Andrea Zanetti's Blog

One of the great things about these online publishing tools is that you can see your sales immediately, and can see which channels are delivering. As a result of a review of my Smashwords sales stats, for example, I've decided to upload my first ebook, Death in the Forsythia, directly to Kobo, since I can count on my fingers and toes the number of books that have sold to Kobo through Smashwords. Should be interesting to see if this makes a difference. Also, I took the plunge and signed up with Xinxii, the German ebook distributor. They're still small (23k books currently available compared to Smashwords' 275k books) but reach different channels, including a bunch I haven't heard of: Casa del Libro, PagePlace, Flipkart and e-Sentral.

Now wouldn't it be great if I finished writing book 3? It's 70% written, but being a "pantser"*, I didn't work with an outline and have been stuck in one place because I haven't decided who the murderer is! (To be fair, I've now employed three book outline tools and none of them have led me to a finished outline. No glowing endorsement for book outlines coming from these quarters.) So regardless of the path you take, if you haven't thought the plot through to the end, you may reach a point at which you become stymied and need to resolve it (proactively, see below) before you can continue.
Although it's still technically 2013, I've already completed two 2014 resolutions (above) and would dearly like to finish book 3. I think it's just a matter of strapping myself to a chair and sitting there until I've resolve the "snag" so I can move ahead. (So far I've just assumed the solution will just hit me one day in an "aha" moment while I'm driving or washing dishes. As if.)
To all those writers out there, all the best in health, happiness and prosperity for 2014!!
*Pantser defined: An author that prefers to write without a book outline, preferring just to let it flow with the expectation that it will all come together in the end. There are plenty of authors in both camps. If you haven't guessed it already, the word comes from the expression "seat of your pants".

Today I obtained a EIN and submitted W-8BEN forms to Amazon, CreateSpace and SmashWords. Obtaining an EIN was required in order to submit the W-8BEN, and the W-8BENs were required in order to receive royalties from these U.S. based publisher/retailers, as a 30% withholding tax is otherwise applied to royalties before they're sent to an author. As Canada has a tax treaty with the U.S., all these forms permit us to receive royalties at a 0% tax withholding.
All this applies, of course, when you're not a U.S. resident and don't pay U.S. taxes. This must apply to a lot of people, since so many authors are pursuing this route in order to become published, including a lot of international authors.
You can learn more about the process at the following blog, where a few kind people have graciously documented a simple process for getting this done: http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/02/24/non-us-self-publisher-tax-issues-dont-need-to-be-taxing/.

So glad to have finally done this. Another check mark on my "to do" list!
Happy writing!

I'm delighted to announce that Death in the Forsythia, Second Edition,will shortly be available on-line in print book and e-book versions. The cover artwork has been finalized, and I think you'll agree that illustrator Kathleen Howell has done a fantastic job creating a cover image that captures the essence of the book. As followers of my blog, you're the first to see the new cover that will grace the second edition:
 
I'll also be at the Margaret Dunn Branch of the Caledon Public Library tomorrow at 1:00 pm to share my writing and publishing experiences and to offer copies of Death in the Forsythia (1st Ed.) and Grounds for Death for sale. I hope you're able to attend and look forward to seeing you there.

January has flown by, but not without my having established some challenging resolutions. I've never been one to have new year's resolutions, preferring instead to set goals throughout the year as I mull things over for some time to ensure it's what I really want before committing.

This past year was slightly different for me. For the first time in my life, I established myself as a self-employed professional, with 2012 being my first full year of operations. And it worked!

That means that 2013 is the year to be serious and start setting goals to achieve all of the things I know I have the capacity to do and do well.

Like writing. I've finally taken the plunge and cancelled my iUniverse contract for the first book in the Garden Plot Mystery series, Death in the Forsythia, after finding that I could be doing much better elsewhere when it comes to royalties. This has been a plan for over a year, but I hadn't nailed down the mechanics to make it so. I had to obtain a new ISBN, which had originally been supplied by iUniverse for this book, and obtain new cover artwork, as this, too, belonged to iUniverse. Having since developed a cover style that more aptly suits cozy mysteries, the contract cancellation has been a further godsend by paving the way for Book 1 to match Grounds for Death's cover style. As a result, I'll be publishing the Second Edition of Death in the Forsythia shortly (Resolution #1). For those of you with First Editions, hold onto them! They may eventually become priceless. Okay, maybe not, but you can always dream.

Sadly, I'll lose all the "Likes" you kind folk have showered on me at Amazon.com. I hope that my readers will again post their "Likes" once the Second Edition is available.

And I've promised myself that 2013 is the year that I publish Book 3 (Resolution #2). I've chosen a challenging plot line for this one, and to help me work through some of the kinks I signed up for two courses, one dealing with creating dynamic characters (Resolution #3), and one to help create a plot outline to help me ensure that the scenes unfurl as expected in a mystery (Resolution #4). Both courses are providing me with fabulous tools I will be able to use with future books in the series.


So there we have it: four writing goals in 2013, all of which are well underway. I look forward to being able to announce the re-launch of Death in the Forsythia in the coming days and weeks.

I encourage you,too, to set some audacious goals for 2013 and achieve those elusive dreams!

I've finally launched my author website! I'd love your thoughts about it. You can check it out at andreazanetti.ca.

This Saturday, November 10th,  from 10 am to noon, I will be signing and selling Death in the Forsythia and Grounds For Death, Books 1 and 2 in the Garden Plot Mystery series, at the Albion Bolton Community Centre Holiday Treats and Wellness Show.

Come by, check out this wonderful early holiday gift buying opportunity and drop by my table to say hi and pick up a great read!

Andrea

This Saturday, November 10th,  from 10 am to noon, I will be signing and selling Death in the Forsythia and Grounds For Death, Books 1 and 2 in the Garden Plot Mystery series, at the Albion Bolton Community Centre Holiday Treats and Wellness Show.

Come by, check out this wonderful early holiday gift buying opportunity and drop by my table to say hi and pick up a great read!

Andrea

If you find yourself in Caledon, Ontario this evening, come join us at the Caledon Library Literary Launch taking place at 150 Queen Street South at the Albion Bolton Public Library.

The winners of the creative writing contest will be announced (I judged the Adult Short Story Contest), and local authors will be recognized and showcased (that would include me). I'll be there, offering Death in the Forsythia and Grounds for Death for purchase.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Hi everyone! I hope you`re enjoying the spring weather.

One of the December`s mini blog tour winners, Darlene, runs her own book blog, where she reviews books in a variety of genres. This week, Grounds for Death is featured, and I`ve contributed a guest blog, penned by the mystery`s heroine, Marilee Bright. Check it out here: http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com/2012/04/spotlight-saturday-guest-post-and.html. Remember to enter the giveaway for a chance to receive a copy of Grounds for Death. Best of luck!

This past week I learned that it takes more than a little determination and organization to get a novel listed on various booksellers' sites.

In the end, I created a table to keep the various site names and and what to post where, straight. My table lists  site name, URL, format (e-book or print book), ISBN (yes, these vary by format and site - in fact I registered seven ISBNs for the various e-book formats), listing price, and a comment field for other valuable information. Otherwise it would have been a nightmare to keep organize. With respect to ISBNs, I learned that CreateSpace can obtain one for me at no cost, but I opted to do it myself for the experience (it was no cost as well - and it was great of CreateSpace to provide the link to the ISBN agency on their site.) One of the other fabulous things I learned was that an e-book posted at Amazon.com is then made available at .uk (England), .de (Germany), .it (Italy), .sp (Spain), and .fr (France). I checked the sites, of course. I'm impressed. Friends and family in those countries can actually buy my e-book (in English)! I also learned that Smashwords will make the e-book available on Kobo. If you're thinking of self-publishing, it's worth checking out their sites to understand the breadth of their offering in advance so you don't duplicate your efforts.

Then there's the Amazon Affiliates site, which lets you post an image of an item on your own website and link it to Amazon's website, which I've done here. (See the right side of the page. You may have to scroll down to see the links.)

I've also been considering how to get listed on sites that cater to other English-speaking countries. Australia, New Zealand, and India all speak English, so why not? This might be a bigger challenge, however. My initial research shows that one needs to have a bank account in that country. Hmm. That's a stumper.

All in all, a fulfilling experience. I just wouldn't want to rethink the entire process for the next book in the series, hence the resource table.

Yes, Marilee Bright's newest adventure is underway and I hope to have it out soon. Working title: The Case of the Purloined Poppy.

Happy holidays, everyone, and I hope you have a wonderful New Year's!