"Roundheads and Ramblings"

Announcement

One More Before the Excitement Fades

Posted on Friday, November 17, 2017 11:47 AM

One last announcement:

The trade paper edition of

The Second Mouse Goes Digital: Self-Publishing Comes of Age

is now available on Amazon.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that I am a big fan of electronic editions. I love my Kindle, and I'm even fonder of reading books on my iPad. I really like being able to carry a whole library full of great literature in my purse. But once in a while, only a real book will do the job. I suspect that is the case with my current book.

The Second Mouse Goes Digital is a fun read. You can whip through it in a day or so, and you'll end up with a much better understanding of what self-publishing is all about. It may even convince you that you want to give this publishing avenue a try for yourself. But if you're a serious writer--if you want to put all these mousey tips to work--if you're ready to become a published author rather than a would-be writer--then you're going to need the paper version.

You'll want to remember the name of that grammar-checking software we recommended. You'll want to find a good writer's conference to attend. You'll need to review those tips about identifying a scam. You'll need to check up on one of those confusing pairs of sound-alike words. You'll want some help in re-writing a sentence with a passive verb or a dangling modifier. You'll have to decide which of Amazon's promotions will best fit your needs. A "How-To" book is not much good if you can't find the details you need at the moment you need them. And, honestly, digital books just aren't very easy to search.

The most useful books are the ragged ones--the ones that sit on your desk day after day. The pages are dog-eared. The important points sport neon highlighting. The margins may be full of your own notes. There's a coffee-ring on the cover, and the spine is starting to show cracks. But that's how you know that this is a book with important stuff inside.

And here's the best deal of all! Purchase the paperback Digital Mouse from Amazon at the list price of $16.95, and get the Kindle version for just $0.99. Then you'll never be without this important new guide through the mysteries of self-publishing. Happy reading!

Click here for paperback.

Click here for Kindle.

The Second Mouse Goes Digital

Posted on Wednesday, November 08, 2017 3:25 PM

The Second Mouse Goes Digital: Self-Publishing Comes of Age

Author Carolyn Schriber takes a closer look at recent self-publishing innovations that have opened the gates to mainstream book publication.

Pre-Orders available now, with Kindle release date: Wednesday, November 15. Print version should be ready by Friday, November 17

Click here to order

While this blog has been out of service, I've been busy getting ready to publish a new version of my "how-to" guide for self-publishers. The launch day is a week from today, so, for the next few days, I want to catch you up on the book details and give you a glimpse of the contents.

Prologue: So, You Want to Write a Book

We begin with an imaginary conversation between Second Mouse and a budding writer who is considering what kind of publication would be best for her particular book idea. They discuss the various publishing options available today, along with their advantages and drawbacks of each one. Then Second Mouse offers a set of self-evaluation questions to help the writer determine where her strengths and weaknesses lie. Finally, they touch on one of the keys to a successful career in any field—giving the customer what he is looking for.

Chapter 1: Establishing Yourself in the Business.

The Second Mouse is again the guide as she leads the writer through the story of her own experience as a writer and the factors that convinced her to become an indie author. They look at the lessons she learned the hard way as she tried to find an agent or publisher—what it means to have a “platform” and the importance of the internet.

Chapter 2: The Legalities and the Niceties

In this chapter, the guide is Beatrix Potter’s Mrs. Tittlemouse. She discusses the need for a business plan, the importance of tax considerations, the process of setting up a home office, hiring an office staff, and establishing a website for your new business. These are the housekeeping details that can get you off to a solid start.

What's New and What's Next?

Posted on Saturday, September 16, 2017 10:21 AM

Yesterday, I tried to give you an idea of what “Henrietta’s Journal” is all about. Today, here are the answers to a couple of questions that keep popping up.

Q. Are these all new characters, or is there a connection to your other books?

A. For the most part, the Beauchenes are an entirely new family. However, it helps me to visualize the story if I can relate it to others I’ve written, so there’s at least one connection. Sharp eyes will recognize Elizabeth Dubois, whom you have met before in “Damned Yankee” and “Yankee Reconstructed.” In those books she was an old lady, the widowed mother of Susan Grenville, and grandmother to the Grenville children. In this story she is still a young woman in her thirties, and her daughter Susan appears briefly at age seven. Elizabeth befriends Henrietta early in the new book, helps her adjust to life in Charleston, and serves as godmother to Henrietta’s children.

Q. I want to know more about Henrietta’s later life as the Civil War draws nearer. Will there be a second book?

A. At the moment I am planning a second volume. Of course, I can’t promise anything, for, as Henrietta would be the first to tell you, life changes very rapidly. However, as my mother would have said, “I’ll do it, God willin’ an’ the creek don’t rise!” But here’s what I think will be coming a couple of years down the road.

The idea for “Henrietta’s Journal” came out of a rough sketch for a much larger book dealing with the beginning of the Civil War, its effect on the cotton trade, and some interesting but little-known facts about southern blockade runners, spies, and smugglers during the war. The diary Henrietta kept was originally going to hold some clues to a couple of mysterious happenings in the larger book. Then the diary took on something of a life of its own and became a stand-alone novel. The next book will take place some twenty-five years later. The main characters will be Henrietta’s children (now all grown up). They will solve some of their 1860s dilemmas by re-discovering the diary their mother wrote and uncovering the clues she left in the journal.

Eventually the two books will have close ties. I’m even considering an electronic edition for the two stories that would let the reader click back and forth between Civil War crises and the unsolved issues in the 1830’s journal. I’m as curious to know what will happen as you are!

Want to know more? Pre-order the Kindle edition at https://www.amazon.com/Henriettas-Journal-Compromise-Carolyn-Schriber-ebook/dp/B074S97SVJ and receive your copy on September 19. (You’ll also save $2.00 off the list price if you order before Tuesday.)

The Amazon print version is now functional and available at: www.amazon.com/Henriettas-Journal-Compromise-Carolyn-Schriber/dp/0990797597. With luck, you could have your copy by Monday.

Or order a trade paper edition at https://www.createspace.com/745653

Four Days and Counting

Posted on Friday, September 15, 2017 11:25 AM

What’s more fun than peeking into someone’s diary and learning all their secrets? Well, how about an entire novel, written as diary entries that chronicle the story of a marriage?

Henrietta’s Journal is a historical romance. Henrietta is a 20-year-old English girl, raised among the sheltering walls and dreaming spires of Oxford. In 1832, her diary begins with the first day she meets Julien, a handsome and wealthy cotton broker from Charleston, South Carolina. The two could not be more unsuited to one another, but their attraction is immediate and unbreakable. A whirlwind courtship, a hasty marriage, and a stormy journey across the Atlantic-–and Henrietta finds herself in a strange new world. Charleston in the 1830s is an insular society controlled by a small group of families who consider themselves a new aristocracy of culture, wealth, and refinement. Their public buildings are modeled on Greek and Roman styles. Their children receive classical educations. They spend their days recreating the past, while relying on black slaves to do the hard labor that makes such leisurely white lives possible. As a ruling social class, they do not welcome outsiders.

Henrietta declares she will never be a slave-owner. Julien replies by agreeing, because in South Carolina, a married woman is not allowed to own property of any kind. Henrietta tries to hold onto her independence; Julien and his father will not even allow her to choose the name of her first-born child. Henrietta’s every word and action are noted down for criticism and correction. Julien’s younger brother, a lecherous and vicious drunk, is forgiven for any misdeeds because he is still young. She soon gets the message. Men may do as they like. Women must do as they are told.

The book is a love story, but it also provides a revealing look into the contradictions and injustices of the South in the years leading up to the Civil War. The bonds between husband and wife are frequently tested by their differing value systems. Henrietta soon finds that she has compromised her own beliefs in order to keep the peace within her disapproving family. Then the principle of compromise takes on a life of its own, leading her further and further into a world where prostitution, rape, murder, opium addiction, and kidnapping are all excused as necessary evils.

The Amazon print version should be functional by the weekend.

Or order a trade paper edition at https://www.createspace.com/745653

A Day for a Double Celebration

Posted on Monday, August 14, 2017 9:16 AM

What a way to start a Monday! First, my latest book -- Henrietta's Journal: A Life of Compromise -- just became available for pre-ordering on Amazon's Kindle page. As a pre-order, you can get it for $2.99, and your copy will automatically appear in your in-box on September 19th. Of course, you can wait till September 19th and order it for immediate delivery (if you are into instant gratification) , but by then the price will go up to $4.99. The special price reduction is for anyone who already wants to read this story of a young English woman who marries into a cotton-dealing South Carolina family in the 1830s. The book follows her day-to-day musings as her slave-owning new family disintegrates into the turmoil of seduction, rape, murder, opium addiction, and kidnapping. There's a bit of something there for everyone!

Go here to place your pre-order. Send me a copy of your receipt, and I'll enter you into a drawing for a signed trade paper edition.

The other good news this morning comes in the form of an announcement that sometime in the middle of last night, this website has hit a milestone marker -- TWO MILLION page views in the past seven years.

Thanks to everyone who faithfully reads these blogs posts and checks out the book announcements at Katzenhaus Books.

Older

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives