New Update for the new year

New Update For the new year

Hi.
I’m Robert E Kreig and I make stuff up.

When I first started my indie-writing journey, I knew it would be hard work. 
The ongoing balancing war between work and leisure; professional and personal life; as well as the many things that life throws at you unexpectedly; continue their burdensome onslaught daily as I press on to produce the books I like to read.
This past year, I’ve taken to re-releasing my works into print format. To do so, I cut ties with a company who distributed my works so I could try a different avenue.
The company I previously chose wasn’t a terrible company. They are exceedingly professional and do exactly what they advertise, and I have only good things to say about them.
I changed my path for this journey because it suited me to do so.
The first, and probably the major, choice I made this year was to start my publishing company. I created Whitekeep Books and registered it as a working publishing house. So far, I’m happy with this decision as including the company’s logo on the spine adds an element of professionalism to the product.
In a way, I can say an actual publisher has published me. On the other hand, I’m not taking clients. But who knows what the future holds?
The second decision, to go with Ingram Spark for the creation and distribution of my works. For anyone considering Ingram Spark, I can sincerely vouch for them. I’ve heard very few negative stories about their support, but I’ve not had any problems getting in touch with someone and getting the help I need within a very short timeframe. In saying that, the negative stories I’ve heard are mostly from the USA. I live in Australia and have neither heard any dreadful stories about Ingram Spark from here, nor experienced anything of the sort. If I have ever experienced anything worthy of complaint, it’s because of my actions, not theirs.
Third, I chose a brilliant cover designer for The Chronicles of Woodmyst series. Dee Dee Book Covers is one of the most brilliant and extraordinary individuals I’ve ever had the opportunities to work with. It’s amazing to see what she can do with just a brief description of the book from me. I’m so looking forward to her next project and can’t wait for you to see the entire series upon completion.
Fourth, I purchased a subscription to Atticus for the sake of book designing. I’ve toyed with it a little, using an incomplete manuscript to test out its capabilities. Like Ingram Spark, which has its own book building tool, Atticus offers several templates to choose from. Unlike Ingram Spark, Atticus offers customisation of templates, allowing you to produce unique layouts of your work.
Admittedly, because it is a relatively new platform, I struggled with a few things in Atticus. It works simply enough and its operations are straightforward. I had issues with personalising certain templates until I discovered the customise options. Again, like with Ingram Spark, I reached out for help and received a response within the hour. That’s not bad considering I’m in Australia and they’re in the United States and the time difference indicated it was beyond bedtime over there.
Last, I’ve started writing another novel. This might not mean that much to you, but it’s a big deal for me. For the past year and a bit, I’ve struggled with starting a new project, mainly because of moving from Sydney to Canberra for work. Work itself played a major part in hindering my writing, as with starting at a new workplace can also provide many hurdles. On top of that, we had the Covid disruptions whereby we worked from home and/or had to go in to work the work site with a skeleton crew of staff. I could write a whole other blog containing the many, many things that school staff members (particularly teachers) work through daily, but Covid presented so much more.
In truth, I felt exhausted when we returned to work full time again.
Sitting down to write just didn’t appeal to me.
But, with some reinvigoration, I’ve started plotting and planning for the next book. If all goes to plan, it will be the first in a new fantasy series. If not, it will be a stand-alone book.
We’re in the early phases at the moment, so there is a very long way to go yet.
With that, I think I’ll wrap things up here.
Final words, I'm writing this in Friday 31st December 2021, waiting 2022 to begin. My hope is for the new year to be a far better one than the previous and current. One way readers might contribute is to please leave reviews for any books you purchase on the bookstore sites you purchase them from.
Also, be sure to visit the site links below.

http://www.robertekreig.com/
http://www.whitekeepbooks.com/

All the best, pleasant reading and Happy New Year,
Robert.

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