The Deliverers Sounds Great

I'm writing today with good news. The audio version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel was released today on Audible.com! It's been a long process which began in the middle of September, but along the way, but I've learned a lot and made a great friend in narrator Jimm Singer.

The audio book is currently available at Audible.com. In the next few days, it will also be released on Amazon and iTunes. The cost is $19.95 for the 5 hour 17 minute production. Please check it out and tell your friends.

A Writer's Week #53: Trying to Make My Goal

This week was another typical one for me, one I'm sure that you experience rather frequently as well--busy. There wasn't a whole lot of time for me to do the things I really needed to do writing-wise. Naturally, I was worried that I would not be able to hit my weekly writing goal of 2,000 words.

Now if you think about it, that is not a very aggressive goal. It's less than 300 words a day. But it's really all I can realistically hope for on average these days with everything else I've got going on in my life. Some weeks, I find myself scrambling to reach it. Like this week.

The weekend was busy, so no writing was done there. Then on Monday, I figured I'd get to work setting up my author blog. Cyber dunce that I am, I wasted a lot of time on a technical glitch (that I'm still waiting for blogger to clear up--sigh), which resulted in me using two evenings that could have been spent writing trying to figure things out. Oh well. Although the domain issues have not been hammered out, I have made great strides in setting up the new site and it's looking pretty good. 

That left just Wednesday and Thursday evening for me to get some writing done. Suddenly my 300 words a night had shot to 1,000. Oh boy, now I was in trouble. Luckily, I have a very understanding wife who let me hole myself up in our room for two nights to write. Then again, after hearing me growl at my computer for two nights while I struggled with the site, maybe she was happy to be rid of me...

Anyway, in spite of things, I managed to write 2,100 words. The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang now stands at a little over 6,900 words, which is five chapters and 30 pages. It's coming along very nicely, I must say.

My other projects are still in their holding patterns. I had been hoping that the audio book version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel would have been released by now. However, it has to go through a stringent review process before ACX releases it, and my book is not the only one they're getting ready to release, so that makes for a longish wait. I'll let you know as soon as it's released. Who knows, maybe that will be next week! I hope you have a great one.

A Writer's Week #52: Getting Ready to Soar

Let's see, where to start? This has been a very productive week. First off, I was able to donate $100 to  my local Salvation Army. If you remember in November I pledged to donate 50 cents for every book I sold online and a dollar for every book I sold in person during the last two months of the year. Thank you to everyone who purchased a book for Christmas and holiday gifts! The funds I donated were used to help bring Christmas gifts to needy children.

This week, I also launched my own publishing imprint. All of my future books will be published by White Owl Manuscripts, not Createspace. Createspace will act as printer and distributor. White Owl is now listed as publisher of the Kindle version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. With that in mind, I have designed my own logo. You can see it at the left.

Now that White Owl Manuscripts is off the ground, and with the upcoming release later this year of my second book, I'm going to be assessing this blog. I'm thinking about renaming it and switching the domain to my own name. This would give me more flexibility the more titles I release and if (when) I start writing other genres.

Okay, enough of the business stuff. This was also a great week for writing. I left my weekly writing goal of 2,000 words far behind. I wound up writing 3,100 words. The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang is progressing nicely. I'm at 4,800 words, which gets me up to 22 pages and into chapter 4. At this point of the story, Eric and company have been given their Assignment and been sent through the door to yet another world that needs their help. Eric has also had a chat with the Gatekeeper, who has some troublesome information for him.

As for the other projects I've got going on, there's nothing to report on the audio book front. Jimm and I are still waiting for ACX to complete their review process. I'm guessing they'll release it sometime next week, but don't know for sure.

As for The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion, I'm waiting on my test readers and my art department (a/k/a Daniel Vogel) before I can move forward. I'm champing at the bit, but know that patience is a virtue, so I'll keep smiling and waiting. I'll let you know what happens next week!

A Writer's Week #50: It's a Wrap

This week was both satisfying and frustrating. It was satisfying because production has finally wrapped on the audio book version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. Narrator Jimm Singer had delivered the final chapter to me early last week, and I've been spending the time since then listening and relistening to the entire production looking for any audio typos--missed words or phrases.

Meanwhile, Jimm was conducting some quality of his own, making sure the audio quality was consistent throughout, and that the chapter headings and the spacing at the end of each chapter was consistent with ACX's guidelines. Jimm even went so far as to rerecord some parts of both the beginning and the end of the book that he was not satisfied with, even though they sounded fine to me. He was right--the end result was even better!

In the end, I think the extra time we took on the book will be well worth it. I can't stress Jimm's professionalism and talent enough. He was a pleasure to work with, and I recommend him to any of you out there who have a book and are looking for someone to bring it to life as an audio book--especially if you have a lot of different characters. I'm looking forward to working with him on the audio version of The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion when the book is published.

Now, the book is in ACX's hands. It will take two to three weeks for them to do a final quality control check, process it, and release it on Audible.com, Amazon, and iTunes. I'll be sure to let you all know when it's out.

Meanwhile, my test readers are looking over the next book, The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion. I've already received some valuable feedback, and am looking forward to more by the end of the month. After that, I'll make whatever changes are in order and then send it over to Ana Vogel to be laid out.

Ana's son, Daniel, is working on the cover, the map and one or two other illustrations as we speak. I'm hoping he'll get the cover squared away while he's on Christmas break. Right now, I'm still on track for a March release date, but we'll have to see. Ana's pregnant and due in February, so that might have an impact on when the book is ready to go.

After kicking some ideas back and forth, and writing a notebook full of notes, I believe I am almost ready to start writing the third book. I really like the idea. Eric, Stig, Kate and Hallo are sent on an Assignment in an island world, called the Dragon Islands. They have to help get things back on track there, and they're also alerted to a problem in the Hallway of Worlds which is hinted at in the second book.

The working title for the third book is The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang. It's funny that it took me almost a year to come up with the title of the second book, but that the title for the third came upon me soon after I had the idea for the book. Anyway, I plan to start writing next week. I don't know if I'll get 2,000 words in next week with Christmas and all, but that will be my weekly goal going forward.

While we're on the subject, and since I'm not planning to post again until the 26th, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and/or happy holiday. My you be blessed with peace and joy both now and in the coming year. Count your blessings, and take time to tell those in your life that you love them. God bless, and I'll let you know how things are coming along next week!

A Writer's Week #45: Heading Into the Holidays With a Thankful Heart

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is now less than a week away, and we'll soon be (if we haven't been already) launched into the holiday season. I don't know where the year has gone, but I do know that I have a whole lot to be thankful for--a healthy, happy family; good friends; a good job that I enjoy; and lots of good news on the writing front.

With that in mind, I've decided to give 50 cents for every copy of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel sold online between now and the end of the year to the Salvation Army. I will also donate $1.00 for every copy of the book that I sell in person. So far, I'll be donating $6 at the end of the year. I'd love to be able to donate at least $50. The Deliverers makes a great gift for the young readers in your life, so pick up a copy or two and help support a great organization at the same time.

Production continues on the audio book version of Sharky and the Jewel. Narrator Jimm Singer says recording could be finished by the end of this weekend, then I'll be giving the whole book a final listen. After I give my approval, ACX will prep it for release on Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes. If all goes according to plan, it could be out as early as the first week in December. I'll keep you updated.

The editing of The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion is moving along. I've edited 195 of 265 pages. Once I get done with the first editing pass, I'll go back and make the bigger changes--fixing or deleting scenes that don't work, and any other large changes that I think may be needed. So far, I've identified only two or three areas that need to be shored up, which is great. I was worried there would be more. We'll see how the last 70 pages go.

Artwork for The Deliverers 2 is progressing as well. Daniel Vogel has sent me a rough layout of the cover, and is working on a drawing of the crystal lion. I think the cover concept is good, and I'm looking forward to a final rough with some color.

All this means that I'm on track for an end of February, beginning of March release. I'll be off work for the last week of November, so I'm looking forward to being able to devote a lot of time to these projects. I'll let you know how I'm getting on next week. Until then, may you and your family and friends have a happy, safe Thanksgiving!

A Writer's Week #39: Moving Right Along

Well hello there everyone. I hope you're all well as we find ourselves squarely in the fall season. For many of us, temperatures and leaves are falling, and some are even seeing (shudder) snow! For me, even though the seasons are changing, one thing seems to remain constant--I'm still writing The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion.

Chazum Warrior Sketch

I was hoping the first draft would be finished by now, but the ending is unfolding a little differently that what I had originally envisioned, with a couple little unexpected plot twists and turns. I believe this is good, but won't be sure until I go back and read it all after I've finished the first draft. The immediate result is that it's taken me a little longer to finish than I thought. The good thing is that I'm not stuck, and everything is moving right along.

That really seems to be this week's writing theme. Everything in Deliverers Land is moving forward, which is good. I managed to write 2,600 words this week. This brings the total word count up to 52,800 words, 57 chapters and 232 pages. So, the book is going to be drawing to a close within a couple of weeks. I know I keep saying that, but eventually it will happen, right?

Anyway, Daniel Vogel, the young artist who did the map and cover for The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel recently sent me a conceptual sketch of a Chazum warrior from the new book. It looks pretty good. These guys are great. They're people who have had lion genes spliced into their DNA--against their will. This makes them well suited to be fighters. The rest of their society, called the Vynistri, looks down on them as less than human. Of course they're not, and that forms part of the problem that Eric and company are sent to address.

On another front, the audio book version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel is also moving right along. This week, voice actor Jimm Singer uploaded the first finished 18 minutes of the audio book on to ACX. It really sounds fantastic. This is the first step on the road to completing the audio book.

The next milestone is the entire book. The due date for that is mid-November. In between now and then, Jimm and I will be communicating back and forth as he sends me rough chapters to get my feedback. I'm really excited to hear his interpretation of the characters. I've heard all four of The Deliverers from his audition, and you're really going to love them. In the coming month I'll be bringing you a couple snippets to listen to. Toward the end of this month I'll be doing a first for this blog--a podcast interview with Jimm Singer.

Now in honor of the fact that I'm moving forward with these projects, here's a fun song from the original Muppet Movie entitled (no surprise) Moving Right Along.

A Writer's Week #36: Listen for The Deliverers on Audio Book

We may not realize it, but we live in a great age. Technology has opened up new opportunities in every facet of our culture. This is especially true for all of us who write. When I came up with the idea for The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel almost ten years ago, there was one way to get published--try to get an agent or a publisher to notice you, become interested in your manuscript, and publish your book. Or you could go the vanity publisher route. You know, pay thousands of dollars to a company to print hundreds of copies of your book for you so that you could store them in your garage and sell them out of the back of your car.

Well, times have changed. For one thing, I turned my garage into a bedroom and a bathroom. For another, print on demand (POD) came along, meaning you no longer have to lay out any cash at all to have your book published. Then along came Createspace, which gave you an instant sales platform on Amazon and Kindle (oh yeah--e-books were another big development).

Is it a perfect situation for writers? No. But every month new things come down the pike which make it better and better. Like Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), for example. It gives authors, narrators and producers a chance to connect and produce professional audio books. You can either pay the narrator a negotiated hourly rate or you can partner with a narrator for no initial cost and split all royalties 50-50. Royalties start at 50% of the purchase price, so that means the author and narrator each get 25%. Not a bad deal. You get full creative control. The key is to find a narrator who's talented and easy to work with.

So that's what I decided to do. For the last week and a half, I've been auditioning narrators to produce an audio book version of The Deliverers. I used Chapter 9 of the book as the audition script, and received a number of audition files and they were all good in their way. However, one stood out. I listened to it a bunch of times, had my wife listen to it, had people at work listen to it, and they all liked it. There were a couple little tweaks that I thought needed to be done, so I asked him if he could incorporate those into another audition. He was very accommodating and made the changes.

In fact, Jimm is very easy to communicate with and extremely professional. So, I submitted an offer to him. Before accepting, he wanted to be sure that I was willing to communicate with him--by phone if need be--if he had a question or needed to talk through anything during production. That told me that I had made a good decision. So, the narrator is going to be Jimm Singer, a professional narrator, actor and voice over performer with over 15 years' experience.

Needless to say, this is very cool. I never dreamed that I'd be able to make an audio version of The Deliverers. This gives me access to an entirely new market and revenue stream. This will be the perfect thing for children going on long car rides, for teachers to use as a tool in their class rooms, and for those children who are visually impaired. I am very excited.

The audio book should be out around December and will be available on Audible.com, Amazon, and iTunes. I'll be giving you updates as I receive them. I should be receiving the first 15 minutes in a couple of weeks, and I'll let you know how it sounds and what the editing process is like.

Oh dear, I've rambled on again. Blogging 101 says that posts should be short and sweet. It's hard, though, when you're writing about something so cool. Anyway, during all this hubbub, I still managed to get some writing done. I did not make my 2,000 word weekly goal, but at 1,800 words I came close. That puts The Deliverers 2 at 46,200 words and 205 pages. This book is going to be more pages than the last one, but will probably be the same number of words, because the chapters are shorter and more numerous--52 right now compared to only 27 for the last one.

The plan is to have this first draft finished by the end of the month, then begin rewriting and editing. I'm shooting to have it out in January some time, but it may not be until March, depending on the artwork. I'll check in next week to let you know how things are going.