”

“Yes,” the new member replied. “There seems to be plenty of knowledge to learn from in this group.”

Before the break was over and we went to sit in our respective seats, across the room from one another, I had one more thing I had to say. “In your free time, read anything you can get your hands on about the industry, and keep coming to this group. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself.”

To learn more about the Colorado Independent Publishers Association, please visit this link. http://www.cipacatalog.com/join-cipa/. Please note the organization also offers downloadable webinars if you are too far to travel to their meetings.

http://www.cipacatalog.com/categories/CIPA-College-Downloads/

As I drove home, I began to ponder how many first steps I have taken since 1998, when the independent industry was in its infancy. They’ve all been in a quest to learn all I could about the industry and it led to becoming a business.  And the wonders and development of the independent publishing universe never cease to amaze me. I find it fascinating.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. The space where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.