C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 224

Blogs that made me stop: 8 October 2012—Part 2:

Writing books, indie publishing, spoof on Fifty Shades, roleplaying aspects, alternative markets for writers, the second twenty blogs that made me stop on my catch-up day have their own merits. Maybe some will appeal to you.
Publishing Perspectives on a Fifty Shades spoof to do with chicken by Dennis Abrams: http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/10/your-fifty-shades-of-grey-story-for-the-week/Publishing your own E-Books on how to sell e-books by Toni Tesori: http://www.publishyourownebooks.com/5-ebook-selling-secrets-every-author-should-know/Publishing your own E-Books on indie publishing in September by Gary McLaren: http://www.publishyourownebooks.com/indie-publishing-roundup-for-28-september/Playing D&D with Pornstars on an entertaining scenario and stuff by Zak S.: http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/handling-clothes-moving-zoo-sociology.htmlPlaying D&D with Pornstars on the International Festival of Independent Games: http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/the-international-festival-of.htmlPlaying D&D with Pornstars with more on the International Festival of Independent Games: http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/acceptance-speech-orc-fightin-girl-etc.htmlPenumbra EMag on Edgar Allan Poe by Jane Douglas: http://penumbraezine.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/a-virtual-horror-noob-speaks-out.htmlWhatever-Whatever on books arriving by John Scalzi: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/09/29/new-arrivals-92930/Whatever-Whatever on John Scalzi’s writing brain by John Scalzi: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/09/29/a-glimpse-into-my-writing-brain-right-now/Whatever-Whatever on the release of the Chinese edition of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/10/01/and-now-the-cover-to-the-new-chinese-edition-of-old-mans-war/Alan Baxter on Neil Gaiman’s 8 Writing Rules: http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/The Passive Voice on an NBC news article about a teacher making money selling lesson plans: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/10/2012/georgia-teacher-rakes-in-1-million-by-selling-lesson-plans-to-teachers/NBC News on a teacher making money by selling her lesson plans on-line by Sevil Omer: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/02/14184513-georgia-teacher-rakes-in-1-million-by-selling-lesson-plans-to-teachers?liteThe Other Side of the Story on the kindness of illustrators by Nate Evans: http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/09/guest-author-nate-evans-kindness-of.htmlThe Other Side of the Story on ways of researching by Amie Kaufman: http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/10/guest-author-aime-kaufman-six-ways-to.htmlThe Other Side of the Story on haiku by Robyn Hood Black: http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/10/contributing-author-robyn-hood-black.htmlInsider on the Underweb by Joel Falconer: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/10/08/mail-order-drugs-hitmen-child-porn-a-journey-into-the-dark-corners-of-the-deep-web/The Galaxy Express on Sci-Fi romance and Fugazi’s formula for success by Heather Massey: http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2012/10/should-sci-fi-romance-try-fugazi.htmlThe Blood Red Pencil on books about writing by Dani Greer: http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/books-glorious-writing-books.htmlThe Book Designer on adventures in indie publishing by Joel Friedlander with guest Karen McCann: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/09/karen-mccann/

First Lines: In a Cyber-World

In a Cyber-World is a a social comment on interpersonal relationships in the cyber age of communication. It starts like this:



In a cyberworldwe all wear a cyber face.

 can be found in  



















An Anthology of Worlds  was released mid-September 2012 and can be found on Amazon (in e-book and print) and Smashwords.

Blogs that made me stop 10 October 2012

Now that the blog reader is under control, I’m trying to keep it there, so, here are the ones that have made me stop since the clean-up:Write it Forward on selling an Australian best-seller when mainstream U.S. rejected it by Colin Falconer with Bob Mayer: http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/what-is-wrong-with-us-publishers-and-are-us-women-really-different/Jim C. Hines Fantasy Author on video game writing by Patrick Weekes: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/10/patrick-weekes-on-video-game-writing/Jim C. Hines with an update on Ann Crispin’s situation: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/10/ann-crispin-update/J.W. Manus on the art of pricing e-books: http://jwmanus.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/pricing-ebooks-art-or-science/Digital Book World on publishers and e-book pricing by Richard Curtis: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/are-publishers-making-a-killing-on-e-books-part-2/GalleyCat on publishers producing e-books by Dianna Dilworth: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/4-out-of-5-publishers-now-produce-ebooks-infographic_b58662Greta van der Rol on the wisdom on checking your camera battery and some lovely pictures: http://gretavanderrol.net/2012/10/08/always-check-your-battery-before-you-go-out/GalleyCat on bestseller lists for the week of Monday, October 8 by Jason Boog: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/emp-thriller-climbs-self-published-bestsellers-list_b58770GalleyCat on libraries turning patrons into authors by Dianna Dilworth: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/self-publishing-partnership-to-turn-libraries-into-publishers-patrons-into-authors_b58565GalleyCat on Humble eBook launching book bundles by Dianna Dilworth: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/humble-ebook-bundle-launches-new-pay-what-you-want-bundle_b58784Penumbra eMag on its first birthday and speculative fiction by Jonathan Lamb: http://penumbraezine.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/the-reality-of-writing.htmlPelgrane Press on making 13th Age Open Game License and the Archmage Engine by Simon Rogers: http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=9262Mystery Writing is Murder on how to convey a sense of place by Anne Trager: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/5-ways-to-convey-sense-of-placeguest.htmlThe Blood Red Pencil on the importance of writing communities by Shon Bacon: http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/the-importance-of-communities-for-writer.htmlThe Book Designer on the only two things an author should be doing by Joel Friedlander: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/10/the-only-2-things-authors-ought-to-be-doing/Terribleminds on NaNoWriMo by Chuck Wendig: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/10/08/nanowrimo-cometh-a-terribleminds-primer/Terribleminds on how to get published by Chuck Wendig: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/10/09/ask-the-writer-how-do-i-get-published/SFWA on the role of changelings by Mercedes M. Yardley: http://www.sfwa.org/2012/10/define-me-the-role-of-changelings-in-folklore/The Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood on getting in the mood to write by Shshana Brown: http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com/getting-in-the-mood-to-write/Raging Swan on its money-back guarantee: http://raging-swan.livejournal.com/179296.htmlWriter Unboxed on how to books for writers by Keith Cronin: http://writerunboxed.com/2012/10/09/confessions-of-a-how-to-junkie/The Book Deal on seven reasons to self-publish by Alan Rinzler: http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2012/10/08/great-reasons-to-self-publish-7-case-histories/Stant Litore on his daughter’s reaction to the author copies of his zombie book arriving: http://zombiebible.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/my-daughter-meets-zombies.htmlLindsay Buroker on Ann Crispin going indie: http://www.lindsayburoker.com/fantasy-science-fiction/science-fiction-author-ann-crispin-goes-indie-with-starbridge/Catherine Caffeinated on proofing your book using CreateSpace: http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/10/09/proofing-your-createspace-paperback/Alan Baxter, Warrior Scribe on the Fildenstar: http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/tuesday-toot-fildenstar/The Passive Voice reporting on a blog by Grammar Girl about whether or not e-book has a hyphen: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/10/2012/does-e-book-have-a-hyphen/Writers in the Storm on world-building by Fae Rowan: http://writersinthestorm.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/writerstrong-world-building-techniques/ NOT WORK OR CHILD FRIENDLY; YOU MUST BE 18 OR OVER TO READ THESE BLOGS:Amarinda Jones on independent publishing and being unapologetically yourself: http://amarindajones.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/protection-by-multiple-men-with.html

Work Flow for Formatting and Editing—October 2012

Some of you have expressed interest in the formatting and editing process I use for my work. It’s long and repetitive, and can be considered boring, but it’s an essential part of the indie process—at least for me.Firstly, I edit every day by going over the work completed the day before so I can reposition myself in the story and pick up any errors made. This process is continual throughout the writing. This process is essential for me as I work on more than one project at a time and need to ‘re-set’ when I change from one to the other.When the story is complete, I try to leave it to one side for at least a fortnight before going back and doing one or two edits. I am hoping to add at least one Beta reader to this process. At this time, I have usually commissioned the cover art, depending on the artist—some require a longer lead time than others.This break from the manuscript helps me to come back to the edit with some distance between me and the writing. This process of distance is also helped if I have started my next project. When the initial edits are done, I use the formatting process to further tighten my work.I format my work for Amazon, using Kindle and CreateSpace (large and small print versions); Smashwords; and DriveThruFiction. This does not mean the initial format must be done five times. Kindle, Smashwords and DriveThruFiction all require a similar format in their source documents. It is only after that things change.My process is roughly as follows:1.      Prepare the back blurb (Don’t forget to include both a long and short version for Smashwords.)2.      During writing I try to remember to add QQ before and after any italics I want to use, and BB before and after any bolding not in a heading, as this is easy to search for using the ‘Find’ function;3.      When I’ve finished the last edit, I go through and check I haven’t missed’ placing any QQ or BB markings. This acts as my first inadvertent edit.4.      I start the formatting process by checking for the following: a.       all tabs are removed (Find ‘^t’, Replace with nothing),b.      there are no spaces before paragraph returns (Find ‘ ^p’, Replace ‘^p’—do this at least twice; three times is better),c.       there are no double spaces (Find ‘  ‘, Replace ‘ ’—do this at least twice).5.      ‘Nuke’ the manuscript by copying all of it and dropping it into Notepad;6.      Copy it out of Notepad and put it into a fresh Word document, which is then saved as Word 97-2003;7.      Go through the document and add the following:a.       Page breaks;b.      Centring;c.       Bolding;d.      Add spaces after titles and scene breaks (spaces, not line returns);e.       Bookmarking of chapter or story and poem titles, and the Table of Contents;f.       Hyperlinking of chapter or story and poem titles to the Table of Contents;8.      Go through the document using Find to identify the italics and bold markers and format italics and bold as required. This acts as the second inadvertent edit.9.      Go through the document and update the character and world notes with all the details I will need to remember in subsequent books and stories. This acts as the third inadvertent edit, especially as I’m checking character and place details in subsequent areas of the novel for consistency as I go.10.  Go through the document and do a final, focussed edit. (Focussed edit 1)11.  Save the document.12.  Do not go to the next formatting step for these markets at this point and do not upload these manuscripts.13.  Go to CreateSpace and download the appropriate template for small print version. (You will need your own account14.  Make a copy of the latest version of the document and go back through and add the italics and bold markers (inadvertent edit four).15.  Repeat steps 2-4.16.  ‘Select all’ the CreateSpace template and change the font to Times New Roman as this is easier to read than Garamond.17.  Add the title and front-piece work (dedication, acknowledgements, art and cover credits, author name.18.  Add the chapter or story and poem titles to the contents page.19.  Remove ‘Pge’ from the contents page to avoid forgetting to do so in the later formatting stages.20.  Remove the chapter number from beside the ‘About the Author’ heading.21.  Add the author name and book title to the relevant sections in the template. If doing large print increase the font size of these and the page numbers to size 16—be careful to go through the page numbers and make sure all of them are affected as the template is divided into sections which each need to be changed individually.22.  Copy and paste each chapter individually, leaving the font size for the titles and increasing the font to size 12 for the text—this is easier to read than size 11. For large print, increase the chapter font to a minimum of size 16, and the rest proportionally larger.23.  To through each chapter as you paste it and add in any italics or bold, removing the markers as you go. (Inadvertent edit 5)24.  Add the author details.25.  Go through the document in one final edit before upload. (Focussed edit 2)26.  Upload the formatted CreateSpace template to CreateSpace;27.  Go through the revision process with the CreateSpace document open, making any changes you need to as you go. If you make changes, upload the document again and repeat the revision process until you don’t find any more changes to make. (This will also give you inadvertent edit 6 and Focussed edit 3)28.  Format the CreateSpace cover art to the appropriate specifications if you have not already done so.29.  Create the cover and submit the small print version for review.30.  Select and download the CreateSpace template required for you large print version.31.  Repeat steps 13-28.32.  Wait for the CreateSpace approval comes through for your document. Go through the review process. Do not skip this step. You will be surprised at what you might have missed. Be prepared to update your manuscripts once more and then to undertake the review process again. Repeat until there is nothing more that needs to be changed.33.  When you are ready to release the document for sale on CreateSpace, do so.34.  Take the latest CreateSpace version and save it as a working document.35.  Go through and mark your italics and bold.36.  Repeat steps 2-7 for your Smashwords/Kindle/DriveThruFiction source version. Pray you don’t find anything else you missed.37.  Save the final document as three documents: one for Smashwords, one for Kindle and one for DriveThruFiction. Remember to observe file-naming conventions for each market. (DriveThruFiction, for example, has specific instructions).38.  Format the covers to the specifications for each site, and add them to your source files.

39. Add live hyperlinks to any titles listed in the  'Other Works' section (usually placed under 'About the Author') in each respective document. Make sure you do these for the individual market the document will be uploaded to. Do not put Kindle links in your Smashwords or DriveThruFiction documents, for example, or vice versa.

40. Take the Smashwords document and save it for upload.41.  Take the Kindle document and do the final format using the mobi-creator tool as per the ‘Building your Book for Kindle’ guide. Save it in preparation for upload.42.  Take the DriveThruFiction document and PDF it. (I subscribe to the Adobe PDF on-line program for this purpose.) Save the PDF in preparation for upload.43.  Upload the appropriately formatted documents and covers to their respective markets.44.  Continue work on your next project.
NOTES: You should always edit separately prior to beginning the formatting process, even though there is room for more editing built in. I cannot describe how annoying it is to find yet one more thing you missed that you really need to correct before releasing it to your readers when you’ve just about finalised the process. However, you owe it to your readers to give them the best story possible, and that means getting the story as right as possible before you release it. Ideally, you should have a professional editor go over your work, or at least one Beta reader, prior to formatting. Don’t expect them to catch everything; not even those who edit for a living can guarantee that. It is up to you to be as thorough as possible when preparing your manuscript for release.

Bright Stars Gone to Black: A response to the Chuck Wendig terribleminds flash fiction challenge

The resulting story from the challenge posted on Chuck Wendig's terribleminds blog on the 5 October 2012 is as follows. Again, it is a first draft and it is exactly 1,000 words in length. Enjoy.Bright Stars Gone to BlackThey came for Corcoran at night, imposing and not to be argued with. He was packed and ready, dressed warm, one appearance layered under another as he’d been instructed. He’d been warned his talent would bring him trouble.If it hadn’t been for Em Jay, he’d be in more than trouble; he might just have been dead. As it was, he’d had to leave his cat behind, his collection of vintage science fiction in paperback and old DVD, and a closet-full of graphic novels, the latest of which he hadn’t even had time to open, let alone read.No one knew about tonight’s little escapade, just as no-one knew about last night’s escapade, or the night before’s or the night before that. Corcoran was in so deep, he should have drowned a long time ago. He should have pulled out but he hadn’t. If he didn’t find a way in, he grew irritable and distracted, at risk of betraying the persona he’d so carefully built, at risk of letting something of himself show through.Em Jay had cracked it, sneaking round the corners of his public display to steal a little piece of him for herself. She never would say how she’d found out, but he had tracked her through the ethernet, following her cyber signature like a digital hound. He knew who she really was, but didn’t dig into her secrets.Discovering what was hidden in the neural by-ways, stalking the net-shadows until he saw under their cyberspatial skins, Corcoran rode the electronic waves and swam through bits and bytes until he caught a scent of what was hidden and dove deeper. He found a lot of people that way, and uncovered more than a few realities the corporations meant to keep hidden.Some people he had turned in, some corporate sensitivities he had revealed, setting up a wall of melting bank accounts and false identities and addresses so the brokers could reward him. Working the wires and info layers to make sure he was never found, Corcoran played the game and grew his own undernet legend. Some people he protected, anonymously shoring up false identities or planting cyber herrings to lure tracking codes away.There was an entire community he kept safe. William Gibson was wrong. The rats did not live in the walls of the world; they walked under neons in business suits, attended offices, ran businesses, corporations, and countries. They sacrificed the innocent for profit and ambition, and ploughed whole worlds under in the name of power.Corcoran was Johnny Mnemonic but he didn’t carry half the baggage. Corcoran did what he did simply because he could. He lived in that bright world with the rats, looking like them in the best suits he could afford, speaking like them in stock market squeaks and monetary chitters, smelling like them in gentleman’s cologne while he drank coffee in the same convenient carry cups.He’d been perfectly camouflaged, perfectly happy being what he was under a veneer of being what the world wanted him to be, and then Em Jay had come along. It was only a matter of time, she said, before he had to ‘go to black’. Him, a rising star in the world of technological money making, a rising star in the world of secretive geekery, a coffee-drinking accountant of promise by day, a darkly shining crusader by night.Johnny Mnemonic would have been appalled. Em Jay was obviously mistaken.It wasn’t until she begged him to listen, to drop out of the firmament so his talent could shine on, begged him on her knees and in tears that he understood she had bathed in the light of other stars. Earlier that night, when she convinced him to farewell his cat and Gibson, Scalzi, Weber, Norton, and Moon, when she had employed her substantial assets to convince him to do as she asked, Em Jay had told him of those other stars. She explained how she had begged for them to go black and find refuge in the dark. Most, she said, had refused.Again, Corcoran toyed with the idea she was lying, but she had named a constellation of people he admired. Em Jay knew their secret names and who they’d been in reality. She recited a litany of disappearances, false charges, and murder. She’d named the communities they’d protected, the gifts the world had lost. How she knew of the mayhem wreaked on heroes stupid enough to try to outshine the corporate elite, Corcoran couldn’t begin to fathom—and nor did he want to.In the end, he agreed because of her tears. Somewhere in between buying her coffee and reading her extracts of Foster, he had lost the ability to deny her distress. He could always resurface when the lie was told, so he met the big men and the tough women whom Em Jay swore would save his life. And he left with them in their sleek dark car, taking night roads through a physical city he’d only traversed using data streams and electronic dreams, while manipulating code in a waking sleep.Em Jay did not betray him. When his apartment blew, she had the cat and his favorite copies of McCaffrey, Bova and Silverberg. She hadn’t managed to save the comics, Foster, Moon or Gibson. Corcoran never learned the sacrifices she made.By then he was the darkest of lights, a lone knight, a honed weapon paying back the debt owed for his freedom, and Em Jay had discovered another star roaming the dark streams of the illegal web, doing good but in danger of discovery. The cat had left, and the paperbacks were showing well-read wear. Em Jay hugged her piece of Corcoran close, and found another part of her soul to give away.Hers was the most powerful of organisations, a corporation on the flip-side of the universe, ruling from underbelly of the neon-spattered pavement. And she had hidden inside it the light of a galaxy of stars.

First Paragraphs: Finders-Keepers

Finders-Keepers is about a gate between worlds and an unwilling traveller. It is the second short story in the fourth Simpson Anthology-An Anthology of Worlds, and it begins like this:


The two-dollar coin lay on the pavement, shining. Its golden surface gleamed beneath the sun, casting a knife-edged wedge of shadow where it touched the concrete.

 can be found in  


















An Anthology of Worlds was released mid-September 2012 and is available via Amazon (in print and e-book) and Smashwords.

The theory behind my response to Chuck Wendig’s terribleminds blog challenge posted 5 October 2012

This week’s terribleminds flash fiction challenge was enticing. We were given five titles, and the option of mixing the words from those titles to make a sixth title to write to using only the words existing in the titles on offer. I decided I liked the randomised method of selection found in previous flash fiction challenges and rolled a d6. The result was a ‘4’ and the title I was given was ‘Bright Stars Gone to Black’.For the last four days, I haven’t really been able to latch onto an idea, so I’ve worked on some administration and let my subconscious work on it. Today, while waiting for an appointment, I worked through some ideas and decided the following:
I didn’t want to go with the literal meaning of real stars turning black. I figured it would be too big a story to deal with in 1,000 words and was also too obvious a path to take. Scratch the obvious sci-fi or horror angle.The next thing I decided was not to go with famous people (literal ‘stars’) going from being ‘good’ to being ‘evil’. Again I just felt it was too obvious an angle to take.
Basically, I knew what I didn’t want for the main elements of the title, ‘stars’ and ‘black’:
I didn’t want ‘black’ to have a racial meaning.I didn’t want ‘black’ to equate to death.I didn’t want ‘black’ to mean ‘bad’.I didn’t want ‘stars’ to be balls of gas shining down on us… ’cos those are really suns.I didn’t want ‘stars’ to be famous people.
So, what did I want?Well, I wanted black to mean something else, like maybe dark, and I wanted an alternative meaning, so how about the phrase ‘gone dark’. It was a little more subtle, although probably not by much, and it lent itself well to the story.Next thing that popped into my head was the opening sentence: “They came for Corcoran in the night.”And the story grew from there.It’s amazing what you can achieve in a waiting room, where people leave you alone and don’t keep clawing their way into your head space.Again, my thanks to Mr. Wendig, for providing so much fun.

Blogs that made me stop: 8 October 2012—Part 1:

Okay, so the blogs outstanding have been driving me crazy – lurking at the back of my mind while I reformat and re-cover and edit the anthologies. So, after a particularly stressful morning which left me wanting very much to kill something, I took some time to chill with the bloggers and clear the backlog. For some strange reason, this has enabled me to unwind. Thank you to all the bloggers out there, mostly to those I have discovered and now follow, but especially to the following, whose entries made me stop. NOTE: This was a much bigger task than anticipated so I'm breaking this post into several pieces. Here are the first twenty:Mystery Writing is Murder: little things that make it for a reader by Elizabeth S. Craig: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/discovering-what-deights-reader-feedback.htmlMystery Writing is Murder: what to include in a first chapter by Elizabeth S. Craig: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/discovering-what-deights-reader-feedback.htmlKristine Kathryn Rusch on why writers disappear: http://kriswrites.com/2012/10/03/the-business-rusch-why-writers-disappear/Jim C Hines on Anne Crispin and Ridan Publishing: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/10/crispin-and-ridan-publishing/Jim C. Hines on Ridan Publishing and Anne Crispin: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/10/good-news-on-the-ridan-front/Jim C. Hines on his October plans: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/10/the-october-plan/JW Manus on the little things to be considered in e-books: http://jwmanus.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/little-things-mean-a-lot-in-ebooks/Hallie Chandler thinking of cover design: http://halliechandler.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/1296/Grasping for the Wind about The Signed Page by Bryan Thomas Schmidt: http://www.graspingforthewind.com/2012/10/05/signed-page-owner-editor-and-author-assembles-dream-toc-for-fundraising-anthology-after-cancer/GalleyCat on Google settling with publishers by Jason Boog: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/google-publishers-settle-after-seven-years_b58557GalleyCat on an author endorsement of the movie Life of Pi by Maryann Yin: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/yann-martel-endorses-ang-lees-life-of-pi-film-adaptation_b58605Fantasy Author’s Handbook on genre spoofs by Phil Athans: http://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/at-play-in-the-fields-of-fantasy/Fantasy Author’s Handbook on The Prince by Machiavelli by Phil Athans: http://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/books-for-fantasy-authors-xiv-the-prince/Nick Daws on waiting before you submit or publish: http://www.mywritingblog.com/2012/10/why-writers-should-always-give-it-week.htmlMystery Writing is Murder on finding inspiration by Marsali Taylor: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/need-inspiration-go-out-to-find-it.htmlMystery Writing is Murder on traditionally published titles and rights by Elizabeth S. Craig: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/traditionally-published-titles-and.htmlMystery Writing is Murder on creating a believable world to support your story by Donna Galanti: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cover-yourselfguest-post-by-donna.htmlMystery Writing is Murder on grafting genres onto steampunk by Kaitlin Nichols: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/steampunk-grafting-genres.htmlMystery Writing is Murder on making it in writing by Nick Thacker: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/beat-bestsellers-other-way-to-topguest.html
Publishing Perspectives on why digital media for children in Russia is a growing market by Dennis Abrams: http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/10/digital-media-is-a-growth-market-for-russian-children/ 
Happy reading :-)

More on trying not to suck too much - this time with pictures

So, the more I read, the more I hear that your first and best form of promotion is your next book. The thing that is said the next most often is that the cover is important. The third is editing. Sometimes these last two items are switched.

With this in mind, I took my latest edits and edited them once more, then formatted every title again using everything I have learned in formatting the last thirty titles. (I intend this to be the last time). Formatting and editing took a couple of days, but doesn't include the time I've spent editing them prior to putting them up the first time. Editing is serious business.

The final step I took was to try to improve my covers. For my romance, I have a professional cover artist, but that wasn't cost effective for the anthologies with their individual releases of short stories and poems so I worked on those myself. I used Dreamstime for raw art, then Gimp, PowerPoint, Snip and Paint for covers and kept things very simple. I'll be undertaking courses in Adobe and non-digital techniques next. There's stuff I want to do and just can't.

So, lesson two on trying not to suck to much resulted in the following covers:

An Anthology of DragonsThe Simpson Anthologies #1





 
An Anthology of BattleThe Simpson Anthologies #2  An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among UsThe Simpson Anthologies #3
An Anthology of WorldsThe Simpson Anthologies #4 

There are some amazing artists out there.

Progress Report Week 1 October 2012

Current ProjectsI made no progress on the current projects this week, but I cleaned up my completed projects and improved their presentation and content. Almost done.
Publishing Tasks:The following publishing tasks were completed this week:
Updated blog six times;Attended Conflux 8 Sunday panels and learned;Formatted and uploaded large print version of Anthology2—An Anthology of Battle to CreateSpace;Formatted and uploaded large print version of Anthology3—An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us to CreateSpace;Formatted and uploaded large print version of Anthology4—An Anthology of Worlds to CreateSpace;Redesigned cover for An Anthology of Dragons using Dreamstime stock art;Redesigned cover for An Anthology of Worlds using Dreamstime stock art;Redesigned cover for An Anthology of Battle using Dreamstime stock art;Redesigned cover for An Anthology of Those Who Walk Among Us using Dreamstime stock art;Redesigned covers for individual titles linked to the anthologies using Dreamstime stock art;Re-edited and re-formatted the first four Simpson Anthologies and the individual titles linked to them;
Craftsmanship Tasks:The following craft-building tasks were undertaken this week:
Attended on-line workshop on writing suspenseful entry;Undertook flash fiction challenge due 5 October 2012;Attended RWA meeting;
Back-Burner Projects:No backburner projects were loved this week.
New ArrivalsThe following ideas arrived this week:
WritingCraft1: a book of theory and exercises to improve writing craft;WritingCraft2: a book of theory and exercises set in one particular genre;ShortStory43—Marrietta and the Wreck of the Partying Plesiosaur: as a result of this week’s terribleminds flash fiction challenge;Steampunk1A: never you mind;Steampunk2A: also never you mind;Steampunk3: not even sure if this idea will work;Steampunk4: a blend of steam and magic;Anthology33: science fiction and dinosaurs;RomanceNovel8A: proof that I shouldn’t read non-fiction when I have a full writing list, historical romanceRomanceNovel9A: who gave my brain coffee spiked with … spiked with extra caffeine?RPGAdventure8A: please… make it stop; I need to catch up;Steampunk5A: steampunk and… I’ll tell you more laterRomanceNovel8B: following an incidental character out of 8A;RomanceNovel10A: contemporary romance with its roots set in 8A;PictureBook11: about a baby possum.