Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Congratulations and Some Questions


Congratulations to all the IWSG members who entered this year's anthology contest.  You're all winners for submitting an entry.  It will be great fun to see what our members have done with the science fiction genre and dark matter theme.  Look for the winners to be announced toward the end of the year.


                    


Now comes the judging!  The IWSG administrators will create a shortlist of the best stories, and the shortlist will be sent to the official judges to pick the winners.  The IWSG has a wonderful slate of authors, agents, editors, and publishers as judges this year:  Dan Koboldt, Lynda R. Young, Colleen Oefelein, Damien Larkin, Ion Newcombe, Julie Gwinn, and David Powers King.   I don't envy them the task of picking the winner.

The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press, an imprint of Dancing Lemur Press, in the next IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title. Somewhere out there among our IWSG members is one lucky author who will share the honor earned by Yvonne Ventresca and previous winners Gwen Gardner, Jen Chandler, and L.G. Keltner, that of having his or her story grace the cover of the anthology. 



                                    
I was likely the least experienced writer of all the winners in Voyagers.  During the last eight or nine months I have climbed up a very steep learning curve. Along the way I received a lot of help from my fellow anthology authors, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and L. Diane Wolfe.  One of the best results of being featured in the anthology was my opportunity to work with Diane as my editor and publisher.  I have learned so much from this amazing person, and I am beyond grateful.  I was so green I didn't understand what she needed from me to collect my first royalty check.  But I'm a quick study and rectified that hole in my knowledge right away.

But, as a newly-published author, I still have questions.  I'm hoping this post will generate some answers:

1.  Do you, as an author, have a domain name?  Where is the best place to get one, and are there any pitfalls in choosing a name and in choosing a place to purchase your domain name?  Do you have to pay the fee annually?

2.  What is the best place to set up an author's website?  Is it possible to do this yourself or should you invest in having it done professionally?  What do you think are the most important things to include on your author's website?

I know that I could hunt this information down on the internet, but I'm tired of slogging around in the wilderness; I'd like some in-the-trenches guidance from IWSG members.  I'm sure I'm not the only one with these questions.  Any information would be much appreciated!

Lost in the Wilderness
Western Nova Scotia
August 5, 2018
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


And for any of you procrastinators out there who are finishing up your entry for this year's contest,
YOU STILL HAVE A WHOLE WEEK!
Woo Hoo!





Our next post will be on Wednesday, September 2, 2020 IWSG Day. 
Stay healthy and well until then!




Till next time ~
Fundy Blue






* * * * * * * * * *


Reviews of Voyagers:  The Third Ghost:

1.  Check out lots of reviews and ratings at Goodreads.

2.  Excerpts from Amazon reviews:

"It's been a long time since I've read a collection of various genre stories that had me so overwhelmed with emotion at the end, and the fact that it's a middle-grade collection still boggles my mind."

"What do slave ships, ghosts, time travel, Pompeii, WWII, aeroplanes, and the Iron Curtain have in common?  They all appear in this absolutely fantastic collection of short stories by the Insecure Writer's Support Group."

"The amazing thing about themed anthologies is that, while there's a single theme, the stories are incredibly varied. In the case of Voyagers: The Third Ghost, not only are the stories varied, but each is well-crafted and engaging... All take the reader on a short, but rewarding journey."





You can order a copy of
VOYAGERS: The Third Ghost 
at the links below.

Print 9781939844729 $13.95
EBook 9781939844736 $4.99

Juvenile Fiction - Historical / Action & Adventure /
Fantasy & Magic









9 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You've done just fine as a newbie.
I have a domain name and just use my blog as my website.

Fundy Blue said...

Thanks, Alex! I've noticed that a lot of people have gone over to Wordpress, and I don't really want to do that. Your blog site and the IWSG are both on Blogger, and both are awesome. I've been worrying that Blogger wasn't "professional" enough. Thanks for reassuring me. Now, if Blogger would just straighten out its new version ~ starting with eliminating only being able to use double line spacing! All the best to you!

Sherry Ellis said...

You have done great! And thanks for all the support you've given all of us on your blog!

Regarding Domain and website. I used webs.com and got my domain through them. But I've heard that Go Daddy is really easy, and that it's also a great place to get your domain name.

Fundy Blue said...

Thanks for the information, Sherry! I really appreciate it! Take care!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

You jumped right in and took the bull by the horns. Well done.

I have my websites with SquareSpace. It's $96 a year. My domains are with Hover - $15 a year.

Fundy Blue said...

Thanks, Diane! I haven't heard of either site, so this gives me new places to consider.

Himawan Sant said...

Hello friend. As a beginner you have done very well and I hope that someday you will become a great author and that your book will be famous in many countries, including mine.

Regarding the domain, while my blog is like a blog, you are quite comfortable using blogspot. Maybe later if I intend to go back to like my old blog which was inactive a year ago, I will return to using a paid domain.

Greetings of friendship from Indonesia.

Fundy Blue said...

Thanks, Himawan! Your perspective is appreciated. Take care!

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