KICKSTARTER AND ANTHOLOGY UPDATES
In which I will try to keep people informed on the progress of kickstarter projects and the latest anthologies:
DRAGONS ON THE BAYOU
The interior is mostly finished, assuming I have followed the instructions correctly, and I have the interior illustrations in hand. The next step is to create the cover, which means, among other things, learning yet another part of Affinity. I have the cover artwork, have had it for over a decade, but that artwork must be inserted into a cover of the appropriate dimensions. And lettering is then added, which is where I am having a hard time. I need lettering that is in a font that is easy to read in a thumbnail, attractive to the general population, yet conveys some of the character of the book. Slightly zany and comic, yet also much more than fluff. Appropriate for adults as well as teenagers. A fantasy.
Cover artists, such as James from GoOnWrite.com. are indeed worth the investment. However, we have committed cover for this book and not enough capital to pay for a custom cover.
ANTHOLOGIES
We are reading and evaluating through the slush pile. It's going slower than usual because of, well, adulting stuff, but we are working on it.
VAMPIRE DOUBLE FEATURE
Still waiting for that Kickstarter to finish. Then, I will be waiting for the author to finish writing. At the moment, however, her attention is on an upcoming wedding on the other side of the country. Not hers--she accomplished marriage ten years ago. I don't know if sending her little notes of encouragement will help, but we could always do it just, because.
I have almost finished the first stage of formatting of Dragons on the Bayou, and with that, I should be able to easily create the ebook. Then I get to move into formatting the print copy--and with that, several decisions must be made. If we get the books printed with Amazon, printing is cheap enough that we can make a profit, but it means that the books have to go live on Amazon before I can even order our copies, and then Amazon takes two weeks to print and ship the books. We can get a local printer to print the books, but the cost to us is pretty much what we are selling the books for. And we can go through DriveThruRPG, where you get a code to get the book for free and we get a bill for the printing and handling. Maybe shipping as well. This is a small Kickstarter, which means it might be a good time to see how that system works. The unfortunate part is that I get to learn advance book formatting. Amazon makes it super simple to format books for POD--and they all come out with that look that screams, "Did it myself!"
We are getting submissions for the anthologies. We are pretty much reading and sorting at the moment.
Elizabeth's double vampire book Kickstarter is funded and doing well. The plan is to create two books in one. When you finish the first book, just flip it over and start again from the other side. My idea of having the right side pages be right side for one book, and the left side upside down for the other book, was not well received. So instead, each book will start from it's respective cover and meet in the middle. One thing I won't do is put an ad for a cigarette company where the two books meet! But maybe if someone wants their company to sponsor this project, we can put in an ad for that!
On Dragons on the Bayou I have finished applying the editorial corrections and comments. The next steps have to do with formatting. I will need to format several different versions of the book. One version for print, one version for PDF, and one version for EPUB. And then I will need to format a version for the hard back, with added interior art. This is all time-consuming detail work if done correctly, though no work at all if done badly. I choose to do the best I can, which still takes time.
On the anthologies, the submission window is open and we are reading. In past years we have gotten quite a number of well-written stories, but we do try to leave space for writers who just need a little help with their stories.
