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Category Archives: self publishing

Lost Cities of India

22 Monday May 2017

Posted by Rohini Gupta in Published works, self publishing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ancient India, books, Dwarka, historic India, history, India, India history, Indian mythology, Indraprastha, lost cities, Mahabharata, mythic age, mythic cities, mythology, travel, Writing

Did you always want to know about the magnificent mythic cities of ancient India? Sunken Dwarka and crystalline Indraprastha?  Take a look at this short book on the grandeur and mystery of the past.

Lost Cities of India sm

I wrote these articles a long time ago and the response I got was excellent. I have planned a full book on the subject since the Mahabharata is full of fascinating details and stories but that is yet to come. In the meantime, by popular demand here are the original articles I wrote in 2007.

Take a journey into India’s magnificent heritage like you have never seen before.

Available as a Kindle ebook on Amazon.

Amazon.in

Amazon.com

Amazon.uk

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A year’s worth of words

23 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Rohini Gupta in self publishing

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

#poweredbyindie, books, publishing, self publishing, self publishing India, words, Writing, writing journey

Has it really been a year since I began this self publishing journey? So much has happened in this short time.

Actually it took three years to come to 2015.

Before that, I spent decades in a world of publishers.  In those days, the way was set and there was no other path. If you wanted to be published you had to find a publisher which could take years.

You spent a lot of time looking for agent and publisher emails. Some of them, yes, even today, want the old snail mail and not email. You had done your research and then you prepared your query letter as carefully as if for god. You waited patient or inpatient, but you waited. Sometimes, you got no reply. If you did get a reply it was often a curt dismissal.

Your self esteem, if you had any left, hit the floor. You took days and much effort to recover from a rejection but that, they told you, was the author’s way.

Yes, it used to be the author’s life and it was a very tough one. When you write, you are emotional and open. You are by yourself or among writing friends. Nothing prepares you for the publisher world when your tender butterfly meets the shark.

From the dreamy world of wispy imagination you now have to deal with the teeth of contracts and legalese, non competes and ebook rights and the terrible fangs of rotten contracts.

It’s a nasty road and very painful but who cares for writers anyway?  It’s a self sustaining environment. You are told, over and over, that there is no other way. You need a publisher and you need their approval. Without that writing anointing, you are nothing. Your fragile child must be turned over to rough hands to be assessed in financial terms. mangled or rejected. And you must take it with a smile and say, thank you.

So, there I was, limping on the accepted path.

Then I heard the first murmurs about ebooks and self publishing as a viable option and not the notorious vanity presses.

I spent the next two years convincing myself that it could work. It’s tough getting out of the ‘only a publisher can sanctify a book’ to ‘you mean I can do it myself?’

 I learned about Kindle Direct Publishing. Wow, you mean I can publish without cost, keep all the rights and get 70 percent of every book, with detailed accounts and regular payments?

Isn’t that a fairytale just too good to be true? Isn’t that a story made to snare unwary authors? I heard that from many people. It’s easy to believe. Writers have been so battered and abused that is hard to believe there are fair and decent terms out there.

But my own research showed me something. I read all the blogs and haunted the writing forums. It was true. Yes, it was true.

It took me three years to decide to take the plunge. In 2015 I knew I would go for it.

The first ebook was the toughest. I had to learn how to do it.  I collected my flash fiction into a book. Figured out how to do the cover with a basic painting and some photo editors to give it texture. I edited every word several times.

But the big problem lay ahead – formatting.

I had no idea how to do it so I gave it to a company to do. In September last year my first ebook, To Catch a Falling Star, was published in silence. No fanfare, no book readings, nothing but a blog post and emails.

Nothing but a feeling of great and deep satisfaction.

Yes, I knew I liked this path. I had to figure out how to do it myself. I had to undertand the formatting so I downloaded the books and studied websites.

In December, a short story, A Handful of Rice went up.  This was was even more satisfying because I had done it all myself, the cover, editing, formatting and uploading to Amazon’s KDP.

Book 3, whiskers and purrs, a collection of cat haiku went up in February 2016.

I put together a book of short meditations,  5 Minute Delight, which went up in May.

In July our haiku group published our first anthology, A Taste of Sea Breeze.

And in August, I published Life Crafting, Techniques of Self Growth and Creativity.

My sixth book in the first year. I thought it took a year to write a book but I discovered that it takes publishers a year, not writers. I started out with the idea of publishing one book and went on to do six. I thought it impossible but it was not even stressful. I enjoyed every moment of it.

Sales have not been great but they have been selling. I know this is a marathon and will build up slowly. I am in no hurry at all, as a I plod along writing the next book.

The strange thing is that when I was a child, imagining the writers life, this is what I imagined. The great satisfaction of writing and publishing just as I please. Then I grew up and ran head first into the wall of the publishing world. From then on, it was a struggle. Now the delight and the easy playful creativity is back without the stress and struggle.

The year was not yet done with me.

I do workshops at Somaiya  Center for Lifelong Learning and I suggested one on how to publish your own ebook. I put together everything I had learned in the year so that others could do this too.

I had no idea what the response would be but there were lots of queries. The workshop was full, the people who showed up were really interested and Midday and DNA both covered it. This is the DNA article.

dna-on-ebooks-workshop-2

And so the first year ended on a high note, with a workshop. My first ebook expanded almost effortlessly into 6.

And now, a short respite,  a trip or two and Diwali break, before I begin year 2.

I can’t wait!

I know it will be better than the first as my self publishing journey goes on.

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The workshop is filling fast

30 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Rohini Gupta in Events, self publishing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

books, how to self publish, how to self publish in India, literature, publishing, self publishing, self publishing an ebook, self publishing India, words, Writing, writing journey

There is quite a bit of interest in my workshop on how to publish your own ebook at low cost. Maybe because I don’t know any others who are doing this kind of workshop.

When I wanted to self publish my first book I had no idea what to do. It was a very confusing world and it took me ages to figure it out. Now I have six ebooks out and feel I know a little. I have been working on my notes to make this workshop as comprehensive as possible.

ebooks-workshop

Midday covered my workshop yesterday

See you there.

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How to publish an ebook workshop

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by Rohini Gupta in Events, self publishing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

first book, how to publish an ebook, how to self publish, self publishing, self publishing India, short poems, words, writers journey, Writing, writing journey

Here are the details of my workshop.

If you always wanted to publish your own book but had no idea how to go about it, come across to Somaiya Centre on the 1st of October.

publish-your-own-ebook

In case the details are not visible in the poster:

1st October 2016

At Somaiya Centre for Lifelong Learning

Saturday, 2 to 5 pm.

Fees, Rs 750.

See you there.

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Workshop on how to publish your own ebook

11 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by Rohini Gupta in Events, self publishing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

ebooks india, first book, how to self publish, hwo to become an author, publishing an ebook, self publishing, self publishing India, words, workshop on self publishing, Writing

Mark this date in your calendar if you always wanted to see your name on a book cover.

 

1st October 2016
at Somaiya Center, Mumbai.
(I will confirm the time and cost or you can check with Somaiya center)

 

I am going to tell you exactly how to publish your own ebook.

 

Today anyone can do it.  The publishing field has leveled out so much that anyone with the desire and the willingness can publish their own ebook.

 

If you are able to do the work yourself, the uploading on the Kindle Direct platform is free and you can earn a large percentage of each sale. Writing and publishing ebooks is very big right now and I can’t think of a better time for you to become an author.

 

Its not a path for everyone.  You have to be willing to put in the time and effort. If you can do that, I can show you how to proceed and make your dream come true.

 

Yes, you can do it yourself. It takes work and careful attention but you can do it. Whether you want to publish just one book of your memoirs or take the tough path to make a career as a writer – it all begins with that first book.

 

This workshop is for you if you want to know the process. Of course, while you can publish your book, getting readers and marketing is a different topic entirely and not covered in this workshop. But I will give you enough to get your started and point our where you can learn more.

 

If you do not want to do the work yourself there are inexpensive alternatives. Don’t believe anyone who tells you it is very expensive. It is either free if you do your own work, or affordable if you get others to do it for you.

 

I have published 6 ebooks on Amazon. The first time I published an ebook it took me a year to figure it out and I gave it to others to upload for me. Now I don’t have to do that.  I published the last five myself, doing the writing, editing, cover and formatting on my own and it did not cost me a thing.

 

I am doing this workshop because people keep asking me how to do it and it needs explanations too detailed to do individually.

 

It’s unlikely that I will do this workshop again soon. I am a working author and  too busy writing books. So, if you are interested. mark this date in your calendar. (I will post the details soon.)

 

Let’s see if I can make it easier for you. See you on the 1st.

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This new world of ebooks

30 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by Rohini Gupta in self publishing, Writing articles

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ebooks, ebooks india, self publishing, self publishing India, words, writers journey, Writing, writing journey

I have been publishing ebooks for almost a year and the first thing I realised is that most people don’t even know what ebooks are. I am talking of India and a very modern city like Mumbai.

They say, I would love to read your book but I don’t have a kindle.

Do  you have a smart phone, I ask them.

They do have a smart phone but hold it out helplessly, totally unaware of what to do with it. To make an account and download an ebook is almost beyond their capacities. They ask sons or grand daughters to do it.

Or just shrug because its too complicated to contemplate.

I can understand most people being unaware of the online world, but this applies not just to the usual person who uses an expensive smart phone for nothing but making calls to their children abroad – it applies to other writers as well.

It will take time, especially for writers who have been around for a while but ultimately, they will have to deal with this strange and confusing new world. Their old world is dying. Bookshops are closing. The single narrow and crowded road which lead to a publisher contract is getting lost amid the brand new highways which are opening up for writers. Yes, you can ignore it – but it won’t go away.

In my book club the word ‘book’ still means the print variety. Now, however, a few Kindles have appeared. Most readers still order their print copies online or search the few remaining – and shrinking – bookstores.

I don’t like reading an ebook, its very uncomfortable, some of them say. I like reading a real book.

They are probably hunched in front of a computer unaware that the easiest way to read is an ereader. Or even a smart phone or tablet. No use telling them about it.

It seems that, for most people, the very vast and rapidly overwhelming online ebookstores are invisible. For them its still the few shelves crammed between colouring and children’s books. That space grows smaller as chocolates and gadgets grab the shelves once devoted to shiny new bestsellers.

I have news for all those people.

Ebooks is a one way street. Once you start reading ebooks you are not going back. Once you start writing ebooks, you may add print books or even publisher books, but it will always be ebooks. Like most technological advances it goes only one way.

I am lucky to be here so early when the whale has not turned – though that is due – so I can get a ringside seat as the seasons of writing and publishing change. With one difference. The old ways will not be coming back.

One world will shrink and shrink until its a pale ghost of what it was. The other will expand exponentially until it grows so overwhelmingly huge that it just can’t be ignored. I leave it to you to guess which is which.

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The Cost of Self Publishing

06 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by Rohini Gupta in self publishing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Fiction, self publishing, self publishing India, words, Writing, writing journey

People are always asking me how much does it cost to self publish. Usually they are the ones who have approached scam self publishing companies and been quoted a ridiculous price.

“They said they can do it all for 75,000 rupees. That is reasonable,  right?”

Reasonable it is not.

Be careful of all the companies which prey on the innocence of writers. They just want to make a quick buck not to help you on your way.

I just put up a short story on Amazon Kindle. What did it cost me?  Here is the breakdown.

It cost me a lot in work. Writing the story. Rewriting it several times.  Editing carefully and repeatedly.

Then the cover.  I started that early and kept fiddling with it through the writing. It went through many variations and finally ended up with one I liked.

Them the formatting. An ebook requires a specific format. I just finished formatting ‘To Catch a Falling Star’ for print and that took a lot of careful work. I knew that ebook formatting is not as complicated as print and it turned out to be quite simple by comparison.

Ebooks require very minimal formatting because the pages are not fixed. You can’t use anything fancy and have to stick to the simplest.

Basically you need to use styles and remove all tabs and manual formats. Headings are needed to create the contents.

To begin the job I found a lot of books on Kindle formatting and a lot of Youtube videos. Unfortunately, many turned out to be a waste of time.  They did not get it right.

After a lot of searching and even more mistakes it turned out to be simpler than I thought.

Then the part I dreaded – converting my Word file to mobi format for kindle.  I had tried it with my earlier book and it came out a real mess. I had no idea what to do.  Do I need a converter? How do I do it?

I kept a whole week for the conversion and it took me longer than that. Mostly because I struggling with contradictory advise.

Eventually I figured it out.  No,  you do not need to convert your file. Careful formatting in Word and saving as an htm file does the trick.

Upload it to Kindle direct and it will do the conversion.  Download it and check it on the Kindle previewer. Make your changes in the word file and upload again. I did that several times correcting small mistakes. 

It took more than the week I had kept for it. But, yes, it’s not that hard.  Anyone with patience can do it.

So my story, A Handful of Rice went up. I clicked the publish button and I was done.

What did it cost?  Those are the costs  I have detailed above.

In work – expensive.
In money – not a paisa.

Uploading is free. There is no cost if you do the work. If you don’t want to do the work then please pay only for the job and not the huge sums scam companies ask.

Paying for the tasks you need – cover, editing, formatting – it can cost a few thousand – less than ten, I think,  if you get someone to do the work for you.  If you do it yourself – which prolific writers are doing – then the cost is zero. None of the self publishing platforms like Kindle require you to pay.  Uploading your book if free and you get paid for every copy sold.

Would I recommend self publishing to others? Yes I definately would. It was worth the effort to see my book go up in just a few hours. More than worth it.

My advise – give it a shot.  It’s not as hard as it seems.

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Available now

04 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by Rohini Gupta in Published works, self publishing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Fiction, self publishing India, short story, words, writers journey, Writing, writing journey

My short story, A Handful of Rice, is now online and available on Amazon as an ebook, and, if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can borrow it and read it for free. You do not need a Kindle to read it. You can download the free Kindle app on any smart phone or tablet.

 

Handfulofrice - small

I enjoyed putting up this story and I will blog in more detail about the experience. What I enjoyed most was doing it all myself. I painted the cover, did the editing – several times – figured out the formatting and yes, that took me the longest time to figure out. My initial attempts were a big mess. I followed some books and they were all wrong. Then I found some which told me just what to do and  finally it began to fall into place.

 

Available on all the Amazon stores.

Amazon.in

Amazon.com

A lot of work has gone into this one short story. The cover took me the longest and formatting was the toughest. Uploading it was not hard at all but required many attempts and many small corrections. Very time taking but ultimately very satisfying.

My digital bookshelf is filling up and that is a beautiful sight to see.

I plan to do a series on my experiences of publishing and self publishing in India on this blog. If you are interested subscribe or check again soon.

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Do you like this cover?

01 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by Rohini Gupta in self publishing

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Fiction, self publishing India, short story, words, Writing, writing journey

I am putting up a short story this week, as an ebook on kindle. Its a new take on an old mythological tale. I had fun doing it all – the cover, editing and formatting and should be able to upload this week.

A Handful of Rice

handful of rice - web

 

 

 

Do you like this cover?

 

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The Before and the After

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by Rohini Gupta in self publishing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Fiction, publishing, self publishing India, words, writers journey, Writing

How much difference just a few years can make.

There’s a Before E-Books and After E-Books, a BEB and a AEB. In the world of writing and publishing everything has changed and having lunch with a publisher brought it home to me very sharply. Everything we ever took for granted is either changing beyond recognition or vanishing entirely.

Perhaps publishers have been hit the most. They complain that all the channels of the long standing publishing business, diligently constructed over many decades, are coming apart and vanishing.

The publisher model required distributors and book shops. Today distributors are going out of business and bookshops – what can I say? Some of my favourite places to hang out with books and a coffee are no more than memories. And it’s the same all over the world.

Old systems are going down, new ones are coming up. The e-book field is still young but it’s beginning to grow.

Publishers have, perhaps, been hit the hardest and especially the dedicated smaller publishers. For them it’s becoming unsustainable. Costs are spiralling in the creation of a print book. There is less and less shelf space every year. When a book shop closes there seems nothing to replace it. Online markets, from what I hear, are harder for publishers to crack while being easier for authors.

I am not complaining. I love this new Kali yuga when all the established systems go down and new and far more open ones emerge. I like being able to do it myself. I like being able to take my book straight to the readers.

And, no, let’s set one misconception to rest. It does not cost you thousands to put up an e-book. You pay if you ask someone to edit or format or do a cover for you. This is no different from asking a carpenter to fix a chair, or an electrician to repair your meter box. You only pay for the work, that is all and the sums involved are not huge. You don’t even have to pay if you can’t afford it. If you do all the work yourself it will not cost you one paisa. Do your own cover, editing and formatting and put it up for free.

It will cost you if you want a book printed out. A print book needs upfront money to pay for the paper and designing and the printing and shipping.

An e-book requires very little to no money, but lots of patience and dedication and perhaps those are harder to get.

Which creates a problem for publishers. Where do they stand if authors are going direct to the market?

They will have to evolve into something new or they will have to close shop. And it’s not easy. Most of them don’t understand the new AEB world, are scared of the Internet and really don’t grasp the power of social media or the increasingly sophisticated world of independent authors where the rules have changed so profoundly that it’s not even the same species any more.

For me, it’s a good time. It’s been just over a month since I put up To Catch a Falling Star, and I am formatting a short story to upload and half way through writing the next book. I haven’t even got the accounts yet but this is the fast lane. And this is AEB, the new world of publishing, putting out its first few flowers into a fresh, never before, summer.

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← Older posts

A fantasy short story

Available as ebooks on Amazon

Welcome

Welcome to Word Skies, my writing blog. I am a writer of fiction, short stories, flash fiction, poetry, haiku, renku and this is my journey.

Look around, enjoy, and I would love it if you left me a comment.

I am Rohini Gupta, a writer from Mumbai, India. My other, more general blog is at rohinigupta.wordpress.com.

All the photos on this blog are mine unless credited otherwise.

My email is writingdays@gmail.com

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