Book 1 rough draft complete.

[Starbuck_Jones]

So here are some old ass links for the history.
http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=27811
http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=25255

Anyway, after spending a few weeks doing chapter outlines back in March of 2010 I wrote a chapter and a half. It was about 2,000 words or so of the first book in my planned sci-fi/fantasy trilogy. Long story short, I got distracted with all my free time after getting let go from Dell after 8 years, Lich King came out, that ate up a good 6 months, then cata came out bla bla bla. I'm lazy.

November/December I get a call from an old friend asking if I wanted to get into the insurance business with him. Sure no problem, I get my licence etc and now I have my own office. Its easy once you get past all the lies people tell. Its not a demanding job, but it did get me out of the basement. Business is going good. Doesn't make a lot of money but enough to pay for itself so far.

So I dust off my little notebook of chapter outlines. It was work on that or watch netflix all day. Now that I had a real place to work. This is the result after 5 weeks. 74,500 words. 4 extra copies to hand out for editing.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5265/5671319316_145c1d8980.jpg

Now comes the real work of edit, isbn, copyright, cover, edit, format, edit, page layout, edit, conversion bla bla bla.

[Vociferate]

Wow grats SBJ!

I have seen you make many posts about your book over the last several months. :)

+1 for completion!

[Kicksome]

Wow, congrats! Can't wait to check out the final version.

[MiRai]

Outstanding.

I expect personally autographed copies for everyone at d-b.com. :)

[Redbeard]

Weeee!

Mind sharing a bit about the book? Whats it about etc etc.

[Starbuck_Jones]

This is book one of three. I do not have the "what is your story about in one sentence" thing yet.

Basic plot is 25 years after a mage war, the aristocracy of old (mages) is basically gone, ruling class is now alchemy and inventor consortiums. Last leader of the mages makes his play for total dominance. Prophecy says all this is bad and the world will be cast in darkness. Enter the hero assisted by a time traveling guardian and a set of support characters from various points in history that have the task of saving the world.

Lot of steam punk elements like massive train systems, airships and derigibles. Still have places that are using horses to get around. large Victorian style cities like London was in the 1850's-1900's

When I did the outline a year ago it was intended to be made into movies, so there is a lot of action, time travel elements, airship battles in the sky, mages throwing spells around, and of course a budding romance.

[pinotnoir]

Grats! I am working on a screenplay right now. So far I only have about 20 pages done. I should write more but I get distracted easy. Even if nothing comes of it the screenplay would be fun to show my family and friends.

[lans83]

I'd like to give it a read also when you get it published and printed there starbuck.

[Svpernova09]

Have you submitted it to any publishing houses yet / Are you planning to? My info may be a bit dated but if you get your ISBN some/most publishers will consider that a first publication and may automatically decline your book since it had already been printed.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Supernova09 I have not purchased any ISBN numbers yet. Waiting till I get ready to do cover art, which is scheduled for the 14th. Things are expensive unless you buy 100 or more at a time. I have not looked at the information you posted in quite a while, some of the sites were confusing, but I have been researching quite a bit.

My plan is to focus on the digital download distribution via Barnes and Nobles and Amazon and use CreateSpace for a print on demand paperback. CreateSpace, Lulu and offer free ISBN numbers if you print through them, but it will list those companies as publisher of record even though they are not publishers, but manufacturers. If I use my own ISBN's then I am listed and it becomes basically a selling/transfer of rights if someone wants to spend $$ to mass market it.

I have not actually read of any instances where someone was turned down by a mass market publishing house because there was already an ISBN or a vanity style release of the book in circulation. I have read of the opposite. The boy who wrote the Eragon series was self published and sold the books out of supermarkets in his home town and area in Montana, when it was picked up by someone and they inked a deal to mass market it.

The friend who i'm partners with in my insurance business has written quite a bit, but never published. 9 novels and like 12 screenplays. However his experience is in my opinion very dated. Late 70's to 90's is when he tried and did not make it. He is encouraging me, but has a lot of 'you cant do this, you cant do that' stories about how the publishing world works that frankly I do not believe exists anymore.

Getting this book to print and for sale to the world is going to be easy. Marketing it so people will go look at it is going to be hard.

I would be grateful for any advice, or references where things have gone wrong, or right as I step into this world of publishing, marketing, and transitioning from an aspiring author to a real one.

[Svpernova09]

Supernova09 I have not purchased any ISBN numbers yet. Waiting till I get ready to do cover art, which is scheduled for the 14th. Things are expensive unless you buy 100 or more at a time. I have not looked at the information you posted in quite a while, some of the sites were confusing, but I have been researching quite a bit.

My plan is to focus on the digital download distribution via Barnes and Nobles and Amazon and use CreateSpace for a print on demand paperback. CreateSpace, Lulu and offer free ISBN numbers if you print through them, but it will list those companies as publisher of record even though they are not publishers, but manufacturers. If I use my own ISBN's then I am listed and it becomes basically a selling/transfer of rights if someone wants to spend $$ to mass market it.

I have not actually read of any instances where someone was turned down by a mass market publishing house because there was already an ISBN or a vanity style release of the book in circulation. I have read of the opposite. The boy who wrote the Eragon series was self published and sold the books out of supermarkets in his home town and area in Montana, when it was picked up by someone and they inked a deal to mass market it.

The friend who i'm partners with in my insurance business has written quite a bit, but never published. 9 novels and like 12 screenplays. However his experience is in my opinion very dated. Late 70's to 90's is when he tried and did not make it. He is encouraging me, but has a lot of 'you cant do this, you cant do that' stories about how the publishing world works that frankly I do not believe exists anymore.

Getting this book to print and for sale to the world is going to be easy. Marketing it so people will go look at it is going to be hard.

I would be grateful for any advice, or references where things have gone wrong, or right as I step into this world of publishing, marketing, and transitioning from an aspiring author to a real one.


That's great to hear. I wish you the best luck. My wife owns a business that publishes a quarterly literary magazine that she runs. So most of my recent publishing knowledge is all based on her experiences. She's also a writer and has become good friends with many writers and publishers. Reach out into your community and see if there is a writing group or such in your area. My wife latched onto the local Sci-Fi / Writing convention here in Memphis and surrounded herself with writers and publishers. It's been really great for her.

Let me know how your digital distribution works out. We're looking at some options in DD'ing her literary magazine.

Try not to get too discouraged. My wife has a wall of rejection letters in her office. But she's also been published so persistence will eventually pay off. Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

[Daeri]

I'm bookmarking this thread just to make sure I do not miss the chance to read this when available :)

Good luck, I hope it goes well.

[Starbuck_Jones]

It was expensive today as far as how much money I have spent in creating my first book. I paid $250 for a block of 10 ISBN numbers. Seeing how you need one for every format there was no other choice. I don't have $1000 to spend on 1000 numbers. At least not yet. It is aggravating that I am going to need 3 numbers for one book. One for Paperback, one for the Kindle format and one for the Nook format.

However the sad thing is that the ISBN website itself preys upon people by charging $25 to generate a barcode. I took a class this last weekend about writing, publishing, and marketing a book. The instructor in that class also said that you should be paying $20-$50 for a barcode from your graphics designer. Generally the same person who is doing your interior design or book cover. The best part was when the instructor said that the barcode is special because it has "film" in it. Wow, just wow. Because you know, that special film is important and its not like you cant get MS Word to create one for you, or that there are not 100's of web sites that will generate them for you as well...

I also spent $25 today to register SBJones Publishing with the state of Idaho. As a sole proprietor I would not have had to do this if my name was in the title. But I need a tax exempt number so I can have my books made and then sell them to people w/o having to pay the tax myself. To get that number, the business name needs to be registered. I should be receiving that documentation by the end of this week or the start of next week.

So $275 today. Other than a few reams of paper, printer ink and about $30 in office supplies I had yet to spend what I consider to be any real money. With additional costs coming up and trying to pay myself at least minimum wage for my time. I need to sell about 3000 downloads from Amazon or BN.com at $2.99 with the 70% commission. Thats roughly $2.09 per sell.

With this being my first book, I think that goal is going to be a challenge but doable. I don't think book one will be able to do it on its own unless I get lucky, or I spend a thousand hours selling it. Once books two and three are available, I think getting 3000 sales will be achievable. Sure I will need to sell more total books, but the next two will not have these upfront costs associated with them.

One of my current goals is to keep the out of pocket costs of this book to under $1000. So far it still seems doable.

[Starbuck_Jones]

All I have left is a cover and it will be ready for sale. I wrote up a guide on how to convert your word file into the formats used by Nooks and Kindles.

It can be read here for those that are interested.

http://theeternalgateway.blogspot.com/2011/06/ebook-conversion-guide-basic.html

[Ellay]

Definitely going to read, I love anything to do with a time travel as part of the plot, makes for very interesting plot lines that have not been done 1000x over.

[Sajuuk]

Digital distribution rocks. I'd give it a read.

[Redbeard]

If only you could get all the boxers on here to buy a copy x5.... =P

Make sure you let us know when its available online, I will definitely check it out.

Thanks.

[Starbuck_Jones]

I just got back after spending about $150 on props and supplies for a photo shoot tomorrow. I'm pretty excited that the cover is finally moving forward. I made a small 90 second movie trailer for the book as well. I am going to wait until the cover is done and add that art to it before I post it on youtube. I also came up with the back cover summary a while ago, but I haven't posted it anywhere yet. Let me know if it sounds interesting enough.



The Mage Council has been disbanded. The ruling class for a thousand years is dissolved after the War of Antiquities and technology gives rise to a new era.

Kail Kelly, a young man who has spent his life on his aunt and uncles farm, finds himself in the middle of a desperate power grab by the last ruler of the Mage Council and a time traveling mage known as The Guardian who is trying to prevent the world from falling to darkness.

Angela Atagi, the mysterious woman born a thousand years in the past who also has the unique ability to fly, is given a second chance by The Guardian if she plays her part in the prophecy

With the help of an unlikely group thrown together by The Guardian, including the captain of a prototype airship, they set about unlocking hidden power on a journey that takes them across the world and to the edge of time.

[MiRai]

If they eventually make a movie out of this I expect to see "And all the multiboxers at www.dual-boxing.com"
at the end in the Special Thanks section.

just sayin'

[Starbuck_Jones]

I updated my blog about the status of my book here
http://www.TheEternalGateway.com

Here is the alpha book cover after the 2 hour photo shoot and a bottle of wine later in the basement with my friend. It still has some work like adding my name to it and some of the cropping cut her feet off. Note to self. Drink after the work is done.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5191/5830222392_a9f99616db_z.jpg

[Kang]

Grats! I wish I had seen this thread sooner. I work in books. If you want any help with formatting, prepping files, general advice, etc. I'm happy to share my knowledge.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Thank you for the help Kang. I will hit you up if get stuck with anything or if you have any general advice let me know.

Last night I spent some time with my photographer friend and we worked on the front cover some more as well as the back cover. There is an apostrophe missing that we need to add on the back cover text, but let me know your opinions on what I have so far.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5275/5833548704_3c9b6e139e_z.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2429/5832994447_7e740fe7d6_z.jpg

[Kang]

If you haven't already, I strongly suggest hiring a professional copy editor/proofreader. They make a world of difference. Many self-published authors skip this step, but it is well worth the money. If you were working through a publishing company, they would hire one for you.

A good copy editor will tighten up the writing making it clean and concise. They will look for consistency in the story and point out areas that need to be clarified. They will point out plot holes or gaps in the story. Good authors have good editors, and they will be the first to tell you that.

There are many copy editing services available. There are also a ton of freelance editors. They will charge by the page, and depending on the size of the manuscript, will take about 2-3 weeks to finish.

[Starbuck_Jones]

The manuscript has been through 4 edits at this stage. The first two were brutal and took me 15 hours to apply the first round and another 15 for the second. The 3rd edit I sat with an editor and over a weekend went through every line in the book and the final edit only corrected a few mistakes I had introduced during the editing process.

I don't doubt that there might still be an error in there somewhere, but we haven't found them. As far as other editing items like character likability, consistency etc. none of these were brought up as issues in the review process from people who have read the story.

I asked people to list 5 things they liked as well as 5 things they did not like. The answers I got were all over the place and not expected. I will take it as a good sign that no one came up with 5 things they did not like and the things they didn't have been addressed where it did not interfere with the story. All said they did not like that they now had to wait for the next book.

[MiRai]

I updated my blog about the status of my book here
http://www.TheEternalGateway.com

Here is the alpha book cover after the 2 hour photo shoot and a bottle of wine later in the basement with my friend. It still has some work like adding my name to it and some of the cropping cut her feet off. Note to self. Drink after the work is done.
*Ahem*

Wine? Attractive friend? Leather?!

Two hours and only two photos? Perhaps there are a few more photos that you would care to share with the
dual-boxing community? :)

No, but really... looking good man!

[Kang]

I don't doubt that there might still be an error in there somewhere, but we haven't found them.


Having edited and published scores of books, I can tell you with out fear of contraction when you open your first copy of the printed book you will open it to the page with the one error you missed :) It always happens.

I've been working a lot with the ePub format the past couple of years. If you get stuck or want a second opinion on it let me know.

[Khatovar]

Having edited and published scores of books, I can tell you with out fear of contraction when you open your first copy of the printed book you will open it to the page with the one error you missed :) It always happens.

I've been working a lot with the ePub format the past couple of years. If you get stuck or want a second opinion on it let me know.

Is true! lol


Gaiman's First Law (http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_02_14.html#014825): Picking up your first copy of a book you wrote, if there's one typo, it will be on the page that your new book falls open to the first time you pick it up.

[Starbuck_Jones]

I have around 170 photos and over an hour of High Def video Fenril. ;)

I just got my account approved by Lightning Source. They are a printing company linked to Ingram Book company. Getting my word doc into the specific pdf standards that they require for a paperback looks to be challenging.

Cover feedback has been mostly positive. A few negative comments about her ass is about all anyone has come up with, and those I have dismissed because they read like a troll post and do not provide any reasoning behind why they don't like it. Color scheme options have been talked about, but again, suggestions and reasons other than someone does not like the color yellow, isn't much to work with. When the file is in a 120 pixel wide thumbnail, the yellow Requiem is easily readable and stands out.

Feed back about the series title. "The Eternal Gateway"'s lettering I agree with, I will prolly just remove it all together and save "The Eternal Gateway - book one" for the spine. The cover is what people see on amazon and Barnes and Noble so it is the customer facing advertisement. So any trick I can come up with to get someone to click on it, is important. Easy to read on a thumbnail, and sex sells.

Here is to hoping it works.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Yesterday was the big day and other than one hiccup that I can see, everything looks to be going well. I uploaded Requiem to Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Both sites have my book listed for sale. Barnes and Noble's site looks better for the product description. I do not know what happened with Amazon's web site. It looks like there are spaces missing and extra or missing carriage returns. Unfortunately it has not updated in the KDP control panel so I can edit it.

Lightning Source is the printer company I went with and so far everything seems to be ok with them as well. I should be receiving a proof copy of the book sometime next week.

Finally seeing my book on Amazon and B&N the feeling of accomplishment happened. My parents, friends and family members have been congratulating me since the rough draft was finished but it wasn't until last night when the little copies sold number changed from 0 to 1 that I did the "Win Spin" lol and i've been grinning ever since.

I updated my signature to the online stores as well as my blog. Now im off to write book two.

[Svpernova09]

wtb signed copy

[MiRai]

wtb signed copy
WTB Collector's Edition which includes an hour of HD footage and about 170 photos from the basement cover
photo shoot!

Do I NEED a Kindle to view the file?

[Starbuck_Jones]

No you don't need a Kindle or Nook, there are PC apps as well as tablet/ipad apps that you can use to read Nook and Kindle books. Paperback edition could be out as soon as 2-3 weeks or as many as 10 depending on the Ingram catalog update.

Tonight I finally was able to edit the amazon page but there is no preview option so I do not know if the edit looks good until the page updates. All in all, it has been a good day. I have sold 10 copies and one to someone in the UK. I was joking with my dad earlier now that I can add the word "international" to my sales!

[Daeri]

Ok so I'll wait until the printed book is available and will buy it I can get it delivered to my country, otherwise I'll make do with the electronic version since you confirmed I can use a PC application to read it :)

edit : on which version (ebook vs paperback edition) do you make the most profit ?

[Starbuck_Jones]

The eBook pays me around $1.95 per download. If I have done my math correctly, it is about $1.25 I will make on the paper back as well even though it has a $14.15 price point. It costs $5.10 to print a 310 page book. Then I have to give them a 55% discount off of the cover price to amazon and barnes and noble. I am fairly new at it so I could be way off seeing how its all print on demand and not mass market runs.

My only financial goal for the paper back is to sell enough to cover the extra costs involved by offering it. $30 for a proof. $75 for the setup, and another $60 for the catalog. $165 may not sound like much but I would have to sell 132 of them just to cover setup costs from the printer.

If I sell the book myself out of my truck at a book signing or fare, I make everything minus print costs and shipping.

[Daeri]

Thank you for the answer!

I just tried to download the kindle app for PC, registered it to my amazon account, then had the free sample of the book sent to the app : works like a charm. It seems there are apps that let you convert a kindle file to another format.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Calibre is a program that you can use to manage eBook libraries. So if you see something that is only for sale on Amazon, but only have a nook, you can get it and convert it over and side load it.

[Starbuck_Jones]

I received my proof copy from Lightning Source today. It looks and feels nice :)

You of course are right Kang. I will need to resubmit the interior for a correction. One of the spacing for the chapter headers is off. Its a tiny thing, but easily correctable. Chapter 7 has 3 line breaks instead of 2 like the others. I used half inch margins and added a 1/8 in the gutter. That seems all worked out well.

I think I will take the rest of the week to thumb through it and let my editors do the same over the weekend before submitting changes and ordering a new proof copy.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6057/5881740366_35bbd10bf8_z.jpg

[Kang]

I received my proof copy from Lightning Source today. It looks and feels nice :)

You of course are right Kang. I will need to resubmit the interior for a correction. One of the spacing for the chapter headers is off. Its a tiny thing, but easily correctable. Chapter 7 has 3 line breaks instead of 2 like the others. I used half inch margins and added a 1/8 in the gutter. That seems all worked out well.

I think I will take the rest of the week to thumb through it and let my editors do the same over the weekend before submitting changes and ordering a new proof copy.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6057/5881740366_35bbd10bf8_z.jpg

Well at least you caught it before the print run :)

Grats man! Feels nice seeing your name in print right?

If anyone is debating kindle version versus b&n, I would go b&n. The ePub format is more flexible and can be used across more devices and readers. The kindle version only works on kindle apps and devices (obvious I know). naturally pick whichever format works best for you. This is just My $0.02.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Its been a while since I updated this. Print versions of Requiem are available on Barnes and Noble and they are offering 19% off. I do not know when it will show up on Amazon or other retailer sites. I have 50 copies due to arrive next Monday and already more than half of them are already sold and just need signed and delivered. Its been a fun and exciting that's for sure, now I just need to find where all my time went so I can get book two finished.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/requiem-sb-jones/1103851384?ean=9780983681823&itm=1&usri=sbjones

[Starbuck_Jones]

Everything is up an running and I am 5,500 words into the second book. I have my first book signing coming up at a local cafe on July 30 and 31. Then its off to DefCon19 to sell some more while attending the con the following weekend.

If anyone wants a signed paperback copy there is a "buy it now" button on my blog. Cost is $15 and that includes all taxes and shipping if delivery is in the US. Outside the US I would have to work something out.

What would be a huge favor from the Dual-Boxing community would be if members gave me a plug to their various social circles. Tweet or post on Facebook the link to Amazon, B&N or my blog for visibility that is found in my sig.

Thank you all for the advice and support these last couple of months.

[Starbuck_Jones]

I am having a contest in the month of September to give away one copy of my book Requiem every day for the month of September. Rules and information can be found here on my blog.

http://theeternalgateway.blogspot.com/2011/08/september-e-book-day-giveaway-contest.html

[Starbuck_Jones]

I would put this on the same level as getting a heroic lich king kill back in the day.
That's my book, Requiem, on the shelf at Barnes and Noble. Thank you everyone for the support and advice these last months.


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6169/6141147603_e377963832_z.jpg

[shadewalker]

Nice!

I searched online to see if there are any available at my local store. The results came back with 900 books, I'll have to try and narrow it down some later.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Nice!

I searched online to see if there are any available at my local store. The results came back with 900 books, I'll have to try and narrow it down some later.

The easiest way to find it is by searching for "SBJones". There are a lot of books and music that have the word Requiem in them.

[Daeri]

It's even available at Amazon France now :) Delivery time will be several weeks though but that doesn't really matter, now I can get the real book.

edit : book ordered :D delivery expected in up to about 1 month, I guess Amazon's going to send it from US even though they charge no fee for this.

[Starbuck_Jones]

It's Print on Demand is why. There isn't an inventory of the book unless someone orders it. Amazon takes the order, Lightning Source prints and binds the book and punts it strait to you in an Amazon box.

[Daeri]

Thanks for the explanation. I see that B&N announce a few days only though but maybe they can print books themselves or something.

[Daeri]

Just received the book :D

[Starbuck_Jones]

15 days doesn't seem to bad if they printed it here in the US. I hope you enjoy it. It picked up another 5 star review on Amazon yesterday.

5.0 out of 5 stars Ebullient, September 27, 2011
By Kirowan - See all my reviews
This review is from: Requiem (Paperback)
If HG Wells had foretold the X-men, while scribbling out his frenzied notes on a Turkish manuscript in a smoky opium den, it would be almost as cool as this book.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Time to update this thread. I had a book signing at Barnes and Noble on Nov 12. It kicked ass. I sold every copy in the store that they ordered in for the event. Also the second book is on schedule for a Dec 15 release. I released the book cover on my blog and fired up a Facebook page.

You can check out the blog and the signing here (http://www.TheEternalGateway.com).

Facebook link is here (http://www.facebook.com/pages/SBJones-Publishing/210534012311345). I need a little help getting it noticed so if you use Facebook, twitter etc. I would appreciate if you could mention it and hit the like button. Word of mouth is everything in the book world.


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6222/6350896345_f5c7f87203_z.jpg

[Starbuck_Jones]

My first novel is free to download from Amazon.com from Dec 26 to Dec 30. I am also holding a twitter contest during the same time for chances to win a free copy of book two: Guardian through Amazon as well. You can use the Amazon link in my signature to get Requiem for free, and visit my blog for details about the twitter contest.

[Sajuuk]

Free kindle edition? WHAT?

That's AWESOME.

If you're ever in Spokane WA hit me up.

[Los]

Awesome tale to read this thread alone, liked your facebook page as a bonus! Not much of a book reader but tbh the cover might be worth it alone :P

[alcattle]

Finished book 1 and halfway through book 2, so when is book 3 coming out?? A real page turner with more questions showing up then answers. Grandpa????? Lots of love for the gender that I was not sure about before I got the first book.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Currently I am writing The War of Antiquities series. It has all the back story with Duke, Therion, Vincent, Rhonin and Rayne. It finishes at the prologue of Book one, Requiem. I am also writing book 3 titled Sentinel at the same time. If everything stays on track, they should be done by late summer.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Arise my thread. After being yelled at on Twitch.tv by Alcattle, on more than one occasion I might add. The third and final book of my trilogy now has a completed first draft. The cover is being worked on as we speak and now it's time to start applying the corrections, revisions and edits. Based on current work load and past experience, the final book should be retail ready around the Christmas or New Year time frame. Sentinel clocks in at 87,431 words right now before edits. That's about 12-15k words longer than book one and two were.

I have also finished the first 4 parts of The War of Antiquities. It's outlined to be a 22 episode story arch and I hope to get started on it full time in 2013 if the Mayan apocalypse doesn't interfere. I went back over the last couple of weekends and re-read them, having not touched them since February and they are good. Really good. I hope I can find that muse again to finish them.

I do apologize the the delay, but I had some real life issues to deal with. A death in the family early in the year and I moved to a new house. This one sits next to the river. I actually didn't even get started on the third book until July 16th. But 108 days later, here it is. Finishing the first book was a pretty cool feeling. Especially when I had the final paperback in my hand and people were buying it from Amazon. The same was for the second book, but completing a series... It's like a double xp weekend with RAF kinda feeling!

[shadewalker]

Awesome!

I was just about to ping on you for status on the third book :) I did an amazon search earlier this week in hopes of finding it.

Keep up the good work, I enjoyed reading the first two of the series.

[alcattle]

who me? good to hear. Those were the only non Star Trek books I have read in a few years. Might go re-read them before book 3 comes out

[Starbuck_Jones]

If all goes well, the e-book version of my third book should be available just after Christmas. Print will take a couple more weeks for the proof copy to arrive and then however long it takes for the catalogs to get updated. So here is the final cover for book 3. I'm getting a new cover for book one as well so they all match.

795

[MiRai]

Great work, man. I'll say it's kind of cool to have seen you transition from multiboxer to author (not that you ever really stopped being a multiboxer) throughout these years. ;)

[Starbuck_Jones]

Thanks MiRai, it means a lot hearing that. It has been pretty interesting. I'm still living off of my severance pay that I got from Dell when I was laid off in January of 2010. I kinda half joked with my old colleagues that I was going to be come a writer and look at me now. Three books later and an ambitious project in the works for 2013.

Not having debt is a life changer. If I ever had one piece of advice to give anyone its not to have debt. Pay off you car, pay off your home, don't use credit cards. You can do anything you want in this world as long as you're not a slave to debt.

[Daeri]

I'm getting a new cover for book one as well so they all match.
Nice! My copy of the first book will soon become a collector's edition. then :p

Glad to learn the 3rd book is coming, keep up the good work!

[Owltoid]

SB - are you now able to live off the proceeds? Very inspiring!

[Starbuck_Jones]

Owltoid- Not quite yet but I am close, but only because my monthly expenses are low. No car payments, no mortgage/rent, no credit card bills. One thing about book sales, they have specific trends throughout the year. December and January you will see more books sold than any other time of the year. Middle of the summer like July and August, you will be lucky to sell 1/10 of that. So you need to learn how to budget surplus months for the deficit months. This having been an election year played havoc with sales, but December seems to be making up for that already.

Right now I work as a property manager for a resort.

[Palee]

Owltoid- Not quite yet but I am close, but only because my monthly expenses are low. No car payments, no mortgage/rent, no credit card bills. One thing about book sales, they have specific trends throughout the year. December and January you will see more books sold than any other time of the year. Middle of the summer like July and August, you will be lucky to sell 1/10 of that. So you need to learn how to budget surplus months for the deficit months. This having been an election year played havoc with sales, but December seems to be making up for that already.

Right now I work as a property manager for a resort.

Nice man! I like how you're taking your destiny in your own hands!

[Starbuck_Jones]

Here it is. I have a couple of months left in the select program with Amazon. When that is done, I will be releasing the trilogy to other retailers like Barnes and Noble as well as Apple and others. Now it's time to go watch some Dr. Who Christmas special now that everything has finally settled down.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ATCKJ1Y

[F9thRet]

I can't believe I missed this. Def. on my to buy list after the first.

Grats on this also Starbuck.

Stephen

[Starbuck_Jones]

New cover for the first book. Now that they are all a matched set by the same artist, I am pretty excited with it. It will take a day for the e-book to get propagated through the catalogs and the paperback with the new cover and interior will take a couple of weeks.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8094/8380454171_a5c2ab8e0f_z.jpg

[Starbuck_Jones]

I've been working on the prequel to my Eternal Gateway Trilogy called The War of Antiquities. It's a 22 episode short story series that delves into the back story of the main villain Therion as well as Kail Falconcrest's parents. Duke and Catherine. Where the Gateway trilogy is more of an steampunk action adventure sci/fantasy, Antiquities is more drama/romance in a victorian steampunk fantasy setting.

I have the first eight episodes complete and they are currently being edited while I continue forward with the rest of the series. I plan to release each episode one week apart with a four week break between bundles/books to allow for data analysis. Book one is going to consist of episodes 1-6 and is scheduled to start being released mid March. Book two (episodes 7-11) if the data looks good will launch ten weeks after so start of June time frame and so on.

Due to the serial nature of this project, they will only be available as e-books until the series is complete. I currently only plan to do one print version at the end in a combined volume. Also one of the reasons I am posting this update is to ask for the communities help. I am starting a Kickstarter project for The War of Antiquities to help cover the large upfront costs like cover art and a new batch of ISBN numbers. For those of you who use social media like Twitter or Facebook, if you could please share the link to my project, it would really help spread the word. Thank you.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1614189128/the-war-of-antiquities-book-one

[Starbuck_Jones]

Casts scroll of resurrection on thread.

Looks like I neglected this thread with my current series. Episode eight of my new series went live on Amazon today. Episodes nine, ten and eleven are also complete and are being rolled out during the holidays. They will also show up at Barnes and Noble as pre-order pretty soon as well. Being able to have a pre-order option is pretty new so I am excited to see how that works out.

Episode eleven marks the half way point as well. Right now they are only available as e-books but once the series is complete there will be a combined print version. Amazon also has a new purchase option called Matchbook. Basically it lets anyone who has purchased a print edition pick up the e-book version for free. This is retroactive as well so if someone bought a print version of my book a long time ago, they can still grab the e-book for free today.

Here is glimpse of the raw cover art for The War of Antiquities. (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=The War of Antiquities)
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