Hey! The Mumbo Jumbo Circus is live on Barnes & Noble for Nook. 
One down. Kindle should be available soon and other venues too as soon as my file is approved by the man behind the curtain at Smashwords.

Here, I must thank Mark Coker for his formatting style guide. If you want to self-publish, READ THIS FIRST!

I hired a professional for formatting and conversion, Chris O'Byrne of the E-book Editor. He was very patient with me. Having worked in offset printing, I was married to the concept of the printed page. In order to embrace e-books, one must literally go with the flow. I am also a perfectionist/oh-hell-with-it Jekyll and Hyde. A trait shared among more than one Creative, I think. Ebook technology is not perfect. As Chris told me, "It's the wild, wild west." 

Knowledge and experience are the ways to build a house to drop on the Wicked Glitch of the Wild West. (But I draw the line at learning HTML. Dammit Jim, I'm a writer not a coder, that's why I sought out Chris.) And also, I now expect the glitch to happen. With almost every step. So I learn. Breathe. And fix it. 

I loved setting up the print file, gleefully working late into the night with The Shins playing in the background. But I would have been better off getting more sleep. As soon as I ordered the print proof I realized the indentations were all WRONG. Throughout the entire book. How had I not seen that!!! Hyde shot herself in the foot again. This time with an old-fashioned six-shooter. And now I have to wait for UPS to deliver the deformed offspring.

But I'll learn. Breathe. And fix it!

And sometime real soon here, I'll get back to the most important business at hand.

WRITING.

Stay tuned for the Official Book Release Announcement Contest! There will be a nifty prize.

Version A, the Ringmaster, and Version B, the Big Top Scene, ended up in a virtual dead heat. I read everyone's comments here and on Facebook and thought deeply about what you folks were saying. And then I put together a cover that incorporated the simpler, eye-catching design of A with the inclusion of the heroine in B. 

I'm thinking I might open a Cafe Press store and make shirts and mugs out of the other covers. At the least they'd make good contest giveaways, right? :-)

All the illos are done. So is the manuscript and cover. I'm having the e-book professionally formatted. I'll let you know how that goes. And then...the first week of April is my launch for The Mumbo Jumbo Circus!

Okay, here's the tagline for The Mumbo Jumbo Circus:

Evanja Leane, a fifteen year-old runaway foster kid, must conquer her fear of horses to save the struggling magical circus she wants to be her home.

Which cover works best and makes you want to purchase the book? Take the poll at the end.

THANKS FOR VOTING! Your day will now be filled with happy shamrocks. Leave your feedback in the Comments. All feedback appreciated. :-)