As you may have seen I have started writing a new book ‘The Child’. I thought it would be interesting to share each stage of the editing and shaping process with you. So here is what I am going to do. Each week as I shape and craft the story, I will post that week’s version of the book alongside the earlier versions. By doing this you will be able to see the mistakes as I make them and how I try to remedy them. It may prove to be an interesting insight into how I write. If you’re interested head over to the PDF downloads page, there you will find a sneak peek of Enhanced plus the two versions of my WIP to date. Visit www.bensbook.weebly.com
Just a quick blog to fill everyone in on the past week, but first a small review of a book I just read. The book is called Book of Books, and it’s another great title, which can be found at http://www.akwbooks.com Book of books is an intriguing, if not slightly complicated book. The reader has to follow many threads, which end up weaving a completely enthralling story. The author has managed to create a world filled with technologies, which are only just around the corner. However, at no point does the tale become unbelievable or farfetched. The author’s references to societies’ obsession with social networking, makes me worry about my own Twitter addiction. The dialog in this book is particularly good and totally realistic. I was utterly hooked from the first to the last page. I enjoyed it enormously. This book gets two thumbs up from me. I mentioned earlier in the week that my editor had done an interview with Red River Radio. If you’re interested in having a listen, you can find their player on my links' page. His interview is the one titled “A good story is a good story.” Al’s interview starts about 28 minutes in, the sound is a bit crackly, but I enjoyed what he had to say. In addition, my book has made it onto AKW Books sneak peak page, so hopefully it’s only a matter of weeks until it is released. I am excited beyond belief; I never thought that I would have a book published. When I left school, I could hardly write my name, let alone a book! This blog may come across as a little incoherent and poorly thrown together, but I needed to rant out to the void of the internet. I feel saddened that in 2010, there are people who still feel hell bent on spreading hate, bigotry and ignorance. Like most of the people on the face of this planet, I have been following the story of Pastor Terry Jones and his planned mass burning of the Koran. Mr. Jones is disguising his hatred and bigotry as his first amendment right to free speech. Now, I am not an American, and I cannot claim to be an expert in the American constitution. However, I believe that the first amendment also protects the rights to practice religion freely, and without the fear of persecution. Now, what I’m going to write next is from my outsider’s perspective. I would have thought that if someone commits an act of hatred, which impacts on another’s rights under the laws of the first amendment. Then, that person should be stopped. Simply stating that a person has the right to say or do something, no matter how hateful, is his god given right under the law, is wrong. I am an atheist, but I respect everybody’s rights to believe whatever they want. There are aspects of every religion that I take issue with. However, it is not up to me, or anyone else to step into the breach and force their beliefs on others. No one religion, in my opinion, can claim to be the one true religion. For that reason, I accept everyone has the right to express their beliefs freely. No matter if that belief is Christian, Muslim, and Judaism. Even if you pray to a sunflower, it’s your right! Mr. Jones will, through his act of ignorance, will fuel the beliefs of the Muslim extremists. He will become their poster boy to represent the west and Christianity. He is no more a representative of me, or the west, then Bin Laden is of the Muslim faith. Nevertheless, his one act of stupidity will taint us all. His one act of self serving bigotry will cost the lives of many of his fellow countrymen serving in Afghanistan. In short this man must be stopped! If the law can’t stop him then the community at large should. If I lived in his town or his state, I would turn up to show my disdain of his actions. I would picket. I would yell. I would do everything I could to show that he and his handful of followers, do not represent the American people or the west. That’s it, that’s all I have to say. Twitter has been buzzing about this and 140 characters wasn’t enough for me. In my blog today I intend to review a book I have just read. Now some of you may think that this is an act of some sort of self promotion. Well, you’d be right, in a way. As you may know my book is about to be published by AKW books, so I thought I would take a look at some of their books. I popped along to their website, http://www.akwbooks.com and purchased AKW Book’s fiction book of the year. That Which is Human. The first think I thought was, it’s a bargain at less than five U.S. dollars. So what did I have to lose? Well, the book is amazing, if this book is a mark of the standards at AKW Books, then my book is among some good stuff! So here is my review of That Which is Human, I urge you all to buy a copy. Head over to http://www.akwbooks.com and download a sample of the book. That Which is Human is more than just a great Sci-Fi book, it’s a great book full stop! Although this story is set in the future and in outer space, it is not the main focus of the book. The reader could just as easily believe that the events are taking place on board an aircraft carrier serving in the Gulf today. The gritty and realistic terminology used by the author helps to pull the reader into the day to day life on Mac’s ship. The battles and the communications during these scenes are particularly good. The reader has an almost voyeuristic view of the battles as they unfold. This type of detailed writing brings to mind the footage from Desert Storm. I could picture every maneuver, as if I were watching the grainy footage from the battle front itself. It is this realism that makes this tale such an enjoyable and exciting read. However, this book has far more to say about how a man deals with sacrifice, loss, duty and addiction than it does about blowing up aliens. I am sure there are many men, and women serving today, who struggle with the same issues as Mac. Bruce Davis has won himself a new fan with this book. If you’re a Sci-Fi fan, or not, you need to read, That Which is Human. A while back I started a discussion on http://bookblogs.ning.com in regard to eBooks and their place within today’s book market. I must say I was surprised by the level of response. I have read on many websites that the eBook and the iPad will be the great champion of the publishing industry. However, looking at the responses to the eBook discussion, I would say that these sites have overestimated the impact of the iPad on the book industry. I would agree that the eBook may find a larger place within the mainstream market because of the iPad. It may even do for books what iTunes has done for music, but I think it will take time. I still think that the good old fashioned paperback will win out for most people in the end. Based on the responses made by the book lovers on bookblogs, most people still like the feel of a book in their hands. I think the pleasure felt by an individual as they browse through a good book store, feeling the books as they pick them up to read the cover, will be hard to beat. My wife even loves the smell of a new book. No eBook can compete with that! I am a great lover of the eBook, don’t get me wrong. I first discovered them back in the mid-nineties. I have dyslexia and until I bought my first computer and connected to the internet, I struggled with reading. The internet offered me a place to learn, and read at my own pace. One of the consequences of my dyslexia was, I always found going into a book shop or a library very daunting. Then I discovered the Gutenberg Project. This site opened up a whole world of literature to me, and I have not looked back. I personally love the benefit of having hundreds of eBooks on a relatively small digital device, in my case a Kobo. For this reason, I think the eBook may find a niche market for people who travel or wish to have a full library with them at all times. I love the fact that I don’t need to leave the house to buy a good book. I simply go online and choose from the millions of titles available to me. I frequently hunt for books on the net; as a result, I have noticed many small e-publishers springing up. Most seem to be pinning their hopes on the eBook and the iPad. I wonder if these companies will still be here next year. I think most may fold. That being said, there are many great e-publishers out there who offer new authors an opportunity that ordinarily, they would not get. I have read many amazing books that simply would never have seen the light of day if it wasn’t for e-publishing. E-publishing offers a small but vital service to both readers and authors. Whilst I think the iPad will have an impact on increasing eBook sales. I also believe Apple have made the epub file format too hard for the average author and small publisher to produce. My book ‘Enhanced’ has been picked up by an e-publisher, AKW Books. I discussed with them whether or not my book would be available through the iBook store. When they explained the costs involved in placing their publications on iBooks, it soon became apparent that it simply wasn’t viable for them. At least not until iBooks represent a larger share of the market. Another reason I think the eBook will take some time to catch on, is the price. Most books are far too expensive. Once the book has been created all that is needed is a small amount of space on a server, there are no further production costs or shipping costs what so ever. In spite of this many eBooks from mainstream authors are only a few dollars less than their paperback counterparts. This is clearly a rip-off. In my opinion, there is no reason for any eBook to cost more than ten dollars, and in most cases, much less. In conclusion, I think the paperback and hardback is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. However, the eBook has a small but important place in today’s market. What do you think? Well, it’s been nearly three months since my last blog, those of you who follow me on twitter and face book know the reason why. The reason is I’ve been busy working on editing my book with my publisher. That’s right my publisher, you read it right. A few months ago my book was picked up by e-publisher AKW Books, and I’ve been flat out ever since. Some followers have commented on the fact that I’ve removed the sample chapters from my website. The reason for this is simple. The versions on the website were unedited, so they had to go. I should be uploading the first two chapters of the fully edited version soon. Now I would like to tell you about the editing process and how exciting it is. As many of you know I have had dyslexia all my life. So the prospect of working with a professional editor was very daunting to me. I felt that working with a professional would high light all my short comings, and indeed it did. That being said, instead of the realization of my inadequacies being a negative thing, it has turned out to be a positive. Maybe I’ve been lucky in finding the most patient and helpful editor in the world, Al Kalar. Al, has shown me nothing but respect and honesty. He has gone out of his way to help and guide me through the whole process. Thanks to his careful and well considered advice, I feel my writing is being shaped into something that I can truly be proud of. Now, when a new section turns up in my inbox needing work, I get a buzz of excitement instead of apprehension. At this point, the book is still at the content edit stage, after which it will go through a copy edit. In short, I’m not sure how much longer it will be until it’s available. I would like to thank you all for your support and kind words, until next time, stay tuned. Akwbooks.com It’s been a week, since I received my first shipment from Lulu and sales are going well. Up to now all the feedback about the book has been positive, which is a relief. As I have said in previous blogs the reasons behind writing this book were not financial, I merely wanted to see if I could write a book that made sense and that people would enjoy. So with that in mind the next few weeks will be the most exciting for me as I start to get feedback on what people really think of the book. Those of you who have downloaded my book and enjoyed it, hated it or discarded it after a few chapters. Please contact me with your opinions; I would like to hear them. A few days ago I received an email from Lulu informing me that the thirty books I have ordered are on their way! I must say that I am very impressed with lulu’s turnaround times. I placed my order on the Sunday and by the Wednesday the books had been mailed. During the process of getting my book to print, I visited many of the well known self publishing companies that can easily be found on the internet. Lulu, in my opinion, offers the easiest step by step setup for writers to use. Once you have decided what type of book it is you wish to produce, Lulu guides you through each stage of creating your finished product. You can find templates on the Lulu’s web site which makes it easy to format your text to the correct book size; there is even an easy to use cover creation wizard. The only advice I would offer in reference to the word templates is this. Change the font from its default, which is, Garamond 12, to Palatino Linotype 11. I found that when I received my first proof copy of my book, which was printed in Garamond 12, it was little hard to read. In my second proof copy, I changed the font to Palatino Linotype 11and it was much crisper and easier to read. All in all, I am very pleased with the service they offer. You may all be thinking that I’m on lulu’s pay roll, singing their praises the way I am, but no. I just think that if you wish to self publish then give Lulu a go. The entire cost to me for creating this book, other than the costs involved in buying them, was $12. The $12 was the cost for buying the copy right to the images used on my cover. So, if you are willing to take a little time then I believe almost anyone could produce a professional looking book at lulu. That's it, I’m finished! The book is finally fully proof read and edited, thanks to my beautiful wife Michelle. I have ordered thirty copies for my friends and family in Australia to buy at cost, I would give the book away if I could afford it, but alas, I can’t. I have sunk many hours into this book, and whilst it may not be perfect, I think it is still a really good read. If you are a lover of fast paced action filled books, then this one is for you, it will keep you on the edge of your seats! | AuthorI have had Dyslexia all my life, because of this reading and writing has always been a challenge for me. A few years ago I decided to push myself to my limits and write a book. That book ‘Enhanced’ is now finished and is about to be published. This journey has been long and rewarding, and finally the finishing line is in sight. ArchivesOctober 2010 Categories |
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