June 11, 2013

Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy launches!

Zack Jackson 2 Kindle Cover Small professional

Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy is now available for sale in the Kindle store! Boot up your AI companions and get into your environmental suits! The adventure continues as Zack Jackson goes to Venus to attend the prestigious Cytherean Academy. He’ll find being marooned on Bestic was a piece of cake compared to starting a new school. The print edition has been uploaded and is going through the system. There will be another announcement when it is available.

In addition, Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos has been updated with a new cover design. It’ll take a few days for the changes to filter through Amazon’s system, so here’s a peek at the cover so you can see it now!

Zack Jackson New Kindle Cover

Posted by on June 11, 2013 in Publishing, Zack Jackson and tagged , , .

Leave a Comment

June 10, 2013

Graphic Design Matters

Some indie publishers think just putting their work “out there” is good enough. They wrote the book, proofread it, and they’re done. Buy it. Maybe they hired someone to edit it. Maybe they found a stock image (there’s nothing wrong with stock art, but there’s a time & place for everything) for the cover and put some text over it.

I always buy original art for my covers. I just think it looks better and it lets me show exactly what I want. I designed the cover for Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos myself and thought it looked pretty good. In retrospect, and this became particularly clear when I tried to use the same style for the second book, it was really amateurish. So, I hired a professional graphic designer. The results speak for themselves (the border is actually squared off in the first cover; WordPress makes the edges round). Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos has been redesigned to match the new style, as well.

Zack Jackson 2 Kindle Cover Small professional

Cover Design by Eric Hubbel

Zack Jackson 2 Kindle Cover Small

Cover Design by Me

Posted by on June 10, 2013 in Publishing, Zack Jackson.

2 Comments

June 9, 2013

Zack Jackson update

I was unsatisfied with my attempts to design the cover for Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy, so I hired an actual graphic designer to do it for me. His preliminary work was so good, I’m having him re-do the graphic design for Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos, as well (although, the cover art will remain the same). Other than that, Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy is finished. I’m ready to upload the file to Amazon, but I still need a product description/blurb, so that’s holding things up. I’m really horrible at writing those. It’s more challenging than one would think to condense a 92,000 word novel into a couple of paragraphs and making it sound enticing without giving away all the juicy bits. It’s not something they covered in any of my writing classes.

Anyway, it’ll be available as soon as I’m satisfied with my blurb. I’ve asked for some feedback on it from the “usual suspects,” so I hope to have it finished today. Then, I’ll get it to my designer and hopefully have the cover within a few hours. After that, it could be 24 hours before it’s available on Amazon. I’ll definitely make an announcement when that happens. In the meantime, if you haven’t picked up Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos yet, it’s still (and will remain) 99¢. The Kindle edition will automatically get the new cover even if you buy it with the old one. If you want a new cover on your print edition, I’d wait, however.

Posted by on June 9, 2013 in Publishing, Zack Jackson.

Leave a Comment

May 30, 2013

New Zack Jackson Review

Reads 4 Tweens has posted a review of Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos. It is very timely as I’m putting the final touches on Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy. Check it out, and don’t forget: Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos is still on sale through the end of May for 99¢ for Kindles!

Posted by on May 30, 2013 in Reviews, Zack Jackson.

Leave a Comment

April 23, 2013

Zack Jackson Book 2

Zack Jackson 2 bluesteel

We working on the final read-through of Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy. The cover art is underway and looking great. I estimate that it should go up for sale on Amazon for Kindle and in print no later than the middle of May. In the meantime, I can offer you a few pieces of art I’m going to feature in the novel.

Hermes Final

Venus Express’s Hermes interplanetary transport

Cytherea Final

Cytherea floats 50 km above the Venusian surface

If you’re going to Gen Con, I will have a table on Author’s Avenue where I will be selling (and signing) copies of my books. There is a good chance I’ll have a limited-printing, convention-exclusive hardcover compilation of The Foundation of Drak-Anor, as well. Stop by and say “Hi!”

Posted by on April 23, 2013 in Zack Jackson.

Leave a Comment

March 7, 2013

Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy & other news

Zack Jackson 2 bluesteel

The second Zack Jackson novel is ready to go to my paid editor! The Alpha read and first pass edit are finished and I’ve contacted an artist for cover art. I’ve sent the manuscript to my editor and now the ball is in her court. Once I get the manuscript back from her, I’ll be looking for Beta Readers to give me feedback on the story.

Posted by on March 7, 2013 in Zack Jackson.

Leave a Comment

February 20, 2013

Kindle Exclusivity

The period of Kindle exclusivity on Wings of Twilight and Iron Fist of the Oroqs ends on Saturday. Beginning Sunday (or Monday, depending on how long it takes the files to process through the system), you’ll be able to purchase both novels in The Foundation of Drak-Anor series on Smashwords, DriveThruFiction, and possibly Kobo Writing Life. I’m still looking into ways to get my novels into the iBookstore without buying an Apple PC.

On Sunday, March 3rd, Kindle exclusivity ends for Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos and you’ll be able to find that novel in the aforementioned stores.

As always, print versions are available through Amazon & CreateSpace.

I will be attending Gen Con this year with a table on Author’s Avenue. I’ll be there to sell and sign books when ever the Dealer Hall is open (with a few hour-long exceptions). If you plan to attend, stop by and say “Hi!” There’s a possibility that I might have a con-exclusive hardcover edition compilation of The Foundation of Drak-Anor available for sale there, too, depending on how the pricing shakes out. More news on that later.

Posted by on February 20, 2013 in Iron Fist of the Oroqs, Publishing, Wings of Twilight.

Leave a Comment

February 10, 2013

Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy

Zack Jackson 2 bluesteel

I have finally finished the first draft of book 2 in the Zack Jackson series: Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy. Now it’s off to my wife for first-round proofing, alpha reading, and a preliminary edit. I hope to be able to send it off to a paid editor by the end of March.

The Zack Jackson series is a Middle-Grade/Young Adult sci-fi series (science-based fiction) taking place in the 43rd century. It follows book 1, Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos.

 

Posted by on February 10, 2013 in Zack Jackson and tagged , , , .

Leave a Comment

January 22, 2013

Zack Jackson Promotion

Sci-fi has a long history of celebrating diversity, so in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day*, today and tomorrow you can download the Kindle version of Zack Jackson & The Cult of Athos absolutely free! Just click the link and it will take you right to the Amazon page for the Kindle version. If you prefer print, you can buy it at Amazon or at CreateSpace.

Zack Jackson Redearthtone

* Yeah, I know MLK day was yesterday. Kindle Direct Publishing has a little monthly calendar on which you can set up your promotions and I did not notice it is set up as a Monday – Sunday calendar. Who uses those? I can’t remember the last time I saw one actually being used. All the ones my office uses are Sunday – Monday, ’cause you know, SUNDAY is the first day of the week! So, this promotion was delayed a day. Sorry.

Posted by on January 22, 2013 in Publishing, Zack Jackson and tagged , , .

Leave a Comment

January 14, 2013

Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy Update

Zack Jackson 2 bluesteel

The doldrums of December caught up with me and I hit a brick wall with Zack Jackson & The Cytherean Academy. It was a very busy and stressful month and I just couldn’t get my brain in gear to actually write anything. I might have written 1,000 words all month. Probably not. By the time January rolled around, I was pretty much lost.

So, I did my old trick of outlining the plot to see where the holes were. Now I have a roadmap of where I need to go to complete this first draft. I’ve already written over 6,000 words, so I think I’m back on track. I might have the manuscript finished by the end of next week. Then it’s off to editing (and I can get back to writing fantasy)!

Posted by on January 14, 2013 in Uncategorized and tagged , , .

Leave a Comment