Bernard Jan's Blog - Posts Tagged "indie"
Coming Out
I have been dreading this decision and postponing it for as long as I could—for months, almost a year. Or even more? I cannot tell for certain, really don't remember. It was like a nightmare and I was pushing it away—the further the better—but time has come to acknowledge the inevitable. I have had the water up to my neck; no, up to my mouth!, and with each time breathing in a fraction of truth was exhaled.
My closest friends already know about it, and now I am officially sharing it with everyone. After so much struggle and resistance, I am coming out as—indie author!
Probably this spring, in summer at latest (that is the plan) I will publish my first novella A World Without Color in English. Correction: self-publish! Still hard to accept the thought that I am actually doing it. I have a plan and a time-table, but I am not setting any deadlines for I do not want to put too much pressure on my shoulders. Any day will be a good day for A World Without Color to face the world, with no expectations and only gratitude.
I have translated A World Without Color a few years ago; I have even submitted it to agencies and publishers. But I have decided to give it a final go with it independently while I will keep searching for a literary agent for my novels Cruel Summer and January River.
The self-publishing process started more intensely in February this year when I tried to gather all, or as much as possible, information on how to do it. While I am still learning and asking dozens of questions to my fellow indie authors, I think one of the toughest parts is conquered.
Unlike other indie authors, I have started a reversed process, meaning with gathering information on how to handle my royalty payments from the books sold online, that is abroad. The beginning was a shocker because it felt like banging my head against the wall of ignorance, various information and even more questions that arose during the time. Thanks to many people from Croatia and abroad I talked to, my greatest concern is now settled. At least, I want to think so. But the bitter aftertaste of conducting an international business within Croatian borders keeps polluting the back of my mind like an unwanted alien presence.
Leaving it up to time to handle it, once more I remind myself how things have changed in the course of time of the past twenty years. Writers' and authors' job is not only to make stories and write books any more but also to evolve to a top-skilled self-publishing magicians. Because self-publishing is not easy, make no mistake about that. Publishing (and then marketing and selling) your first book will suck the life out of you and sometimes be a traumatizing experience. You would want to pull out your hair, smash things or just give up everything. But once you are past that thunderstorm of emotions and exhaustion, you will see the sunrise of a day and hear the ticking of the clock counting hours until the cover of your most precious e-book smiles back at you from the vastness of the Internet.
I will conclude this blog post with my admiration and respect to all self-published and indie authors who took pain, shed sweat and hard-labored their way to become both high-skilled and professional authors and publishers. I know how much you loved your books to go through all this and I hope and wish you will be rewarded through your book selling, excellent reviews and the growing number of your readers and followers.
More updates to come, so please stay tuned!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
My closest friends already know about it, and now I am officially sharing it with everyone. After so much struggle and resistance, I am coming out as—indie author!
Probably this spring, in summer at latest (that is the plan) I will publish my first novella A World Without Color in English. Correction: self-publish! Still hard to accept the thought that I am actually doing it. I have a plan and a time-table, but I am not setting any deadlines for I do not want to put too much pressure on my shoulders. Any day will be a good day for A World Without Color to face the world, with no expectations and only gratitude.
I have translated A World Without Color a few years ago; I have even submitted it to agencies and publishers. But I have decided to give it a final go with it independently while I will keep searching for a literary agent for my novels Cruel Summer and January River.
The self-publishing process started more intensely in February this year when I tried to gather all, or as much as possible, information on how to do it. While I am still learning and asking dozens of questions to my fellow indie authors, I think one of the toughest parts is conquered.
Unlike other indie authors, I have started a reversed process, meaning with gathering information on how to handle my royalty payments from the books sold online, that is abroad. The beginning was a shocker because it felt like banging my head against the wall of ignorance, various information and even more questions that arose during the time. Thanks to many people from Croatia and abroad I talked to, my greatest concern is now settled. At least, I want to think so. But the bitter aftertaste of conducting an international business within Croatian borders keeps polluting the back of my mind like an unwanted alien presence.
Leaving it up to time to handle it, once more I remind myself how things have changed in the course of time of the past twenty years. Writers' and authors' job is not only to make stories and write books any more but also to evolve to a top-skilled self-publishing magicians. Because self-publishing is not easy, make no mistake about that. Publishing (and then marketing and selling) your first book will suck the life out of you and sometimes be a traumatizing experience. You would want to pull out your hair, smash things or just give up everything. But once you are past that thunderstorm of emotions and exhaustion, you will see the sunrise of a day and hear the ticking of the clock counting hours until the cover of your most precious e-book smiles back at you from the vastness of the Internet.
I will conclude this blog post with my admiration and respect to all self-published and indie authors who took pain, shed sweat and hard-labored their way to become both high-skilled and professional authors and publishers. I know how much you loved your books to go through all this and I hope and wish you will be rewarded through your book selling, excellent reviews and the growing number of your readers and followers.
More updates to come, so please stay tuned!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
Lightbox, Cookies, Subscribe
Last week I had entered some strange period when absolutely nothing was happening with my book A World Without Color. Whatever I tried to plan or do was in vain. The forces of heaven, earth and the universe united against me and I could not make a single step forward. The thought of walking into a formatting nightmare didn't help the least in breaking free from the chains of inefficiency and desperation.
Such days and such times happen and will happen again, I have no illusions. The key is in making the best of what you get when nothing is as you want it to be.
And so I did. I continued networking on Twitter and Goodreads (If you don't follow me there feel free to do so) and updating my website by adding the lightbox with a “Subscribe to my blog Muse” (I will be thrilled if you subscribe to it!) and the short notification about cookies.
I don't have to tell you what it means to be an indie author and when someone subscribes to his list, how much it means and is appreciated, how encouraging and motivational this is.
So let's say a bit more about those famous cookies. As the resident of the EU, on my website I have to post the notification about the use of cookies. Unfortunately, it is not something sweet and tasty to eat but, as nicely put by my Wix provider, small files or other pieces of data which are downloaded or stored on your computer or other device, that can be tied to information about your use of the website you visit. All websites use cookies to provide the services and features offered on their website—mine included—to improve their user experience. Once you are on the website, you can either agree to such use of cookies or delete and later disable them, but then you may experience interruptions or limited functionality in certain areas of the website.
Now we are all a bit smarter about cookies after also indulging the EU legislation that wants us, the website owners, to warn you, our visitors, fans and followers, about the little monsters we keep hidden in the secret labyrinths of our pages that will jump on you and eat you alive before you get to click X for exit or close the window!
Don't worry, I don't eat anything or anyone who walks, flies, swims, crawls breaths and thinks, so you are pretty safe with me. My book designer Marijo Kožar from MKM Media can confirm that. He survived an hour on the phone with me on the relation Rome—Zagreb as he was helping me to set up the lightbox which looks much more elegant than my successful but ugly previous attempts with two separate pop-ups which I happily and quickly removed!
You haven't seen a thing and I don't think cookies will tell anyone about that either. Wink, wink!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
Bernard Jan
Such days and such times happen and will happen again, I have no illusions. The key is in making the best of what you get when nothing is as you want it to be.
And so I did. I continued networking on Twitter and Goodreads (If you don't follow me there feel free to do so) and updating my website by adding the lightbox with a “Subscribe to my blog Muse” (I will be thrilled if you subscribe to it!) and the short notification about cookies.
I don't have to tell you what it means to be an indie author and when someone subscribes to his list, how much it means and is appreciated, how encouraging and motivational this is.
So let's say a bit more about those famous cookies. As the resident of the EU, on my website I have to post the notification about the use of cookies. Unfortunately, it is not something sweet and tasty to eat but, as nicely put by my Wix provider, small files or other pieces of data which are downloaded or stored on your computer or other device, that can be tied to information about your use of the website you visit. All websites use cookies to provide the services and features offered on their website—mine included—to improve their user experience. Once you are on the website, you can either agree to such use of cookies or delete and later disable them, but then you may experience interruptions or limited functionality in certain areas of the website.
Now we are all a bit smarter about cookies after also indulging the EU legislation that wants us, the website owners, to warn you, our visitors, fans and followers, about the little monsters we keep hidden in the secret labyrinths of our pages that will jump on you and eat you alive before you get to click X for exit or close the window!
Don't worry, I don't eat anything or anyone who walks, flies, swims, crawls breaths and thinks, so you are pretty safe with me. My book designer Marijo Kožar from MKM Media can confirm that. He survived an hour on the phone with me on the relation Rome—Zagreb as he was helping me to set up the lightbox which looks much more elegant than my successful but ugly previous attempts with two separate pop-ups which I happily and quickly removed!
You haven't seen a thing and I don't think cookies will tell anyone about that either. Wink, wink!
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
Bernard Jan
To be an Amazon Number One
The Unofficial Authors Guide To Buying And Selling Your Book On Amazon: The Top 5 Cheat Sheet by Richard McCartneyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Indie authors, pay attention! The Unofficial Authors Guide To Buying And Selling Your Book On Amazon: The Top 5 Cheat Sheet by Richard McCartney is something you might want to grab a hold on.
I can't remember how and where I got a free copy of this booklet, but I am glad I got it. It is a timely read for me because I am learning and gathering information on how to self-publish my first novella A World Without Color—a true story about my cat Marcel, in English. Besides, I don't think you care why I lost track of it in the flood of free e-books I've got recently, probably as a gift for submitting my email (somewhere).
The Unofficial Author's Guide To Selling Your Book On Amazon is a small and a fast read but very useful, informative and explosive too! Some advice thoroughly described in 5 + 1 cheat sheets I won't implement because it's not me. Nonetheless, learning about how Amazon functions and what you can do—if you decide for it—to get more visibility and ultimately become a best-selling and hot stuff author on Amazon was altogether an enlightening experience.
Richard McCartney had his saying. What I want to tell you is to consider getting that booklet, read it and see which tactics and tricks you will or will not use to help improve the ranks of your book. Be cautious, though, some of them might backfire at you! The author warns you, do take care with such “black hat” tricks, so be careful what you wish for.
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
View all my reviews
Bernard Jan
The Force Behind the Written Word
In my previous post I have introduced you to photographer Zach Singh and Mario Kožar from MKM Media, the two people responsible for the beautiful cover of my soon-to-come-out novella A World Without Color.
I also promised to mention other people involved in its making because we all know, whether we are writers or not, that beside the face we enjoy looking at, each story must have something that runs and live beneath its skin: its blood, flesh, bones, its heart that pumps it alive.
Before the English version, there was a story in Croatian which came to life in 2008. These are the people whom I owe gratitude for their support and for making it happen: Ozren Ćuk, Tihana Hren, Jelena Boromisa, Anita Euschen, Aleksandra Hampamer, Goran Pavletić, the Croatian Ministry of Culture, Sonja Kunović, Saša Dujanović, my parents Ksenija and Dubravko, and all those who by their existence wrote these pages.
The crew working with me on the English edition is even more diverse. Those amazing and selfless individuals and professionals come from several countries and continents: Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Puerto Rico and Croatia!
Aldina Šćulac, Mirjana Ptiček and Irena Krčelić were my great home support and encouragement in my international endeavors. M.G. Wells, Victoria M. Patton, and Rebecca Gransden, along with the people I am yet to mention below, were my huge international encouragement, moral support and balance of sanity when my mind was projecting distorted images of reality.
My good friend and founder of Tom's Music Place, Thomas Carley Jr. from Oregon, was the first one to proofread my English manuscript, Philip Newey from Australia carried the biggest burden of editing it on his shoulders, while Kath Middleton from England double-checked my later and additional changes and corrections.
I cannot and must not forget to mention Kristina Pepelko from Michigan who helped me with my first query letters and website announcements.
My writing buddy Jonathan Hill from Manchester, England, a town whose soccer team I supported while David Beckham played in it, brushed my blurb to its final glaze and gave me many useful tips of an experienced indie writer.
Anita Euschen (you are here again, bro!) originally from Berlin but already long-time resident of Croatia, Bruna Rocha originally from Brazil but now enjoying the Croatian sun as well as my fellow writer originally from Italy but now living in Ireland Dario Cannizzaro were stuck with me in my formatting nightmare and were looking for and providing answers to my never ending questions!
And finally comes my Angel, his full name being Angel Ramon Medina, founder of the Hybrid Nation and my Puerto Rican friend and manic writer, who patiently guided me through all my slow and painful baby-steps in this three months long self-publishing journey.
Those are my people, this is the force behind the written words of my novella A World Without Color you will read soon. Please follow them!
Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
Bernard Jan
I also promised to mention other people involved in its making because we all know, whether we are writers or not, that beside the face we enjoy looking at, each story must have something that runs and live beneath its skin: its blood, flesh, bones, its heart that pumps it alive.
Before the English version, there was a story in Croatian which came to life in 2008. These are the people whom I owe gratitude for their support and for making it happen: Ozren Ćuk, Tihana Hren, Jelena Boromisa, Anita Euschen, Aleksandra Hampamer, Goran Pavletić, the Croatian Ministry of Culture, Sonja Kunović, Saša Dujanović, my parents Ksenija and Dubravko, and all those who by their existence wrote these pages.
The crew working with me on the English edition is even more diverse. Those amazing and selfless individuals and professionals come from several countries and continents: Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Puerto Rico and Croatia!
Aldina Šćulac, Mirjana Ptiček and Irena Krčelić were my great home support and encouragement in my international endeavors. M.G. Wells, Victoria M. Patton, and Rebecca Gransden, along with the people I am yet to mention below, were my huge international encouragement, moral support and balance of sanity when my mind was projecting distorted images of reality.
My good friend and founder of Tom's Music Place, Thomas Carley Jr. from Oregon, was the first one to proofread my English manuscript, Philip Newey from Australia carried the biggest burden of editing it on his shoulders, while Kath Middleton from England double-checked my later and additional changes and corrections.
I cannot and must not forget to mention Kristina Pepelko from Michigan who helped me with my first query letters and website announcements.
My writing buddy Jonathan Hill from Manchester, England, a town whose soccer team I supported while David Beckham played in it, brushed my blurb to its final glaze and gave me many useful tips of an experienced indie writer.
Anita Euschen (you are here again, bro!) originally from Berlin but already long-time resident of Croatia, Bruna Rocha originally from Brazil but now enjoying the Croatian sun as well as my fellow writer originally from Italy but now living in Ireland Dario Cannizzaro were stuck with me in my formatting nightmare and were looking for and providing answers to my never ending questions!
And finally comes my Angel, his full name being Angel Ramon Medina, founder of the Hybrid Nation and my Puerto Rican friend and manic writer, who patiently guided me through all my slow and painful baby-steps in this three months long self-publishing journey.
Those are my people, this is the force behind the written words of my novella A World Without Color you will read soon. Please follow them!
Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
Bernard Jan
Pre-order My Book on Amazon!
I planned it for weeks and it came almost overnight!
Amazon approved it and my novella A World Without Color is finally available for pre-order! This means you can order it for a symbolic price of $1.99 almost three weeks before its official release date on July 1, 2017!
It was a long and stressful way that lead to this moment, and it started already in 2008 with its original edition in Croatian. But I am glad this happened, I am glad I took this challenge because I learned a lot and pushed my barriers way out of my comfort zone.
The only thing I wish I could change would trade this book for the life of my cat. I wish Marcel was still alive and I didn't have to write our story....
If you want to meet him and get to know him through the pages I wrote, please (pre)order the e-book A World Without Color. Be a part of my world that will keep him alive. Thank you.
"This short book is the deeply-felt and well-written account of the love and interdependence between a man and his companion animal. All those who have had a pet, and there are many of us, know that the time comes when the last kindness we can give them is to ease their journey out of the world. Here, we see the heart-breaking decision and the lonely aftermath sensitively portrayed. Many will recognise these feelings."—Kath Middleton, author and e-book reviewer
Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
A World Without Color
Amazon approved it and my novella A World Without Color is finally available for pre-order! This means you can order it for a symbolic price of $1.99 almost three weeks before its official release date on July 1, 2017!
It was a long and stressful way that lead to this moment, and it started already in 2008 with its original edition in Croatian. But I am glad this happened, I am glad I took this challenge because I learned a lot and pushed my barriers way out of my comfort zone.
The only thing I wish I could change would trade this book for the life of my cat. I wish Marcel was still alive and I didn't have to write our story....
If you want to meet him and get to know him through the pages I wrote, please (pre)order the e-book A World Without Color. Be a part of my world that will keep him alive. Thank you.
"This short book is the deeply-felt and well-written account of the love and interdependence between a man and his companion animal. All those who have had a pet, and there are many of us, know that the time comes when the last kindness we can give them is to ease their journey out of the world. Here, we see the heart-breaking decision and the lonely aftermath sensitively portrayed. Many will recognise these feelings."—Kath Middleton, author and e-book reviewer
Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
A World Without Color
This Crazy Thing I Call My Life Review
This Crazy Thing I Call My Life by Jonathan HillMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Already in A Christmas Outing David and Jamie made me guffaw both in public and within the intimate safety of my home. The brisk, adorable and cracking humor continued to entertain me as well throughout the second book of teenage boyfriends This Crazy Thing I Call My Life by Jonathan Hill.
David and Jamie are now a real couple and it is only appropriate that their parents meet and get to know one another. While Jamie's parents are proud of their gay son and celebrate his homosexuality, David's parents are more closeted about their feelings. When these two families meet on a family gathering, it is easy to guess what the outcome will be!
Not discouraged by the eventful dinner and their first proper argument that follows, Jamie is determined to bring their families together and plots with David another family reunion. This time it is a parents-only reunion, because the boys have something else on their minds....
This Crazy Thing I Call My Life is ripe with funny situations and characters and it is a worthy sequel to the hilarious A Christmas Outing. If you like (British) humor and laughter, grab these two novellas and read them! Jonathan Hill is a great writer and entertainer. He, David and Jamie have the potential to give us a lot more laughter and are hiding plenty of new things in store for us. Somehow I feel it's going to be hot soon and this heat won't have much to do with the summer heatwaves!
Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com
Join my mailing list, subscribe to blog Muse!
View all my reviews
Bernard Jan
