Tag: Writing Page 7 of 9

ISBN Canada

On May 21, 2015

The Anatomy of a 13 character ISBN code.

ISBN Canada, over at Library and Archives Canada (government), provides a free ISBN service to Canadian artists. Did anyone know that? I didn’t. I was slogging through Smashwords and reading some details on self-publishing with them and then wondered if they provided free ISBNs like Amazon does. Well they linked me to ISBN Canada. And now I am sitting here stunned.

For those of you who do not know (or thought you knew): An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies each specific edition of a book or book-like product. You need a unique code for your eBook, for your hardcover or softcover, etc. etc. In the United States, as an artist, you need to go to a company like Bowkers and purchase a number of ISBNs for your use. How much? It costs $125 USD for one ISBN or $275 USD for ten ISBNs. I thought that was normal. Note: you don’t actually need an ISBN, but it helps on many levels should your book do well. It doesn’t protect your book from being stolen, for example, but you can prove that the book is registered to you under the ISBN registration. Like a fingerprint. All book databases use the ISBN to track books. ISBNs are how readers and buyers find your books. They are essential for sales to bookstores, for online sales, and for listing in databases and directories such as Books in Print.

See why am I so stunned right now? ISBN Canada just asks me how many I want and then they assign them to me. For free. That is amazing. I need to wait 10 days though…blast it! Government bureaucracy!

You’ll notice I mentioned that Amazon will provide an ISBN for free. You’ll be wondering, so what’s the problem? Well, that ISBN can only be used on the Amazon version of the book and only on CreateSpace – not for Kindle Direct Publishing. It also identifies Amazon as the publisher even though I am self-publishing. It’s just a bit oily if you know what I mean.

Ciao!

Duilleog is Back with the Editor

By donald

On May 20, 2015

In Duilleog Volume One, Editing, The Art of Writing

Duilleog: A New Druids Novel, Volume One

Duilleog is back with the editor. Nikki Rae over at Metamorphosis Editing Services did an excellent job at cleaning up the typos, syntax and formatting errors and helped me identify some really serious point of view issues I had failed to recognise. I’m such a noob. It only goes to show that writing takes practice and without it you suffer.

If I am lucky I will have the second look-over completed in a couple of weeks, made the last corrections, and then I will be able to publish for the Kindle. This will be followed by the ~~Nook,~~ Smashwords and Kobo versions. eBooks are extremely easy to create and having a program like Scrivener makes it more so.

For those wanting an actual paperback of the story, I’m sorry, but you will need to wait a little bit as I sort out the formatting. When you self-publish the author has to do all the work for formatting the book and creating the cover. You could pay for someone to do that for you but that is just more money. And, anyway, I consider my designing skills to be “not too bad” and I am proud of my designed covers. Formatting for Amazon CreateSpace is a simple process but it takes time, attention to all the little details, and it is all online and you won’t really know if you got it right until you get your hands on the author copy to verify the product before letting it go to print. All this takes time, time, and more time (and the delays due to snail mail). So maybe mid-July for the paperback version?

So exciting!

Ciao!

The Final Revision Is In The Works

By donald

On May 9, 2015

In Duilleog Volume One, The Art of Writing

Red ink sucks!

The final revision is in the works! My editor returned my manuscript and I am digging in. The revision is not too bad. Less work than I thought except for Part Two. That section has a point of view flaw that I need to fix and it will be a timely one. No worries though. That is what revisions are all about: making sure the story is ready for print.

Best case scenario is looking at perhaps a month of work. Then I need to decide if I return the manuscript to the editor for a last ‘once over’.

Anyway, I have a move back to Canada to plan. School work to focus on. A new job to consider in Ottawa. Many things on my plate. So say we all.

As always check out my Facebook page!

Ciao!

A Third Volume in A New Druids Series

By donald

On April 25, 2015

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

Duilleog: A New Druids Novel, Volume One

Craobh: A New Druids Series, Volume Two

Stoc: A New Druids Novel, Volume Three

A third volume will now be added to the New Druids Series. It seems that it is growing in size in my head. I had epiphany flying back to DC Friday night while I was working on what I thought was the second volume, Stoc, when I realised that I had enough storyline in my head to push half of what I had forward into a third volume.

This has the added benefit of making the book progression more in line with the journey that the protagonist, Will Arbor, is undertaking.

It should make for a better tale in the end. Otherwise, the story would be too rushed. You see I have an outline of where I want the story to finish up with Will Arbor. As I was writing Stoc I realised that I was flying through his discovery of his powers and I needed to spend more time exploring that aspect before I rushed willy-nilly to the conclusion of this part of the tale.

So now I get to introduce the “new” second novel, Craobh, and the “new” third novel, Stoc.

As an aside: If anyone is wondering where I came up with these titles well wonder no longer. In old Irish, the parts of a tree are named duilleog for the leaf, craobh for the branch, stoc for the trunk (think stalk), and freamhaigh for the root.

It is so easy to write a story, surprisingly. It takes time. Yes, it does, but, it is a labour of love. Imagine you have a hobby you love to do, like trains, or reading or video games. You crave doing that hobby. It makes you happy. So it is with writing. But, it is hard to get it right if I want to let others see what I have done. To make sure that what you set up a hundred pages ago still makes sense to a reader. When you write you are supposed to create an outline and work from that but like any confrontation with the enemy your original, well-reasoned, outline will not stand up. You need to adjust and manipulate. And adjust and manipulate. Go back time and again and rip out what you thought was brilliant writing and throw it away. Those moments hurt. But, the good news is that it is YOUR story and YOUR imagination. There are no limits to what you can achieve. Then find a good editor to file away the rough edges. Then publish and get your armour on.

Ciao!