And what I’ll probably do again later… Okay all joking aside I figured I’d talk a bit about the publishing end of things now. InDesign is a great tool but it also requires learning and honestly now I’m pretty impressed that Chris sort of figured it out on his own. I may know the
‘Dear Hiring Manager’… it’s how most of my cover letters start.
I (Heather) did my morning job search again. For those who don’t know, I’m a librarian. It’s what helps me get to the nitty-gritty of history and culture that Chris and I write about. I do love delving into research. It doesn’t always matter what it’s about most of the time. I can say without reserve that I’m a great researcher. I love the challenge of it. I love helping other people with it.
New booth lighting at the 2013 Space City Con in Houston, Texas
Welcome Newcomers and All of Our Readers!
For those who recently discovered us at Space City Con, welcome! Sorry for the late post, but as a border-line introvert, it sometimes takes me days to recover from such an extroverted event. Now that my mind is at peace, I can give you, our readers, a reflection of the weekend, a look ahead of events to come, and give our readers, new and old, a chance to win some things… books and… wait… now I remember, a Kindle Fire. Want more information? Well, dive in!
Heather and I (Christopher) have been interviewed again, and I thought I should provide links so all of our wonderful fans don’t have to go hunting for them. We have also been working on our 2013 calendar of appearances.
Salado Scottish Festival and Highland Games
Just a few weekends ago we attended the Salado Scottish Festival and Highland Games in Salado, Texas. What a time we had… As we were unpacking our truck to set up our tent at the fair grounds, Heather and I noticed that our tent frame had broken in transit, and without parts it was irreparable. With no tent frame, we rushed to the Walmart in Belton and then the Academy in Temple, before we found a tent we thought would work. After driving all the way back to Salado, we soon realized that this tent would never hold up to any sort of rain or wind (the roof came in layers, you see, with big openings where one layer overlayed another). This would not do… so we rushed back to Temple’s Academy and exchanged the tent. This one also, we found out, was not rated for wind or rain (you don’t learn these things unless you open the box and look at the directions inside… neither the website nor the box mentioned these important facts.) So, we used the roof and sides from the other tent (the broken one).
Crone of War: Morrigan’s Brood Book II (rel. 2) is now on Kindle!
What a roller-coaster ride over the last few weeks. I (Christopher) usually don’t interject much of my personal life on this blog… I leave that to Facebook or just calling folks on the phone… but things have been a maelstrom around here of late. June 15, I was laid off from a contract job I had been working at for over 10 months; it was one of those out-of-the-blue, didn’t see it coming kind of layoffs. In my time off (well, before I was laid-off, but I never had time), I made it my mission to finish moving what was once known as Morrigan’s Brood: Crone of War from Lulu over to Lightning Source, where it would reside with a new ISBN and a revised name… Crone of War: Morrigan’s Brood Book II. As part of that move, I planned to massage the text a bit, giving it a good polish. Heather and I released a revision of the print book before I could finish the complete revision in order to restock books. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule and other things while I was working on my previous contract, I had little time to devote to the massaging of book 2.
We know you are out there, and we would like to help you. OK… a show of hands of anyone who saw Dark Alliance: Morrigan’s Brood Book III and thought, “Gosh darn it, that sounds like a cool book, and it is so cheap, but books I and II are so expensive… maybe I should wait before plunging in… oh, and I hate eBooks…” Does this sound like you? (or at least some of it… OK, even if none if it applies to you, please continue reading… please.) Don’t worry, for we can help.
As I am finishing up my (Christopher) final rewrite of our second short-story, Morrigan’s Brood: Reckoning, I thought I would share a taste of what Heather and I put together. Of course, this will be challenging, as I do not wish to spoil the outcome of Morrigan’s Brood: Crone of War for those who have not yet finished the book. Dare I walk the thin line between spoiling and enticing? Yes, I dare. Now, where to begin…
Wow, has this been a learning experience! A show of hands – who has put their own eBooks together (versus paying someone to do it for you)? My hand can now join yours. Oh joy! Thus far, I have “successfully” created eBook files for Morrigan’s Brood on the Nook and Kindle platforms. I have uploaded both files, and I am waiting for their review process to progress. Hopefully, this means that those of you with Nooks and Kindles can read Morrigan’s Brood by the end of this week!
Well, I (Chris) have been working behind the scenes getting ready to release eBooks for both Morrigan’s Brood and Morrigan’s Brood: Crone of War. I am in the process of acquiring eBook publishing software, and I have been setting up accounts with various eBook distributors, such as PubIT (B&N), Kindle (Amazon), Sony, iTunes, Smashwords, and Goodreads, to name a few. We have also acquired a bundle of ISBNs, so hopefully the file conversion process doesn’t take me too long. I have already converted Morrigan’s Brood to HTML, so eBook shouldn’t be far off. Perhaps in a week or two, both books will be available in your favorite eBook format.
Wow! First, thanks to all of our friends, fans, and new friends and fans who either stopped by our booth or attended one of our panels!!!!! We hope you had as much fun as we did (and of course learned something of value for your writing or publishing situation). I (Chris) have not been on my home computer much this weekend, so I have not had the opportunity, until now, to update our blog. For some reason, I can’t seem to figure out how to do it on my Blackberry; perhaps I need an iPhone, or maybe a gene re-sequencer to make me a slim, 15-year-old kid again, then I could figure out how to do it. *** Oh… there is also information about a contest below***