Twenty Miles West Release Date Set
Cover image for Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories
The release date for my collection of short stories, Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories, has been set for April 11, 2018. The book will be released in both ebook (Kindle) and paperback formats. Both formats will be available on Amazon.com. The manuscript is 70,000 words (234 pages in paperback).
The book is in the final proofing stages with just a handful of changes left to be made. I am near the end of a project that began in late 2015 when I became aware of the tremendous growth of the independent/self-published ebook market and decided to put together a collection of my short fiction for publication.
Origins of short story collection
There were twenty-seven short story manuscripts sitting in a file drawer from which to choose. These stories had been written over a fifteen-year period beginning in 1985. I selected thirteen stories, some of which had seen publication in small press literary magazines, and a novella. Combined, these gave me a book-length manuscript.
Scanning and editing
The electronic versions of many of the earliest manuscripts had been stored on floppy discs which were no longer compatible with my computer system. So I scanned the printed copies, one page at a time, into Word files. Then I edited each story (see Culling Duplicate Words and Phrases).
Formatting for print and ebook
Formatting for ebook and paperback followed the editing process. As it turned out, the manuscript needed a lot more editing after I had completed the formatting. This caused a huge problem going forward as I had to correct two formatted manuscripts simultaneously. I will discuss this in detail in another post.
The search for a title and cover design
The title and a cover design presented additional challenges and took a lot of trial and error over several months which resulted in a changed title for one of the short stories. I will document this journey in a subsequent post.
A long journey to publication
I thought it would take about six months to produce and publish an ebook of my short story collection. It seemed so much easier and straightforward when compared to the traditional book publishing methods I used to produce my first book, True Prosperity, Your Guide to a Cash-Based Lifestyle, back in 1996. I underestimated the learning curve, and it took me two and a half years to arrive at a finished product.
Now comes the hard part: marketing the book. It will be difficult to find and reach an audience for a collection of literary/contemporary short fiction, but I will have fun trying. Check back here for announcements of reviews and promotional deals. I will keep you informed. In the meantime, you are welcome to read my free stories.
