formatting, marketing and other suicidal endeavors

Things are coming together, more or less. My new cover is in process...my interior e-proof should be sent to me any day now.  I have now decided, from speaking with several other indie authors, that formatting is not so difficult. Now that I have a cover designer I think I may give it a try on the next book. According to one source it will take a day. Hmm...I'm recalling my frustration just two days ago when I tried to work on my Wordpress website and the button to add a photo refused to do what it was supposed to do..I tend to go ballistic rather quickly when out of my comfort zone--especially when it includes electronic devices. But if I manage this, working with Createspace will be a breeze, without all the delays that I've had to deal with. We'll see...

This past week has been devoted to marketing. I've contacted several sites for reviews with some success. I joined a paranormal writing group on Goodreads, which has a lot of interesting discussions, including one on reviews. My book is by no means a bodice ripper but since it does have a strong love story woven into it I am calling it a fantasy romance--or should it be romantic fantasy? In any case it opens up a much wider audience and gives me more options to explore. Romance seems to be a very popular genre but there also seem to be many sub-genres, from the Harlequin type to just a plain old love story and everything in between...and what exactly are the parameters? I guess I  should read a bit more before jumping in with both feet. Some of the sites I've visited have covers that depict half naked women and men that seem to point to a storyline very different from mine. And heading off in the other direction, I've come upon reviewers who will not review a book with sex scenes!

In the spirit of my new bravado, I've signed myself up to do a reading in Portland when I'm there in June! It's easy to do such things when they are in the future and in a galaxy far, far away--how will I feel in early June? I plan to drink several glasses of wine beforehand...will my slurred words make any sense? Maybe I can enlist others and put on a little skit--a dialogue scene. That actually sounds fun and a lot more entertaining for the audience of my three friends.

Do you do your own formatting? And if so, how frustrating is it, really?