Tag: Publishing

Blurbed.

It is said that it’s a waste of time to do much in the way of marketing until one has at least 3 books to sell. Well, I now have 4 books published, so I suppose it’s time to review the essays I’ve been hoarding on my bookmarks bar. You know the ones – “How to turn your inane ramblings into a #1 Best Seller in 5 easy steps.” 

Fortuitously, Ricardo Fayet over at Reedsy sent me an email the other day – me and probably 150,000 other people, not that I’m complaining – entitled The Ultimate Guide to KDP: How to Succeed on Kindle Direct Publishing. I’ve seen this advice elsewhere – but it’s neatly organized and, as far as I can tell, all the salient points are covered.

Number 1 – Create a polished cover.

I think I have that, even though I didn’t use Paul Trif at TwinArtDesign for Silken Thread, choosing to do that one myself. I know – that’s often a mistake. Paul made 3 great covers for my Anye Legacy books and there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t do it again. Be sure and tell me if you think I’ve goofed on this one, otherwise I’ll blissfully move forward not knowing any better. Continue reading “Blurbed.” →

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Whither is thine editor?

I’ve published three novels, with a fourth on the way. The three haven’t attracted attention, but that’s to be expected since I haven’t promoted them. I will, and then we’ll find out if I did anything, but in the meantime I have to make a decision about the fourth one – shall I submit the work to an editor?

It’s a dilemma, made more compelling by a sense that Silken Thread might be the one that … what, deserves it? Needs it? I’m not sure. It has the potential to reach a wider audience than my science fiction books  – there’s an argument in favor. One never knows if an editor will bring anything constructive to the table – there’s one against.

I make the second statement under the premise that I’m not a terrible writer. If I was, any editor would do, and I suppose it’s possible my beta readers have been too kind and I am, in fact, a terrible writer. But, on the other hand, I’ve picked volumes off the shelf from major publishing houses and couldn’t get through five pages without frowning. If the traditional press is any good at what it does, how does that happen?

I know one way it happens is every book isn’t for every reader, and no editor can fix that. I also know I’ve written almost half-a-million words without recourse to the advice of any person having academic credentials to critique what I’m doing. That gives me pause.

What a joy it would be to have someone with an MFA in literature tell me I’m doing a good job. But, my experience as an applied scientist informs me that experts don’t always know what they’re talking about. $1400.00 might buy me a good report card on a non-selling book, and wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants?

There’s no call to action in this essay, folks. Silken Thread is on its sixth editing pass. I deleted a chapter this morning, having discovered that an idea I thought important early in the draft went absolutely nowhere. There’ll be a seventh pass, and then after that I’ll wring my hands about getting an editor, again. Comments welcome.

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Places I’ve been, revisited …

May, 1972 - Silken Thread dallies in a Hong Kong shop I couldn't stay away from.

David led Barbara down Nathan Road to visit The Radio People, Ltd., a legendary audiophile store not far from the hotel. “This is where I always ended up when mom and dad turned me loose.”

He was prepared to see the place transformed by the incursion of Japanese electronics, but it was much as it had been during his last visit — the sales floor dominated by custom built enclosures of walnut, teak and mahogany, McIntosh tube amps, Uher tape decks, Stanton turntables and Tandberg receivers.

The owner, Albert Chan, shooed a couple of Brits in tweed jackets out the door. “Smoke pipe outside, then come back. I have Xavier Cugat for you to listen.” He lifted his chin at David. “Hey, you got bigger. Why you hair dark now?”

They listened to Mr. Chan’s teak-clad Spectrum loudspeakers, laughably classified as ‘bookshelf’ at 40 pounds each, and a pair of Wharfedale-equipped, Danish modern burled walnut cabinets half the size of washing machines. Barbara saw the look in his eyes. “Are these the ones you’ve been mooning over since you were fourteen?”

“Ones like these. They’ll cost a fortune to ship.”

“They’re gorgeous, and you can’t buy this merchandise anywhere else. Let’s get them.”

She was enthralled by the district’s shopping corridors, channeled through buildings from street to street — stopping to purchase a London Fog raincoat, three scarves, a jade pendant, and rhinestone decorated collars for the dogs. “They’ll look so cute in these.”

David went into a shoe store, coming out empty-handed. “I’m going to stick with my Florsheims.”

They returned to the hotel at five, meeting David’s parents at the reception desk. Lieve Aarens squealed when she saw the collars. “Isn’t this the greatest town ever? Give us half an hour, and we’ll take you to dinner.”

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Something I stumbled across …

Whenever I drove past one of those all-aluminum super-modern mobile homes of the 1950s – and I’m talking about mobile homes, not Airstream travel trailers – I always wondered who made them, and what they looked like inside. While doing research for Silken Thread I discovered that some of them were built by Spartan Aircraft.

The company had a short, interesting run – you can find out more at an enthusiast’s website here. Short take-away: the hero in my story is getting a 1959 Spartan Imperial Mansion.

That’s it – just a random share today. Keep reading. We need you.

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Goaltending – John Dyer Writes

One of my goals in writing science fiction is to promote an ambience of authenticity — which can be problematic when much of the landscape is mythological. I cover part of this ground by wrapping the fantastic in the mundane — making the story more believable in a visceral sense. Thus, in Resilient, Sattva Pala is introduced as a disembodied soul, brought across a dimensional boundary, raised in the Virtuality under a cloud of presumption that she’s an angel sent by the Gods. In counterpoint, she manifests as a complicated young woman with a confusing life and all the insecurities a person experiences from living in a real world.

In The Illusion of Gravity, a manufacturing executive invests in an emerging technology startup, but doesn’t tell his boss the project is about anti-gravity — a decision that makes sense to anyone who understands how staggeringly unimaginative senior management can be. To close the loop, I devote a lot of energy to making the science plausible — and I think seasoned SF readers will notice I’m staking out my own territory in the genre.

Continue reading “Goaltending – John Dyer Writes” →

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Back into the fray ….

Now that I have 3 books to sell, it’s time to get serious about the trimmings. Who likes this version of a story capsule for The Illusion of Gravity? Who hates it? Tell me!

Imagine what it would be like if, in a thousand years, our civilization was little changed from the way it is today. This is the condition in which the Anye find themselves, centuries after building their first nuclear power plants — a mature race still traveling about in ground cars; flying spaceplanes to orbit, but no farther; suffering from disease, war and crime, languishing in hopeful anticipation of an historic moment with the potential to change everything, a blessing that never quite arrives.

 Until, in an event overshadowed by strife and circumstance, an epochal discovery unravels the mysteries of the universe. Physics student Rivan Saraf survives an experiment gone terribly wrong — only to be pursued by foreign agents, intent on either stealing his mentor’s work or killing those involved in it. It will be at Udak, on the boundary of Vidura’s icecap, where his team transforms emerging theory into applied science, demonstrating that gravity is not what everyone thought it was.

Now the question is: Will there be enough time for the Anye to forge a new destiny before an approaching catastrophe destroys them?

Set in an exotic yet familiar world — the Anye Legacy series is a provocative and deeply textured account of a divided people confronting the possible end of their existence.

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I’m ready for my close-up.

It is seventy thousand years in the past. Vidura is three million light years from Earth. Stalled in their industrial age for centuries, the Anye are poised at the edge of space under a dying sun.

Finally, in an event overshadowed by strife and circumstance, an epochal discovery unravels the mysteries of the universe. Now it remains to be seen if there’s time for the Anye to forge a new destiny for themselves.

Vividly imagined, demonstrating finesse at wrapping the fantastic in the mundane, the Anye Legacy books venture into literary science fiction territory with strong characters and a thoughtful, well-crafted narrative.

Set in an exotic yet familiar world — a playground for adventure, romance, science, intrigue and space opera — the series is a provocative and deeply textured account of a divided people confronting the possible end of their existence.

Available now, in eBook and print, on Amazon.

Enjoy!

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Resilient is live on Amazon!

Book 3 in The Anye Legacy series – eBook edition – is available to order now.  I expect the print edition to launch tomorrow. Woo!

The final edit was less work than I feared – I threw 2 chapters away and wrote new ones to replace them, but other than that, it was mostly about finding tiny format errors. That makes 6 full editing passes from first cut to finished manuscript over a period of about a year.

Book 4 – Vacuum Forged – is in early draft with about 40,000 words, but I’ll probably finish Silken Thread first.

Here’s a shout out to my brother Mike, who read Resilient – for what must have been the third time – during the edit. It’s conceivable that I could write without his help, but the results wouldn’t be as good.

Mike says Resilient is ‘some of my finest work’ – which I might post as a review, except a) I still want you to buy the other ones, b) he’s my brother, so there could be hyperbole involved, and c) he thinks everything I’m doing is great. Yeah, Mike – I love you, too.

Later.

 

 

 

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The Third Edition is halfway published

The Illusion of Gravity – Third Edition – is available in eBook format today. You can get it on Amazon here. I uploaded the print layout this afternoon, so the paperback should pop up on their list directly. The book is now 14,000 words shorter, despite having gained more than 10,000 words of new text.

So much for getting in there to add a map and a cast of characters section. Well, it’s done … and Volume 1 of the series is a better book for it.

But, why take my word for it … did I mention you can buy it today?

Great. Keep reading. Thanks for the visit!

 

 

 

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