David Barron's Blog, page 5
December 23, 2011
Christmas Eve 2011
Christmas Eve—otherwise known as The Only Holiday I Celebrate—is upon us, and I'm having a wonderful time! Let's report it the traditional way:
Christmas Past
Since I knocked my own Christmas Past out of the park with Christmas Eve 2010, I'll just provide you with my favorite part of the movie I'll be watching with my girlfriend tonight:
Man, those guys knew how to spread Christmas cheer.
Christmas Present
Did I mention my girlfriend? I think I might have. This is the Second Annual Christmas Party & Debauch, so I'm ready to settle in to some delicious fish, beer, and et cetera. What a time we'll have, writing dry spell notwithstanding, and then I'll be ready to embrace the new year 2012 (Thai year 2555) with open arms, heart and mind. I'm going back to America in a month or two, but I'll be back, for my pineapple girl.
She's the reason for the season.
What? You wanted a Christmas Girl? Do your own damn Google Image Search, you perverts.
Christmas Future
I've already made my five-year plan, and nothing can change it, so let's talk about the real Future. Specifically, why haven't I had the opportunity to go colonize wherever the hell this is yet?
source
It's "a habitable exoplanet in orbit around a red dwarf". Look at those lush continents! Man, we could be doing so many cool things on the land, and talking to the local whale population. Plus, everything will be all red and cool. That makes dramatic speeches more spooky:
Governor David Barron, exhorting the colonists.
Who's with me? I'll give Humanity until 2024, then I'm going by myself. Don't make me come back there.
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
Christmas Past
Since I knocked my own Christmas Past out of the park with Christmas Eve 2010, I'll just provide you with my favorite part of the movie I'll be watching with my girlfriend tonight:
Man, those guys knew how to spread Christmas cheer.
Christmas Present
Did I mention my girlfriend? I think I might have. This is the Second Annual Christmas Party & Debauch, so I'm ready to settle in to some delicious fish, beer, and et cetera. What a time we'll have, writing dry spell notwithstanding, and then I'll be ready to embrace the new year 2012 (Thai year 2555) with open arms, heart and mind. I'm going back to America in a month or two, but I'll be back, for my pineapple girl.
She's the reason for the season.
What? You wanted a Christmas Girl? Do your own damn Google Image Search, you perverts.
Christmas Future
I've already made my five-year plan, and nothing can change it, so let's talk about the real Future. Specifically, why haven't I had the opportunity to go colonize wherever the hell this is yet?
source
It's "a habitable exoplanet in orbit around a red dwarf". Look at those lush continents! Man, we could be doing so many cool things on the land, and talking to the local whale population. Plus, everything will be all red and cool. That makes dramatic speeches more spooky:
Governor David Barron, exhorting the colonists.
Who's with me? I'll give Humanity until 2024, then I'm going by myself. Don't make me come back there.
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
December 19, 2011
Dry Spells And The Sorcerer
I have a terrible confession to make: I haven't finished anything in two months. I've written lots of words, but I haven't been enjoying the real, true reason that I write...that is to say: Having Written. "Behold," I like to say, "I wrote that." Nobody wants to know what you're writing. That's the most boring thing you could ever tell anybody. What they want to know is: "Is it done yet?!?" Well, it's not.
Dry Spells
Some finished works are more appreciated than others.
So, I think it's best to call this a "dry spell", because that sounds better than "drought". If the writer is a weather system, there's water out there, but it's just not filling up any particular buckets. Let's try to diagnose, shall we?
Writer's Block
Nope. Do you see all these books I have to write? And that's not even including the short stories that exist in potentia and first paragraphia. No, I currently have more ideas than I can shake a stick at, and they're piling up more and more as I get farther and farther behind. It's very annoying.
Distracted By The Sexy
While this is a fine theory, it seems rude to blame everything on my amazing perfect relationship which is better than yours in every way. Also, sexier. Stop being rude, guys. Even though:
The Sexy
Hmm...
Lack of Sleep
Oh, now I'm just showing off.
Lack of Concentration
There's been a lot of paperwork, uncertainty and background negotiations involved to make my Five Year Plan work, and I've found that it's hard to focus on an invented narrative when I'm trying to make an actual, real-life story come true. But that's not a good enough excuse. I've been busier than this, and still managed to write a whole pile of stories.
Maybe I'm just SCARED
Maybe YOU'RE just scared. Yeah. How's that feel?
Headache
Maybe it's because I have a massive headache on a daily basis for no physical reason. Yeah, that might be part of it. I should drink more coffee.
Writing Block
When I sit down to write at my computer, I don't. Or, that is, I don't get to the sit down to write part. I don't think there's a psychology here...I think I'm just unstable. It'll work out before the New Year.
Anyways, I haven't been inactive. I've got a lot of reading done, a lot of reading. That can't hurt. I feel I should read at least ten books for every one I write. It takes about the same amount of time. I've also been keeping up with the short story magazines, and I've got a whole bunch of logistics worked out.
The only solution is to Write More.
I'm going to do the Write1Sub1 weekly thing in 2012, that'll keep me focused. I'll also be writing at least five book projects in 2012, whether I want to or not. Oog.
The Sorcerer
What the hell? (link)
So, let's leave that aside. The solution is easy, it'll just appear one of these days, and there I'll be: back to my prodigious output. I've got a more interesting problem, which is MAGIC. As a writer, I'm a philosopher-magician, but I prefer the term sorcerer because it's more fun to intone, like so:
SORCERER!
It is a well-known fact amongst sorcerers that they need some influences, so I've decided to take my writing career to the next level by invoking the names of sorcerer-writers of the PAST AND PRESENT. Also, I added adjectives.
I invoke thee:
Stephen King
accessible, popular
Harlan Ellison
challenging, robust
Anne McCaffrey
great characters, settings
Henceforth consider me those three, combined, for the next generation. Thanks!
...now:
Excuse me while I disappear, in cloud of smoke and rustle of cape.
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
Dry Spells
Some finished works are more appreciated than others.
So, I think it's best to call this a "dry spell", because that sounds better than "drought". If the writer is a weather system, there's water out there, but it's just not filling up any particular buckets. Let's try to diagnose, shall we?
Writer's Block
Nope. Do you see all these books I have to write? And that's not even including the short stories that exist in potentia and first paragraphia. No, I currently have more ideas than I can shake a stick at, and they're piling up more and more as I get farther and farther behind. It's very annoying.
Distracted By The Sexy
While this is a fine theory, it seems rude to blame everything on my amazing perfect relationship which is better than yours in every way. Also, sexier. Stop being rude, guys. Even though:
The Sexy
Hmm...
Lack of Sleep
Oh, now I'm just showing off.
Lack of Concentration
There's been a lot of paperwork, uncertainty and background negotiations involved to make my Five Year Plan work, and I've found that it's hard to focus on an invented narrative when I'm trying to make an actual, real-life story come true. But that's not a good enough excuse. I've been busier than this, and still managed to write a whole pile of stories.
Maybe I'm just SCARED
Maybe YOU'RE just scared. Yeah. How's that feel?
Headache
Maybe it's because I have a massive headache on a daily basis for no physical reason. Yeah, that might be part of it. I should drink more coffee.
Writing Block
When I sit down to write at my computer, I don't. Or, that is, I don't get to the sit down to write part. I don't think there's a psychology here...I think I'm just unstable. It'll work out before the New Year.
Anyways, I haven't been inactive. I've got a lot of reading done, a lot of reading. That can't hurt. I feel I should read at least ten books for every one I write. It takes about the same amount of time. I've also been keeping up with the short story magazines, and I've got a whole bunch of logistics worked out.
The only solution is to Write More.
I'm going to do the Write1Sub1 weekly thing in 2012, that'll keep me focused. I'll also be writing at least five book projects in 2012, whether I want to or not. Oog.
The Sorcerer
What the hell? (link)
So, let's leave that aside. The solution is easy, it'll just appear one of these days, and there I'll be: back to my prodigious output. I've got a more interesting problem, which is MAGIC. As a writer, I'm a philosopher-magician, but I prefer the term sorcerer because it's more fun to intone, like so:
SORCERER!
It is a well-known fact amongst sorcerers that they need some influences, so I've decided to take my writing career to the next level by invoking the names of sorcerer-writers of the PAST AND PRESENT. Also, I added adjectives.
I invoke thee:
Stephen King
accessible, popular
Harlan Ellison
challenging, robust
Anne McCaffrey
great characters, settings
Henceforth consider me those three, combined, for the next generation. Thanks!
...now:
Excuse me while I disappear, in cloud of smoke and rustle of cape.
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
December 17, 2011
Expanding Universe
I'm expanding and learning! Here's a quick round-up of H2NH ePub's latest propositions for expansion.
Amazon Kindle Owner's Lending Library
Like a responsible small businessman, I waded through the whining about this new KDP program about the new program and then read the contract, upon which I decided to go for it. It doesn't look TOO bad, and I know a whole bunch of Amazon Prime folk who will take advantage of it.
So, if you are so inclined, own a Kindle and are an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow my exciting Science Fiction thriller, the novel Tisroc Spring! Wow! Also available are "More of the Sun: The Jeremiad Monologues" by David Barron & "Minute Macabre (1)" by Jillian Nice. (But, as those are a mere $0.99 regularly, you might as well buy them, right? RIGHT?)
Blurbs
I find myself admiring my blurb-writing, after much research, effort and practice. I enjoy turns of phrase and pithy laconisms. I still need more practice, though, so let's make a deal: Since I hate reviewing things, my offer is if you send me your work, I'll read it and write a blurb for it, which you can use as you wish. Fair enough?
RPG Modules
Spider Frost runs a lot of RPGs in various systems, and after talks (well, 'reading the contract terms') with DriveThruRPG, he feels he can monetize this passion by writing some play-tested modules for the Pathfinder RPG (and D&D 3.5e) under the terms of the Open Game License.
But! He needs to find a Fantasy artist (and cartographer) to go in with him. Here's the deal, we collaborate on the module--Spider does the writing, you do the drawing, but we both work out the details together--we playtest it with some loyal nerds, and then we split the 70% royalty down the middle: 30% to each of us and 10% to eventual print costs. Fair's fair, right? Talk to me! (contact info at bottom of this site)
David Allen Barron
Presumably my final open pen name, he writes literature as per these guidelines. It would appear that most of his writing is going to follow Dave Frost, sad-sack community college professor in modern day America, which is itself rather a mundane science fiction.
I make my pen names work hard, and encourage cross-pollination.
Henceforth shall I be referred to and introduced at parties as "citizen-taxpayer in good standing Mr. David Allen Barron, novelist". Take note, butlers of all nations.
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
Amazon Kindle Owner's Lending Library
Like a responsible small businessman, I waded through the whining about this new KDP program about the new program and then read the contract, upon which I decided to go for it. It doesn't look TOO bad, and I know a whole bunch of Amazon Prime folk who will take advantage of it.
So, if you are so inclined, own a Kindle and are an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow my exciting Science Fiction thriller, the novel Tisroc Spring! Wow! Also available are "More of the Sun: The Jeremiad Monologues" by David Barron & "Minute Macabre (1)" by Jillian Nice. (But, as those are a mere $0.99 regularly, you might as well buy them, right? RIGHT?)
Blurbs
I find myself admiring my blurb-writing, after much research, effort and practice. I enjoy turns of phrase and pithy laconisms. I still need more practice, though, so let's make a deal: Since I hate reviewing things, my offer is if you send me your work, I'll read it and write a blurb for it, which you can use as you wish. Fair enough?
RPG Modules
Spider Frost runs a lot of RPGs in various systems, and after talks (well, 'reading the contract terms') with DriveThruRPG, he feels he can monetize this passion by writing some play-tested modules for the Pathfinder RPG (and D&D 3.5e) under the terms of the Open Game License.
But! He needs to find a Fantasy artist (and cartographer) to go in with him. Here's the deal, we collaborate on the module--Spider does the writing, you do the drawing, but we both work out the details together--we playtest it with some loyal nerds, and then we split the 70% royalty down the middle: 30% to each of us and 10% to eventual print costs. Fair's fair, right? Talk to me! (contact info at bottom of this site)
David Allen Barron
Presumably my final open pen name, he writes literature as per these guidelines. It would appear that most of his writing is going to follow Dave Frost, sad-sack community college professor in modern day America, which is itself rather a mundane science fiction.
I make my pen names work hard, and encourage cross-pollination.
Henceforth shall I be referred to and introduced at parties as "citizen-taxpayer in good standing Mr. David Allen Barron, novelist". Take note, butlers of all nations.
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
December 14, 2011
Literaturary
Ben Godby posted an interesting post, title: "Genre: literature's codpiece, foppish hat, &c" here, in which he said something or other about literature. (Quote not representative of entire piece.)
I replied, as I often do, with a flippant remark about grants and literature is dumb or somesuch. But then he called me a SCALAWAG, except he spelled it wrong. That cur!
It got me thinking, though, that I'd kind of like to write a literary book—an 'novel', if you will—just to say that I can and have. So, what's a literary novel, as opposed to what I normally write (viz, slapdash fantasm)?
I'll take my definition from Dave Farland's excellent article "On Writing as a Fantasist" link, which I originally read as part of one of his Daily Kicks (to which you should probably subscribe!) As it is a 'negative' article, he doesn't lay out the exact limits of the literary genre, but I'll summarize for myself. Remember, I have no literary training! (quotation marks are direct quotes from the article, I'll add a ? when I'm unsure.)
Realists
* No "interesting" characters--such as famous historical figures or creatures of myth"
* No "exotic settings--places such as Rome or Pompeii."
* No "tales that [tell] of uncommon events.
* "[S]tories that [deal] with the everyday"
* No "tales with sexual innuendo" (?)
* "[S]tories about the plight of the 'common man,' just living an ordinary existence"
Elitists / "Relativists" (?)
* "a certain opacity"
* "no absolute good or evil."
* "political correctness" (?)
Existentialists
* "life is meaningless"
* "Shit happens."
Anti-Formalists
* "dissolution of form"
* Slice-of-Life
* Truncated Stories
Negative Exemplars (i.e. Don't Do This.)
* "Teacup Tragedies"
* "Manhattan Angst"
That sounds pretty dull at first glance, but it's not much more limiting than, say, writing a haiku. As long as I don't have to write ONLY haiku, I can give it a fair shot.
So...I'm a Fantasist, apparently, by training and inclination. But I'm going to write a literary novel. Taking off from Ben Godby's cruel, hurtful jibe, I'll call it "Scalawag". Here's the cover:
Art!
I'll just write until I have sixty to ninety thousand words and am bored, then I'll get somebody else, with more literary verve, to edit it down to fifty thousand words. Then I'll release it unto the unwashed (viz, you).
This is going to be an interesting experience.
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
But the kind of thematic maturity and complexity that deserves (according to my superb and irrefutable aesthetic sense) the label "art," is not to be had by every writer, or even every work by any single writer.
I replied, as I often do, with a flippant remark about grants and literature is dumb or somesuch. But then he called me a SCALAWAG, except he spelled it wrong. That cur!
It got me thinking, though, that I'd kind of like to write a literary book—an 'novel', if you will—just to say that I can and have. So, what's a literary novel, as opposed to what I normally write (viz, slapdash fantasm)?
I'll take my definition from Dave Farland's excellent article "On Writing as a Fantasist" link, which I originally read as part of one of his Daily Kicks (to which you should probably subscribe!) As it is a 'negative' article, he doesn't lay out the exact limits of the literary genre, but I'll summarize for myself. Remember, I have no literary training! (quotation marks are direct quotes from the article, I'll add a ? when I'm unsure.)
Realists
* No "interesting" characters--such as famous historical figures or creatures of myth"
* No "exotic settings--places such as Rome or Pompeii."
* No "tales that [tell] of uncommon events.
"nobody murders or debauches anybody else; there is no arson or pillage of any sort; there is no ghost, or a ravening beast, or a hair-breadth escape, or a shipwreck, or a monster of self-sacrifice, or a lady five thousand years old in the course of the whole story."
* "[S]tories that [deal] with the everyday"
* No "tales with sexual innuendo" (?)
* "[S]tories about the plight of the 'common man,' just living an ordinary existence"
Elitists / "Relativists" (?)
* "a certain opacity"
* "no absolute good or evil."
* "political correctness" (?)
Existentialists
* "life is meaningless"
* "Shit happens."
Anti-Formalists
* "dissolution of form"
* Slice-of-Life
* Truncated Stories
Negative Exemplars (i.e. Don't Do This.)
* "Teacup Tragedies"
* "Manhattan Angst"
That sounds pretty dull at first glance, but it's not much more limiting than, say, writing a haiku. As long as I don't have to write ONLY haiku, I can give it a fair shot.
So...I'm a Fantasist, apparently, by training and inclination. But I'm going to write a literary novel. Taking off from Ben Godby's cruel, hurtful jibe, I'll call it "Scalawag". Here's the cover:
Art!
I'll just write until I have sixty to ninety thousand words and am bored, then I'll get somebody else, with more literary verve, to edit it down to fifty thousand words. Then I'll release it unto the unwashed (viz, you).
This is going to be an interesting experience.
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
December 4, 2011
Get Back To Work
That's enough of that. Time to get back to work!
Me in re: the new world of publishing
I'm having a wonderful time.
Jillian Nice is writing a Horror ("ed", "ing", "en") book project
David Barron is writing a short book ("Cataphract"), then two short books that combine into one ("Tisroc Probe")
Dave Frost is about to write a Thriller ("The Continual Falling Down").
Spider Frost is fixin' to bust out some Literature ("Mr. & Mrs. Spider Frost")
They've all got, between them, fifteen short stories on the boil, ready to become an H2NH ePub collection.
...and there's nothing you can do to stop me!
HAhaHaHAAAAA!!!
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
Me in re: the new world of publishing
I'm having a wonderful time.
Jillian Nice is writing a Horror ("ed", "ing", "en") book project
David Barron is writing a short book ("Cataphract"), then two short books that combine into one ("Tisroc Probe")
Dave Frost is about to write a Thriller ("The Continual Falling Down").
Spider Frost is fixin' to bust out some Literature ("Mr. & Mrs. Spider Frost")
They've all got, between them, fifteen short stories on the boil, ready to become an H2NH ePub collection.
...and there's nothing you can do to stop me!
HAhaHaHAAAAA!!!
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
December 2, 2011
Five Year Plan
My gig in Thailand is about to end, so I just had to sit down and think out The Future, because it seems pretty complicated. It's not that confusing, though, now that I've worked it out. It may not be very interesting, but we like it, and it's my blog. I'll probably expand on it via edits for a while, and make a graphic for the side panel so everybody can reference it in the future. Enjoy!
The Official Unchangeable Five Year Plan for The Known Future
by David Barron
Bold Milestones
Brown Travel
Blue MBA
Red H2NH ePub
Pink Tammy Toom
Year One (2012) (2555) I'm 28
Q1 2012 (January/February/March)
Book Project A
Leave Thailand (April)
Tammy Toom starts waiting!
Q2 2012 (April/May/June)
Book Project B
University of North Florida
Fall Term 2012 (August-December)
MBA eBiz (48 credits total)
12 credits prerequisites
• BUL3130 3 Legal Environment of Business
• ECO5115 3 Introduction Economic Analysis
• FIN5405 3 Essentials of Managerial Finance
• MAN5036 3 Fundamental Mgmt/Marketing
Q3 2012 (July/August/September)
Book Project C
Q4 2012 (October/November/December)
Book Project D
Year Two (2013) (2556) I'm 29
Spring Term 2013 (January-May)
12 credits
• class 1
• class 2
• class 3
• class 4
Q1 2013 (January/February/March)
Book Project E
Q2 2013 (April/May/June)
Book Project F
Fall Term 2013 (August-December)
12 credits
• class 1
• class 2
• class 3
• class 4
Q3 2013 (July/August/September)
Book Project G
Q4 2013 (October/November/December)
Book Project H
Visit Thailand (December)
Visit Tammy Toom!
Year Three (2014) (2557) I'm 30
Spring Term 2014 (January-May)
12 credits
• class 1
• class 2
• class 3
• MAN6726 3 Advanced Strategic Management
Q1 2014 (January/February/March)
Book Project J (≠I)
Q2 2014 (April/May/June)
Book Project K
Get a Job in Thailand, Work Visa
The Eastern University of Management and Technology (private)
Ubon Ratchathani University (public)
Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University (public)
Ratchathani University (private)
Q3 2014 (July/August/September)
Book Project L
Q4 2014 (October/November/December)
Book Project M
Back to Thailand
Tammy Toom stops waiting!
Year Four (2015) (2558) I'm 31
Q1 2015 (January/February/March)
Book Project N
Q2 2015 (April/May/June)
Book Project Q (≠O)
Q3 2015 (July/August/September)
Book Project R (≠P)
Q4 2015 (October/November/December)
Book Project S
Year Five (2016) (2559) I'm 32
Q1 2016 (January/February/March)
Book Project T
Q2 2016 (April/May/June)
Book Project U
Q3 2016 (July/August/September)
Book Project V
Q4 2016 (October/November/December)
Book Project W
Forever
daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
The Official Unchangeable Five Year Plan for The Known Future
by David Barron
Bold Milestones
Brown Travel
Blue MBA
Red H2NH ePub
Pink Tammy Toom
Year One (2012) (2555) I'm 28
Q1 2012 (January/February/March)
Book Project A
Leave Thailand (April)
Tammy Toom starts waiting!
Q2 2012 (April/May/June)
Book Project B
University of North Florida
Fall Term 2012 (August-December)
MBA eBiz (48 credits total)
12 credits prerequisites
• BUL3130 3 Legal Environment of Business
• ECO5115 3 Introduction Economic Analysis
• FIN5405 3 Essentials of Managerial Finance
• MAN5036 3 Fundamental Mgmt/Marketing
Q3 2012 (July/August/September)
Book Project C
Q4 2012 (October/November/December)
Book Project D
Year Two (2013) (2556) I'm 29
Spring Term 2013 (January-May)
12 credits
• class 1
• class 2
• class 3
• class 4
Q1 2013 (January/February/March)
Book Project E
Q2 2013 (April/May/June)
Book Project F
Fall Term 2013 (August-December)
12 credits
• class 1
• class 2
• class 3
• class 4
Q3 2013 (July/August/September)
Book Project G
Q4 2013 (October/November/December)
Book Project H
Visit Thailand (December)
Visit Tammy Toom!
Year Three (2014) (2557) I'm 30
Spring Term 2014 (January-May)
12 credits
• class 1
• class 2
• class 3
• MAN6726 3 Advanced Strategic Management
Q1 2014 (January/February/March)
Book Project J (≠I)
Q2 2014 (April/May/June)
Book Project K
Get a Job in Thailand, Work Visa
The Eastern University of Management and Technology (private)
Ubon Ratchathani University (public)
Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University (public)
Ratchathani University (private)
Q3 2014 (July/August/September)
Book Project L
Q4 2014 (October/November/December)
Book Project M
Back to Thailand
Tammy Toom stops waiting!
Year Four (2015) (2558) I'm 31
Q1 2015 (January/February/March)
Book Project N
Q2 2015 (April/May/June)
Book Project Q (≠O)
Q3 2015 (July/August/September)
Book Project R (≠P)
Q4 2015 (October/November/December)
Book Project S
Year Five (2016) (2559) I'm 32
Q1 2016 (January/February/March)
Book Project T
Q2 2016 (April/May/June)
Book Project U
Q3 2016 (July/August/September)
Book Project V
Q4 2016 (October/November/December)
Book Project W
Forever
daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
November 22, 2011
Elegant New World
Computers begat The Internet begat eBooks begat Internet Distribution begat eReaders...and they had sons and daughters. Small Publishers, Independent Contractors
I put a count-up widget at the bottom reading how long I've been doing this, so you know exactly how much salt to ladle out on my experience. But let's round it down to One Year, and an active listening one at that. I'm just muddling-through, and if I suck, it's not for lack of trying.
This is the story of H2NH ePub's tentative quest for some damn cover art, and I want to use it to highlight a really cool promotion strategy, and thus the true elegance, by my view, of this New World of Publishing. But first...
Tangent! I've heard people call it a Brave New World, but that's different. I'm just waiting for the first blog salvo from the Self vs.Trad 'debate' where the term "Savage" is deployed. When that happens, I want to set a timer to the first answering volley of "soma". Of course, I won't be reading that blog post, being too busy doing Work. Think of me as Mustapha Mond. I am above your pointless arguments, but I'm not on an Island. That's for quitters. /Tangent!
I was searching for a cover artist via all the reliable sources--which translates to 'asking anybody who had cool cover art whence it came and seeing if the website so linked had a clear pricelist'--when The Passive Voice (who you should be following) posted a link "A Sale on eBook Covers".
I followed it, because why not? And what did I find? Elegance.
Let's unpack the layers:
Level 1: Designer, JT Lindroos, had some great cover art that didn't find a home, so he set up a "Garage Sale" to shift it.
Level 2: Small Publisher, Blasted Heath, had a promotion going that lowers the price of their eBooks from $2.99 to $0.99.
Level 3: Blasted Heath hosted the Garage Sale and made all cover art purchases contingent on buying at least one of their eBooks. Essentially, a one buck fee, but you get an eBook. So, that's OK.
Level 4: H2NH ePub, a small publisher, is looking for cover art. By chance, one of the Garage Sale covers fits the image in David Barron's writer brain perfectly. How convenient.
Level 5: David Barron buys 'Phase Four' by Gary Carson, then works with the designer to modify his chosen cover. While he's waiting, he reads the eBook, enjoys it.
So, everybody wins:
Designer JT Lindroos gets some money and exposure and almost certainly some repeat business.
Author Gary Carson sells a book to a satisfied customer.
Blasted Heath sells some eBooks, shows off the rest.
H2NH ePub gets to try out a cover designer for very little risk.
David Barron gets a new eBook to read.
...and a sweet cover for his upcoming book:
Around and 'round the mulberry bush,
The monkeys chased the future,
The monkeys thought 'twas all in fun...
Pop Goes The Future
A Novel of the Apocalypse
That's awesome.
Two other cool things:
First - The Blasted Heath check-out system is really, really well-designed. Seriously, it's one of the most hassle-free online shopping experiences I've ever had. Check it out, it's slick! If you're about to start up a webstore, ask them what they did. I know I will, once H2NH ePub rolls out its pro-site. It's nice to see competence.
Second - 'Phase Four' was a good book, and a steal at a buck. (It's underpriced at $2.99, too, so pick it up before they realize.) A fast-paced, psychedelic story of terrorism, chemical weapons and conspiracy. I'd call it Mundane SF Horror. (Mundane as in 'near-future, on the Earth', not 'boring'.)
H2NH ePub has now pretty much tried everything 'ePub': distribution, formatting, pro cover art, ARCs. I'm feeling pretty confident...and excited. Now I just need to bring out at least ten books and a series, then I can roll into print and earn the name H2NH Publishing.
And that's an Elegant New World.
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
I put a count-up widget at the bottom reading how long I've been doing this, so you know exactly how much salt to ladle out on my experience. But let's round it down to One Year, and an active listening one at that. I'm just muddling-through, and if I suck, it's not for lack of trying.
This is the story of H2NH ePub's tentative quest for some damn cover art, and I want to use it to highlight a really cool promotion strategy, and thus the true elegance, by my view, of this New World of Publishing. But first...
Tangent! I've heard people call it a Brave New World, but that's different. I'm just waiting for the first blog salvo from the Self vs.Trad 'debate' where the term "Savage" is deployed. When that happens, I want to set a timer to the first answering volley of "soma". Of course, I won't be reading that blog post, being too busy doing Work. Think of me as Mustapha Mond. I am above your pointless arguments, but I'm not on an Island. That's for quitters. /Tangent!
I was searching for a cover artist via all the reliable sources--which translates to 'asking anybody who had cool cover art whence it came and seeing if the website so linked had a clear pricelist'--when The Passive Voice (who you should be following) posted a link "A Sale on eBook Covers".
I followed it, because why not? And what did I find? Elegance.
Let's unpack the layers:
Level 1: Designer, JT Lindroos, had some great cover art that didn't find a home, so he set up a "Garage Sale" to shift it.
Level 2: Small Publisher, Blasted Heath, had a promotion going that lowers the price of their eBooks from $2.99 to $0.99.
Level 3: Blasted Heath hosted the Garage Sale and made all cover art purchases contingent on buying at least one of their eBooks. Essentially, a one buck fee, but you get an eBook. So, that's OK.
Level 4: H2NH ePub, a small publisher, is looking for cover art. By chance, one of the Garage Sale covers fits the image in David Barron's writer brain perfectly. How convenient.
Level 5: David Barron buys 'Phase Four' by Gary Carson, then works with the designer to modify his chosen cover. While he's waiting, he reads the eBook, enjoys it.
So, everybody wins:
Designer JT Lindroos gets some money and exposure and almost certainly some repeat business.
Author Gary Carson sells a book to a satisfied customer.
Blasted Heath sells some eBooks, shows off the rest.
H2NH ePub gets to try out a cover designer for very little risk.
David Barron gets a new eBook to read.
...and a sweet cover for his upcoming book:
Around and 'round the mulberry bush,
The monkeys chased the future,
The monkeys thought 'twas all in fun...
Pop Goes The Future
A Novel of the Apocalypse
That's awesome.
Two other cool things:
First - The Blasted Heath check-out system is really, really well-designed. Seriously, it's one of the most hassle-free online shopping experiences I've ever had. Check it out, it's slick! If you're about to start up a webstore, ask them what they did. I know I will, once H2NH ePub rolls out its pro-site. It's nice to see competence.
Second - 'Phase Four' was a good book, and a steal at a buck. (It's underpriced at $2.99, too, so pick it up before they realize.) A fast-paced, psychedelic story of terrorism, chemical weapons and conspiracy. I'd call it Mundane SF Horror. (Mundane as in 'near-future, on the Earth', not 'boring'.)
H2NH ePub has now pretty much tried everything 'ePub': distribution, formatting, pro cover art, ARCs. I'm feeling pretty confident...and excited. Now I just need to bring out at least ten books and a series, then I can roll into print and earn the name H2NH Publishing.
And that's an Elegant New World.
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
November 19, 2011
Indie Ploy
I've been doing this Indie thing about a year now, so it's time to look back and see exactly what it is that I've been doing, and see what I'd do differently...just in case some of that 5% of writers who will do self-publishing are reading. Note that you shouldn't really take any of my advice ex nihilo until I've been doing this thing at least five years, but add it to your body of anecdotes, and consider this a summary, then, of pretty much all the Lessons Learned on the Business side of this blog.
First off, let's sidestep a dumb argument: I don't really care if you're a "House Slave" (ah, jeez...) or a Sh*t-Pubber...or whatever the latest negative terms, respectively, for rabid traditionally published or aggressively dim self-published writers are at the moment. On this blog, I take a balanced approach. If the contract's good, I'll take your money, but if the book's good, I'm willing to take a chance on myself, too. Fair's fair, so long as I pay my bills. You gots to do what's best for you, and also I don't care. I'll follow your career trajectory and take lessons from it...but if you don't have a career trajectory? Well, I'm not really going to listen to what you have to say about my career (& vice versa, OK?)
I have to admit I was prepped for this New World of Publishing by four factors: (1) I'm an American who lives outside the U.S., and, once I got over the initial hurdles of Suck and Awe—oh, man, that's a great blog title...—(2) I'm a Fast Writer (as defined as ">4 books a year"), (3) Because of my Real Job, I hate paperwork with an abiding passion and (4) I am a roiling ball of insanity and bravado. Put all that together and give me some time, and I'll have more books than you can shake a stick at, and there's this thing called International Shipping. It's ridiculous, in this Internet age, to send a paper manuscript anywhere and then wait a year to get no response. So, that was my intro—if I were a fancier writer, I'd here say 'impetus', but I'll spare you—to start researching: "What's my alternative?"
One, there's small publishers who are 'clever' enough to take electronic submissions. Sweet. I sent (and still send) some of my books that fit the call for submissions to small publishers that don't suck. It's fun! I want that experience, because I like working with other professionals. We'll see how that goes.
Two, though, is self-publishing, and that's where I did some research heavy-lifting, assisted in Theory by Dean Wesley Smith, in Practice by Kristin Kathryn Rusch (cf: The Freelancer's Survival Guide) and in general encouragement by seeing Kevin J. Anderson & Michael A. Stackpole, many of whose books I've read, were also 'in on it'. (I had also read and enjoyed Kristin Kathryn Rusch's Star Wars tie-in novel "The New Rebellion".) Since I'm not trying to persuade you, I don't need to re-hash all their arguments, but I can boil it down:
Freedom [to make money]
I can get on board with that! Self-publishing train, leaving the station. Man, that's a lame metaphor, and I apologize. BALLOON OF INDIE, Activate!
(balloon of indie picture cancelled due to budget constraints)
So you're still with me through that, and you have no major disagreements on the Theory. I'm assuming this will be about 5% of you. What's the Practice? I'm going to tell you what I think you should do, that is: what I should have done, along with what I did (if different/interesting). These are suggestions. I'm not even going to justify them. Agree or disagree, try something. Or not.
The daB Indie Starter Guide
for people like me!
Step One: Confidence.
I can't help you with this one. You're just going to have to read enough, then write enough so that one day you wake up and say to yourself: "I don't Suck." Oh, and you have to believe it AT LEAST 80% of the time. As previously indicated, I'm a roiling ball of insanity and bravado, but I came by that by other means. I had to dial it back a bit while I was writing the First Million (read: Sucky) Words.
(NOTE: The first million sucky words is not the same thing as the first sucky STORIES. You can salvage the stories later, you just need to learn how to put words together in a not-sucky way to form stories. Mostly it involves characters. That's all I got. Ask me again in five years.)
Step Two: Choose a genre
You've got confidence, so which area of plot are you most confident in? Time to focus, for a while. You can branch out later. (I chose Science Fiction.)
Step Three: Write ten short stories, submit.
Consult Duotropes Digest, and send each story to five pro-paying markets in your chosen genre.
Step Four: While you're waiting, write a book!
While you're letting those ten stories circulate, write a book in your chosen genre. At least 60,000 words. Do it. If it turns out to be a series, great. For bonus points, do it during Nanowrimo.
Step Five: You've been rejected 50 times.
Still feeling confident?
If not, start over at Step Three.
If so, proceed into the magical world of Small Publishing.
Step Six: Create a Small Publisher
Come up with a sexy publisher name. (Mine is 'H2NH ePub')
Get a bank account and an e-mail address and attach a Paypal account to both. Do whatever you need to do wherever you are to register a 'doing business as' DBA business. (In Florida it cost $30) Make an Amazon KDP account. Make a Smashwords publisher account and author account. Set up the payments.
Write all this sh*t down at some point. (I did all this ass-backwards and it's very annoying to retrofit.)
(cf: Dean Wesley Smith's "Think Like a Publisher" series)
Step Seven: Titles
You've got ten short stories and one book. So you've got fourteen titles:
1 Book
1 Ten-Story Collection
2 Five-Story Collections
10 Individual Short Stories
Split up your short stories by some sort of theme, come up with titles and write introductions for the collections. After that, write some sales blurbs. Those will go on Smashwords and Amazon.
Step Eight: Cover Art
I made a guide to making some cover art. It's out of date, but you can see the basic idea: Take a good picture, add a title/author name. Some people buy stock images for a couple bucks and make their cover.
Whatever. Make it work. You'll learn a lot, which you'll use LATER when you're looking for cover artists.
Remember: You can change the cover of an eBook. It's not hard.
(A few of my early covers sucked. I admit that. But not all of them, and those ones got the job done.)
Step Nine: Formatting!
Buy Paul Salvette's Guide to eBook Formatting. It's three bucks. I really, really wish I had had this when I was fumbling around. Don't worry, it's super-easy. Just don't let yourself be intimidated. You're confident, right? If not, return to Step Three.
Follow that workflow and you'll have 14 eBooks formatted in DOC for Smashwords and MOBI for Amazon. Make EPUB and PDF versions too. EPUB because it's cooler, and PDF for Review Copies.
Step Ten: Upload
This is comically easy. Just put them on Amazon KDP and Smashwords, and they'll show up eventually.
Make sure to select distribution by Smashwords to everywhere except Amazon (since you're already going there direct). That will put you on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony, Apple, &c.
Side Note: Pricing
Book: $4.99
Ten-Story Collection: $4.99
Five-Story Collection: $2.99
Individual Short Story: $0.99
...just do it.
Step Eleven: Write Some More
Do not check your sales numbers! They will almost certainly suck for the first quarter. Calm down. Really, once everything is approved and working, you shouldn't even go to the sites. Pretend you have no access to data (what, exactly, would you do if you did?), write that next book, get it up there, write the next next book, write lots of short stories and send them around the markets. Format, upload, repeat: make it happen.
Have fun! Just Write!
The Future:
You can get fancy. H2NH has got a little fancy in this, its fourth quarter of existence. But ask me for Lessons Learned in five years.
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
First off, let's sidestep a dumb argument: I don't really care if you're a "House Slave" (ah, jeez...) or a Sh*t-Pubber...or whatever the latest negative terms, respectively, for rabid traditionally published or aggressively dim self-published writers are at the moment. On this blog, I take a balanced approach. If the contract's good, I'll take your money, but if the book's good, I'm willing to take a chance on myself, too. Fair's fair, so long as I pay my bills. You gots to do what's best for you, and also I don't care. I'll follow your career trajectory and take lessons from it...but if you don't have a career trajectory? Well, I'm not really going to listen to what you have to say about my career (& vice versa, OK?)
I have to admit I was prepped for this New World of Publishing by four factors: (1) I'm an American who lives outside the U.S., and, once I got over the initial hurdles of Suck and Awe—oh, man, that's a great blog title...—(2) I'm a Fast Writer (as defined as ">4 books a year"), (3) Because of my Real Job, I hate paperwork with an abiding passion and (4) I am a roiling ball of insanity and bravado. Put all that together and give me some time, and I'll have more books than you can shake a stick at, and there's this thing called International Shipping. It's ridiculous, in this Internet age, to send a paper manuscript anywhere and then wait a year to get no response. So, that was my intro—if I were a fancier writer, I'd here say 'impetus', but I'll spare you—to start researching: "What's my alternative?"
One, there's small publishers who are 'clever' enough to take electronic submissions. Sweet. I sent (and still send) some of my books that fit the call for submissions to small publishers that don't suck. It's fun! I want that experience, because I like working with other professionals. We'll see how that goes.
Two, though, is self-publishing, and that's where I did some research heavy-lifting, assisted in Theory by Dean Wesley Smith, in Practice by Kristin Kathryn Rusch (cf: The Freelancer's Survival Guide) and in general encouragement by seeing Kevin J. Anderson & Michael A. Stackpole, many of whose books I've read, were also 'in on it'. (I had also read and enjoyed Kristin Kathryn Rusch's Star Wars tie-in novel "The New Rebellion".) Since I'm not trying to persuade you, I don't need to re-hash all their arguments, but I can boil it down:
Freedom [to make money]
I can get on board with that! Self-publishing train, leaving the station. Man, that's a lame metaphor, and I apologize. BALLOON OF INDIE, Activate!
(balloon of indie picture cancelled due to budget constraints)
So you're still with me through that, and you have no major disagreements on the Theory. I'm assuming this will be about 5% of you. What's the Practice? I'm going to tell you what I think you should do, that is: what I should have done, along with what I did (if different/interesting). These are suggestions. I'm not even going to justify them. Agree or disagree, try something. Or not.
The daB Indie Starter Guide
for people like me!
Step One: Confidence.
I can't help you with this one. You're just going to have to read enough, then write enough so that one day you wake up and say to yourself: "I don't Suck." Oh, and you have to believe it AT LEAST 80% of the time. As previously indicated, I'm a roiling ball of insanity and bravado, but I came by that by other means. I had to dial it back a bit while I was writing the First Million (read: Sucky) Words.
(NOTE: The first million sucky words is not the same thing as the first sucky STORIES. You can salvage the stories later, you just need to learn how to put words together in a not-sucky way to form stories. Mostly it involves characters. That's all I got. Ask me again in five years.)
Step Two: Choose a genre
You've got confidence, so which area of plot are you most confident in? Time to focus, for a while. You can branch out later. (I chose Science Fiction.)
Step Three: Write ten short stories, submit.
Consult Duotropes Digest, and send each story to five pro-paying markets in your chosen genre.
Step Four: While you're waiting, write a book!
While you're letting those ten stories circulate, write a book in your chosen genre. At least 60,000 words. Do it. If it turns out to be a series, great. For bonus points, do it during Nanowrimo.
Step Five: You've been rejected 50 times.
Still feeling confident?
If not, start over at Step Three.
If so, proceed into the magical world of Small Publishing.
Step Six: Create a Small Publisher
Come up with a sexy publisher name. (Mine is 'H2NH ePub')
Get a bank account and an e-mail address and attach a Paypal account to both. Do whatever you need to do wherever you are to register a 'doing business as' DBA business. (In Florida it cost $30) Make an Amazon KDP account. Make a Smashwords publisher account and author account. Set up the payments.
Write all this sh*t down at some point. (I did all this ass-backwards and it's very annoying to retrofit.)
(cf: Dean Wesley Smith's "Think Like a Publisher" series)
Step Seven: Titles
You've got ten short stories and one book. So you've got fourteen titles:
1 Book
1 Ten-Story Collection
2 Five-Story Collections
10 Individual Short Stories
Split up your short stories by some sort of theme, come up with titles and write introductions for the collections. After that, write some sales blurbs. Those will go on Smashwords and Amazon.
Step Eight: Cover Art
I made a guide to making some cover art. It's out of date, but you can see the basic idea: Take a good picture, add a title/author name. Some people buy stock images for a couple bucks and make their cover.
Whatever. Make it work. You'll learn a lot, which you'll use LATER when you're looking for cover artists.
Remember: You can change the cover of an eBook. It's not hard.
(A few of my early covers sucked. I admit that. But not all of them, and those ones got the job done.)
Step Nine: Formatting!
Buy Paul Salvette's Guide to eBook Formatting. It's three bucks. I really, really wish I had had this when I was fumbling around. Don't worry, it's super-easy. Just don't let yourself be intimidated. You're confident, right? If not, return to Step Three.
Follow that workflow and you'll have 14 eBooks formatted in DOC for Smashwords and MOBI for Amazon. Make EPUB and PDF versions too. EPUB because it's cooler, and PDF for Review Copies.
Step Ten: Upload
This is comically easy. Just put them on Amazon KDP and Smashwords, and they'll show up eventually.
Make sure to select distribution by Smashwords to everywhere except Amazon (since you're already going there direct). That will put you on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony, Apple, &c.
Side Note: Pricing
Book: $4.99
Ten-Story Collection: $4.99
Five-Story Collection: $2.99
Individual Short Story: $0.99
...just do it.
Step Eleven: Write Some More
Do not check your sales numbers! They will almost certainly suck for the first quarter. Calm down. Really, once everything is approved and working, you shouldn't even go to the sites. Pretend you have no access to data (what, exactly, would you do if you did?), write that next book, get it up there, write the next next book, write lots of short stories and send them around the markets. Format, upload, repeat: make it happen.
Have fun! Just Write!
The Future:
You can get fancy. H2NH has got a little fancy in this, its fourth quarter of existence. But ask me for Lessons Learned in five years.
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
November 12, 2011
Tisroc Spring (2nd edition)
The long-anticipated second electronic edition of Tisroc Spring, the first exciting novel of the Tisroc series! Reformatted for better viewing, and (slightly) revised and expanded for your reading pleasure. Presenting...
Tisroc Spring
Amazon.com $5.99 • Amazon UK £4.29 • Amazon DE €4.99 • Amazon FR €4.99
review copy available upon request
A technological thriller with a double shot of humor and romance: Tisroc Spring, a science fiction novel by David Barron. This novel is a convenient collection of the first three Tisroc short books in a discounted package, representing the first third of the thrilling Tisroc series!
We're just babies, making up a game...
Play-world
Controlling drones mapping the surface of a forgotten Earth is a pretty sweet gig, especially since Ernie Centrifuge can work from the comfort of his computer room on the floating city of Megalopolis...but when he takes a job to survey a mysterious island, he finds himself entangled in a deadly competition for a lost and priceless treasure! With the help of his sister (a psion), her husband (a pilot), and a sarcastic lady he meets in a car accident (a police inspector), Ernie races to find out who's who in a world where no one really knows what's what.
May you live forever...
To roll anyway
Ernie Centrifuge just wants to relax with his girlfriend (a police inspector) and play with his survey drones, but when a Senator is assassinated by laser, Ernie decides that the floating city isn't as relaxing as he would have hoped. When his sister (a psion) brings in an orphan girl who found a tantalizing map, Ernie decides to descend to the surface of a forgotten Earth. But what has he left behind on Megalopolis?
What do you call soon?
The spell of it
The New Farms on the surface of a forgotten Earth promise to feed overcrowded Megalopolis, but when two workers are killed, Inspector Benji Prajactatorix has her suspicions. She takes her boyfriend (a tech) along to check out a mysterious organic spaceship, but that leaves his sister (a psion) and her intended (a politician) still on the floating city to contend with a food shortage on the eve of Election Day.
...and once you've enjoyed this novel, anticipate the fourth short book in the Tisroc series: A little astronomy.
WHAT?
I decided to do up a second edition of this novel so that I could incorporate all the lessons I've learned since the first edition came out, especially about formatting. This edition looks much nicer than the previous one, and it has a much more robust table of contents. I also cleaned up a few typographical errors that generous readers pointed out (Thanks!) or that I found while doing the formatting. There's ALWAYS a typo, it's the law of the universe, but this has gone through at least five passes of editing since manuscript, not to mention the eyes of the helpful readers (Thanks again!). So it's nice and clean. Beautiful, even. A display piece.
WHY?
I also knocked a dollar off the price, bringing it down to $5.99. Each short book in the Tisroc series sells for $2.99, but in the near future, I'm going to make the first book ("Play-world") free. Thus, this three-book collection is getting three short books for the price of two, and it won't screw anybody who buys this first novel early. The second novel "Tisroc Probe", will be a $4.99 collection of the next two Tisroc short books, and the final novel "Tisroc Fall", will be a $7.99 collection of three books. A dollar off for buying a collection, which is fine by me. I'll also most likely release the three novels as print books instead of eight short books...but who knows?
WHAT NEXT?
Confused? That's OK. We're having fun. Next out from H2NH on Amazon will be the 2nd Edition of "At the Mountains of Malapert", my Hard Science Fiction epic of lunar colonization. If you so desire, you can pick that up for $2.99 on Smashwords now for all formats and regions. It'll be available on Amazon sometime this week, and I'll make an announcement.
WHERE?
I'll repeat the buy links so you don't have to scroll up...
Tisroc Spring
Amazon.com $5.99 • Amazon UK £4.29 • Amazon DE €4.99 • Amazon FR €4.99
review copy available upon request
Happy Reading!
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
Tisroc Spring
Amazon.com $5.99 • Amazon UK £4.29 • Amazon DE €4.99 • Amazon FR €4.99
review copy available upon request
A technological thriller with a double shot of humor and romance: Tisroc Spring, a science fiction novel by David Barron. This novel is a convenient collection of the first three Tisroc short books in a discounted package, representing the first third of the thrilling Tisroc series!
We're just babies, making up a game...
Play-world
Controlling drones mapping the surface of a forgotten Earth is a pretty sweet gig, especially since Ernie Centrifuge can work from the comfort of his computer room on the floating city of Megalopolis...but when he takes a job to survey a mysterious island, he finds himself entangled in a deadly competition for a lost and priceless treasure! With the help of his sister (a psion), her husband (a pilot), and a sarcastic lady he meets in a car accident (a police inspector), Ernie races to find out who's who in a world where no one really knows what's what.
May you live forever...
To roll anyway
Ernie Centrifuge just wants to relax with his girlfriend (a police inspector) and play with his survey drones, but when a Senator is assassinated by laser, Ernie decides that the floating city isn't as relaxing as he would have hoped. When his sister (a psion) brings in an orphan girl who found a tantalizing map, Ernie decides to descend to the surface of a forgotten Earth. But what has he left behind on Megalopolis?
What do you call soon?
The spell of it
The New Farms on the surface of a forgotten Earth promise to feed overcrowded Megalopolis, but when two workers are killed, Inspector Benji Prajactatorix has her suspicions. She takes her boyfriend (a tech) along to check out a mysterious organic spaceship, but that leaves his sister (a psion) and her intended (a politician) still on the floating city to contend with a food shortage on the eve of Election Day.
...and once you've enjoyed this novel, anticipate the fourth short book in the Tisroc series: A little astronomy.
WHAT?
I decided to do up a second edition of this novel so that I could incorporate all the lessons I've learned since the first edition came out, especially about formatting. This edition looks much nicer than the previous one, and it has a much more robust table of contents. I also cleaned up a few typographical errors that generous readers pointed out (Thanks!) or that I found while doing the formatting. There's ALWAYS a typo, it's the law of the universe, but this has gone through at least five passes of editing since manuscript, not to mention the eyes of the helpful readers (Thanks again!). So it's nice and clean. Beautiful, even. A display piece.
WHY?
I also knocked a dollar off the price, bringing it down to $5.99. Each short book in the Tisroc series sells for $2.99, but in the near future, I'm going to make the first book ("Play-world") free. Thus, this three-book collection is getting three short books for the price of two, and it won't screw anybody who buys this first novel early. The second novel "Tisroc Probe", will be a $4.99 collection of the next two Tisroc short books, and the final novel "Tisroc Fall", will be a $7.99 collection of three books. A dollar off for buying a collection, which is fine by me. I'll also most likely release the three novels as print books instead of eight short books...but who knows?
WHAT NEXT?
Confused? That's OK. We're having fun. Next out from H2NH on Amazon will be the 2nd Edition of "At the Mountains of Malapert", my Hard Science Fiction epic of lunar colonization. If you so desire, you can pick that up for $2.99 on Smashwords now for all formats and regions. It'll be available on Amazon sometime this week, and I'll make an announcement.
WHERE?
I'll repeat the buy links so you don't have to scroll up...
Tisroc Spring
Amazon.com $5.99 • Amazon UK £4.29 • Amazon DE €4.99 • Amazon FR €4.99
review copy available upon request
Happy Reading!
-daB
feel free to comment
Available Stories
November 8, 2011
Challenge Story #1: "The Peacock's Tower"
"The Peacock's Tower" is the first story in my incredibly well-named Short Stories Challenge Practical (SSCP #1, if you like.) I'll make a graphic for the challenge when I get back from vacation.
Bonus: Amazing Cover Art! WOW!
You can pick it up via:
Smashwords Free!
...until I put SSCP #2 up.
Obviously, the challenge itself is patterned on Dean Wesley Smith's more interesting 2011 Challenge, so I'm not going to get all fancy.
The Writing of "The Peacock's Tower"
This story developed in the same fashion as all the others. First, I had some Batshit Insane Dreams with a peacock and an adobe looking thing. Purple and green throughout, a sea wall...snow. Tests. A girl. Your basic disorganized lucid dream. I woke up and made a 'bracket outline', putting all the images down on paper like so:
[peacock, purple and green]
[an adobe looking thing]
&c.
and adding a few extras as they came up.
[tower in the snow]
&c.
Then I called it The Peacock's Tower, because why not?
Once I had about ten images, I proceeded, in the finest traditions of storytelling, to Throw It All Together, starting with the line (and blurb):
The walled town of Hugfast, at the edge of the Shining Sea, within sight of the Peacock's Tower, across from the Other End of the World, was a meritocracy
Which was pretty spooky, so I sat on that for a couple minutes, drank a coffee or two. Then I sat back down and typed at high speed for about three hours until I was called away to PARTY. I came back at midnight, typed a few sentences (although they were quite good) before I fell asleep. Then I woke up at about 3AM and finished the story after a couple hours.
The next day I rolled through and corrected some typos, but it was remarkably clean copy, then I sat on it for a week before reading it again and deciding it didn't suck. Good enough for me! I'd genre it as "Fantasy with SF characteristics".
I made the cover using the template I made for the challenge, then formatted the story up in Word and put it on Smashwords. Once I have five or ten such stories, I'll format them all up in a collection with fancy cover art and put it up for sale on Amazon and B&N. And then I'll invite you to go buy that.
Summary
probably six hours produced
"The Peacock's Tower"
about 5,000 words
Smashwords Free!
I'll be on vacation this next weekend—paid for by eBooks, and that's cool—so I might not have the next challenge story done by next week. That's OK. That just means you have a longer time to get this one free.
-daB
feel free to commentAvailable Stories
Bonus: Amazing Cover Art! WOW!
You can pick it up via:
Smashwords Free!
...until I put SSCP #2 up.
Obviously, the challenge itself is patterned on Dean Wesley Smith's more interesting 2011 Challenge, so I'm not going to get all fancy.
The Writing of "The Peacock's Tower"
This story developed in the same fashion as all the others. First, I had some Batshit Insane Dreams with a peacock and an adobe looking thing. Purple and green throughout, a sea wall...snow. Tests. A girl. Your basic disorganized lucid dream. I woke up and made a 'bracket outline', putting all the images down on paper like so:
[peacock, purple and green]
[an adobe looking thing]
&c.
and adding a few extras as they came up.
[tower in the snow]
&c.
Then I called it The Peacock's Tower, because why not?
Once I had about ten images, I proceeded, in the finest traditions of storytelling, to Throw It All Together, starting with the line (and blurb):
The walled town of Hugfast, at the edge of the Shining Sea, within sight of the Peacock's Tower, across from the Other End of the World, was a meritocracy
Which was pretty spooky, so I sat on that for a couple minutes, drank a coffee or two. Then I sat back down and typed at high speed for about three hours until I was called away to PARTY. I came back at midnight, typed a few sentences (although they were quite good) before I fell asleep. Then I woke up at about 3AM and finished the story after a couple hours.
The next day I rolled through and corrected some typos, but it was remarkably clean copy, then I sat on it for a week before reading it again and deciding it didn't suck. Good enough for me! I'd genre it as "Fantasy with SF characteristics".
I made the cover using the template I made for the challenge, then formatted the story up in Word and put it on Smashwords. Once I have five or ten such stories, I'll format them all up in a collection with fancy cover art and put it up for sale on Amazon and B&N. And then I'll invite you to go buy that.
Summary
probably six hours produced
"The Peacock's Tower"
about 5,000 words
Smashwords Free!
I'll be on vacation this next weekend—paid for by eBooks, and that's cool—so I might not have the next challenge story done by next week. That's OK. That just means you have a longer time to get this one free.
-daB
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