Economical Horsekeeping

The beautiful Arkansas Sweet, Half-Arabian and minimally expressed Curly, is one of our homegrown mares

Few of my friends know this, but I'm writing an ebook in my spare time. That is, I was until I launched my present work intensive to finish Homegrown Pork for Storey. When that's finished, I'll wrap up my ebook and start marketing.

Over the years I've purchased quite a few ebooks as research material, always as PDF files as I don't yet own a Kindle, but until recently I hadn't given much thought to writing one. Now I'm enthused and have a list of subjects I plan to cover in this manner, including a tips and tricks guide for goatkeepers and a guide to relocating and buying a country home in the Ozarks.

This all came about after proposing a book called Economical Horsekeeping at Storey. However, print horse books aren't selling well right now. Only one in four that recently reached the presentation stage at Storey (this is when an acquisitions editor likes a proposal so much that he or she presents it to the entire editorial board) were accepted. So, since I think this is information readers need, I'm publishing the book myself.

I have had horses for 53 of my 65 years and have always had to pinch pennies to keep them. I've learned to choose horses wisely (except for our horse rescue years when need outweighed ease of horsekeeping) and to keep them hale and healthy at minimum cost. I know where and how to buy quality equipment at modest prices but that lasts and lasts. I've boarded, so I know how to choose a quality boarding experience for both horse and owner, without breaking the bank. I know how to keep horses healthy and avoid unnecessary injuries to cut down on costly veterinary bills. This is what Economical Horsekeeping is about. And, there will be bonus reports for those who buy my ebooks.

But now I have to learn the ins and outs of ebook publishing and marketing. I'm not terribly computer saavy nor am I a social media fan, but I'm going to learn to be. It's part and parcel of writing ebooks, so I'll adapt.

I've purchased and also downloaded lots of free "write your own ebook" material that I'll be talking about in upcoming posts. I'll also give you an inside look at my work on Economical Horsekeeping. For now, if you're even vaguely interested in writing and publishing your own ebooks let me recommend Jeff Goins' You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) and How to Market and Sell Your eBook by Sarah Mae, both of which are both inexpensive and brimming with pertinent information. My favorite blogger, Marelisa Fábrega, also offers a fantastic PDF guide called Write, Market, and Publish Your Ebook but her site went down recently and it isn't currently available; you can however, read it online at Squidoo.

P.S. I've set up an Economical Horsekeeping blog and will start posting to it when I've finished Homegrown Pork. I'll let you know when I do!