Category: Publishing a book

Imagical Seasons | Book Blog Tour begun!!

ImagicalSeasons

 

I am so excited to let you know that my-very-first blog tour for my-very-first two books begun! We worked so hard to prepare this event, and I am very happy to see it started!

Wonder what is a blog tour?

A blog tour is a virtual tour to help an author to promote his book without traveling. It’s the same concept as going to one physical store on Monday and then to second score in different city on Tuesday and then fly to Europe to run third event on Wednesday and so on but instead of physical places, the author is going from blog to blog during the time frame of the tour.

My sincere thanks and deepest appreciation to all wonderful and beyond talented Amy Solovay, Faina Goberstein, Gwen Blakely Kinsler, Kathryn Vercillo, Kara Gunza, Simona Merchant-Dest, Sarah E. White,  MaryJane Hall,  Vendula Maderska and dear Jocelyn Sass for participation in the blog tour!!

Below is the schedule of all the stops along with the dates by each blog. Each blog is hosting GIVEAWAYS and SPECIAL DEALS for Blog Tour Participants:

July 13: Knitting and Crochet – Amy Solovay

July 14: Faina’s Knitting Mode – Faina Goberstein

July 15: Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings – Gwen Blakely Kinsler

July 16: Crochet Concupiscence – Kathryn Vercillo

July 17: Petals to Picots – Kara Gunza

July 18: Stylish Knits – Simona Merchant-Dest

July 19: Craft Gossip – Sarah E. White

July 20: Positively Crochet – Mary Jane Hall

July 21: Magic with Hook and Needles – Vendula Maderska

July 22: Cute Crochet – Jocelyn Sass

 

Some people think of “13” as a bad number, but I do believe in opposite as everything “13th” was good for me and I always thought of it as my lucky number, so I hope it will be lucky number for my books too!

 

A lovely and happy Monday everyone!

Alla

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Find my books at:

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ImagicalSeasons.com | Spring, volume 02

ImagicalSeasonsHome

 

First, let me introduce ImagicalSeason.com – a new home for my coming and future books, news and whatever-we-decide ;o)

All pages are almost done. The only I still need is customize Shop, which use woocommerce plugin – great plugin, but with more then hundred options to be customized (not my favorite part of task for sure). Please take a look at my new baby and let me know how you find the site, how it’s clear and easy to browsing, etc.

 

And now, let’s go for Summer book details..

 

summer_cover

 

Bring your imagination to life with magical and playful designs for little ones in your life

Add a splash of color and fun to your child’s wardrobe with this adorable Summer collection! Discover the possibilities of seven whimsical designs inspired by invigorating sights and sounds of this beautiful season. This second volume of Imagical Seasons book series with its total 38 designs will swing you into the warmest time of the year with simple and versatile patterns to be transformed into a variety of creative options. You will learn how to stitch anything from a blanket to a halter dress using the same square motif with varying yarn weights! Enjoy Alla’s inimitable designs and discover how easy it is to add the cheerful and lively spirit to your child’s look.
Each pattern is designed to spark your own creativity and includes:

  • Unique stitch diagrams that speak the international language of crochet.
  • Detailed easy-to-follow written instructions and stunning full-color photos.
  • Size ranging from 2–12 years, and there are even a couple of items for grown-ups, too!

With suggestions on how to adapt and personalize each design to make unique pieces, the projects in this book provide magical and charming hand-made treasures that grow with your Princess and stir young imaginations.

Allow your crocheting adventures to begin! Have fun with the projects and make them your own, because every little girl is special and deserving of gifts made with love!

summer_contents

 

Summer Gallery

 

Spring and Summer books are coming July, 2015!

Pre-orders: June, 15th.

 

A wonderful and sunny day everyone!

Imagical Season | Spring, volume o1

cover

 

Bring your imagination to life with magical and playful designs for little ones in your life

Spring is a perfect season to have frilly fun and to treat yourself to this charming Spring collection! Discover the possibilities of ten whimsical designs inspired by spring tenderness and awakening.This first volume of Imagical Seasons book series with its total 38 designs will swing you into a new season with simple and versatile ruffled patterns to be transformed into a variety of creative options. Enjoy Alla’s inimitable designs and discover how easy it is to add the cheerful spring spirit to your child’s look.

Each pattern is designed to spark your own creativity and includes:

  • Unique stitch diagrams that speak the international language of crochet.
  • Detailed easy-to-follow written instructions and stunning full-color photos.
  • Size ranging from 2–12 years, and there are even a couple of items for grown-ups, too!

With suggestions on how to adapt and personalize each design to make unique pieces, the projects in this book provide magical and charming hand-made treasures that grow with your Princess and stir young imaginations.

Allow your crocheting adventures to begin! Have fun with the projects and make them your own, because every little girl is special and deserving of gifts made with love!

 

spring_contents

 

designs

 

 

Spring and Summer books are coming July, 2015!

Pre-orders: June, 15th.

 

A wonderful and lovely day everyone!

Imagical Seasons | Introduction

spring_introduction

 

Good morning my dears,

With all these book’s activities and last preparations to my very first book launch, I am still so overwhelmed and just realized that here is only 6 days until pre-orders for Spring and Summer books..  oh my ;o) So I decided to post every day until June, 13th some details about the coming books. Let’s start from introduction:

 

This was my very first experience in book-writing and a true labor of love. From the very first pages I was simultaneously absorbed and exhilarated by all the ideas that kept coming and demanding to be shared.

This book grew so fast that soon it got too big to be a single volume, so instead it turned into a series of four books, one for each season. Let me introduce you to the “Imagical Seasons” collection.

“Imagical Seasons” is a series of 4 books and 38 whimsical designs that were inspired by nature and the changing seasons. Each volume, be Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter, will show you how a little imagination can:

  • Transform simple ruffle pattern into a nearly endless variety of pretty designs (in Spring book).
  • Stitch anything from a blanket to a halter dress using the same square motif with varying yarn weights (in Summer book).
  • Adapt and personalize lace-pattern-based designs to hook your own masterpieces (in Fall book).
  • Create trendy and cozy garments and accessories for those cold winter days, or a delicate coat for holidays and special occasions—based on patterns that apply variations of a simple puff stitch (in Winter book).

“Imagical Seasons” comes with lots of stunning full-page, full-color photographs, very detailed written instructions that are easy to follow, and unique stitch diagrams that speak the international language of crochet. 

All projects in these books are designed to spark your own creativity and will help you create charming hand-made treasures that will grow with your Princess and excite your creative spirit and imagination. 

And here is the best part—garments come in sizes 2 to 12 years, and there are even a couple of themes for grown-ups!

… While “Imagical” is a portmanteau word—a combination of “imagine” and “magical”, it describes perfectly what I wanted to achieve by writing this book series: bringing unique ideas to life through creative crochet designs.

Signature01

 

 

Introduction

 

 

Spring and Summer books are coming July, 2015!

Pre-orders: June, 15th.

 

A lovely and amazing day everyone!

Book proofs arrived!

51

 

My very first two books are about to be released into the world, YAY!!!

Look what I got yesterday ;o) Yes, it’s proofs of Spring and Summer books from Imagical Seasons—a series of 4 books and 38 whimsical designs. The book scheduled to arrive just by end of June.

Pre-orders starts on June, 15th! Save a date and stay tuned!

In the other news—I almost finished my new website, which also will be launched June, 15th. I’ll post more details soon.

 

9

 

3

…find a dog:

8

 

A wonderful and lovely weekend to you all!!!

Publishing the Books | In the News

summer

 

Hi my dears,

Do you like spring? I love the spring so MUCH! My mood always jumps over 101% ;o)

Especially now, when my first two books started their own “life”…

Last week I got a CIP block, barcode and anything else needed for Summer book; decided where to print my books (see copyright page above for details), signed contract for public relations services ….and both books were send to marketing agent and ready for marketing campaign. The whole process, including blog tours, reviews, preparation and distribution of press materials, etc. may take up to 3 months before book’s launch, but at least I have a plenty of time to print the books, work on my new website for Imagical Seasons; and finally I can continue to work on Winter and Fall books – I just can’t wait!

 

Also, I had an absolute pleasure to discover (and ordered for you ;o)) some “must have” notions and cute things for knitters and crocheters; as well and promotional accessories… more details later.

 

Oh, and I would LOVE to thanks again Scanova for creating for me 3D visual QR code! And for free and without ads displayed (I posted about this type of codes HERE). I love my:

imagical_seasons

 

And last news for today is that I am on half way with Pink Marguerite jacket. Yes, unfortunately, it took me much longer that I hoped. Looks as I am overly optimistic about how much time I am going to have to work on stuff and how much I have on my plate.

 

A wonderful and sunny Wednesday everyone!

Publishing The Books | Helpful Links + MORE! ;)

 

spring_cover

 

What a busy weeks, but totally educational and oh_well_exactly_what_I_ dreamed_needed_to_do_right_now things! To be shorter: ISBN, ABI, P.O. Box, SAN, EAN barcode, PCN, CIP data, copyright, decided on a discount schedule and terms, planed on future titles, submitted RFQs + very interesting experience with printing houses as I really hoped! ;o)

 

Well, I know that I have the followers working on self-publishing too and some who want to try, so bellow is more details and the helpful links:

  • ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. Each version of material needs a unique ISBN. That means you’ll need a separate for the hardcover, softcover, audio, video and e-book versions of the book. You can’t buy just one ISBN, but can order a block of  10, 100, or 1000+ from Bowker. Also, keep in mind that the owner of the ISBN number is the publisher-or-record for the book-so even if you could find another publisher willing to sell you a single ISBN number, that would identify heir publishing house—not—yours—as the publisher of the book (they would then receive the orders, the returns, the checks—you get the idea. If you give or sell one of your ISBN numbers to someone else, you are the publisher of record if they are sued for copyright violation, libel, etc.) This is not the place to cut corners; buy your own ISBNs. Since you need a different ISBN for each version of the work, you’ll need more ISBNs than you may think…
  • ABI is R.R. Bowker’s Advace Book Information form. All books announced via ABI are listed in Bowker’s Books in Print. Since Books in Print is used heavily by many in the book industry, it is definitely worthwhile to fill out an ABI. There’s no charge for the ABI service once you have ISBN numbers.
  • Rent P.O. Box takes about 5-10 min to fill in the application, but usually here is a waiting list to take the smallest size box (size 1 – $80 per year; size 2 – $129, and so on)
  • SAN stands for Standard Address Number, and identifies the different mailing addresses of multi-location companies. Unless your publishing house has multiple addresses for billing and shipping, you can safely skip this step. A SAN costs $150 and can be purchased from Bowker.
  • Once you have ISBN, title and price, you can get a barcode. The barcode specific for books is called the “Bookland EAN with price code extension” (you can see my on Spring cover above). EAN stands for European Article Number, and is international product code standard. The barcode costs between $10 and $30 and is available from variety of vendors like Barcode Graphics for example. Sure, you can buy barcode direct from Browker for $25.
  • PCN stands for Preassigned Card Number. You can apply for a PCN through the Library of Congress’s PCN program. It’s free and it’s an important part of the CIP block.
  • CIP stands for Cataloging in Publication data. This information typically found on the verso of the title page of a book (the copyright page). Librarians use this information when entering the book into their online catalogs. You can apply for a CIP through the Library of Congress’s CIP program. Or hire someone who will help you with CIP block. I found this great CIP service and so glad I did!
  • And last thing (I hope!) in this routine is copyright. I still need to check it out.

To find more information about the whole process, I highly recommend The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 days by Fern Reiss.

 

Also, I worked with printers and got really great experience and discovered a lot interesting things like described in this dictionary ;o) I’ve got quotes from 4 printing houses already, and still wait for 3 more …and the Spring and Summer books will be send to print! I’ll post about my experience with RFQs and printing houses next week.

 

And last, we have the Fall and Winter covers already! Unfortunately Windows Life Writer makes the pictures grey and I am not sure how to fix that… yeah.

 

fall_cover_front_1200

 

winter_cover_front_1200

 

a Wonderful and lovely week to you all!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!! :)

You know, it’s a pretty hard to describe the feelings of keeping the first pretty own printed book in hands. I’m speechless… and not only because the sample book has two covers and all the pages are shifted so that outer edges go inside ;o) …but because I finally can see the result of true labor of love and one more of my dreams realized… and because it’s a first one…

Spring01

 

Well, I need to polish some diagrams and few colors are not bold enough to see on a paper, but anyway it looks solid and even better then I may expected! Now, since we got an idea how the book look on paper, we want to check with couple printers and find the best solution of quality and price (hopefully, less then $15 per book as it is estimated now).
I am looking forward to update you with new status!

 

Spring02

 

 

 

Happy and lovely Monday everyone!!

Happy Holidays, Giveaways + MORE!

2015

 

The snow is falling (somewhere, not in Seattle) and the wonderful season is already here.
I hope that everyone has a very special and awesome holidays!

 

Been crazy busy last months, I slowly started to realize that one of my dreams is accomplished and I met the goal of 2014 just in a time for holidays! ;o) Yes, you are right—I am talking about my first Imagical Seasons™ crochet books! 

I still can’t believe that Spring and Summer books are scheduled for print and the samples should be ready in a middle of January, yay!!!!!! I want to take a moment to thanks once again so many wonderful people for these books, for all your support, inspiration, inestimable advice and encouragement at exact moment when I needed them. I definitely couldn’t have done it without you.

 

Oh my, I feel already excited for what this new year will bring. Not to mention that I’m on half way with creating my new Spring 2015 collection and a new website for Imagical Seasons™ ;o) More details are coming!

 

Want a sneak peek of Spring book preview? Below is a “rich” one:

 

Spring Cover2

SpringSneakPeek03

SpringSneakPeekMAG007_05

SpringSneakPeekMAG003_07

 

SpringSneakPeekMAG004_04 SpringSneakPeekMAG007_08

 

 

This time of year is the perfect time to reflect and show appreciation. I want to give my love to everyone. I am truly grateful for all of my readers, family, and friends that have and continue to support me in my journey. Honestly, I could never have done it without you all!

 

And just in time for holidays, I am more than happy to inform you that I have two giveaways for YOU!

 

1. One lucky one from anywhere in the world will win a Visa Gift Card of $50 value

 

 

ATM-Visa-Gift-Card

 

 

2. And a second giveaway is for Surprise Gift about of $60-65 value from one of three categories listed below:

  • supplies for knitting and crocheting (for example, from amazing Lantern Moon)
  • something exciting for home-sweet-home
  • beauty and care (from my favorite Moroccan oil for example), makeup products (Bobbi Brown or MAC), or even brushes from fabulous Hakuhodo

 

Giveaway

 

TO ENTER THE CONTEST

You can enter the contest in 3 ways:

  • Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this post. No other action is required otherwise you don’t mind to share which one of this sets you like more ;o)
  • Optional Entry # 2: Blog about these giveaways, linking to this post, and leave another comment to this post with a link to your blog post.
  • Optional Entry # 3: Share this post on your accounts: at Google+, Facebook, Ravelry, Twitter, Yahoo, etc., leave one more comment on this post (if possible, with your link, but here is no any obligations). You also can just share my original Google+ and Facebook posts. Share on more networks for more entries! (one additional entry per one network).


TERMS

  • This contest starts today, December, 25 2014 and will end on January 1, 2015 at 11:59pm PST.
  • I’ll select the winners with random.org’s random number generator. Winners will be notified by email on Friday, January 2, 2015.

 

 

May this year of 2015 be
a year of health & happiness
a year of wealth & wisdom
a year of peace & prosperity
And also, a year of love, laughter and joy!

 

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
All the best to you and your family,
Yours.

Publishing The Books | Covers Update

We’ve polished the book covers, and here is a final version:

final covers_rev10_spring and summer_pluss back cover

 

There’s no limit to perfection ;o)

 

And we got spine and back cover too! What do you think?

final covers_rev10_spring and summer_pluss back cover

 

A wonderful and lovely Thursday everyone!!