E-Books and the Learning Curve

If you believe once you’ve converted a manuscript to an ebook you’re good at it and won’t have much trouble next time you do it, you’re in for a surprise. The unpleasant variety.

Okay, maybe not you, but me.

This past weekend, I decided I’d put some of my longer stories – which are, by the way, included in the collections A Fine Cast of Characters and A Moonlit Stroll – into Amazon’s Kindle store as stand-alone stories for a cheap price. More name recognition, with a teaser to get the whole thing for not much money if you liked the taste. Not a bad plot, I guess, but I don’t know if it’s going to work. I figure what the heck?

So, I get to work on that in the midst of outlining my new novel. I need a break, so I wanted to spend a few minutes getting the new novella/story ready.

A few minutes turned into hours of fuss-budget work, flipping back and forth, converting and re-converting the file so I can check the look, the formatting, the spacing, the image, the cover, all that. It was horribly annoying and I still don’t know if I got all the bug-a-boos.

So, don’t take anything for granted. This is my fourth foray into ebook publishing on Amazon, and I could probably offer this to other aggregator sites like Smashwords too. But honestly, I don’t really want to, and with the Kindle Select’s five-day free period, it will manage to do it’s job – generate interest.

On the other hand, not being exclusive for 90 days has it’s appeal, too, and I can get the price set to free if I make it free on Smashwords and post on Kindle later. But…eh. I think less than a buck’s okay too. I guess I can experiment with this one and take the lessons learned from it to the next one.

Anyway, that’s how I spent my weekend. How ‘bout you?

-JDT-

Hey! I’m AT THE BIJOU!

My buddy Absolutely*Kate, one of the most colorful and powerful voices in hardboiled, noir-genre prose I’ve read in many a long year, did me a great honor and pubbed one of my #FlashFriday pieces from late last year!

Now, it probably wasn’t the best choice I could’ve made. She asked me for a piece and under the deadline I didn’t think I could dash one off which would uphold the standard she’s set for featuring artists. So I gave her one which I liked and which had a warm reception from the reading public.

I hate being repetitious and hope it won’t work against me, since a lot of the FF writers have already read it, but I was so honored to be asked to join the featured artists AT THE BIJOU.

Please, if you have time go check out the arrangement Absolutely*Kate gave the piece and tell her what you think of it. (Polite company language only, please! Heh.)

Thanks y’all!

-JDT-

This, that, and the other…

Hey, got a couple of quick things for you today. Not much. Don’t want to get in the way of your weekend.

Did you notice this…?

Guess what? I’ve been doing some writing exercises. Just staying loose, really, but some of them have morphed into sort of vignettes. I don’t think they’re stories, really.

Matter of fact, I posted one today for #FridayFlash. Check it out if you’re a mind to. Let me know your thoughts too.

I posted one on Wednesday night too, to not much fanfare. It was the first thing  I’ve posted in a while, if I recall correctly.

Speaking of that…

I’m seriously considering starting a new novel. I haven’t started a new one since late 2007. That one’s languishing in the unfinished pile because it needs work. Lots of work. And I’m a little daunted by the amount of work.

My current “manuscript” didn’t seem to hold up to the editing process too well. I put it up against the four-part story structure, and it’s missing the last half of Act II, a pinch point, a second plot point, and the entire climax has to be redone. With all that going on, I don’t know if the story’s worth fixing.

I’m thinking of calling for people to look at it as is and tell me if they think it should be salvaged. But most people I know who could do that are writers and don’t have enough time in their schedules to do that. So I’m sort of drumming my fingers, thinking about what to do on it. Rewriting the last half of the book and making it worth submitting is more exhausting in my mind than starting over.

Thoughts on that?

And the other…

I got a call on Wednesday from the company with whom I interviewed a week ago Thursday (May 6). They wanted to let me know they opted for another candidate.

Story of my life, yo.

I’m not upset though. I just have to start this whole process over and keep at it until something breaks. Or, you know … we have to move into a cardboard box.

If you’re the praying type, we can sure use it.

OH, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Onyx! May it be the best and grandest you’ve ever had.

That’s all, folks!

Have a great weekend, everyone, and I’ll talk to you again next week.

-JDT-

All original content copyright 2010 DarcKnyt
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A little cheesecake…

…Goes a long way.

Well, it goes a long way on Mother’s Day. For my wife at least.

Oh, and not just any cheesecake, either; we’re talkin’ French cheesecake.

We can’t celebrate too much in our current circumstance, but we did manage to get a little treat for her for Mom’s Day. I was willing to go farther, do more, but she insisted on the low-key, low-cost celebration method. It’s been our MO for a number of years now.

Still, we, the family, are grateful for her and we love her. Anything we can do to show that appreciation is better than nothing, and we’re grateful God gave us a chance to do just that.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

In other news, I finished reading my buddy Sherri’s new(er) book. It’s been a long time coming, and she’s worked her tail off to get it ready. She honored me by choosing me as one of her beta readers, and I have to say, the book was so good I read it all in two sittings (and if it had been a book or if I had a better laptop, it may have happened in one night, though I don’t know if I read fast enough for that anymore).

I met a young writer (I don’t know if he’s a writer or not, but he oughta be if he ain’t) over on my deviantART page who wrote a bit of micro-fiction I found amazing. I mean, a lot of good stuff packed into just a tiny word count. Not as limiting as Twitter, of course, but still. He managed it beautifully, and it made me think … I love doing short pieces. I like to write. What about doing #FridayFlash again? (Or is that #FlashFriday? Doggone it, I can never remember.) I know my wife won’t like the idea. She says I get torpedoed so much when I do it because it’s just not my forte, my format. But … oh, so tempting. Like the chocolate I know will taste soooo goooooood, but give me heartburn and acne later. *Sigh*

On the back forty…

I didn’t say anything because it probably isn’t worth saying anything about, but I had a job interview last Thursday. I spent more than ninety minutes with a man expecting to spend less than forty-five minutes with me. Yes, I was slightly embarrassed, and said so at several points. He assured me, however, he was enjoying our conversation and was happy to have answers which weren’t two sentences. (Apparently, someone had answered most or all of his questions with two-sentence replies.) So, I suppose that’s good.

The drawback of this is, I don’t have his name or email address to forward a thank you note. I’ll have to send that message to the recruiter and hope she can properly channel it. I’ll have to remember to do that today.

I should find out later this week whether my long-winded responses earned me a second interview, a shot at the job, or just another trip to the round file for my resume.

Anyway, if you’re the praying type, you know the drill. If not, wish me luck anyway, okay? I need all the positivity I can get my hands on.

That’s about it. How’s it by y’all? Have a good weekend?

-JDT-

All original content © 2010 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.

Weekend’s Here!

Hey, everyone, just a brief update today – it’s Friday, and that means #FridayFlash has been posted right here on my fiction blog. Go check it out if you’re interested. I went away from horror this time. I sort of have this story going on in my head – though not all the details are worked out – along the lines of a fantasy-western, cowboys-and-dragons thing. I have a story planned out, but nothing written except one vignette I did a while back. It’s on my short stories page and it’s called “Western-Fantasy Vignette”. If you’re interested, today’s entry would be the opening for that book.

Nothing doin’ here but the same-ol’ same 0l’. How ‘bout you? Plans for the weekend? What’s on your docket?

Have a good one and I’ll see y’all on Monday. Be safe and God bless.

-JDT-