S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 248

From Here to Print

Back in April I posted a sub ops list that included some info on Damnation Books, a new e-book publisher specializing in a variety of dark genre fiction. As with every sub ops list I put together, I hoped it would be of help to writers out there who were looking for that sort of market.

A short time after that a writer overseas e-mailed me to let me know that he had seen the listing on PBW, submitted a manuscript to Damnation Books, and had received an offer. This kind of news always makes me ...

Generate a Pitch

During a ten list hunt I came across author Kathy Carmichael's Pitch Generator, which generates a simple novel pitch from information you fill in the blanks.

It can also help out outline a broader concept, like the core conflict of a novel series. Here's a general example (I changed some of the generated wording to encompass a series concept:)

StarDoc is a 1,000,000+ word science fiction novel series set in the far future on various alien worlds. Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil is a bioengineered...

Sub Ops

Ten Things About Submission Opportunities for Writers

Poor Mojo's Almanack is holding a contest for rants; The 33-and-a-⅓ Contest. Evidently they want ". . . RANTS featuring "The Best Recipe You'd Never Guess." In the spirt of Mr. Morgan Johnson's "Industrial Espionage and the World's Greatest Sangria Recipe," craft a rant of fewer than 3,000 words featuring a fine recipe of your delight." They define a rant as ". . . a personal essay, and might take the form of a rave, a complaint, a memoir...

I'd Buy It

Products for Writers That We'd Like to See

Awards Nom Sleepy Time: Drink a cup of this delightful tea and snooze like a baby for weeks and weeks the next time your book is nominated for an indy award that you probably haven't kissed enough ass to win.

Buzzkiller Off: One spritz of this jackass repellent keeps all trolls, flamers, bait-danglers and smear campaigners off the writer's back for as long as they need to finish the next book. Comes in extra-strength for writers who are looking for mor...

In a Hundred Years

I love to read old books. The way books were published a hundred years ago fascinates me (and most of them are still in wonderful shape and will likely be readable for another hundred years, which makes them far superior to what we publish today.) The language in the books is also beautiful in ways that have evaporated over time; we don't talk like this anymore. Reading century-old books allows you to listen to the past as well as visit places that were important to their readers.

When I pick ...

Timeless Ten

Ten Things to Kill Some Time While I'm Off Sulking Editing

Click on the orange square, type your name or any word(s) in lower case letters, and hear how it sounds on the craymachine.

Need some epic swears, like Almighty son of a festering trogg-breeding serpent!? Get up to fifty at once over at zlana's Cuss-O-Matic generator (hosted by Manon/Serendipity.)

Play the fame game celebrity-style over at Famousr.

All we need is a little synergy, and a lot of luck: Go Farther ~ The Next (Big?) Thing by...

Isis the Game

I'm still off crying over editing my book. I know, I know, but I've been through a couple of divorces that weren't this tough.

Elsewhere there is more online entertainment to be found that doubles as powerful and fun book promotion: Isis the Game. Author Doug Clegg arranged this difference game for the release of a new illustrated edition of Isis the Book, but it's not like any promo I've ever seen. It's actually fun to play.

Do be warned that Isis the Game is highly addictive, and that t...

Off to Weep Edit

So your stop here was not wasted, do check out

Shadowlight E-xperiment

Last month I committed to trying an e-ARC experiment for my October release, Shadowlight. I thought I'd provide some stats on how that's gone so far:

Distributed: 73 e-ARCs via e-mail.
Labor (preparing/converting the manuscript into the e-ARC, responding to e-mails): 17-1/2 hours

Reviews posted that I've read so far:

(Another) 52 Books/Bibliophile

B&N.com's Shadowlight sales page (Eight reviews)

Bellwood Farm/Laura

Beyond the Invisible/Soleil Noir

Blue Heron Creek/Debra Saturday

The Book Book/Chad

C...

Free Stuff Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Nothing

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Q10 is a "simple but powerful text editor designed and built with writers in mind" that offers full screen editing, a target wordcount feature, a timer alarm, custom autosaving, autocorrection option and even custom typewriter sound effects (OS: Windows)

Calibre is an "e-book library management application. It is free, open so...