Thursday, October 17, 2013

Pocket Forest’s E-Book Release!

When I think of the new edition, I compare it to the highly unlikely scenario where, after receiving your baby at the hospital, a nurse chases you down to say, “Ma’am, wait! You actually delivered twins!”

Then she hands you another wrinkly little baby that looks nothing like the previous one, yet they both share the same piercing scream.

It has to be like that.

Deathless Press had published my chapbook, Pocket Forest, back in August. The first edition sold out within 12 hours. The second and third editions are, as of last week, officially sold. Sometimes people email me photos of their copies, which always makes me a little teary-eyed. It’s like I’m looking at babies.


Babies... have mustaches, right? Thanks for the photos, Allison and Cara!

Having my first published book sell out, no matter how small, is a great accomplishment. But logically, it also means that no more copies are coming. If you had been hoping to snag one, I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… unless you spot someone walking down the street with a copy of Pocket Forest and steal it from them.



So how did this whole e-book thing start? Supplies to create more copies of my book were dwindling and Deathless Press had to start making Fall 2013’s lineup. Time to move on… except for the fact that readers were still asking for it. Deathless Press and I kicked around some ideas about what to do next. We talked about publishing an e-book and the plan began to solidify. I looked forward to updates from DP and just about swooned when I saw the e-book cover.

Yet plans change sometimes.

Publishing the e-book wasn't going to mesh with DP’s vision of the press. I understood that. So we shook hands and the reigns got turned over to me.

I decided to publish Pocket Forest with Amazon. My inner perfectionist came out while wrestling with the formatting. There was always another typo I missed (I’m the queen of typos. My kingdom is vast.); getting the spacing just right, when it came to chapter titles, was a bit tricky too.

Don’t get me started on the Online Previewer. It lets you see how your e-book will look on various platforms, including iPads and iPhones. Very, very cool… until, if you’re like me, you spend a good few hours reading each version in a last-ditch hunt for final edits.

But really, the entire process is easy. After I submitted the e-book for approval last evening, I went to sleep… and woke up at midnight with an urge to see if my book was online.

And guys. It was.

That’s Sonic speed, right there.

It’s going to take Google a little longer before the link comes up in a search, so you can find the e-book edition by typing in the title and author into the Amazon search bar or simply click on one of the numerous, clearly-marked links on my blog:


One last thing: Don’t forget to leave a review for Pocket Forest once you’ve read it. You can post it on Amazon and/or Goodreads. And please be honest. I can take it!

Something like that, I suspect.

Regular readers of my blog may be getting a tad tired of all the Pocket Forest news, so I promise to entertain you with other topics this month (and next month. Yes).

Unless you want me to talk more about PF. In which case, feel free to ask me a question in the comment section or email me.

Otherwise, I’ll be catching you up to speed on:
  •  how it feels to be stuck in revision hell (fun times)        
  • my NaNoWriMo plans and current writing project
  • that Boardwalk post I mentioned in the previous post.

Happy Reading!

5 comments:

  1. Excited for you, Kim! Congratulations!

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  2. (This is Starflower from Figment - my phone seems to do funny things when I try to comment with my Google account.)

    Anyway, congratulations! I've already expressed my crazy excitement multiple ways to you, and really I'm jumping at the chance to get to read Pocket Forest. I was almost going to give up on being able to see it at all, and this news made my day. (I spent the entire day yesterday going "POCKET FOREST" to nearly every person I saw. Then I would have to explain to them, hehe.)

    One question, though... do you know the approximate word count of PF? I was thinking it might be fun, not to mention an interesting challenge, to try and write something of a similar length for next year's Camp NaNoWriMo. ;)

    Starflower out -

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    Replies
    1. Actually, never mind. My Google Account actually worked.

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    2. Thank you! I'm so excited that you're excited! I mean, I've certainly been there before, brimming with unbridled excitement about something or other - and getting strange stares from family and friends ;) I can't wait for you to read Pocket Forest!

      Sure, sure. PF is about 11k. Typically, Deathless Press accepts manuscripts that are 10k or smaller, but the extra 1k was needed in my case, for sure. Writing a complete story in such a small limit was a fun challenge. If you do it, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun.

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