Do we have any published writers?
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Are you a published writer?
Do we have any published writers?
This is a poll for published writers--whether through an agency or self-published.
If yes, please tell us who published your story so we can read it!
If yes, please tell us who published your story so we can read it!
Re: Do we have any published writers?
I was a feature writer for an outdoors magazine for fifteen years in the bass fishing industry. I resigned last year to finish and self-publish my first sci-fi novel, The Last Human War.
As of this month, it is available through Barnes & Noble in stores or their online sales through their website. It is also being sold directly through my website at a discount:
www.lasthumanwar.com
Side note: I was very disappointed in some errors that slipped past the copy editor's scrutiny. I paid for professional editing, and when I confronted her about the bad proofreading, she admitted that she had been busy and failed to give my book her full attention. She also refunded my payment. Unfortunately, I did not discover her lousy effort until I proofread the finished product myself. So, I apologize for the occasional typo or punctuation mistake that slipped through . . . only 700 more copies to sell and I will have all those annoying errors corrected in the next printing. Fortunately, the story is getting excellent feedback from those who have purchased the book. Here is an example review by the editor of a sci-fi magazine:
http://www.ervin-author.com/recommendedselfpublished.htm
If you enjoy the graphics, back story and support information on the website (be sure to read the backstory and descriptions of the aliens) then please take a moment to leave a comment in the Guestbook. If you send me a private note with your mailing address after purchasing the book and making the comment in the Guestbook, I will send you a free, signed poster featuring the cover art.
Thank you for taking a look!
Dean "NaClmine" Sault
Books scheduled for publication in 2009:
Palace Dawgs (Vietnam war story)
Kids, Pancakes & Sunday Mornings (pancake design cookbook for parents and young children)
Curse of Freedom (working name for sequel to The Last Human War)
Garmar, thank you for the opportunity to talk about my book.
As of this month, it is available through Barnes & Noble in stores or their online sales through their website. It is also being sold directly through my website at a discount:
www.lasthumanwar.com
Side note: I was very disappointed in some errors that slipped past the copy editor's scrutiny. I paid for professional editing, and when I confronted her about the bad proofreading, she admitted that she had been busy and failed to give my book her full attention. She also refunded my payment. Unfortunately, I did not discover her lousy effort until I proofread the finished product myself. So, I apologize for the occasional typo or punctuation mistake that slipped through . . . only 700 more copies to sell and I will have all those annoying errors corrected in the next printing. Fortunately, the story is getting excellent feedback from those who have purchased the book. Here is an example review by the editor of a sci-fi magazine:
http://www.ervin-author.com/recommendedselfpublished.htm
If you enjoy the graphics, back story and support information on the website (be sure to read the backstory and descriptions of the aliens) then please take a moment to leave a comment in the Guestbook. If you send me a private note with your mailing address after purchasing the book and making the comment in the Guestbook, I will send you a free, signed poster featuring the cover art.
Thank you for taking a look!
Dean "NaClmine" Sault
Books scheduled for publication in 2009:
Palace Dawgs (Vietnam war story)
Kids, Pancakes & Sunday Mornings (pancake design cookbook for parents and young children)
Curse of Freedom (working name for sequel to The Last Human War)
Garmar, thank you for the opportunity to talk about my book.
Last edited by NaClmine on Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
Re: Do we have any published writers?
I wouldn't worry about your book having grammar issues. I find them all the time in novels, even best sellers.
Amazingly enough, I can't find them in my writing.
Amazingly enough, I can't find them in my writing.
ebyss- Senior Member
- Posts : 653
Joined : 2009-02-23
Re: Do we have any published writers?
Amazingly enough, I can't find them in my writing.
That's a very common problem. Very obvious stuff in my own writing
Re: Do we have any published writers?
Uhhh . . . when you pay a professional proofreader $600 to clean up your manuscript, you better damn well get your money's worth! I'm still angry at her.
Re: Do we have any published writers?
Side note: I was very disappointed in some errors that slipped past
the copy editor's scrutiny. I paid for professional editing, and when I
confronted her about the bad proofreading, she admitted that she had
been busy and failed to give my book her full attention.
.
Uhhh . . . when you pay a professional proofreader $600 to clean up
your manuscript, you better damn well get your money's worth! I'm still
angry at her
I'd be highly pissed off also. Even though you got your money back you have a book out there in print that you're unhappy with.
And "I was busy" is a lame-ass excuse.
Have you seen some of her other work? I wonder if she just doesn't know. SPaG is a very hard area of writing to master. And if you're in her line of work, you better be a master at it imo.
Re: Do we have any published writers?
No excuse. She actually works for a small local publishing company as a COPY EDITOR! She tried to make a few dollars moonlighting. Unfortunately, demands of three active kids, being president of the PTA, youth program counselor at her church, soccer mom and a few other social commitments conspired to leave her no time. Her "day job" editing is excellent. When she saw the errors that got into print, she was deeply embarrassed and voluntarily refunded my money. She said she knew the editing was not complete but thought I would review her changes before sending the file to the printer. She's right in that regard. Shame on ME for trusting and failing to make a final pass through the book. LESSON LEARNED!!!
The good news is I took one of the printed copies and went through it with a red pen. As soon as this first 1000 copies are gone (actually, I'll do the re-print at 600 books sold) then I can make the corrections and the second printing will not have those annoying issues. Ironically, most readers would not even notice most of the corrections . . . things like having a closing quotation mark at the end of a paragraph where the character continues dialog in the next paragraph. There should NOT be a closing quote mark but no readers I've talked with seem to care. <side prayer> Thank you, Lord, for people who value substance over style! LOL
The good news is I took one of the printed copies and went through it with a red pen. As soon as this first 1000 copies are gone (actually, I'll do the re-print at 600 books sold) then I can make the corrections and the second printing will not have those annoying issues. Ironically, most readers would not even notice most of the corrections . . . things like having a closing quotation mark at the end of a paragraph where the character continues dialog in the next paragraph. There should NOT be a closing quote mark but no readers I've talked with seem to care. <side prayer> Thank you, Lord, for people who value substance over style! LOL
Re: Do we have any published writers?
Oh, I am sorry you paid for it. Sounds like she had to much going on to be moonlighting.
I am happy you got your money back.
I am happy you got your money back.
ebyss- Senior Member
- Posts : 653
Joined : 2009-02-23
Re: Do we have any published writers?
That's cool that you offer chapter five on your website. I'm going to check it out. Tactical war stuff isn't really my forte, but I did enjoy the Star Wars books I've read with General Paleon and Carde and whoever, so I'd probably enjoy your sci-fi too. :)
Last edited by MC on Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
MC- Senior Member
-
Posts : 405
Age : 45
Location : Los Angeles, California
Joined : 2009-02-25
Re: Do we have any published writers?
MC wrote:That's cool that you offer chapter five on your website. I'm going to check it out. Tactical war stuff isn't really my forte, but I did enjoy the Star Wars books I've read with General Paleon and the Carde and whoever, so I'd probably enjoy your sci-fi too. :)
To tell the truth, I probably should not have selected chapter five to represent the book. The story is not just another military sci-fi story full of space battles. It is an intricate tale that weaves three parallel plots into a single climax. From the wedding of two human characters who fall in love, to the brutality of the Heptari culture, to the shrewd anticipation of General Tragge, the book is more about evolution of relationships and growth of the main character, Simon of Striker Twelve, than about a bunch of clashing spaceships. The only reason I chose Chapter 5 for the website is that the cover art is right out of that chapter.
The story uses three different POVs . . . free humans, benevolent aliens from Tanarac, and hard-core militaristic society of Heptari. Different cultures see events from opposite perspectives. For example, Dr. Hadje views captive humans as wards to be protected while the free humans abhor captivity and value their freedom above all else. Along that line, I wrote a wedding scene between the humans, Tai and Kayli. The theme of their nuptuals incorporated surrender of one's personal freedom to each other. Such cultural values provide the setting as Simon matures from the "boomer" on a stripper plow in captivity to become a leader of free humans and the final arbiter of the fate of two races. It is far more than a sock'em, rock'em space battle.
Re: Do we have any published writers?
That does sound like a book I would enjoy. It crosses over several genres and I always love reading a book with the POV of different characters. Thanks for taking the time to share that. I'll definately be looking for your book--and order it if I don't find it. Actually, I think I'll just bug the people at Borders to get it for me if they don't have it stocked. They'll probably buy a few extras for the shelf if I do, right? Just thinking.
MC- Senior Member
-
Posts : 405
Age : 45
Location : Los Angeles, California
Joined : 2009-02-25
Re: Do we have any published writers?
Actually, we don't have a contract with Borders yet. These damn bookstores take up to a year to get a book on their shelves. They have a pretty strict screening process that eliminates lots of books.
As far as Barnes & Noble, I checked in there yesterday and they are sold out. Their first order was too small and gone within two weeks. I'm calling them on Monday to initiate a much larger order as I am about to begin a national marketing effort and they are an important outlet to service that promotion.
Of course, you can always get the book through the website using PayPal . . . besides, it's cheaper for you that way as it is discounted for "direct" sales.
Dean
As far as Barnes & Noble, I checked in there yesterday and they are sold out. Their first order was too small and gone within two weeks. I'm calling them on Monday to initiate a much larger order as I am about to begin a national marketing effort and they are an important outlet to service that promotion.
Of course, you can always get the book through the website using PayPal . . . besides, it's cheaper for you that way as it is discounted for "direct" sales.
Dean
Re: Do we have any published writers?
I've asked for books that Borders didn't stock before and they offered to order them. Wouldn't that be better for your business than me saving a couple of bucks by going direct? They'll assume there's a market for your book in L.A. won't they?
MC- Senior Member
-
Posts : 405
Age : 45
Location : Los Angeles, California
Joined : 2009-02-25
Re: Do we have any published writers?
You're right, and I would certainly appreciate such assistance. I am trying to get B&N up to speed right now and I was going approach Borders in about a month . . . but the sooner the better! LOL
If you do go to Borders, they can find the book in Bowker's Publisher Access system. Bowker administers the ISBN numbers for the publishing industry. They will need title, author, publishing company and ISBN: The Last Human War, D S Sault, American Writers Publishing Company, ISBN is 978-0-9815-1420-8
Thank you so much for your thoughtful offer.
Dean
If you do go to Borders, they can find the book in Bowker's Publisher Access system. Bowker administers the ISBN numbers for the publishing industry. They will need title, author, publishing company and ISBN: The Last Human War, D S Sault, American Writers Publishing Company, ISBN is 978-0-9815-1420-8
Thank you so much for your thoughtful offer.
Dean
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