Tag Archives: self-pub

Announcement, Public Appearance, Self-publishing, Workshop

From Inspiration To Publication Workshop

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Are you a writer with a manuscript who wants to become an author?  Intimidated by the process of traditional publishing?  Want to keep your creative control?  The world of self-publishing is alive and thriving, and you can become a part of it!

October 15th, 2022, Tom Trimbath and I — co-hosts of the Writing On Whidbey Island podcast — are holding a day-long how-to self-publish workshop in Coupeville, WA.  Along with other writers and authors, we plan to show how to prepare your manuscript for self-publication, and take it through the steps to make your own book, and what you need to do afterward.  If you want to sign-up, contact Tom or myself for more information and to reserve your seat!

Want more information on our upcoming self-publishing workshop?  Read Tom’s blog post!

You can also watch this video of one of our previous From Inspiration To Publication self-publishing workshops …

 

Announcement, Author, Book, Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies, Product, Progress, Publication

My Book PUBLISHED & Shirts Available!

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WHOO — WHAT A WEEKEND!!!

Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies by Donald P. ScobyNearly 3 years of work and a number of speed-bumps along the way, and my debut recipe book is finally PUBLISHED.  I finished the submission to Amazon on Friday and Saturday morning it had GONE LIVE!!!  I was part way through breakfast when I found out the news — then the web and my phone EXPLODED with activity.  Congrats on getting published, questions about my book, someone bought a copy, someone else wants 3 signed copies as Xmas gifts, keeping up with the comments, posting on Facebook and Twitter …. and about 4 or 6 hours later things calmed down and I turned to find the rest of my cold, uneaten breakfast sitting next to me.  Really, coffee shouldn’t be treated that way.

Later that day my new WIBC Logo/URL t-shirt when live on Etsy via Stitch 6 To 6.   Within the next hour the first shirts were ordered! book

Things stayed busy, and come Saturday evening I got some time to make my new Author Profile on Amazon and update my website. book

It took me a while, but I finally figured out where and how to order copies of my book.  I’m getting about 60 on this first go-around.  I have around 20 people to give copies to who contributed to the project and were amazingly supportive along the way — I am grateful to get reminders of how incredible people can be*.  There are also two people seeking around 5 copies each (WOW!) for Christmas gifts — 10 copies already sold!
* One among them is this guy — Tom Trimbath!  He also has an impressive collection of books he’s written available here.

Yeah, things started moving pretty quick — and finally, now … late Sunday evening, I’m getting to make a blog post about the highlights of what’s gone on.  It’s been an amazing ride so far — testing my stick-to-it and gumption, giving me challenges to use my resourcefulness to resolve, and numerous new things and lessons learned — I love this stuff!  And now…? book

Now I go from being a writer to being a published author. book
Now I get to work on converting the manuscript for my book into an e-book — and likely an audio-book too, narrated by yours-truly!
Now I remember that I need to get new business cards made.
Now the pivot of WIBC from being a company that makes food to being a company about good food and people connecting with people is complete. book

And now … now I go to bed and get some sleep!

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Announcement, Author, Baking, Beverage, Cookies, Cooking, e-Publishing, Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies, Product, Progress, Publication

…it’s still morning somewhere, right?!?

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Mmm …. pie!

Sunday afternoon on the WIBC-Facebook page I said that I had a progress announcement about my baking book — and that I was going to post this morning …. and it’s now PIE’o’clock (3:14PM) …. and I’m realizing I didn’t get to it*, ACK! I’ve been busy getting my BagpiperDon website working right so it’s as equally as awesome as my recent updates to this site. ANYWAY…

Brrr-RING!

I had a conference call with my editor, Linda, on Sunday. She is A*W*E*S*O*M*E — she’s bold, she’s brilliant, she’s hilarious, Linda Makes Work FUN! (And yes, Linda, you may quote me on that for your portfolio.) We nailed down a number of things both having to do with my book and my plans to re-release it after paper publication as an e-book. I have a check-list of the things I need to satisfy (as provided by my friend & e-publishing coach, Tom) — toward the end of my call with Linda I ran down the list and updated it.
(PSST! – Linda has a bran-new website COMING SOON – see here at CheckChick.com!)

Here’s the HURRAH Announcement …

There are 18 total To-Do items on the list, I have 11 DONE, I have only 7 more to go!

Now — real quick — what does that mean?  Simply speaking, there are big tasks and small tasks in writing and publishing a book.  Usually writing the book is a huge task — DUH, obviously!  Other tasks may take a few hours, days, or weeks, and those are considerably short …. even if that means taking two days to craft a few paragraphs for the wings or back of a book.  There’s still the final edit work to do on my book, and the other tasks are really pretty small … but they add up & take time.  For DIY boot-strappers like myself that just means nose-to-the-gumption-grindstone!

“So when is your release date, Don?”

I am hoping to publish by Black Friday, however with everything going on I think it will be closer to Xmas. As many of you know I experienced a hard-drive crash early this year and have had to re-start my project working from old back-ups, e-documents I thought I had lost completely, and most but not all of the photos I had planned to include. Having received Linda’s added involvement has been nothing short of a GIFT! The book has been coming back together, and while it’s not done Right Now it is a better book than I had written last year. Do you think that this adds to my excitement???

OH YEAH!

So, work to go!
Back At It — Don

Tom and his many abilities at TrimbathCreative.wordpress.com
Linda, my editor, at CheckChick.com and her Check Chick Facebook page

* So here’s a little insight about being a small business owner….
It’s said that in ancient times if the gods wanted to get revenge on some humans they’d make them go crazy — and to accomplish this they make them fall in love. In modern times, I think gods make people go crazy by making them think “Hey, I can start & run a small business!”  Is a small business Love?  Well, if you’re passionate about what you’re doing…. then, Yes!