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Posts Tagged ‘Kindle’

It’s Not All About Me

Posted in Seattle, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 27 Sep 2012| 4 Comments »

First, 60 followers…wow! Thanks to each and every one. It still boggles me that you find my ramblings and musings of sufficient interest, but hey, Welcome! I’m glad you’re here.

Now, to the subject at hand. There’s a book I want you to read. It is without a doubt the funniest, wryest, most engaging book about running you’ll even encounter. Don’t let the topic put you off.

Yes, it’s a “marathoner’s memoir,” but that truly over-simplifies this insightful book. I don’t run anymore (bad knees) and I have never run a marathon nor did I ever attempt to run a marathon. I did not read this book because I wanted to be “inspired” to run a marathon. I read this book because (as the Acknowledgments will tell you) I know the author, but I want you to read it because it is simply a really good, funny, often laugh-out-loud read.

Todd Baker started out as an overweight asthmatic, and ended up running a marathon and carrying the Olympic torch during its path through Washington State. Along the way, he learned a lot—about running, about people, about himself—and with sharp wit, a gimlet eye, and self-deprecating humor, he has put this journey down for us to enjoy.

If you like Bill Bryson’s work, you’ll love this. It’s available in hardcopy and in Kindle format, and I recommend it highly.

k

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The Devil’s Typesetter

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 20 Sep 2012| 1 Comment »

When I decided to publish the new FC books myself, I rather knew what I was getting into. Publishers, for all their flaws, do provide a lot for the writer. I’ve seen it, experienced it, and though I bitched about a lot of it at the time, I surely do miss it now.

Some of the services a publisher provides that are now on my plate: editing, copy-editing, fact-checking, cover art, and typesetting. (And this doesn’t even get into the marketing/distribution side of things.)

It’s that last one, though…typesetting. It’s a bloody mare’s nest of minutia and details. But its importance cannot be understated. I’ve done this before, but it’s always a surprise. (more…)

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Let Me Count the Words

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 18 Sep 2012| 1 Comment »

Kurt R.A. GiambastianiCounting 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.

(more…)

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FC Covers

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 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!

originally From the Heart of the Storm

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Judging a Book

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Low Tech, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 07 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »

Kurt R.A. GiambastianiI 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

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The Yellow Brick Road

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , 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…)

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Try That With Your Kindle

Posted in Culture, Low Tech, Writing, tagged , , , , , on 21 Aug 2012| Leave a Comment »

Just as today no one will ever go into a store and thrill as they unfold the triptych of the latest Roger Dean album cover, so too, in a short period of time, no one will go into a bookstore and stop as they smell that rarefied combination of pulp and fresh ink.

Like it or not (and I don’t) we are moving toward a world in which sales of physical books will be a niche market, like vinyl LPs are today. Most of the trade in these items will involve used books and take place in small, dust-filled shops where these throwback items will eagerly line the shelves, their worn spines and faded gilt lettering displayed to their best advantage. Like potential adopters at an animal shelter, we will wish we could take them all home, but we will not be able, and will have to satisfy ourselves with saving just one or two.

A plethora of experiences and rituals will be lost to this, the Kindle generation. Technology will enhance their lives in many ways, but in this one arena, they will be the poorer for it.

(more…)

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