Print-on-demand and self-publishing

These days, authors no longer have to jump through hoops trying to get an agent or a publisher interested in their manuscripts. Now authors can go the self-publishing route. Self-publishing is not for everyone, and some strongly urge against it, but it is definitely worth considering.

In a nutshell, self-publishing is when you do all the work yourself, or hire someone to do parts of it for you. Other than writing the book, you're responsible for designing the cover, formatting the content, and finding a suitable printing company. You can opt for offset printing, which is the traditional way to print and far cheaper per book, but you'd have to buy thousands of copies and stock them yourself. Another method is print-on-demand (or POD) digital printing, where you can order as needed, whether it's two copies or five hundred. No matter how many you order, the price-per-book is the same (although some digital printers will offer a bulk discount).

A couple of good examples of POD services are CreateSpace and Lulu, both of which allow you to upload your ready-to-print files so that your book is available to order within days.

There are companies known as subsidy publishers who act a bit like traditional publishers in that they do all the design work for you, then print and distribute your book. But the author pays a substantial cost for this service, usually upwards of $2000. Traditional publishers like Scholastic and Random House pay the author for the manuscript and take on all costs, and have a strong vested interest to ensure the book succeeds, whereas subsidy publishers have very little interest. And where traditional publishers have extremely tough standards – to the point that the chances of getting published by them are almost nil – subsidy publishers are not anywhere near as picky and will gladly take on your work as long as you pay them.

There seems to be a lot of confusion over what being self-published means. The term carries a stigma, and I've met authors who have insisted quite strongly that they're not self-published... and yet they designed the cover, hired editors, and organized the printing and distribution. That's self-publishing. Personally I think subsidy publishing is also a form of self-publishing, in that the author pays them money to do all the work. It's no different to hiring a professional team.

I chose to save my money and do the work myself, using CreateSpace, who are an online print-on-demand service. Since they're part of Amazon, my self-published books immediately show up in Amazon. And since December 2009 there's an Expanded Distribution service that means my books are added to national distribution channels such as Ingram's database (among others).

The following are tagged/related posts from my blog...

Lake of Spirits review by Piers Anthony

Posted on November 7, 2011

A little while ago I sent Lake of Spirits to Piers Anthony, who some of you will know as a hugely successful fantasy author and New York Times bestseller a couple of dozen times over. He enjoyed the first three books in the series and I hoped he'd like the fourth installment. His review popped up at the top of his November newsletter, and I can't help feeling a surge of pride at his words. I don't mean to brag, honest I don't, but I'm going to anyway...

I read Lake of Spirits by Keith Robinson. The is the fourth novel in the author's Island of Fog series, intended for young readers; the nine major characters are twelve years old. Don't let that fool you; as with the others, this is a hard-hitting story that may actually be more suitable for adults than children. This time the children are joined by a shape changer who is one of the miengu water spirits, Jolie. She is seventeen and absolutely gorgeous; all the boys are instantly in her thrall. So far so good. But as the cover summary says, "This is a tale of paranoia, betrayal, and impending doom." Yes it is. Jolie leads them into a series of misadventures which are not necessarily innocent. For example, she gets one shy boy to read his not-very-good poetry aloud to villagers, who promptly laugh him offstage, as it were. He is humiliated. Was it an accident, or is there a broad mean streak in Jolie? The girls see her as ugly and don't like her at all. Then one critical girl disappears. Jolie pretends innocence, but they suspect her, as it turns out with good reason. I don't think it is giving away anything to say that Jolie is not at all what she appears. But what she is, is the point of the novel. It's tense, ugly, and makes absolute sense. You won't completely enjoy reading it, but this is another good one, well worth your attention. If I may lapse into a broader discussion (and who can stop me?) I suggest that this whole series is the kind of thing traditional publishers have foolishly shut out. Thank fate for new options, such as self publishing and electronic publishing, notably Kindle, that enables some excellent writers to bypass the closed shop that is Parnassus and reach their readers directly. There's a revolution occurring in publishing, and I'm glad to see it.

This review can also be read on Piers' website here.

I appreciate the notion that my series is one that publishers have foolishly shut out, but the truth is that it's only been seen by a handful to date. The lure of self-publishing was too great back in 2009! Since then, I've obtained an agent, Whitt Brantley (who is back on board and representing the series after a short hiatus); he's submitted the first book to a few major publishers, who have rejected it after a full review, but there are plenty of publishers who haven't seen it yet, so I think there's hope.

One problem might lie in the length of the books, which are each 100,000 words. For MG (middle grade), the books should ideally be more like 60,000 words. This wouldn't be a problem for established authors, but for newbies it seems to be an automatic turn-off as far as some publishers are concerned. And if it's not the length that's putting them off, then maybe it's simply that my writing isn't good enough for them, or that the series is just not what they're looking for. There are a ton of reasons for rejection.

Back in May 2011, Whitt sent the first book to Trident Media Group, who replied:

Thanks so much for the chance to consider Island of Fog. This is such an inventive concept, and Mr. Robinson clearly has a formidable franchise, but I regret that ultimately I didn't connect with the writing in quite the way I'd need to in order to pursue this. I also worry that the length is a bit on the longer side for the current MG and YA market, but then again, I'm not the biggest sci-fi reader, and I'm sure you'll find the perfect co-partner for the project. Thanks again for reaching out to me, and I hope you'll think to do so again if more projects in this genre come your way.

I've since decided to work on shorter books of 60,000 words and try my luck with those, in the hope that getting my foot in the door with something that "follows the basic guidelines" will eventually open another door as far as Island of Fog is concerned.

I've not been posting as much on this blog lately, and to be honest I haven't been writing a whole lot either. But that's about to change. Time to get back in the saddle! I'm nearly finished with edits to Caleb's World (formerly The Impossible World) and then I'm going to start on something completely new and fresh. Meanwhile, Book 5 of the Fog series is screaming to be written and I can't stifle it for much longer...

Lake of Spirits now available in print

Posted on September 9, 2011

Lake of Spirits by Keith Robinson

Today, UPS delivered my first batch of Lake of Spirits (only a few of which are shown in this picture). They look great and I'm glad (again) that I use Lightning Source to print my books, because they're always top quality. And when I say top quality, I mean that there are no scuffs or dents, no dust, no misaligned spines, no excess glue... everything looks professional. So this batch is ready to send out to those on my list of pre-orders.

I have a feeling this batch will run short very quickly, though, so I'll be putting in another order in the next week or so. If you want a signed copy, order now. Alternatively, get a copy from Amazon USA or Amazon UK.

As always, I'm nervous about the reaction to the latest addition to the series. Is it on par with the others? Better? Worse? Only readers can judge, so please let me know. There's a nice review on Amazon from a reader who bought the Kindle or Nook edition:

"I was thoroughly excited when I found this book, I am glad that Mr. Robinson finished another book. This is probably one of my favorite series, I have read the other three books at least 3x each. But I was disappointed with the ending, I wish that it was soooo much longer. I hope the next book is released soon!" —Shannon

The next book is planned for 2012, but I can say no more than that because I'm not sure of my schedule yet. I'm editing The Impossible World at the moment, and after that I'd really like to start on something new... but we'll see.

On the subject of new books, writing buddy Roger Eschbacher has a brand new fantasy novel for young readers: Dragonfriend (Leonard The Great, Book One) is on its way to me by mail, equally hot off the press. So hot, in fact, that it's not even released yet. I have the pleasure of proofing it for him, although I doubt I'll pick up much since my proofreading brother Darren has already had his hands on it. See Roger's website here.

And I have another book to proofread, namely Brian Clopper's Flame and Fortune, again for young readers (see Brian's website here). I'm a slow reader, so I really need to carve out some more reading time. Yes, I'll cut back on my sleep, maybe use the hours of 3-4am for reading. Setting my alarm clock now... :-)

Lake of Spirits available on Kindle and Nook

Posted on August 30, 2011

As the title of this post suggests, Lake of Spirits is now available for all those who read ebooks:

If you don't have a Kindle or Nook device, you can always download the free software to your computer or phone – just follow the links on the Kindle or Nook pages. I have the free apps on my phone and the ebooks look great.

(I'm aware of a typo in the Kindle description, and will fix that in due course.)

Also available now is a free preview of the first three chapters.

I've updated my Buy Books page accordingly. Note that you can now pre-order signed printed editions of Lake of Spirits if you want to get an early copy! That's because yesterday I uploaded the files to Lightning Source (my printer) and am now awaiting submission approval, after which I can push the big fat red button that says "Publish."

Once published, the book will start showing up as available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and at that point I can stock up. So if you plan to buy a printed copy, please feel free to pre-order so you can be sure of an early copy from that first batch (probably in 2-3 weeks from now).

And when you've read Lake of Spirits, PLEASE let me know what you think by posting feedback or reviews. Ta muchly, folks! :-)

Third Writers' Platform-Building Campaign

Posted on August 29, 2011

This is a short post to mention a brilliant networking idea for writers. Why couldn't I think of this? Basically, it's like a writer putting out an announcement to say, "Hey, I've got this hall booked for writers, come on in and introduce yourself," and every writer in town showing up to say hello.

http://rachaelharrie.blogspot.com/2011/08/third-writers-platform-building.html

So I'm showing up to say hello as well. After all, the sausage rolls are free and I get to talk about self-publishing!

(Incidentally, Book 4 of my Island of Fog series, Lake of Spirits, is now being "processed" by Kindle and Nook, so it should be available shortly. I'll post separately about that.)

Reviews and featured spots for Island of Fog series

Posted on August 16, 2011

Basically, what it says above – this is a listing of websites and blogs that have featured one or more of my Island of Fog books. I'll continue to update this "sticky" post and use it like a scrapbook. :-)

Main book pages on Amazon with reviews...

Special reviews, interviews, features and spotlights...

Creepy and not great for impressionable children

Posted on July 31, 2011

With the fourth book in the Fog series, Lake of Spirits, due out later in August, I've rekindled my efforts to push the series around on the internet.

To be honest, I've not done a whole lot of marketing for the electronic editions in the past, and I need to, because there are lots of excellent websites and blogs out there that review ebooks just like mine. So I'm currently submitting Island of Fog to various reviewers and hope to start seeing some reviews popping up here and there over the next months or so. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I went to visit Barnes & Noble's website today for the first time in a while, and found that I'd garnered a few more ratings. I also got a negative review for Mountain of Whispers:

1/5 stars: "Creepy and not great for impressionable children"
I have always wondered about the mind of someone who writes about the most inocent creature on the face of the Earth, a child, as if they are a focus for attacks from the evil one. Creepy story in a whole creepy series, I would not recommend this for your children. —Mary Ellen Gobel Pierce

Assuming this is genuine and not a certain disgruntled pastor from Tennessee rearing his ugly head again (see previous post), it strikes me as odd that a reader would struggle through all three books in a series even though they're only worthy of one star. Or, if all three books were enjoyable enough to read and the only beef is that they're not recommended for children... well, a "poor" rating seems a little unfair. On the other hand, I do like the description "Creepy story in a whole creepy series," so thanks for that, Mary Ellen Gobel Pierce, whoever you are!

Of course, there will always be negative reviews, and that's fine. It's up to the reader to decide what are genuinely helpful comments and what are not. The best reviews are those that provide detailed comments about what's good and, where necessary, what's not so good.

If you've read the books and haven't reviewed them or given them a rating, I would be eternally grateful if you would. Below are some helpful links. It doesn't matter if you review the electronic or printed edition, as they're automatically combined:

USA Amazon

UK Amazon

Barnes & Noble (USA only)

Thank you!

On the search for a literary agent

Posted on July 5, 2011

A few days ago I was informed by my agent, Whitt Brantley, that he needs to "let me go" for the time being. He represents a lot of projects that he firmly believes have great potential, but right now he needs to focus on those that are actually moving forward and generating income rather than those that might one day find a buyer. It's a case of too many properties and not enough time to devote proper attention to them all. I understand where he's coming from and we're parting on good terms, with the understanding that if he happens across an interested party in the future and my books still happen to be available, then we'll hook up again.

That said, I'm not about to sit around twiddling my thumbs. When I've finished editing Lake of Spirits and published it (probably in August) then I'm going to start looking for another agent. Also, I have another project to edit and fine-tune, namely The Impossible World, and I intend shopping that one around at the same time.

So I expect to be busy from September onwards finding a literary agent... although honestly my focus will likely be on The Impossible World and other projects, because I actually enjoy self-publishing the Island of Fog series. If I happened to find an agent in September, and he said, "Okay, take the Fog books off the market so I can pitch them to publishers," I'd be both excited and sad – especially as Lake of Spirits ends on a bit of a cliffhanger!

Speaking of Lake of Spirits, I'm halfway through a first edit. Later this week I'll be sending it off to proofreaders. I should be about ready to publish it sometime in August.

In other news, I read that J. K. Rowling ditched her agent, Christopher Little, and switched to Neil Blair – who used to work for Christopher Little and recently set up The Blair Partnership. I can imagine that's a bit of a blow for Christopher! Still, reactions like this one on the Express website are plain stupid:

Now she has millions, the man who took her all the way to the top is no longer needed. I have not read any of her books, or seen any of the films. Now I would not even consider reading the books or watching the films. Money has gone to her Head!!!!

Your loss, pal. What, so Rowling's genius at storytelling didn't have anything to do with the success of Harry Potter? It was all down to the agent? Hmm. The agent was smart enough to represent her and find a publisher, but ultimately it was Rowling's writing that earned her millions of fans, not Little's literary representation. And let's face it – Little got rich off this too, at 15% of probably everything Rowling's earned to date. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. But if Little had rejected Rowling's manuscript in those early days, the author simply would have moved on to the next agent. She could have been just as successful without Little's help, but Little couldn't have had the same success without Rowling.

On the other hand, and as my dad suggested: Since Christopher Little now has a vacant spot in his agency, maybe he'd consider my Island of Fog books? Hehe. He can take ME all the way to the top, yes sirree.

How many self-published books sold to date

Posted on June 30, 2011

I've always been interested to know how many books self-published authors are selling. I'm nosy like that. We all know that big name authors sell a bazillion copies of every title, but most self-published "Indie" authors don't sell more than a handful. It's true! So I often browse looking for facts and figures, and there are quite a few authors who are happy to blog about their endeavors and reveal everything, however meager (or spectacular!) their sales might seem. I enjoy reading those blogs. Some authors are doing much worse than I am, which makes me feel good about myself, and then there are those who sell hundreds of books a day, which makes me shake my head in wonder.

So I decided to post my own sales figures. I'm often asked how many I've sold, and I always dodge the question because it's sort of like being asked what my salary is; it just seems like it should be private information. Also, if I say to someone I've sold x amount and he's expecting a much higher figure, he might laugh at me. Or, if he's expecting a much lower figure, then it might seem like I'm bragging. Whether my sales are good or not partly depends on your expectations... but, being completely objective about it, it's safe to say that I'm doing better than some and not as good as others!

SALES FOR ALL THREE BOOKS IN THE ISLAND OF FOG SERIES

These days my books are in print as well as available on Kindle and Nook, but initially I sold only printed editions. Over time, the electronic editions have (slowly) taken over as the majority. But here are the figures to date...

483 printed editions
320 electronics editions:
––––––––––––––––-
803 total

Or, going by the different titles regardless of whether they're printed or electronic, the results are pretty much what I'd expect in that the first book sells a lot more than the other two:

456 Island of Fog
196 Labyrinth of Fire
151 Mountain of Whispers
––––––––––––––––-
803 total

What should I make of this? I'd prefer to see an equal number of books sold, meaning that those who bought the first book liked it enough to buy the other two. But in reality that doesn't happen. Even those who liked it might not have gotten around to buying the others, or they can't afford them. Still, I can't escape the fact that there are bound to be those who didn't like it and didn't want to buy the others. I try not to think too hard about this, though, and I tell myself that I have several incomplete series on my bookshelf (often the first book only) just because I haven't got as far as buying the others yet.

I should add that, in addition to the above figures, I've "given away" 30-50 books (reviewers, swapsies, various agents, managers and publishers, and so on. I've also got all three books in the local public libraries, and in school libraries as well, and I know they're checked out constantly (from what I've been told) – hopefully by lots of different readers rather than one who hasn't returned them!

PRINTED VS. ELECTRONIC

I've sold more printed editions personally (signed and shipped from my home) than on Amazon. But electronic sales are taking over, and June in particular was a strangely exciting month for me. Recently I've been selling 15-30 Kindle books a month (in the US and UK), but in June I sold 64. Why? What happened? There was a big jump about a week ago, where I sold 10 overnight and then another 10 over the next few nights, and so on... but I can't figure out why. My Google Analytics reveal no sudden noteworthy spikes, so should I assume word-of-mouth recommendation on some forums somewhere? Or just coincidence? Meanwhile, Nook sales show a similar but less pronounced jump, from around 10-15 a month to 29 in June.

I'm not complaining, but this is the problem with Kindle and Nook – all you see are numbers, and there's no way to figure out for sure what causes these numbers to rise and fall. At the beginning of May I dropped the price of the electronic Island of Fog from $2.99 to just $0.99, which is fairly standard. I'd heard that books then end up on "under a dollar" listings and sales typically increase. Well, I didn't notice the slightest difference, unless this sudden spike halfway through June was something to do with that.

Incidentally, of June's 64 Kindle sales, 58 were Island of Fog. I'm hoping that the readers will go on to buy the other two books once they're finished! Then I'll make some money, because those sell at $4.99 each (of which I get 70%).

MAKING PROFIT, OR NOT

I've read many reports of self-published authors who spend thousands of dollars setting up their books. Some of them earn their money back, and some don't. Most would agree that the money isn't really important. It's true – obviously we all want to be rich, but that's only going to happen if we "get lucky" and start selling hundreds a day when word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire across the internet. In the meantime we Indie authors know (or should know) that we just need to get our books out there and never mind about making profit.

That said, making profit is important to me in the sense that I'm able to justify spending my time writing when I should be working. Kindle and Nook pay me money each month (June's total electronic earnings are around $75, for example) and this is money earned while not doing anything whatsoever to promote my books (apart from occasional blog posts). Ongoing monthly residual income of ANY amount is good, right?

Initially I spent $750 on an editor for Island of Fog. It was a big leap for me, but worth it. I never paid for an editor again because my brother does it for me now (he's a trained proof reader) so really the only expenses are minor fees here and there, plus stocks of books for myself. Oh, and I bought two huge banners for outdoors "event booths" at $108 a couple of years ago. But even including all these expenses, plus shipping materials and so on, to date I'm $785 in profit. Not that I really "see" that money; it's just lost in everything else, and I only have a spreadsheet to tell me the profit exists at all. But it shows me that my efforts are reaping some small, excruciatingly slow rewards in the long term.

PROMOTION, OR LACK OF

Some authors pay money to promote their books. I don't. Sometimes paid promotion reaps huge sales, and sometimes it doesn't. I have neither the time nor the interest to get into that sort of thing. Most authors agree that it's best to "get involved" with social networks and especially Kindle forums, but again, I have neither the time nor the interest. If it was as simple as posting a "Buy My Book" message, I'd do it. But it's not. You have to introduce yourself, sidle in and mingle, make small talk, add to discussions, gain respect and generally become part of the community before anyone will bother looking at your books. But it's not for me; I can't "get involved" when I really just have one ulterior motive.

So I stick to occasional blog posts. I may never sell hundreds of copies a day and become one of those self-published bestselling successes you read about in the news. But I'm doing what I like doing and I never feel like it's a chore. If it becomes a chore to write and promote your own books, then what's the point?

The benefits of self-publishing and ebooks

Posted on April 26, 2011

In the past few days I've been thinking about ebooks. My three Island of Fog novels are already available on the Kindle (in the US, UK and now Germany) and the Nook (in the US), and I've seen sales starting to climb lately. Although money isn't everything, I get higher royalties selling ebooks than with printed books, even though my ebooks are less than half the sale price.

There are pros and cons to everything, and ebooks won't suit everybody. I for one won't read electronic books on a screen, as I spend enough time on the computer already. I'll NEVER buy a Kindle or Nook, or even an Android phone, as I just don't need or want another excuse to stare at a screen. Plus, when it comes to books, nothing beats the look and feel of actual printed pages. The cost of a printed book compared to an electronic version doesn't come into – for me, there's just no argument and printed books will win every time.

But others will argue the opposite, and I can totally understand why. Someone who spends an hour on the train to work every morning most likely prefers an electronic book to read on a Kindle, iPad, or even just their phone. It's the Way Of Things for people on the move or those who don't have access to a computer for most of the day but have time on their hands.

Kindle and Nook

Selling ebooks is very easy, too. It's free and takes no more than a day to set up, and a couple more days for the newly published ebook to show on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. If I come across typos (which I do) then I always correct them in my manuscript, and at any point I can easily upload the new, corrected version of the book – unlike with the printed version, which is a little more costly and complicated.

Not only am I thinking more about ebooks these days, I'm thinking that self-publishing in general is, in a lot of ways, more desirable than traditional publishing. I say that, but of course I haven't been traditionally published before! Still, consider Scott Nicholson, a published author whose books have all but gone out of print. He decided to rekindle his career (pun intended) by self-publishing his first novel. He had to wait to get the rights back before doing so, but then:

"It immediately found readers, just a few at first, and then more and more, and I realized there was an entirely new audience waiting that the book had missed by being dead for six years. I then began collating all my old short stories into collections – all stuff that had been professionally published. Somewhere during the summer, when I got the latest 'I can't sell this' from an agent, I realized, 'You can't, but I can.' I have not looked back since. Eventually the dinky little check I was getting every month became the little check that paid my mortgage, and by the end of last year, with multiple titles, my day-job check was the dinky little check in comparison, and that's when I realized it was time to go for it without a net."

And today Scott has 12 self-published thrillers and seems to be doing what he wants to do, which is writing for a living.

I've heard this same story many times. I still dream of being published by a Big Publishing House and seeing my books in the shops all over the world, but the reality is not as rosy as all that for most authors. On rare occasions a book is highly anticipated and the publisher pours all its money into marketing it, and the book takes off and becomes a bestseller, and the author becomes rich and famous... but, as I said, that's rare. I've read that even New York Times bestsellers can't give up their day jobs until they've got a couple more bestsellers on the go. Most newbies will be expected/obliged to promote their books and will be sent along to book signings in stores. Scott Nicholson said:

I did hundreds, and selling 20 books was a major feat. So, counting the drive, that would be an average of six to eight hours, plus $20 in gas, only to eventually get back $8, assuming your book earned out. All under the threat that 'You will be dropped if your numbers decline.'

Again, I've read this kind of comment many times. I always heard that the average number of books sold at a book signing is seven (unless you're J. K. Rowling, in which case seven equals the number of days people lined up for the final Harry Potter book).

I'd like to be published, and I don't think I'd ever be daft enough to turn down a publishing deal. In fact I'd jump at the chance. But at the same time I'm no longer hung up on the idea that being traditionally published is what it's all about. There are pros and cons to everything, and I'm happy to self-publish if necessary. The biggest hurdle is finding a bigger audience. If I can do that, then being self-published would work just fine for me.

As I write this, Island of Fog is being considered by a huge literary agent firm, and maybe I'll get lucky. But I've decided this will be the last stab (in the foreseeable future) at getting Island of Fog published by a Big House. Regardless of what happens, Whitt Brantley will continue to represent the novels for TV and film adaptations.

I've often wondered what would happen if I landed, say, a 3-book contract of some kind. Obviously the current self-published editions would have to be removed from sale, and future books (like Lake of Spirits) would be "on hold" for years while the first books go through the long, long process of being published. At a guess, and based on everything I've read, each book would take a year – so those waiting for Lake of Spirits in the summer this year would end up waiting until around 2015. Yikes!

Or, if the contract was for the first book only, presumably I'd still need to remove the rest of the series from sale... and if the published book did a nosedive and failed miserably, then that would be the end of it and the book would fade from sight, and then I'd have to wait several years before I could get the rights back to self-publish again.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. I've always got stuff like this on my mind. But no matter what, if I were offered a deal, I'd take it. Better to be published and then fade into obscurity than to not be published at all! In the meantime, I'll continue as I am and start emphasizing the electronic editions a bit more. In case you don't know already, all three books are available as follows:

And you don't need to own a Kindle or Nook to read these electronic editions. You can download free apps for your PC or phone. The apps, which emulate the real devices, are available on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites to the right side of the screen.

The Impossible World

Posted on January 15, 2011

Back in August 2010, I sent a copy of Mountain of Whispers to a lady named Helen in Australia. Weeks later, the book still hadn't arrived and I started to fear it was lost. I sent her a PDF version so she could at least get on and read it, but she still wanted a printed copy. We waited and waited, and finally I sent her another copy. With the overseas shipping cost, this meant I was out of pocket for this particular order – but that was okay, as long as the second copy got to her okay.

The second copy arrived in good time... and the first copy arrived as well. That's always the way of it – like buses, you wait around for ages and then three come along at once.

Before Christmas, I ordered a couple of reader copies of The Impossible World (which is the current name of my Bubbleworld novel, written during November's NaNoWriMo). I ordered them from Lulu, just for speed and convenience. At the same time, writer buddy Brian Clopper ordered copies of his own NaNoWriMo book, The Classic Destruction of Stomper Rex. He received his copies just before Christmas, but mine never arrived. It was well into January before I contacted Lulu and told them of my missing order and, a couple of days ago, they informed me that a new order had just been dispatched.

That very afternoon, my original order arrived in the mail.

So after weeks of waiting, I now have my first two copies, and two new copies will arrive by Fedex this afternoon. Just like buses...

You see, gremlins love to hold up deliveries and delight in watching you get impatient. They crouch in the back of the postal worker's Jeep and cast a temporary cloak of invisibility over the package, giggling at their handiwork and watching with glee as the mailman pulls up outside the recipient's home... and fails to deliver said package. This goes on for days, sometimes weeks, with these gremlins camping out in the back of the Jeep. But then they receive word from Gremlin HQ that the recipient has given up; he no longer wants the package because he has another one on the way. The gremlins sigh and move on. Thus, in their absence, the mailman inexplicably finds the package under his seat and wonders how on earth he missed it before.

The same gremlins are present as you stare out the window at the thunderclouds forming in the distance. Should you take an umbrella out with you, or not? If you do, the gremlins bribe the thunderclouds to go away and come back another day. But if you decide not to bother with an umbrella, you can be sure of a drenching.

And for some reason, these gremlins are always around when you drop a piece of buttered toast. Yes, it always lands face down, making a horrible mess on the floor. I always wondered what would happen if I strapped a piece of buttered toast (face-up) onto a cat's back, and then dropped the cat out of a window. Which way up would it land? How would the gremlins deal with that quandary?

The Impossible World

Anyway – now that I have copies of The Impossible World in my hands, I'm pretty pleased with it in general. I'm not completely happy with the cover, or the title for that matter, but it doesn't matter. What's important is the story, and the purpose of these printed copies is for willing guinea pig readers to run through it without worrying about typos and just form an opinion on the story. Does it work? Does it need huge sections cut or new scenes added? This is, remember, a first-draft novel written in thirty days. So, based on feedback, I'll work on it as necessary and then polish it up.

That is, if those blasted gremlins don't mess with me. I just realized that I don't have an electronic backup copy anywhere...

Books Never-Ending

Posted on October 6, 2010

Hmm. Mountain of Whispers has been available since the beginning of August – so about two months now – and yet somehow I neglected to supply a few copies to my favorite book store, Books Never-Ending in Rossville. I realized this on Saturday when I popped in and the store owner, Danielle, raised an eyebrow at me and asked where my third book was. She had people waiting, she said.

I was mortified. How could I have forgotten? I went from thinking "I really must take some books to Books Never-Ending," to "Did I ever take some books to Books Never-Ending? ...yes, it's been a month or so, I must have by now," and finally to "I wonder how many they've sold?"

Well, I corrected the situation yesterday. Danielle ordered copies of Mountain of Whispers, along with more copies of Island of Fog, which she had run out of. I took the books in and was pleasantly surprised to find that a space had been cleared for them – and I mean a BIG space. With the new books arranged neatly, the display is the first you see as you walk in the door...

Book display at Books Never-Ending in Rossville

This beats my display at Barnes & Noble! Also, the copies you see in this picture are signed. Notice how I'm right there with the hottest books on the market at the moment, The Hunger Games and its sequels? Oh yes.

If you're local and wanting a copy of one of these books, pop in to Books Never-Ending. If you're heading along Cloud Springs Road toward the I-75, it's on the left just past Mack Smith Road. The store is worth a visit anyway; there's a huge selection of books, new and secondhand, and the staff are very friendly. I also like the cozy little wicker armchairs and mini-sofas dotted around the place, so you can sit down and relax.

The store is bigger than you think. Although it has one small shopfront, Danielle has actually taken over the whole building... and all the neighboring houses, garages, and basements, and connected them all with an underground labyrinth of tunnels. (Well, maybe not, but wouldn't that be cool?)

On the shelf at Barnes & Noble

Posted on October 4, 2010

The title of this post says it all – I'm finally on the shelf at Barnes & Noble, the biggest chain of bookstores in the USA. I popped in there the other day and saw Book 2, Labyrinth of Fire, sitting on the shelf in the Young Readers section.

Labyrinth of Fire in Barnes & Noble
Click for larger image

Presumably Book 1, Island of Fog, is completely sold out. It must have flown off the shelf on the first day, probably with streams of eager readers camping outside the door at midnight...

Okay, maybe not. I asked a staff member about the first book, but she said she'd have to ask the store manager, who wasn't in at the time. I believe he ordered five copies of each, which doesn't sound a lot until you consider the thousands of other books in the store. There appear to be no copies of Island of Fog left, and four copies of Labyrinth of Fire on the shelf, so I'll take that as a fairly good sign!

What I really like about this, is that I'm on the same rack as J. K. Rowling. I always dreamed of being on the same shelf as her, but one shelf above is okay too...

Labyrinth of Fire in Barnes & Noble
Click for larger image

Mountain of Whispers might be a little longer coming, as I still need to clear it with Barnes & Noble's head office in New York. But nevertheless, it can be ordered over the counter through ANY store; it's just that you won't find it on a shelf. Yet.

So if you're still wanting to buy the books but don't want to order online, please pop along to Barnes & Noble in Hamilton Place, Chattanooga. Head for the children's/young reader's section. You'll find my books there. Or, visit the excellent Books Never-Ending on Cloud Springs Road in Rossville (up near the corner of Mack Smith Road). The store always has plenty of copies of my books, and they're signed. (Alternatively, email me and pay by check.)

Author copyright

Posted on August 10, 2010

I spent a lot of the weekend dealing with a case of copyright infringement in the form of a book that popped up on Amazon. This has nothing do with my Island of Fog series though! In case you don't know, I run EnidBlyton.net, a fan site for the famous English author who died in 1968. Where America had the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Brains Benton, and the Three Investigators, the rest of the world enjoyed Enid Blyton's adventures and mysteries throughout the 1940s and 1950s. So my website is all about the books, and contains reviews and articles... and fan fiction.

Fan fiction, or fanfic, is usually in the form of short stories, but also full-length novels, based on already-famous characters. Star Trek has fanfic. Doctor Who has fanfic. Just about every cult TV show you can think of most likely has fanfic. It's exactly the same with books, and while it's generally considered copyright infringement to base fiction on an established series, it's not really a problem when the fanfic is presented for free viewing within an online fan community. It's what fans do, right? Writing stories for other fans to enjoy is just part of the fun.

So my site has fanfic too, based on a number of popular Enid Blyton series. I wrote a full-length novel once, long ago, and it's available to read for free. Others have sent in short stories too, for inclusion in the fanfic section. One lady in the UK has been writing short stories for years, one by one, and these are all listed under the heading The Five Find-Outers in Retirement.

The Five Find-Outers were always my favorite. Despite their silly title, the Find-Outers solved fifteen mysteries in their picturesque village of Peterswood. Since the author's death, many, many fans have written the "sixteenth" novel (including me!). To date, Julie Heginbotham has written thirteen short stories about this plucky gang of sleuths for inclusion on my website. In her stories, the gang has grown up and is in retirement – hence the title for her series.

That's the background. Now back to the copyright infringement part. A book popped up on Amazon (in both the UK and the US) called The Five Find-Outers Return to Peterswood by M. E. Rosson, published by CreateSpace. The Blytonites on the Enid Blyton Society forums at first joked about it, suggesting it sounded like Julie's stories! I downloaded a free sample of the electronic edition, which included three chapters. To my horror, the three chapters I saw were in fact Julie's first three short stories. In the book, the chapter titles had been altered slightly, but the text itself was identical to that displayed on my website. When I bought the entire electronic edition (and returned it afterward for a refund) I saw that the book contained thirteen chapters – all thirteen of Julie's stories to date.

I only put the thirteenth story online in June, and this book came along in July. Naturally I emailed Rosson about this, and he was very short with his answer, saying he had published the book "very legally" and had had permission from the original author. This was obviously not true; Julie was even more shocked than I was. Rosson said that he had obtained the stories from another source and insisted that he had been given permission. Whether that's true or not doesn't matter, because the stories still weren't his to use. He refused to tell me where he had obtained them from, only saying that the person was now "denying any such permission," but he insisted he "still had the emails" to prove it... and yet he refused to let me see. That's up to him, but he didn't exactly go out of his way to prove his innocence.

After a storm of emails, forum posts and negative reviews from a legion of Enid Blyton fans and also angry authors at CreateSpace (the publisher), Rosson agreed to remove the book. He didn't do this graciously; instead he continued to be rude about it and added a few more ridiculous statements. When I mentioned the cover art, he said, "I do my own covers!" But he actually stole an old Will Scott book cover and put his name on it:

The cover clearly says "A Novel by M. E. Rosson" even though he didn't write a single word. (Actually, there are a few lines in the back that were not written by Julie, so presumably Rosson wrote those. It was a short epilogue where the main characters died. Nice.) In the front few pages he wrote:

"I have enjoyed the works of Enid Blyton as a child and later as an adult. In a world of gritty and sometimes vulgar literature, her works were a breath of fresh air. I was convinced that I could re-create the atmosphere of her works, although no-one can write as she did. I hope you enjoy my attempts and I want to thank all the unpublished works that were sent in as short stories about these characters that has given me the idea for these stories."

This further implies that he wrote the stories/chapters himself. All the short stories gave him the idea for the novel? The short stories WERE the novel!

The book price was listed at $18.99, and the Kindle price $5.99. But Rosson insisted all the money was going to charity, even though there was no mention of this anywhere on the Amazon pages.

I could go on, but I have work to do, things to write, and a life to get back to. But this serves as a reminder to all writers, including me, to get your work officially copyrighted before releasing any of it online. In the US you can use www.copyright.gov, which is where I've copyrighted my three Island of Fog novels. It only costs $35 each. In the UK you can use services such as www.copyrightservice.co.uk.

After a number of complaints from various sources indicating that foul play has taken place, Amazon has now suspended Rosson's book pending further investigation. Meanwhile, Rosson, who has a number of Bible-related books to his name and was once a pastor, should try practicing what he preaches. In his product description, he says,"...this book will take you back to the beginning of it all and remind you of a time when right was right and wrong was punished."

Busy day at the office

Posted on July 30, 2010

My first stock order of Mountain of Whispers books arrived by UPS this morning, so I've been busy mailing off packages to those who have bought copies already, and a few more to those who either won or earned free copies.

If you want a copy, buy it here.

I received an email to ask whether I would like to appear on a local TV channel to talk about the new book, and of course I said yes. That's on August 12th, UCTV channel at 11.30am (assuming it's all confirmed).

I was interviewed for the Breakout Books blog. I like this kind of thing; it's much easier for me to write down my answers than sit quaking in front of a camera or audience. Having said that, I'm looking forward to doing the rounds again, if I can organize some book talks and things; meeting people in person is by far the best way to get the books Out There.

My agent, Whitt Brantley, has requested that I write a screenplay for Island of Fog. He's currently speaking to traditional publishers, trying to find a buyer for the manuscript, but at the same time wants to continue pushing the novel at TV and movie producers, and for that he says it's a lot easier when it's a screenplay rather than a novel. I've never written a screenplay, but have seen how they're formatted and have a general idea how to do it. I wrote ten pages and he liked them, so now I'm forging ahead with a bunch more pages. Here's an example:

Sample of ISLAND OF FOG screenplay

There's a specific way to indent text, and I've been following those methods closely thanks to a free bit of software called Celtx that does all that stuff for you, and allows you to get on with the writing part. What I find interesting is that, in the screenplay world, each page on average should represent one minute of screen time. I think my example page here is a little more than that, but it probably evens out. If a movie producer is given a 300-page screenplay, it's an automatic no-no because that screenplay, in theory, represents a 5-hour movie, which is not going to happen unless your name is Peter Jackson.

Meanwhile, I continue to work at my day job (website design) and am hoping to get started on some Island of Fog minichapters fairly soon. Busy busy busy!

Mountain of Whispers is PUBLISHED!

Posted on July 22, 2010

I bet you never thought I'd get there. Well, ye of little faith, I received the proof copy of the book yesterday and all looks good, so today I hit the "publish" button and ordered some stock copies. Mountain of Whispers is available!

Now, bear in mind that I have to wait for my stock copies to arrive before I can dispatch any to eager readers. A box of them should be here in about a week (a box of books I mean, not a box of eager readers). Also, it may be a week before the book appears on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But aside from that, it's ready and I'm now accepting orders. Just go to the Buy the Books page.

Don't forget that shipping is a flat rate these days, so it pays to get two or three of the books at once. This applies to both U.S. and overseas customers.

In the past, some have requested PDF versions of the books, and I do offer these, but only by direct email request. Each PDF is $7.95.

Enjoy!

Minichapters

Posted on July 7, 2010

To all those waiting patiently (or impatiently) for Mountain of Whispers, I promise that it's just about ready! Honestly, I'm reading through one last time and getting feedback from a couple of others, but I'll be uploading the finished book to the printing company this coming weekend no matter what. Full publication should be about a week later. Watch this space!

After the book is published, I'll be starting on minichapters. I'm sure you've heard of webisodes, which are web-based episodes of TV shows, usually 5-15 minutes each.They're designed as extras for die-hard fans, but they're not essential and don't interfere with the running TV series.

In the book world, there are not-so-common terms such as bookisodes and chapisodes (or chaptisodes), which are basically chapters of a running serial posted online. I like bookisode, but chapisode is more accurate. Since I like to live on the edge, I'm going with minichapters.

I have a set of minichapters planned for my Island of Fog trilogy. The three books in the trilogy are written entirely from Hal's POV (point of view); we're inside his head the whole time. This means there are a few keys moments that he misses out on, such as when Abigail, Lauren, Dewey and Fenton transform for the first time. But to write these scenes into the books would have meant an odd switching of POV, not to mention making the books much longer.

My planned minichapters will take care of these scenes. They'll be written from the POV of the character in the scene and will serve as standalone short stories or segments that tie in perfectly with the books but aren't absolutely necessary to read. For instance, the minichapter about Abigail will show her getting an itch on her back and beginning to transform. Maybe you can recall that she lopped off her long hair and cut holes in the backs of her shirts to accommodate her transformations?

In Labyrinth of Fire, there are a few key scenes that I would like to "tell" in the form of a minichapter, such as when Abigail was kidnapped by a dragon. It's not essential, but might be fun. And in Mountain of Whispers there are a couple of non-Hal scenes that I know readers would like to know more about. I couldn't have Hal everywhere because it wouldn't have made sense to the story and the book would have ended up 50% fatter – but I can write those segments quite effectively as minichapters.

All these minichapters will be free, posted on this website. There are plenty of other areas I could explore, too, such as Miss Simone's background, how the parents arrived on the island, the day disaster struck, and so on. So much to write! Maybe next year, when I have a whole bunch written, I'll print them as a nice fat book with lots of extra segments.

All this is padding for the three books in the trilogy – as I said, not essential reading, but hopefully interesting for those who would like to delve deeper. Meanwhile, later this year I'll be starting on Book IV...

Mountain of Whispers final book cover!

Posted on June 26, 2010

Thanks to all the comments received about the Mountain of Whispers cover, I realized how silly it looked with the original dragon. The smaller dragon looked slightly better but a few people suggested I'd swatted a bug and ruined a perfectly good scene. Sadly, they were right.

So I set about finding a better dragon. There were two problems with this. The first problem was finding a decent dragon that resembled the one used on the cover of Labyrinth of Fire. The second problem was finding a picture in a useful flying pose that I could use on this new cover, and finding one that was a suitably high resolution for printing.

I failed.

But then I came across some free software called Daz 3D Studio. It's available for both Mac and Windows that allows you to manipulate and tweak pre-made models (people, animals, creatures, etc) and create artwork that you can call your own. I bought the Millennium Dragon pack, which is basically a 3D computer model of a dragon – and not just any dragon, but THE dragon used on Labyrinth of Fire. Now I understand where that image came from!

Daz 3D Studio

When loaded into the studio software, you can move the dragon around, reposition his tail, feet, head, wings, as well as fine details like giving him longer or shorter claws, adding spikes, making him thin or fat, and so on. It's amazing! You can even open and close his mouth. THEN, you can turn the model around and view the pose from any angle. Once you get it exactly where you want it, you export the view as a high quality image. Brilliant!

Mountain of WhispersClick for larger view

So I was finally able to create the dragon I wanted, and in a high resolution for printing. The new cover is done! (And if you don't like it, well...)

I still had to do a little jiggery-pokery to soften the edges and so on, and I know it's not photo-real. But I kind of like the effect, so there. And I think younger readers will love it.

In the future, this software will enable me to create other book covers as well as "scenes" from the books. For instance, I plan to add webisodes to this website in the near future, such as a chapter written from Abigail's point of view detailing how she first transformed into... well, you know. It would be great to create a graphic for that. Basically, I'd be illustrating my own novels and stories.

Maybe later I can create a cover for Island of Fog that has a sea serpent or manticore on it, something interesting like that. I've been unable to do this before, because I haven't been able to find good graphics.

Hmm, I may have to give up writing. This 3D studio is way too much fun. I may have to give up working, too. Maybe my wife can support us for the next few months while I play...

Mountain of Whispers cover update

Posted on June 18, 2010

Back in October 2009, when I was getting ready to launch Labyrinth of Fire, I decided that a cover depicting a tunnel wasn't exciting enough, so I added a whopping great big dragon to the scene. It proved successful, and is the favored cover of most younger readers (rather than the foggy Island of Fog cover, which is mysterious but necessarily monster-free). With this in mind, I've added another whopping great big dragon to Mountain of Whispers.

Mountain of Whispers - New Cover
Click for Larger View
(Note: this has since been updated)

Whether it looks real or not (and let's face it, dragons are in fact not real), I think it works better and should especially appeal to younger readers. As much as I like nice scenery, I understand that a little extra something is needed to make it look interesting.

When I was looking for a suitable dragon picture back in October, I searched the database at Big Stock Photo. It had to be a dragon picture I could use royalty-free and without copyright issues. There was really only one that I liked and could make use of, and that's the one now gracing the cover of Labyrinth of Fire.

Then, a couple of weeks ago (about eight months later), I went looking for another dragon picture. Big Stock Photo had added to their database so there was more to choose from. This time I was looking for a dragon in flight, and ended up with around ten possibilities that I hadn't seen before. None of them worked. I dug deeper, and finally found the one you see in this picture.

The funny thing is, if you zoom in and look closely, you can see that the detail is almost exactly the same. Both dragons I ended up using were created by the same artist. It's the same dragon.

Dragon Comparison

The same species, anyway, and I never said which dragon appears on the cover of Labyrinth of Fire. It could be any of them. I always saw the labyrinth dragon as a little mean-looking, so I would say it's one of the adults. The one on Mountain of Whispers is a little more boyish-looking, and can be only one character.

I have a lot of fun creating book covers. I'm not saying they're perfect, but I like the process of finding a backdrop and a creature to put on top of it. I not expert enough to make the finished pictures look photo-realistic, but I think they're okay.

As usual I had to do some crafty jiggery-pokery with the original photo. I dropped out the garish computer generated background, mirrored the dragon, added a better tail (taken from another dragon; he won't miss it), and pasted it as a layer on top of the bookcover's mountain scene. Then I faded it a little, feathered the edges to get rid of some of the sharpness, faded his feet even more so they looked a little misty...

Original Dragon photo

Because of the high contrast of the original image, the black shadows around the dragon's legs looked weird when lightened, so I had to "fill in" some of the original scaly skin color.

Anyway, it's all good fun. If I had my druthers, I'd commission a painter to do exactly what I want on all three covers. Funny enough, I met someone just the other day who would do a brilliant job with this – a real live graphic comic book artist by the name of James Lyle (www.jameslyle.net). In my pipe dreams, I would hire James to paint the covers and provide internal black and white illustrations as well. Oh, if only...

Books can be ordered at Barnes & Noble

Posted on June 14, 2010

I had a VERY exciting conversation earlier with Adam Anderson, a customer relations manager with Barnes & Noble in the local area. I met him at the recent Summer Reading Kickoff, and when he introduced himself, I immediately gave him copies of Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire.

He's now finished reading Island of Fog and says he loved it. He said it "stands apart" from other similar fantasy books and he strongly believes customers will enjoy it if only they can get hold of it. So he's eager to get the books into his local store in Chattanooga, and plans to buy maybe ten copies to start with.

Sales of the book will directly affect whether the book will be restocked locally, and more importantly, whether the store will stock the books across the country. I have some more work to do on that front, by contacting their central Small Press Department and getting "signed up," but in the meantime Adam wants to get things started locally.

To that end, can I beg y'all to help me out here? If you haven't yet got a copy of Island of Fog or Labyrinth of Fire, and you're thinking about it, please do so through a local Barnes & Noble store. Don't go online to their website; that will count as an online sale. Instead, either drop in to your local store and order the book over the counter, or make a phone call and do the same thing. This will count as an in-store sale. Copies take only 2-3 days to arrive.

Just to double-check, I made a phone call to a random Barnes & Noble store and the friendly assistant said the books are indeed available to order. This applies to ALL stores across the U.S.

If there are enough in-store sales (locally or otherwise), the Big Boys at Barnes & Noble will recognize that there's perhaps enough demand to stock copies on their shelves – or at least enough demand to try it for a while. Once the books are on the shelves, they'll likely sell better, and the ball will start rolling.

If your local Barnes & Noble store is the one at Hamilton Place, Chattanooga, then please go in and ask about the books. Staff are currently waiting for Adam to finish reading them, but hopefully they'll become aware of the books over the next few days and weeks, and copies will appear on the shelves. If you see one, buy it! And if not, demand a copy.

There. I don't normally beg that you buy copies, but this could be a major turning point for a struggling author. :-)

You can ask for the books by author name and title, or quote the following ISBN numbers:

Island of Fog (ISBN 978-0984390601)
Labyrinth of Fire (ISBN 978-0984390618)

To make it easier, you can click here for printable information.

Mountain of Whispers should be available in early July; I'll post about that one separately.

Abigail doesn't sing!

Posted on April 15, 2010

Edit: Excuse the strange title of this post – I've had to hide some of the text I'd written until further notice! A shame, but hopefully I'll re-post the original text at a later date.

A mixed set of things to report since my last post. Actually, most happened in the last couple of days.

I was about to put in an order for more Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire books when I got an email from a 7th grade teacher at Gordon Lee Middle School here in Chickamauga. (My little girl goes to the same school, although she's in Elementary.) He wanted to put in a bulk order of 30 copies of each book, so I gave him a good price and I've now added those to my order. When he receives the books, the whole class will be reading Island of Fog... hopefully finishing just before school does on May 21st. They'll get to the second book when school resumes.

The teacher also wants me to pop in after they've finished and talk to the class, answer questions, etc, which I'm really looking forward to. That should be fun!

Meanwhile, I got a fairly negative ABNA review. This is the first negative review I've received so far, ever! It didn't bother me one bit, at least after I'd digested it. The funny thing is that the reviewer still gave the book four out of five stars, but I suspect that was just out of kindness; an honest review but without damaging the rating. Anyway, the review (by Gypsy) can be read along with three positive ones here. I don't mind negative reviews as long as they're intelligent ones, and this one isn't particularly bad. The book is what it is, and I can't please everyone!

And there's the other thing that I can't talk about yet. This is the problem with legalities – they get in the way of a ripping good yarn. Well, hopefully I can post the original text again later. Sorry!

Finally, I'm 80% through Mountain of Whispers as I write this post. I hope to finish the first draft in the next week so I can get cracking on edits.

Letters from Jones Dairy Elementary School

Posted on March 2, 2010

This week I received a nice thick package from Brian Clopper, a fifth grade teacher at Jones Dairy Elementary School in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Since he's a teacher, and this post is about his 11-year-old students, I'll refer to him as Mr. Clopper! Anyway, Mr. Clopper has been reading Island of Fog to his class, and the package he sent contained twenty letters (handwritten in pencil) from his students, along with various sketches of creatures from the book.

I've had plenty of reviews about the book, some from middle graders and teens, and many from older readers, but this package of letters from a class of 11-year-olds is by far the best feedback I've had to date. The general consensus is that there's one particular scene that drags a little, but I also know which other scenes are hot favorites, and which creatures are the most popular. One classmate suggested that a scene near the end (involving the parents) was "gruesome," although another liked the way it played out. Miss Simone needs to be nicer and sweeter to the children, and there needs to be more action with the manticore. Favorite characters include Hal, Abigail and Robbie, while Thomas is the creepiest.

But it's best to let you read the words of the fifth graders. I've put together a page containing all the letters, faithfully reproduced without changing anything except where I needed to remove a name. The drawings are brilliant, and I've included these too. Be warned, though – for those who haven't read the book, you might want to look at these letters with one eye closed and the other squinted to avoid spoilers. See the link at the foot of this post. I'll also be writing directly to the class to answer their questions. I wish I could go visit, but it's an eight hour journey!

Brian Clopper BooksAs for Mr. Brian Clopper, he's not just a teacher but a writer as well. He kindly sent me a couple of his own self-published works, one being a short Birthday Comic Book Card featuring Marvin the Dragon, and the other a compact 100-page short novel entitled Graham the Gargoyle, complete with superb illustrations by Brian himself – a man of many talents!

Oddly enough, when I opened the package and the contents fell out, the title Graham the Gargoyle struck me as familiar. For a second I thought Piers Anthony had written about such a character. Then Brian mentioned that he'd been a fan of Piers Anthony while growing up, and when he wrote Graham the Gargoyle he sent the book to Piers in the hope that the author would review it. He did, and favorably so, saying:

"[Graham the Gargoyle is] for young readers, as the little gargoyle struggles through family, school, and tormenting by the local bully to finally win through. I recommend this for ten year olds, who will relate." (April 2001 newsletter)

This was back in 2001, so I'm not sure why I remember the title. Maybe I just think I do. But anyway, Brian has been visiting Piers Anthony's website every month ever since, and this is how he came across my novel, Island of Fog – because of Piers' review in his July 2009 newsletter. Brian was curious and bought my book via Amazon, and liked it enough that he wanted to read it to his class. He's currently reading Labyrinth of Fire at home and plans to read that to the class as well. He clearly has great taste! :-)

Brian is also writing a new novel about a character named Irving Wishbutton. I love the concept of this, although I'd better not repeat it here for fear of someone else borrowing the idea. The manuscript is written, and Brian plans to start submitting to agents in April. I've read the portion he sent me, and am inspired. I had already planned to write something new after the third "Fog" book, but haven't quite figured out what yet – but it will be good to start with a clean slate and do something new. (I do plan to write more "Fog" books as well, though, probably in 2011.)

It's been a great week. Selling books is one thing, but having a copy read to an enthralled class... well, it's a far nicer feeling than earning a few bucks here and there!

Ready to read the letters? Okay, let's go: Letters from Jones Dairy Elementary School

New shipping rates

Posted on February 9, 2010

A while back I mentioned that I had subscribed to CreateSpace's expanded distribution channel, meaning that my books would be become more widely available. Well, after six or seven weeks, I've changed my mind and unsubscribed.

Being subscribed to the EDC in theory means that my books show up in the Ingram's database so that U.S. bookstores can order them as they order other books. But, as I've discovered, that doesn't mean to say that bookstores will order them. In fact, I've heard of bookstores refusing to order self-published books even when a customer specifically requests it; it's like they don't want to be anywhere near them. Well, I can understand that, I suppose, as there are many, many poorly written or produced books. But it means that being included in the Ingram's database is almost pointless.

The EDC also allows your books to show on Amazon outside the U.S. True enough, within weeks, both books showed up on Canada's Amazon as well as Amazon in France and other European countries. But the UK's Amazon is another story. This is the one I really wanted to show up on, but after six or seven weeks it still only lists my books via third party sellers at varying ridiculous prices, which is not ideal.

I've come to the conclusion that this expanded distribution thing is not all it's cracked up to be for self-published authors. Apart from a few sales on Amazon.com each month, all my sales are via my website, and these are books I personally sign and dispatch. And I prefer it that way. The only snag is that international shipping is expensive.

So, in an effort to make my books more accessible to those outside the U.S., I've decided to swallow more than half the international shipping cost. Previously I was charging $9.95, even though the actual shipping cost was $10.76 to send one book and $12.95 to send two. Now I've lowered my rates as follows:

  • $3.95 flat rate for one or more books delivered in the U.S.
  • $5.95 flat rate for one or more books delivered anywhere else in the world

If you haven't already, take advantage of me and buy one or both books here.

Quality control at CreateSpace

Posted on January 14, 2010

I've been pulling my hair out with frustration at the poor quality of books received recently from CreateSpace. Don't get me wrong – I have a load of perfectly good ones in stock in case you're thinking of buying one. :-)

A while back I ordered 48 copies (a box load). The order went missing, which I suppose, in the absence of any other evidence, we can blame on the postal service. CreateSpace sent me a replacement box once 15 working days had elapsed. This replacement batch was pretty shoddy, to be honest. Many copies had wonky spine text where the cover hadn't been aligned correctly; the spines weren't as square as they should be; many had damages due to bad handling; some had severe scraping on the backside; and ALL of them were covered in dust. Obviously dust wipes off, but still... dust? Aren't these printing facilities supposed to be dust-free environments? Or is it just the packaging department that needs a spring clean?

I wasn't going to stand for shoddy workmanship so I contacted CreateSpace and complained with a detailed list of faults. CreateSpace hardly batted an eyelid; they sent me their standard apology and immediately dispatched 25 replacement books (those that I had decided were unsellable at the standard price).

These replacements arrived less than a week later. Unfortunately it was more of the same: covered in dust, wonky and rounded spines, slight damages...

Fed up with what I saw as CreateSpace's declining production quality, I complained again – loudly. I had already posted on their forums about this, and I posted again. I also wrote to CreateSpace and told them I would not be buying any more books from them. Somehow I got through, and received an email from somebody in "Executive Customer Relations." I can't make out if this title suggests I'm an executive customer or if they're the executives, but in any case I'm certainly not related to them.

Anyway, the point is, this email was overflowing with apologies plus a request to send photos of the books. I did so earlier today, showing close-ups of many of the problems. I made sure to take the pictures in sunlight so that every particle of dust showed up bright and clear. I could post the photos here, but I don't want to frighten anyone.

A little while ago I received a further email from my kind relations at CreateSpace. They're dispatching another 15 copies of each book (that makes 30 total, if my math is correct) AND they're refunding my original cost. Most importantly, they've said that the books will be reviewed before they're dispatched.

Now I could jump up and down and be happy about all the free books I'm getting, but to be honest the only thing that matters to me is that future orders are problem-free. It takes time to complain, and even more time to wait for replacements, and yet more time to complain again and wait for replacements for my replacements. What I want is a box of high quality books delivered FIRST TIME. I even suggested to CreateSpace that I'd be happy to pay more per book if there was such a thing as a "premium quality" service, for those who perhaps have higher standards (ie, fussy people like me). CreateSpace's book production prices are unbeatable, but the books are almost worthless if I can't sell them.

I'm more hopeful now though. Maybe I've finally broken through the "standard apology" barrier. I'm not the only one to complain about this kind of thing, but it doesn't help that there are plenty of CreateSpace customers who say their books look fantastic, so either those people got lucky or they have low standards. I think they just got lucky. When I compare my latest batches of books to earlier ones, there's a big, big difference, so it looks like recent production quality has been slipping.

Despite all this, and as I said earlier, I have plenty of perfectly decent copies to keep me going for now. I might shift the rejects in a dimly lit subway somewhere...

Expanded Distribution at CreateSpace

Posted on December 20, 2009

In my last post I said I was planning to move my books from CreateSpace to Lightning Source, mainly for better distribution and also because LS has better printing facilities.

Well, I spent some time the other night working through LS's online system, uploading my book files for Island of Fog and generally setting it up. I had to think hard about the price though. If my list price is $11.95 and wholesalers are only interested in stocking the book if they get a 50-55% discount, that leaves virtually no profit after the manufacturing cost is taken off my share. I started to think I would have to either bump up my list price a dollar or two, or limit the wholesale discount to 40% and risk cutting out wholesalers.

As I was pondering these imponderables, and researching a bit more about wholesalers and how they won't buy your book in bulk unless they get at least 50% discount, and how they expect books to be returnable in case they can't sell them, I happened to look at my existing book setup page at CreateSpace and found an option I hadn't seen before. In the Sales Management section, it has these options:

  • Pro: Yes
  • List Price: $11.95
  • Sell via Amazon.com Retail: Yes
  • Amazon.com Retail status: Live on Amazon
  • Sell via eStore Sales: Yes
  • Type of eStore: Public
  • Sales Region: US and international sales
  • Sell via Expanded Distribution: No

Wait a minute! "Sell by Expanded Distribution"? Where did that come from? And what is it?

I delved into CreateSpace's help section and found articles about this new feature. I then found their official announcement:

We are pleased to announce that CreateSpace will now offer expanded distribution options to allow our members to make their titles available to an even wider audience of potential buyers beyond Amazon.com and eStore. The Expanded Distribution Channel gives your books access to thousands of outlets, including online retailers, bookstores, libraries, academic outlets, wholesalers, and distributors. Expanded Distribution gives you the potential to distribute your work throughout the U.S. through our direct relationships with wholesalers such as Ingram/Lightning Source Incorporated and Baker and Taylor.

My jaw was hanging open a bit by now. When did THIS happen? Oh, December 3rd, 2009. Recently, then. So how come I didn't know about it? Because they never sent me an email, that's why! The only way to find out about this is to search the help section about this new feature, or be a regular on their forums where the announcement was made. *Sigh*

Okay, so there's a great new feature that allows better distribution. How do I enable it? Oh, look, there's a button under the new feature that says "Enable this now." Well, duh. So I enabled it, and now it says:

  • Sell via Expanded Distribution: Yes

Why on earth wasn't this enabled by default when they introduced their new Expanded Distribution system? Who wouldn't want to be part of this scheme? Well, anyway, it's enabled now... but what does it mean exactly?

Up until now, CreateSpace books have only appeared on Amazon.com (since CreateSpace is owned by Amazon). According to the forums, members who have enabled the Expanded Distribution feature have, over the next week or so, watched their books appear throughout the internet on various online bookstores including major sellers like Barnes & Noble, Borders, and so on. This means that, by pressing a button, my books should show up in databases nationwide, and possibly – although this is a little unclear – in Europe too. Certainly on Amazon.co.uk and in other countries.

So I've had one wish granted. But even better, this Expanded Distribution system has come about because CreateSpace has joined forces with Lightning Source. Amazon probably recognizes that their own print-on-demand system isn't a match for LS, and plus, LS is owned by Ingrams, the nationwide database used by stores across the country to order their books. When you order books from LS, your books are automatically added to the Ingrams database. So by joining up with LS, CreateSpace is expanding distribution for its members and (hopefully) providing even better print-on-demand quality.

There's even better news. By staying with CreateSpace I get to retain the lowest print-on-demand manufacturing costs (thus keeping the same list price of $11.95 and still getting a reasonable profit). And I don't need to mess around moving my book files to a new system and phasing the old ones out.

The only possible downside is that I recently bought ten ISBNs and spent a lot of time signing up with Lightning Source. But, I'm going to see how far this Expanded Distribution reaches. If it doesn't expand to the UK, then I'll use my new ISBNs and set up a copy on LS just for the UK. It would be nice to use my new ISBNs at CreateSpace, so that Unearthly Tales is listed as the publisher and not CreateSpace, but you can't just switch out an ISBN on a book – you have to retire the old book and create a brand new one, even if it looks exactly the same.

Anyway, the upshot is that I'm staying with CreateSpace!

Self-publishing

Posted on December 16, 2009

I've been busy the last couple of days sending out thousands of copies of Labyrinth of Fire to eager fans. Well, all right, hundreds of copies to keen readers. Okay, about twenty-five copies to those who have read Island of Fog and are sorta-kinda wanting to know what happens next.

Included in this batch was a copy to Piers Anthony, my famous writing buddy. Well, when I say buddy, I mean acquaintance. Well, someone I conversed with via email a couple of times. Anyway, the point is, he seemed to like the first book (see his review here, second paragraph) so I thought he'd be interested in the second. Since he doesn't tend to mince words, I await his response (if he gives one) with bated breath. My face is turning blue as I write this...

I've started to "think big" lately. Using CreateSpace for my book printing has been great and I certainly recommend them to novices, because the prices are so reasonable and the service fairly straightforward. Lulu is better in many ways, but their prices are a little silly. But the big problem with CreateSpace is distribution. It doesn't help that I took the "cheap" option and used CreateSpace's ISBN numbers, which means that I'm not listed as the publisher and therefore I have no control over distribution channels (ie, getting the books listed in nationwide, and even worldwide book databases, which bookshops order from). But even if I used my own ISBNs at CreateSpace, distribution is limited because CreateSpace only print in the USA.

So the other day I took the plunge and bought my own ISBNs. You have to buy these in bulk, with a minimum of ten for the price of $275.00. So I now have ten brand spanking new ISBN numbers which I can assign to my own titles whenever I want. The first two will be assigned to Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire, to replace the existing ISBNs.

But more than that, I plan to "move my operation" to Lightning Source, which is a very well respected printing company. They specialize in print-on-demand digital and offset printing. Their price-per-book is just a little more than CreateSpace but I hear their quality and service is exceptional, the cream of the crop. And their distribution is better than most companies can offer, with the best part being that they have a UK operation – so in theory my books can be ordered by bookshops in the UK as well as in the US.

This is a major step for me and just setting up an account with Lightning Source is an ordeal, but I'm through the application process and just need to send the forms. Once fully approved I'll be able to start moving my titles across. I expect to overlap them with the current CreateSpace editions, but eventually will remove the CreateSpace editions altogether. The books will look identical in terms of size, format, and so on, but the production should be better – CreateSpace are acceptable, but I have to work at getting good copies from them, which involves calling for replacements. Out of a box of fifty books, I'll typically have to call for a replacement of ten due to poor binding or sloppy packaging. Or for a box that never arrived!

Another change will be that I'll be listed as the publisher, and for that I can choose my own publishing name – which is Unearthly Tales.

More on this another time. But in the next six months I'm hoping that my books will be available in the UK for the legions of fans I have there. :-)

Book delivery... and new book trailer

Posted on December 14, 2009

Labyrinth of Fire is now available – again! This time I have a shelf full of copies, as opposed to a handful that went quickly and left me waiting for a bulk order that never turned up.

My replacement order arrived via UPS this afternoon, so I've breathed several sighs of relief. Tomorrow morning I'll be sending out a bunch of copies as well as delivering to local bookshops and libraries (all as requested). But I'll still have a load left over, so if you're chomping at the bit and want a copy before Christmas, order now and I'll post right away!

For those who haven't yet got a copy of Island of Fog, order both together and save on shipping. The shipping rate is actually the same for two books as it is for one. It's $4.95 for deliveries within the USA, and $9.95 for the rest of the world.

The story picks up directly where Island of Fog left off, with some of the children having to deal with their new shapeshifting abilities. Some of the others think they have it easy... but I plan to throw them to the lions in the third book. Well, not lions exactly... but maybe manticores. Or worse. Actually, in Labyrinth of Fire, all the children are in danger one way or another. It's just that some have it worse than others.

Meanwhile, in the real world, there's a new craze in town: Book Trailers. These are... well, trailers for books rather than movies. This might sound odd, since a book doesn't have any actors or movie footage or even any soundtrack. But nevertheless, many publishers, and even authors, are putting together short trailers to promote their books. Some consist of the author reading an excerpt, which I think is guaranteed to bore the pants off potential buyers. Others are hiring actors and playing out key scenes. But most are putting together little montages of photos and overlaying suitable titles and music.

I couldn't resist having a go myself. It was fun, but of course I don't have a musician to hire for the music, so I, er, borrowed some music from a movie soundtrack. Right afterward I came across some free-use downloadable music that would have done just as well, so I might change it at some point. But since I didn't ask permission to use the music on my little test trailer, the least I can do is give due credit. The main chunk of music is a track called The Forbidden Line, and the later piece is called It Is Not Real, both from the movie soundtrack of The Village.

View the Book Trailer for Island of Fog

Box of books missing... or lost?

Posted on December 5, 2009

I spent much of last week pacing like a caged animal. A box of Labyrinth of Fire books is Out There somewhere... instead of here where it belongs. It's so frustrating. Every day I look for the postman to roll up in his silver jeep, and I watch to see if he'll stop at the mailbox or turn into the drive. If he turns into the drive, it'll mean that he has a box too large to fit in the mailbox... ergo, my books!

Yesterday he turned into my drive and I sighed with relief. At last! But when I hurried out to collect the package from the back of the jeep, I discovered that it was not my box of books after all, but something my wife ordered. I was so mad. In a fit of anguish I almost threw the box in the dirt and stamped on it, but at the last second I thought better of it – otherwise it would be ME being thrown in the dirt and stamped on.

And so I continue to wait. In the past, deliveries have arrived within 7-10 days of the order date, so this late delivery is very unusual. I fear the box is lost somewhere. I spoke with the printers and they said that if the box has not arrived by December 8th then I can call again and they'll send out an expedited replacement box. That's fine, but in the meantime I have people waiting. If you're one of those, THANK YOU for being so patient.

I've now added a note to the "buy" page explaining about this delay. Continue to order by all means, but be aware that I'm effectively out of stock at the moment. Bah!

When you take an umbrella out on a cloudy day, that often prevents it from raining. It usually only rains when you forget the umbrella. In the same way, I'm hoping that this post will force delivery of the books. Maybe on Monday I'll be able to post again and say, "I spoke too soon – they're here!"

Then again, maybe I'll have to wait for a replacement box, which will be another couple of weeks from now. Groan.

Labyrinth of Fire available for pre-order

Posted on November 11, 2009

As the title states, Island of Fog Book II: Labyrinth of Fire is now available for pre-order. I'm awaiting a delivery of my first batch and this should be here in the next two weeks, so I expect the "official" release date to be on or around November 20th. In the meantime, those of you who are chomping at the bit can pre-order at the usual price of $11.95 and be first on the list for delivery.

The book will be available on Amazon and Kindle about a week after the official release.

I've been asked about postage costs when buying both Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire together. Well, you'll be pleased to know that when you buy directly from me, it's a one-for-all flat rate postage of $4.95 (USA) and $9.95 (international) no matter how many books you buy. And of course you get signed copies. ;-)

For those who prefer to read on-screen, the PDF edition is available NOW for $7.95. No need to wait for printing and deliveries – the electronic version is ready to go.

With the addition of this book I've had to revamp my checkout system a little, so take a look here.

And with all the editing I've been doing lately, it's only natural that the final version of the prologue and first two chapters are a little different to what I posted on this website a couple of months ago. So be sure to check out the final revision.

Hopefully all my hard work hasn't been for naught. Order today! :-)

Book cover comparison

Posted on October 7, 2009

I've been waiting impatiently for the proof copy of Labyrinth of Fire to arrive, and finally it showed up today. It looks exactly as I expected it to look, and I'm very happy, especially when stood next to Island of Fog on my shelf! Fills me with warm fuzzies. :-)

Speaking of book cover comparisons, Island of Fog has been through two or three minor revisions since April, and we're talking very minor edits to fix a couple of typos and re-word a sentence or two. But the latest revision also included updates to the spine text and back cover, as you can see below.

Since Labyrinth of Fire follows through with the same layout, both books match perfectly... unless you have that first edition of Island of Fog. Most readers probably wouldn't care much about this sort of thing, but as a collector I like things to match (I'm funny like that). So, in the interest of matching book covers (and slightly updated text), would those who bought the first edition be interested in a replacement book at production cost only, shipped when you buy the second book? Contact me privately for details.

Here's the first edition...

Full cover - <i>Island of Fog</i>, 1st edition
Full cover - Island of Fog (1st edition)

I wasn't happy with the centered text so I left-aligned it instead. Also I added Piers Anthony's blurb, a price, the genre, age classification, and a little picture! The spine text is capitalized too. Here's the latest version of Book 1 along with Book 2...

Full cover - <i>Island of Fog</i>
Full cover - Island of Fog

Full cover - Labyrinth of Fire
Full cover - Labyrinth of Fire

There's a space below the text where I'll hopefully add some blurb saying "fantastic, wonderful, etc," before I launch. In any case, one thing I can promise is that this layout will carry through to Book 3 early next year!

My next job is to read Labyrinth of Fire (again) and mark corrections with a red pen. Meanwhile, I have two proofreaders working their way through. Assuming their suggestions are simple line-edits, I should be well on target to launch in early November.

New dragonized book cover

Posted on October 1, 2009

I finished Labyrinth of Fire (for now) and have sent out a couple of copies for proofing. One went to my brother Darren in England, who has one or two eyes for detail and is a qualified proofreader. Another went to Laura Canning, who is Irish but currently living in Australia. She's a journalist, author and proofreader. I might send out a couple more proofs shortly.

New cover for Labyrinth of Fire
Click for Larger View

After all my editing the book ended up just two pages shorter than Island of Fog, but with around 5000 extra words – a fraction under 100,000.

Part of the process of uploading the files to CreateSpace and getting proof copies is preparing the artwork for the cover. Although I've had a cover design displayed on this site for a while now, it never really "worked" for me. I knew it needed a dragon on it! So I've now dragonized the cover. It's the same background image of a lava tube, but darkened. I placed the dragon on top and added some fire. I like this version much better; a story that heavily involves dragons kind of needs a dragon on the front!

For my original cover, I spent some time removing the lamps from the tunnel. I bought my picture from Big Stock Photo so I could use it without worrying about copyright issues, but it turns out that this is a common picture on the internet – the famous Thurston Lava Tubes in Hawaii.

I also bought the dragon picture. There were a few to choose from, but this one is closest to what I had in mind for the dragons in my book. Oh, and although the dragon is breathing fire already, I added some more fire courtesy of a flamethrower, as you'll see if you look very closely. You'll see the new curly orange fire above and below the yellow fire (the same image flipped upside down).

Composite for new Labyrinth of Fire cover

Finally, you can now read the prologue and first two chapters online if you want to. The text might change slightly in a later version.

With the conclusion of this book I'm now fairly well settled on the title and plot of the third and final book in the trilogy. I need to give it some more thought just to be sure, but watch this space!

Island of Fog now on Kindle

Posted on August 2, 2009

Recently I Kindle-ized my novel, Island of Fog, for those who prefer to read in that format. In case you don't know, Kindle is a compact, portable electronic screen that can store hundreds of novels. It's the book-lover's equivalent to iPod.

Island of Fog: Kindle Edition

I wouldn't want a Kindle for myself because I prefer the "look and feel" of real books. But for those always on the move, for instance traveling to work by train, Kindle is a great tool and becoming increasingly popular. So, for those who want it, my book is available as a lightweight, instantly downloadable Kindle edition from Amazon. Enjoy!

First delivery of books

Posted on April 30, 2009

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, because the UPS van turned up with my first delivery of 50 Island of Fog books. I was out at the time; Nessa and I had a few errands to run, and we were also shopping for bits and pieces for our "booth" at this weekend's Down Home Days street festival. But Nessa's mom phoned to tell me they'd arrived, and I was pleased as Punch. I wasn't expecting them quite so early, and had planned to set up my booth with a load of leaflets containing a long excerpt from the fourth chapter – not ideal, but better than nothing. But now the books have arrived, so I can actually take those along with me (although the leaflets will come in handy too).

Books

I have to admit that the arrival of the first box of books is what I've always dreamed about. Well, sort of. My dreamy-dream has always been to have that box arrive courtesy of some big traditional publishing house like Scholastic, and not a self-publishing print shop. Still, it's a good feeling to see myself "in print" and in such quantity! And I have to say, so far I've been very impressed with CreateSpace.com. The quality of the three proofs and these first 50 "real" books is extremely good, and the speedy service has surprised me. They claim that orders of up to 100 books will arrive within 15 business days, but I ordered these on Friday 24th April and they arrived on Wednesday 30th April. Now that's fast!

By coincidence, I'd also ordered some TuffGard jiffy mailers (the ones CreateSpace use to deliver my proofs), and these turned up on the same day as the books, delivered by the same UPS van. So not only do I have the books, but I have jiffy mailers to send them out in! Also, since I approved the proof last week, Amazon has been slowly updating my listing, and this now seems to be finalized: Buy from Amazon.com

My booth on Saturday is starting to take shape, at least theoretically. I have a 10 ft square tent/canopy and a 5 ft table. Nessa bought some fine white "netting" that she's going to lay out in some way to make it look like fog, on top of which I'll stand a 2 ft tall wooden lighthouse that I found by chance in a shop. (A lighthouse features quite prominently in the story.) Nessa also had the bright idea of renting a cotton candy (or candy floss) machine; we plan to give away small helpings of "fog" throughout the day. Oh, and this morning I should, hopefully, be able to pick up my two banners, which are 6 x 4 ft (to hang on the side of the tent) and 5 x 1 ft (to hang on the front of the table).

I'll post pictures of the booth after the event. In the meantime, all those who wanted to order a copy of the book can now do so, either directly from me, or from Amazon, or from CreateSpace – just go here for information.

Island of Fog now published and available to buy!

Posted on April 25, 2009

It's here at last! I received my third and final proof yesterday and was very happy with it, so I went ahead and pressed the "Approve" button. The book went on sale immediately at CreateSpace and will be available on Amazon within 15 days. But in the meantime I ordered 50 copies for my own stock, and these will be with me shortly (again, they typically state within 15 days for order deliveries). Anyway, if you want to, feel free to order a copy now, and I'll start shipping out the moment the books arrive.

It's all very exciting, for me anyway! On May 2nd there's a local annual shindig known as Down Home Days, a sort of craft fair street festival type thing. I got myself a "booth" (a 12 ft space) and am arranging a tent and all that good stuff to set up in. I've ordered a couple of large banners, one 6 x 4 ft and the other 5 x 1 ft, showing the book cover and some blurb. Of course, I doubt I'll actually have the books in time... so instead I'll hand out some specially-prepared pamphlets containing the entire first chapter and some ordering information. Since these will be free give-aways, this might actually be a better way to sell the book as those who are not sure can take it home and digest it before shelling out some money. Still, it would be nice to have the actual books as well. It's vaguely possible they'll be here on time, but I won't hold my breath.

In a recent post on my Secret Blog, Ilsa left a kind message saying, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could ship a box of them over in time for the Enid Blyton day on May 9th? I bet they'd go like hot cakes there!" Gosh, what a fantastic idea! But a) I doubt I could get a box over there in time; b) I don't think I'd want to send a box anyway in case they didn't sell; c) this is assuming someone would be willing to handle them for me; and d) even though it's a children's (9-12) book, it doesn't exactly relate to Enid Blyton! But some flyers... Hmm, I wonder if Tony Summerfield, the Enid Blyton Day organizer, would mind... :-)

Years ago I set myself up with two bookstore owners in the local area, so I have a couple of good starting points for "readings and signings" and so on. Also, my niece is the acting President of the Walker County Chamber of Commerce, so it's pretty cool having someone so close who knows just about everybody. She's given me a list of middle grade teachers in the area, and is hooking me up with the manager of the local library. When I'm comfortable that everything is going okay, she's also going to organize a press release. Ah, it's so nice knowing influential people! (She also knows a guy in Congress and, through him, is currently obtaining tickets for a tour of the White House for when we all go to stay in Washington and Virginia in July. Maybe I'll drop some books on Obama's desk...)

PDF download now available

Posted on April 16, 2009

I had a rotten few days in Florida recently. The beach was nice, and Lily had a blast, but both Lily and I brought a bug with us from home that meant more than a few visits to the toilet! Worse, sitting in a restaurant on the last day, I was suddenly overcome with nausea and put my burger down even before taking the first bite. Before I knew it, I was lightheaded and then wham! collapsed on the booth seat, out cold. I wasn't out for long, but long enough for Nessa to call 911 (which I canceled as soon as I woke up, as by then I inexplicably felt right as rain).

Anyway, the point is that I didn't feel up to complex tasks on my computer so didn't get to launch my book while I was away, which is what I had planned. Instead I waited until I got home. But of course then work took precedence and now here I am, nearly a week later already... *Sigh*

Today, April 16, the book is finally ready. I'm still waiting for a second proof printed copy (should be here in a few days) and when that arrives I can press the button that says "publish" and then it'll be available to buy in printed form. But in the meantime, the PDF version is available now for those who prefer to read on-screen or who don't trust their postal service to deliver.

So, without any further ado, please go here and grab a copy at only $7.95, a bargain considering it's 220-odd pages! And please let me know what you think by posting feedback on this site. Thanks!

The printed book will cost a little more, plus there's shipping to take into consideration. This will be available shortly. Watch this space!

Proof book has arrived

Posted on March 24, 2009

Exciting times! Yesterday, UPS delivered a proof copy of Island of Fog. I've been flicking through it with a big grin on my face, marveling at how real it is. CreateSpace's digital printers have done a great job and it's come out almost exactly as I expected and hoped. I say "almost" because there are one or two minor things I want to alter – for instance the cover's color tint is supposed to be blue, but it's come out a little purple. It's not bad by any means, just not what I expected, and I think blue would be better. (I took a picture of it and posted it below, and it looks blue again, so clearly my screen is a little "off" color).

Also, although I purposefully chose "cream" (or off-white) pages as opposed to white, now I'm thinking they're a little too off-white. My name is also huge on the spine, so I want to reduce it a bit. My ego isn't THAT big.

Proof Book

But these are all cosmetic changes. The real question is: How does it read? As far as printing goes, it seems to be exactly as I intended, no problems at all. My margins are just right, the font size is fairly small (necessary to avoid higher printer costs), and everything is clear and nicely packaged. Like I said, CreateSpace has done a great job. It looks and feels like a real book and not some home-made jobbie! The bar code on the back makes it look "professional" too.

As for the story itself... well, Nessa, my better and much smarter half, has put down her Stephen King book to give mine a read-through, and I've asked her to have a pen handy so she can mark any typos she might come across. This will be the first time I've let her near it, despite the fact that I've been pottering about with the manuscript since 2002.

Proof Book

After she's done, I might read it through once more myself; just a scan read though, since I've read it a blue-million times already. I keep flicking through it and haven't yet come across any typos, but I did find a line in the first chapter that made me frown!

Overall I'm very pleased, but I'll be ordering a second proof anyway, to correct a few cosmetic things and no doubt a few typos that Nessa will find. After that I'll make it available to buy. I should think the "launch" date will be around April 10th, if not earlier. The PDF version will be available earlier than the printed book. In the meantime, those who want to pre-order will be able to do so shortly. Watch this space!

Island of Fog is published!

Posted on March 17, 2009

Well, self-published anyway. Today I uploaded the manuscript and my cover design to CreateSpace.com and submitted it for publication. I'm just awaiting an email to say everything is present and correct, and then I'll be able to order a proof copy. As soon as that arrives, I'll drool on it and check it over, and assuming all is well, I'll press the button that says "Publish" so that it's available to the world. Then I just need to sit back and wait for the thousands of excellent reviews, the critical acclaim, and the offers by big publishing houses to print and market my book for me, and so on. :-p

Book CoverYes, well, we can dream, right? In the meantime I'll just be happy to see the thing in some printed form. The next step will be gathering reviews (with hopefully a few good ones) so I can have a bit more ammunition with which to sell it to literary agents, while enjoying the look and feel of an actual finished book on my shelf. I don't have delusions about selling thousands of copies, and I know the vast majority (95%?) of self-published authors sell less than 500, and I don't expect I'll be any different. But I've spent so long on the thing that I feel it's time for a little reward, and that reward is seeing it in print, with cream-colored pages and everything.

Once this itch is scratched, I can concentrate on actually selling the manuscript to an agent. It might take a few months, it might take a year, or even longer. But, in the meantime, hopefully I can get the book "out there" a bit.

The only reservation I have about self-publishing is that an agent might not want to work with a book that's already "out there." But I feel this is a small risk, and I've heard of a number of big sellers that started out by self-publishing. I think the potential rewards are worth the risk – for instance the possibility of getting unexpected glowing praise from a professional reviewer!

Of course, there's an equal chance that it will receive very bad reviews and it will bomb. But as always, I would consider negative comments as a challenge to make it better. Any writer who expects nothing but praise is a fool and liable to get his feelings hurt. So I say, "bring it on" and help me figure out what's wrong.

All being well, Island of Fog will be available in the next week or so. It's 218 pages and will be available in paperback for $11.95. Stay tuned for links and more information!

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

Posted on August 28, 2008

In my last post I mentioned that I would self-publish my book, Island of Fog, when it's finished. My exact words were, "I've decided this is the way I'm going to go, for various good reasons." Well, I'm sort of like a pendulum when it comes to self-publishing. One minute I think, "Yes!" and the next I think, "Hmm, maybe not." So I thought I'd thrash it out here. Judging by feedback on my last post, I already know what y'all think!

Don't get me wrong on this. I'm not jumping willy-nilly into self-publishing because I'm lazy or because I think it's the best way to go. I've read a lot of stuff over the years about self-publishing versus "traditional" publishing and, depending on what I've read and where I've read it, I can see arguments for either route. I'd like to make one thing clear though: I'm not talking about "vanity press" here. Self-publishing does include vanity press, but I'm talking specifically about POD (print-on-demand or publish-on-demand). Vanity press is where you pay a company to print 500 or more copies, and then stock them in your house. The vanity press company cares not a jot about distribution and promotion; it makes its money from the up-front fees and then washes its hands of the author. That's a mug's game.

Now, print/publish-on-demand (POD) is typically where you upload your manuscript to one of many online companies and have it available for ordering – but copies are only printed when ordered. Many companies charge a setup fee for this service too, but some (like Lulu.com and CreateSpace.com) are free.

This is an over-simplified explanation, but good enough. As for the printing itself: Originally, before the days of the internet, books were printed using offset printing technology (the familiar printing press machines that have long belts and clatter away day and night churning out thousands of books). This is the "traditional" type of printing, still the cheapest way to print large quantities of books. This method of printing is expensive to set up, so long print runs are necessary to make it cost effective.

POD, on the other hand, is a digital printing process and is extremely cheap to set up. It's better for short runs; the price-per-book system and little or no up-front costs means that quantity is irrelevant. You can have one printed for $6 or a thousand for $6000. But you wouldn't print a thousand; the whole point is that you don't need to buy a stock of them. And from what I've seen, the quality is amazing. I have several POD books from both amateurs and professionals, and the print quality is excellent.

As I said earlier, self-publishing is not necessarily using POD's digital printing. It can include offset printing too. "Self-publishing" means being responsible for the entire production of the book including the layout of the pages and book cover to the actual printing process. POD takes care of the printing end and just happens to include a built-in online ordering system – but you could just easily use offset printing and have a stock of thousands of books and find yourself a distributor. This is all self-publishing. However, when I talk about self-publishing my own book, I specifically mean POD.

One big difference between a traditional publisher and POD is that the big guys take over all the nitty gritty. From what I've read, typically the publisher is not in the slightest bit interested in what you think the cover should look like. As the author, you write the story – that's all. Leave the rest to the experts. I wouldn't mind that if I were offered a three-book contract and a hefty sum of money, but I'd still feel a pang of regret at not having a say in the design. I believe publishers do send the author a proof to look at, but I doubt its negotiable! I was in the Barnes & Noble bookstore last night and, once again, picked up several children's books just to check things out. I cannot stand the way some publishers, particularly Scholastic, print their paperbacks on cheap, crinkly paper. Look at Harry Potter – the biggest seller you can imagine and it's printed on thin paper that crackles when you turn the page. It's just like when you drop a book in the bath and let it dry in the sun. Horrible! On the other hand I look at such publishers as Yearling and think, "Wow – now that's good quality!"

So the end result does matter to me, whether it's the paper quality or the cover art or even the typeface. As I said, I wouldn't complain too much if I was handed a big check and told to stop bothering about details and go and write the next two books, but...

POD, of course, allows me to have complete control. The paper is good quality. The cover is exactly as I upload it. The typeface is exactly as I've typed it (in my case, Century Schoolbook). Even those first few pages – the notes, the copyright information, the chapter index – are exactly as I've designed them. Every single detail from start to finish is mine. Being the kind of person I am, that sort of thing gives me a great deal of pleasure. It's worth ordering myself a POD book just to see how it could look in real life!

And there's another thing. After many, many on-screen edits, it's nice to finally pick up the book itself and read it that way. That's where you really get a feel for it. Plus, I find that more typos jump out at me when I read printed material compared to on screen.

But there's no point in having a book at all if it's not marketed. Here's the biggest dilemma. I've read many reports of a typical big-house publisher buying a manuscript and running off thousands of copies. The book is finally on the shelves! But that's all. There's no promotion, nothing. True, the book is on the shelves and it could be found by people having a browse. But there's no hype. It's not like you're Stephen King; you don't get to enjoy the kind of hype he gets, because publishers only have enough money and resources to market one or two books a year out of the handful they publish. If you're not The Chosen One, then you might as well do all your own marketing otherwise you're not going to get anywhere. And if you have to do your own marketing, then why not take a larger royalty check while you're at it, via self-publishing?

If you have to market your own book, it's almost like your big fancy publisher is nothing but a huge printing press – only they paid you and own the rights to your work. Oh, and they distributed the books to bookstores. Not a bad thing, I suppose. But I've heard horror stories of writers who actively promoted their own book leading up to the release date – only to find that the publisher screwed up and the release date was put back, and all the marketing efforts were wasted because the author couldn't drum up the same amount of interest the second time around. The moment was lost; the buzz had gone and the ship had sailed. I've also heard stories of authors pulling their hair out because their book had gone out of print and the publisher wasn't in a hurry to get another print run underway.

I think there are pros and cons whatever you do. But for the record, and despite what I said in my other post, I am going to try and find an agent before I do anything else. I won't approach a publisher directly; an agent is a far better bet. If I was ever lucky enough to get into print the traditional way, then of course I'd be over the moon!

But in the meantime, I might get myself a preview copy via POD, just because I can... :-)