Last month. . . Hopefully?

Alright, so, as this update stands, I am currently editing my book with all of the comments my amazing editor has given me. She spent so much time on it for me and I am so grateful and I do not fault her in any way for things that have popped up along the way. I totally understand how crazy life can be. She has given me a lot of great advice and as I have gone through it, I have discovered something pretty amazing. Here is what I posted to my G+ page.

...Before I started getting my book ready for publishing (Beyond the Unknown ...) I had just over 51,000 words within it. [That equals out to a]bout 175 pages. I am currently at that exact word mark that I started at, and I still have [somewhere around a] quarter of the book left to go! Estimated final word count ... is OVER 80,000 words. ...

I'm super excited for it, if you can't tell! However, due to my incredible work load (which is only going to get heavier as school starts to 'wind down' with finals and last term) and the work load I know my editor is going through, I am going to pull a very UN-SMART move, one that I do not suggest to ANYONE. I am going to be publishing my book after this one edit. After I finish editing this book, (I'm hoping and praying it will only take to the end of this week) I will go through it once more (more of a skim over really, to make sure there are no formatting issues or stupid mistakes I missed) and then I will submit it. My goal  is to get my book publish on or very near to April 1st (Yes, I know, April Fools' Day, I'm trying not to make this a joke though) and if I am able to publish early I might just do an early release on Amazon Kindle. We will see though.

So, more on my independent publishing. How this is going to work is I am going to publish my book to Amazon in two forms. One is going to be Amazon Kindle (and it will obviously be cheaper than a paperback copy) and the other form will be the paperback copy. The company I am publishing through (Createspace, which can be found here, if I haven't already posted a link, and you can publish many MANY things through them and NOT JUST BOOKS!!!) will also have the book available in its libraries (which might be a TINY bit cheaper if I get my way) and will also be putting it out through expanded distribution which will get it available to libraries, schools, small book stores, whoever. This might be the more expensive option though because it will be going through many people. And finally, I am going to be putting a few copies into my local bookstore (so those who know me personally are lucky) and I may be doing a book signing with them. Maybe. I have also had the suggestion proposed to send it to Costco and do book signings there. That might be interesting and it would definitely get my name out.

All in all, this is really making me super excited. I have never been this excited for my writing. And here I am! This is going to be awesome.

Have a great night!
Rose

Updates. . . again. Sorry!

Alright, so the awesome news is it seems that the more time in between when I post things, the more of an audience I get. Which is a bitter sweet victory I guess. But it's still amazing!

Alright, so what it's sounding like is my editor and I have had many flaws in communication and due to the overwhelming obstacles on her plate currently, I am going to finish going through her edits and then publish. If my book is not at its fullest potential, oh well. I really am only publishing because I walked in on my dad trying to publish it himself. I never wrote this book expecting it to be the next J.K. Rowling top hit. I wrote it to get through junior high. Seriously. I took quotes, people, experiences from junior high and shoved them into a book and called it good. Lots of people like it though, surprisingly, so we're just going to deal with it.

It's appearing now, though, that here in my hometown everyone wants to know who I am. I have a small book shop that wants me to do a book signing after it's published. That means people out here will see my face. Eek! I guess I don't care. The only reason I have a pen name is to keep my school email clean from obnoxious publisher's emails. I haven't gotten any emails from anyone else so we'll see what happens when I publish. I probably would be using my real name if I wasn't a teenage girl. . . . oh well. Maybe in the future I'll write books with my actual name.

The audience for my books is getting bigger and bigger. I have 5 first draft copies floating around my hometown and the city(s) where my grandparents live. My audience for Beyond the Unknown has gone from my cousin (in fifth grade) all the way up to my 90 year old grandpa. Everyone in between as well. Lots of adults have read it and loved it and even more teenage readers have enjoyed it. I am very confident that as long as no one tries to find a theme or a meaning to my book (GASP! A book written without a purpose) people will enjoy it. Maybe I should copy Mark Twain's idea in "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and give a fair warning about the consequences of finding incorrect things in my book. . .

Anyway, thank you all for being so willing to keep up with this. :) Hope to publish and hear from you all soon!

November First

So, once again my edits are not completed. With the amount of work I am being told I need to do with this book, my goal of December publishing will not be happening. I'm sorry for yet another delay, but the completed product will be absolutely wonderful. I hope. We'll make it work.

Keep telling your friends about me and let's try to find all the support we can get. I'll continue to keep you all posted.

~Rose Winters

P.S. find me at my Google + page.

Hey there! Countdown begins!

So, first round of edits aren't done yet (the deadline is November 1st) but that's soon!! And then I'll try to only take a week so that the next round can begin. Three more weeks after that gets us the second round of edits. I'll take three days on that, and then I'll publish! That puts us somewhere around December 10, 2013!! It's getting close! And in the mean time, I'll spend November writing book 3. Depending on demand for the second book within the first little bit will determine when I will get the second one taken care of.

The other reason I am posting today, is that I am completely shocked by the amounts of page views I've gotten and from where they've been!

 I highlighted a few of the things that impress me the most. The amounts of page views in the US is really cool, but hasn't changed much lately. In Russia alone, there have been eleven! Australia, Chile, two very strange places for my page to pop up. I'm super excited! Keep telling people about this and we'll see what happens when I actually get published!!

Thanks for all of the awesome support.

Rose Winters

NaNoWriMo

Hey guys!
This is just my formal invitation to all of you to come join our monthly insanity called "Nanowrimo".

Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) is a crazy month where people all over the world (*cough* i know it says "National" but that's what it started as. It has now spread world-wide and iWrimo didn't sound as cool.) come together for 30 days on an awesome website where authors young and old can gather together and post their word count. what's a word count, you may ask? It's that magic number that gets you closer and closer to the winner's circle. The winners are anyone who manage to make the 50k (or more, lots more) word count goal. It's crazy fun! Most of the time literally crazy.

Come, I beg of you, join our insanity and offer your story to the world!

Hope to see you there!
Rose

P.S. the website link is here.
P.P.S. Look me up, I'm under the username "Mandy_Rose" on this website.
P.P.P.S. The winners (anyone who meets the 50k word count goal) get TWO FREE Printed COPIES of their books this year!!!

Final Dates!!

Alright, so, word is that the first round of edits will be finished on November first of this year...so three weeks...I'm super excited. My goal is to go through it in a week, maybe two, (because I'm a nerdy teenager who has no more life than school and work and writing) and then I will send it back to my editor (Amazing Shanna Tull) and she said she's going to try to take three more weeks editing it. Which means...*DRUM ROLL PLEASE* I can be published BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!

With that being said, Next month is Nanowrimo (NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth). 30 days of absolute madness. 30 days of nonstop attempt of writing Beyond the Unknown 3. I already have this book outlined. I'm just waiting for those 720 hours of pure insanity. I hope to be hearing from you all soon. Can't wait to get this book out on the shelves! (Virtual and real...)

Rose Winters

Timeline

Okay...so...Because my edits aren't done yet - hopefully they will be soon - and I don't have any good news to announce, I decided I should create a timeline to show how far we've come!
So. I wrote the very first draft of Beyond the Unknown in November of 2011. I wrote it with a section of the NaNoWriMo group. We met together in the junior high classroom. That month was full of a lot of problems between me and my friends, but I managed to write a lot of my stresses into the book. Which you will only be able to figure which of them are true happenings if you know me or my friends.
So I started the book on November 2, 2011. I finished it on the 30th day of the same month. And then...hehe ... I saved it...and didn't look at it fro a few weeks. The only thing I looked at it for two weeks later was to upload it to a website - called createspace - and print my proof copy. After I got that, I went through and highlighted all of the mistakes (or all I could find). And then I pulled up my digital copy and made the edits.
Next came the 5 free copies. All the "winners" of NaNoWriMo (anyone who passes/hits their goal with the "competition") got the free copies of their book. One of mine went to one set of my grandparents, one to the other set, one to my little sister "Chrissy", one to my mom and I kept the last. The next time I looked at the digital copy was to send it to a friend.
I - uh - then a few months later went looking for it. I was going to start editing it (so this was somewhere around February 2012) so I could start the second book in November like everyone was wanting. (Literally everyone who read book one wanted a book two) So...I looked everywhere. Kind of. I looked where I thought it was and it wasn't there so I gave up. A month later I looked again, panicking a little that I couldn't find it on any of the computers. The only option left, was to use the printed copies to re-type everything.
I got about one-third of the way done when one day, a friend came to me and said, "Hey! I'm a chapter away from the end of your book!" What book, I asked. "The moon one." I was so happy! She had a copy. She looked at me like I was crazy when I asked her to send a copy back to me, but she did. And I resumed my editing.
I got the decision made to publish and then I had to find an editor and an illustrator. The first illustrator came to me voluntarily - Kyle - but told me a while later that he would not be able to accomplish the task. So I went to my best friend and asked her to help me.
I finished those edits about a month and a half before the next NaNoWriMo. In which, I wrote the second book. After I finished that one though, I set way to editing it a week later. After the first edit was done, (which sadly took several months because I was NOT happy with that book) I went straight to the five free copies, not needing to buy the proof. Then I went up to a summer work camp. My mom was home to get my copies and distributed them to the same people who got the first book.
A day after my summer work ended, I came home and wrote out the outline for the book 3.
A few days later, my best friend said she, too, would not be able to do the cover art. So, as a last ditch effort, not wanting to find another option, I went through my moon pictures I had taken and found one I would be able to handle seeing whenever I saw my book. :)
So now, I have two books PRINTED, one being edited and almost published. And book 3 is in outline and the first page is written. :)

So that's the up to date timeline of my books. Mostly :) Hope you enjoyed my rambling stuffs....

Many, many updates!

Hey guys! Sorry that I haven't been able to post lately. Hectic summer! But I do have some good news for you!

Beyond the Unknown WILL be published before Christmas this year!! I'm so excited and I hope you are too! Here's the cover:

Beyond the Unknown book One!

Also, I am going to open a new tab and start spotlighting an author and/or book each month. I hope it will be fun. Check it out!

Again...Sorry....Postponed

Okay, so, the last update was last week. Because Shanna is amazing, she has told me that she would like to extend how long she has to edit. She said that if I want it to be as good as I can get it - which of course I do - I will need to wait until later. I am unsure to this point when the publishing will be, but if Shanna and Sydney both finish in the middle of the summer, I will try but no promises. My summer is going to be crazy - please keep in mind that I am a teenage girl and need a job. I will be working away from home all summer long so I hope to get some progress before School starts again in the fall. I am sorry to keep pushing back the dates, but I do wish to have a good book everyone can enjoy.

Thanks everyone!
~Rose

P.S. Working on my other series at the moment while this one is taken care of (Plinas) and today, during my write-a-thon, I reached 51,953 words on book four. The most I have ever reached, and I am not yet to 3/4 yet! I just had to share my excitement with all of you.

Beyond the Unknown-Last Days

So, there hasn't been a recent update. I am going to give you one.

May 4th. Shanna has told me that there is about another week and a half until she has finished editing. WEEK AND A HALF! Really getting excited. Sydney is an amazing girl who has so many activities going on. She is on the tennis team and has homework (ew) and many other things going on. I am so grateful that she is still willing to do this for me! She tells me that she has her idea and her supplies, she's just looking for time.

Thanks to all those who keep asking and all of my insane friends who seem to be more excited than me. Can't wait!

~Rose

P.S. If it isn't obvious, May 15th is another if-fy date. My only guaranteed publish date is before June. Thanks for all the patience!

April 10th - THE BIG DAY! ...Or not

So, here's the tenth. The big day. And it cannot happen. My book will not be published today, I am very dearly hoping that I can publish it before school ends because after that I will not be home much (but please still email me if you have comments and/or questions! *QUESTIONS ARE EXTREMELY WELCOME!!*). I will be published this year (2013) no matter what. Thanks again for all my support!

~Rose
P.S. Another -minor- reason for not publishing today, I would need to do a lot of typing to finalize things. And even typing this post is hurting my left wrist. A lot. During the month of April (Camp Nanowrimo for all who are wondering...) I have way over used my hand due to my constant typing of my new book and playing piano and guitar. So for now I will say "¡adiós!" and I will keep sending out updates as they come.

New updates

Today's the big day! My website's going up! Alright, so lots of new information about my book that I haven't been able to put on in a while:
Kyle has decided he is unable to make my cover, so thanks to my best friends Sydney Squires, my art is still progressing. And she is so amazing it will not take that much time. U will upload the pictures when they are done!
Shanna - congrats to her - has gotten married. So my editing has been postponed, but I am hoping that April 10th can be my final day...It will get done before May 15th no matter what!

Up and Running

 March 9, 2013

     Hey, guys! This is Day One of my website being officially worked on - but not ready for many others to view yet. I am still waiting for my cover art from Kyle Mickelsen, but when I get it I will first put it through for my book and get the going, then I will immediately after put it on here for everyone to see. I'm super excited to see it myself. I'm also waiting for the final edits which I have not heard back about, but it has only been four days since I sent it to an amazing English teacher. She does still have a job and personal life, so I'm just excited to see what happens.

     I hope to be hearing from many readers and hearing all their thoughts. Like I said before, this is my first ever experience with this, so we'll see how this works. I have many awesome author friends (Karen Hoover, Nicole Grane, Rebecca Wilhite, Elizabeth Mueller, James Duckett, Rebecca Blevins, and Jenni James) who have helped me so much. Thanks guys!

~Rose Winters

On the Road!

March 8, 2013

     I am currently working on finishing my final information for my book. I have decided on March 24 for my official publishing date. I am waiting for my cover options from my friend Kyle Mieckelsen, I am waiting for some final editing to be finished so I can revise (Thanks to Shanna Westover for doing those edits) and then I will submit my book for final review. That will take less than the day, and then I  will decide on a price and submit it.
     I will be submitting my book with Amazon Kindle. and with individual bookstores and online retailers. With the Kindles, my book should be able to appear within that day or at most that week. The others will take longer to get my book noticed: 6 to 8 weeks. I will not be able to control which book stores and/or where it is bought.
     Thank you all for being supportive with my writing and offering to help in all ways you can.

  I will use this website to give updates and to give information. Again, Thanks to all those who have and will help me on my way. This is very exciting, but I am just as new to this as many others.

Please check out my books!

~Rose Winters