So, A Dream Apart is about 94.2% percent done. Everything is still on track for it to be formally released in about a month or so, but until then, I thought–what the hell–I’ll put the 94.2% version out on Smashwords for free until it’s 100% complete. No coupons required. Follow the link below and download it a hundred times. Just don’t get too riled up by the occasional typo still lurking around.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/89281
The finishing touches are being applied to my new novel. I’m applying caulking along the corners of the counters, installing the baseboards, painting the trim, fussing with the landscaping, sweeping out rooms, applying a few more coats of paint, and checking all the light switches. Do they all work? It should be out in November at some point. If you want it for free, I will include a link to the Smashwords version in the coming weeks here when it becomes available.
Elliot Bergeron has just graduated from university and is falling in love with a young woman. Elliot Bergeron is a disheartened thirty year-old elementary school teacher counting down the years to his pension. Elliot Bergeron’s life is wide open. Elliot Bergeron’s life is sealed shut. Elliot Bergeron has dreams of his future. Elliot Bergeron has dreams of his past. Elliot Bergeron is living two parts of his own life at the same time and doesn’t know who he is, what he controls, who he loves, what will happen next, or what happened before.
It’s been exactly a year since I clicked the “publish” button on the Amazon KDP site. Not the most climactic way to have something released, but it was still an exciting day for me.
It’s been a good year. I didn’t know what to expect, and so perhaps that meant my expectations were low, but things have come together pretty well. No, I haven’t had any bestsellers, Whatley Tupper didn’t go viral, I haven’t retired to focus on my writing. But that doesn’t meant hat things haven’t gone well. Whatley Tupper was a book that Daniel and I knew was weird and funny and yet it sat, collecting dust as they say, for several years. With the current publishing climate, I don’t think The Adventures of Whatley Tupper would have ever been released in the traditional manner. And now it’s out, almost 12 000 copies floating around in the various Kindles around the world. Of course, the vast majority of those copies were downloaded for free during a five day stretch in June and I’m sure most of those haven’t even been opened–but compared to sitting in a box under my bed just a year ago, 12 000 is pretty impressive, at least I think so.
It’s been a while since I released a sales graph, and so there is it. That one five-day spike really screws with the vertical scale and smooths out all the many jagged slopes on either side, but it sure shows how dramatic the effect of a free book is. The Year We Finally Solved Everything is still free after more than two months (although I don’t know why) and while it’s always been a much less marketable book, it’s actually my most downloaded book. Until publishing using KDP, The Year We Finally Solved Everything was, at best, destined to be published by some small Canadian press, most of which only release a couple of thousand copies and offer small, $500 – $1000 advances. I don’t care about the money, so I’m fine with it remaining free. As far as I know, it will remain free for years. Amazon works in mysterious ways.
It’s been a great year although I know I could have done a lot more to promote my books. I find it difficult to get into the social media game. I just don’t really enjoy facebook or chatting on online forums or tweeting my thoughts. I don’t even like talking on the phone. Kindle Boards has been great to ask questions and learn of new developments, but I’m not interested in spending much time on these places each day–this is not a slight to anyone on these places, it’s just not me. I just can’t do it–I’d rather spend my time writing or editing or planning. Which means that I’m cutting myself off from a lot of potentially influential people. I know. And I used to care more about this. And maybe I’ll care more about this in the future. Yeah, receiving royalty cheques is always cool, but that’s not been the best part. Until a year ago, I’d been writing for more than a decade with having anything published. There were several close calls, a few broken promises, and even a scam, but nothing in the end published. That has a way of diminishing a man’s desire to write, of his inspiration. But in these last months I’ve been writing more than I have in ten years. I have more ideas than time to get them down. If anything, I have to keep myself from clicking that ‘publish’ button too soon, without taking the time to make sure that I’m releasing my best work. A year ago I became liberated and I’m still relishing my new-found freedom. It’s all up to me. That is the greatest feeling. I always loved writing, but now I have more of a reason to write. Because I can put it out there. And someone might read it. And someone might love it. And someone might hate it. And someone might shrug indifferently towards it. But it’s out there. It’s not sitting in a box under my bed.
Happy Birthday…
Well, thanks to Google Alerts, I’ve stumbled upon this blog/op-ed/review of The Year We Finally Solved Everything that also relates to the very current grumblings going on in Washington regarding raising the debt ceiling. Here’s a snippet from the complete post:
On a side note, I find it interesting that the reviewer makes it sound as if the book is actually set in the United States, presumably just to make it simpler to explain for her readers. Perhaps she thinks it’s set in Vancouver, Washington? Probably not…
I haven’t been updating this blog nearly as much of late, because, well, I don’t think I’ve had much to say. But now, finally, I think I have something to say. Not much, but something.
Today I finished the draft of a new novel, A Dream Apart, which I started in October but put on hold for several months while busily polishing up The Redemption of Mr. Sturlubok for it’s April 30th release (which, in retrospect, was probably a little too rushed. I’m happy with the end result for Sturlubok, but it was too much work with everything else going on). After The Redemption of Mr. Sturlubok was released, I went back to what I’d written of this new novel, unsure if I was going to be able to finish it. I’m not sure how other authors work, but when I’m working on something remotely dramatic, I am always unsure about whether I’ll be able to finish it, whether or not it will work, whether or not I’ll like it in a few months. I’ve had many false starts in the last ten years, and even a few completed drafts that upon typing that last sentence, I knew it wasn’t going to go beyond that.
With this, right now, I feel pretty good. Sometimes I think it’s great. Sometimes I think I should keep it to myself. Finishing a draft is always a wonderful, but also slightly anti-climactic day for me. There is a great sense of accomplishment upon hitting SAVE and sitting back. But that’s it. I hit save and then sit back. And then what?
A Dream Apart is right now about 65 000 words. It’s about a man who’s living two parts of his own life at the same time, and falls for two women at the same time. I guess that describes it, at least in a single sentence. Compared to The Year We Finally Solved Everything, it’s a little more character drive, personal and compassionate, with a greater emphasis on dialogue. At least right now. A lot can change int he revision stage. The Year We Finally Solved Everything was once twice the length it ended up being, but I don’t want this new book to have the same tone. I want it to be a little less formal and more loose. I’ll see.
I hope to have it released by the end of the year, which should be very doable as long as I still like it by the end of the year.
The Adventures of Whatley Tupper is now free at both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. So, with The Year We Finally Solved Everything, just about everything I have published is free. I have no complaints–I made these books free at Smashwords so that this would happen. Now, how long this will last, I don’t know. But, I can’t help but think that this is far better promotion than any banner ad or sponsorship. And it costs absolutely nothing.
Again, right now, all it seems to take is to make a book free at Smashwords (as long as it’s been approved for premium distribution), and within a few weeks, it’s free at Amazon (I also may have sped up the process by clicking on the Amazon link where you can report a lower price elsewhere several times).
Amazon didn’t use to do this, so I don’t know how long they’ll continue to do this. So, I’ll roll with it while I can.
So, The Year We Finally Solved Everything is now free at Amazon for… I don’t know how long.
http://www.amazon.com/Year-Finally-Solved-Everything-ebook/dp/B0048EL3IC
I made it free at Smashwords about a month ago, hoping something like this might happen, but then after a week I figured that this was silly and put the price back up to it’s usual and exorbitant $1.99. Last week I noticed that it was free for the Nook, and then today I saw this…
I’m not sure how long this will last, but I’m not complaining. I always thought of The Year We Finally Solved Everything as a little book that is near and dear to my heart, but wasn’t destined to sell much or make much. Well, now it’s not making anything, but it’s selling a lot. Like, hundreds of copies an hour. I’m pleased, to say that least.
So, hell, if you’re an author whose written a little book that you don’t care about making money off of, try making it free at Smashwords (assuming it’s been approved for premium distribution) and see what happens.
Every week I’ll be updating the Redemption of Mr. Sturlubok page with a new ‘cheat’ to bring you to one of my favourite plots. They can be found at the bottom of the page, after any reviews.
A review posted today for The Redmption of Mr. Sturlubok on E-Finds:
The Redemption of Mr. Sturlubok is the second choose your own adventure ebook by Kerkhoven and Pitts; I previously reviewed their other title and found it fun, but a bit on the farcical side. This new entry is more of the same, but the farce is a little more credible this time. Mr. Sturlobok is a school principal, and his position of authority relative to the janitor of the previous book is more credible a comic hero-slash-villain. I also work in a school myself, so I found some of the school-related details resonating with me more than they might have otherwise.
A book like this is not read for its literary merit. The authors are witty and the book is a lot of fun, but this is definitely a book-toy, and if you understand that going in, you’ll definitely enjoy it more. It’s like those people who panned the live-action Scooby Do movies because they tried to evaluate them as serious films instead of the screen candy they were intended to be. If you want a serious film, don’t watch Scooby Do. If you want a serious book, look elsewhere.
An interactive story like this must be a huge amount of work to put together. The authors were careful, and I caught no mistakes. To be careful and to make it fun to boot is no small feat. If you are in the mood for some light, comic book-play, this is the title for you. One complaint: I had to double-check the spelling on the title several times int he process of downloading, reviewing and bookmarking this title. A small complaint, but even so 🙂 4 out of 5 stars.
The Most Boring Blog Ever Written 