well besides the cover looking outrageously naively childish...I would say that swivel's cover post 94 is the best of the choices...not that it is presentable though, but of the choices presented, its the best.
Here's the punctuation you dropped: , ' Must have a hole in your pockets. Is that where your shift key went?
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I distorted the PCB traces to match the contours of the feet. Did some dodge/burning to add to that effect. Played with the fonts. Matched the UPC code to the perspective of the toetag. Thoughts?
Pretty decent interview with me over at Fantastic Book Review: http://fantasticbookreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/author-interview-hugh-howey.html
Win a FREE copy of my book! FantasticBookReview just put up their review of Molly Fyde. All you have to do to enter is comment on the review. It's that easy! Get in on it! http://fantasticbookreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-contest-molly-fyde-and-parsona.html
Check out this dandy review!: http://thehidingspot.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-molly-fyde-and-parsona-rescue.html (I danced around the room a little when I read this one)
Swivel, Have you thought about doing some sort of marketing promotion through Secondlife? I kind of have this visual interpretation of perhaps people reading the book, creating fan art in the Secondlife universe (perhaps a promo contest etc) and it get even more press with a different audience that might of otherwise been too consumed by their virtual universe to realise there are in fact still writers.
That's a good idea. I've only dabbled with Secondlife, but maybe there's some way of going in and creating a sample of the work people can read, or doing live readings of some of my short stuff. I'll look into it. I've also thought about doing an online bookclub. I'd be willing to sell copies below list to get a half-dozen Sci-Forums readers discussing the book. There's a lot of controversial philosophy issues raised within the book, perfect for some back-and-forth between members.
Awesome discount on book one of the Molly Fyde saga at Barnes and Noble. It's crazy to see my own book getting caught up in the current price wars and available for cheaper than list price. I wonder if this affects my royalties?! Anyway, if any of you have been putting off this fantastic read, your excuses are dwindling. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=molly fyde
The cover for book two: http://i45.tinypic.com/zygart.jpg This is the hardback version, so the summary and author stuff will be inside the flaps.
Wowsers. Check out the latest review (just hit yesterday). I got five tiaras! FIVE! http://yabookqueen.blogspot.com/2009/12/molly-fyde-and-parsona-rescue-by-hugh.html
Wow so my design suggestion actually influenced how it came out, I’m astonished. Congratulations on getting your sequel out. And I’m glad your book is still getting great reviews, to be a published author must be give you a huge sense of satisfaction. I’m struggling with my writing, working full time and I dealing with unsympathetic characters in my story trying to delve the dark side off humanity so that these characters are more then just two dimensional snarling villains. I know what I need to get down on paper, but I write three pages and then I need to take a break from them. I started another short story just so I could play with another totally different set of characters, kind of like a vacation from my big story and I write poems which is kind of like doodling. It just all means that it going very slowly, I hope I’m not out of line asking your advice about my own literary issues?
Not at all. When I'm not writing and editing, the only thing I want to do is talk about writing and editing. I think you're wise to write on something else for a bit. When you go back to your work, I suggest you push through to the end. Don't worry about your characters being flat; don't worry about plot holes. The thing you MUST do is get to the end of the book. Write that final scene. Only THEN will you know your characters. Okay, dance around the room. You've written a bit of a jumbled mess, but you got to the end. Go take a break. Write a short story. Doodle. Take a hike. Now, the real fun begins. Go through the book from the beginning, cleaning up typos and poor word choices. When you come to something that doesn't fit the ending (and your now-improved sense of the overall gist of the story) edit it or re-write it. Re-writes are fun. Copy and past the bit you don't like into a backup document (I call mine NAMEOFBOOK_DELETED). Now write the new scene from scratch. It's magical how this works. Do this to the end again. Okay, now you have a book that makes sense. It isn't perfect, but someone could read it and tell what happens. Go take a break. Finger-paint. Walk your ferret. From the beginning once more. Clean up the typos you missed the first time. Tighten the grammar. Learn at least one comma rule a day. Add some foreshadowing. Make each character's voice unique. Get rid of the repetitive words (we all have them). Try and edit 10, 15, or 20 pages a day. In a few weeks, you're at the end again! Woo-Hoo! Now you have a manuscript you can be proud of. Brag. Strut. Call everyone you know. Get some beta readers to offer feedback. Make some changes based on their criticisms (trust them, not yourself). Get ready to start querying agents and start working on your next book! More Molly news: Made Carrie's YA Blog best-of 2009 list. I'm up there with "Catching Fire," a NYT bestseller: http://carriesyabookshelf.blogspot.com/2009/12/other-2009-faves.html One of my books is now in New Zealand: http://bookcrossing.com/journal/7701818
Book two is now available in all popular digital forms. Print version will be out in just a few weeks! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7975
Here's a video of me opening my proof of book two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME04293lCms Pretty cool to interact with fans live on my webcam like that.
My book is named one of the top 15 reads of 2009 by a review site: http://lukereviews.webs.com/apps/blog/show/2523970-top-15-books-for-2009
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The proof copy of the second book came in the mail today! It's gorgeous, inside and out. I'm really happy with everything about this book, from the story to the presentation. Also, one of my fans had t-shirts made up and sent me one. I love it. Thanks Sherri! Final bit of Molly news today: an envelope from my mother with another front-page article about me in our hometown paper. Crazy how much good Molly stuff happened in a single day. The initial batch is heading my way. Should be out to reviewers and readers in just two weeks. Of course, some people are already reading the second book on their Nooks! Craziness. Oh, here's a high-res image of the books jacket (500KB image): http://i47.tinypic.com/21awsqc.jpg
I don't get why Molly would have a separate e-book reader and computer. Wouldn't they have combined those things that far into the future? And why does she delete some to make "room" for others? By that time, you should be able to store every book every written on a small chip. -Why no illustration of the Parsona on the cover? The ship seems an important element. -The Microsoft reader copy seems to have at least one typo, there is sentence where allthewordsruntogether. -"The Meln Imperative"? Your version of the Prime Directive? LOL -"progressed back to the stone age?" Nice one. -"But we also have Mozart and Dali and Spengle and T’chuyn and even the Drenard sculptor Tadi Rooo." Cool, you do that star trek thing of naming recognizable humans and then add a few alien names!
Yeah, that damn Meln came and took credit for something obvious. It's infuriating. Typical Navy BS. Her reader is a computer. They're just called that. And her service provider only allows her to have eight books checked out at a time. It's not a capacity problem, it's a rental program problem. $42.00 a month to upgrade to the next plan? Screw that. (Of course, that's only about $3.85 in today's dollars). What page was that sentence on? Do you remember the general area? I'll have the pub look into it. Thanks for the feedback!
