iFiction! rolling along, CUBE update, and other tidbits....
Sorry it has been such a while since the last post. I have been working hard on CUBE and several other projects that have needed my attention. But more on that in a bit.
I just want to say one thing to start off: Screw you, typos!
There I said it. I feel a bit better. And I'm sorry I subjected you to that. But you see....typos are the bane of self publishing.
You have to remember, when someone decides to self publish, they are making a decision to replace the large support system and many resources a publishing company has to offer with.....well, themselves.
That means no professional editing service, no professional copy for the cover, no professional artwork, no professional agent/representation, and no money for marketing and touring and printing, and no money for distribution. It's just you, a computer, spellcheck, royalty free stock photos, Webster's dictionary, and a whole lot of nerve. And it takes a whole lot of nerve.
I compare it to Robert Rodriquez and the art of guerrilla film making. He made El Mariachi on $7000 budget. He did everything himself and even though it shows in the final product, its still a hell of a movie. (Side note: He's got plenty of money and still does everything himself, even performing and recording the soundtrack. That is something I can def admire.)
I am fortunate enough to have a very successful graphic artist in the family to help with artwork, and I know other graphic artists with a vast array of skills. That part is covered.
I learned formatting for the different platforms on my own. But now that I have made a few bucks I can stop skimping on a couple things, like paperback formatting. I decided to have both Black Rain books formatted by a pro and hired Rebecca at IndieMobi to do it. She was awesome and fast, and the result is a book interior that looks high quality. Well worth the investment.
But editing, oh editing. What a challenge. With the past few works I've managed to find someone I trust to place eyes on the finished project and take a red pen to it. She does a hell of a better job then I could ever do, and I do not mind paying her for the service. Professional editing is expensive, and independents usually sacrifice that part of the process, not because they want to, but because they can't afford it.
We do our best. We read and re-read and re-read again until we end up hating the work. We have others read it and help us find the errors and re-read it again after that.
But we are human, and even professionally published works have been known to have a typo or two.
What I'm saying is, if you want to support independent creativity and purchase self-published work, that's great. Kudos to you. And if you spot a typo, let me know. I want to know. But please be understanding about it. I do my best to produce the best work I can. And I'm still finding errors. It's the nature of the beast. And the beast can be an unforgiving pain in my rear.
Of course, I could just be a blathering, whiny idiot about the whole thing. But unfortunately my publishing company is not Random House or Simon & Schuster, it's Michael Whetzel. Unknown and looking to break in. So he can hire some professional editing. (Not a jab at you, Laura. You rock and I appreciate everything you do for me.)
On with the show....
iFiction! is up and running! No Quarter is out. What is it? Ok, I'll remind you. It's Everette Bell's first release for the imprint.
Bell describes it as "a homage to '70s exploitation films." If that doesn't get your juices running then obviously you hate the '70s. Which is just sad. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I did download the sample, and I blushed while reading it. Seems Bell has got a knack for using swear words. I thought I was bad in BOOM and BANDWIDTH, but Yowza. He's actually one-upped me. Which actually pisses me off. That does it. I'm off to write a prison thriller set in a zombie post-apocalyptic third world country. That'll show him.
Grab No Quarter here.
Here's the offical blurb:
A hard hitting story of two men, two warriors on opposite ends of the spectrum of law. But mirror images in spirit. Juice and James are desperate men, criminal and cop, hurled against each other in circumstances neither has chosen, but each has no choice but to face.
James is a twenty year veteran on the Bowling Green police force who struggles to keep inexperienced officers from turning their back on the law for total vengeance. Juice and his sociopath partners, Cuz and Ace, have taken refuge and hostages in Carter's Tattoo. Juice does his best to keep the slaughter under control.
No Quarter is a relentless, page-turning novella from Everete Bell, unapologetically harsh as the lives it describes.
John Fulk makes his iFiction!/kindle/writing/self-publishing debut tomorrow with Abaddon!.
And it will be FREE FREE FREE through Sunday!!!!!
Come see Fulk's twisted take on the Aladdin legend as only iFiction! can bring it to you.
Grab here for FREE tomorrow.
Mature reader. Contains adult language and adult situations. Chris is a down-on-his-luck pizza delivery driver. One day when the owner of a antique store stiffs him on a tip, Chris steals something from the store: an old oil lamp. Of course he's got to clean it up and when a mysterious stranger appears offering three wishes, Chris' humdrum life is turned upside down. Will all his dreams become reality or does the age old adage of "Be careful what you wish for" hold true for Chris? Find out in ABADDON, the debut novella from John Fulk.
CUBE, from yours truly, is late of course. But take a look at the word counter up there on the right. The original goal was 16,000+ words, the same length as Pied Piped of the Undead. We passed that a long time ago. I'm thinking it could actually hit close to 25,000. The story keeps growing and growing. And I like all the extra stuff. So it stays. I am aiming to have it complete this weekend and out in time for my birthday, the 12th. (I like money, blu-rays, and rare works of art, if you were wondering.) It is a pretty ambitious story, and I hope you enjoy it.
The first week of March will see me at James Madison University's annual Science Fiction/Fantasy convention. I will have paperback copies of the first two Black Rain books available as well as a new short story collection that will include all of the iFiction! stories from myself, including The Pied Piper of the Undead. I have the cover finished and printer waiting patiently. As soon as CUBE is complete, it will be available as an ebook collection too.
And last but not least, I intended to include a new Black Rain chapter with CUBE's release, but will delay that for the short story collection instead. CUBE is looking like an all-ages story. I did not want to exclude a younger audience from enjoying it because of the added bonus content. We are talking Day 1 of Tina's story here (and if you have read Black Rain, you know Tina is not for an all-ages group.)
That's it for now. I hope to have a blog discussing the ideas and decisions that went into the first 2 Black Rain books and what is coming up for the third. Also hope to have some audiobook news coming soon, and Blood Will Run details.
Enjoy the week,
Screw typos!
Mike
I just want to say one thing to start off: Screw you, typos!
There I said it. I feel a bit better. And I'm sorry I subjected you to that. But you see....typos are the bane of self publishing.
You have to remember, when someone decides to self publish, they are making a decision to replace the large support system and many resources a publishing company has to offer with.....well, themselves.
That means no professional editing service, no professional copy for the cover, no professional artwork, no professional agent/representation, and no money for marketing and touring and printing, and no money for distribution. It's just you, a computer, spellcheck, royalty free stock photos, Webster's dictionary, and a whole lot of nerve. And it takes a whole lot of nerve.
I compare it to Robert Rodriquez and the art of guerrilla film making. He made El Mariachi on $7000 budget. He did everything himself and even though it shows in the final product, its still a hell of a movie. (Side note: He's got plenty of money and still does everything himself, even performing and recording the soundtrack. That is something I can def admire.)
I am fortunate enough to have a very successful graphic artist in the family to help with artwork, and I know other graphic artists with a vast array of skills. That part is covered.
I learned formatting for the different platforms on my own. But now that I have made a few bucks I can stop skimping on a couple things, like paperback formatting. I decided to have both Black Rain books formatted by a pro and hired Rebecca at IndieMobi to do it. She was awesome and fast, and the result is a book interior that looks high quality. Well worth the investment.
But editing, oh editing. What a challenge. With the past few works I've managed to find someone I trust to place eyes on the finished project and take a red pen to it. She does a hell of a better job then I could ever do, and I do not mind paying her for the service. Professional editing is expensive, and independents usually sacrifice that part of the process, not because they want to, but because they can't afford it.
We do our best. We read and re-read and re-read again until we end up hating the work. We have others read it and help us find the errors and re-read it again after that.
But we are human, and even professionally published works have been known to have a typo or two.
What I'm saying is, if you want to support independent creativity and purchase self-published work, that's great. Kudos to you. And if you spot a typo, let me know. I want to know. But please be understanding about it. I do my best to produce the best work I can. And I'm still finding errors. It's the nature of the beast. And the beast can be an unforgiving pain in my rear.
Of course, I could just be a blathering, whiny idiot about the whole thing. But unfortunately my publishing company is not Random House or Simon & Schuster, it's Michael Whetzel. Unknown and looking to break in. So he can hire some professional editing. (Not a jab at you, Laura. You rock and I appreciate everything you do for me.)
On with the show....
iFiction! is up and running! No Quarter is out. What is it? Ok, I'll remind you. It's Everette Bell's first release for the imprint.
Bell describes it as "a homage to '70s exploitation films." If that doesn't get your juices running then obviously you hate the '70s. Which is just sad. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I did download the sample, and I blushed while reading it. Seems Bell has got a knack for using swear words. I thought I was bad in BOOM and BANDWIDTH, but Yowza. He's actually one-upped me. Which actually pisses me off. That does it. I'm off to write a prison thriller set in a zombie post-apocalyptic third world country. That'll show him. Grab No Quarter here.
Here's the offical blurb:
A hard hitting story of two men, two warriors on opposite ends of the spectrum of law. But mirror images in spirit. Juice and James are desperate men, criminal and cop, hurled against each other in circumstances neither has chosen, but each has no choice but to face.
James is a twenty year veteran on the Bowling Green police force who struggles to keep inexperienced officers from turning their back on the law for total vengeance. Juice and his sociopath partners, Cuz and Ace, have taken refuge and hostages in Carter's Tattoo. Juice does his best to keep the slaughter under control.
No Quarter is a relentless, page-turning novella from Everete Bell, unapologetically harsh as the lives it describes.
John Fulk makes his iFiction!/kindle/writing/self-publishing debut tomorrow with Abaddon!. And it will be FREE FREE FREE through Sunday!!!!!
Come see Fulk's twisted take on the Aladdin legend as only iFiction! can bring it to you.
Grab here for FREE tomorrow.
Mature reader. Contains adult language and adult situations. Chris is a down-on-his-luck pizza delivery driver. One day when the owner of a antique store stiffs him on a tip, Chris steals something from the store: an old oil lamp. Of course he's got to clean it up and when a mysterious stranger appears offering three wishes, Chris' humdrum life is turned upside down. Will all his dreams become reality or does the age old adage of "Be careful what you wish for" hold true for Chris? Find out in ABADDON, the debut novella from John Fulk.
CUBE, from yours truly, is late of course. But take a look at the word counter up there on the right. The original goal was 16,000+ words, the same length as Pied Piped of the Undead. We passed that a long time ago. I'm thinking it could actually hit close to 25,000. The story keeps growing and growing. And I like all the extra stuff. So it stays. I am aiming to have it complete this weekend and out in time for my birthday, the 12th. (I like money, blu-rays, and rare works of art, if you were wondering.) It is a pretty ambitious story, and I hope you enjoy it.
The first week of March will see me at James Madison University's annual Science Fiction/Fantasy convention. I will have paperback copies of the first two Black Rain books available as well as a new short story collection that will include all of the iFiction! stories from myself, including The Pied Piper of the Undead. I have the cover finished and printer waiting patiently. As soon as CUBE is complete, it will be available as an ebook collection too.
And last but not least, I intended to include a new Black Rain chapter with CUBE's release, but will delay that for the short story collection instead. CUBE is looking like an all-ages story. I did not want to exclude a younger audience from enjoying it because of the added bonus content. We are talking Day 1 of Tina's story here (and if you have read Black Rain, you know Tina is not for an all-ages group.)
That's it for now. I hope to have a blog discussing the ideas and decisions that went into the first 2 Black Rain books and what is coming up for the third. Also hope to have some audiobook news coming soon, and Blood Will Run details.
Enjoy the week,
Screw typos!
Mike
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