Getting closer to release

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I bit the bullet, as it were, and grabbed the name www.TheStarsCameBack.com, through NameCheap.com. With Barron from http://www.the-minuteman.org/ hosting it I got things up and operational. I’m working on getting some content going, so that by the time I get cover art and editing all done, I can have some extra stuff there as part of the “marketing push.” I’m getting pretty close, now, I think, maybe, hopefully. I’d like to get things fairly well fleshed out before launch, so anyone that’s been following the story and waiting for the final release so you can watch Helton die in a blaze of gory glory… (Oh, wait, no, that DOESN’T happen. Sorry. That was the original ending) I mean, anyone that wants to make comments over there on things they like to have, see, or find out about the story. The better the site is, the more likely the book will be a success, and the more likely I can talk the other half into letting me write another instead of getting a “real” job.

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27 thoughts on “Getting closer to release”

  1. Acevs place has the Sunday Morning Book Thread (Sunday Gun Thread too), and commenters can plug books for authors they know, or authors themselves, and it’ll get mentio ed in the main post I”ll be sure to send the info when it comes out. The Moron Horde &#0153 is the same type as these parts.

    • I assume you meant ™ on the Horde. Hmmm. Would that make a Muslim fan of Ace a Horde Dervish? (ba-da-BING! I’ll be here all night 🙂 ]Yup, plan on doing that, once it’s all finalized. In the meantime, I’m trying to get some decent stuff up there. Drawings of the ship, the complete free first segment (up there now) to give people a feel for the format and milieu. Let me know if the format of it works for you, or if the extra spaces (typical of the web post) are annoying. If I’m missing anything else, make a comment, so I know it’s working for people other than me.

  2. Or if Anthony Weiner were muslim, he’d be a Whored Dervish with the way he’s spinning. 😀

    Drawings too?? Heading over right now…

    • Sure there are, on the Tajemnica page. Likely have updated ones later. Still playing with things to see what makes sense, and what looks good. Comments there are welcome, as are here.

  4. Wait….Helton…blaze of glory…..AND YOU HAVEN’T POSTED THAT YET, AS A REWARD TO ALL YOUR LOYAL READERS? What’s wrong with you?!?

    LOL

    Just kidding. Sorta. Sorry ’bout the capslock. Anyhoo…honestly, I’m tryin to figger out where a “blaze of glory” would come in, but it must be a completely different scenario as far as I can figger. There’s tons of places where things could have gone spectacularly wrong, but not even George R. R. Martin is THAT big a dick to kill ALL of his main characters at the same time!

    • Remember, Taj has lost her entire crew twice already. Third time’s a charm? Winning the battle, again, but at the cost of everyone aboard? I hinted at when Kaminski asked for permission to train Allonia, and Lag said there might come a time where they needed everyone they possibly could get; get the bad guy in the end with the last crewman standing. That was the original ending conceived and partially written. Decided that was a little bit to much of a downer. Got a much better ending than that, now.

      • I like it how it ended. I don’t mind a bit of realism, where the good guy doesn’t necessarily wear white and doesn’t necessarily miraculously survive unscathed and get the girl (two girls!) in the end…I honestly expected that at least one or two names would not come out of the final battle. Its one of the things I find very refreshing about George R. R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” series, in that when a battle is joined, there’s no comfort knowing that the main characters will survive. It actually brings a level of realism to the story like you wouldn’t believe! Having said that, I am very happy with the way you did end your story, and look forward to spin-offs!

        • ?????? I thought you were one of the people reading it as an editor? You don’t know how it ends? Really?

          • I’m pretty sure he’s joking. Yes, he’s seen the ending. He’s just not letting on how it ends.

          • Yup, I’ve read the end (thus the part where I say “I like it how it ended.”), I just hadn’t read the alternate ending, the “blaze of glory” sequence. Then I threw in my opinion on killing off characters. Nothing more, just my opinion. Love the story as it is!

  5. Have your asked people outside of your social circle for input? Like posted pieces on writing websites? Anything like that?

    • Social circle? I think mine is more like a triangle. Maybe a square, octagon if you include kids. 🙂
      Seriously, though, yes, I have. Been talking to (well, exchanging emails with) professional editor sorts of people, both in terms of getting general evaluations and in terms of finding out what various levels of editing services would cost. No commitments of any sort yet. General consensus is generally pretty solid but kind of long, strong ending, at least needs proof-reading level editing (which is still coming in from my fabulous fan club :-))

    • Yup. I have followed those two off and on for a while, more regularly recently. Good stuff there.

  7. I took a look at the sample chapters on your Web site. I liked them, although I know you’re still polishing and editing them. When you get closer to release, let me know, and I’ll help publicize the book.

    You’re going to find that a monumentally big part of the work isn’t writing the book, but everything surrounding it – formatting, setting it up on Kindle and/or other platforms, fixing errors (there will ALWAYS be some, no matter how thoroughly you’ve edited it), publicizing it, and so on. Marketing is hugely important. I spent more than five years on building up my fan base and marketing my writing in general before I published a book, and it paid off handsomely for me. I’m afraid it’s one aspect that new writers tend to ignore – then they wonder why their book isn’t selling well.

    Good luck with your efforts. I look forward to seeing the finished product.

    • Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I’m getting *ahem* closer to release all the time. The story is done, and I’m working on doing (and having done) editing. (blarg – editing is NOT something I’ve got a natural affinity for). I mostly have it formatted so it looks good on a kindle when converted via Calibre. Got the site for it outlined at http://www.thestarscameback.com , and I’m working on filling in details and content there. Trying to write and contribute things here semi-regularly to help build site traffic and name recognition.
      I’d be happy to send you either a current version or the finished one when editing is done.
      Biggest complaint one editor had who read through it was that it was rather long, and was not much of a page-turner in the middle section, so I should consider cutting it down by 75-100 pages. I don’t think I’d like THAT much red ink to flow, so I’m more looking at splitting it into two or three parts. It’s a bit over 177k words, according to the word-count in MS Word, so there is room to divide. OTOH, when I asked a well-known published author his opinion, he said go with one volume to make as big a splash with the first book as possible. Good arguments either way, and I’m always open for more input.

      • I’d suggest splitting it into two halves of approximately equal length. That’s what I did with my first novel in the Maxwell Saga. I wanted to make it manageable and affordable, because I had to build a fan base; so instead of publishing one 180K-word monster, I split it in half. The two halves became ‘Take The Star Road’ and “Ride The Rising Tide’.

        One thing: you’ll have to edit both halves heavily, and possibly change some plot points. You need to have action, buildup to a climax, etc., and if you merely split a longer manuscript in half, those elements may be unevenly distributed in the two halves. I had to do a whole lot of rewriting and rearranging to make each half a stand-alone book in its own right. Still, I can’t complain – reader response has more than justified the effort!

        Something else to consider. Most prospective readers will only see your cover in thumbnail size on Amazon.Com or similar web sites. Design a cover (or have someone design it for you) that’s clear, stands out, and has a simple, easily-understood central iconic image that fits your story and genre. Readers are far more likely to click on a thumbnail that intrigues them than on a mishmash of colors without features that looks more like an Impressionist post-hangover failure!

        • Because of the episodic nature of the story, it divides into two or three parts very well. Making a break between jobs makes sense, is easy to do, there are already built in waves of action, building toward the ending. Cutting it in half, or thirds, would be one step above trivial, compared to a lot of stories.
          Cover – got no ideas. When it comes to that, I’ve drawn almost a complete blank, as it were. So, I asked Oleg, and last I heard he said he had something in mind. Breaking it into two parts would require two covers, and I don’t know if that makes it easier, or harder. The spaceship only plays a modest role in the first half, but a huge role in the second. It’s sort of military fiction, but the hero and half the characters are NOT soldiers. The ship is a former warship, but not working as a formal warship through 90% of the book. The Ship AI wears several different avatars. Soooo…. nothing is really standing out to me as the iconic image, aside from maybe the collision in space with the interceptors from the HMS Hussein. Or, rather, there are LOTS of images that are in my mind, but none overwhelmingly grab the essence of the story or characters.
          That’s another reason for the web site: get some full-sized graphics and background and discussion for people who really like it.

    • Can’t ask for more than that, unless it is: buy multiple copies for family members and tell people about it 🙂
      I’d like to get it out soon – the ending is rather topical.

  9. I’m just looking at your sample pages on your website. You should run a check for the hyphens (-) because you have quite in few in words like tablemate, countertop, rundown, rearrange, headwind, etc.

    • Yuppers-I’ve been told about them. Nasty little beggars-slipping in every-where like that. But, what can I say? I’m a dashing sort of guy. Maybe I’ll write a “half-length” story about them, called “en-dashers game.” Or may-be not.
      Seriously, I know about the problem, and will do something about about it other than make bad jokes. (I’ll make good jokes!)

    • Woah – got a count of hyphens, and not counting the ones in the sluglines like “INT – DAY – Bridge”, I’ve got more than two thousand of them. Man, those little buggers are breeding – like rabbits! ARG, Another one! Kill it kill it!

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