E-book info and the start of a new week

Frm ComputerEdge Online:  Building E-books 

My wife found this post to a computer information website about e-books, how they can be generated, different formats, and different programs to use for editing the material.  Though it's geared to the creation of an e-book, there's a lot of useful info in here for everyone.  The thing I like about this post is that many of the solutions given here are free. 

Ignored in this article are the websites that do all the formatting for you (such as Smashwords dot com which I used for Turning Springs) and require nothing more than a format-free copy of your manuscript and a cover image.  The really pleasant thing about sites like this is that content is not restricted unless it is particularly egregious or objectionable.  Images tend to be a little trickier to manage, but it's to the site's benefit to make it as easy as possible so more people will use it.

I'll be investigating some of these solutions this week as jobs, part-time jobs and rapidly growing grass permit.  I forgot to mention expected sunny weather, which will lead me to consider depleted Vitamin D levels from the winter and will require me to soak up sunshine at a leisurely rate.  For my health, you know.  Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

See you Thursday!

How It's Going

Marketing:  I've mostly been working on consolidating the various profiles I have out there, including Facebook, Twitter, Smashwords, and the blogs.  I've also finished a couple of other projects which must remain secret.  In total, I feel like I'm making progress.  Heck, even this is making progress in terms of marketing my work, but I must do it more often.

Short Project:  I finished the blocking and have moved on to the writing.  About halfway through scene 1.  I love this part, though it tends to go slowly, mostly because I'm revising while I do it.  I've set up a revision notes page, just a place where I can give myself general notes (IE move the new teeth thing up to the first few lines so it's the grabber) and I don't get caught up in revising while I'm writing.  Also, my tone sounds a little wooden and formal.  Even though I'm writing for the Wild West, it can't be stuffy.  One thing at a time; multi-tasking for me means many projects done, none well enough.

Long Project:  Still hashing out the basics of the plot.  It's a long project, but the logjam is starting to break and the flow of the scenes is coming easier.  I'm starting to feel like what I'm putting down now is the groundwork for stuff later and that's GREAT.  It means I'm leading the audience.  I just have to keep thinking that way.  I'm also finding the antagonist needs an assistant weasel, someone to prime her bad behavior pump.  He'll show up; I just don't see him yet.

Blog Posts:  I don't do enough of these.  And I'm also going to include springpunk/clockpunk references I find in a Google alert.  Nothing says all this has to be about me.  I'm also going to be looking at a few new tools as time goes on.

A good couple of weeks.  This is the busy part of the season for me, so I'm hoping I can sustain a good work schedule in the midst of all the rest of it.

Passing Landmarks

More than one, in fact.  It has been a year since Turning Springs was released.  While sales haven't been spectacular, trends I see in the media are very encouraging.  Fantasy and simplicity are in; the less explaining you have to do, the better, especially when selling entertainment to busy people.  Haven't seen anything about a reboot of Wild Wild West, but I suppose that isn't far off, since it appears that everything else is being rebooted.  A few more marketing things to try with Turning Springs, perhaps registration of that and other works on different platforms might be the key.  And yes, I'm planning a print-on-demand copy of Turning Springs.  Get seen, then get known. 

The long project I've been working on is taking longer than expected, as are they all.  I only get about six hours a week to work on any of this stuff and most weeks I don't even get that.  I'm upbeat, though; all steps are steps forward and that's always the right direction.  I'm still slogging through a pile of notes and that's taking a lot of time.  I'll get it done.

The short project passed a landmark today:  I finished roughing out the plot and the chronology.  Fill out the settings and the characters and I hope to have well in hand by Memorial Day.  It will not be a free distribution as stated before. 

And, I updated the blog.  That's good news, too.  Stay tuned!

HOW'D I DO THIS WEEK? (March 24)

Long Project

The spreadsheet is really helping to flesh things out, including character and structure. Odd for such short little summaries, but every little bit helps. It's especially helpful for moving things around in the order of events and from chapter to chapter. Very handy with something as large and complex as this. It also shows me where I need to fill things in as I go, which makes the development really organic and natural. Next Steps? Keep on with the spreadsheet!

Short Project

The first thing I did was kill chapter eight, which didn't make sense. Then I moved chapter nine into its place and I'm pretty happy with the change. I blocked out chapter seven, and chapter eight looks like how the ending should look. I'll have to cut some stuff out of it (stuff that would have been GREAT), but that'll make it a lot tighter. Next Steps? Finish, that's right, finish the blocking. Woo-hoo!

Did I ever mention that this will be a freebie? Details later.

Marketing

I set up something pretty cool for Turning Springs. It's not finished yet, however. No peeking. Next Steps? Finish the cool thing, and work on my email signature. I'm also going to continue on reading the Smashwords dot com Marketing Guide (download here) for more tips. I've already changed my Twitter and Facebook profiles so they look like they belong to a grownup.

Summary

I'm not getting as much done as I'd like, but I've been pretty busy. This weekend looks even busier than usual, but hopefully Sunday will be clear by time it rolls around.

Thanks, and keep reading!

HOW'D I DO? WK ENDING MAR 10, 2011

Although I didn't get a full week done on any projects, I did get something done on everything.

Long Project

With so many notes to organize and use, I was getting a little flummoxed. So I set up a spreadsheet to place the notes by character/group. Spacing between cells gives me the order in which each item will appear, while coloring some cells allows for combining groups that interact with each other. It's making a lot of things clear in a big hurry. There isn't much space to write in each cell, which actually helps. NEXT STEPS: Continue populating the spreadsheet and get through the beginning section.

Short Project

This is going really well. Scene 6 of nine is blocked and it's pivotal, by which I mean that the character turns in a different direction on the scene. I have a blank for each scene that records the critical info for each one, like characters that appear, the time, the setting, who gets what they want, who doesn't, among other things.... It's a really nice way of keeping the info at hand and judging the ebb and flow of the work in general, something that's really important for me at this stage of the process. NEXT STEPS: I'd sooo like to finish the blocking next week. I doubt it will happen, but I'm sure going to try.

Marketing

I've renewed a bunch of ads this week, but not much else got done. I also changed much of the ad text to reflect a tighter, more content-based message. I'm hoping that works a little better. The other version started to sound like a brochure. NEXT STEPS: add/edit more ads and download and begin to read the Smashwords Marketing Guide. I need a few pointers.

Summary

Not a great week, but okay. Hoping for a better week next week. TTFN!

How'd I do? The week of Feb 27th, 2011

The only project I worked on was the short project. The good news there, however, is that I'm over halfway through blocking the scenes. So I should have the blocking for the whole project done by the end of March, but probably sooner. Then flesh out the characters, map out the settings, rough it, revise it, and open it for distribution.

Piece of cake. Made out of a lot of work. With tweaking frosting. Sheesh!

Where I Stand Today

Here's a quick update of where I stand with all my projects. As always, any advice or comments are greatly appreciated and will be duplicated here.

Blog Posts

I got a little side-tracked in my post about Conflict, which was intended to be a help-to article about writing. That's not what this blog is about. The title of the blog says it all, and that's what I'm going to write here. I'm going to promote my projects, trumpet landmarks, and reject failures. That makes this a regular feature.

Marketing Turning Springs

My ads aren't doing as well as I'd like them to. I'm going to try different regions of the country next. A lot of the ads are up for renewal soon and I'm going to spread them around a little.

I'm going to take some time to review the Smashwords treatise on marketing your work (I just remembered that).

I'm going to design some cheap business cards that I can leave around on bulletin boards locally and/or pass out that advertise the book.

A t-shirt design would be good marketing, too. Not just for the title of the book, but for some of the elements in it. How's this for an ad slogan for Berlengame's Constructed Servants Company: "When people just won't do..."

I'm also considering paper copies through a service called WordClay. It's intriguing, but I need to do a little more research.

The Long Project (MrsGM)

I've finished compiling 40+ pages of notes and they lead all over the place. All this stuff is nice, but I have a story to tell and not all of this material will fit. There is a rough progressive line to the information, however, and that helps. I've also categorized the notes as to where they might appear in the work (beginning, middle or end). The next step is to go back to the basics and determine what the essential elements of the story are. Then I keep the notes that apply and junkpile the ones that don't. Story arcing should be finished in March.

The Short Project (OSV)

I'm into blocking the scenes now and it's going very smoothly. I'm about half-finished with that and hope to have it done in March also. A meticulous plan makes for easy steps and easy advancement through and beyond those steps. There are a few holes, but nothing I can't fill on the fly.

The Summary

Although it all looks like future projects, it is an improvement over last month. I will be cutting down my writing time to about six hours per week (necessary because of the two other jobs and other demands on my time), I still think I can get many of these steps done by the anniversary of the release date of my book, April 1st. So, TTFN!