Thursday 20 May 2010

Self Publishing and Ebooks - Update

I experimented last night with some of the free software I was given links to by Fifobooks to convert a standard manuscript into an ebook format. And, after a bit of tweaking about on my computer, I found it quite easy to use.

So far so good.

The next step is to go through the manuscript I am considering to use and give it a thorough proof read. It shouldn't be too bad, but you can never proof read enough. It's so easy for something to slip through.

The novel I am thinking about using is Sendings. I have made the Prologue available on this blog. Sendings

More later.

4 comments:

  1. I seem to have missed The Return, but decided to look around.

    Sendings gets off to a good start. You do seedy pub regulars well; it's almost a David Riley trademark. But maybe you need to insert a line about the Health & Safety obsessives not often reaching this neck of the woods (that thick cloud of now-illegal cigarette smoke).

    The description of Fenton House is deliciously creepy.

    Proofreading nitpicks: Should "A sick ferrets" have an apostrophe?

    And "As if almost put off by the brusqueness of Teb's reply" seems a bit 'polite'.

    "Where several had rusted" - insert 'uprights'?

    "...staring at him." - how about 'It appeared to be staring at him'? It's dark, after all.

    Enjoyed it.

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  2. Many thanks for that, Cal. That was just the kind of "nitpicking" I was hoping for. I have already corrected the manuscript in line with them. Thank you again!

    "You do seedy pub regulars well; it's almost a David Riley trademark."

    The result of a misspent youth, I'm afraid. Up until getting married at the age of 32 I spent far too much time in that kind of company. Ah, the nostalgia!

    I'm glad you're enjoying it. I could put more - or even the rest of it on the blog - if there is enough interest.

    David

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  3. Thanks, David.

    I was a little unsure about posting, especially as your wife is already acting proofreader; but I guess we all want feedback. And personally I haven't been able to provide much of that to anyone for a while, so finally I started browsing. I found your link at the Vault's workshop - too late to find The Return, but I kept looking.

    I want to take another look at Goblin Mire. I downloaded part of it ages ago, but only a little over 1300 words - though I'm sure I'd read more of it online, possibly at your shop's site.

    I think your writing will always engender interest, and personally I think it's useful keeping 'tasters' out there on any number of sites - though visit too many sites and it takes too much time, so can be counter-productive. (I've followed and read one of your links on e-publishing.)

    I do wonder why you simply don't find a good online publisher and simply put a novel out in hard copy. I for one would buy it, as I've bought others. It might not make a mint, but your name and reputation for horror fiction is well known.

    Rog

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  4. Hi Rog,

    Again many thanks for your comments. They are really appreciated.

    I have added a few more chapters to Sendings - and will continue to do so as I work my way through the mss.

    I am looking into get some of my novels available in one form or another. My trouble is that I have more interest in writing than in marketing. Especially as experience has shown me that sending works like these off to publishers involves a wait of at least six months before getting a reject letter. After doing this a couple of times I'm afraid my enthusiasm to send any particular novel off again has wained to zero, especially as by this stage my interest has been diverted to writing something new.

    David

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