Tuesday, November 13, 2007

E-Book Version Coming Soon



I've discovered the wonderful world of ebooks (duh ... 'bout time!). I am using Mobipocket(tm), which is available as a free download and is very versatile. You can use it to read books on your PC or PDA or smart phone or whatever. It will even turn the pages for you, a cool feature I discovered with Adobe Acrobat Reader(tm) for those days when clicking a mouse is just too much. (haha ... how lazy will technology make us in the future?).

Anyway, I've been posting chapters of my current WIP, my nanovel, titled JACK & JILL: THE UNTOLD STORY, on my new blog, Adrian's Fix. Soon I'll put a link at the top of that blog so you can download the current version of the novel, through whatever chapter has been posted most recently. That way, you can just click, download, and read it in a better format at your convenience.

I've discovered writing my manuscripts in Word(tm) works well, and then loading them into Mobipocket(tm) to read them back helps since it seems like a new view of the document. It's almost like printing something out, has the same effect for me. I get a new perspective, think of it as if it were finished, which then helps me spot more things to change than I can see in Word(tm) after editing the text there repeatedly ("familiarity breeds contempt"?).

Hope everyone's work is coming along. This is the good time of year for me to write, so I'm taking full advantage of it. Although I'm busy now, I'm sure the pace will pick up even more. I'm still just warming up, getting on a roll . . . .

Best wishes for your novels,

Adrian

4 comments:

Wynn Bexton said...

Sounds like you're pretty busy. I'm working along with Shadow. Just finished teaching my night school classes so now I can focus more on my own work. Will post another snippet soon.

Adrian Swift said...

Sounds like you're pretty busy, too! Good luck with SHADOW!

It's nice to be hard at work, but I also believe in breaks. I got over the whole "shame" thing. I think breaks are important, help us recharge emotionally, and also let our subconscious work on story problems.

Weight lifters don't work the same muscles every day. They do the upper body one day, the lower body the next day. An on-off cycle allows rest and the opportunity for the body to build muscle. I think breaks do the same for our creative muscles.

However, when I'm in hard work mode, I just love it. There's something very gratifying about getting the words down, realizing in concrete form all those many ideas. It's certainly satisfying.

I look forward to your next snippet. I love your writing, and your work is always interesting to read.

You and Gabriele write historical fiction, and both of you have inspired me and impressed me with the quality of your work, your knowledge of your characters and events, and your ability to bring history to life in a vivid an engaging manner.

Best wishes for your ongoing work!

Noah Reilly said...

Adrian, how has your eBook version gone? I published a copy of my book maybe a month ago. I dropped the price to match similar works on there (mobipocket) and sales started coming in... albeit slowly. Still, some sales are better than no sales. Of course, I am still looking for the BIG BREAK where sales start skyrocketing; but I have no idea if that will ever happen. Things seem to progress very slowly in the print world. How has your marketing gone?
Noah Reilly
"Out on Deep Water"
http://www.Novels-by-Noah.com

Adrian Swift said...

Noah, very nice hearing from you again!

You're farther than I am in the process, since your book was finished and you put it up for sale as an eBook.

In my case, I am still finishing my stories, and the idea at present is to make the drafts available to Beta Readers in eBook format, which is very convenient for sending files (they can be encrypted and password-protected). It is also convenient for people to make comments (they just click on a paragraph and a little window opens up to allow them to enter comments directly to the manuscript -- they then save the file and send it back to me and I can see their comments pinned to the places where they are relevant). I will also set up a secure blog shortly, which requires a password to access, so Beta Readers could read the stories online rather than through an eBook if they prefer.

Once the stories are ready then I'll look into getting them published. I'll try regular print publishing through agents and editors first. I think the concepts are publishable, but in the event I do not secure a contract, then I would make them available onlline, whether for free or for a fee, depending on the situation. I think there is some value in giving away a sample to help readers become familiar with your work.

Thanks again for stopping by, and let me know if you would be interested in exchanging services as Beta Readers for each other.

Adrian