Indie Publishing

It’s Live – The Latest Ruby’s Place Story

I’ve said it before, but 2022’s been rough. Really rough. But I was lucky in that I had a place where I could go to get away from it all. A place that makes my heart feel warm, makes me believe that happy endings are on the way: the fictional Sullivan, Missouri, where my Ruby’s Place stories are set.

And now, Rare Gems, the latest in the ongoing series of Ruby’s Place stories, is officially live!

This time around, the story focuses on Elizabeth, Ruby’s best friend. I hope readers will feel as warm and happy reading this one as I felt writing it.

Check ‘er out:

Amazon

Apple

B&N

Kobo

The Funny Thing Is…Humor Collection

So a dog (part Irish Setter, part Snuffleupagus), a would-be gas station robber, and a girl with a plane ticket to the other side of grief (literally!) all walk into a bar…

Joking aside, these are characters in Holly Schindler’s funny shorts, compiled here into a single download of chuckles and smiles.

This compilation features all the short stories published in the following humorous collections: Funny Meeting You Here, Funny You Should Mention That, and Once Upon a Punchline.

$2.99 for a limited time. It’s also on Kindle Unlimited.

KDP Hardcover Review

With the re-release of A Blue So Dark, I decided to give the KDP hardcover a whirl.

Overall, I Love the KDP Hardcover

KDP only offers a case laminate–no separate jacket. The cover is actually fused to the book. The matte finish keeps it from seeming too textbook-y, which is also a plus. Overall, it’s just a really nice quality hardback book.

There Are a Few Drawbacks

The Cover – As soon as you grab a template, you’ll see there’s a significant portion of the cover that wraps around the edges of the book. It’s far bigger than the trim space on the paperback. You need more blank space, areas with no text or important graphics. For the KDP paperback, I usually start with an Ebook cover, then adjust to make sure the text isn’t in the section to get cut off. This took far more work. I was lucky that the cover image had a lot of blurry abstract dark blue background. But I still had to lay two images down and blend the edges to get it to work.

The Amazon Product Page – I’ve been publishing hardbacks through Ingram (which feature a cloth cover with a separate jacket). I’d hoped that having two hardbacks with identical covers and jacket copy (yet different ISBNs) would allow both hardbacks to be featured on the product page, giving readers an option of which version they’d like to buy. After talking to KDP, though, I found out that wasn’t possible–the Ingram publication isn’t considered part of my “account,” and they won’t manually link that edition.

In the future, I’ll use the type of book I’m publishing to help me decide which hardback I’ll publish. Adult mainstream fiction? I’ll probably go with the hardback with the separate jacket, through Ingram. Nonfiction? Children’s books–picture books, even MG? I think the case laminate through KDP would be a solid choice.

Overall, though, if you’re looking to get into the hardback game (and find Ingram a bit too pricey*), KDP is a great option.

~

*FYI: IBPA currently provides coupon codes for members, which makes both new books and revised manuscript uploads free. Five uses per month.)

The Art of the Kiss Collector’s Edition

My literary love story, The Art of the Kiss, released in ’19–and the original edition had an incredibly short print run. I’m talking fewer than fifty copies. I still do have some on my author copies shelf, and have decided to sell them at my Etsy store, as a collector’s edition.

The original edition of The Art of the Kiss.

The book will also come signed–and you’ve got a chance to let me know how you’d like your copy inscribed (if left blank, I’ll just sign the book).

You can snag a copy here.

The Ultimate Fear

The absolute worst fear of all is that I would stop, at some point, hating older work.

Okay, so maybe hate is a strong term. But I would hate, hate, hate to get to a point where I read something I’d written several years ago and didn’t see a million things I would do differently if I were to write it again.

It would mean I hadn’t grown. I hadn’t changed my mind a hundred different times about what a story was supposed to do. 

A while back, I got the rights to the very first book I ever published: A Blue So Dark. Blue gave me my first starred review. It won awards (silver medal in Foreword Reviews INDIES Book of the Year and gold medal in the IPPYs). 

And yet…

Sure, there are things I’d do differently. But should I? 

In a way, this book captures a moment in time–and in my life. It was a real struggle to figure out what would stay and what would go.

In the end, I didn’t change the plotline or characters, none of the major points. But I did change it up quite a bit as far as the line edits went: I changed the language Aura, the main character, swears. I mean, she swears a lot.

People swear. they do. Especially when things get difficult. But in Blue, I think it’s used to the point that it takes readers out of the story. 

I’m in the midst of typing the epilogue now–which means the next step will be formatting the ebook and print versions (I’m going to do both hardback and paperback editions). 

Be sure to sign up at my YA newsletter to find out when the book is available (I’m planning a super affordable ebook upon re-release): Holly Schindler’s YA News.

Aaaand–drumroll, please–my official cover reveal:

Alternate Sites for Indie (Self) Published Books

Self-published authors can get so wrapped up in the usual players (Amazon) that we often overlook some other opportunities. I recently updated my listings at a couple of alternate sites:

Etsy

My Etsy Store

Several of my paperback indie-pubbed books are listed over at Etsy, and they’re all personalized. You can tell me at checkout how you’d like it inscribed / who to make the book out to. I’ve sold a handful of picture books at Etsy, and have loved the direct interaction with readers.

Payhip

I’ve also listed a few titles over at Payhip, where you can buy e-books directly from me (Payhip is really just the delivery service). Playing Hurt and Play It Again are both at Payhip; at the back of Playing Hurt, you’ll receive a code for 25% off Play It Again. You can choose which type of file you need for your ereader. My Bookfunnel account is also linked to my Payhip store, so you have the option of downloading from either Payhip or Bookfunnel (I use Bookfunnel for distributing ARCs, so I thought many of my readers would be more comfortable downloading from a familiar site.)

Again, there’s just something about being able to sell directly to readers. And buy directly from writers! Now that I’m at Payhip as a writer, I must admit, I enjoy being able to purchase ebooks this way.

Hope to see you at my stores. And if you try using either service as a writer yourself, I’d love to hear about it! You can get in touch here in the comments or (as always) hollyschindlerbooks (at) gmail (dot) com.

Current WIP: Play It Again

When I re-released Playing Hurt, I got some incredible, fresh feedback on the book–so much so, it gave me all sorts of ideas for tightening up Play It Again. I’m really excited about this new chapter of Chelsea and Clint’s story.

I’ve got the book formatted, and I’m now doing line edits! It’s always so exciting to see a book laid out in InDesign.

More to come on this project soon…

New Read + Author “Tip Jar”!

I’ve got a couple fun new things to share: a fun new read and (hopefully) a fun new way to buy it!

THE NEW READ:

funny final 2 small

This release is called Funny Meeting You Here. It’s comprised of six sweet, humorous shorts. I don’t know about you guys, but the entertainment I’ve been gravitating toward lately is all light and often comedic. I want to smile and chuckle. I’ve been loving Fallon each night—watching his informal interviews and his daughters playing. When I sat down to write during our weeks of isolation, all I wanted to write was something equally sweet and funny. Also, as far as I’m concerned, the best part of any story is the point at which the main characters meet. I combined that hunger for light entertainment with my love of chance encounters to write Funny Meeting You Here. These are quite literally stories of meetings—funny scenarios that bring two characters together. It’s my hope that when you read them, regardless of what the world is like just beyond your door, it will bring two smiles: one to your face and one to your heart.

THE NEW WAY TO BUY IT

Recently, I’ve been hearing from readers wanting to better support authors during the Coronavirus pandemic. Many have contacted me to tell me they’ve bought paperbacks rather than the lower-cost ebooks. That’s incredible! But that’s a big leap between a .99 ebook and a $10 (or more!) printed book. So I’ve started a Payhip store (payhip.com/HollySchindler) as a kind of “tip jar.” At Payhip, you can absolutely still buy Funny Meeting You Here for the listed price of .99, but if you want to set the price to chip in an extra few cents, that’s fantastic, too. I just wanted to give readers a way to offer support and still have enough money left during these lean times to buy themselves another read. One of the best parts of Payhip is that it allowed me to integrate with BookFunnel! When you buy from Payhip, you’ll receive two emails: one from Payhip and one from BookFunnel, both with download links. You can download from either Payhip or Bookfunnel, whichever you’re more comfortable using. Since I’ve been distributing my ARCs and review copies via BookFunnel, and you’re all familiar with that site, I definitely wanted to give you guys that option.

AND, OF COURSE, YOU CAN ALSO BUY THE BOOK AT ALL THE OLD FAVORITE SITES

Funny Meeting You Here is live right now on Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo, and Scribd.

Thanks, guys. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you all. Feel free to drop a line to tell me what you think of the Payhip process. And please do stay safe and well.

COVER REVEAL: THE ART OF THE KISS

The Art of the Kiss

A young photographer, an old camera, and a bit of magic disturb the dust, setting in motion events that will reawaken a love story fifty years in the making.

Art of the Kiss final

This is not your typical love story.

It’s about the guts of a long-term relationship. It’s about dreams and the loss of youth and fame. It’s something of a reinvented fairy tale. It’s a little bit magical.

So sure, it’s about love. But it’s also about much, much more.

I’ve been working on The Art of the Kiss off and on now for over a year. Told in snapshots, in a non-linear format, with multiple POVs. This novel demanded it be written in a somewhat non-conventional way.

From the back cover:

Can you have more than one happily ever after?

Taken in a flash at the beginning of their life together, Sharon Minyard’s portrait of herself and her husband, Michael, hangs on her studio wall as a testament to the possibility of love.

Once drawing crowds to gaze in wonder, it has since become all but forgotten—until a young photographer, an old camera, and a bit of magic disturb the dust, setting in motion events that will revive its meaning…

Showing—in black and white—that in a town named Fairyland, the dream of forever is but a snapshot away.

Okay, that was more than just a cover reveal. But you don’t work on a book for more than a year and not get excited it about actually seeing it in the world!

To celebrate, the book is discounted during its pre-order period. You can snag a copy here.