SENTINEL 555: AIR

SENTINEL 555: AIR

In Madison’s last visit to the ancient city, she encountered a man. More surprising was what he lacked on his face…. He wore no mask. A hundred years since the Great Disaster and he not only lived beyond infancy, but he breathed the air. No one breathed free air anymore at the risk of dying cancerous and crazed. Nothing of value is free—not the water, not the land, not the food… …and certainly not the air.  (Coming...

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We Can Go Back

We Can Go Back

Magic doesn’t have to belong only to those born with it. Technology was meant to level the playing field. But the efforts fell short and countless unborn babies exposed to the serum were born with a strange mutation. They possessed magic but the appetite of animals. They were cast underground but heightened rejuvenation kept them alive for one hundred years until the people to reject them suffered a great catastrophe of their own. Mutants crawled to the surface in droves but not all came with good intent. And this time they can’t simply be brushed aside....

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How To Make A Hardcover, And Why You Probably Won’t

How To Make A Hardcover, And Why You Probably Won’t

In self-publishing, there are several ways to go about making a hardcover of your book. I haven’t tried them all, but I will mention the ones I know thus far. I will talk about three ways to go about it, two are paid, and one is “free.” To be perfectly honest, none are free* really, but we’ll get into that. The process to get a hardcover is a bit cumbersome and in that regard, many might give up before achieving it. Let’s start with formatting. The good thing about hardcovers is that you can be a bit more liberal about the formatting. Use the 6×9 inch...

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No, I don’t wanna read your damn manuscript!

It happens, either you decide to be nice and read someone’s draft, or worst yet, a family member who you ‘lub’ has asked you to look at it. It’s the next Game of Thrones, right? Only if that throne was a toilet. But how do you convey that this, you friend’s life’s work, is pretty…poop-ridden? How do you give good enough feedback to help him/her polish that turd? And why the hell did you even agree in the first place!? Firstly, calm down. There’s good news: you are NOT responsible for this draft, no matter what you tell yourself. You are...

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You’re A Bad Writer If…

Self-doubt comes with the territory as a writer. It’s always there in the back of every aspiring writer’s mind. And success doesn’t necessarily dash that all away. So how can you tell if you are an awful writer? Easy. Here are six things to look out for. #6 You’re happy with your writing…. That is not to say that you shouldn’t be happy with what you write, of course you should…to some degree. Having a critical (and sometimes perfectionist) nature means that you are trying to improve and polish your skills. It’s never good enough. It could...

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Nobody Likes Your (Perfect) Character.

Many components go into making a story (any story, any length, and any topic). One of the hardest and most important things to do is get a character that’s going to interest your reader and/or guide them through your story. Perhaps that difficulty is why it’s not always a given that the characters hit the mark. Here are some pitfalls to watch out for. DEPRESSED Characters These characters are actually interesting in real life, but bad in print. Yes, some people can write them well, but the problem lies in the fact that no one wants to spend 300 pages listening to someone whine...

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Formatting That Effing ebook

For self-publishing, there are a lot of unpleasant things, i.e. formatting things yourself. While I will admit that I hired someone to format the book for createspace, I did the formatting for the eBook myself. Some charged from $100 to $200. Others won’t charge more than $40. With the BS I went through going it alone, I have to say $100 is too cheap. It took me 5 hours. The original tutorial is here, and the videos here (1-3), but I felt he was a bit too wordy. So here is everything recapped KISS style. Some of this is copied directly from the tutorial website. Save yourself 4 1/2 hours....

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Why are freelance editors so awful?

It’s my firm belief that evil does exist, and there is a VERY slight difference between innocence and evil. Innocence is when you do something without knowledge, good or bad. Should a child crack an egg in your shoe, he’s really innocent. He doesn’t know any better. Should that child crack that egg while having a solid FIRM understanding that it is morally wrong, that little **** is evil. Indie Editors, you’re nearly all that same little ****, in other words, I find the majority of you to be evil. Here are 6 types of evil editors. And it must be 6 because otherwise,...

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