Proper way to change zones?

Hello! I am trying to make use of firewalld now that I am in F17, but documentation is slim :). I have created a zone xml file in /usr/local/lib/firewalld/zones/ and added some services to /usr/local/lib/firewalld/services/ . I have then linked them to the appropriate folders in /etc/firewalld. Even after reloading firewalld, it does not list my new zone when I issue the command firewall-cmd --get-zones. I have set my interface to use my new zone in the appropriate /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts file. Now when I issue firewall-cmd --get-zone-of-interface=eth0 I get no output, instead of "public," which was the zone it used to receive by default. If I issue "nmcli -f NAME,DEVICES,ZONE con status" it lists my new zone, so I guess that is something :). Am I doing this all wrong?! Thank you for any assistance, Patrick