Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.
Authors wear many hats.
Too many.
I mean, it's fun sometimes, learning to do all the different things I need to do to help my books have the best chance of success. Other times, it's not so much fun at all.
Traditionally published authors wear quite a few hats, but if you self-publish, you wear so many more. In the past few weeks, I wore the following hats:
author
researcher
editor
proofreader
marketer
publicist
typesetter for print books
ebook designer
information technician
graphic designer
web designer
virtual assistant
personal assistant
I think that's all of them. The I.T. hat was the most difficult for me.
Why was I messing around with computers to such a degree, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. I was trying to create an ebook sampler to give away at Comic Con next weekend. This required me to first learn how to create an ebook using Scrivener. This I needed to do anyway to release the Storyworld First ebook, which I've done. (Yay!) So I created my ebook sampler, no problem. (That's a bit of an over-exaggeration. It took me a full week to learn to create an ebook in Scrivener, but now that I know how, it's a lot faster.)
The problem came when I tried to upload my ebooks to my website so that people could download them. My Wordpress site would not accept the files. They were too big. And also, there was something vague about Wordpress not supporting .mobi and .epub file formats. Maybe it was both. Who knows?
After a few hours of frustrated Googling, a tip from John Otte panned out. I used Filezilla to upload the large files to my server. Then I added the links to the download page. Done! Right?
RIGHT???
Um . . . nope.
When John tried to download them, a password box popped up wanting my login information. I certainly wasn't going to post that online!
So I had to call my hosting provider for help, and they saved the day.
But then it turned out that they actually didn't, and I had to call again.
:-/
But the second guy was a superhero genius and saved the day for real.
To celebrate, I wanted to give you all access to the ebook sampler and ask your help. If you want it, please download it and share your experience in the comments. Just a simple, "It worked" or "I can't download it" will help me. I know this method of posting the sampler on my website isn't perfect, but if there are consistent problems, I'd like to fix them before Comic Con. Thanks so much for your help!
Here is a little bit about the sampler:
Click here to download your copy. Enjoy!
What hats beside "author" have you worn this week?
Too many.
I mean, it's fun sometimes, learning to do all the different things I need to do to help my books have the best chance of success. Other times, it's not so much fun at all.
Traditionally published authors wear quite a few hats, but if you self-publish, you wear so many more. In the past few weeks, I wore the following hats:
researcher
editor
proofreader
marketer
publicist
typesetter for print books
ebook designer
information technician
graphic designer
web designer
virtual assistant
personal assistant
I think that's all of them. The I.T. hat was the most difficult for me.
Why was I messing around with computers to such a degree, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. I was trying to create an ebook sampler to give away at Comic Con next weekend. This required me to first learn how to create an ebook using Scrivener. This I needed to do anyway to release the Storyworld First ebook, which I've done. (Yay!) So I created my ebook sampler, no problem. (That's a bit of an over-exaggeration. It took me a full week to learn to create an ebook in Scrivener, but now that I know how, it's a lot faster.)
The problem came when I tried to upload my ebooks to my website so that people could download them. My Wordpress site would not accept the files. They were too big. And also, there was something vague about Wordpress not supporting .mobi and .epub file formats. Maybe it was both. Who knows?
After a few hours of frustrated Googling, a tip from John Otte panned out. I used Filezilla to upload the large files to my server. Then I added the links to the download page. Done! Right?
Um . . . nope.
When John tried to download them, a password box popped up wanting my login information. I certainly wasn't going to post that online!
So I had to call my hosting provider for help, and they saved the day.
But then it turned out that they actually didn't, and I had to call again.
:-/
But the second guy was a superhero genius and saved the day for real.
To celebrate, I wanted to give you all access to the ebook sampler and ask your help. If you want it, please download it and share your experience in the comments. Just a simple, "It worked" or "I can't download it" will help me. I know this method of posting the sampler on my website isn't perfect, but if there are consistent problems, I'd like to fix them before Comic Con. Thanks so much for your help!
Here is a little bit about the sampler:
The 5-6-7 eBook Sampler is the ultimate introduction to the writings of Jill Williamson. Five chapters each from six books and a seventh complete short story.
Includes excerpts from: By Darkness Hid, Captives, The New Recruit, Replication, Go Teen Writers, and Storyworld First. Plus a complete short story called The Senet Box. If you like fantasy, dystopian, mystery, adventure, science fiction, and books on writing, check out this sampler.
Click here to download your copy. Enjoy!
What hats beside "author" have you worn this week?
It worked! :D
ReplyDeleteI wonder how people would react if you would have worn all the 13 hats at once! x)
Looking forward to reading Storyworld First in September 2014! :D
Yay! Thanks for telling me. I think it would have been a very tall picture. LOL
DeleteComic Con sounds exciting! Where is it going to be?
ReplyDeleteI've worn the hat of proofreader as I go over my WIP. Luckily I haven't found many glaring errors yet... :)
~L. Marshall
The Sampler is great! And I think I'm going to have to get Storyworld First when it comes out.
DeleteComic Con will be in Salt Lake City, Sept 4-6.
DeleteProofreader, yes. That is a common hat for authors. I don't mind that one so much, only that sometimes I don't see my own mistakes as well as others do.
Thanks for downloading the sampler!
It totally worked! So easy! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYay, yay! *happy dance*
DeleteWorked for me! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHas nothing to do with writing, but I've worn the hat of photographer as much as writer this week.
Ooh, that's a fun hat, Sarah. And thank you for downloading and letting me know it worked. Feeling better about this...
DeleteIt worked for me! Thanks, Jill!
ReplyDeleteSweet! Thank you, Andy!
DeleteWhat's most amusing to me, Jill, is that you actually have all those hats in that picture :)
ReplyDeleteBut a big YES to this whole idea. I had no idea that being a writer would be so much more. That I would have to fight for my writing time same as I did before I was "a real writer." I know it doesn't work during a release season (or a double release season like you're in!) but I love Amanda Luedeke's advice on marketing an hour for every hour you write. You have to find a balance. Again, not during release season :)
Oh, yeah. We have a lot of dress-up stuff. It's a little insane. I left out plenty of hats. Though I also photoshopped in the Sorting Hat and the Fez. Need to get me a real fez...
DeleteIt worked for me!
ReplyDeleteHurray!
Hurray, indeed! Thanks, Bound. I'm batting 1000, so far.
DeleteThe sampler is awesome! I downloaded the pdf version with no problem, and I can not wait to read it! The hats I've worn this week are writer, editor, blogger and cover designer (I just made a working cover for my WIP to encourage me along the way).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ana! Good job wearing all those hats!
DeleteDownloaded the PDF, and it worked well!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nicky!
DeleteThe Senet Box? What is that? A Jill book I don't know about?
ReplyDeleteThe Senet Box is a short story that was included in the Spirited Anthology. I once meant for it to be a prologue to a book about the box, but I only ever wrote the one chapter.
DeleteIt worked for me! Super easy. I'm looking forward to reading them later. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne!
DeleteGot it. I'm new to Kindle (been using the original Nook for years) so it took me a bit to figure out the tech on my end and I think I downloaded the mobi file twice because I thought the first try didn't work. Oops. But now I've got some reading for the weekend! And as far as hats go, this week I've been wearing the "teacher" hat a lot.
ReplyDeleteOh, cool, thanks, Shonna. I was most worried about the .mobi file. I like the teacher hat. What have you been teaching?
DeletePDF worked beautifully! :)
ReplyDeleteLOL, that picture has me cracking up over here...thanks for putting a smile on my face! Before I get to the "hats" I've been wearing, I just want to say that the "Ultimate introductions to the writings of Jill Williamson" reminded me of something: I currently have a very interesting situation having to do with the, uh, writings of Jill Williamson. You see, I bought Outcasts from the bookstore back in April, and for a while that was my first "owned" book of yours--even though I'd already read Blood of Kings a few times before that (and forced one of my friends to read them, and now we fangirl over them all the time...it's kind of hilarious how many times we'll be discussing another book then suddenly say, "And that reminds me of the part in To Darkness Fled where..." Haha!). Buuuut, since my county does not own any of the Blood of Kings books, and the last time I read them was in October, I requested them from Interlibrary loan about a month ago (my best book friend). And...last week my family was making an Amazon order so I ended up getting copies of By Darkness Hid and To Darkness Fled (as well as preordering Rebels, which has still not shipped...waaah!). But of course my Interlibrary loans decided to go through and the just got to the library a few days ago........I briefly considered leaving them there, but since From Darkness Won had been out of stock and I didn't order it, I had to check that one out anyway, so I just got the other two as well. :P SO! All this to say that right now, there's a stack of books on my desk: Two copies of By Darkness Hid; two copies of To Darkness Fled; one copy of From Darkness Won, one copy of Outcasts, and of course, at some point--next week, I hope--Rebels will be added to it.
I intended to wait until I had Rebels to take a picture and send it to you, but since this relates, I just went and did it the long way and described it. I'll still take the picture if you want, though. LOL :)
Now, this is a long comment already, but here are some of my "hats" this week:
- Student
- Chef
- Big sister (that alone involves several hats...)
- Dish-washer
- Sweeper
- Mail-getter
- Detective (hunting down siblings gone awry in the neighborhood...)
- Gardener
- Lizard-chaser
- Beginning driver
- Translator
- Nurse
- Phone call taker (and maker)
- Dog sitter
- Schoolwork assistant/checker
- Computer technician
- Printer technician
I'm sure I'm missing a few, plus some of these are kinda silly, but I get what you mean! :)
Oh, man, Amanda! What a trooper you are! Yes, please do take a picture! What country do you live in? And, MAN!!! Those are a lot of hats, girl! Go you.
DeleteHaha...I live in the U.S., Mrs. Williamson. ;) I did originally type "county" as "country," but I fixed it...still easy to confuse, I suppose! :)
DeleteI was referring to the county library system--should've added the library part in there :)
I'll definitely take the picture when the other book gets here!
Oh, ha ha. Sorry about that. That's what I get for reading too fast!
DeleteThe pdf worked for me. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCool, thanks!
DeleteHm. I'm able to save the .epub and .mobi files to my desktop, but I'm not able to access them on my Kindle once I've copied them again... Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I'm just copying and pasting the files into the "downloads" folder.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you using to open the files? Did you put the .mobi file on your Kindle? Or are you using the Kindle reader for the PC?
DeleteFor some reason the Kindle reader doesn't work on my PC. What I've been doing is downloading the .mobi file, cutting it from the downloads folder on my PC and then pasting it in the downloads folder on my Kindle--where most of my other eBooks seem to be saved. So yes, the .mobi file is on the Kindle (I unplugged it and plugged it in again) but it doesn't appear to be showing up.
DeleteHmm, rats! I wonder why? Can you read PDFs on your kindle?
DeleteI believe so--I'll try that now.
DeleteYep, it appears to be working fine. I'll keep fiddling around with my Kindle to see where the .mobis go, but until then I'll just satisfy myself with this PDF. Thanks!
Okay, cool!
DeleteIt worked for me, Jill. Thanks so much! Looking forward to discovering your writing. My hats are also many ... student, sister, author, dishwasher, laundress, blogger, daughter ... and a lot more.
ReplyDeleteOkay, thanks, Annie. Hey, I was a dishwasher as a teen. Me and my sister, every night, alternating washer and rinser. Sadly, I'm still the dishwasher... LOL
DeleteIt worked! I'm so excited to read these excerpts! Thanks, Jill!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Thanks for letting me know. :-)
DeleteIt worked! Thanks for the excerpts,
ReplyDeletePDF worked fine.
ReplyDeleteI've never actually read any of your books (gasp!) so I'm looking forwards to reading this! Thanks for providing all this content :)
Worked! Downloaded it on my cell. I haven't read your books either, but really want to, :)
ReplyDeleteThis week I've only wrote..but I love hats ;) always wearing them :b
It worked! :) So excited to read the excerpts!
ReplyDeleteLooks awesome! I've read most of the stuff in there... ;) Looking forward to peeking at the writing books though since I STILL haven't gotten hold of those things! Thanks Jill, so excited. ^_^
ReplyDeleteThe PDF worked for me, but the MOBI won't open in my kindle app...
It worked! I downloaded the pdf file on my iPad and opened it in iBooks and it is looking great! Looking forward to reading these, thanks so much Jill!
ReplyDeleteThe pdf worked for me! Good luck at Comic Con! :D
ReplyDeleteThe .epub worked for me. :)
ReplyDeleteThe PDF worked for me. Have fun at Comic Con. Wish I was going lol
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone! I think I'll make a note on the download page that the mobi file might cause trouble and if so, to download the pdf. Comic Con was awesome! I'll be telling all on Wednesday!
ReplyDelete