Jude's Blog

After realizing that no one made skins for the type of Android phone I have, I started looking for a site where I could make my own. After comparing prices, I finally found one called Unique Skins. With shipping, I got my new custom skin (or decal) in under a week for less than $10. I liked it so much that I went back and joined the site’s affiliate program. So yeah, I will get a small commission if you buy a skin, but it will help me keep my site going, and keep me offering free reads on my forum.

So if you’re like me and want a custom skin for your cell phone (they have hundreds of styles available), check out their site. It won’t hurt to look around and see what they offer. You can upload any picture from your computer or use something from their gallery. I almost paid double the price for a Breaking Dawn skin before I found this site. So now I can make my own Twilight skin. What kind of skin do you want?

Sierra Sky just received its first review: Sierra Sky Review
So be sure to head on over and check it out

I was waiting in line at the store the other day as the customer in front of me and the cashier got into a discussion and traded business cards. Apparently the cashier had always wanted to write a book but didn’t know where to start, and the customer wrote books and was apparently the expert on the subject. When asked how she wrote her first book, she responded with, “I went to the library and found a book on how to write a book.”
I had to choke back the snicker, since it is not as easy as that. Nothing in a book will tell someone how to write one. Yes, it can teach you proper grammar. Yes, it can tell you how to format the book. It might even give you suggestions on how to find an agent or which publishers to use, but nothing can tell you how to form those words into a book that anyone wants to read.
They say everyone has a book inside them that wants to come out. Problem is that not everyone’s story is interesting. Others might be but they can’t write. They might have the money to hire a ghost writer to do the writing for them, but most probably won’t go that route.
So what is the best answer to give to someone who asks how to write a book? I tell them to sit down and write it. Nobody is an expert when they start. And no one expects the first attempt to be grammar free, and that’s not the point. You just start writing and keep going until you run out of things to say. Then worry about how to move things around to make it readable. Hire someone if you can’t do it yourself. Or find a grammar book that will help. It takes a lot of work to get a book created and published from start to finish, especially if you’re self-published. And it’s a whole lot easier now than when I got started. Back then, research was done in a building called a library and POD publishers were brand new and produced shoddy results. It amazes me how much self-publishing has advanced in the last decade.
It’s easy now compared to then. Considering I haven’t self-published a book since 2008, it’s even easier now. Sites like Smashwords make it nearly painless. They not only let you publish for free (and provide a detailed guideline on how to format your manuscript), they will even market for you and submit your books to major online publishers. If only that had been available when I got started.
But all that goes back to the original question of how to write a book. Not even Smashwords.com can help you do that. If the question was how to create a book, that’s a different beast all together. Because creating and writing are not the same.

Yes! I think it’s time for another contest. For anyone out there just itching to read Sierra Sky, here is your chance to win a copy it or ANY of my other books. That’s right, the winner can pick any book I’ve written. What do you have to do? Easy, just do the following three things:

1. Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/judel

2. Like and/or Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jude-Liebermann/201909099858288 or http://www.facebook.com/judeliebermann

3. Sign up for my newsletter, since that is how I will be announcing the winner. You can find the signup at http://www.judesplace.com on the far left side of the page.

On March 1st, I will pick a random winner. Good luck!
And don’t forget to comment here when you’re done, so I can check!

Sierra Sky was supposed to be released January 16th, but due to major delays in editing, it was pushed back.

Those edits are now concluded, and the new release date is February 6th. I’m still a bit disappointed at this delay, but they are accepting pre-orders. So be sure to head on over to http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1510 and place your orders. As soon as the book is released, it will show up in your VIP account ready to read.

If you own an Amazon Kindle and are a prime member, head on over to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002EENL9M and you can read the newly edited and republished Nada’s Secret for free!

It took me two nights to do it, but I finally sat down and created a new cover for the first installment of my A Modern Myth trilogy, Nada’s Secret. I was too tired last night to upload a copy of it, but I will be sure to do that the next time I’m at my home computer. I tried to keep the integrity of the current cover as I upgraded it with real people as well as making it match the updated cover for Drew’s Destiny.

Why the update? Well, if you visit the main page of my site, my other beautiful covers make their rounds in the carousel. I noticed how the remaining two covers of my trilogy look a bit amateurish by comparison. So I realized it was time to update them, since I had already updated the final installment. Grady’s Return will take me a bit longer to update, but that too will get a new look. Hopefully, it won’t take me as long as it did to finish Nada’s cover.

So stay tuned for that new cover to make its appearance in the carousel on my site…as well as on amodernmyth.com

Edit: Please note that due to the Flash coding, your browser’s cache must be cleared before you can see the new cover in the carousel. I have also posted the cover on my forum for members to see the full size.

If I have followed the site correctly, new releases come out every Monday. They then update their Coming Soon page to show what’s coming in the next 6 weeks. Once they do that on Monday, December 12th, Sierra Sky‘s cover will appear at the bottom of that page. It should also then have it’s own page with description and link to my bio. I’m so excited, and this has been long coming! So be sure to check out their Coming Soon page Monday night!

I will also be updating the main page of my site as soon as the book has its own page!

I finally got around to creating a Cafepress store, where I can sell items with my covers and artwork on.  It’s still “under construction” but feel free to peruse the items for sale.  If anyone has any suggestions of something they would like to see there, let me know what it is and what cover you would like on it.

http://www.cafepress.com/judesshop

I just went through a few weeks of not understanding what was wrong with my blog.  At first I thought it was WordPress, so I visited the help forum.  Discovered that it could be my host, so I put in a support ticket.  Found out a solution that I was reluctant to try (disabling mod_security).  I disabled all my plugins but one, since everytime I did I got an error. Yep, it was BuddyPress (BP).  For those who don’t know, BP makes your blog a lot like twitter and facebook. Makes it more interactive and lets you see a stream of activity.  Kind of neat, but you have to use special themes.  I didn’t realize that when I disabled BP, the theme wouldn’t work without it.  So all the work I put into my theme was worthless, since I couldn’t use it without BP.  BUT if I left it active, nothing worked well.  At first I couldn’t modify any of widgets and then I realized I couldn’t insert any photos.  I then bit the bullet and updated BP to the newest version.  I really didn’t like a lot of the new additions, and you couldn’t turn them off.  On top of that, it turned my 3 column theme into 2 themes,  and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it.  So I found a new 3 column theme, disabled BP and then had to update this new theme.  It’s still not exactly like I want it, but it’s close enough for now.   UGH!  So my apologies to anyone who visited during all this and came across any error pages. It was a nightmare for a few hours!  :)