It's Hard Being an Interior Story

While you're all waiting for Discoveries to appear in paper, here's a review to whet your appetite, especially if it runs to epic fantasy, or action-packed love stories.

The role of the interior novel in a series is to advance the overall arc without giving too much away, while giving enough away that we readers are intrigued, anxious to keep reading. It’s a narrow path, with tragedy and pathos risked with every word the author writes. In Bloodbonded, Ms Davis has done a splendid job in my opinion. She has carried the promise of Ravenmarked through this next installment with aplomb; what this means, of course, is that I, like the others of Ms Davis’ “threes of fans,” will again anxiously wait for the next chapter.

Bloodbonded is the second volume in the The Taurin Chronicles. Building on the events in Ravenmarked, Ms Davis takes us through Mairead and Connor’s struggles as they come to grips with The Morrag and their disparate destinies. But along with them, Braedan, Igraine, Logan, Hrogarth and Maeve all play important parts, parts which are not always obvious.

I’ve followed Ms Davis since before Ravenmarked; I throughly enjoy her wordsmithing, her ability to convey the images we then use to see in our mind’s eye the scene she sets, the characters moving through those settings.

A disclaimer: I received a copy of this book along with a request that I provide an honest review, which you are reading. This review, in slightly different form, appears on Goodreads and will also appear at Amazon's page once the book is released.

Bloodbonded becomes available on July 1; however, hop over to this Amazon page and pre-order it now. Don't wait! I'd say they'll run out, but we all know better than that!

I read Bloodbonded using the Kindle for Mac app; there were no anomalies that I noticed. A cursory check of the pdf and the epub files (if those suit you better) likewise had no problems. The outstanding cover deserves a color display on whatever reader you select.

I heartily recommend Bloodbonded to any reader of epic fantasy, or even, any reader who enjoys an action-filled love story. Then we can wait together for Unquickened.

Discoveries Available Soon

As I said in my last post, I didn't sign up for CampNaNo this year. I still made a small donation (and recommend that you do likewise, if you can afford to). Real life intruded on my writing; I got very few words added to my total. But I did make some progress, getting Discoveries ready for publication, and finishing some other critiquing and formatting efforts.

Today, I published Discoveries on Kindle, so it should be available by tomorrow at the latest. It's in Select, so also available on Kindle Unlimited, like the others in the Mercenaries series.

The CreateSpace paperback is going through the process, which will take a little longer. I have to get a proof copy and review it, then approve it before it’ll be on sale. I'll enroll the ebook in Matchbook then.

The cover:

And the description:

Beginning as Coda? ends, Beckie Jamse has signed a contract providing protection for an archaeological dig in Baluchistan, Pakistan, but even with her experience, it leads her places she never expects. And provides a reward she hadn’t negotiated.

A quiet winter and spring at The Nest allows Beckie to prepare for her baby; monitor the several jobs Ian Jamse, LLC, had already undertaken; provision the new protection contract, and plan an appropriate response to Ian and Kevin’s murders. The calm evaporates like early morning dew when Ralf Jamse arrives, full of sound and fury and other baby specific needs.
Events in Pakistan only seem calm. Unbeknownst to her, the protection contract in Pakistan develops a complication neither she nor the scientists expected: the terrorists of Daesh (Islamic State) are targeting the region.
Even before Beckie’s doctor allows her to leave the hospital, a letter arrives that changes everything.

Discoveries is a thriller with romance, set in an approximation to the real world, intended for readers 15 up. It contains real language. For the most enjoyment, readers should be familiar with Coda?.

As usual, any comments on the cover or the description, or anything else, really, are welcome.

Minor Edits

While my beta readers read Connections, I made some minor changes to Freedom Does Matter, the most important of which was inserting Tommi Salama’s second map of the Nest.

As I write this, the Kindle version is live, as are the various Smashwords offerings. I’ll finish Barnes and Noble, and Kobo later today. The POD paperback version is completing the review process at CreateSpace and should be live by tomorrow.

If any of you bought a copy and would like the updated version, either leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll send you an updated version in your choice of formats.

Working with Smashwords

Probably most writers know this, but in case there are others, learning their way...

When I published Freedom Does Matter in September, I only uploaded an epub. I hadn't read the (not so) fine print... and didn't until last week. The fine print that says if you upload your own epub, that's all that will be available.

Specifically, no samples would be available.

There have been page views of the Freedom Does Matter page, but (obviously), no sample downloads. And no purchases, either, which makes sense; my two friends use Kindles! I hasten to add that the sample is available at Amazon, and sales have been... slow, so perhaps the story isn't as engaging as I hoped. However, Amazon doesn't provide any data on page views (I know; I asked and was politely told they'd consider giving that info up in future.) or on numbers of samples downloaded (if any), so it's hard to judge if potential customers are not visiting, are turned off by the cover image, or are turned off by the sample... Or just think the price is wrong.

In any event, this post is about Smashwords. I created a .doc file and put it through the process, keeping the epub that I uploaded, but generating all the other formats. That was yesterday, and today, according to SW statistics, the only apparent visitor downloaded the sample. So, maybe...

No matter, the upshot is, even if you want control over the look of the epub distributed by Smashwords -- sold by them, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple and the host of other retailers you might opt in for -- do the work to create a MeatGrinder ready Word file, and upload it as well.

At least, the sample will then be available.

Comments welcome, unless it's just to say "read the rules!"

CreateSpace: Why would you not?

While e-books are likely the wave of the future, many people I know have no interest in adding a Kindle or Nook or whatever to their electronic library. Some don't like e-books for what are to them, perfectly valid reasons. And some reserve their savvy for other than computer-based work. Probably, you have friends in one or more of those categories. And there are potential readers out there who also fit. Given the small amount of additional work needed to create paperback copies of your wonderful novel, doesn't it make sense to do so? No, I'm not acting as a shill for Amazon; it just seems like a no-brainer to me.

Of course, the decision is yours. I'm relating my experience to give you an idea about the effort needed to take a book already available in e-book format to CreateSpace. If you do it, and sell enough to clear the (low) royalty hurdle, congratulations! If not, at least you didn't close off the path.

I spent about ten hours over the past several weeks formatting and proofing Mercenaries; A Love Story for the print on demand service CreateSpace. Most of that time was spent on learning the (admittedly few) ropes needed to select a trim size - I based my selection on a survey of the paperback books in my library and the page count estimates from the processor. That was probably the most difficult task.

For printing, the things you need to choose are the trim size (the actual page size) of the book, the font and size of the interior text, and the line spacing. Assuming you are not planning a different edit for print, these are the major determiners of the page count, which drives the cost, and therefore the sell price.

I went back and forth a few times in making these choices for my book, and I plan to keep them for other books in the series, to keep them cosmetically the same.

I asked my wife, an avid reader,  for input on the font and size by printing a few pages in the same size and layout as the book in different fonts and sizes, and having her review them. Between us we selected Georgia in 10 pt for the font, with 1.1 x line spacing.

CreateSpace takes PDF files for the internal text. I created these directly from Scrivener, using their compile option to override the project page set-up with a specific one for pdf. Along with the page size, I set up the headers and footers as I wanted and ’pressed the button, Max!’ (Apologies to Dr. Fate.)

After a review of the resulting PDF file, I selected it in the internal file section of the CreateSpace process. It was then a matter of waiting until their review process ground its wheels. Any errors are flagged. The first time I tried this, I didn’t understand the requirement that the size of the pages in the PDF file had to match the page size selected in CreateSpace. I know, I know, it's obvious, right?

I fixed that in the Scrivener options by choosing the 6 x 9 page size with margins* to fit CreateSpace suggestions, and lo, my file came back error free!

I would note that while Scrivener makes the process of changing the page set-up easy, your own experience may vary. I believe that it would be as simple if using Word, but my experience with Word is several years old. I have been unable to accomplish this with Open Office, since they tie the page size to Styles, and I haven't ever figured out how to use Styles. My guess is that LibreOffice is the same as OO. To be fair, since Scrivener does the job, I've spent very little time on it.

Other choices affecting page count are requiring chapters to begin on "a recto page" (the right hand side), the font size of the Chapter headings and the padding used to lower the Chapter heading toward the center of the page. These, however, won't affect the page count by more than five percent, in my experience, if you make reasonable choices. Starting on a recto page will have the biggest effect; with optimal bad luck, it could amount to an extra page per chapter. Plan on half that.

Here are photos of the interior, showing a chapter opening, and a two page spread. Focus isn't too good, sorry.

 

The second hurdle was creating a table of contents. In the ebook version, I had entries only for  individual sections, but I wanted to add the chapters in the print version. This was more trouble, because of the various options for TOC creation in Scrivener, and rather than detail it here, if you need or want more detail on that, contact me.

The last item is the cover. Once you've chosen a trim size, it also defines the cover size, and therefore the requirements for the image. For the 6x9 trim size, the image you select must be 6.25" x 9.5" with a resolution of 300 DPI. Another requirement is that there be no useful information within a quarter-inch of the edge. This typically means the title and the author's name must be well within the finished printed area. Other trim sizes will have their own requirements, determined when you begin the process. You will select one of the templates that allow you to add your own cover image.

An Author photo is nice to include, but not required. The image should be 1.5" x 1.5", again with a 300 DPI resolution. I haven't checked, but this requirement probably fits all trim sizes.

You'll need the text for the back cover (the book description may be what you want), and if you choose, an author biography to go with the picture.

That's really about it. The CreateSpace process is dead easy to follow, and it gives you feedback at every step to keep you headed true.

Once everything's been approved, proof the result. I suggest you order the physical book at least once. When you receive it, make sure it's what you expect. Check the cover: front, back and spine. Check the front material to make sure you got the one for the printed version! Inside, make sure the chapter first pages look the way you want, including whether they start correctly, and have the font and size you expect. Make sure the padding is the same from chapter to chapter. Several places through the text, check the page numbers and the other header/footer text you added. Make sure it doesn't overrun the text.

Before finishing the process for Mercenaries, I did the same process for an editing copy of my WIP, Freedom Does Matter. For this copy, I printed it myself, on my overworked HP inkjet printer.

Because I didn't want to cut the sheets down, I bought a ream of legal paper and set Scrivener for a trim size of 7" x 8.5", half a sheet. I used Cheap Impostor to do the imposting (the re-ordering of pages into signatures). It makes a nice package... especially if a duplex printer is available. For Freedom, 292 pages the way I printed it, I had 73 sheets of paper (four pages per sheet) to fold, which took something over an hour.

Because my printer is not duplex, I first printed the even pages, then turned them over and printed the odd pages. For whatever reason, the HP printer doesn't pick up freshly printed pages as well as it does unprinted sheets; I had to help the printer pick up each of the sheets when printing the odd sheets. That added about an hour, so the marked-up copy in the photo required three plus hours to put together. You can tell that it is not glued--much better for editing.

I was glad I went through the exercise. Not only did I get a different format (making editing easier for me), I got additional experience in the process of making input files for CreateSpace.

If this seems like it would be useful to you, feel free to experiment. At the least, if you decide to have someone else do this work, I hope you'll have some insight into the work they will be doing for you. If you’d like more details on any part of the process, contact me. And as usual, comments are welcome!

*The inside margin (the left in Scrivener) is determined by the page count, to allow the text to be read when the book is bound. As the page count increases, so does the depth of the inside margin.

Photos of Freedom Does Matter editing copy:

Binder Clips. That's what they're for, right?

With the beat-up cover-don't mind where the cat licked!

Two piles of folded signatures. I did edit, see!

One of the signatures, open

Some Catch-up

While I'm in the midst of editing Freedom Does Matter and working out a plot detail in Background Check that research proved isn't likely to happen the way I had written (damned research!) I thought I'd share some reviews that I've posted since the last time I did this. Again, these are in the order posted to Amazon.

Let It Snow by Red Tash and others

Let it Snow! Season's Readings for a Super-Cool Yule! (Christmas book 2012) is an interesting, not quite eclectic, group of ten stories in the spec fiction genre. If you're familiar with these authors, this will be a welcome visit to their worlds and characters at this special time of year. If they are new to you, these stories provide a mostly fun, sometimes touching introduction to the unique worlds these authors have created.

While to me these all fit well under the spec fiction umbrella, that's not to say that they are all similar; they are assuredly not. The common thread is the Holiday Season, as the Foreward begins:
"Happy holidays and welcome to our quaint little holiday collection of zombies, crazies, fairies and treasure-hunters (and more)!" And snow, because here in the northern hemisphere, Holiday Season comes with snow... or the thought of it. The quote should give you an idea of the breadth good spec fiction can encompass.

For me, I hadn't heard of any of these authors, and I was happy to have a chance to expand my experience. Of the ten stories, nine were what I'd hoped for in opening this file. While the tenth story fit the collection: a story in the author's world set at a holiday dinner party, it was out of my comfort zone. Even at that, I think, for readers familiar with the world it is set in, it will add to their understanding and answer questions so far unanswered.

In the other nine stories, the characters brought me into their authors' worlds, whether a landfill, a mental "hospital" (it seemed that insane asylum would be a more appropriate, though non-PC, nomenclature), a parking lot in Arizona or a research lab in Southern California, and made the experience wonderful. Add to those an egotistical, arrogant dragon; how can you go wrong?

I started the book and for the first couple of pages, I worried that I didn't know enough about the back story to enjoy the stories. By the time I read another four pages, that fear was gone; I was thoroughly into the Landfill in Laurents County. I read straight through the collection--I did take a break to get a glass of water--and was sorry when 100% showed up at the bottom of the window. I wish I had sufficient funds to buy everything these guys write; it is good, with brilliant characters and clear settings.

I read this both on the Kindle for Mac app, and on the Kindle. In the desktop app, the cover looks quite nice; on the greyscale Kindle, almost as good. In the copy I read, there were a few typos and such; I marked the ones I noticed and put them in an email. A pleasant response came back, along with a note that they had been corrected, so you won't have to worry about those! I would have liked the table of contents to have entries for each of the stories, rather than just the midpoint, but not enough to mark it down.

I recommend this collection heartily to those who have read one or more of the authors, and even more willingly to adult fans of spec fiction who want to find new worlds. Buy it, read it. You'll laugh, and you'll cry.

Five Stars

Youth by JE Medrick

I was a little unsure about Youth. The main character, Louise, is even older than I, so I was leery. If that's also you, rest assured that this is a well-paced, moving story, with conflict aplenty. Most but not all of the conflict is based in Louise's family relationships, with her husband, with her children and their relationships with her and, to a lesser extent, each other.

Don't be confused; this is Louise's story, and I found it heartbreaking, uplifting and probably more true to life than I'd like to imagine.

Other than being a love story, I'm unsure of the genre. It could be considered science-fiction, in that the necessary things could exist, though they don't yet. Or fantasy, if you believe they can't exist, have no scientific basis. Let's call it speculative fiction and say it is an excellent example.

Ms Medrick's descriptions are not lush; they are just right, not slowing the necessarily measured pace of the story, but providing sufficient clues that the reader's imagination can fill details in.

I won't spoil the conclusions. I'll just say that Medrick has enlivened the whole story with interleaved questions (I'm loath to call it a mystery), and the answers will hopefully surprise and please the reader. They did me.

I read Youth on a Kindle; there were a few formatting errors which did not take me out of the story. It's a small thing, but there is no table of contents. When I opened it on my Kindle for Mac, it was as good as the Kindle, except that the cover looked very good in color. However, on the Kindle, one chapter's formatting is quite difficult to read, and I've taken one star for that. In the desktop app, that same chapter is formatted the way I assume it was intended. Even with that problem on the Kindle, it is a wonderful read, and I recommend it highly.

Four Stars

The Puppet Master by Jessie Sturman-Coombs

This is the second book in the Poker Face Series, the first is Poker Face. Ms Sturman has created a little piece of her own world in a British setting, and the results are incredible. Unlike the first, this story plays more to Ruby's internal struggles, making it wildly different from the first one. I'm not sure what's left for Ruby to explore, though I'm sure Ms Sturman is!

This book has as much conflict as you could ever want in a thriller, legal or not. In The Puppet Master (Poker Face), there's little of the legal, but a boatload of conflict, almost all due to Ruby herself, though there are villains, more easily despised than dealt with, to spice up the mix. I found myself quite anxious through the middle of the book as Ruby, Danny and Alessi work through a major course correction for her, largely because I couldn't figure out how she would get through it. Also, I wondered what would happen next, since it was too early in the book for this to be anything but the appetizer.

The main course, so to speak, was fully satisfying, and relieved almost all my tensions, and the dessert was a wonderful strawberry shortcake with a dollop of whipped cream atop. You may substitute your own favorite; it will be as satisfying to you.

The cover by Ivan Waldock is great and helps tie the series together.

I read Puppet Master on my Kindle, where it was easy to read. Like Poker Face, there are British phrasings and word choices, hardly surprising given Ms Sturman's British heritage, but none of them were more than a small bump in the road, so to speak. There are some grammar issues, mostly missing commas, that may cause someone like me to notice them, but should not interfere with enjoying the story. I opened it using Kindle for Mac; it was fine there as well.

I recommend Puppet Master to any reader looking for an intriguing thriller. If you're looking at this after having read Poker Face, what are you waiting for? If you haven't read Poker Face, this story will still work, but references may not make as much sense, and the relationships will be murky, I think.

Five Stars


Of course, you don't need to take my word for it, read these yourself and come to your own opinion. But I hope these comments intrigue you enough to look at these and perhaps purchase them your self... or something else by these authors.

The links are for the Kindle editions; if you are not a Kindle person, have no fear, just drop a note in the comments section and I'll find an alternate option for you. Any other comments are welcome as well.