Formatting

Yesterday I finished the second read through my book. When I first finished Bloodline Inheritance for NaNoWriMo it was barely over 50k words in total. Now it is at 69k, and I am glad I took the time to revise it multiple times. I thought editing was the hardest part of this book, but it turns out formatting it might actually be a struggle. My last two books, Shadows and Embers and Thicker Than Blood, I have formatted on my own. I am even using my Macbook Air again, which I used originally for my two previous books. You would think after formatting two books I would have this down to a science. Or I would have at least written myself a "how to" incase I forgot, but alas I did not.
So while the book is finished, please keep in mind that I am working alone on the formatting. The only other option I would have is to pay someone to format it for me -which I have greatly consider. Tonight I have already ran into errors, so unfortunately this might take some time for me to solve. I had this problem the last two years (especially with book #3) and remember it set me back. I definitely do not want that to happen again, so I will continue to search for answers and ask for help. If you are an indie author who has formatted your own books, any help is welcome.
Once the formatting is done I want to buy a mock proof copy of the book from Lulu. Though I won't be publishing through Lulu, I use it as a way to see how my book will turn out before doing the real proof on Createspace. (It's also a way to check I haven't completely ruined the formatting.)
Again I want to apologize for any delays, but please know I am working as hard as possible on this. If you've stopped by the "books" tab on here you can see I updated the TBA date to May/June 2015.
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Light editing

April seems to be flying by before my eyes, and I am staring anxiously at the calendar. Since completing revisions, I've been using ProWritingAid as an editing tool to help me go through with a fine comb. Though it does take up more time I rather do it and make sure the book is fully ready. I've been getting through the chapters pretty quickly. As much as I want to say tonight I finished it all I did not -and doubt I will. I have another eight chapters to go, so my plans are to finish with the last round of edits this week.
I do want to thank everyone for being patient. I know a lot of people are at different points in the series, so some have not started/finished Thicker Than Blood. Just keep in mind that I am one person and sadly do not have other eyes to read over this. I wish I had beta readers, but alas since this is the last book it would be difficult to find any. With my next book/series I do hope on finding a few beta readers who would be interested. It takes extra long when you only have yourself to rely on with this. Just wanted to give the update as I know it is already spring and I am approaching my deadline. Of course if need be I will release in the summer if everything is not ready in time by May.

On another note I hope to be updating my blog soon with new pictures and such. As much as I would love a new theme unfortunately it's difficult to find a free one. (And I cannot afford one that costs anything at this moment.) If you have any ideas on what you would like added to the blog please let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
I know this was a short post, but I will have more to share at the end of this week. Remember keep me obligated to that deadline! (Your words really do help motivate and keep me going!)
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Interior Book Design

March is coming to an end, and unfortunately I have not posted as of late and I apologize. However, I do want to let you know that Bloodline Inheritance is still in the works. Since the revisions are done I am currently working on the interior book design. For the past two years I have self published my own books. This requires a lot of time and patience, but most of all it requires learning. This will be my third book to self publish, and unfortunately I did not leave myself notes about how I did the interior design for my last two books. It is at times very frustrating, and currently I am trying to resolve one issue I am running into. However, other than that I am going to add in a bit more in the earlier chapters. Fortunately spring has only started, so I still have high hopes of the book releasing this spring.
So let's look at the long road ahead...

• Interior design -1st starting with the formatting for the paperback. I still need to add in a dedication, copyright page, and headers. Page numbers are all finished, so no worries there. If formatting is too frustrating I might pay a company to do it for me -as they are also the ones I am considering to do my book cover. 2nd is working on ebook formatting. This is going to be a bit more difficult as everything in my book is already indented and such. I had this problem before last time with Thicker Than Blood and took a while to resolve. Hopefully once again this time once I remember it will all come back to me. If not I will be around on the Createspace forums asking for advice and guidance (which I did last year as well).
• Book cover -For once I'm actually panicking about the book cover. Not because I don't know who to go to for one, but because I have not purchased it yet. Book covers are definitely not cheap, and sadly my designer for Thicker Than Blood no longer does book designs. So once again I am going to a new designer, but I believe I will be purchasing the cover by the end of this month. It is going to be a custom made design, so that is also what is making it a bit more expensive but worth it.
• Createspace Prep- time to put it all on Createspace and upload all the details. I can also start planning on a release date (but won't announce an official one just yet)
• Buy proof -once I buy the proof that means I can reread the entire book and then decide on an official release date. The date will be based on when I receive the proof and therefore giving me a few weeks to work out any minor issues. Last time with Thicker Than Blood there were minor issues with the cover as well as the actual interior formatting. (Hopefully not this time, but we shall see.)
• Invites for Book Cover Reveal - if you participated in Thicker Than Blood's cover reveal and said "yes" to BlIn's I will be contacting you again. Once again I will set you up with all the necessary information, as there have been some new updates. (Note to self: I need to update my author picture for this as well, as I've been wanting a new one) The reveal will include the release date for the book and also links to the sites where you can purchase.
• Goodreads - I might actually add the book to Goodreads before the book cover reveal depending on how everything turns out. It will definitely be one of the first places with the official cover.
• Countdown -as usual the countdown until the official release date.
• Release/release party! -as usual the book will go live on Createspace first and then everywhere else afterwards. Timing will depend on the websites and the formats. Ebooks I believe go live slightly after paperback. I will be updating on here and throughout my social media with all the links. Also by then I will have a release party set up and everyone will be informed with all the info and links to include in their own sharing on the internet.

So still a lot of work ahead. Just looking at the list... yeah, I see I've got a lot to do. Nonetheless, I am excited to think about the release. Now that the editing and such is done it's exciting to know that only the formatting can slow me down. (Really it does slow me down otherwise the book would release a lot sooner.) Perhaps one day I will update a post explaining about the interior design along with tips to both myself and others. There might have been a few steps in between that I missed with what needs to be done, but I think I've covered the major ones. Stay on the lookout for the upcoming 4th book in the series!

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Engagement!

It's been far too long since my last post, but I wanted to share huge, life-changing news. The proposal was on February 26th, and I am now happily engaged to the love of my life. I've been busy planning the wedding and of course updating my websites to share this news. I also wanted to post it on my blog because even though it's personal, it is something that will greatly affect me. As a writer I write about a wide range of subjects, some of which I've never experienced. An engagement and marriage are only at the beginning of the list, but I love that I can now add my own experience to what I write about it. I've always been a firm believer in true love, and I hope that my big day will also shine throughout those that happen in my books.

As for our wedding date we have decided and will be announcing before the end of this week (or so I'm hoping so). I wanted to come up with a special way of announcing our date, and if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram I will be sharing it there as well.
Even with all this excitement, I reassure there is a lot of work to be done -both with the wedding plans and my fourth book. I will be sharing more about the status of Bloodline Inheritance in my next post, but I wanted this one to specifically focus on the engagement (as they are two very separate topics). If you would like to have a sneak peak stop on by my Instagram as I have been updating that daily.

Lastly, thank you to everyone (from both Eric and myself) for the positive reactions to our engagement. I am very excited about this new journey in my life, and I can't wait to find a way to express it in my writing. As you know I am looking for something new to write after the Magicians series is finished. I promise to be back before the end of the week with more on a book status update. Until then thank you for your patience!
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Decision: Book Cover

At long last I have found a designer to make the book cover for Bloodline Inheritance. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, now and again I've been expressing my worries. I like to be ahead of the game instead of worrying that by not having a cover now I will be in panic mode later on. So far every cover in the Magicians series has been done by a different designer. The reason being either designers changed their prices or they stopped making covers altogether. Nonetheless, I have finally found a designer I am happy with.

Even better news: it's a custom cover. Currently I am designing between the two different options I have been given, and it's a tough decision to make. I love both of the covers, and I think this one will be my favorite yet.

Naturally your first question to me is: when will I see this book cover? As excited as I am -and will be- once again I must wait before revealing it. If all goes well and I don't fall too far behind the cover reveal should be in late March. The feedback I had last time with the cover reveal for Thicker Than Blood was amazing, which makes me even more pumped for this upcoming one. Just now that while I might not be able to post everyday on the blog I am working hard to make sure everything is coming together for this final book. And after all this is the final book in the series, so I want to go out with a bang!

For the quick little updates stop by on my Twitter or Facebook as I play it out day by day. In regards to revisions I am up to 17 (halfway through). There are 29 chapters in total -if you include the epilogue- so I still have my work cut out for me. 

Before you go... 

Special Valentine's day post is in the works and will be posted this Saturday on V-day. I've had several ideas of what I wanted to post, but I think I will leave it a secret for now. Most likely I will type up the entire post and schedule it for Saturday, since the weekends are usually rather busy. Don't forget to stop by anytime on Saturday or Sunday to read the post and let me know what you think. I will reveal that it will have an excerpt -but from what I won't say! 

Until this Saturday, enjoy your week!

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Snow day: Thank yous and writing

January 4th-5th was the free ebook days for Thicker Than Blood. I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who downloaded a copy of the book. Overall we had 300 copies downloaded -which is the biggest success I've ever had with a free ebook promotion. When Shadows and Embers was available for free a year or two ago it had close to 90 downloads, but 300 is absolutely amazing. I really wanted to share the results with you guys because it was possible because of you and I'm very thankful. I waited a long time to decide on when to make TTB free as an ebook, and I am glad I chose the dates that I did. Also, I noticed people purchased ebook copies of Cursed With Power and Shadows and Embers. This was really great to see; I was so excited that I continued to watch the reports throughout the day as copies were purchased. 

We had people sharing the link on Twitter, as well as posting a picture when they downloaded their free copy. Overall, I had a great time and I am so happy others did as well. I cannot wait to hear what you think of the book, and be sure to leave a review on Amazon.

Now with that out of the way I have some exciting news to share. Today it snowed, so since I did not have to go to work I spent time writing. As you can see from the picture my cats were interested in my work, especially Neo.
While I still have a lot of revisions to catch up on, I added in new scenes to Bloodline Inheritance. The book is at approximately 59k in total, and I only have about another 500 words until I reach 60k. There are a few more scenes I have in mind that need to be added in and then I can just focus solely on revisions. Once revisions are done there are the other mandatory materials I need to add into the book, but other than that I can see the end approaching. I am also still in search for a beautiful cover to go along with the last book in the Magicians series. If you're a cover designer or know of one feel free to leave the link below so I can check it out.
Hope everyone had a great day and enjoyed the snow. I will be back on later, and remember to keep checking Twitter and Instagram for more updates on my progress.
Lindsey R. Sablowski

FREE ebook: Thicker Than Blood

To start the new year off right, I've made Thicker Than Blood available for free in ebook format on Amazon. TTB has been out since July of last year, and I have been waiting for the perfect time to make the book free. I figured with the new year starting and my birthday coming up this was a great time. If you haven't had the time to purchase Thicker Than Blood now is the time to do so. Also, please don't forget that you can still request digital autographs from me via Authorgraph. Whether you grab the book for yourself or a friend, all you need to do is submit your request and you'll receive the autograph in your email and can download on your device(s).

Thicker Than Blood is the second to last book in the Magicians series. Please help spread the word by sharing this news on your other social media websites. I will be posting throughout today and tomorrow about this limited time offer. This offer will last up until 12am on January 5th, so please do not wait until the last minute to grab your free copy.

Haven't read the other two previous books? No problem; you can purchase those for their normal price via ebook or paperback on Amazon.

I'm very excited to see how many people will be downloading their copy today, and if you do please send me a request on Authograph so I can sign it for you. 

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Happy New Year: 2015!

Well, I'm late on wishing everyone a happy new year, but better late than never. I am very excited for 2015, especially as 2014 was such a great year. To recap, in 2014 Eric and I moved into our own place, became the owners of two (crazy) cats, and I published my third book, Thicker Than Blood.
As for 2015 I would say we are off to a great start. Today I purchased a Samsung Chromebook 2 -as an early birthday present to myself. I originally had a Macbook, which I gave to my boyfriend. While the Chrome book is a bit smaller and is different software, I am already loving my experience. I also have multiple writing apps already downloaded that I plan to save. And don't you worry all of Bloodline Inheritance is backed up and ready to be revised.
My goals for 2015 are very simple in terms of where I want to be as a writer. I want to publish my fourth book, Bloodline Inheritance, and I also want to start a new book (that is not a part of the series). Reaching the end of the Magicians series is going to be huge for me. I've been so many years of my life working on this series, and I can't believe once this fourth book is released it really will be at the end. That's not to say there won't be additional stories written in the future perhaps if I feel there is something more I want to tell. However, I do realize every beloved series must come to an end. In all honesty I am both excited and terrified at the idea of working on something entirely new. I've had a lot of ideas, few of which have made it to paper, but I am working them out. My main goal is if I can at least publish one book each year I will be happy. And who knows maybe I can also start to offer a bundle including all four books in the Magicians series.
No matter what adventures this year has to offer, I really do want to thank everyone who has been supporting the work I do. Now that I have my new laptop I also want to be blogging more, and this year I want to be quicker with releasing my books. So definitely plan to hold me to those resolutions for this year, and feel free to leave a comment below with what your plans for 2015 are. Also, this month I will most likely post my experience with the Chromebook and how well it works with how I'm using it.
Happy New Year!
Lindsey R. Sablowski