You guessed it: This is yet another blog about the world of independent publishing—mostly e-books—and mostly Kindle e-books.
There was a time, many years ago, when I was starting to make a name for myself selling science fiction stories to the usual suspects: Galaxy (yes, way back then), Asimov's, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and others.
Then I got caught up in the share-cropping world, writing four books for Byron Preiss Visual Publications—who packaged the books for Ace and Bantam. You can click the book covers on the sidebar to link to Amazon's search page, in case the idea of used copies of these paperbacks twangs your curiosity.
My editor at BPVP suggested I come up with a series of my own, and things fell apart very rapidly from there. More about this later.
Next thing I knew I was back in the real world of jobs and such, then a series of moves to temporary housing. More jobs, the last as a library assistant for the San Bernardino (CA) library system.
When my head next bobbed above water, I found myself staring at a growing opportunity in the world of e-book self-publication.
I had written a kind of techno thriller and decided to put it up on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. I learned some things, forgot some other things, collected a few mysterious sales—then decided to yank the book and take another shot at it.
The book, called MAD MINUTE, naturally had a kind of two-hump structure. A bunch of stuff took place, then—nearly ten years later—a bunch of new stuff happened. The new stuff also broke into two chunks: success, followed by real success.
After looking a little closer at the Kindle model of publication, I came to the conclusion I ought to convert the book into three books and put all three of them up on Amazon. Later, I decided I was over-reaching a bit. Now I've decided to make it just two volumes: the first chunk, and everything else.
Still, shorter books have become a trend on Kindle. Also, having multiple books in "print" expands my virtual shelf space, a move said to enhance one's chances of indie pubbing success.
As part of an attempt to publicize the original novel, I put up a blog in the name of one of the main characters, an outspoken soul named Jack Tilsen. (Nickname: Krakatoa Jack.) You can access the blog by clicking on the image of the volcano near the top of the left sidebar.
In future posts I'll be detailing the process of creating a customized Kindle book, as well as letting you in on the progress of reshaping my single novel into three.
Plus more junk you obviously can't live without.
It'll be great.
