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Posts Tagged ‘Kindle’

Take a Bite

Posted in Books, Culture, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on 16 Nov 2012| 2 Comments »

Full disclosure: I do not like vampire stories.

Puzzlement: I’m going to recommend one.

The past twenty years have seen an ever-increasing convolution of the vampire, twisting and shoving the original ’50s monster into the tightening straight-jacket of political correctness. I mean, sparkling? Seriously? That’s why they can’t see sunlight now? They sparkle? I haven’t done a study of it (nor will I) but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s a vegan vampire out there, sucking the life out of blood oranges and beetroot. (more…)

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Baring it All

Posted in Hi Tech, Seattle, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 14 Nov 2012| 4 Comments »

Somewhere between the publication of FC:IV and the writing of FC:V, I got sidetracked. It was a lot of things, really, but one thing, primarily: I met my mortality.

When I was young, like many melodramatic youths, I expected to die young. At the age of 32, to be precise. Who knows why that age and not, say, 34, became locked in my mind like some sort of Logan’s Run sell-by date, but it did. When the age of 32 came and went without so much as a blip on the death-o-meter, it wasn’t a surprise; by that time, I’d realized how silly the conceit was.

Then Death came by for a little visit. (more…)

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The Empire Strikes Back

Posted in Culture, Hi Tech, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 12 Nov 2012| Leave a Comment »

Remember when I posted the sad story of a bestselling writer trashing his competition in bogus reviews? Well, it seems that Amazon is doing something about it.

Salon and other sources report that Amazon is deleting book reviews made by authors. That’s right. Deleting them. Poof. Gone. Nothing. And from now on authors will be banned/prohibited from posting reviews on books. That’s right! “The Evil Empire” is censoring my words and opinions! Egad! Zounds! Help! Help! I’m bein’ repressed!!

Actually, I’m fine with it. (more…)

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Post-Mortem

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 08 Nov 2012| Leave a Comment »

A lot went right with the release of Beneath a Wounded Sky and the completion of The Fallen Cloud Saga. Overall, I’m very pleased with the product, inside and out. Don’t kid yourself, people do judge a book by its cover…and by its font, and even by the quality of its title page. A good product, a quality product, will sell better than something that looks like it was put together by a grade-schooler.

But I did not do everything right; far from it. And there was one Big Item that I actually ignored purposefully, and it bears mentioning for any of you out there who are taking notes.

So, where can I improve for next time?

(more…)

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Back At It

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 29 Oct 2012| Leave a Comment »

Well, that two week’s vacation went by in a blitz. It was very productive, with the last two books of the Fallen Cloud Saga hitting the streets, but boy, could I have used another week…or month.

Now that the hardcopies are available, I realize I have made a classic mistake. It’s all part-and-parcel of the difficulty in switching from my author hat to my publisher hat. The author in me just wants to get the book out there and get it into reader’s hands. The publisher (an admittedly weaker part of me) wants to get the best release, the best buzz, and the best notice which helps get the book into more readers’ hands.

So, this classic mistake is to rush “to print” at the detriment of any sort of planning and release strategy.

But all is not lost.

(more…)

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Rush to Judgement

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Hi Tech, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 10 Oct 2012| Leave a Comment »

For any writer, the time between final MS edits and seeing the work in print is the longest ever experienced. For the self-published writer, who has greater control over this “pre-production” period, there is great temptation to push the process forward, cut corners, and accept less-than-perfect results, in order to get that book into readers’ hands.

With FC:II (aka The Spirit of Thunder) I have had to be very strict with myself. I’ve gone through four proofs—one physical, three digital—finding and then fixing one small error after another. It’s been tough, and I’ve had that conversation in my head…you know, the one that starts, “Who’ll notice?”

Bottom line: I noticed. So will someone else.

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Release the Hounds

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Hi Tech, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 04 Oct 2012| 2 Comments »

Yesterday, the second proof for The Year the Cloud Fell (2nd Edition) arrived from CreateSpace, and it was easy to see that the revisions I made were warranted.

The smaller font size and the wider margins make all the difference in the “feel” of the text on the page. Bookman Old Style still has that open, hot-lead, typeset look in 11pt, and the extra white space to top and side actually make the smaller font look less cramped. It’s readable, it feels good in the hand, and it passes all my criteria for a quality product.

It’s ready.

(more…)

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