Category Archives: art

More ebooks are now sold on Amazon

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In July 2010, Amazon said that their sales of ebooks for their Kindle reader was higher than hardcover paper books sales. Just recently, in May 2011, Amazon has put out a press release that states ebook sales have now overtaken even paperback book sales, and are their best seller: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?ID=1565581&c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle

Is this the end of paper books? No, I don’t think so. When radio came in, books didn’t go away. When TV came in, books didn’t disappear, neither did radio. Some shifted their attention to the new media, but books never went away.

This new ebook publishing revolution is a very exciting time to be an author! Now, for the first time, the playing field of publishing is really leveling and most anyone can get their books to their audience.

I think of how radio and TV have changed and know there will be parallels with books. There are now DVD boxed sets of TV shows, TIVO, pay per view, and subscription channels in the TV realm. Radio has specialty networks like SIRUS, Internet radio stations are numerous (a lot of them are really great), and most on-air radio stations stream online.

So where is the book heading? It’s already there is a large way with ebooks, but more enhancements could come, like multimedia content in ebooks and social networks built into ebooks.

Paper books will never disappear, and overall, I believe they are still currently the top-selling format in the world. But, it looks like that balance is quickly shifting. I’ll be putting out paper editions of my books as well, as I love the paper format. From an author’s point of view though, publishing ebooks are my top priority and it’s a much more direct route to my audience that way. I think the audience appreciates the plusses of ebooks like lower cost, no storage space issues on full book cases, and instant delivery.

There are times when a visit to a bookstore is a lovely experience and one that I, and many others still enjoy, and will enjoy in the future. Ebooks are another option, not a replacement for paper books, or bookstores, even when ebooks do become the most popular format in a few years time. I encourage you to support the authors and bookstores you appreciate so that you can ensure they will thrive in the years to come, as the publishing industry goes through its growing pains.

Brainjob now an ebook

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After several years in the making, I’ve just published my first novel as an ebook! It’s called Brainjob. Feels so good to get this out into the world! I don’t think I quite believe it yet, give me a little time!

It’s quite a long novel, about 125,000 words, so it’s a good ebook value.

In the works for Brainjob is a paper book edition to come from Amazon, and also I’m going to make an audio book of the novel. It’ll be me rereading the whole thing! I’m looking forward to it, as it will give me a real feel for the flow of the language over the course of the book when I read it all aloud.

Synopsis

It’s 2051 and humans live in space, while a nuclear war looms in Braku province, the last great free state on Earth. Cloning is commonplace as a means of life extension, by a method called a “Brainjob” - when you get old, move your brain into a new, brainless cloned body. It’s almost a way to live forever for those with the means, but not true eternal life.

Zach Hemmings, a poor working man, is injured in an industrial accident. His body is destroyed, but his brain is still viable. Due to his lack of funds, he never had himself cloned, and has to accept the clone his medical insurance will pay for. He gets a clone of another race (his original body was white, the cloned body is black), which causes him massive identity issues, and lack of acceptance with many in his family. Zach becomes the subject of medical experiments by Unito Bio (they own his cloned body due to an underhanded copyright law) to produce an eternal-youth nanobot serum. The serum trials are successful for the first time, and only occur in Zach’s unique bloodstream. He starts to get younger.

But Zach, tired of being a guinea pig, and disgusted at being owned, goes on the run. Unito has deep pockets, and they will stop at nothing to get back their property that has just become the most valuable thing in the world. Zach just wants to get himself back.

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You can read a free excerpt and buy the ebook in multiple formats here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62568

On the Kindle from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053004IA

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0053004IA

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0053004IA

Turkey Day REVENGE – now on Kindle

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My short story Turkey Day REVENGE – now available as a Kindle Edition! You can read a free sample:
USA store: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051PEQ4A
UK store: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0051PEQ4A
EU store: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0051PEQ4A

Other ebook formats at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/57989 or on Apple’s iBooks, Barnes and Noble’s Nook eReader, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Scrollmotion and many more!

Ugly Night now on Kindle

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Dating can be tough. Blind dating via a telephone dating service can be even tougher – and more risky. Add in weirdness and a dead body, and it makes for one Ugly Night.

Get it for your Kindle at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051OS4YE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0051OS4YE

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0051OS4YE

Other ebook formats at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/55152

More stores.

Brainjob – my first novel finished today

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I finished another edit of my first novel “Brainjob” today! It’s about a man living in a cloned body and life-extension. I think it’s ready to be formatted for publication as an ebook (paper book to follow).

It’s been a few years in the making, but I feel like it’s finished now. I have a cover for it being designed, so that’s next. In the meantime, I’ll format it as an ebook and put it out with a temporary cover. Hopefully, my next novels won’t take as long! I’ve got a couple more novels that are nearly finished, so perhaps that’s why this one took me so long – I wrote a lot of other things in the meantime, before settling down to finish it. There are also some feature-length screenplays that I wrote in the last few years, and those will be made into ebooks soon, too. And,  I have some poetry books that will be republished shortly, in expanded editions. So, a lot of writing took place in the space of time of beginning “Brainjob” and finishing it!

Brainjob will be available for purchase very soon! More details to come. 125,000 words.

Writing my short story “Turkey Day REVENGE”

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Having been a long-time vegetarian, and now making the transition into raw vegan, it’s been a while since I’ve felt comfortable eating animals. For me, it really started to click in around my teens in the 80’s, when I started to question the “common” beliefs and eating habits of the typical Standard American Diet (SAD). In Canada, where I grew up, our eating habits at the time (and still for the majority of the population, sadly), were pretty much the same as our neighbours to the south: lots of meat and potatoes. But, somehow the light started to creep into my consciousness, and I learned about factory farming and the suffering it caused. I knew I did want to be part of that, so I stopped eating meat. But, it went beyond factory farming, and concern for animals actual started for me even earlier.

Even from a young age, I didn’t like seeing animals suffer. As a child, I recoiled from impaling the worm on the fishing hook, and then later hauling a fish into the boat by a hook in it’s mouth. Then, I’d have to see the fish suffer for a while before we got it back to the shore, where its head would be cut off while it was still alive. Seeing the beheaded fish move its mouth for a few minutes while the blood gushed all around was not something I wanted to have to continue to experience into adulthood. So, I’ve never fished since I was a child.

Every time the holidays would roll around, there would be a turkey in our house for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. Many people would be glad to have such a feast, and we were lucky that we never had go hungry. But, I began to question this “ritual” of always having a turkey on these occasions. Why was that? I wondered. So, I would protest this tradition, and either not eat the turkey, or go for an alternative. I would usually just eat the veggies and skip the meat. One year I had a “vegetarian turkey” product for Thanksgiving. While I wasn’t crazy about that product, it did at least show me that there were alternatives to a dead bird out there.

I’ve since come to realize that more natural, raw and vegan foods are the way of eating that works best for me, so I’ve given up a lot of the packaged vegetarian and vegan foods I used to eat when I first started on my journey. Also, while animals are not killed directly to produce milk, cheese and eggs, they still suffer in tortuous conditions to enable these products to be made, and many die terrible, premature deaths as a result. Actually, to be more accurate, animals ARE killed to make these types of products, as male chicks are not worth anything to a factory farm as they lay no eggs, so they are killed, or left to die, right after they are born. Also, cows have their calves taken away from them at birth most of them time – this goes for other animals as well in factory farms. Plus, commercial cheese is made from Rennett, which is produced from the stomach of slaughtered cows and calves.

My short story comes out of my experiences as a vegetarian in a meat-eating world at holiday time. I got to thinking, what would happen if all the turkeys destined for dinner plates were somehow able to fight back? The result is a somewhat whimsical and somewhat gory story that I hope is enjoyable to read.

You can read a free sample of the ebook here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/57989

My ebook publishing journey – part 3

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My first ebook, of my short story Cyber, has just been accepted into Smashwords Premium Catalog! This is exciting, because it means that Smashwords will now distribute to it all of the major ebook sites out there, within a few weeks. Also, Smashwords has just announced that all Premium Catalog books will be also be distributed as their own Apps for smartphones! It’s such a great time to be a writer/publisher!

I just recorded myself reading my short story Cyber and will post it up online later today. This is my first foray into audio books, so another exciting milestone for me! Sure, I could find a voice actor to read my work, but I’ve always thought there was something special about an author reading their own work (it’s almost like going to a book reading without leaving your chair!). So, I’m going to present that; plus it saves me the trouble of finding someone else to record it! 😉

I’m thankful that I have the skills needed to take full advantage of this digital publishing convergence. After writing my books, I can format them, make the covers, record the audio book (and make it into a video file to distribute), and then have the ebook distributed to major outlets. I can then format the file to become a paperbook if I want to go that way with it, too. There are so many options now available for those who want to put the time and effort into doing it. Not everyone is going to have the skills or the interest to do all of these things themselves, but for those who can, they can get their books out very fast and cost-effectively. For those without the skills, or the interest, you can hire out the work you need done and still retain creative control.

Not that I’m feeling tied to having to do everything myself; I’m not, and I do contract some work out when needed. But, having control over how your work is presented a very good thing. For my upcoming novel (working title Skinjobs), for example, I am having a great local artist I know do the cover. I’m happy to delegate work out when I need to, or when I can. But, in the end, it’s a great thing to be able to put your project together they way you want, with the proper care and respect that your hard creative work deserves.

Starting my ebook publishing journey

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I’ve been on the ebook publishing learning curve lately. There’s quite a lot to know, but I find it a very exciting process! My first real ebook (actually a short story called Cyber) is formatted and has been sent to the distributor. It will be available from the major online retailers soon, after I test out the various formats for quality control.

I’ve had some of my writing available in PDF format before, but now I’m moving into true ebook publishing for devices like the iPhone, iPad, Kindle, Nook, Droid, and others. The main difference between a PDF and a true ebook, is that with a PDF the text style is locked down, while an ebook is dynamic. The text flows and reformats according to the screen size of the device it’s read on, and to the preferences of the reader.

I’m using Smashwords for distribution, as they will get my books to all of the major players like Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Borders Australia, Angus & Robertson Australia, Whitcoulls (New Zealand), the Diesel eBook Store, and they are adding more all the time. Next, I’ll look into epublishing with Amazon (I already have a DVD for sale there).

It’s an amazing time to be a writer!

Today’s Visionaries Making a Difference – Tania Marie – Artist – “Earth Box” + Spring Wishes March 2011

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http://blip.tv/file/4945969

I was a winner of Tania Marie’s “Today’s Visionaries Making a Difference” contest! Here’s a video I made, where I step in front of the camera to talk about the wonderful gift I received from the inspiring visionary artist Tania Marie, in honour of me also taking steps to make my dreams and desires come true for a better world.