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.
So… I got laid off… been through it before, and will likely go through it several more times in my career… With all of that free time, next to searching for a job, I managed to find time to plug away at the reading and massaging. Then, about a week and a half after I was laid off, I received a job offer for another contract, and I would start July 16, a month after I was laid off. Since I didn’t have to look for a job anymore, I dedicated more time to massaging the text, in addition to booking events and whatnot. Well, I still hadn’t finished by the time I started my new job, so I took Heather’s laptop to work with me so I could read and massage during lunch. Well, last weekend, I finished, and so I submitted the text to the printer, and now the revised version is for sale.
Now, this past weekend, I took it upon myself to convert book 2 into both Kindle and Nook formats, but before I could do that, Heather had pointed out some issues on book 1 with the ellipse graphics (those ravens) on the Kindle. I spent about 12 hours trying different approaches, though finally I just consolidated the graphics… the ravens are still large, but they only take up one line now. So, I fixed book 1 Kindle, and then I converted book 2 print into both Kindle and Nook versions. As the graphic indicates, the revised version of Crone of War is now on sale for $1.99. (The Nook version is also $1.99).
I will next update the Kindle and Nook versions of Madness & Reckoning, which I revised prior to publishing the print version of it. My next big project will be performing a edit of the draft of “It’s in the Cards”, part of the librarian anthology that Heather, myself, and a few other authors are putting together. Once done with that, I will be working with various artists and designers to begin laying out the book and creating the artwork.
In the meantime, I have Curse of Venus: Morrigan’s Brood Book IV to work on. You may have noticed that we have pushed back the publishing date to June. While we may have the book itself finished by December, the original publication timeframe, that date would not allow us to properly market the book prior to its release. My goal is to be ready to release ARCs and / or galleys by December and see where that goes.
Well, there is more news, and here it is:
Goodreads Free Giveaway Winners
The free giveaway with Goodreads ended July 19, but this is the first time I have had a chance to make a blog entry, so I will announce the winners (even though all of them should have their books by now). The winners were:
- Sabrina Glud of Roskilde, Denmark
- Donna Parker of London, Ontario (Canada)
- Sarah Dixon of Dorset, Great Britain
- Alecia Jones of Strasburg, VA (USA)
- Tiffany Olson of Mandan, ND (USA)
Congratulations to all of our winners!
Since we just released the revised Crone of War, we may be able to host another free giveaway for book 2 (there are limitations that the giveaway must be within 6 months of the release of a book), but we will certainly announce it should we be able to have another free giveaway via Goodreads.
Space City Con, the Magick Cauldron, and Other Events
Heather and I have several events coming up, such as those events I just mentioned. Check out our Events page for more information.
Closing thoughts
Well, I am being called to domestic chores.
Thanks to our family, our friends, and our fans for all of your support!
triscellepublishing
Author Christopher Dunbar