The Good, the Bad, and the Update

Stuff going on all over the place here in Chaos land.  Some are good, some are bad, some are just continuations of stuff I’ve mentioned before.  I will refrain from classifying in order to protect the innocent and the guilty.

First, summer ends and school starts tomorrow.  Well, inservice anyway.  I got about 10% of the writing I wanted done over the summer, so I’ll go ahead and classify that part as bad.  I can say I’m eager to see this particular summer end, so I guess that hits good.  So maybe it’s a wash.  Either way, I’m up early and back at it tomorrow.

In other news, I’m starting to get adjusted to my bi-pap machine.  I’ve mentioned it before; it keeps pressure on my airway to combat apnea and snoring.  The foundation of the house appreciates the snore reduction.  It’s still an odd sensation and I occasionally feel like the thing is suffocating me, but less and less.  I’ve started spending time reading before bed with the mask on to get used to it before trying to sleep in it.  I will be bringing the machine with me to cons in the future which should make roommates a more realistic possibility.

Speaking of reading, I’ve started reading Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy which I picked up at LibertyCon.  It’s interesting.  So far, it’s pretty much a caper story set in a fantasy world.  A lot of the powers in the story remind me of the movie Push (Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning), which was a better film than its box office suggests.  The two don’t seem to be related, though.  Anyway, I’m really enjoying the first book.  I’m tempted to bring it to the inservice tomorrow, but no.  I’m too straight-laced to do that, alas.

What else?  The same middle scene of my steampunk fairytale continues to defy me.  I think I need to completely reimagine the scene.  That may well mean rereading the story up to that point.  I bet there’s a flaw before that scene that can be tweaked to lend to the proper flow.  I wanted to have a funcional draft before I went back to school.  I don’t.  Oh well.

And finally, I am toying with the idea of creating a podcast.  I’m not 100% what format I’m after.  I think I’ll do a reading as a dry run with the tech available to me to see how practical this idea is.  If it sounds like garbage, I’ll have to abandon the idea until I can afford decent equipment.  This is likely a reaction to listening to a lot of Writing Excuses of late.  I’m probably leaning toward an informal interview style, mostly via skype.  Anyway, it’s still an idea at stage two out of fifty, but I think it would be fun.

So, That’s the updates on me.  And I made it all the way through without telling you to go to Smashwords or the Kindle Store to buy Baker’s Dozen.  Okay, almost all the way through.  If you have a Smashwords coupon, it expires on the 22nd, so go get it.  And I am looking for reviewers still.  If you’ve ever reviewed stuff before and/or have significant web traffic, send me an email so we can work out a free ebook arrangement.

Until next time, stay chaotic.  (Trying out a new catchphrase.  Maybe?)

The Shell Game

With LibertyCon just around the corner, I’ve been looking for a good way to market Baker’s Dozen.  I’ve committed to an idea.  Is it good?  Maybe.  Is it great?  I doubt it.

Eggs.

I guess I may be over-committed to my cover art, but I just ordered 100 gold(-ish) Easter eggs.  I plan to fill the eggs with ads/coupons for Baker’s Dozen.  The coupon will be good for Smashwords, but links to both SW and the Kindle Store will be in there.  And maybe cheap candy…I haven’t decided.  I figured a little something to separate mine from the dozens of pieces of paper might translate into a sale or three.  Yes, this means I’ll be carrying around a bag of eggs like a delinquent on Halloween.  If you see me, ask for an egg,

I’ll also do a little trolling for reviewers at LibertyCon.  I want to get a couple people to read and review Baker’s Dozen.  I’m not chasing Locus or anything, just some bloggers with little web traffic and a track record of reviewing stuff that would be willing to share the review on Amazon and Smashwords.  If that describes you and you’d be interested in writing a brief, fair review of my collection, zip me an email.  Reviewers will of course get their digital copy for free from Smashwords.

[Be warned: I will be screening my reviewers prior to dealing out free copies.  Not that I’m looking for favors or bias, but I don’t want to risk exposing myself to illiterate reviews from readers that don’t understand the genre and just wanted something free.  If I can’t find a track record of reviews, I won’t be likely to shell out a free copy.  But asking can’t hut, I guess.]

Baker’s Dozen is now available!

Not all things in the world flow as smoothly as one might hope, and the road to this e-publication had a couple potholes, but nothing too damaging.  And now Baker’s Dozen is available through Smashwords!  As in right now, this minute.  Why are you still reading?  Go get it!  It’s only $2.99, for goodness sake!

Oh, what about Amazon, you ask?  It’s still a go there, too.  I’m waiting for the file to get through some approval hoops before it’s available.  It that’s where you want to get it, you might try looking around noon (central time) on Friday.  (If it’s already after noon on Friday, there should be a newer post on my blog with an update.)

 

Vastly Improved Cover

A lot of people saw the old cover image here on my blog or on facebook.  It said what it needed to and had a touch of flair in the title font, but that’s pretty much all it had going for it.  Now, with the help of my amazingly talented photographer/wife, I have a new cover.  A simple enough image, but a lot more eye-catching.  And only two days until you can get your own on Kindle!

Baker’s Dozen – coming soon to Kindle

On the advice of…well, at least 13 people, I have compiled 13 of my stories into a self-published ebook and have formatted it for the Kindle.

Why 13?  Well, that makes a Baker’s Dozen.  It was a title suggested by my friend Greg and I couldn’t resist the pun.  Guilty as charged.

Why self-pub?  I can’t see shopping this thing around for forever just to wind up self-pubbing it anyway. I am a long way away from giving up on traditional publishing (novels and magazines), but I’m convinced this is the way to go for a single-author collection.

Why just Kindle?  Okay, it’s not just Kindle.  By the time I release the thing, it may well be ready for Smashwords and Nook, too.  But I’m new at this and there’s a learning curve.

What’s in it?  Oh, I’m so glad you asked!  There’s quite a variety, but stories mostly fit into one of four categories:

  • Space opera like my Writers of the Future winner “Poison Inside the Walls” and my fan favorite “Leech Run”
  • Urban fantasy including my middle grades story “Faerie Belches” and the full version of the Uncle John’s Flush Fiction story “Excuse Me”
  • Near future science fiction like my flash piece “How Quickly We Forget” and the unpublished dystopian tale “Secondhand Rush”
  • Zombie fun like the sports riff “ZFL” and my play on the Pied Piper, “Not Rats”
  • and five others!  (I sound like a Time Life Music infomercial.)

Includes 9 of my greatest hits as well as 4 never before published stories; well over 40,000 words of fiction.  Tiny little flash stories to the top end of the short story scale; dark and gritty to farcically hilarious; hard science to impractical frivolity.  There is something in this collection for absolutely every reader of short speculative fiction, all for the low price of…

Okay, I confess, I’m still waffling on the price point.  When I see individual short stories from writers at similar places in their career selling on Kindle for 99 cents, a fairly high number isn’t hard to envision.  But then I consider the role that low price point plays in getting a reader to try a new writer and something bargain basement makes more sense.  I’m considering splitting the difference (high basement?) and also maybe releasing some of the longer stories for $.99 as single stories plus a teaser for another story in the book.  That’s my best impression of a marketing strategy, folks.

Anyway, I don’t quite have the release date set.  I’ll post it as soon as I do.  I’ll also Tweet it, Facebook it, and do whatever else I can think of to get the word out.

I’m pretty excited about this, excited enough to pull four very solid and promising stories out of my submission cycle to make sure my readers get value for their money.  It sure isn’t everything I’ve ever written or even sold, but this is a sample of my best.  If you’ve ever wondered how good I actually am at this writing stuff, here comes your chance to find out.

Check back soon for the latest.