Posts Tagged ‘pod novel’

So much work to do.

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

Welcome all!

Releasing a novel can be intimidating for a new author! The Mark of a Druid is now available in print versions. Click the buy now button to go to Amazon and get your very own copy. If you want to know, more go over to the book site. http://www.themarkofadruid.com

The advice I received this week is to look at this as a 3 year project. This gives it a bit less of a sense of urgency and gives me some room to look at what I need to do to market this project to the general public in the biggest way possible. But to be honest I love deadlines. I know, I am weird. But if you say to me, by this date, I will have it done and usually before. It is just who I am.

There are so many things to think about when sending your work out into the world. As some of you may have heard I am podcasting the novel on Podiobooks.com, itunes and may other venues on the web. It has been really well received to date and I am only half way. I am on schedule and plan on getting a jump this week on recording again.

Here is what you can do to help… Go to www.podiobooks.com listen and leave some feedback or listen anywhere and leave some feedback. Your comments help me to do a better job and it helps others to know is this novel is for them.

Please stop by the interview lick here for the Dr. Sally Witt show on Blogtalkradio.com http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dr-Sally-Psychic-Healer/2008/11/08/Rhonda-Carpenter-and-Mark-of-the-Druid Sally also does some amazing social networking training and I am proud to call her friend.

Marketing is a interesting thing fro this book and I find myself flowing into it more easily than I thought. Now I have to say Video is not my thing but I did shoot an oovoo interview that is playing on u-tube now. Here is the link. Can you say bad Godzilla flick! We have ordered some equipment that should get me to be able to move my lips and have the voice actually be right in the next few weeks. I am looking forward to making the websites more accessible to the disabled. And if you all can talk me into it I might make these blogs audio if you are someone who needs to listen instead of read. Just send me a comment and let me know.

I am so very excited to kick off the contest for the book. And we have set a date to do that! The contest will start officially on January 1, 2009. With a new website over at www.themarkofadruid.com. There are some great prizes to be won and we are working on the contest being interactive. There will be an ask the characters a question section and a ton of other things including a very cool leave a comment or testimonial that you can record right on the site as well as a fan forum to discuss the book and the things in the book. There is a lot of work yet to do to have the site ready to kick off this contest but I invite you to stick around and watch the progress. Should be a really fun ride.

Announcements this week!

Bookplates are available so you don’t have to ship me your book and pay to ship it back. What is a bookplate. It is a sticker basically that I personalize for you and send back to you in a SASE. Make sure you go over to the book site for more info and the address the how to of it.

The Book of Bubba has a new chapter posted this week. Lick on the link to your right and see what the happiest dog has to say and think on his words of wisdom! Thanks Bubba for being in my life. You totally remind me to smile at least a hundred time a day.

The Fox and I am very pleased to announce that The Fox, By Arlene Radasky is completed podnovel on podiobooks.com. Congratulations Arlene! Her podnovel is linked on the blog roll of this site. Go subscribe it is a wonderful Celtic story of sacrifice and love, that will warm your heart, bring your tissues. Or check out her site at www.radasky.com.

Last announcement!But certainly not least! There is a this very neat podshow I ran across because of Twitter. Check it out. I love this show. Can’t get enough of it. Gary and Ruth are doing a fantastic job of sharing the ancient Celtic Myths with all of us. Thanks to you both for doing this. Love it! Tune in at http://celticmythpodshow.com Subscribe by RSS, Zune, iTunes or listen on their site! Celtic Myths Pod Show promo! And go leave them a comment on itunes!

Keep Writing, I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

A fabulous week for me as a writer!

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

The Mark of a Druid. Is fairing better than I ever expected!

If you haven’t subscribed yet it is free!

You can get The Mark of a Druid, serialized podcast of the novel. www.podiobooks.com here is the page address http://www.podiobooks.com/title/mark-of-the-druid All of the episodes that are available now on podiobooks.com, podcastpickle.com, Mobli, Amigofish.com, Digg, Itunes and other places as well. The Episodes are available at the same time at (usually a few hours before) at www.themarkofadruid.com under the Episode sections where you can listen to them on the site with no download or download them. I am considering doing an extended version for Themarkofadruid.com but have not made up my mind yet how that will work.

And my favorite kind of writing weather is almost upon the mountains where I live. There is nothing better for me than the fog dancing on the forest floor to inspire me to tell a story. Add to that a warm fire in the hearth and the silence that comes with winter in a resort community and it makes my mind wonder in and out of plots and subplots. The voices of my characters call to me to scribe their words and emotions. They scream, “tell my story,” and I must listen.

So you might asked what is the next book? I started a historical fiction novel based on a true story that is about ¼ done called Truth Slithers. And I have the first few chapters of the next book in the The Mark of a Druid Series in the works. The title you ask? Drum Roll Please…. When Ethers Descend.

More about the contest that is coming up. As you may have read the cover of this book is mighty special as there are lots (nope not saying how many yet) hidden images from the book in the artwork. Sometime in the next month we will be launching the contest and I can’t wait. The artist who painted the oil on canvas, Miss Amie Perry will not even tell me all the locations and I have found many of them and she says there are more. Thanks Amie that means I get to play the game too, but I can’t win anything. That just wouldn’t be fair. There will be formal rules and the prizes are very cool. Posters of the cover art, greeting cards and copies of the book all dual autographed by both me the author and Amie the artist. I have my very own Web GOD! Dave from http://wrkg.com/ who is full of very cool interactive ideas for the book site and how the contest can be interactive on the web so look for announcements about that as the day gets closer and tons of other cool stuff for the readers to get involved in. I figure if we are going interactive lets take it to a new level.

The Print Version?

I have approved the final cover polish and the print versions hardback and paperback of The Mark of a Druid are in print set up right now. So in a couple of weeks tops I will be holding this labor of love in my hands!!!! Can’t wait! Then it will go live at the iuniverse bookstore website and a few weeks after that we will be announcing the contest and going live on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com as well as bookstores and outlets everywhere in the USA. .

If you have been following the progress of the endeavor then you know there has been a lot of work and I am very excited how well it is going. I was checking the stats for hits on Friday of this week and I was shocked. In a good way. 81,219 hits between rhondacarpenter.com and themarkofadruid.com and it is not even the half way point yet. So keep coming back and tell a friend. Thank you all so much it feels great to have so much interest.

If you haven’t noticed the blog roll to your right or the Hot Promo page you should take a minute and hear what else is out there. I started Fractured Horizon by H.E. Roulo and I am totally impressed with the story so this may be one you will want to follow if you want a story that is original and read very well by the author. And congratulations H.E. For hitting the The Podiobooks Top Ten #1 slot! For the most downloads in the last 30 days! Great Job! So what are waiting for check it out. You won’t be disappointed. I haven’t been.

As I have been unable to record this week because my oldest son was in a car accident and is in living room recovering from double pelvis fractures. Poor guy! Sorry “G” But no worries I have episodes in reserve for just such a problem. How did I know??? Hey life happens you just need to be as prepared as possible. So if push comes to shove and I hope it doesn’t, I will be good for 4 more weeks of episodes before things get critical. I promise I will do my best not to let the listeners down. I know I have a problem when I get into a book and then all of a sudden there is a gape in installments. So I said I would not do that to my listeners. Hence the reserve!

 

Okay I have prattled on enough. Remember leave a comment either here or podiobooks.com or itunes. It helps and only takes a second you don’t have to tell your real name. But I would so help me to know what you are thinking and what you like or don’t like so I can do this better for the next books. All comments are appreciated.

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Tomorrow is the day! Go subscribe!

Sunday, September 28th, 2008

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

I am so excited that I have reached this level of production with the book. Tomorrow…

Monday… September 29, 2008

You can get The Mark of a Druid, serialized podcast of the novel. Where you ask? It is going live on http://www.podiobooks.com/title/mark-of-the-druid Please notice this page is not live until the day of release. Sign up for an account there is no cost involved. At that time you will be able to add My book to your subscriber’s list or any of the others. It is free! And you can snag the promo here! http://www.rhondacarpenter.com/?page_id=95 post it to your website send it to your email, chat buddies, put it up on your myspace, facebook and talk about it on twitter and please tell a friend! And let me know if you have a podcast you would like me to promo in reciprocation.

All of the episodes that are available on podiobooks.com and soon Itunes and other places are available one week before at www.themarkofadruid.com under the podcast section where you can listen to them on the site with no download or download them.

Sunday is upload day as well as Blog night. So keep up with what is going on and get your weekly fix of The Mark of a Druid.

So Why Free?

This is completely a personal decision. I know that in my home my husband is more the listener and I am the hold the book in my hands gal, although, I do listen too. As a new author people don’t know about me and this is one of many ways I am getting my name and the story out there. As I move forward with the publication process for the print books I am confident that the free release of the podcast version will build some chatter and help with letting those know that the book is about to be out there in print. The pod casting has been totally fun and educational and I can’t imagine release any book with out using this kind of medium. Like any author, I want people to read or listen and cash dollars while important and graciously accepted for all the long hours of work I simply want to write and be read. So there you have it: 1. It is a marketing tool and 2. It is fun! 3. It has worked for the big boys.

Speaking of Marketing the book and fun! We will be announcing a contest as soon as we have a release date for the print version is given to me so stay tuned for that and the new website for the book going live around the same time there will be so many things to talk about as that gets closer.

Talking about the print versions and E-book versions… This week the cover proofs came in. At the end of the process, I will give a review of the iuniverse’s way of doing business and how my experience went with this self publishing company. All of you authors out there will want to read that when it comes out it promises to be very eye opening and will help you in making the decision as to what company to go with. I am also hoping I can talk Arlene Radasky into reviewing her company as she has made the first steps toward publishing The Fox. Congrats Arlene! The way it is looking it may be about the same time frame. That should perk your ears as she just started. Hmmmm.

The cover proof sheet was retuned to my PSA today and when he arrives tomorrow I should get confirmation that it is received. So another deadline beat by days and the next step after the answering of a couple of questions will be print set up and author proof after that, it is 1 ½ to 2 weeks for the interior and exterior changes to be done and 14 business days to do the print set up with the printers. Ahhhh! Then I will be getting a release date for Barnes and Noble and Amazon and it will be available on Iuniverse first. I am so excited!

This week is about podcasting. Out there tell everyone that the book is available. Market, Market Market. Edit Episode 12 which is almost done and start on Episode 13 which is recorded but not edited. And write the press releases. Scary!
 

Also this week the book was promoted on J.D. Sawyers Antithesis and Edward G. Tabolt’s New Word Order as well as Emriane Rich’s Horror Addicts. Thank you all for adding my promo. You’re the best! See these authors works in the hot promo section of this site. Very cool stuff.

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter