Michell Plested's Blog, page 16

Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War

The world has gone mad. The living are gone, replaced by the mindless undead. The good news: a cure has been found. The bad news: whatever has animated the mindless undead is failing, and what’s left cannot be saved. All that stands between extinction and survival of the human race is a small group of Scouts with a plan. Will their determination and training be enough? Will they be able to use what they’ve learned to restore the undead or is the human race doomed? Whatever the answer, the Scouts are going to do their very best to overcome this disaster. Amazon Amazon Kindle Kobo

Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War is HERE!

Finally. After months of work and more than a little stress (yeah, I care too much), Scouts of the Apocalyse: Zombie War is now available for purchase. The print copy is available on Amazon (it hasn’t flowed through to other distributors yet) and the eBook copy can be purchased pretty much anywhere eBooks are sold. I’m very happy with the way the book turned out. I hope you can pick up a copy and let me know if I’ve succeeded with this one.

Good News Everyone!

Today is a red letter day. It was just announced that Mik Murdoch: Crisis of Conscience has made the Prix Aurora Award Ballot for 2017. Read about that here. This is my second time on the ballot (first appeared with Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero) and, with your help, this might be the year. To vote, you must become a CSFFA member (at a cost of $10 Cdn). What that membership gets you in relation to this ballot is ebook copies of most of the books that are on the ballot (including mine). That’s over twenty books for $10. A deal by any definition. I would love your support on this. Every vote is important (last year, the difference between first and third place was […]

Just Joshing Podcast episode 98: Michell Plested

I was interviewed a couple weeks ago by Joshua Pantalleresco. You can listen to that interview here.

Line Edits Complete – Scouts2 in Layout

We’re almost there. That single statement fills me with both joy and dread. Joy that I will be sharing a book that I think readers will enjoy/Dread at the possibility readers might not enjoy it. I think that Joy/Dread cycle probably exists for every single writer out there. Realizing that is what keeps me moving forward. That, and I believe in the book. I think it’s a great sequel to the first book in the trilogy. Next steps: complete layout, generate the proof copy, proof the book, generate the eBooks and send it to the printer. I know those sound like a lot of next steps but, believe me, we are in the home stretch.

The Costs of Publishing (as an indie writer)

There are many costs in producing a book whether you are a big press or a self-publishing independent. Some of them are obvious and some much less so, especially if you don’t live in the United States. For example, to produce a professional-quality book (note, I didn’t say, “bestseller” or “best-written”) there are several things you need to have and do. The one cost I don’t talk about is the cost of time. That’s a given. To produce anything worthwhile will take time. You’ve got to be prepared to invest that. Editing There are two main types of editing that I’m talking about here: developmental and line. You need both. Some editors do one kind, some the other. Occasionally you […]

Almost there

I received my final line edits last night for Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War. This is very good news indeed. It means, the book is almost finished and ready for publication. Only a few steps are left: final edit of the story, layout of the novel and printing of the novel. It is my hope to have the first two done by the end of the weekend. Then I can refocus on the other books I’m writing. Unfortunately, those books have taken a bit of a backseat the past few weeks as I’ve worked (also stressed about) exclusively on Scouts. I’m sure JR Murdock will be very happy to have me working on Jack Kane and the Kaiser which […]

The Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War Cover Has Been Revealed!

I’m not sure why it is, but the book cover always makes me realize a book is almost complete. To that end, it was with great excitement that I received the cover for Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War. It is very different than the cover for the first book and very awesome. I am so happy to share it with you all. In case you are wondering, the print edition will be available in June of this year. If you are interested in your own, signed copy, please let me know.

One More Touch-up

Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie War is so close to being done, I can almost taste it. I have one little scene to work on and it is off for final line edits. I also know my my excellent cover artist is working on another amazing cover. He is creating some special Scout badges for the cover that I might just have to get made up for sale. They are uber-cool and may be the first thing I put in my storefront when I’ve finished building it (the new host has great plug-ins that should enable that easily). And, speaking of the new host, did you notice any difference in the website? If I’ve done it correctly, the answer should […]

Change is in the Air

I received a renewal notice from my hosting company about three weeks ago. They want to boost the cost of this website by about double what I currently pay. And, what I currently pay is more than double what I paid when I first signed up. When I looked at what is out there for quality hosting, I learned (quickly) that I have options. Many, many options. So many, in fact, I could change my hosting company daily for several months without ever duplicating hosts. I also quickly learned that what I was being offered as a renewal price was upwards of eight times more than I can get elsewhere as an introductory deal. I do realize that after the […]