Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged amazon, Beneath a Wounded Sky, CreateSpace, creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, novel writing, proof copy, publishing, self-publishing, Writing, writing tips on 28 Sep 2012| 5 Comments »
We have proof!
Yesterday, Brown delivered the proof for FC:I, and once again I was reminded of just how important a hardcopy proof is. For you out there who are thinking about self-publishing a hardcopy book, always get a physical proof copy of the book.
So, how was it?
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged Beneath a Wounded Sky, creative writing, ebooks, Fallen Cloud Saga, Kindle, novel writing, publishing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 18 Sep 2012| 1 Comment »
Counting words used to be important. It also used to be arcane.
As the physically printed word goes slowly out of style, the importance of word count diminishes. When I worked as a head pressman at a small newspaper, word count was king because word count translated to column inches, and you only had so many of those in each issue. Reporters typed up their story, handed it to the typesetter who typed it into a machine the size of a van. Long strips of paper came out the far side which we then painstakingly—and absolutely literally—cut and pasted onto the page mock-up. Word count gave us an idea of how much space each article would use. But it was not a literal count of the words.
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged amazon, Beneath a Wounded Sky, books, creative writing, e-readers, ebooks, editing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Kindle, novel writing, novels, publishing, self-publishing, Writing on 16 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
Cover art is here! I’ve also decided that I won’t be going with a hardback version of these books; production costs are too high and the demand is too low. We’ll be putting these out in trade paper and in e-book formats.
Onward!
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Low Tech, Writing, tagged amazon, Beneath a Wounded Sky, books, creative writing, ebooks, editing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Kindle, low-tech solutions, novel writing, publishing, self-publishing, small business, Writing, writing tips on 07 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
I heard back from Fairwood Press, yesterday. As publisher of Dreams of the Desert Wind (my genre-mashup of speculative fiction, thriller, and corporate espionage), I wanted to give them the “right of first refusal” on the new FC:V. The good news is that Fairwood is doing very well; the bad news is that their docket is filled for 2013, and they couldn’t entertain this title until 2014.
That’s too long a wait. So, I’m moving ahead; Beneath a Wounded Sky will be published by Mouse Road Press (i.e., me) as part of a full, five-book release of The Fallen Cloud Saga.
Which means that everything is now on my plate. Including cover art.
I have an advantage here. I don’t care if this project makes money. In fact, I assume it won’t. So, if I have covers that don’t tick all the boxes on the marketing strategy checklist, no worries. But I do want to have good-looking covers.
However, I do not want to have the standard-style, heavy-detail, photo-realistic cover of men and machines that you see on almost every alternate history title on the shelf. I want something different.
I’m thinking: minimalist.
There’s a new meme out there. Do a Google search on “minimalist movie poster” and you’ll see what I mean. These are evocative but very stylized images. Most of them play on a previous knowledge of the movie, but they needn’t. They’re eye-catching, they’re clean and easy to understand, and they tell a little story all on their own.
So, I’m reaching out to some of my friends who have graphic art experience, to get their input on the process. I already have concept art for each of the five covers. Three of them are pretty much final product, in fact (yes, I was working on this ahead of time, having predicted the Fairwood response).
These covers will be unusual, setting them apart from the standard cover art for the genre. They will have a uniform “look and feel” to them, identifying them as a set. And since I won’t have to use any stock photo images (bonus), they will also be completely free of royalty costs.
I’m not an artist—I’m saving that learning curve for my retirement—but I understand the basics of design. With some educated guidance, I hope I can come up with a set of covers that will do my series proud.
k
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged amazon, Beneath a Wounded Sky, creative writing, ebooks, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Kindle, novel writing, novels, publishing, self-publishing, Writing, writing tips on 06 Sep 2012| 2 Comments »
The goal of almost every writer is to be published by a big publishing firm. These big publishing houses pretty much had a lock on the whole shebang until about 20 years ago, when small and on-demand presses started popping up. Then, when e-publishing started to take off, authors had even more options open to them.
But, for most of us, the Yellow Brick Road still leads to Oz, and all those other venues are just waypoints for which we must “settle” if we can’t get all the way to the Big Publishing House.
I’ve hit pretty much every stop on the Yellow Brick Road. Under normal circumstances, I’d be taking my new novel down as far down that road as possible, but FC:V is a bit of an edge case. (more…)
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged Beneath a Wounded Sky, books, creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, novel writing, novels, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 05 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
First Reader has come back with comments on Beneath a Wounded Sky (FC:V).
Overall, response was very good. Really good. “I miss them already,” was the comment after the last page.
But, there was room for improvement. Here’s the sort of thing First Reader found:
Now, all the changes have been considered and fixed. The new version is off to a select group of Second Readers. I expect to hear back from them in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, I get to think about what to do next? Agent/Publisher (which could take—literally—years)? Self-publication (which would reap little, monetarily)?
k
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged Beneath a Wounded Sky, books, creative writing, editing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 04 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
A canon is a piece of contrapuntal music where first one voice performs a melody, and other voices perform the same melody, entering at specific intervals. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” is a well-known canon.
A fugue is similar, with one voice performing a melody, but when other voices join, the melody is “developed.” It may start on a different note, be inverted, reversed, ornamented, etc.
In writing, I want to emulate the fugue, not the canon.
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 