My Experience with KDP Print

kdp logoA few months ago, like a lot of you, I received the email stating Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) was going to be “merging” and taking over the print business from CreateSpace (CS). I’ve long been a customer of CS, and 99% of my interactions with them have been positive. So when I heard they were being pushed to the side, I was rather bummed.

I ignored KDP for a while since I didn’t have any books to publish. When it came time, I logged into my KDP account and followed their directions to merge my books. At least it wasn’t difficult. Then I decided to poke around in one of my files since I was going to upgrade the covers on a series of eBooks. Nothing had really changed on the eBook side (and I did not expect it to), but when I logged in to the print side, oh, that was interesting! Continue reading “My Experience with KDP Print”

Making Time to Write When There’s No Time

juggler-1938709_640Back in October, I think I put many readers in a tailspin over how I manage to run a large farm, and the joys of when things don’t go your way. This month, (on the advice of our fearless leader, Kat) I’ll tell you how I do manage to get words on “paper” when there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. Without further ado, let’s get to it: Continue reading “Making Time to Write When There’s No Time”

Writing and Real Life: Juggling Your Time

juggling time girl-1940244_960_720I spent 20 years in the military — the U.S. Air Force. And during that time I learned a lot of things. One thing they stressed was time management. When Uncle Sam says a project needs to be done by a certain date, it better be! If you weren’t good at time management, it meant you stayed after duty hours to work on the project. If you had good skills, you went home when everyone else did. Somehow I managed to be in the latter group. Continue reading “Writing and Real Life: Juggling Your Time”

Selling Books in Odd Places… Farmers Markets

farmers market books and eggsAdmittedly, I’ve sold books at some odd places: a military retirement, a winery (oh, that was a blast!), a flea market, work (to the surprise of friends who never knew I was an author), and the oddest yet: a farmers market.

Yup, you read that right, a farmers market. Because in my “real” job, I’m a farmer. After 20 years in the military, it was time for a change, so we ended up in the Middle of Nowhere, Kentucky on 100 acres. We have the standard farm animals: chickens, ducks, turkeys, horses, goats, a pig, and a pack of dogs. And there are times of the year our 70 laying hens are going gang-busters producing eggs. More eggs than we can handle. So what do you do with all of them? We try to sell as much as possible to local customers who stop by, but that’s not many. And there are only so many eggs you can donate to the local summer camp. So a friend invited me to come to her county to the farmers market. Continue reading “Selling Books in Odd Places… Farmers Markets”