Self-publishing my novel as an ebook (3) It’s Done!

It's done. Now you can buy my ebook Where the HeArt is from Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/125647 Or just go to smashwords.com and search on either my name or the book title.

You can get the KIndle version from the Smashwords site, or go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0073O5DVC
to buy it from the Kindle store (4.95USD).

One advantage of buying it from Smashwords is that you can, with one purchase (4.95USD) download a whole range of versions for different ereaders. For example, you can download a Kindle version and an ibooks (epub) version for your ipad. And a pdf version for your computer. And so on.

Here’s the blurb:
Will travel fix Ann’s broken life? Suddenly bereft of both partner and job, Ann needs to find a new direction. Connecting with frayed threads of family and finding herself in what she calls “art events” in the United States is rewarding, but no preparation for the totally unexpected—in more ways than one—things that happen in London. Ann returns to New Zealand both shaken and stirred.

Where the HeArt is will also be available soon from ebook retailers like the apple store and Barnes and Noble in the UK and all the major ebook retailers and distributors except Amazon (hence the separate Kindle version). This is a distribution service provided (free to authors) by Smashwords and is one of the reasons for using them.

Now I need to let potential readers know Where the HeArt is is out there. This is the worst bit for me. This blog will link to facebook, so that's covered. I’ll blog about the whole promotion thing from time to time. I read on sites like Goodreads that lots of self-publishers find this part the hardest, it’s not just me.

If you read my book and want to be helpful, a good way is to make a comment about it (often called a “review” but it isn’t really), or a rating, on the website you bought it from. Or anywhere else, for that matter. (I sit and stare at this paragraph, wanting to delete it—what a nerve, asking readers to promote my book, I think. I suppose it could be seen as a variation of the venerable “word of mouth.” Maybe it’s the asking that seems wrong.)

I’ve checked out the look of it, as far as I can with the resources I have, in various the formats for various ebooks, and it seems to be working all right. If anyone gets a version with something awful, like squashed headings or links that don’t work, please let me know. (If you don’t have an email address for me, leave a comment on this blog.)

So here we go, off into the ebook ether.