Jules Jones's Blog, page 8

NaNoWriMo

So it's the first of November, which means it's time for NaNoWriMo, or in my case PicoWriMo. I may not do any writing as such at all; instead I'm going to start wrangling the written-on-dead-tree into some sort of order on my computer now that I have a new computer that doesn't sulk if I dare to have more than one piece of software running at a time. If new words happen in the course of this, well and good, but I'm not going to run my usual "at least 100 words a day" this year. At this point I wouldn't even be sure if that 100 words has already been put onto paper and I've forgotten doing so. (I currently have three part-written novels competing for space in my brain. Keeping track of what's made it out of my brain has become impossible.)

I'm also going to count words written in reviews as part of my daily do something, because that went by the by during the period when my computer was having even worse brain function problems than I was.

Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

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I need to tidy my profiles

 So now that I have accumulated some spoons and help re: self-publishing my out of print titles,  I should do something about tidying up my website and social media profiles. Not least because so many of them have references to a now-defunct publisher...

I was somewhat embarrassed to find that I've still done essentially zero of that on my primary website. I really should have edited the bibliography pages on the original hand-coded website. All I've done is with put up a couple of brief "he's dead, Jim" posts on the shiny new WordPress edition that currently consists primarily of announcement posts and a link back to the old site. This is why I asked for link-checking on the new editions, and am very grateful for the responses here and on Twitter. I'm going to impose on you lovely people again as I work my way through updating the website.

One of the things I need to do is take down the old cover art, because technically I don't have the right to use that any more, not even as thumbnails for reference so people can see if something looks familiar. I'd really rather not; I don't like finding myself buying a reprint of something I've already got because it has a new and unfamiliar cover, and I'd rather not annoy potential customers by doing the same to them. However, I suspect long term I may better off without them on the site even as thumbnails, lest they confuse people who go looking for something with the old cover art when they intended to buy the new edition. And then there are the ones on my DreamWidth/LiveJournal profile, which I have just looked at for the first time in months. Oops.


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Lord and Master re-issue

I'm busy getting my Loose Id titles back into print with the sterling help of Alex Beecroft. First up is Lord and Master, with new cover by Alex below. What I would like before I drop this on my Official Author Website is some help with link testing. I'm using Draft2Digital to push the book to retailers other than Amazon, and they have a Universal Book Link which if clicked on will offer a selection of online stores, linked to the appropriate site for the location of the person clicking - eg USians choosing Kobo should be directed to the US Kobo website, Australians can choose Angus & Robertson amongst other offerings, etc. I've also found a Thing on the Amazon affiliate site which is to direct your website readers to their local 'Zon site but I have not got to grips with that yet...

Onwards. Please admire the new cover art, suitable for current fashions in romance novels, and then I would be really grateful if people click on the links and make sure they end up in the right place. Some of the retailers haven't accepted the push from D2D yet, but there seems to be a reasonable selection there already. With Amazon I'd also like to know if it shows you the paperback as well as the ebook.

Draft2Digital universal link: https://books2read.com/u/38EMkZ

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07WQHPZBW
Canada: https://amzn.to/2HBeK5h
Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B07WQHPZBW
Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07WQHPZBW
UK: https://amzn.to/2My7oU8
US: https://amzn.to/2Zr7BKV

Incidentally, since writing Twitter has been discussing library ebook purchasing, here are some numbers: I've set the ebook price at $3.99 for purchase by individuals - my percentage of that varies by site, but I'll get somewhere between $2 and $2.70. At Draft2Digital I've also enrolled it in various subscriptions, including the Kobo Plus programme, which is Kobo's rival to Kindle Unlimited but doesn't require the author to make the book exclusive to them. Yay Kobo. :-) I've taken D2D's suggestion on the price for library purchases, that being $7.99, of which my projected royalty is $3.74 for One Copy One User, or $0.46 for Cost Per Checkout. Someone wants to give me money to make my book available to people who prefer or need to read for free? I will have some of that, please.

And I see Amazon still thinks this is LGBT literature, sub-class erotica. I may have to do some emailing to customer services. At least it hasn't been filed under BDSM anymore.


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Not going to Worldcon

I have a full membership for Dublin. I can afford to go money-wise. I can't afford it spoon-wise.

I made this decision last year, when it was rapidly approaching the time when I'd have to confirm with a friend whether I was going to be sharing a hotel room. I was hoping that I would have recovered enough from assorted medical mishaps by now, but I knew it was unlikely and it wasn't fair on the other three potential members of the party to cross fingers and wait. And no, I'm not up to it, even though I'll miss seeing my friends and going to interesting panels. Have fun, the rest of you, and bring back interesting stories.

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Hello, I appear to be a writer

Only a month since my last post. Things are improving.

Anyway, in between my various medical appointments I have been working on getting some of my old Loose Id books back up as self-published ebooks. I could not have done this without the generous help of alex_beecroft , in the form of advice and some spiffing new covers. I should be hitting the publish button before the end of the month, and with any luck a good bit sooner than that should the medical problems push off for a bit. More later.

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Well, there's a blast from the past

Logged into my pro website for the first time in months, and lo and behold there in the most recent "visitor came from" stats was my entry in the Miss Snark Crapometer. I loved that site, I did; and it's been 12 years since she shuttered the site and left so many of us sad and forlorn.

I've had a couple of other " how long?" experiences today with looking up various things related to both fan and pro writing careers. It's been 16 years since I was first published by Loose Id. It's 21 years since I published my first fanzine. I feel old now...

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The Best of Philip E High

As the title suggests, this is a collection of some of High's many short stories, together with an essay by one of his editors. High was active from the 1950s right through to his death in 2006, and this collections spans decades. Naturally his older stories are old-fashioned, and they're unlikely to appeal to readers who aren't old enough to have grown up with this style of writing; but for those of us who are it's a pleasant walk down memory lane. As far as I remember I'd never read any of his short stories, but I read several of High's novels when I was a teenager, and this collection makes me want to find out what else of his has been brought back into print by the SF Galaxy imprint. If, like me, you loved his writing way back when, get a copy of this - there are some gems to be had.

Australia
Kobo Amazon

UK
Kobo Amazon

US
Amazon

(Yes, those are mostly affiliate links. Also I wish to give some love to not-Amazon.)

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“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho

Yes, still here. Sort of... Anyway, I finally remembered to download the Hugo voting packet last night. :-)

Byam isn't a dragon. Yet. It takes at least a thousand years, and if pesky humans see you and don't believe you're a dragon, you won't be. The only good thing about them is that they're useful for a second opinion on questions about the Way. And by the time you're into your third millennium you might find one who doesn't run away screaming at the first opportunity...

This is a lovely novelette drawing on Korean mythology; sweet, hilarious, and with a joyful ending even amongst sadness. It left me feeling happy, and glad that its well-deserved Hugo nomination brought it to my attention.

Available free at the Barnes&Noble SF&F blog.

There's also a short sequel at Cho's own website.

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Back from Eastercon

Got home yesterday evening, an hour earlier than expected owing to fortuitous connections. Still managed to go to bed later than intended on account of "too tired to go to bed", and slept for ten hours apart from the bit where I woke at 6 with a horrendous dehydration headache and had to go downstairs to find a mug of water and some aspirin.

I mostly had a good time, saw several friends, bought some expensive-but-worth-it hand-dyed yarn from Lola of Third Vault Yarns, and got to type on a real Enigma machine visiting from Bletchley Park. Not sure if I'll manage to write a report before it fades.

The migraine did have some impact, but mostly it was just needing to pace myself very carefully and spend a fair bit of time resting in my room. I'm glad the medication side-effects were sorted out in time for me to go.

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Off to Eastercon

Since it was three weeks since I'd last seen the inside of A&E and the "Oh **** I need to get off this med right now" side effect had tailed off a week after that, I decided at the weekend that it's safe to go to Eastercon. I've been on the current second med before in combination with the primary migraine med (although not at the current high dose of primary) so I know what it normally does by way of side-effects, and while they can be unpleasant after a while they have never made me feel like A&E would be A Really Good Idea. So I should be there after lunch tomorrow.

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