Category: Duilleog Volume One Page 3 of 8

The First Volume in the New Druids Series.

Duilleog Second Edition

On February 13, 2016

In Beta Reading, Craobh Volume Two, Duilleog Volume One

Duilleog cover with Global Ebook Award Nominee badge.

Duilleog Second Edition

Dear readers, some good news about the Second Edition. Amazon has approved the Duilleog Second Edition. However, because the changes were considered minor in nature they will not be sending an email out to people. Instead, you will need to manually do this by logging into your Kindle account on Amazon, hover over “Shop by Department“, move down to “Kindle E-Readers & Books” and slide your mouse over to click on “Manage Your Content and Devices“. Under the Contents tab, look for Duilleog and click on the update selection. Note, if you had previously turned on “Automatic updates” under the Settings tab, the new version will be sent to you, automatically. I have confirmed this with my own copy.

Why have this convoluted process? The answer: Amazon will not automatically push new content to subscribers unless they have already selected that option. The reason being that readers can highlight and make notes on their Kindles and any new update will wipe anything they entered into the book. “What?” you ask. “People make notes? Whatever for?” I can only tell you to ask a student who reads her/his textbooks on a Kindle. That should answer your questions.

Why should you care about this second edition of Duilleog? Well, I moved the extract to my second novel into the first one as an Epilogue and in so doing I also added a bit of content to it. This Second Edition is arguably a much cleaner version and has a few missed typos corrected. If you purchased Duilleog through the Amazon Print on Demand service, CreateSpace, then I’m sorry you have missed the content. The good news is that I am including it in Craobh before the novel begins. So when you purchase the next book you will see the newer content.

Octopus Books

In other news, Octopus Books on Third Avenue in the Glebe area of Ottawa, Canada has graciously agreed to display Duilleog (Second Edition) in their store. If you are in Ottawa and want a trade paperback version of Duilleog then please stop by, buy the book, and then tell the owners how much you adore the writing of Donald D. Allan. Heh. It’s a gorgeous store that focuses on Independent Writers. So I really like them, too. It is such a perfect store for the Glebe area. Stop by even is you don’t want to buy my book and have a nice browse. You’ll love it. You can’t imagine all the wonderful titles they carry.

Beta Readers

Well, I have seven beta readers all lined up for Craobh. I have given them access to Craobh: Part Three (first half of the novel) and can’t wait for them to tell me what they think. I should have done this with Duilleog. I am so very thankful to these folks. I’ll name them when/if they allow me to. They are friends, family and strangers. Perfect mix. I still will welcome more beta readers, so if you are interested please drop me a line at donalddallan@gmail.com.

Global Ebook Awards 2016 and Duilleog Second Edition

By donald

On February 4, 2016

In Duilleog Volume One

Duilleog cover with Global Ebook Award Nominee badge.

Awards Nomination

Duilleog is now nominated for the Dan Poynter’s Global EBook Awards for 2016 in the category Fantasy/Other World Fiction. Winners will be announced in August 2016. Until then I get bragging rights. Not sure what else to say other than Amazon, Smashwords and Kobo have all been updated to reflect the nomination. The updated book cover looks like the media added to this post. Its nice – but not yet a bronze, silver or gold badge. And yes, I need stinking badges! Or if you prefer the Blazin’ Saddles version. Or my favourite version from the movie UHF. But I digress.

Duilleog, A New Druids Series novel, Volume One

Good News! Everyone who purchased Duilleog Edition One from Amazon will soon be pushed the Second Edition! I had to work with Amazon on this. It was my first time and it was rather simple. Big shout out AGAIN to Steve Chase for his notes he drafted that led to Edition Two. I simply handed those notes into Amazon and they accepted that as evidence of the changes. Amazon is not a bad company at all and they protect buyers and sellers. It would be nothing for someone to scam Amazon by selling something and then pushing out new versions all under the auspices of a new edition. So I had to show where the changes were. Amazon breaks it down as follows:

Corrections to distracting errors. If we find only minor corrections, we won’t notify customers by e-mail, but we’ll activate their ability to update the content through the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page on Amazon.com.
Corrections to destructive or critical errors. If we find major corrections, we’ll alert the customers who already own your book via email. These customers have the option to use the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page on Amazon.com to receive your book updates.
Corrections to critical errors needed. If we find more major corrections are needed, we will temporarily remove your book from sale. We’ll notify you of the issues we found so you can fix them. Once the improvements are made, just let us know and we’ll email customers just like we do for major corrections.

I should know in seven days or less which of the above corrections categories they select and let everyone know here. It should be #2 because I moved the Craobh excerpt into Duilleog as an Epilogue. That was “destructive”. heh.

For those that bought the trade paperback version: I will put the Epilogue up here for you to read once I release Craobh.

Craobh: Update

By donald

On January 2, 2016

In Craobh Volume Two, Duilleog Volume One, The Art of Writing

Craobh: A New Druids Series, Volume Two

I just completed Part Three of my New Druid Series. Which means I am halfway through Craobh, Volume Two. Word count at this point is just over 67,000 words which is a great place to be for a first draft.

I am really pleased with Craobh. I love the story. I love how it moves along. I love the new characters. Part Four awaits. This part is going to be hard to write. Bad things are never easy to write. No spoilers, though!

In other news, I have put Duilleog back up on Smashwords and Kobo. This is the second edition version. Enjoy.

Happy New Year, folks. Please read more fantasy and sci-fi! Doing so makes the world a better place – I know it does.

Duilleog: New Paperback Price

By donald

On December 17, 2015

In Craobh Volume Two, Duilleog Volume One

Duilleog: A New Druids Novel, Volume One

Great news about the paperback version of Duilleog! I have redesigned my CreateSpace paperback and by reducing the font size down I have reduced the total number of pages by almost 100! This means the price has dropped to $8.50 USD. This is a much better price and the pages read better. You’re welcome! Buy my book at Amazon.com!

In other news, I am working on the second novel, Craobh over the holidays. I am really enjoying the time I have to devote to the novel. I have not enjoyed being so busy with work that I was unable to focus my attention to it. Writing is such a fun thing to do. I am happy to report that I am now up to 42K words. I am aiming for a Spring 2016 release. Real life may change that date, but I promise to try really hard!

I should report on Can-Con: Sadly, it was disappointing for me. In short, no publisher is interested in a series that was started by self-publishing and I should have known that going in. It just highlights my amateur status in this field of being an author. In any case, the feedback was very gracious and sincere and I appreciated the feedback, but it was hard for me to hear. All this means is that I continue to self-publish The New Druids Series and that is fine. The good news is that I pitched my science-fiction story and had interest from one of the publishing companies. I just need to finish it and send it along!