A synopsis can really be a pain. I have two hints. Look at the ones in books like Cliffs Notes. Check out the opening phrases used: Later that evening, Unknown to, Mary explains to, Before John could start to...

The second hint (which it is probably too late for) is: As you are writing the book write a one or two line summery of each chapter. Makes it easy to focus on the most important points.

Just discovered Writer's workshop. I'm new. Hope this
gets active again. I've just written a book called The letterbox Murders and I'd love to hear what you all think.

I have ordered it on Kindle-hope to start it next! (Currently reading the new Lee Child/Reacher)
Yuke

Mitzi - is that you....???

Hi, I am a "mitzi" Am I the one you mean? I think there is yet another "Mitzi" who is a letterboxer. I'm an old timer formerly from Portola Valley, now Grass Valley. My book, The Letterbox Murders, takes place in Portola Valley, Woodside and Redwood City.Am I the "right" Mitzi?

Can't wait to read it, since we are familiar with those areas in the Bay Area!!

-Amanda from Seattle

Amanda, I remember your stamp. I'm pretty sure I have it in one of my old log books

Just finished reading The Letterbox Murders .... thanks for a fun read!

My next writing project is volume two of family history/stories. Maybe I should have the people on this board help me sort out the title for volume two.

Hi, I'm planning to start a blog. Do any of you all have experience designing one? Should I go with the ones that are free or ones that cost as monthly fee? Do any of you have a blog? I thought about calling mine, "Shut up and just write the damned book" but that is probably too long (That was my husband's advice that finally got me actually writing my book.) Any other suggestions?

Thanks, Labyrinth Lady

I'm a blogger!
It honestly just depends on why you want to blog. Do you just want to get your voice out there? write down your thoughts/creative processes? Want to showcase your life or what you do? Do you want to be able to make money from it?
If it's for fun you can use whatever free service you want. Blogger and wordpress are popular.
If you want it to be professional or own your own domain (ie. myblog.wordpress.com vs myblog.com) you will want to look at buying a domain and being self hosted.
There's a lot to blogging especially if your goal is to make an income from it. If it's just for fun don't worry too much! Just do what you want, write what you want, and share.

=(^._.^)=

Thanks, Catchow. Big help. I am a writer (newly hatched) and was told that getting a good following on a blog was a good way to sell your book and get your name out there. It's too late for my first book (The letterbox Murders) but I'm working on the sequel. My blog will take new writers through the process of writing a first novel. My mistakes (like not having a blog up earlier) and what I learned.
What is the name of your blog?
Thanks so much for replying. You have been very helpful. L.L.

Blogs are a great outlet to showcase your work and promote products for sure.

This is my blog: notyourtypicalhippie.com

If you have facebook I recommend you request to join the group Boss Girl Bloggers. There's a ton of information available and a lot of lovely ladies who are willing to help and answer questions.

=(^._.^)=

I have a blog for quilting. It's more of a journal to keep track of my projects that I have done over the last 30 years. The title of mine is "My Quest to Quilt" but my subtitle is "..or finding time every day to quilt". You could find a short title "Putting Pen to Paper" for example and use your "shut up and just write....." as the subtitle. That would work perfectly!
I use Blogger which is free and easy to use. It has everything I need and I can revise the code if needed.

You can set up a separate page for each chapter and character if that applies. Add lables to the posts is an easy way to organize.

Good luck, I am very excited for you!

Alice

Thank you so much. I knew I'd get some good advice on this site.

Great suggestions re name. Thanks so much. Starting something so so much fun and I love the help I'm getting.

Do any of you have a blog?

I used to do a Letterboxing-related blog, "Boxers 'n' Briefs", but haven't done one in a few years. So I have no current experience with tools or hosting sites. I used Blogger for that, and found it to be simple to learn, but with the features I needed. Dang, it's tempting to dredge that up again, I really enjoyed doing it. I just ended up spending too much time on it, and it became a distraction.

Coincidentally, my first Published Book was ABOUT blogging! Sort of. In a warped, wassa-like way. It's called (blatant plug) "Blog Post Mortem" .

Hey, Plug away! I'll check it out. Thanks.

It sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to reading it.

dp

Hi, Dartmoor Dreamer, et al.
What a wonderful idea to write a family history and record some of those great stories that have been passed around. I didn't understand the value until I was much older and most of the relatives I could have asked were dead. There are so many questions I would love to have answered. Good Luck. I know the rest of your family will really appreciate your effort.

Also, thank you for reading my book. If you would like to leave a review on Amazon, that would be great. Didn't realize how important that was until I published.

Labyrinth Lady

Just started my blog. MitziPhillips.Blogspot.com. It will follow this writer's experience writing a first novel. I'll share all the humiliating mistakes I made and tips I picked up along the way. My main goal in writing this blog is to let writers know that that if I can write a book, anyone can. So get cracking and write that book.

The correct address for my new blog on writing a first novel is mitziphillips.blogspot.com

So, for all you self-publishers out there, what do you recommend or use for your self-published books? I'm looking for a new place because apparently, according to Amazon, someone else owns the copyrights to my book and won't publish it anymore. News to me!

And when I tried asking for more information--like who allegedly owns the copyright for my book or specifically what part they believe is copyrighted by someone else--they wrote back saying that their decision is "final" and will not provide any additional information. WTF?

So any of you guys who bought the first edition of my book... there won't be anymore of those! They're officially collector items now!

It's weirdly coincidental that I just finished hiking the West Coast Trail and Juan de Fuca Trail less than a month ago, so there are some updates I wanted to make to the book. I wasn't going to because I was too lazy, but now that I have to go somewhere else to print it, I figure I may as well do some updates. Fix a few spelling/grammatical errors, make notes about where certain descriptions of the trail are no longer accurate, and maybe add a few extra photos now that I actually have photos of the entire trail. (I'll still leave in my drawings, however, because let's face it--that's the best part of the book anyhow!)

In related news.... when I print the second edition, what would you prefer? Color or B&W? The color versions would probably cost a buck or two more. Should I look at options that allow me to print a hardbound version of the book, or leave it as a paperback. I'm kind of inclined to use color this time, but probably keep it as a paperback.

I'm not sure if it would be available on Amazon anymore, though. They won't let me publish my book through KDP, but they didn't actually say anything about not selling my book.

The old listing for my book won't let you buy anything anymore, but that would make sense if Amazon "the store" can no longer acquire books from Amazon "the publisher". Not sure what will happen if "Publisher ABC" tries to sell the same book on Amazon. Guess I'll find out?

And another quick question--are there any of you who have acquired the first edition that would still want to buy a second edition? It won't really be that much different, but it would be useful to know if I'd likely to a large surge of orders when it becomes available or if I can expect to sell just one book every month or two. Might make a difference in how many I order....

-- Ryan

As Michelle Tanner would say, "How rude!" How can someone claim ownership of your work? That part has me confused.

No idea. I suppose anyone can make accusations, but I'm not even sure that's what happened. I figured it was probably some automated process that "detected" something that was "copyrighted." For instance, I did use "A Tale of Two Cities" as the inspiration for the title of my book, "A Tale of Two Trails." I even wrote on the back cover, "It was the best of trails, it was the worst of trails...."

For all I know, they could have said, "Hey! You copied that from someone else!" (Nevermind the fact that that book has been public domain for eons.) Anyway, it's just stupid, and I don't even know what might have triggered it!

But heck, when I did a google search for the name of my book, there are a number of webpages that use the exact same title I did. Not exactly original, but I know darned well I didn't copy any of them. It just seems like a pretty obvious name for people discussing two of anything!

Anyway, screw them. If they don't want to publish my book, I'll just let someone else do it.

-- Ryan

I don't have the original book, and would likely buy it when you revise it. I agree with both color and paperback.

Did they happen to mention something about "Wassa's Publishing House"? Asking for a friend.

One of the things people don't realize that books get assigned ISBN numbers and if you let Amazon put THEIR ISBN number on your book, it is like ownership because it's their number.

I did this with my first book. Fingers cross it never becomes an issue.

But here's the "catch" . . . only ONE company in the whole wide world owns the rights to sell ISBN numbers . . . so, it can be pricey just buying that number, but no one will publish or produce a book without it. And if it's a ISBN number that you own, then you won't have problems in the future.

I don't know if this helps or not.

csk

I did a self-published book through Lulu.com. It was really easy to self publish through them and the book does get posted on Amazon so you can sell it there.

Those don't really have anything to do with copyrights. The same book can have more than one ISBN number (e.g. a hardback version will have a different ISBN than its paperback version.) It doesn't really matter if Amazon "owns" the ISBN number--I can just publish it with a different one, and it's not like they can reuse my old one for a new book.

-- Ryan

I used to print all the AQ calendars through Lulu, so that's an intriguing option. I'm already familiar with them! Not sure my account is still active--I haven't used it in years.

Never thought about publishing a book with them before, though! Thanks for the suggestion!

-- Ryan