The Sacrifice Support Group Goes Paperback

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Linda Bonney Olin

12/2/2013: Please note that some publication information in this article is obsolete. See the post dated December 1, 2013, for current titles, contents, and links. – Linda

Home at last! After a six-week sojourn in a house without high-speed Internet service, I finally can post the latest news.

Today The Sacrifice Support Group: Lenten Drama and Discussion made its début in an 8”x10” paperback edition. This large format makes reproducing pages easy and economical. A church or small group can buy a single book and give photocopies of the dramatic comedy script to the cast and photocopies of the handouts to the discussion participants. A bargain, right?

A month after Easter may seem like an odd time to launch a Lent-themed book, but I wanted to experience print-on-demand (POD) publishing firsthand before teaching a couple of related workshops at Montrose Christian Writers Conference in July. I had published the Kindle edition of The Sacrifice Support Group in February, so that material was a handy choice for my first POD venture.

I’m a do-it-yourself kind of gal, so I designed the book cover and interior pages myself and uploaded the files to CreateSpace, Amazon’s POD division. The only up-front expenses were ten dollars for an ISBN (a book’s unique identifying number) registered in my own name as publisher and about seven dollars to have a proof copy of the finished book mailed to me.

Of course, the do-it-yourself method costs time, if not money. I had to adapt the ebook cover to the print edition’s dimensions and add a back cover displaying the requisite back cover stuff. CreateSpace furnished a Microsoft Word template for the interior layout, which needed a lot of customization for this project. Luckily, I found online resources that explained display and text fonts, page numbers, running heads, and other print book elements that I hadn’t had to contend with when formatting ebooks. The most helpful site was Joel Friedlander’s www.TheBookDesigner.com, a mother lode of book design instruction and all sorts of advice for indie authors.

This afternoon I clicked the final button. Voilà! The Sacrifice Support Group instantly went on sale in the CreateSpace online store. Individual books will be printed when they are purchased—in other words, printed on demand. Within a few days Amazon.com and other online book retailers should list it, too.

In spite of the time spent and the steep learning curve, I had fun building a POD paperback. I hope that the finished product reflects my desire to place helpful content into a polished, functional, affordable book.

Designing a New E-Book Cover

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Linda Bonney Olin

Book cover - Songs for the Lord by Linda Bonney Olin Songs for the Lord marked its first anniversary as an e-book last month. A whole year! Hard to believe, right? I celebrated by giving the book this new cover image.

Let’s face it. People do judge a book by its cover. The cost of hiring a professional book designer is money well spent. But what about ministry-minded (or just plain broke) writers like me who self-publish on a small budget (a zero budget, in my case)? We, too, want our book covers to look attractive and communicate information about the book’s style and contents. After all, a cover that fails to grab the attention of its target audience or makes a negative impression on them doesn’t help put the book into their hands.

Aside from my investment in a digital point-and-shoot camera (several years ago) and modest photo-editing software, this cover fit perfectly into the budget I mentioned. Want to know how I did it?

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Love, Truth, Purpose, Freedom: Pat Bertram

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Linda Bonney Olin

Photo of Pat Bertram, photo supplied by Pat Bertram

Author and blogger Pat Bertram

I first encountered Pat Bertram in her role as administrator of the popular Suspense/Thriller Writers group on Facebook. Pat is, not surprisingly, an author herself, but her work ranges far beyond the suspense/thriller realm.

Detecting in Pat a kindred spirit I would like to know better, I asked her a few nosey questions …

**Pat, why do you write what you write? For example, why did you choose to write A Spark of Heavenly Fire?**

A Spark of Heavenly Fire came about because of a Washington Irving quote: “There is in every true woman’s heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.” When I read those words, I could see her, a drab woman, defeated by life, dragging herself through her days in the normal world, but in an abnormal world of strife and danger, she would come alive and inspire others. And so Kate Cummings, the hero of my novel A Spark of Heavenly Fire was born. But born into what world?

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Pick Up a Pen and Celebrate “I Love to Write Day”

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Linda Bonney Olin

Poster announcing November 15, I Love to Write Day

Ten years ago, Delaware author John Riddle had the bright idea to hold the world’s largest party for writers. That idea quickly evolved into an annual day dedicated to encouraging everyone to write. Thousands of schools and libraries—even the governors of nine states—have joined the celebration.

John says: “My goal for I Love To Write Day is simple: people of all ages are encouraged to write something. A poem, a letter, an essay, start a novel, finish a novel…the possibilities are endless!”

Edward Bulwer-Lytton famously said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

I would add my own soon-to-be famous saying: “The sword has no power at all unless you pull it out and use it. Same goes for your pen!”

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Eddie Jones ~ Author & Publisher

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Linda Bonney Olin

: Author/Publisher Eddie Jones

Today’s Faith Song is a duet with guest Eddie Jones. Eddie claims he can’t carry a tune, so we’ll settle for hand-clapping and foot-stomping in the “joyful noise” pew. 🙂

I met Eddie at the 2011 Montrose Christian Writers Conference. Couldn’t help but love the humor-filled, down-to-earth way he lives out his passion for the Lord and for the written word.

Eddie is the author of eleven books and over 100 articles. He also serves as Acquisition Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. He is a three-time winner of the Delaware Christian Writers’ Conference, and his YA novel, The Curse of Captain LaFoote, won the 2012 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award and 2011 Selah Award in Young Adult Fiction. He is also a writing instructor and cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries. His “He Said, She Said” devotional column appears on ChristianDevotions.US (not “dot com”). His humorous romantic suspense, Bahama Breeze, remains a “blessed seller.” When he’s not writing or teaching at writers’ conferences, Eddie can be found surfing in Costa Rica or some other tropical locale.

Now, try to imagine Eddie answering the following questions with a grin and a charming slightly-southern accent: