Trees in my neighborhood - 17th and Santiago Street
Okay, here it is. The Botanical name is Musaceae
It is from East Asia and is called MusaBasjoo - Japanese Fiber Banana Tree
So, it seems Icy, had the right idea. It's very cool to see in person.
Poetic Shutterbug Press which published "nameless faces" will be publishing more books in the months ahead. I'm not sure exactly what I will be publishing next but I have many ideas. This along with some volunteer work and traveling that I will be doing will allow me less time to blog. I will still be blogging, visiting and commenting on all of your blogs but just not as often as I have in the past. Please make sure to subscribe or follow so you won't miss any of my fantastic posts :D.
Just a reminder that my book is now on Amazon.com and has the look inside feature enabled so you can try before you buy. If any of you are interested in an autographed copy, please leave a comment here or contact me directly at joanneolivieri@sbcglobal.net. For those of you who have the book, reviews are very much appreciated.
You can order through Amazon.com by clicking the above widget
Well, it has been quite a journey. My new poetry book release has just been published and is now available on Amazon.com. This is my first "full length" book of poetry and what makes it even more special is that it is self published. You never really know the meaning of self published until you go through the process.
To be honest, in the very beginning I thought "there's no way I can do this." However it was not difficult at all and was for me a very exciting process. I learned so much about formatting, working with Microsoft word and PDF files that I feel like a pro :) Seriously though, I had a blast publishing this book and to see it on Amazon.com is really something special.
I have to admit that there was one particular day when dealing with the Table of Contents formatting through Word Doc. was making me crazy. I was pulling my hair out at one point though the good news is I pulled much of the gray out. However, you learn through trial and error.
The book depicts some of my journey through Hong Kong in 2008 with the bulk of the poetry focused on my love of nature and respect for all living things. I write from the heart and that's what you will find throughout the pages of "nameless faces," my heart. I wanted to use a photo of the Botanical Gardens for the cover which you can see above. I literally have hundreds of photos of the gardens and the one I chose for some reason just stood out and begged "pick me." Designing the cover was for me the best part of creating this book. I love playing around with photos and designing things so I enjoyed that aspect very much.
Being able to get my work out to an audience using the CreateSpace platform was a fantastic experience. It was easy, fun and the time lines were wonderful. It only took two days for the book to appear on Amazon.com after my final approval. I was amazed. I would love to create a photo book with CreateSpace as well. I have absolutely no idea how to do that but then again, I had no idea how to self publish a book a couple of weeks ago.
I want to again thank ChristyPinheiro at PassKey Publications. Her detailed how-to on self publishing gave me the tools I needed to complete this book.
If any of you would like more information or would like to order a copy of the book, you can click the Amazon.com widget above or email me with your questions at joanneolivieri@sbcglobal.net
For a while now I have had a poetry manuscript ready to be published. As always I went to Shadow Poetry first as I had with my two previous chapbooks only to find that I could not afford their prices and decided to wait until I had enough money saved to publish my third poetry book. As you know I won a contest with The Publishing Maven a couple of months ago and Christy sent me her book The Step-By-Step Guide to Self Publishing for Profit. I read the entire book, cover to cover and was simply blown away by her book. It is the most comprehensive, concise and detailed guide to self publishing that I have ever read.
She describes in detail how to use createspace which is a division of Amazon.com and is a FREE, yes I said FREE, self publishing venue for anyone who is looking to publish a book. Upon finishing her book I immediately went to createspace to check out the site and found exactly how easy it was to create my book by just uploading my files and making a few decisions as to the cover of which they provide templates, title, etc... By using Christy's book as a guide, I was able to go through the entire process of creating my own poetry book within a few hours. And, did I say it was FREE? There are different options available, however, the free option is what I chose which also includes your book listed on Amazon.com and a free e-store. The only thing I had to pay for was a proof copy of which will be arriving in the mail shortly and costs less than what lunch at McDonald's would cost me, if I ate there :) How do I know my book will be professional looking? Because Christy's book was also published at createspace and it is one of the best books I've seen and read on the subject.
So, my new book will be available very soon and when it is, I will be spamming all of you :) If any of you are thinking of publishing your work, createspace is a fantastic option. Why pay hundreds of dollars to have your book published when it is completely FREE at createspace. They are a print on demand venue and therefore they can afford to offer their services for free.
I urge you all to not only check them out but to check out Christy's book by clicking on the Amazon.com widget below and seriously think about getting her book. It's a must for any writer wanting to self publish.
As bloggers we are always trying to find a new avenue for making money. Affiliate programs are a great way to begin making a little extra cash. I signed up with Art.com a few months ago after searching for a top rated art program. They maintain a huge database of paintings and posters etc... If you have been reading my blog you've seen all of the banners and virtual stores I had displayed on my blog for Art.com.
I was excited when in the first week I made some sales and was paid my 20% commission on those sales. It's the first time any affiliate program had worked for me. So, I added more banners and links to my blog to attract more customers. In December, I had an influx of hits and sales. As a result there was a large commission which showed on my account through Art.com. I was very happy because they stated my check would be sent on February 1st. As a result, I had planned though not yet booked another trip to LA. I'm glad I didn't book that trip because within days of the commission showing on my account, it mysteriously disappeared. I also had referred an affiliate who also disappeared.
Long story short, I contacted the company five times requesting assistance. They got back to me once saying "I'll look into it." I tried calling to no avail. I contacted my parent affiliate who also said "I'll look into it." To this date I've heard nothing. So, I decided no longer will I waste my time promoting products for a company who won't even reply to my requests. I've taken down all the banners and advertising and consider my efforts in promoting their products a loss yet a valuable lesson.
I don't know if they are just completely disorganized and don't care about their affiliates or if they are in fact a scam. I do know that it is very easy for someone who knows the insides of affiliate marketing to tamper with the codes on the advertising banners and links to redirect the sales to their own accounts. I'm not saying this is what happened but I just wanted to give all of you a heads up on this company. I spent alot of time promoting their product only to have all my commissions disappear.
I've learned that when searching for affiliate programs, it's best to sign up with the well known ones such as Amazon.com which is basically through Google. I've just looked into signing up with them today. The programs through Clickbank and Commission Junction can also be tampered with so you have to be careful and vigilant when dealing with these companies.
It's basically trial and error when monetizing your blog so it's best to read and research before signing up with any affiliate company.
