I have a confession to make: I already took one review copy (Edge of Oblivion), but I couldn’t resist snagging this one, too. I picked it up and meant to page through it to pass the time before the auction, but then I could not put it down. The opening lines beat out a hypnotic rhythm….
Print-on-Demand Formatting for Better Royalties
CreateSpace is one of the most popular POD (print-on-demand) choices for self-publishing authors and small presses. Each time a book is ordered through Amazon or another retailer, CreateSpace prints the book and ships it. Each month, CreateSpace sends the author accrued royalties, after it takes its printing and distribution costs. The author doesn’t need to…
Story up at Perihelion! “Equations in the Mirror”
My science fiction story “Equations in the Mirror” is up at Perihelion Science Fiction. This is one of the few stories that ever required me to whip out a calculator (another is Ayema’s Fleet in the Battlespace Military Science Fiction anthology) and was based on a number of cool medical techniques I’d learned about. Being…
Fair Trade Friday post at the Amani Blog!
From my posts this month, you might assume I had done nothing but read and review books. You wouldn’t be far wrong. One of my internships has wrapped up, but I’m keeping up with the second–a part-time arrangement with the Fair Trade store Amani DC–for some outside the house occupation during my job search. The…
WisCon Rapidfire Book Reviews #3: Edge of Oblivion by J.T. Geissinger
Among the delights of WisCon was the cardboard box of free review copies in the lobby. Diving in among them, I read the back cover copy of this ARC and snagged it, always one to enjoy the occasional romance. I was expecting fantasy in a historical setting, only to find paranormal romance instead. Paranormals aren’t…
WisCon Rapidfire Book Review #2: A Stranger on Olondria by Sofia Samatar
Another one of the books I discovered through WisCon–in fact, I discovered Stranger in Olondria through the little sampler pamphlets Small Beer Press handed out out at WisCon 2012. This was daring promotional tactic–because the first 50 pages of this story don’t have much of the plot, though they gave a flavor for style. The style intrigued me enough that…
September Publications: Scigentasy and Voluted Tales
Happy Labor Day to those of you celebrating it! I’m at this moment not quite employed enough to, but I do have some exciting writing announcements. First, Silver Chests and Plain Sight has been reprinted at Voluted Tales. Half-detective story, it may have been influenced by Peter Tremayne’s delightful medieval monastic mysteries–although my cleric happens…
WisCon Rapidfire Book Review #1: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
Life is busy, what with the move, the job search, and the Starter Guide, but it’s unfair of me to hold off on these reviews any longer. So: a RAPID FIRE ROUND shall commence, where I give you my thoughts on the books I discovered at WisCon this May in a few hundred words each….
Say Yes! Women’s Crowdfunding Campaign
I am not done with blogging about crowdfunding, it seems. Today my Fair Trade Friday post up at the Amani DC page is dedicated to an awesome new campaign which combines ecofriendly ‘upcycling’ (recycling in a way that creates a product with greater value than the original) with women’s empowerment by supporting refugees in the…
Anatomy of Successful Crowdfunding (or, How I made 700% of my Kickstarter goal despite a godawful cover image)
What makes a successful crowdfunding project? Any number of things, I’m sure. That’s the good news. A campaign doesn’t need to be 100% successful on all fronts to make its funding goal, it just needs to do enough things well enough. But a lot rides on certain key choices you make for your campaign. In…