Lots of work

As I related in a previous post, I got the cover art for my first book, SmorgaSword. That opened the floodgates of things to do: I plugged the art into the book, generated a mobi file via Kindlegen, put that on my Kindle, and redid the mobi over and over again as I read through the ebook. I also did preparatory work on Amazon for my author's account, and I still need to get the ebook vetted on the Kindle Fire.

Meanwhile, I also want to do the book as a Createspace paperback. My dad published his first book, Great Signs and Wonders, via Createspace as well as Kindle, and when the first proofs arrived, I was impressed. They look good. If print-on-demand can produce a paperback of that quality, then it provides much the same benefits to self-publishing authors as ebooks, but you get something you can hold in your hand and show people.

So, now I have more work to do. :) The good news is that once I do it, it will be easier next time.

Richness

I recently finished reading the Harry Potter series, and one thing that struck me was how short the first three volumes are in comparison with the last four. I really noticed the difference in the stories: the last four had a lot more story-richness, and I enjoyed that very much.

The contrast reminded me of the Hardy Boys stories. The originals ran for about 220 pages. Later on in the series, though, they shortened the stories to 180 pages or less, and again, I really noticed the difference. The later stories felt thinner, poorer; I missed the richness of the longer stories.

So where I am headed? I realized that this is something I want to do with my stories. With self-publishing, I don't have to worry about length; I can make the stories however long I want. Cutting and efficiency are well and good, but I'm writing stories I like. :) And the best stories are always too short: always.

But, when I applied the idea to my first fantasy novel project, Beastlord of Underrim, I discovered the plot became much too long for me to conceptually juggle. It had already been that, however, I just hadn't realized it until now.

So, I've chopped the story into three novels, each of which will, I hope, be "enriched". :) I had condensed a great deal of story that I would rather have explored, and now I can have fun doing that. At the least, I can visualize the plot of the first novel, and it should be much easier for me to finish.

Here are the prototype names for the three novels:

The Beastlord of Underrim
The River-Spirit of Archenworld
The Golden Circle

Cover Art

Here's the cover art for SmorgaSword, done by Katherine and Sarah Ausura:

I'm very pleased; the work exceeded my expectations. :)