Tag Archives: epublishing

October 1, 2011 · 9:45 pm

Tales of the Whispering Mad and the Mis-Dead: Now in Paperback!

You may remember that I have a book, which is available on the Kindle.

Now, everytime I tell people that I have a book and it’s only on the Kindle, they tell me, “But I don’t have a Kindle.” To which I respond, “Then buy a Kindle and then buy my book!” This never goes over well.

So! I’ve come up with a solution. You can now buy my book IN PAPERBACK. No ereaders required, you just go online, order the book and it arrives in the mail, in paper form. Truly, a miracle in modern technology.

Go HERE to buy my book in dead tree form.

Go HERE to buy my book in electronic radioactive form.

Some day, I might even get around to putting it on the Nook.

Dylan Charles

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August 2, 2011 · 10:28 pm

The Newest Book

Since it’s been a while, let’s talk about the book. No, not that book. The newest one. The one that hasn’t been written yet.

I’m…extremely tentative about this one. I want this one to be perfect.  I want the table of contents to work properly. I want the formatting to sparkle. I don’t want there to be a single typo or blemish. This next book feels…important. And, if I know anything about me, I shy away from all things important.

Important decisions are to be put off to the last minute. Important events must be ignored until the day they happen, at which point one must sprint through them as briskly as humanly possible. Important emotions must be stuffed into a little box, covered with cement and then buried six feet under ground.

So I’m a little daunted by this book, is what I’m saying. I have five of the six stories that I need, because (as previously mentioned) six is a good number. And the other five stories are in need of some serious work. Well, two need serious work, two need massive overhauls and the fifth is fine. And the sixth I just started writing last night.

So it’ll be a while before the book comes out, assuming that I can get over being daunted and overwhelmed by the sheer importance of this project. This book means something to me, more than the last. The stories in my first book are part of before. I think they’re good horror and I think you should buy the book and read them, if that’s your thing.

But the stories in the next book haven’t ever been seen before. They’re new, both to me and you. They’re something I’ve never done before. They’re part of a continuous universe, a whole world that I’ve been creating over the last six months and still creating. As I type this, I’m expanding the world a little more, going beyond the boundaries I set in the first five stories.

So, I hope you enjoy it when it comes out, because these might be the best stories I’ve ever written.

So far.

Dylan Charles

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July 1, 2011 · 10:49 am

Marketing

I’ve never been good at self-marketing. When I had to write the description for my book, I got hung up and spent at least three days agonizing over it. Now I have to write a biography for my author page on Amazon and I’m, once again, stuck on what I’m supposed to say. I’ve somehow got to package myself in a way that makes people say, “Hey now, this chap seems to produce good works. I wish to buy the entirety of everything that he creates. Pip pip!”

Unfortunately, the sum total of my marketing ability seems to be, “Buy my book!” And even in that, I feel reluctant. What if I’m pushing my book too much? What if I just end up driving people away with my constant shilling? My god, what if the book isn’t really good enough to sell?

It’s times like these that I wish have someone else to sell my book for me, someone with reach and connections and all that jazz. Since I’m left to my own devices, it’s my own drive that determines how well this turns out. And that’s a terrifying notion.

In the end, it will be me, from one end of the process to the other, from the writing to the editing to the publishing, that determines my own success and failure. And as scary as that is, it’s preferable to the alternative. I want to be in control, I want to be the determining factor in my own life.

So I will.

Dylan Charles

Also, you should buy my book, if you haven’t already. And, if you have, consider reviewing it on Amazon.

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June 26, 2011 · 9:57 pm

Do-It Yourself Publishing

Since finishing my book, I’m feeling reinvigorated about writing.

For a long while, I’ve been waiting for some kind of validation. I’ve been waiting for someone to tell me, “Ah-ha! You’ve reached the point where you’re a writer. Congratulations!”

But this time, I said to hell with it and just put it all together and sent it out into the world. And while this isn’t as satisfying as having someone else confirm how awesome I am, there’s still something to be said for pulling myself up by my own bootstraps and getting it done on my own.

And that has given me the boost I need to keep writing and to keep moving forward. It doesn’t matter that the whole ePublishing thing nearly made me pull out all of my own hair. I feel energized, like I could take on anything. So I’ve immediately started working on my next book.

I hope you’re ready for it, cause I sure am.

Dylan Charles

Speaking of my book, go buy my book! Please.

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June 25, 2011 · 8:24 pm

Tales of the Whispering Mad and the Mis-Dead

After months of (sporadic) work, it’s done. The book is done.

You can read it on the Kindle.

You can read it on your computer.

You can read it on your iPad or your iPhone.

Fact is, you can read my book for the low, low price of $2.99. It’s at LEAST an hour’s worth of entertainment; even more if you’re a slow reader. And it’s riproaring good fun.

So buy my book. And when you’re done, tell other people to check it out too. Cause, here’s the deal: ya’ll are my advertising, every last one of you. And the more people who buy this book, the more likely it is that I can do this fulltime and put out another, even better book much sooner.

And if horror’s not your thing, tell that friend you have who digs horror. You all have that one friend who watches the Friday the 13th movies way too much or who REALLY digs Clive Barker. Tell them about Tales of the Whispering Mad and the Mis-Dead. Spread the word, tell your friends. Blog reviews. Tweet the links.

Go forth my minions and spread the gospel!

And read my book.

Dylan Charles

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June 24, 2011 · 5:55 am

The Panic Horizon

The closer I reach a deadline, the more I start to implode. I begin to notice a thousand different things that are going wrong.

I notice the spelling, the font is too large, the lines are spaced too far apart, the link in the table of contents aren’t working, the title isn’t centered, there are too many spaces after the period in the second story, the spaces aren’t showing up in the third story, where did the italics go, the program doesn’t recognize the table of contents, this story really isn’t that good, oh god why did I decide to do this!?

I become so broken down and worked up and on edge that I want to throw the computer out the window. And then, shortly after that, myself. This is how it’s always been for major projects, whether it’s school papers or movie reviews 0r goddamn self-published books.

Now, after a certain point I hit the panic horizon. That’s the point at which I stop caring and I just want it done. It’s a last minute dash where I throw out all concern. Who cares that the book is smooshed together in an unreadable lump of terrible font? Who cares that the cover looks like it was designed by a three-year-old with no design sense? Who cares that there’s a typo on every page? This needs to be DONE.

But…this project is important, so I can’t, mustn’t let that happen. I must stay focused on making this the best I can get it. Absolutely focused. And I’m getting so close to the end. The book will be ready for tomorrow’s publication date, so I hope you’re ready.

Dylan Charles

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June 23, 2011 · 9:05 pm

A Writer Wearing Many Hats

Self-publishing is not as easy as I was expecting it to be. And I wasn’t really expecting it to be easy. Little obnoxious problems keep cropping up; like GIMP crashing and formatting errors springing up from nowhere and spelling mistakes showing up that I thought I’d hammered out ages ago.

The biggest issue is that I’m not actually doing much in the way of writing. I’ve done a LOT of editing and trimming. I’ve done a lot of research and poking around dingy internet forums looking for the best ways to format a table of contents for a kindle. I’ve been trying to learn a couple of different image editing programs so I could learn how to make my own cover.

It’s a mountain of stuff and I wonder how those people who do this for a living manage it. So many little tasks are demanding my attention right now that I’m being torn six different ways.

Fortunately for you and unfortunately for me and my peace of mind, I’ve gone into stubborn mode and I absolutely refuse to miss this deadline. “Tales of the Whispering Mad and the Mis-Dead” WILL be online this Saturday.

Dylan Charles

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