Thursday...

I've just set up a new hardcover (w/ dust jacket) version of Storyteller on Lulu. Same text except I upgraded the map in the front. I'm going to do the same thing for the other books this week. Lulu, btw, is currently running a pre-Christmas 20% off promotion on everything, good through the 14th.

Tuesday...

The Druid's Son has now reached amazon.com. It's not available there yet for purchase, but should be soon. (edited to add: it's not available there yet for purchase through amazon) -GRG

Friday...

Oh dear, another week's gone by with no new post. Well, I've been busy - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was mostly spent getting the garage ready to bring in some tender plants before the snow which arrived Wednesday night, and incidentally doing my best to evict a squirrel which was trying to take up residence there.(Yes, I eventually succeeded.) Nasty weather yesterday - several inches of wet snow before leaf-drop is not good, but fortunately no power outages, in this neighborhood, at least. Nicer today - 30's F but sunny, which has helped. Still involved with tidying up publishing loose ends for The Druid's Son - got a bulk order today. Yesterday I got the proof copy for the global distribution version and approved that, so (Gods willing) it should be on Amazon etc before Christmas. I've also set up a hardback version, available on Lulu only. All in all, no lack of things to keep me busy! -GRG

Wednesday...

A little more book news: Smashwords has cleared The Druid's Son for premium distribution, which means it should show up on Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Apple in a couple of weeks, possibly sooner. This is very fast turn-around; clearly I did a good job with my formatting.

Gardening-wise, it still looks like we should get a killing frost this weekend, although it's currently 78 F by my back door. I need to relocate a few vulnerable plants, but otherwise the garden is about over for the year. The cold frame is beginning to be very full of geraniums...



-GRG

Monday...

It's e-published!

Sunday...

In preparation for the release of the new book, I've slashed the prices of all my e-books on smashwords.com. Check out the new prices here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/gwernin

Monday...

Hai mai! as Neirin would say. I've been off from work today, but so busy with bookselling administrivia that I keep forgetting to blog. Yesterday was the Colorado Welsh Society's annual Christmas tea, and I read a couple of poems as part of the program. Afterwards a number of people asked where they could find copies, and the upshot was that I sold several poetry books, and a set of novels as well. This led to the need to replenish the box of books I take to events, and the discovery that I am out of copies of The Ash Spear - not a desirable situation this time of year. I've ordered more, and they should show up in a couple of weeks, absent any blizzards between here and North Carolina... I'd been hoping to write a bit today, but all I've managed is half an hour or so glancing at timelines and thinking. So it goes...

Today's picture: draft horses at a Denver street fair last weekend.



That's all for now.

-GRG

E-publishing update

Just a little update - my first 5 books (everything except the new poetry collection) are now available as e-books from Barnes & Noble - one more marketplace! Now, if Smashwords will just complete their negotiations with Amazon before Christmas...

-GRG

Storyteller Songs published

I've published it on Lulu and on Smashwords today. So far paper copies are available only on Lulu, but it should reach Amazon in about a month. Not that I expect sales - how many books do even well-known poets sell? - but I'll have hard copies to offer locally, and anyone else who wants it can get it.

Now back to work... I've been working on timelines today, working out when some things had to happen in order for other things to happen, so I don't paint myself into a corner. I know I have made one or two continuity mistakes in the past, but they weren't major, and anyway Gwernin's an old man, and also a storyteller... so he may make a few slips, or artistic emendations, in his stories. We all do it as we get older. How much do any of us really know about our own pasts?

Back to work now.

-GRG

New covers

First, a possible new cover for The Druid's Son, the book I'm currently writing.

Then, a possible cover for Storyteller Songs, the poetry collection I mentioned in a previous post:



I think the photographic style matches earlier books in the series better. What do you think?


eta: I just tweaked the fonts on the second cover a bit...

-GRG

And more ebooks...

Storyteller, Flight of the Hawk, and The Ash Spear are all on Smashwords now. I've checked the .mobi and EPub formats out with Kindle for PC and Adobe Digital Editions, and they all look good - not perfect, but quite good. Kindle for PC and Adobe Digital Editions are free readers, by the way, and I recommend them for anyone who wants to read ebooks on their computer.

More new ebooks...

Update: King Arthur's Raid on Hell has been clear-listed by Smashwords for general distribution. The page is here, and I've generated a coupon code (MZ86J) which will make the book free for the next month. Please try it out, and let me know any problems you encounter!

New e-books

I've been experimenting with Smashwords.com, and the first results are available here: a new e-book version of King Arthur's Raid on Hell. If this works out as well as I expect, all my books will soon be available at Smashwords. Check it out!

Milestones

I've reached a couple of big milestones in the last week. First, last week I sold my 1,000th book. This is not a lot by commercial publisher standards, but for a self-published author, only promoted through web based reviews and word of mouth, it's fantastic. Here's to the next 1,000...

And on that note, I approved The Ash Spear for distribution today. It may take a month or so yet to reach amazon.com, but it's on its way!

-GRG

Previews

For those of you who haven't read Storyteller and Flight of the Hawk yet, I thought I would point out that there are limited previews for both books on Google Books as well as the "search inside" previews on amazon. The links are here and here. I don't know what percentage of the text it will let you read, but it should be a good equivalent to flipping through the physical book.

New Book Cover

Last night I did a first cut at the cover image for the next book. The photo of the spearhead was taken about a month ago at the SCA event we attended in South Dakota. I took 4 shots, then lifted this one with photoshop, put it on a black background and added the lettering. I may tweak the title font a bit, but I'm pleased with the results so far. Photoshop Elements rocks!

The spearhead itself is one of the most beautiful pieces I've seen - if you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see the pattern welding in the blade.

-GRG

I Did It

Last night I pushed the button, so to speak, for distribution of Flight of the Hawk. It's available on Lulu now, and should reach Amazon, B&N, etc. in two to three weeks. There's also an ebook version on Lulu.

Next project: building the Aldertree Books website. Oh, yes, and starting the next book...

But that's a post for another day.

-GRG

A Busy Week...

First, the October Promotion is going well - twenty seven people so far have downloaded free PDF copies of Storyteller, and I hope will be sharing them with their friends. I can't afford to give hard copies away, but sharing ebooks costs me nothing, and I'm glad to have the chance to do it.

Today I got the second proof copy of Flight of the Hawk, and it looks good. Inevitably there must be a couple more typos somewhere - there always are! - but I'm not going to search for them: 99% correct is close enough.

This gives me a choice, though: release the book now, or wait until the scheduled November 1st date? What to do, what to do...

There'll be a PDF version of this book, too, although not a free one ... at least not now.

But that's a post for another day.

-GRG

Progress...

I haven't been posting much in the last week because I'm on the (absolutely, positively, I mean it this time!) last editing pass through Hawk. Once I've finalized that, I'll have time for a few other things like reference book reviews and general creativity. It's taken quite a lot of time and work (thanks, Rivkah and Rowen!) but I think it's been worth it in terms of a really clean final draft. And we're still on schedule for November 1st.

Meanwhile, in the unused synapses at the back of my mind, the next story is starting to take shape. Maybe this weekend...

But that's truly a story for another day.

-GRG

October Promotion

In the run-up to the November release of Flight of the Hawk, I am making the pdf version of Storyteller a free download from my Lulu storefront. Anyone who would like it but doesn't want to create a (free) Lulu account in order to get the download can email me at the address on the sidebar, and I'll send you one direct. Not only is this ebook available free, but I actively encourage you to share it with anyone you think might be interested under a Creative Commons license!

Meanwhile, final revision on Flight of the Hawk continues on schedule for its November 1st release.

-GRG