Alan Baxter's Blog, page 127

Formatting error on Smashwords ebooks

A reader was kind enough to point out to me recently that the epub versions of RealmShift and MageSign had a formatting error. It seems that the font size switched between 10 point and 12 point fairly randomly throughout both books on some readers.

I checked this on my iPhone and found that on Stanza Desktop the books looked fine, but once uploaded to the iPhone Stanza they switched font sizes every few paragraphs.

So, having investigated, it turned out to be publisher error. In other words...

A great review for RealmShift

There is nothing better for an author than words of praise from a reader. A reader doesn't have to say anything about a book they read. If they don't like any given book, they usually just don't say anything other than telling friends and family about it. If they really enjoy a book, they'll usually do the same. It's great for authors when someone takes the time to tell the world what they thought, in the form of a review, especially when they really enjoy a book. RealmShift just got this 5 s...

The Telegraph's 20 worst Dan Brown sentences

I'm not bitter at the success of Dan Brown. Really, I'm not. I would love to sell one book for every 10,000 books Dan Brown sells and I'd consider myself very sucessful, but I don't resent his success. Anyone that can sell books in the kind of numbers that the Browns, Rowlings and Meyers of this world do is something that should provide succour to all writers. It is possibe to sell books by the million.

Of course, it does burn a little bit when those books are atrocious, but there's no point b...

Friday Flash – One Thought

I have very little time this week, so I apologise if this little piece is not up to my usual standard. I pretty much wrote it and posted it in a single sitting, which is something I never usually do. I'm sure if I read it again in a day or two I'll see loads of changes that I'd like to make. It's more the exploration of an idea than anything else, a moment frozen in time. It's a piece of imagery that I've had in my mind for a while now. I hope you like it.

One Thought

All kinds of thoughts...

First Blade Red Press anthology open for submissions

My indie publisher, Blade Red Press, is open to short story submissions for its first anthology of dark speculative fiction. Check out all the details here: Blade Red Press, Submissions.

Have a think and send in your best work. It's not a highly paid market right now, but it is a paying market, it is a publication credit and successful submissions will see their work in print and ebook form next year.

Good luck!

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Review my books and win some more books

Australian spec fic website A Writer Goes On A Journey is running a competition where you can win a couple of spec fic titles for reviewing books or writing flash. You can find all the details of the competition here.

You need to have an Aussie postal address to enter. If anyone is interested in reviewing RealmShift and/or MageSign and posting that review on the site you could win the books. I'd even consider sending out free review copies to anyone that wants to take up the opportunity. If...

NZ Speculative Fiction Blogging Week

That's pronounced "Un Zud Spiculatuv Fuction Bloggung Wik".

Okay, obligatory New Zealand piss-take out of the way, I can get on with the point of this post. (It would be considered un-Australian if I made a post about New Zealand without poking fun at their accent).

So, 14th-20th September is NZ Speculative Fiction Blogging Week.

From the announcement:

This is an opportunity for anyone in (or even with links to) New Zealand to talk about Speculative Fiction, to publicise what they've been doing...

Operation Ebook Drop

Operation Ebook Drop is an idea started up by an author called Ed Patterson. The idea grew from the concept that a lot of service personnel overseas have ebook readers, but can't access the Kindle store on Amazon.com because they're away from the Whispernet service provider (which wirelessly transmits Kindles). Patterson decided that it would be a good idea to offer troops free ebooks via a Smashwords coupon. That way the troops could download Kindle friendly versions or any other ebook...

Reviews and how to take them

A recent post on Musings Of An Aussie Writer that made direct reference to me and reviews of my work got me thinking about reviews. A lot of people react badly to reviews, even when they're primarily positive. I don't know why.

As far as I'm concerned, as an author, once I put my work out there I have no right to tell people what to think of it. I always make my writing the best I think it can be before I let it go public. Often that's the only way it can or will go public.

After that I always ...

Conflux 6 only 3 weeks away

draft program for the con here, but that's actually a little bit out of date now. I think a new program will be updated there any time now...