Go Go Gadget...

Currently monkeying around with several of the gadgets that Blogger offers. And by "monkeying" I mean "randomly clicking buttons in the hopes of eventually producing Shakespeare." Things might look odd for a while.

Book 2 and Bonus Blog Material

As I'm typing up Exiles, I'm reliving the frustration that accompanied the very first draft of it. Pages and pages of crossed-out text. Awful transitions. Lots of "fill in later" and "describe better!" and "BORING" scribbled in the margins. One thing I learned from the first book is really helping me here: if the scene just isn't working, toss it out and try something else. Still, slow going. I'd hoped to have 10,000 words typed by now; it's looking more like 7500.

Sales for Chosen are starting to pick up a bit. I woke up this morning to the pleasant surprise that I've actually accrued enough for Amazon to cut me a royalty check. Thank you all for your support! To celebrate my good start, and give you all a special thank-you, I'm going to offer some bonus incentive. One of the "tossed scenes" I mentioned was Chosen's original opening. It was the oldest portion of the book, and I loved it dearly. But the story demanded something different, so out it went. As soon as I reach 100 readers (either purchases or through the Lending Library program), I'll post that deleted scene here on the blog.

Kindle Select and Exiles of Harrekh

I've just enrolled "Chosen of Harrekh" in Kindle Select. For the next 90 days, the book will be available exclusively for the Kindle. If you have an Amazon Prime account, you'll be eligible to download it free at various points within the next 90 days, and borrow it from the Kindle Lending Library. Hopefully this will get the word out to a much wider audience, and build some excitement for Book 2!

On that note, the transcription of Exiles of Harrekh is underway in earnest. I have about 5,000 words of the rough draft typed. I normally start editing while I transfer the book from my pen-and-paper notebook into Word, so that means the editing has begun as well. It seems a lot easier this time around - I guess that's what a book's worth of experience will do.

E-reader formats

A poster on my Facebook page raised a good question about different formats for the book. I'm currently considering putting Chosen of Harrekh into the Kindle Select program. It reaches a larger audience, but you have to keep the book exclusively for Kindle for 90 days. So, I'd like to find out what e-readers other than Kindle my audience uses. (Nook, ibook, and any others I might not know about). If there's a lot of demand, I'll keep it out of Select. So, who's using what?

For right now, I'm not pursuing hardcopy publication. All of the print-on-demand options I've researched so far would result in a very high price - more than most people would be willing to pay even for an established fantasy author. I'm certainly open to suggestions, so please feel free to use that Comment link!