Delroy and the Marog Princess on Amazon

Delroy and the Marog Princess is now available on Amazon. Click on the link to get to my Amazon page, where you are invited to look inside the book, and of course purchase!

There were a few obstacles to overcome, including not being able to upload the cover. Fortunately, my illustrator, Erold Bailey, was able to upload it for me. Thank you, Erold. I had set the price at $5.99, so was taken aback when I saw that it was on offer for $7.99. Discovering that there is a $2.00 charge if you are not on the continental US, I dropped my price to $3.99, so you can buy it for $5.99.
The formatting for Amazon differs from formatting for Smashwords in several ways. In the building of the Table of Contents, Amazon uses the 'heading' method, while Smashwords builds it from hyperlinks and bookmarks. For Amazon, you put in page breaks, but not for Smashwords. For Amazon, you save your file as an HTML  document for Amazon, but for Smashwords as a Word 1997-2003 document. The methods of uploading and previewing also differ slightly. You can have your book on both Amazon and Smashwords, but you need to indicate on the Smashwords Channel Manager that you don't want them to distrubute to Amazon. If you want to opt for Kindle Direct Publishing Select, instead of the regular KDP, you can't publish anywhere else.
  I would recommend anyone wanting to self-publish to do their own formatting for both Amazon and Smashwords. It gives you more control over your work and of necessity you have to re-read one more time and pick up any errors that may have slipped through your previous edits. If a non-technical person like me can do it, so can you!

Publishing my e-book "Delroy and the Marog Princess"

When I wrote Delroy in the Marog Kingdom, I had no idea that I would write a sequel to that story. After some prompting form my critique group, Delroy and the Marog Princess began to take shape and after many rewrites gelled in its final form. It is a fantasy story for 12 to 15-year-olds. Although it is a sequel to my first book, it can be read as a stand-alone book. Set in Jamaica, there are echoes of myths and legends, and an aura of romance. Delroy isn’t sure if his adventures in the Marog Kingdom really happened, (becoming a type of frog called a marog, when he was swept into an underground river). His resolve to forget that awful event is shattered when Rana, the Marog Princess, becomes a girl and appears in his village. After his goal to turn her into a marog fails, he realizes he’s falling in love with her. Now his greatest fear is that she will transform before he can win her heart.

The story can be viewed or purchased at Smashwords.

 When I wrote the sequel, I had an inkling that I might self-publish, but I was yet to discover the enormous potential of e-publishing. Winning the Best Intermediate Writer Award in the JCDC Creative Writing Competition 2011 spurred me into investigating this option. I had been given a Kindle for Christmas in 2010, so was able to read several helpful e-books, including We Are Not Alone - The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb and Smart Self-Publishing : Becoming an Indie Author by Zoe Winters. Shevi Arnold wrote a most informative blog post on self-publishing and recommended both these books.

Looking into the possibility of doing a print-run, I consulted with Diane Browne who self-published The Ring and the Roaring Water. I got as far as contacting a few printers for estimates, but as Diane had warned, the cost was prohibitive. However, the main impediment to doing a print-run is the marketing and distribution. One has to have storage space for 1,500 books (the most economic number) and be in a position to distribute them. Book distributers charge 40% of your selling price, which either results in the price going out of range at which the consumer will buy, or the author making no profit at all. To do one’s own distribution means driving around to potential customers, which with today’s gas prices and hazardous road conditions is a definite no-no. Hence my foray into the world of e-publishing.


My main source of information was Smashwords Style Guide by Mark Coker. Following his recommendation to have the book professionally edited, I asked Hazel Campbell if she would do so. Hearing from Curdella Forbes that the artist who designed the cover of her latest book Ghosts, published by Peepal Tree Press, was Erold Bailey, I enlisted his services also. I decided to do my own formatting, as it gave me an opportunity to have a last read-through of my manuscript to pick up anything that I might have missed previously. Although I followed the Smashwords Style Guide to the letter, it was with great trepidation that I uploaded it. Apart from having to make it Word 1997-2003 compatible, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to upload without difficulty in a short time. My book is now pending review for premium catalog distribution. They say that should take about two weeks, but considering that over 100 books a day are being uploaded to Smashwords, I could understand if it takes longer. I’m hopeful that it will make their premium list as it passed the EPUB validator test. If it does, it will be passed on to distributers like Barnes & Noble, Apple’s iBookstore, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and Baker & Taylor. I’m still a bit confused re Amazon. As I understand it, you have to sell quite a few books at Smashwords before Amazon will distribute, but you can download to Kindle direct from Smashwords. I’m also investigating the possibility of downloading direct to Amazon.


My next project is to write a sequel to Delroy and the Marog Princess. The whole story is already in my head, waiting for me to make time to write it down!