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 Writing, tagged adverb, adverbs, creative writing, novel writing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 25 Sep 2012| 3 Comments »
There are few classes of words with a worse rep than adverbs. The title of this post, taken from George Meredith’s The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, is pretty much the gold standard of bad adverb use. Editors hate them; many writers eschew them. I, however, will stand up in their defense.
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged books, creative writing, editing, Fallen Cloud Saga, novel writing, self-publishing, The Ploughman Chronicles, Unraveling Time, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 24 Sep 2012| 4 Comments »
This past weekend, I gave myself some time off to enjoy “Borderlands 2” on Xbox, but that doesn’t mean I did nothing, writing-wise. I did a lot, actually…
Friday I finished typesetting the interior of FC:I and started working with the printer. There were two printers in contention for the job: Lulu and CreateSpace. I chose the latter. Here’s why.
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged creative writing, e-readers, ebooks, editing, Fallen Cloud Saga, Kindle, novel writing, publishing, self-publishing, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips 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…)
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 Writing, tagged creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, Harlan Ellison, Lincoln, milk in the icebox, novel writing, Stephen King, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 14 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
“I did not, in the course of my response to the matter in April, 1861, consider within the limits of credibility that these heretofore stalwart men—many of whom were well-known to me—could be anything but misguided or deceived by the machinations of others. I did not and could not conceive of the authors of such actions as reasoning, civilized members of an otherwise flourishing country.”
Abraham Lincoln, A War Remembered, 1875
See what I did there?
Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged books, Corporate America, creative writing, Fallen Cloud Saga, FC:V, novel writing, novels, publishing, self-publishing, Writing, writing tips on 09 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »
Now hear this!
In the past, people have asked me: Do you get to pick your own title for your books?
Such was the case for two of my books, and I now have the chance to fix at least one of them.
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 