Tag: self-publishing

Thoughts on the Formatting Process

What to expect when you are formatting! Plus a call for Beta Readers


Greetings all!

I’m trying to get into the habit of posting twice a week – Saturdays and Tuesdays. During the summer I’ll be able to post a lot more! I’ve got an update on Brass Legionnaire for everyone and I’ll talk a bit about my experience with the formatting process.

Just as a side note, I know that many people do their own formatting. For me, it was a simple look at the payoff versus work balance. As a full-time teacher, I don’t have much weekday time to pump out a solid amount of formatting, nor do I have time to check and double check. As everyone knows – you only make a first impression once – so when I was looking at cover art, I was fortunate enough to find a team that did my cover, illustrations, and formatting. Simplifies my list of outside consultants immensely. And I’m paying a flat rate, not an hourly fee.

As many people may know, Brass Legionnaire has been finished edit-wise for sometime. The illustrations/maps have just been completed as well, and now all that is needed is for the book to be properly formatted into ebook/smashwords/amazon style and print style. I’ve seen the first proofs for each one, and because they required minimal changes (More just a ‘what goes where’ type thing), and they are almost finished. So what have I learned from the process already?

1. If you’ve got acknowledgements, terminology, illustrations, etc, state exactly where you want them to go in the beginning. The Print and Ebook version will be a bit different, so think about how you want them to be. Here’s a checklist (not in any specific order)

  • Cover (You should already have this, silly!)
  • Table of contents
  • Maps/Prologue?
  • Copyright
  • Acknowledgements (Optional, but surely there is someone you’d like to thank for their efforts?)
  • Illustrations (optional!)
  • How you want your chapter breaks to be – new page? Paragraph break?
  • Terminology or epilogue? Sneak peak of your next book? What will you put at the end?
  • A ‘the end’ page
  • Don’t forget for a print book you’ll need a back cover blurb and perhaps a review or two to place on it!

2. Expect things to go a bit slowly. You want your work to be done well, correct? Which is why you didn’t pay for someone to do it in an hour. If you can do it in an hour, awesome! If you’re not quite so skilled, you can outsource it, but look around for the best deal.

3. Be confident in asking for something to be done. After all, it is your book. I myself accidentally sent my formatter (verb? noun?) off on a wild goose chase after mistakenly sending him two completely different instruction sets.

Whether finding a professional or doing it yourself, formatting your book takes time and effort, and is critical. People don’t want to have to fight your book in order to read it. You’ll lose readers and get negative reviews. Do it right the first time and you won’t have to worry about it again.

UPDATE #2 – I’m looking for a few beta readers for Copper Centurion, book two in the Brass Legionnaire series. If you are interested, shoot me a message here or on my twitter account. All I need is your email and a promise you will be honest with your criticism and not share my hard work with anyone (Need I say that?) I’d send you chapters as I finish them for your input on them, you’ll get mentioned in the acknowledgements of book two, and there might even be some cool swag in the deal for you. I’m looking for three to five people. Let me know if you are interested!

 

Getting the Most from Social Media

Use social media to get the most out of your book release.

Brass Legionnaire drops this May! Check out the website at http://www.brasslegionnaire.com.


Greetings all!

It’s been a busy week. As a teacher, this time of year is always hectic with the myriad of responsibilities and in-school required activities that fight with your goal of teaching as much as possible until the end of the school year. Roughly 25 days give or take, but who is counting?! Anyways, onwards and upwards!

On the book front, I received the preliminary formatting for Brass Legionnaire and

noticed they forgot to put in a ‘social media’ page. This is a great addition Must Have for any ebook. It is especially important that you put it right at the end of the book. Why do you ask? Well, after you’ve poured all that time and effort into writing such a engaging, interesting, and thought provoking book, don’t you want people to simply read and forget now, do you? Provide a handy page with all of your social media information – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – (Anything else!?) plus the locations of your website/blog if the same or different.

Image representing MailChimp as depicted in Cr...
Image via CrunchBase

Some authors use a subscription based service such as MailChimp to get readers as well. As I’ve also got a subscription component of the blog, I’m not sure if that’s quite what I want to do yet, but I’m probably going to set one up before the book drops.

Speaking of that, have you been promoting your book? Have you released a sample chapter of your story (Check out mine – you won’t be disappointed!) and started tweeting, facebooking, and generally talking up your book? This is the hardest for me. I’m someone who is generally talkative, but I feel almost embarrassed explaining the backstory of my novel. It’s not that I’m embarrassed by the book or the writing or the content, but rather that I don’t want it to sound boring, nor too wild, for the average person who asks me (That and the people who ask about it at work aren’t my book’s target audience!)

Another point – pick your audience and figure out how to reach them. I’ve got some free vouchers for use in google adsense and on facebook for my book, so I’ll look around for the groups and ages that are in my target range – young adults, 16-30, as well as older sci-fi and alternate history fans, and target the ads there. I’ll also look at fans of authors who write alternative history novels or steampunk novels, such as Harry Turtledove, S.M. Stirling, Cherie Priest, and others, whose audiences are similar to mine.

Finally, scope out some book blogs that may be willing to feature your book or review it pre-release. It takes some time for book reviews to happen, so doing this when your book is finished, but just awaiting minor things – formatting, cover art, etc – lets their reviews match your release date. You can also set up a discussion board at goodreads to give away a book or two for promotional purposes/review getting purposes!

Brass Legionnaire drops this May, 2012. Check out the book website for more information at www.brasslegionnaire.com

Using Wix to make your book Website

Book website, Using Wix, Countdown to Publication


Hi everyone,

Background:

So as a reader, I’m a big fan of separating your author blog from your book website. Since I’m planning a series, I put together a website for my series over at brasslegionnaire.com so that people who were interested in the book could check it out. I envision this site growing as each book gets its own ‘branch’ so to speak from the main page. I used Wix to design and host my website

When you first go to the site, you start at a pretty empty page, where you can click on one of two pictures or on the enter button. All the options take you to the same place. As I publish more books, I’ll be able to expand the options and add pages to purchase the book.

Why Wix?

Well, to be honest I stumbled across them and started using their website for fun. It’s very intuitive and simple to use. You don’t have to know about HTML code or anything like that. It’s more like Powerpoint, where you drag pictures around the page and you can upload things to post as well. Although I consider myself a relatively technology capable person, I didn’t want to waste my limited funds hiring someone to make my page, when I had a site like this that I could play with enough to make it myself!

You do have to spend some money to register your site for your own domain name and to eliminate their ads, but you also get some nice vouchers for facebook and google ads that you can use to offset some of the cost (What you spend here, you won’t have to spend there)

Would I recommend Wix?

Yes, I would recommend them based on their simple, easy to use site and the way most people can figure out how to do it if you have a basic knowledge of Powerpoint or Word. They have helpful videos to show you how to set up your site and format things. They offer enough different price packages to give you options for most budgets.That being said, if you’ve got a friend or relative who is really handy with HTML code, it might be better for them to do it for you. But being a finicky person myself, I liked the control I had over every step of the process.

Book Update

The book’s illustrations are now complete! I’ve sent the book and all the other odds and ends back to my format/illustration team and they are hard at work putting it all together for the final event. I’m very excited for you to have the opportunity to read the novel I’ve spent so long in making. It’s been an intense experience these past couple of months. I’ve set a personal goal to publish Brass Legionnaire by mid-May.

If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, follow me to get more updates and sneak peeks!

Ciao!

Illustration Rough Drafts

Rough Draft Illustrations are here! Check out the mid book scene and end book scene rough drafts! Plus another teaser from inside the book


Good Evening all!
Just got word from the illustrator that all the illustrations have been conceptualized and they are now hard at work putting the recommendations I asked for in place. I figured I’d share the rough drafts since you’ll have to buy the book to see the final ones 🙂

Concept Sketch of the descent from the airship - Mid-Novel

I’m really liking where these illustrations are going. My illustrators suggested a random edge effect on the final draft (which I’ve seen, and think you’ll like) that breaks up the ‘too neat’ border of the picture. Here’s the end of scene book.

Last Battle Scene View

Hope you enjoyed those! Just as a reminder, be sure to follow me here, on twitter or facebook to get the most recent updates and fun previews!

Speaking of that, here’s a sneak peek inside the world of Brass Legionnaire.

It was often said that even the fog feared to tread in the depths of Sludge Bottom. Only the brave, the foolhardy, the desperate, or the conniving dared to venture into that economically stagnant and most run-down sector of Brittenburg, where seedy gambling halls, dank, smoke-filled bars, and automaton-fighting pits in abandoned warehouses were the chief attractions. The operators of these businesses, always tight-fisted and tight-lipped, had tightened their vigilance as well, with the auxilia more active recently. Anyone who seemed a bit out of place or a tad too eager to learn more about their companions at the gambling table was “taken care of,” right along with anyone who happened to develop an exceptionally strong winning streak at the dice tables or during a rigged card game.

Here, Domino Grex ran the notorious Atrium, five stories of every kind of disreputable entertainment imaginable. The building stank of desperation and ill-gotten gains. The fact that it was neither as well-lit nor as well-ventilated as its name implied appealed to the con artists, runaway peasants, prostitutes, loan sharks, and the city’s assorted riff-raff who frequented the establishment. And no one crossed Grex. The survival rate for those who did was zero. Even the auxilia dared not raid the place. Domino Grex had so many illicit connections that his complex was untouchable; any officer who tried to impose the law soon found himself transferred to the city’s Sanitary Division.

Though the private rooms on the fifth floor could provide for any vice or perversion, they seemed to exude the evil, hatred, anger, and violence they’d witnessed over the years. No member of Grex’s staff was assigned up there for any length of time. Too many seemed to disappear, go mad, or simply see things that . . . shouldn’t . . . be there.

One of the largest of these rooms had been booked for the evening. Two muscular street toughs stood on either side of a dented copper door, the verdigris of age belying its well-oiled mechanisms. The men leaned on heavy clubs, and short swords and daggers were sheathed at their belts. The toughs stepped together in front of the door as three cloaked figures approached, blocking their passage.

The cloaked figures each withdrew necklaces from within their cowls to display small medallions with intricately geared moving components. Newly alert eyes lighting up their dull expressions, the thugs nodded to one another and moved aside to let the strangers pass. The leader inserted his medallion into an opening in the wall as if it were a key; after an audible hum, the door hissed open, sliding slowly into the wall. The figures passed between the two toughs, who ignored them—their job was to guard the door; what happened inside was not their business.

With another hiss, the door squealed shut behind the last cloaked figure to enter, and the gaslights blazed in their wall sconces, casting a yellowish haze throughout the room. Two of the figures moved to the last remaining high-backed chairs surrounding a massive brass table, designed in the shape of a gear, in the center of the room. The third figure stood between and slightly behind the two chairs, keeping his face in shadow. Anticipation weighted the air, seeming to make movement a challenge…

More to come later! Ciao!

Establishing Goals!

Setting goals for Brass Legionnaire, my summer, and beyond.


Greetings all!

I’ve realized that setting goals is a big part of why I wrote Brass Legionnaire. At first, I just wanted to finish a few chapters, then the novel. Then I wanted to publish it. Now that the book is finished and just awaiting the last few illustrations and formatting needs, what’s next? I’ve put together a list of personal goals that I hope to accomplish by the end of the summer of 2012 – IE August 21st or so, the start of the new school year.

By June 1st

  1. Brass Legionnaire Published
  2. Book Webpage Running
  3. 125 followers on Twitter (currently at 77!)
  4. 50 Facebook Likes (Currently at 12)
  5. At least one blog interview done.
  6. Have at least Four chapters of Copper Centurion complete
  7. Post at least 3x a week here on the blog!

By July 1st

  1. 150 Twitter followers
  2. 75 Facebook Likes
  3. At least 3-4 Blog interviews done
  4. Run at least one giveaway on Goodreads with my novel for reviews
  5. Finish at least ten chapters of Copper Centurion.

By August 1st

  1. 175 Twitter Followers
  2. 100 Facebook Likes
  3. At least 4-5 Blog interviews/guest posts done.
  4. Perhaps run a second Goodreads/Facebook giveaway?
  5. Get audiobook component started.
  6. Have at least half of Copper Centurion completed.

By September 1st (End of summer)

  1. Have editing and cover art for Copper Centurion lined up.
  2. Continue to guest blog/post.
  3. Post 3x a week.
  4. Complete all Kickstarter rewards.

Obviously, a lot to do, but I think I’ve set both reasonable and doable goals. I can reach the social media goals by adding less than one person a day to twitter and Facebook, which, in my experience, is an accessible target. Did I leave anything out? 🙂
Brass Legionnaire is looking to drop Mid-May 2012!

Countdown to Publishing + Promotion Plan

A sneak peak inside Brass Legionnaire, a look at my promotion plan, plus major updates!
Looks like I’ve finally set a publish date – May/June 2012.


Just to get you in the mood:

A clattering sound drew Julius’s attention back to the tower in time to see the tribune hastening down the metal ladder. He waited for Constantine to join them before asking nonchalantly, “So, Tribune, sir, how did reason fare over violence and anger?”

The tribune grimaced. “We’ll just have to reinforce the lesson with a bit of old-fashioned corporal punishment.” A thousand-throat scream of fury and belligerence interrupted him.

He ran back to grab the discarded speaking trumpet. This time he addressed the defenders. “Ready, boys—remember your training! Keep your thrusts short and cover your brothers. Repeaters, I want as much fire as you can place on those rebels. Aim for the leaders if you can!”

The guttural screams rose in pitch. “Here they come!”

The rush to publish is on! Here’s a quick update of the comings and goings during the last few days.

1.) The edited files are being read through as we speak (3/4 of the way through now, making notes to return it to the editor!)

2.) Illustrations are in progress (Saw the first one – looks awesome!) The readers will definitely be in for a treat!

Rough Draft Idea for the Promo Poster!

3.) Super top secret awesomeness for the Kickstart Supporters (and later the newsletter sign-uppers) is completely finished! I’ll post the very first draft of it on here to give you a baby clue as to what it may look like.

4.) Finished the book series website, but holding off on publishing it until the book is almost ready.

5.) Upgraded my wordpress to change Modern Papyrus to danielottalini.com – This is now more my blog and author site, rather than the review and thoughts blog it was originally!
Wow, so much done, and yet still so much to do! It’s early April now, and my goal was to have the book published by June, so now that is a very reasonable goal (in my mind at least). Still have an array of things to do before then though. I’ve taken some time to sit down and set up a plan to promote my book.

Promotion Plan:

1. Talk to friends, family, etc. (Short and sweet – they’ll probably get sick of me)

2. Build an online presence on Goodreads (Add me as a friend!) Twitter,  Facebook (Coming soon!), and my blog. This is in progress now! For example, the folks over at Indie Book Collective had some great promotional things going down. I’d want to join in on that!

3. Set up and finalize book-website with cross-linking between it and here.

4. Set up a newsletter service through Mail Chimp or Adweber.

5. Get bookmarks, stamps, and business cards through Zazzle so that I can do low-level promoting (leaving bookmarks in books at library, business cards when paying tabs at restaurants, shamelessly self promoting myself in all areas 🙂

6. Set up giveaways on Goodreads and send books to be reviewed by several self-publishing blogs/steampunk blogs. One I’ll definitely be contacting is IndieBookSpot for their author interviews and reviews.

I’m sure I’ll think of more in the meantime, but that’s it for right now. Anything else I missed that should be included!?

Ciao!

– Daniel

Turning Points


As a writer (And avid reader) of alternate history novels, I’ve often been asked why I read this ‘what if’ genre. I think the best way to answer it is to simply say ‘Have you ever wondered ‘what if?’
What if I was a police officer, or a medic, or a doctor, instead of a teacher? What would be changed? Who would have my job? Whose world would be turned upside down, for better or worse? Who would I have met/not met? How many of us ever wonder how the world would be different if one little thing happened? This is a ‘turning point’ or life change, or ‘point of divergence’ as some people say.

So what makes a good turning point?

I put forward three rules for good turning points.

1. It must be believable (makes sense in the story context).

2. It must be reasonable (COULD actually happen based on technology, characters, etc)

3. The results must be possible based on the outcome of the event.

Let me give you a good example. In my story, Brass Legionnaire, I have two main points of divergence. The first is the rescue of Julius Caesar by Brutus. The change is that Brutus loved Caesar (True in real life) so much that he was willing to forgive the general’s ambitions to save his life, rather than kill him for the sake of the republic.

Believable? Yes, I think so (so do several professors I’ve talked to over the years, remember, it was a big surprise to Caesar at seeing Brutus among his assassins)

Reasonable? Yes, hasn’t love for friends, family, or significant other driven you to do something a tad bit crazy? This is just asking Brutus to put his friend above the needs of the republic, a stretched, but still reasonable, idea.

Outcomes: Well, the assassins get turned in, Caesar gets his Emperorship, and the Empire gets off to a roaring start, rather than suffering through a few years of civil war at the hands of Augustus (Octavian) and the rebels. With security and stability, plus respected and talented military and economic leadership, the foundation for our world has been set.

So what is my point? Great authors create realistic and possible worlds by making their turning points believable and possible. Some of my favorites are Harry Turtledove and S.M. Stirling. Mr. Turtledove, in particular, creates beautiful portrayals of worlds that have undergone one major change, but it throws off the entire course of history. See ‘Opening Atlantis’ for a great example.
Let me know what you think!

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