Another month, another blog post. It should be at least two blog posts, but as usual I have lots of excuses.
Actually, I have some fairly decent reasons…at least, I think so.
After many false starts, do-overs, and help from the Kindle Create staff, both by email and phone, Just Lucky, Book 1: Friends and Enemies is available in Print on Demand paperback. I had it all done last Friday except for the Table of Contents. Which just wasn’t going in like it should. I tried three times, same result every time. I finally emailed the Kindle help staff, they suggested I call them so they could walk me through the process. The phone call was productive in that the staff member couldn’t figure out why it didn’t work either. So I emailed him the whole manuscript.
If you have Microsoft Word, put it on the “Home” tab, then go to the right in the “Styles” section. There’s lots of choices. Even more than you see at first look; if you click on the down arrow at the far right of the section you’ll see even more.
The instructions for creating the Table of Contents in the formatting calls for each Chapter title (or number) to be put into a “Heading 1” style. Which I’d done. For some reason not explained, the chapter titles for this book needed to be in “Headings 2” style. I re-did it in that and it worked.
Hopefully I’ll remember everything and can get the paperback for Book 2 formatted and available very soon.
Amazon is (according to at least one source—and I believe it) the easiest marketplace to format a book. As much trouble as I had with it, I’m not sure I even want to try the others. But I probably will.
It also looks like I’ll have to self-publish my two fantasy novels. Double Dragon Publishing has sort of voluntarily quit publishing, and both books are showing limited or no availability. So, I’ll need a cover artist. Anybody know one who might be interested, please steer them my way. For Prophecy of Honor, I want the new cover to look that professional, but I don’t want anything close to the same image. I never was too thrilled with that, but it was the publisher’s decision. Deron Douglas, the head of Double Dragon Publishing, is primarily an artist and his big enjoyment was doing the cover art for the books.
I submitted Saving Atlantis for consideration to Luna Publishing. In their submission info they offer a link to a video that tells you about their submission process. Here’s that link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2HSpCptz28
I wish more publishers offered something similar.
I’ve also submitted two short stories since my last posting.
I’ll admit a high frustration level with Lying Swords. I thought I had a good idea for the upcoming conflict, but now I’m second-guessing and third-guessing myself. If I was giving advice to another author with this problem I’d tell them to just write out what their first instinct was and go on; it can always be changed. I just hate writing down something if I’m not happy with it. But this time I’ll have to forge ahead and do that and then continue the story. When I’ve finished this first draft I’ll see how what I’ve written works and what I’ll need to do then. And who knows? Maybe what I decide now will be the right choice.
On the reading front (or back, as you please) I finished Dean Koontz’s The Good Guy. I recommend it. There are some similarities to Life Expectancy, particularly in the romance part of the story.
I also read Crichton’s Prey. I’ve read two of Crichton’s novels before, The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Both were made into movies, the former more successful than the latter.
Michael Crichton is a licensed physician who decided to be a writer instead of a doctor. He developed the tv series ER, and published the novel Jurassic Park and some others. As with those, in Prey he spends a lot of time and words on the science involved. This one has not so much plot holes as dead ends. He raises the feature of physical changes such as better fitness, strength, and even good looks in those affected by the run-away science, but never offers an explanation of how or why those benefits accompanied the other less desirable effects. Can’t tell you more without giving the story away.
If you are really interested in speculative science involving nanotechnology or the possible connection with biological systems, you’ll like it. If not, maybe not. I found the construction of the book very similar to The Andromeda Strain. It begins with the science and how the science has gotten out of control, and then at the end the heroics of one man, through a combination of physical determination and quick reasoning bring about the saving of mankind.
If you’re interested, looking up Michael Crichton on Wikipedia will be worth the effort.
We had to go to LaCrosse yesterday. We took the grandkids to North Country Steak buffet, and we all pigged out. Then we stopped at Goodwill for assorted shopping. I was done in ten minutes. Unfortunately, the other three took much longer.
Also unfortunately, Goodwill has raised the price of their books from $3.99 to $6.99. So I only got three books instead of four—Another Koontz novel and two Patterson novels. But you know that inflation is real when Goodwill raises their prices by 75%. I had intended to give the books back to Goodwill so they could resell them. Now I think I’ll continue to donate them to the library.
And that’s enough for now.
As usual, thank you for reading and please continue to read—fiction, poetry, non-fiction, what ever pleases you…as long as it’s in book form or magazine form (even on line.) Twitter and Instagram don’t count.
Happy Independence Day.
Actually, I have some fairly decent reasons…at least, I think so.
After many false starts, do-overs, and help from the Kindle Create staff, both by email and phone, Just Lucky, Book 1: Friends and Enemies is available in Print on Demand paperback. I had it all done last Friday except for the Table of Contents. Which just wasn’t going in like it should. I tried three times, same result every time. I finally emailed the Kindle help staff, they suggested I call them so they could walk me through the process. The phone call was productive in that the staff member couldn’t figure out why it didn’t work either. So I emailed him the whole manuscript.
If you have Microsoft Word, put it on the “Home” tab, then go to the right in the “Styles” section. There’s lots of choices. Even more than you see at first look; if you click on the down arrow at the far right of the section you’ll see even more.
The instructions for creating the Table of Contents in the formatting calls for each Chapter title (or number) to be put into a “Heading 1” style. Which I’d done. For some reason not explained, the chapter titles for this book needed to be in “Headings 2” style. I re-did it in that and it worked.
Hopefully I’ll remember everything and can get the paperback for Book 2 formatted and available very soon.
Amazon is (according to at least one source—and I believe it) the easiest marketplace to format a book. As much trouble as I had with it, I’m not sure I even want to try the others. But I probably will.
It also looks like I’ll have to self-publish my two fantasy novels. Double Dragon Publishing has sort of voluntarily quit publishing, and both books are showing limited or no availability. So, I’ll need a cover artist. Anybody know one who might be interested, please steer them my way. For Prophecy of Honor, I want the new cover to look that professional, but I don’t want anything close to the same image. I never was too thrilled with that, but it was the publisher’s decision. Deron Douglas, the head of Double Dragon Publishing, is primarily an artist and his big enjoyment was doing the cover art for the books.
I submitted Saving Atlantis for consideration to Luna Publishing. In their submission info they offer a link to a video that tells you about their submission process. Here’s that link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2HSpCptz28
I wish more publishers offered something similar.
I’ve also submitted two short stories since my last posting.
I’ll admit a high frustration level with Lying Swords. I thought I had a good idea for the upcoming conflict, but now I’m second-guessing and third-guessing myself. If I was giving advice to another author with this problem I’d tell them to just write out what their first instinct was and go on; it can always be changed. I just hate writing down something if I’m not happy with it. But this time I’ll have to forge ahead and do that and then continue the story. When I’ve finished this first draft I’ll see how what I’ve written works and what I’ll need to do then. And who knows? Maybe what I decide now will be the right choice.
On the reading front (or back, as you please) I finished Dean Koontz’s The Good Guy. I recommend it. There are some similarities to Life Expectancy, particularly in the romance part of the story.
I also read Crichton’s Prey. I’ve read two of Crichton’s novels before, The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Both were made into movies, the former more successful than the latter.
Michael Crichton is a licensed physician who decided to be a writer instead of a doctor. He developed the tv series ER, and published the novel Jurassic Park and some others. As with those, in Prey he spends a lot of time and words on the science involved. This one has not so much plot holes as dead ends. He raises the feature of physical changes such as better fitness, strength, and even good looks in those affected by the run-away science, but never offers an explanation of how or why those benefits accompanied the other less desirable effects. Can’t tell you more without giving the story away.
If you are really interested in speculative science involving nanotechnology or the possible connection with biological systems, you’ll like it. If not, maybe not. I found the construction of the book very similar to The Andromeda Strain. It begins with the science and how the science has gotten out of control, and then at the end the heroics of one man, through a combination of physical determination and quick reasoning bring about the saving of mankind.
If you’re interested, looking up Michael Crichton on Wikipedia will be worth the effort.
We had to go to LaCrosse yesterday. We took the grandkids to North Country Steak buffet, and we all pigged out. Then we stopped at Goodwill for assorted shopping. I was done in ten minutes. Unfortunately, the other three took much longer.
Also unfortunately, Goodwill has raised the price of their books from $3.99 to $6.99. So I only got three books instead of four—Another Koontz novel and two Patterson novels. But you know that inflation is real when Goodwill raises their prices by 75%. I had intended to give the books back to Goodwill so they could resell them. Now I think I’ll continue to donate them to the library.
And that’s enough for now.
As usual, thank you for reading and please continue to read—fiction, poetry, non-fiction, what ever pleases you…as long as it’s in book form or magazine form (even on line.) Twitter and Instagram don’t count.
Happy Independence Day.
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