Woe is Me Thursday

Well, crap-a-dap and fiddlesticks!

Whatever possessed me to take on this hardcover book project? Whatever made me think I could do it and it would be a snap. I am running into all kinds of difficulties and it is making me upset because it is so mindboggling. All I was trying to do is create just a few new hardcovers for some existing books, preferably my novels. I had them all laid out on my desktop with files and everything for me to work on, this was yesterday.  By the time I ended my experiment last night, my desktop was covered in unusable files as I tried my best to work on one book cover, just trying to set the thing up. It was murder to my brain!

Regardless of what I love to do, creating hardcover books..well, that is turning out to be a different story. I am coming to a screeching halt on this one, at least for now because resizing, embedding, turning word documents into pdf files and then turning jpeg images into pdf files as well, switching back and forth from jpeg to pdf trying to get the sizing correct had my brain doing flip flops. When I think I have it all corrected and upload the file, I get a message stating that my image file is still set as an 11 by something. “No, it’s not!” I wanted to scream at them; but hey, when it comes to doing that, the only thing I would be doing is yelling at the computer and the invisible person inside it.

I was so proud of myself last night for what I did accomplish before giving up on it, I did create a new cover, even though it was all wrong. I thought it looked great and creative. Well, I showed my son and right away he said….”No, mom. It looks very unprofessional and weak. It looks downright amateur. Here, take a look.  Now that I look at it, I think he is right. (It’s in the trash bin.) But my son starting showing me Indesign, had me watching videos on creating your own hardcovers. Well, lo and behold, all those steps to remember and learn. He was going to upload the Indesign program to my computer for me to work with….can you imagine. If I had difficulty doing what I did earlier, Indesign will just make me even crazier. It ain’t happening! So, I guess I will just stick to what I’ve been doing with my books, creating soft covers and Ebooks. I have that down to a Tee.

Anyway, this Indie Author/publisher did not enjoy the hardcover experience. So I am done with it. I tried it and I found out….it’s not for me because it’s too technical. Oh, but when done the right way, hardcovers come out looking great when you know what you are doing.

Meantime, I will just keep on doing what I am doing.

 

Announcing……

Okay, so I am not going to tell you just yet, what the big announcement is. Yes indeed, I have been sitting here at my desk pulling this all together and it is almost ready except for a few details.

If you read my blog yesterday, you might know what I am talking about. All I am going to say is, the sad mood has disappeared and I am not sitting around feeling sorry for myself and twiddling my fingers as to what to do now. I know what to do…so I did it. And guess what? It looks good…so far. I am feeling pleased with myself and my project progression.

Stay tune for when I announce the unveiling….oh yeah, there will be an unveiling. Are you going to party with me?

So Many Books……

That’s right, so many books and just not enough time to read them all!

I was just thumbing through Google search and found so many titles of children and teen books. It just blew my mind of how many I haven’t read. So guess what I did. I made a list of titles that date all the way back to…800.Bc to the 21st century. Now mind you, there was no way I could list all those book, I’d be typing for days and this blog would be way too long. So, I just made a short list of the titles that I am familiar with while growing up. And then I made a title list of today’s African American books for young readers. Can you guess what’s coming next after I list all these titles? You will just have to wait and see. Anyway, look through the list that I concocted and see if the classic titles are familiar to you. Which ones have you read and which is your favorite of these old time classics? Well, here we go!

Aesop’s Fables-Tales of Mother Goose- Little Goody Two Shoes- Children of the New Forest-The Wonderful Wizard of Oz-Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm-The Cat in the Hat-To Kill a Mockingbird-A Taste of Blackberries
Little House on the Prairie– Charlotte’s Web– A Wrinkle in Time-The Secret Garden-Little Women-Matilda-Curious George-Flowers in the Attic- The Monster at the End of the Book. The bold highlighted ones are the ones I’ve read as a child.

AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN BOOKS
The Story of Ruby Bridges- A Sweet Smell of Roses- The Patchwork Quilt-Through My Eyes-Amazing Grace-Momma I Want to Sing-Shortcut-Cousins- Tar Beach-Aunt Flossie’s Hats(and Crab Cakes Later)
With these titles, I believe I will be adding more books to my kindle list of reads. These titles look mighty tasty to me.

OUR BOOKS for Young Readers: Author Winona Rasheed and Catherine Burr on Amazon.com

Children’s Book Week May 12-18th

Here it is the middle of the week, I’ve let two days pass by without mentioning that this is Children’s Book Week. Do you know what that means? This is the time to promote reading and introducing children to new books and new authors. Of course, it is my opinion that reading good books should be an everyday thing and not just designated for a particular week. But, this is when we recognize the occasion as we push for the love of reading and indulging in great books. So, as a children’s author…..I celebrate and appreciate the chance to promote my books, because I want all children to read and enjoy the books that I’ve created. I want adults to enjoy the books too, especially when they read them to their young readers. Remember young folks, reading is not a waste of time.

As Director of the New Line Press Media sites designed for children and teens, we celebrate children’s book week by showing off the books, which are made available through Amazon.com on the two websites that we operate. We take pride in what we do because New Line Press books matter and they make a difference in reading material that is age appropriate and engaging.

If you haven’t done so already, hop on over to the websites listed below and take a look at the inspiring books that are available. Choose what you want and then walk on over to Amazon to make a purchase. Remember, the books are just a click away. The Kindle versions will show up immediately on your electronic devices too……I personally love and highly recommend amazon.com, because all of my “Struttin My Stuff” books are there and so is New Line Press Books.

Stop by these family friendly sites today and take a look around. I guarantee you will like what you see and you will find something you like.

nlpkidz.wordpress.com

nlpteenz.wordpress.com

It’s Live and Updated.

I bet you can’t guess what I just accomplished…Okay, since you can’t guess, I suppose I will have to tell you. I just finished my Wix website. It’s all done and updated. And I do approve of the new look of my author’s website. Getting through all that technical mumbo jumbo was well worth all my efforts. Will I rush out and start my own business in creating websites for others?………..No way! Doing mine is enough work for me. Now I am out here promoting it.

I enjoy promoting things when I have completed a project; regardless of what it is, a blog, a website or a new book. It’s the final step in being and feeling accomplished. With that being said, do you think I should show you my laundry that I accomplished today or my organized kitchen cabinets that I also did today….Nah! That’s getting a tad bit carried away. LOL

Well, when you get time, I’d appreciate it if you take a look at my accomplishment. Tell me what you think, let me know if my website is easy to follow and easy to manipulate. Do you like my music and Voki? Do you like the content? Hey, why not leave me a comment. Now that would really be nice.

So check me out, stop by and stay awhile.

http://rasheedwinona.wix.com/struttin-my-stuff-2

Mind-Boggling

Boy oh boy, this sure has been one mind boggling day as I sit at my desk trying to figure this books stuff out. Being a self-publisher is not easy when it comes to the physical and technical side of books. I think that’s why I love being published traditionally; they handle all that techie stuff themselves and when the author is finish with all the editing, it is the publisher who present them with an excellent book after doing all the complicated footwork themselves.

I’ve been working all day on updating some old books that I done myself. Yes I am very proud of what I accomplished. Anyway, the updating included getting preview copies for both Createspace and Kindle Direct. That task may sound easy, but for me, it was not. My files that I used one place, wouldn’t work for the other. So, I had to download some applications so I could convert files. I managed to do that correctly, but somewhere along the line of converting, saving and then finding what I saved got all mixed up. At one point I save so much stuff, I was downloading a file for the wrong book and back I go to the beginning to straighten that mess out. I was ready to scream up in here. But did I stop and give up…..No sirree. I GOT IT DONE!

Now I have four updated books, three is in review and one went live today. I still have one more ole book to prepare. I am hoping with this last one, it will be smoother and less complicated so that I can sail through it like I know what I am doing. But thank goodness, when all is done, all five published books will be on Kindle Direct. Next task, figuring out how to get them listed at the iTunes store for people with iPads. I don’t think I was born to be a publisher, I was born to be a writer/author. But sometimes, you just gotta do what you got to do. Who knows, maybe one day I will become a publisher as well as an author….but first things first, work on my stuff before I try working on other people’s stuff; know what I am doing before I even think about taking that plunge. This might take sometime to even get there, regardless if the door is half way open. You know what they say……practice make perfect.

Okay, I am done…I feel exhausted, but yet accomplished on this Saturday evening….it’s dinner and Netflix time.

Climbing the best Seller Chart

Ella Rose is an Ebook Celebrity.

Checking one more time before Off to bed I go and I see that Broken Voices, in the Kindle store is still on Amazon’s top 100 Best Seller List. She is standing proud at # 57 in the category of peer pressure.

Now isn’t she just amazing? I am talking about Ella Rose, y’all.

FYI: Best Seller List and Kumani

“A New Home for Her Cubs” for young readers and tweens.

FYI:

Checking the status of my books and guess what. Kumani is still doing her thing. “A New Home for Her Cubs” is still on the 100 best seller list, coming in @ #86 under African fiction. This must really be a popular book among Kindle readers. Kumani says thanks everyone for reading about her adventure. She only ask that you leave a review at Amazon.com. That will help her with her journey. It took her awhile to get back in the swing of things, but she is now moving about quite well now.

New Line Press Kidz and Teenz

Whenever you are surfing the web with kids at your side, you have to be mindful of what site you click on. However, when you are window shopping and looking for great reads for your children; put your mind at ease when you stop and look on places such as nlpkidz.wordpress.com and nlpteenz.wordpress.com. These are family friendly sites that will not give you a heart attack when you and your children are looking for new books titles. You can trust that New Line Press Publisher delivers only the best in reading material for you and the entire family. Quite often, when you are searching for books, you might not even consider, who published the book because you just look at only the cover, title and read the back jacket or blurb before you decide to pick up a book. But, publishers are just as important as the writer/author. The two go hand in hand. There wouldn’t be one without the other.
Anyway, when you stop by nlpkidz.com and nlpteenz.com The titles and covers will blow you away because they are alluring and eye catching. So stop by often and keep yourself updated on what is happening at these two sites that cater to parents, kidz and their teenz. I bet when you ask your child, or children if they see anything that might be appealing to them, they will tell you yes.

New Line Press latest book that they published was in March, 2014. The book that made its debut was Bittersweet Dayz, a novel for young adults. Take a look, you will see it on nlpteenz.com along with others. But guess what else, another of Nlpteenz book is on the top 100 best seller list on Amazon, coming in at 87. This is the e-book version of Broken Voices. Another best seller, sits at nlpkidz page. You will discover that “A New Home for Her Cubs” is a best seller too. It seems, everyone loves those Kindle reads and that sure nuff is a good thing.

Check out the sister books as I call them.

Teens and Tweens

Nana’s house is always hopping when the grandchildren come to spend the night. And you know what, I love it! I have some awesome teenage granddaughters who love to read and they especially love my books for teens or young adults. Take a look at what they are reading. You might want to pick up a copy yourself.

“Bittersweet Dayz” @ Amazon.com