Helping Hands

E-publishing has a learning curve, but fortunately there are a lot of sources out there that can help you learn relatively quickly. This will concentrate largely on Kindle, because that's where I publish. Maybe later I'll post a few about other platforms as well.

Oh - and all of these are free.

If you don’t have a Kindle, aren’t sure you want to buy one, but would like to try the experience of reading e-books—and if you have a PC computer—you can download and install a free application from Amazon.com, Kindle for PC, that will allow you to read Kindle files on your computer. It’s free, and you can find it at http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311

If you want to publish your book at Amazon.com in e-book form for Kindle readers, the actual publication process is free (though you may invest in things like purchasing a professionally-made cover, registering your copyright, or buying an ISBN—but these steps are optional, not required).  The program is Kindle Direct Publishing, and you can sign up for it here: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin

Amazon has free guides to publishing for Kindle. You’ll need a Kindle or Kindle for PC to read them, unless you download a .pdf file instead. Here are a few of them:

Building Your Book for Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Your-Book-Kindle-ebook/dp/B007URVZJ6/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1360019543&sr=1-2&keywords=publishing+on+kindle

Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing:

http://www.amazon.com/Publish-Amazon-Kindle-Publishing-ebook/dp/B004LX069M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1360019543&sr=1-1&keywords=publishing+on+kindle

Kindle Publishing Unleashed

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Publishing-Unleashed-ebook/dp/B00B1YQNG4/ref=sr_1_20?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1360019757&sr=1-20&keywords=publishing+on+kindle

Calibre (pronounced like the caliber of a bullet) is a free program that you must download and install. It has its own e-book reader, and best of all, it can format your manuscripts as e-books for Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, IPad, and others.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

What if...?

I don't know if other genre writers play the game, but science-fiction writers sure do: What if...and then?

Theodore Sturgeon said that the key to being a good writer was to ask the question "What if?" And the key to being a great writer was to ask the next question.

In science fiction, it works like this: Gun control is a hot issue right now. So let's ask some questions about gun control. What if...everyone was required to pack a weapon from the age of ten upward?

You could get a story out of that. But then ask the next question, which could go in infinite directions: What if mass murder became the norm and no one even noticed it? What if one kid absolutely refused to go armed? What if someone created a device that rendered all explosives inert, including those in cartridges?

You get more stories that way. Keep asking them and answering them in your head until you hit one that gives you an "ah-hah!" moment. There's your story: something no one else (to your knowledge, anyway) has considered in fiction.

It can work in all other forms of fiction as well. What if orphaned Oliver Twist breaks free of the workhouse and falls in with thieves? And what if, unknown to him, he is heir to a fortune?

What if a woman asks a detective to help her out of a jam on the very day after the detective's partner has been killed? And what if every word that comes out of the woman's mouth is a lie? And what if she is seeking a solid-gold statuette of a falcon....?

Sturgeon was right. You can get a whole lot of food for thought and a whole lot of mileage out of simply asking the next question.

Attention, fans of Travis McGee

At last Amazon.com is bringing out the Travis McGee novels in Kindle format, with a foreword by Lee Child. The prices vary, but if you've been wanting to collect the McGees in e-format, this is your chance. I've picked up only one so far--The Empty Copper Sea--and it looks well-formatted and well-presented. Good story, too!

And of course I am a John D. MacDonald fan, so take that for what it is worth.

Doing Your Homework

Don't want to be a writer. Instead, want to write a story (or a poem or a play....). Have a definite goal in mind instead of a vague yearning to have the glamorous lifestyle of a writer (by the way, I just hauled the garbage out to the curb).

I'm going to assume you want to write fiction. That means, in all likelihood, that you read a considerable amount of fiction. So - what do you want to write?

If you're just beginning, then write the kind of fiction you like to read. Don't steal it - don't imitate someone else's plot or use someone else's characters. Write in the same genre, though. If you like science fiction, work on a science-fiction story; if you like historical romance, work on one of those; if you like sexy vampires, take to collecting coins or driving race cars instead. We have too many of those already.

Study the best of the genre you've chosen. Re-read your favorites, but this time read critically and note how the writers hook you in, what makes their styles and characters so engaging, how they pace and plot out a story.

Once again, you are not copying substance; however, you may pick up pointers and learn to imitate an approach, an attitude, or a style. Don't worry about that at the outset, because as time goes on, you will develop your own individual style.

But do your homework. You don't want to reinvent the wheel, so study those favorite works of yours and learn from them. This time around, you're not reading for enjoyment, but for inspiration, for insight, and for enlightenment.

Then when you work on your own story, you're not starting at the bottom, but standing on the shoulders of the writers you most admire.

New Year's Resolutions

Hey, if you make 'em, try to keep 'em, that's all I say. Mine:

• Finish the next Jim Dallas novel, Glades Heist, by the end of April.
• Explore ways of letting the world know the novels are there - publishing is great, but the point is to find readers. We all can learn.
• Work on my weaknesses as a writer. Every book should teach a writer something new. If it doesn't - we're not paying attention.
• Don't forget to express my gratitude to those who read my books. As I said before, writing is a lonely business.
• And of course lose the poundage I gained during the Christmas season. I've already restarted my exercise routine....

Have a good New Year, everyone!

Merry Christmas

What it says up there. And also Happy Holidays to everyone, and a bright New Year

Post Apocalypse

They were wrong. Not the Mayans, but the people who hung their beliefs on the notion that turning a page on a calendar (all right, a rock, but it's the same principle) meant the end of the world.

If you want to write, you need to be aware of the end of the world - or, more accurately, of milestones you must pass. 

Getting your first bad review is crushing. Especially if it's from some nameless person on Amazon.com. However, it's not the end of the world. As Mr. Nelson put it, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself. Write the books you'd like to read.

Learning that your book has earned a pittance is crushing, but it's not the end of the world. Realize that writing a book is not the end-all. It's a step on a career. There's another one to be written, and one beyond that, and slowly your audience will build.

Getting a rejection letter from a publisher - especially one of those horrible form rejections - is crushing. You feel worthless. But it's not the end of the world. You failed to hit it off with ONE editor at ONE publisher. There are more fish in the sea, and these days more ways of publishing your work.

Having writer's block is crushing. You feel miserable. You'll never write again. Why go on? But it's not the end of the world. Writer's block is common and it's self-curing. What it generally means is that subconsciously you're working out problems in your story, and when that process is churned through, the words flow again.

Take heart. We're still here. The sun goes on shining, the sea rushes to shore. Hey, it's not the end of the world.