Your Opinion Please! :-)

After recently reaching the Number 1 spot  click to read more on the Asian and Haiku poetry paid list at Amazon.ca, (woohoo!) 😉I have now decided to create another book/eBook in the Haiku Reflections series. 

The print cover above (click to enlarge cover) is what I have worked out so far. 

I wanted something with a wintery theme and also, a cover that would be in keeping with the previous two books/eBooks in this series:

What do you think?

 I was going for an icy, cool, wintery look with the new one, so that it would be a good contrast from the two previous volumes.

 I tried several colors for the background and also the text color and overall, this seemed to work best. 

I am open to suggestions though and have not submitted the cover for publication yet.

 I DID try black for the text color and also pure white, but neither of them seemed quite right. The text above is a lighter blue, in keeping with the cover color. 

I look forward to your suggestions and feedback!

The  only thing that I DON'T want to change is the cover photo. I like this one from my files, a lot. 

But I am open to ideas re: the color of the background and also the text. 

It is a template I am working with, so I can only adjust it so much, if I want to stay with this theme.

Thank you in advance for your input! It is appreciated.

When I created the other volumes in this series, I had lots of feedback from readers beforehand and it was really helpful. 😊

Have a Super Week and Happy Creating! 

Finding Kate Huntley by Theresa Ragan

As I blogged about recently here I've been focused on a number of writing projects, including a novel, in the past few months.
                                                   

It's a daunting task to write and to complete a novel. At least that's been my experience so far. It's been thrilling, energizing, frustrating, at times- all-consuming. And along the way, it's been other writers, bloggers, friends and loved ones who have kept me going, when I just didn't feel like continuing.

One of the most talented, inspiring and encouraging people I've met in the past few months, is author: Theresa Ragan. If you aren't familiar with Theresa's books yet, you will be. This woman is an achiever and then some!

Here's an Interview with Theresa from the CreateSpace website that gives an overview of just some of this author's amazing accomplishments to date. And Theresa is not just an achiever when it comes to writing novels, she's one terrific and supportive person too.

Stop by Theresa's blog for  more information about her life, work and to read more about all of her books.

After I got to know Theresa online, I was eager to read some of her work. I started off with the novel: Finding Kate Huntley, a suspense-packed thriller that takes the reader on a fast-paced and memorable journey.

When lead character, Kate Huntley is only 15 years old, she witnesses the murder of her beloved father, while they are on board a boat vacationing in the Caribbean.

Her father, who had been a respected, well-known US scientist, had warned her just before his untimely death, to "trust no one". It is a warning that Kate takes to heart and never forgets, spending the next 10 years of her life in hiding; living in one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti.
                                     

 In spite of the poverty and other difficulties of living in this foreign and unfamiliar place, Kate learns to love Haiti and many of the gentle and kind native people she gets to know. But she also never forgets her father's warning and endures the ache of losing him, year after year. Kate vows to find the person(s) responsible no matter how long it takes, find out why and to avenge his death.

                                                       
Fast-forward to Kate at 25, still living and working in Haiti. She is recognized by Jack Coffey, rookie FBI agent who has been sent by the agency to find Ms. Huntley and bring her back to the States where they are also still trying to find the reasons behind her father's murder and to solve the case.

 Jack Coffey works first of all, to gain Kate's trust, not an easy assignment in itself. Then to complete his FBI duties to get her back to the (supposedly) safer US, where Kate had been born and to hopefully and finally unravel the mystery of her father's death. Along the way, there is romance, intrigue and lots of surprises and awakenings for both Kate and Jack.

Although this would not normally be "my kind of book" to read (I've never been a real fan of thrillers, crime stories etc) I found myself turning page after page, anxious to see how things would turn out. I don't want to spoil the plot....so I'll leave the details for you to enjoy!

Theresa Ragan shows an attention to details that is commendable. She not only is a compelling writer and takes the time to develop each chapter throughout the book; Theresa also ties up ALL the loose ends, at the conclusion of the story. I appreciate that. You would think that would be a given for any well-written/regarded novel, but as any avid reader knows, that's just not the reality, for too many books.

                                                

If you are looking for a fast-paced, engaging novel with plenty of twists, turns and romance along the way, you'll want to check out: Finding Kate Huntley by Theresa Ragan. Available in print and ebook formats.

Overall rating for this book: Very Good. 4 out of 5.    

CreateSpace (Self-Publishing)

CreateSpace is an Amazon company that specializes in self-publishing services including books, ebooks, music and film.

I tried out CreateSpace for the first time, a few weeks ago and I'm certainly glad I did.

I had been wanting to publish a collection of my poetry for a long time. I had started and stopped this project many times. With a couple of other self-publishing services that I had tried previously, including Lulu and IUniverse, there was always something that kept me procrastinating and not focused on actually completing my book.

 In terms of Lulu, I had high hopes initally after reading some reviews about their services. But when I attempted to download my completed poetry document file at their site; right off the bat, I was faced with an error message that made no sense at all. Listing several font errors for a font I wasn't even using! I was turned off big time and decided not to waste any more time there!

CreateSpace makes the whole process of self-publishing a book not only easy but fun too!  I was able to download my poetry document and with only a bit of minor tweaking to adjust for the page size I had chosen; it was ready to go within a couple of days, after being checked over by the CreateSpace team.

Here's how my book turned out:

And here's a link to the Amazon page with the Click Inside the Book feature included. (The back cover may be still appearing as it was for the first one I created (green) as this may still be in the processed of being updated on the Amazon product page.)

I then had a few things I wanted to change after I received the first copies of my book, including the cover and a few tweaks of the text, that were minor errors I had missed. No problem. I submitted an updated document, chose a new cover photo (this time, one I took myself) and presto, my book was on it's way to being updated to my complete satisfaction.

CreateSpace provides a Cover Creator option that makes this process so easy. And completely customizable. Not some "cookie cutter" same old, same old....options, as is the case with some of the other self-publishing companies offerings.

And with Amazon behind a book, well the opportunities to take it to whatever level you aspire to, are definitely there. Channels offered include: Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Europe, UK...library distribution, online distributors....impressive!

Their support services are excellent too. And again, an area that I think is so important and is lacking with too many companies, of all types it seems. I had numerous questions along the way and all were answered in a friendly, timely and professional way. No "jumping through hoops" to get someone to respond to questions and that's something that I really appreciate.

Price-wise. Hard to believe. For a mere $25. investment I not only was able to create my book to my complete satisfaction. The $25. also included the expanded distribution options, mentioned above and only available through CreateSpace,editing assistance and a free ISBN number. This was $25. very well spent! And without the expanded distribution, initial costs are FREE! Hard to go wrong.

Only two things that I can think of that would have made my experience with CreateSpace even better.

I had asked about the title and my name being included on the spine of the book but was told that for a book with 70 pages (as mine is) the spine was too small to allow for print. I know that Lulu does offer this service and it would be most helpful to have this provided at CreateSpace, especially when targeting bookstores and libraries for selling prospects.

Also, when checking the proof of my book online at the CreateSpace site, the magnify page option is a bit "wonky" with only a very large and rather small size of magnification offered. To have incremental zoom options, again would be helpful and appreciated.

I am now working on another book, this one a collection of my haiku poems. I am also putting together a marketing plan specifically targeted to regional libraries including a media release for both of my poetry books. Wish me luck! To see a labour of love come together as has been the case with both of these book projects is oh so satisfying!

If you've been delaying your own creative indie project be it a book, ebook, Cd....make sure to stop by CreateSpace to find out just how easy, inexpensive and rewarding it can be.

Overall rating for this service: Very Good. 4 out of 5.