Assaph Mehr's Blog, page 45

14 Tips for using InDesign for Fiction Authors

Do you want professional looking print and ebooks to delight your readers? Of course you do!

Following my post about the best tools I found to create and produce books, here are some 14 specific, highly-useful tips about how to use Adobe InDesign to create print-ready PDF files and ready-to-upload ePubs for the best effect!

1. Using InDesign

First, let’s be clear that this is a tips column, not a general instruction on how to use InDesign. It’s a tool I love and have used to prod...

Michel Anglo and Vipa (of God’s Forsaken, by David Brevik)

Dear readers, tonight with me is an angel and a human woman. This isn’t the first time we interview such a duo, but this ‘Angel of Death’ is merely the professional moniker of a ruthless assassin.

Together, and with some unusual friends, they had to destroy a forsaken god. They are here to tell us of their adventures.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Michel Anglo: Well, their isn’t much to-

Vipa: Me first, me first! I was raised on Congla is...

Book Review: Jhereg (Vlad Taltos), by Steven Brust

I’m not entirely sure how I came across this novel, (or how come I never heard about it before), which is a shame because some sincere thanks are due. I’ve actually just read The Book of Jhereg, which encompasses the first three novels in the Vlad Taltos series: Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla. The review therefore reflects the first three books in the series.

What to expect

Vlad is an outsider, a human amongst the long-living Dragaerans. He’s a professional assassin and a crimin...

Zack Decker (of the Decker’s War series, by Eric Thomson)

Dear readers, tonight with me is a major in the Commonwealth Marine Corps. He is here to tell us about his career as a space-marine, the alien planets he visited, and the lifeforms he found there — at least, tell us as much as he can without needing to kill us afterwards.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?  Why did you leave and what happened them?

I was born on Mykonos.  It’s a nice place, around twenty light years from Earth and very Earth-like, or so...

Author’s tool-chain

We talk a lot about how to write books, about author’s craft and writers’ tips. This post is instead focused on the act of writing — on the recording of words. There are probably as many methods of writing a novel as there are authors — writing longhand with a Montblanc fountain pen in a Moleskine notebook, typing with one finger at an ancient PC à la GRRM, or using the latest gadgets for on-the-fly note-taking. Regardless, there are certain steps and tools that make t...

Bernard Abbey (of A Footstep Echo, by J.D. Sanderson)

Dear readers, tonight with me is an unwitting time-traveller. Dragged into a series of hops across time by a mute girl, he tries to make sense of her reasons and the mystery behind the fate of humanity.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Oh, I’ve spent most of my life in a mid-size city in Western New York. Tough sometimes for an old man like me. Used to be a really nice building, but now half of the tenants probably have criminal records. They’re a...

The Mystery of Amazon Reviews

I’ve started the year with 116 reviews for Murder In Absentia (and, I think, there were about 3-4 reviews that have been removed over the years). By now, the number of reviews is up to… … 110!

This isn’t going to be a whinging post, just a reflection of what (I think) is happening, and how that changes my approach to marketing and to launching new books.

First, I want to stress that I don’t stress about it. Authors are prone to all sorts of insecurities. It’...

Roach the Demon (of Our Frail Disordered Lives, by Mary M. Schmidt)

Dear readers, tonight with me is a guest of a class we do not normally get – a demon.

He’s here to tell us about heaven and hell, and what lies in between. After working for Satan and trying to sign on new souls, he ended up in a (literally) hellish prison.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I’m a demon.  You know that, right?  I was created as angel in Heaven.  I was so gorgeous, I could not stop admiring myself, even for choir practice!  But I kne...

Aquae et Ignis – A New Felix Novella!

The ink is still warm on In Numina, and I’ve started work on a new Felix novella! I aim for about a quarter of the usual Felix novel size, and hope to complete it by the end of the year. I’ve already written almost half of it over the past two weeks!

In this story, Felix deals with the strange case of a consul seemingly gone mad, as well as getting used to having Borax at his side at all times.

Best of all, it will be free!

Well, free for subscribers to the mailing list. ‘Wh...

Alerich Ashimar (of Ties of Blood and Bone, by A.E. Lowan)

Dear readers, tonight with me is a wizard, a man with the soul of a poet and the heart of a demon.

His family is bound to a demon in a geas of murder and mayhem, or risks losing his father. He is here to tell us about his conflicted love life, his estranged relationships, and about deals one might strike with a demon.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I grew up at Ashimar House just outside of Guildford in Surrey in the U.K.. Ashimar House is a respectable ol...