...got the book back from my editor/wife. She doesn't normally read that slowly, but was taking time to give me a thorough ass-kicking from an editorial standpoint. Some stuff she loved, some stuff she hated, and I am now poring through her notes and making minor adjustments in preparation for submitting the manuscript to Lulu to get the thing printed.
The manuscript, now, is at 260 pages, but that will likely increase a little.
I had a very minimalist cover in mind that was simply a black & white photo of a building (central to this particular book) for the front and back of the book, but have decided that I'd rather have plain white w/ black courier font for the covers & spine. Just seems cleaner and less pretentious. I dunno. I just like the way it looks in my head. We'll see. I'd like to have each book in the series be kinda uniform in that respect.
I've confirmed the book will be available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as the Lulu site.
There will be an e-book version available at some point, but I don't know if it will be day & date with the print version.
There will NOT be a Kindle version, as I've pulled my support for the device after the 1984 fiasco.
I don't yet have a release date. I have a feeling it'll be this month, but it could slip to September. I may push it to September just so I have time to actually build up some anticipation for it. Again, we'll see.
I've made some cost-related decisions, as well. Any additional content that's included will likely be downloadable, to reduce the cost of the book. The more the book costs to make, the more I have to charge. Also, I will be taking a dollar or less per book, in an effort to further reduce cost.
I've started the second book, and it was refreshing to really bang out some new material with these characters for the first time in years. If the first book was dark, this one is cold. With any luck, it won't be another 10 years between books, and I can put out a couple a year. I feel great about the second book thus far.
I'm also thinking about doing a free online-only prequel series of shorts to help flesh out the worlds that appear in these books. I've got the first one in the bag, and am kinda sitting on it while I decide what to do with it.
There have been two very rough things in this process: nightmares and lost companions.
Writing the book gave me nightmares, and editing it has had the same effect. There's some really twisted, deeply personal shit in this volume, and writing/editing it forces me to confront a lot of this shit, at least on some level, and the result is nightmares. Not the kind ya laugh and tell your wife about the next day, either.
My Linux netbook is down at the moment, at least until I either diagnose it or send it in to the manufacturer. It's covered under warranty, but I have a feeling that the HDD is on its last legs. I'm going to try and grab an image of it this week, before I send it in, but I worry that I can't keep it running long enough to grab said image. We shall see.
Either way, that netbook was HUGE in getting this thing edited. It's only 8.9 inches across and weighs 2 pounds, so it was a delight to just lie in bed, read, and edit. It's also my only portable option for Linux at the moment, and Linux is ideal for writers.
With Linux and a little know-how, a writer can pick up a cheap-ass Linux netbook, and customize the shit out of it, thus creating his/her ideal writing/editing setup. Ask any serious writer, and they'll tell you that they are very particular about their rituals, spaces, setups, etc. for when they write. I'm not as overly sensitive as most writers and don't like to cripple myself by limiting the conditions under which I can write.
That reminds me, some day I'd like to post about my dealings with other writers, and how most of them hate me, and how musicians are actually 'my people.' Just know that most writers are amazingly pretentious douchebags who want nothing more than to masturbate to ten-cent words.
Anyway, the netbook will be up and running again soon, but since I back everything up every day in quadruplicate, it's not too big an issue. That thing is just my favorite object in the world, and my most useful tool (other than my penis.)
I'll be back soon. The breaks between posts will be shorter from here on out, since there will be more to talk about the closer we get to release day.
Real quick, I've been reading my first ebook. I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish in that format, so I decided to test-drive a book. I've been reading the first Song of Ice and Fire book in this format, and so far, I really like it. I've been using eReader (running via Wine) on my Ubuntu netbook (which is perfect as an ebook reader, another reason I already miss it.) The netbook is so light and small, one can hold it easily in one hand and lie on his/her back, or lie in any preferred reading position. The nicest thing is that the backgrounds and font are totally customizable, so you can adjust everything until it's nice and easy on your eyes. I think I like it.
In the meantime, let's talk books. What are your favorites? Who are your favorite authors? Favorite genres? Do you like ebooks? What do you think of the Kindle? Anything!
Alright, let's get this hype machine going! HOOWAH!
-Blaine
On sale now!
Never got around to commenting last time...sorry about that. All I was GOING to say was that your determination to work on this book for that long is something to behold. Also, the extras, while cool-sounding, seem like a lot of effort for what we (as realists) can only assume will be a fairly small audience. Do with that comment what you will, it's just an observation. I commend your gumption.
ReplyDeleteAs for THIS post and your questions, you may know some of my answers already, but here goes:
eBooks? Yes, on my iPod Touch. I would gladly pay you whatever you end up charging online for a simple .txt, .lit, or .pdf file of your book when it's ready for consumption as I loathe the bulk of a real book now. To me, Kindle is overpriced, underutilized, and over-DRMed, I'm sure.
Fav books/authors/genres:
Anything Dark Tower related.
Anything by C.J. Cherryh. She's by far my favorite sci-fi writer. She creates entire cultures, civilations, governments, lifeforms that live and breathe in their worlds, far better than anyone I've read (and that's a lot of sci-fi). I loved her Faded Sun trilogy.
I also dig most of Dan Abnett's WH40K stuff. However, in the past year, nothing has affected me more than The Road by Cormac McCarthy, or Rendevous at Rama by Arthur C. Clarke.
Oh, books! I love books! But I think books in electronic format are just wrong. It's a personal hang-up, though. As for favorites, well, probably too many to list. I tend to be all over the place when it comes to genres. At the moment, I'm reading Hellburner by C.J. Cherryh, to be followed by The Songcatcher by Sharyn McCrumb, and I just finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. As for favorite authors, they include Robert B. Parker, Gerald Durrell, Charles de Lint, Alastair McLean, Nevada Barr, Jim Butcher, Bernd Heinrich, Lawrence Millman, Katherine Kurtz. Just to name a few. As a matter of fact, I think I'm going to shut down the computer and get back to Hellburner. I think it was due at the library yesterday. Oops.
ReplyDeleteSee, another Cherryh recommendation!
ReplyDelete@JT That's part of the reason why I decided to do all the extras as DLC. I'll let ya know what happens with the ebook stuff. If there's a huge delay, you and I can work something out. Word up @ Dark Tower. I'll be sure to check out Cherryh. Rendesvous with Rama is in the queue already, actually.
ReplyDelete@Tami I prefer print, as well, so I feel ya. My wife LOVES Songcatcher! I actually got to meet Alexie Sherman a couple times. Hell of a nice guy. Jim Butcher lives not too far from me (as does Laurell K. Hamilton, who happened to be too near me once at the grocery store when I was complaining about one of her books, though I do love her writing overall). He's over in Independence, I believe, while Hamilton is just down the road in Chesterfield (I live in Manchester, just east of her). Cool.
It seems that any time someone asks me what my favorite [blank] is, I can never really come up with anything, despite how many [blanks] I've watched/read/played/listened to. I did recently read 1984 though, and a couple Kurt Vonnegut books. Man Without A Country was amazing, as I share so much political and social opinion with the guy, and he has such a simple, quirky way of putting words together. I'd like to hop into A House of Leaves sometime soon, and then maybe The God Delusion as I never did finish it. First though, I'm currently reading the third book in the series you just thankfully found.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of that series, I'm so glad you're reading them. They are stunningly good, much more so than any other fantasy stuff I've read. They're very real and gritty and dark, and the characters are so likable, and the ones that aren't make me hate them with a passion. Good stuff.
I wouldn't say I like fantasy as a genre though. Like other mediums, I like whatever happens to appeal to me, and that tends to be a fairly varied mix of content.
Good luck with the book, as always. Share your sweaty, sexy words with the masses.