3 Years

August 9th, 2011 was the day I self-published my first book, "The Dreamers: A Story of Sam Kullen." I was thirteen years old. The moment I clicked that "publish" button that afternoon, my life changed forever. And now it's been three years.

I'm sixteen now, (and I mean, that's not the only difference between now and then, haha) and I have since published two other books. It's been such an incredible journey since the push of that button.

A number of thousands of copies of "The Dreamers" and my other books occupy eReaders and bookshelves all around the world--just this last week spreading to countries like Israel and Brazil. It's difficult for me to fathom how incredible that is. The fact that something I wrote has made its way into such diverse corners of the globe as these is mind-blowing. To think that the words I've so often worked over now appear and change peoples' lives around the world is such a special feeling.

I've had so many special experiences. Whether its meeting kids in book signings, reading positive reviews, teaching about what I do, or networking with some of my favorite authors of all time, each experience has inspired me. Inspired me to do better, to be an influence for good, and to simply keep doing what I'm doing.

My life will never be the same, and I'm glad. Thank you for making these past three years some of the best of my life. Thanks for making me feel like a rockstar, and for reading my books, and sharing them with your friends. Here's to another three years. Let's see where they go.

Oliver Dahl
www.oliverdahl.com

An Abundance of Things

WOW, a lot has happened since my last post! I feel bad for falling so far behind. I hope you guys will forgive me! I'll just do my best to make up for it with an intense post. How does that sound? And to get you guys excited, there is going to be some REALLY AWESOME NEWS about a certain sale going on at the end of this post. And maybe a funny picture or two for you. Maybe.

First order of business: New author photos! I got a few pictures taken, that now are on the back cover of The Dreamers Second Edition, and The Nightmarers as well. New author photos on ALL the books!

 Next order of business: This little award! The Idaho Book Extravaganza, a program held every year to help educate and support authors, writers, publishers, readers, and books of Idaho, holds an awards ceremony every year. They award people who produce the best books, covers, interior design, and more in Idaho. These award categories are split into subsections for fiction and nonfiction. This year, The Dreamers Second Edition won an "Honorable Mention" for Idaho's TOP 10 FICTION BOOKS!

Many other extremely talented writers and inspiring people were awarded at the event. Lots of hard work went into the event, and it was a great success. Everybody in and out of this picture is fantastic. 

(And I'm not excluding you, dear reader).

Can you find me in the picture? Where's Waldo Oliver? :)

Earlier, I had the opportunity to speak at my local library for a few minutes on self-publishing, and how I published my books. It was pretty fun, and also inspiring to see young kids interested in how to accomplish something. (Back in June, I taught a week-long publishing course at CSU to kids of the same age group for the second time, which was also a LOT of fun!)

And on to more recent news, (as in, earlier TODAY news...)

I finished NaNoWriMo! 50,000 words in the month of November. This is my second consecutive win, third win overall, and fourth year participating! More information on the book I wrote for NaNo (and am continuing to write!) can be found here.

The moral of this post:

BONUS CONTENT: ("But wait, there's more!)

Do you know what this is? This is the schedule for my Kindle Countdown Deal! (Cyber Monday, Holla!) Next to the date, it has the price that the book will be on that date. This means that on December Second, you can get The Dreamers for just 99 CENTS! Each following day will add a dollar to the price until it's back to its normal price. (So hurry, before the price goes up!) Here's where the SPECIAL part comes in! The Nightmarers will have the same deal going on at the same time. So you could pick up the entire series so far for less than the price of ONE of them normally!

Just like last time, with great power savings, comes great responsibility. Well, not really. But it sure would be nice if you could leave a nice review of both books on Amazon, and share the deal with your friends! This helps lead to more sales later down the road, so I can afford to keep writing and entertaining and stuff. I don't want a deskjob. Or a job at McDonalds. Or Burger King. (Though Wendy's wouldn't be that bad, would it?) This promo helps you get a great deal, and if you help me out a little in return, helps me out a LOT!

Thanks, you guys are awesome! Stay sweet!

Dream on!

Oliver Dahl

&

Sam Kullen

"The Dreamers" FREE on Amazon Kindle!!

Hey everybody! It's been a while since I've blogged over here. (Sorry about that/you're welcome, whichever ;))

If you read the title, and I'm assuming you have, or did just now, I hope you're as excited as I am!
This Thursday through Saturday, September 26-28, my first published novel, "The Dreamers" (Second Edition!) is going to be FREE to download on your Kindle, or Kindle reading app. Here's the rundown.

Between September 26-28, click RIGHT HERE and download "The Dreamers."

If you're new to my blog, or don't know anything about "The Dreamers," here's a Summary.

Sam is a Dreamer. This means that he can live inside of his dreams. In them, he must stop the evil Malfix from taking over not just the Dream Realm, but earth as well. Sam's adventures bring him through races, mazes, explosions, battles, and yes, the occasional cheesy knock-knock joke.

"The Dreamers" is Young Adult/Middle Grade Modern Science Fiction/ Fantasy/ Action/ Adventure. It's got a little bit of everything. It's been enjoyed by people from the 3rd grade on up, and currently has a 4 Star Average rating on Amazon.com.

"The Dreamers" was originally written when I was 12 years old back in November of 2011 for NaNoWriMo. Since then, it has been edited time and time again, published, awarded, and enjoyed by hundreds of people. On September 19th, "The Dreamers" got a Second Edition.

This second edition resolves past spelling, grammatical, and formatting errors that slipped through and may have hindered the reading experience.

The existing reviews on the Amazon page for "The Dreamers" are for the First, Original Edition. Any and all points made about grammatical mistakes, formatting errors, etc. are null and corrected!! :D

So why am I giving it away for free?!
I want to get The Dreamers in as many hands as I can. Knowing that my book has been read/downloaded thousands of times is already mind blowing for me to think about. I want as many people to join Sam in his adventures as I can. I want to share what was formerly trapped in my head with other people! Plus, these downloads can hugely impact sales afterward, by showing up on pages' "Readers who bought this book, also bought..." Sections. This will help the entire series out by getting it some further Amazon promotion.

How can I help?
Why, thank you for asking! ;)

1. WRITE A REVIEW ON AMAZON!

People don't realize how much of a difference a positive Amazon review can make. Five minutes of your time and some kind words not only mean a LOT to me, they can help influence other potential readers to give it a try. New reviews honestly make my day, and help inspire me to write more.

2. SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

I want this going viral, folks! Getting onto Bestselling charts is one of the best and most profitable ways to promote the book. But... It's also one of the hardest. A simple tweet, Facebook post or share, YouTube video, blog post... ANYTHING can help a LOT! If any of those results in ONE more download, that's one more satisfied reader, potential review, potential sale of "The Nightmarers," or even an Amazon review! 

Add "The Dreamers" to your GoodReads. Share it with your friends, there! It's super easy if you already have an account, and your friends will appreciate a quality free read. (Same goes with Facebook, Twitter... All of those!)

3. GET THE SEQUEL!

If you enjoy "The Dreamers," be sure to grab a copy of "The Nightmarers," too! I think, and from what I've heard from the first readers, it is BETTER than The Dreamers! (Can you imagine?? I didn't think that was possible, seeing as The Dreamers is so good! ;)) Oftentimes, sequels can be a let-down after the original book. I was worried this was going to be the case, but as I typed "The End" and heard back from beta readers, I knew that The Nightmarers was a new step in a better direction. Full of more mind-bending dreamstuff, gunfights, prison breaks, new worlds, new people, and new villains, "The Nightmarers" is a whole new kind of epic.

Thank you for helping my dreams come true!!
Oliver Dahl
&
Sam Kullen

The Dreamers Series

The Dreamers by Oliver Dahl

About The Dreamers: Sam Kullen is a Dreamer. Every night he dreams, and he lives in each one. Together, the Dreamers must stop Malfix from taking over the Dream Realm, and earth itself. The Dreamers also have the ability to control events on earth through their dreams. Sam and the Dreamers must prevent Malfix from controlling things... for the worse.

Praise for The Dreamers: 

"...an adventure with colourful landscapes and fantastic feats of manipulation of dream-stuff that rivals the magic in tales of wizardry that are the manna of the Fantasy reader...."

"...You won't be disappointed!"

"Holds...well against many books written by much older authors... Never a dull moment...amusing and undeniably creative..."

The Dreamers has won the author several awards, including Top 50 ID Author 2011 (as chosen by Friesens) and Idaho Student of the Year (selected by Idaho PTA). At times, it has remained in the top 3-5% of all books and Kindle books on Amazon.com, and even outsold other popular, traditionally published authors at these times. Several famous authors own autographed copies of The Dreamers, including Brandon Mull, Richard Paul Evans, and Obert Skye, to name a few.

Need something else? You can read the introduction to The Dreamers for free!

The Dreamers can be purchased in most online bookstores, as well as a few brick-and-mortar (physical) stores. It can be requested to be added to inventory at any Barnes & Noble in America. As for online stores, The Dreamers is available in the following places:

• Amazon Paperback
• Amazon Kindle
• Barnes & Noble Nook
• Sony Reader
• Apple iBooks
• Kobo Reader

About The Nightmarers: After losing all of its members in the war with Malfix, Sam Kullen has to rebuild his team of Dreamers in time to face the ultimate nightmare. After being wrongly accused, Sam and The Dreamers must come together to prove their innocence, rescue those imprisoned after the war, and unveil the true culprit. Once again they must save the day, all the while trying to maintain their underground status; not only in our world, but in other realms as well.

* * *

What people are saying about The Nightmarers: 

"It felt new and fresh but in a familiar context - a rarity for a second book in a series. Plenty of action and good versus evil"

You can read through chapter 4 of The Nightmarers without even leaving my blog!


The Nightmarers:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4

You can also read through Chapter 8 in the Kindle preview on Amazon.com.

The Nightmarers is also available in many places online. Below are just a few of the most popular places/formats to get it!

• Amazon Paperback
• Amazon Kindle
• Barnes & Noble Nook (coming soon)
• Sony Reader (coming soon)
• Apple iBooks (coming soon)

If you have read and/or purchased The Nightmarers or The Dreamers, I'd like to thank you right now for doing so. It's because of people like you that independently and self-published authors can be successful. Your help and support means a lot. Thank you.

Follow @OliverWDahl on Twitter.

Like The Dreamers on Facebook!  

And forget about Google+, because screw them.
But, if you really want to...


Dream on!
Oliver Dahl
&
Sam Kullen

1 Year Anniversary of The Dreamers!

It's hard to believe. One year ago, today, August 9th, The Dreamers: A Story of Sam Kullen launched into publication. It's been held on bookstores' shelves (online and off) for an entire year. And what a year it has been!

As the author, I have earned several awards from The Dreamers, including Top 50 Idaho Author, and Idaho Student of the Year, to name a few.

To this day, The Dreamers has maintained ONLY 5-star reviews on Amazon.com, and continues to get very positive reviews at places like Goodreads, and others.

TheDreamersAdventures has gained nearly 7,000 views since The Dreamers' publication, and the stats continue to steadily grow. Sam's blog has also had views from nearly 30 countries worldwide.

I've had book signings all over, as well, from Idaho to Colorado, signing books to people of all ages.

This last July, I taught two week-long writing and publishing classes on a college campus. See my post, CSU Writing Project for more information about this.

With over 11 HUNDRED twitter followers, nearly 100 Facebook Likes, and guest posts, interviews, and spotlights all over the Internet, The Dreamers is becoming more and more "famous" online! :)

With The Nightmarers' release looming ahead, this audience is sure to get bigger, and the series itself more popular. I am very excited to be able to say that I published the greater part of a series before finishing my first year of high school.

As I build my audience and platform, I plan to submit some of my other ideas to "mainstream" publishers, and lead myself to my ultimate goal, New York Times Bestseller.

As future years come and pass, I know that I will be getting closer and closer to that goal. I thank you so much for reading this post, The Dreamers, other bits and bobs about me online, or all three. Thank you for helping me achieve my goal, and getting closer and closer to living MY dream.


Thank you for the great year, and for many more to come!

Dream on!
Oliver Dahl
&
Sam Kullen

P.S. As a technical difficulty, my past post, "News and the New Look" has been deleted, along with its comments. Don't ask me why, it just happened. I am angry and sad about it too. It truly was a great post. It will be missed. Sorry, everyone.

Giveaway

Hey, everyone! I think it's about time I do a giveaway! What do you think? For those fans with eReaders--Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Sony, etc.--who would like a copy for their device, now is their chance to get one FREE! Not only that, but when you order now, we'll double your offer! ...Okay. That's not entirely true. I'm getting sales pitch-y. Sorry.  : )

Anway... The winner receives a FREE eBook edition of The Dreamers which ALSO will happen to be signed TO the winner in the eBook. They will receive an autographed eBook, just like a print reader would get their copy signed physically. How does this work? Click here to learn how!

The giveaway will last until July 31, and will start at the end of June. To get your name entered multiple times, you can follow the instructions in the giveaway. Best of luck to everyone!  : )

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Self-Publishing

  This post was originally a guest post on TCWT's blog, http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/. It's a really great place to visit and highly recommend it to any young writer on this blog. Check out the full post, and more over there.

 * * *

  Your agent calls you, requesting that you call a big-wig in the movie-making industry concerning the film and production rights for your hugely popular book. Unfortunately, you have to put that off for a moment, as you are on the way to the airport to go on a national book tour for your book... all set up by your agent, and industrial publishing house. (First class flying, of course). While checking in on your multimillion followers on Twitter and Facebook, you discover that the enhanced, specially formatted eBook version of your book became #1 on the Kindle Bestselling list. You sigh contentedly, knowing that it was about time it joined its New York Times and USA Today bestselling print version. (It had been in the top one hundred bestselling for months... just days after its release). As you sit down on your plane, you open an envelope that contains your royalty check. With a long-practiced movement, you slide the paper out and examine the figures. (There's a lot of zero's.)

  ...Unfortunately for just about every writer and author out there, excluding the big guys, (James Patterson, Stephen King, Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins, J.K. Rowling, and others) this wonderful, common day dream of mine is certainly not easy to obtain. But possible...? Perhaps.
  As I have heard, please jump up and disagree with me here if I’m wrong, but statistics show that only about 1-5% of all manuscripts sent into a mainstream publishing house are ever published. Simply put, its not easy. In addition, only 1% of all published books become bestsellers. Inspired for the day?
  But what if I told you there was a different way to publish, that changed the first one to five percent to a 100% chance of getting published? The method I will discuss here is called self-publishing.
  Self publishing is one of those words like "author interview," or "guest post." (aha, so clever!). It's when you publish by yourself. (Upon editing, my inner editor kindly reminded myself not to include the word in the definition.) Self-publishing is when you release your material generally on your own. Don't picture yourself running off copies in Kinko’s, stapling pages together and selling them at your school. It's not like that, fortunately. To be honest, when I first began reading up on these things, that what I thought self publishing was.
  Upon further investigation, and experience, I have learned that it is much different. Especially nowadays. Even 2-3 years ago, (especially as you go further back in time,) publishing was harder. To self publish, you had to invest thousands... even hundreds of thousands of dollars and hours to get published. That, or you could attempt, with no certain guarantee, to publish industrially. Nowadays, within less than a month, you can physically write, edit, and publish a book. This, however, I would highly suggest you refrain from. Even if you participate in NaNoWriMo, writing your book is the most you should do with a book in a month. Editing and publishing really should take longer than that. I’m just saying that its possible, with modern technology.
  But, if you already have your book written, it is quite simple to self-publish. It sounds hard, but to be perfectly honest... it's surprisingly easy.
  If your book is written, every scene and word, the first thing you need to do to get published is: EDIT! I’m telling you, this is THE most important step. I’m serious. Not even kidding. Its essential that you do not skimp out on this portion.
OK, now that you have that done, (or at least in your head,) we can go to the next step.

1. If you want, you can pay some company 200 or more dollars to do most of the work for you. Be warned—look into the company a TON first. I would recommend NOT using companies whose packages exceed 5,000 dollars. Seriously. Don't spend that much. More on this later.
2. OR you could sign up for a FREE account with websites like CreateSpace or LuLu. (This is what I did; with CreateSpace.)
1. If you want, you can pay both companies to do specific things with your book. Need a cover? Need it edited or reviewed? Want to have illustrations? Both companies have varying packages that usually range from 50-1000$, depending on what you want done.
2. Both of these websites also have various templates that help you format your book, and design a cover. These are free, you just have to do it yourself. Neither are very difficult to do, but will take some time and patience to get used to.
　
3. Follow the steps for each publisher. They should be relatively simple. The steps vary for both companies, but are fairly similar.
4. At one point, you will be asked to upload a PDF version of your book. Select it like you would if you were uploading a picture to Facebook from your computer or flash drive. It works the same way.
5. At one point, you will also be asked to either upload, or create, a cover for your book. I used CreateSpace's CoverCreator program. (Are any of the CombinedWords with CaptialLetters annoying to you?) LuLu's is again fairly similar, though, to me, is a bit more difficult. It also lacks good solid templates and built-in pictures. Book design/pattern is also fairly limited.
6. At another point, you should be asked to give distribution information. This is where it gets exciting. This is where you get to choose where you want your book to be sold. I found that at CreateSpace, Amazon.com comes as a free channel, as well as your eStore. For about a 40$ upgrade, you could potentially get into bookstores. (I got myself on both B&N's AND Border's online catalogs due to this upgrade. I recommend it. It also gets you into Ingram, so you can have book signings at most stores.)
7. Order a proof copy. This is a rough draft of the actual book, what it will look like when people buy it. This is a very exciting, very influential day. I cannot simply express how wonderful a day it is when the package of your book comes. It's like Christmas... but better, in some ways. It's the very reason you've labored so many hours over the computer. And... it's awesome. : )
8. Review the proof. Make sure everything looks good. Maybe do one final round of editing. Don't do too much. You shouldn't have to change very much, if anything at all, after your proof copy.
9. "Click here to publish." I’m not even kidding. That's all you do in the end. Click a button. That's all you do. You click that the proof was okay, and then you click a button that says "publish." I’m not downplaying it, or anything. I have a post on my blog about it, when I Published my book. I was surprised that was all I had to do!

  Well. There you go. That's pretty much all you have to do. A long list, perhaps. Most things on there take a little while to do. Let me give you some averages for my book, The Dreamers, then I'll tell you a little bit about it.
  I spent less than a month writing it. (Thanks, NaNoWriMo!). I easily spent 5-6 months editing. This was not gentle editing, either. Entire pages crossed out, every other word corrected for paragraph after paragraph. (Thanks, Dad! You made it better!) And then I made the cover, and prepared sales channels while I was editing. Including that time, publishing in all probably took 2-3 months. Maybe more. Like I said, though. If you have a complete novel, and you are sure that it is perfectly written and formatted. After you make a cover, you can have your book published within the hour. On amazon.com within the week.
　
　
  One of the questions I was asked to answer was "are teens too young?"
I don't think so. Websites like KidPub have self-published authors even younger than 8 years old!
  "Is it too much of a responsibility?" is another question I was asked. This depends. You definitely have to do a LOT if you want your book to sell. But it's possible! More on this later. If you do nothing, then, chances are, your books wont sell as well as commercially published ones. Even if you do, this is unfortunately likely. (Just look at James Patterson! He even has people write his books!)
  For example, because I have communicated with principals, librarians, and bookstore managers, at nearby schools and book stores, I have been able to do booksignings up to twice a month at school bookfairs and local stores. At one of these events, (granted, my own school,) I sold over 50 books in 3 days, making over 400$ in profit. However, such book signings at "foreign" schools and bookfairs have resulted in as low as three to five books being sold... or 30 to 40$ in profit.
  One thing that helps all authors, though especially self-published ones, and me, is looking around online. You will find endless niceties on the internet. That's how I found this blog. That is how I partially found the Idaho Book Extravaganza, and how I was later named a "Top 50 Idaho Author". That was how I became acquainted with many professionals in the publishing world.
  If you are already self-published, things that I believe will help you are: Social Media, (an online presence), and having an eBook version of your book available.

  eBooks are a whole other world. After much research on the internet, I found that conditions are fairly similar, despite the many other differences out there. You can pay one company up to $1000 dollars to format your eBook, or you can do it yourself. I personally, found it too difficult to do myself, so I payed Book Baby, an eBook company, 120$ to do it for me. They gave me an ISBN, formatted the manuscript for each eReader individually, and give me 100% after Amazon.com, the Sony Reader store, the iBookstore, and the Nook Store, and growing market take their share. Their customer service was excellent.
  Well...this pretty much concludes my post on Self Publishing. It is a wonderful thing, that has revolutionized the publishing industry. If you would like to learn more, don't hesitate to email me at oliverdbooks@hotmail.com.

Dream on!
Sam Kullen
&
Oliver Dahl