Books Are Here!

 Not one, not two, but four BIG boxes of books have arrived! Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading is now published! 

I was almost afraid to open the boxes.  What if I'd overlooked some terrible error in my final document files?  What if the books had all been damaged in shipping?  What if they weren't actually my book?  (okay, I was pretty sure that last one wouldn't be the case, but....)


After a series of deep breaths, I dared myself to open and unpack the boxes.  Here's what they looked like unpacked:

But a friend who watched me unpack the books said this picture was too boring.  So she made me pose with the books:

Can you can guess what I'll be working on this next week?

Actually, I'll be splitting my time between signing books and putting together packages, and continuing to work on the Kindle version of the book, (which is turning out to be every bit as difficult as I'd feared).

If you're interested, I have a very limited number of signed copies available on my Etsy store.  This first order is most of the books are already spoken for.  I will be placing another order, but likely won't have those books in until January.  Budget constraints - sigh!

As a special thank you for still following my poor, neglected blog; if you purchase my book through Etsy, write 'Congratulations Karen' in the notes to seller.  Do that and I'll include a set of five randomly chosen postcards featuring works from the book along with your book.


Just a heads up - Ordering directly through Amazon may be a less expensive option.  Because Createspace (my printer) is one of their subsidiaries and Amazon ships books in such volumes; they may be able to offer discounts that I simply can't.  Explorations should be live on Amazon by Monday. (12/2/2014 update:  Here is the link to Amazon).  But only I can offer personalized inscriptions and postcards!

This Thanksgiving weekend, I have an incredible amount to be thankful for.  I am grateful for my Kickstarter supporters who believed in this project from the beginning.  For my dear husband who led the cheerleading squad and cooked many a dinner when I was simply too tired.  For all of you, my blogging friends, who have sent me much needed words of encouragement throughout the process.  And I am so very, very pleased to be able to announce that the books are complete.  Amazing!

Thank you all for your part in helping make this happen.

Book Cover for Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading

I've neglected my poor blog quite terribly this past year while working on my upcoming book.   In between book projects, I forget just how much work goes into self-publishing.  After designing, stitching and photographing new designs; writing the accompanying text; drawing illustrations on the computer; coordinating with my amazing cast of contributing artists; working through the seemingly never-ending tasks of page layout and design; then taking the manuscript through multiple revisions, there simply wasn't much of me left over.  But the good news is I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel! 

Explorations is heading to the printers this week, so I thought it was about time to post the front and back covers.    Drum roll please!

Kickstarter supporters got to vote on a couple of different cover designs earlier this month.   My Coral Dancer bracelet definitely came out ahead in the voting for the front cover.  Its bold colors carried the day.

The back cover features a collage of works by my seven featured artists: Georgia McMillan, Wendy Hatton, Cynthia Machata, Jennifer Porter, Nancy Dale, Janice Cuozzo and Natalia Malysheva.

The book topped out at 174 pages of freeform beady goodness.  Each of the featured artists has a five-page spread of their work.  Explorations also includes works by fourteen additional artists besides yours truly.

Once the book is at the printers,  I'll have a clearer idea of when I will have books in-hand.  At that point I'll set up my Etsy store to accept pre-orders.  I also hope to have a Kindle version out by mid-December.  That's a whole separate endeavor, and should be 'interesting' to say the least as this will be my first attempt to publish for Kindle.

But for now, I'm just going to bask in the glow of the new covers.