A prophecy taunts the proprietor of a little bar, until he can’t take it anymore. Mayhem ensues.
Prophecy by Barlight is out, and available for this weekend only at 99 cents.
After this weekend it will go up to $2.99.
So get it while it’s HOT!
Prophecy by Barlight is a comedic tale about a barkeep, and his desire to get rid of a prophecy. He’s willing to go to some extremes to do it, too.
It’s been a while since I shared my word count.
You can see the steady rise of daily word counts. I went from an average of 200 in February to 500 in April. I’m pushing that even higher this month.
What I’ve noticed….
When I finished a big project (in this case, Osiren’s Tears) I had a sharp drop off in word counts because I ended up spending a lot of time doing edits, cover design, formatting and the other “boring” parts of self publishing. I also had no idea where to start on the 20 projects I have lined up.
When I got a new idea the words just flew out of my finger tips. I ended up with two days over 2000+ words because of two great little ghost story ideas. Similarly, back in March I had a 1000+ day because of a brand new Sci-fi idea that I am still working out the kinks for.
Good news, I’m getting faster. Bad news, I’m going to have to spend a few more days here and there ironing out the “boring” parts of self publishing because I’ll have more content to put out there.
And a teaser for the ghost story….
Prince Ashini must choose between the love of the beautiful goddess, Sekra, and duty to his own people.
Osiren’s Tears is now up on Amazon.
It is priced at $2.99 at the moment.
I might put it up on sale this weekend for 99 cents. I still have to figure out about marketing before I do that.
However, I am going to be moving this to $4.99 next month. It’s a full length book, after all.
There is a sample available on Amazon. You can read most of the first chapter there. Try it before you buy it.
A week ago I wrote about Garrett, Zack and Cristal calling me out to be the first to send a voicemail into their show. So… here it is: (the voicemail)
You should definitely watch the whole show. It was very interesting, and had a lot less spoilers then last weeks show.
“Happy little accidents” is from Bob Ross, a man who use to paint on PBS from who I learned a lot of my landscape painting skills, and mainly just to get out and enjoy the act of making art. (Bob Ross Remix)
I was never actually able to paint along with Bob Ross, but I did learn that sometimes the simplest things were enough to make art beautiful. It only takes a little bit of paint to get the point across.
Another concept cover for Osiren’s Tears
On that note, I have been really toying with the new cover of Osiren’s Tears, and I haven’t really liked anything yet. I am trying to convey a lot of information with it (fantasy, series, war, etc) and I decided to try something a little simpler.
I am not sure this is the final version, but I like this one a lot more then other versions.
The book was suppose to be at the editors right now, however… I got sick. She was nice enough to postpone it for a week while I catch up on my edits. I still have four chapters that I need to finish up before I can send it to her. A chapter a night and I should be able to have an actual publication in just a couple more weeks.
I really hate postponing yet again, but I honestly couldn’t move or stay awake while I was sick. So I am just going to have to put my nose to the grindstone again and get this thing finished.
I think you know you’re starting to get serious about something when your excuses start annoying you, even if they are valid excuses.
Three flash fiction stories. “Beware the Werewolf”, “Chimera” and “Griffins Flight”
I just finished “Chimera”, the third story in Small Bites.
Now it’s off to be edited so that I can put the first of the books up.
There will be four of them, each for .99 cents, each with three really short stories. Then I will do the full “Small Bites” with all twelves stories as one $3.99 offering, and raise the singles to $2.99.
In other news, “Osiren’s Tears” is well on it’s way to completion. I am in the process of finding an editor. It is almost 30,000 words long and definitely needs an edit before I put it out.
This will be my first full length book out. It will be at $3.99 I think. But once I have it up I will also start offering some KDP select free books, so look for that soon as well.
A wayward wizard left an irksome prophecy blazing from the walls of “The Drunken Unicorn”. For more then a century it’s been the center of many a drunken bards song, and Galdris is tired of it. He’ll do anything to get rid of it.
This is just the preliminary picture for the cover of “Osiren’s Tears”, which I’m writing for NaNoWriMo.
It is a photo minip, and some airbrushing. Meant to show the first troll cresting the mountains. Here they will descend into the valley where the menaids are setting up their own defenses and the battle between the first races will begin.
When you pick up a book the first thing that catches your eye is the cover art, and the title. If these two things do not apeal to you then it is less likely for you to read the blurb on the back, or take a moment to read the first couple of pages.
The art should reflect, and work well with, the title.
It is incredibly easy to get actual, profesional cover art for your book that there is absolutly no excuse to use a big red box with letters on it, unless your story is about a big red box. I know you drew it yourself, but if it doesn’t give me an idea of what is in the book. I will probably pass it up for something a bit shinier on the outside.
They say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but really, most people do. The cover of your book is the very first impression anyone gets of it. They look at the cover and say ‘oh, spaceships’ or ‘a river, must be about a camping trip’, or magic, or sex. Really, your cover art sells the theme of your story.
Coverart can be aquired through the many thousands of artists that frequent Deviant Art, freelance forums, or even Reddit. There are even premade, free, covers on Deviant Art already ready for your use. Many artists only want a free e-book for their troubles. Others, the ones who actually make a living from their art, or are trying to just like you are trying to make a living from your writing, will sell you a cover. (Please remember to always contact the artist, read their rules, ask and/or let them know, BEFORE you use their art.)
The second thing people will look at is the title.
Titles are often based on something important to the story.
Pick out the things that are the most important in your story. People, places, subject. Now brainstorm around those themes. It always helps to have something that is in the same tone as your book. Scary for horror, funny for a comedic piece, futuristic for a sci-fi.
Sometimes the title seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the story, such as “A Clockwork Orange” or “To Kill a Mockingbird”. If the title is off beat enough it may draw someones attention enough to get them to read the preview, like “The Universe Doesn’t Give A Flying Fuck About You” (which is a motivational, surprisingly.)
Covers and titles are almost as important as the first page. If they look at the cover and it doesn’t grab their attention long enough to get them to pick it up and read that first paragraph (or online click the ‘see inside’ button) then it never gets out the door.
Author Crissy Moss 