Monthly Archives: December 2016

Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate

As foreshadowed in yesterday’s blog entry, I have now identified a couple of small presses that seem legit, and sent them both queries for my YA fantasy series. I’m not going to say which ones I chose, because I’m about … Continue reading

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Small Is the New Big

Starting back in mid-October, I decided to self-publish my fantasy epic and a couple of other books as well. Two months later, I seem to be trapped in amber, or at least I’m waist-deep in molasses. Nothing is happening. Until … Continue reading

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Amazon and the Death of the LP

The book cover problem is driving me crazy. The rest of the self-publishing process I can do myself, but I’m not a competent visual artist, nor am I up to speed with the latest version of Photoshop. I wouldn’t mind … Continue reading

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Yardstick? What Yardstick?

How do you measure success? If you’re a writer, or in fact an artist of any kind, this is a treacherous question. Tonight I glanced at a blog post by Derek Murphy. Derek is a very bright guy and a … Continue reading

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When Magic Fails

When you have a 450,000-word epic waiting to be published, there are a lot of details to keep track of! For months now, a minor problem has been bugging me. My lead character, 17-year-old Kyura, has been taught a magic … Continue reading

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The Fat Lady Has Not Yet Sung

In August and September I wrote a novel. I thought it was pretty good. I still think that. I also thought it was finished. I was dead wrong. As I started to do the interior design of the novel in … Continue reading

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DIY: The Outer Limits

If you’ve written a book and are planning to publish it yourself, you’re well advised to get professional help. Hire an editor; hire a cover designer; for print books, hire an interior book designer; and by all means, hire someone … Continue reading

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Fun with Drop Caps

I seem to have found the right way to do the interior design of my novels — a necessary precursor to print publication. After thrashing around for a couple of days, I downloaded the 7-day trial version of Adobe InDesign. … Continue reading

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Page Not Found

If you’re going to publish your own novel, you’d like it to look professional, right? The “look” of an ebook is mostly irrelevant, because the user can change the font or type size, and there isn’t really anything resembling page … Continue reading

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