Yours truely is a published author! WOOHOO!

[Lord Raiden]

http://www.amazon.com/Oort-Perimeter-Steven-Lake/dp/1439252238/

Been working on this for a bit, but I've now got my first book out there in the wild. It's a sci-fi called "The Oort Perimeter". You guys would really love it. :) I'm actually hoping to do this for a living. IE, be a published novelist. I think it'd be fun to do. :D

Anywho, if you guys want a copy, you can order one right now. Oh, and another thing, it's book 1 of a 15 book series. ;) You can learn more about them by going to the information page (http://www.raiden.net/writing/the_oort_perimeter/) for the book. The others are linked on the right side. ;)

[nwerneck]

Looks interesting! How much for an e-book file I can read with FBreader on my N800?:D

[Texrat]

Awesome-- as a science fiction writer myself I look forward to reading it, and wish you success!

EDIT: I was pleasantly shocked to see Digikid in your forum-- he and I hung out in the Bungie gaming forum for a long time. Small (internet) world!

[Lord Raiden]

nwerneck, the ebook file is coming eventually, but right now the only kind they'll produce is a Kindle compatible file, which means that pretty much everyone else is locked out. Only Kindle users can read it. So what I'm planning on doing is creating a universal ebook compatible file myself and just selling it off my website. Of course, if you guys can read PDF on your readers, I may just go that way instead. :)

Texrat, you know digi? Dude, yeah, this really is a small world. :D Speaking of which, since you know him, why don't you drop by and say hi. :D

[Laughing Man]

Congrats! But what kind of sci-fi is it?

Edit: Ah stupid me, went to the info page you linked.

[geneven]

As of now, it doesn't have a Kindle option.

I would only get it as of now if it was free or low cost, or has a great review in the NY Times. A lot of authors are giving away the first in a series on Kindle, then raising the price as readers are hooked...

[BrentDC]

That is pretty cool :cool: 'Grats!

[timsamoff]

Congratulations! That's awesome. :)

Tim

[Lord Raiden]

Thanks guys. Go grab yourself a copy. It's a really great story and I think you'll enjoy it a lot. :D

Plus, when you buy copies, it helps me cover the cost of publishing it. ^_^;;

[Justjoe]

Congrats, and best of luck, of course.

Joe.

[GeneralAntilles]

Ah, self-publishing. Gotta love it. Just remember not to get yourself ripped off by the PoDs. Nobody wants to pay $24.95 for a trade paperback. :)

[qgil]

Congratulations! Please add and promote it at http://www.librarything.com/

(fwiw: http://www.librarything.com/profile/qgil )

[gerbick]

Congrats and hopes it's a success for you!

[VulcanRidr]

Good on ya, LR. I have thought time and time again about trying my hand at writing, but never got off my butt to do it. Great to see you have done it.

In the area of promotion, have you considered releasing the audio through http://www.podiobooks.com? A number of successful authors (e.g. JC Hutchins, Scott Sigler, Basil Sands) have used this venue to make the audio available and created a fan base that way. In fact, if you go and check out an old episode of the Linux Link Tech Show, they interviewed Scott Sigler and he said the same thing.

--vr

[Lord Raiden]

VulcanRidr, well, I have the audiobook I did for it from the old rough draft, and I made it myself so it's not really all that professional. But if that's good enough to help promote the book, then I'll happily go do it. :D

[Cadabena]

Nice one! Looks interesting, I just finished 1984, this looks like a good read whilst supporting a fellow tableteer :)
Also, I hate saying this to a new author... but 'truly' has no e :p

[Lord Raiden]

Yeah, that's called fat fingering. I do that a lot when typing. ^_^;; That's why I love spell check. :D

[VulcanRidr]

VulcanRidr, well, I have the audiobook I did for it from the old rough draft, and I made it myself so it's not really all that professional. But if that's good enough to help promote the book, then I'll happily go do it. :D

As a podcaster, I can tell you its not that tough. You'd be amazed how professional you can sound, a cheap sound board plugged into your computer, maybe a little background music, the odd sound effect now and again...You should go take a listen to some of the books on there, especially some earlier vs. later books of some of the authors. BTW, the TLLTS with the Scott Sigler interview was 277, and is available at http://www.tllts.org/dl.php?episode=277

Also, I was pretty much brain-dead on my last post, if you want to create an FBreader-friendly version, I believe you can use Plucker (http://www.plkr.org/) do convert. I don't know what format you were using, but I believe it will even convert from PDF to PDB, and I know it will do nested pages. I mainly use it for web documentation, and I can set it up to drill down through tables of contents, etc, and follow links. You have to be careful with that, as it is not very difficult to try to catalog the entire internet (sic) into a .pdb. :)

--vr

[Lord Raiden]

Cool, thanks. Oh, btw guys. Book 2 of this series is already starting the process towards publication and, baring anything unforeseen, should be available either just before, or just slightly after Christmas. And if I can ever get a chance to write here again soon (too bloody much stuff to do! Augh!) I'll have book 3's rough draft completed. :D This is a series I'm really rolling along on. The proof reader for book 2 said he liked it a lot, and commented that it's a bit more involved, which just goes to show that this series is already helping me get better, which was its end goal. :D

[ColdFusion]

Have you tried http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/
I think the best choice for ebooks is the .epub format.

[Lord Raiden]

Is epub an open format? If it is, then I might go that way. I like to use open formats as much as possible.

[ColdFusion]

Yep, open format.
And it might become industry standard if only Amazon make it easier to open it on the Kindle. Sony have recently anounced that they'll convert their whole library to epub. Yes, sony adopting an open standard, I can barely believe it myself :D
Anyway most of the ebook readers, hardware and software can open it. l would keep the .pdf download for people that want to print the book, add a .epub and plain .txt formats, maybe .rtf and if you have the time convert it also to the kindle format. I like to give the customer more choices.

So you're a selfpublished sci-fi author? I want to become one myself, do you have any tips? For more than just a hobby. :)

[qole]

Yeah, that's called fat fingering. I do that a lot when typing. ^_^;; That's why I love spell check. :D

Firefox has spell check. :D ;)

[Pushwall]

I converted the prolog from PDF to HTML using gmail and just read it using FBReader. Very nice beginning! Your style is smooth and interesting to read. I'm off to convert the other chapters and give it a read when I find some time. Great stuff! :cool:

[geneven]

Yeah, epub is the way to go, I think. It's also the official new Sony reader format, but it's not proprietary.

[Lord Raiden]

do you have any tips? For more than just a hobby. :)
Well, go over to writingforums.com and slum around a bit. There's lots of good info there. Also, find a self publisher that works best for you. I chose Amazon since they seemed to have the easiest, and best first timers setup, but I may only stay with them for the first book. I might move around and try others if they don't produce the results I'm hoping for. But ya gotta start somewhere. :D ;)
I converted the prolog from PDF to HTML using gmail and just read it using FBReader. Very nice beginning! Your style is smooth and interesting to read. I'm off to convert the other chapters and give it a read when I find some time. Great stuff! :cool:
Hey, glad you like it! :D What you're reading online though isn't the final draft. I only release those in print form. I gave the prologue for the book a huge overhaul to make it even better too. For those interested, here's a taste of what the prologue is in the printed novel, which leads into the main story.
A short, plump Yib monk stood on a balcony at the top of a large stone tower that overlooked the expansive Yib monastery. It was an unusual mix of the plain, and the extraordinary, as tenets from thousands of religions across the galaxy combined to form a patchwork of culture that sparkled with breathtaking beauty and simplicity. A warm summer breeze wafted through the room behind him and sent a small cloud of dust swirling up around his feet like a brown whirlpool. Yet his robe did not seem to notice, as it remained surprisingly still despite the strength of the breeze. He reached up and adjusted the hood of his robe, pulling it further over his face as though drawing deeper into the shadows inside. He brushed lightly at the simple brown cloth it was made of, and then tightened the rope-like belt around his waist that held it in place. After a moment he turned and studied the room behind him.
It was made entirely of an emerald green marble, surrounded by a circle of thirty six simple, stone pillars that appeared old and scarred with time despite their relative youth. Small birds nested in the domed roof of the tower as the evening chants and prayers echoed up from the courtyard below. He inhaled deeply as the smell of flowers drifted through the air around him, creating a sweet, perfume like fragrance in the air. As he watched the twin suns quickly racing towards the horizon, he heard the sound of footsteps on the stairway below. He turned around just as eight other monks in robes of various colors and designs stepped out from between the pillars and formed a circle in the room that surrounded a large, black orb that sat perched on a pedestal of pure white marble. He soon joined them.
They chanted quietly to themselves for several minutes, and then turned their attention to one among the group who was dressed in a light green cloak covered in aquatic symbols.
“What is your message today prophet? Why have you called this meeting?” asked one of the monks in a deep, solemn voice.
“A great danger arises from within our midst,” said the monk in the green cloak, his voice deep and menacing.
“What kind of danger?” asked another.
“A race has arisen among us that will destroy the nine and take the galaxy for its own.”
“Who are they?”
The prophet raised his hand and waved it over the orb. It shimmered and changed to reveal a picture of Earth.
“It is the Chappagi. They will conquer us all and destroy the peace that the nine have brought to the galaxy.”
“That is absurd! The nice races have stood as guardians of the sentient worlds for over four millennia! There is no way such an insignificant race could overthrow them. You are mad, I tell you! Mad!” shouted one of the monks.
The prophet glared at the other eight from under the darkness of his hood.
“I am a master prophet, of the great house of prophets. We have never been wrong. We correctly predicted the betrayal of Severen, and the attack of the Origgians. Our people have been accurately prophesying the truth for over two millennia, and I tell you now, unless they are destroyed quickly, the Chappagi will overthrow us all. They will conquer the nine and put every creature in this galaxy under their foot.”
The other eight monks mumbled to each other and discussed this revelation vigorously amongst themselves. Finally, they fell silent. One of the eight, the plump monk who had been first to reach the top of the tower, stepped forward and threw his hood back to reveal the reptilian face of a Gayik’Von.
“As I suspected. You are no longer a prophet of the Yib, but a mouthpiece for the fear of your own people,” he said angrily.
“My prophesy is true! It will come to pass!” cried the prophet.
“Your prophesy is flawed!! The Gin have no lust for power and conquest. They have grown powerful out of fear of you and your people. Fear breeds fear, and fear leads to suffering, and death.”
“Yes, their death! They must die!” cried the prophet.
“NO! We will not sanction this prophesy, nor will we sanction the genocide of an entire race on the simple word of a prophet whose own species has much to gain from their slaughter! Your own speech gives away the true nature and intent of your prophesy, prophet. Since your eyes are blinded by your fear, and your prophesies flawed due to the tempest within your own spirit, we hereby strike your title as prophet from the record, and declare that your prophesies go unheard from now on until such time as your spirit, and your race, are in line with the truth.”
The prophet hissed. “Fools! You risk your own destruction at the hands of these monsters!”
“If they were truly monsters, and our eyes each saw the same future as you, then we would agree on your verdict. But our eyes see the real truth. We see a race that is still in its infancy trying to stand up and walk in a world full of giants. How can a giant fear a teetering child? Go now, prophet, seek cleansing and find the true vision that is within your heart.”
The prophet growled. “Then their victory has already begun, and your doom sealed,” he hissed.
“What are you saying? What victory have they gained against us?” asked the Gayik’Von.
“They have already divided the nine races, and turned us against each other. Without our unity, their victory is assured. The only question that remains now is the season of our destruction.”
Four of the monks in the circle gathered around the Gayik’Von as he stepped back several paces, as if to separate himself from the prophet. The three that remained gathered themselves around the prophet as though to defy the Gayik’Von.
“As you can see, the division has been made and we are no longer united. Open your eyes and see the truth, before your blindness becomes the death of us all,” hissed the prophet. He tossed back his hood to reveal the fish like face of a Varnok. He pointed his webbed fingers at the Gayik’Von and said, “Mark my words. Your fall will be the greatest of the nine, for you will be the first to suffer at their hands!”
The Gayik’Von snorted. “We shall see who will fall and who will remain, prophet. But remember this. So long as our five races exist to stand against your unholy union of four, the Gin will remain safe, even if we must fight to our last dying breath to protect them.”
The Varnok prophet glared at him. “We shall see.”

[jakemaheu]

How long is the book? I have a couple weeks before school starts back up-- maybe I could take a crack at starting an audiobook version? It would only cost a copy of the book and a nominal fee.

[timsamoff]

How long is the book? I have a couple weeks before school starts back up-- maybe I could take a crack at starting an audiobook version? It would only cost a copy of the book and a nominal fee.
The link to Amazon on the first post is helpful:


Product Details
* Paperback: 332 pages
* Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (August 13, 2009)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1439252238
* ISBN-13: 978-1439252239
* Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
* Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
* Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #489,147 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)


Tim

[Lord Raiden]

lol. Thanks Tim. :)

jakemaheu: that sounds good, but I'm not sure how I'd sell the audiobook version. I don't currently have any outlets I know of, or a proper way to produce it once the audiobook is recorded.

On a side note, I'm interested in hearing your work. Can you do a test reading of the prologue I posted and shoot it to me in an email? Thanks. :)

[VulcanRidr]

jakemaheu: that sounds good, but I'm not sure how I'd sell the audiobook version. I don't currently have any outlets I know of, or a proper way to produce it once the audiobook is recorded.

You could always upload the audio to podiobooks.com for free in serialized (podcast) form, say, one chapter at a time. This will build you a fan base. Then release the book to Amazon/POD/etc. Thats the way Sigler, Hutchins, etc did it. And Sigler's last book, using this method, made the NY Times Best Seller's list.

[Lord Raiden]

Yeah, I was already doing that on my website, but I didn't do it on podiobooks. I'll have to post it up there. :)

[Lord Raiden]

Ya know what? I've been doing some thinking, and I've decided that I'm going to give you guys the audiobook for free. I found someone who'll read it for me (his audiobook reading skill is easily a thousand times better than mine!) and when he's done, I'll post it for you guys to download and listen to. If you like it, then consider buying the book too. :)

[Pushwall]

I ordered the book. Should be a fun read! :cool:

[Laughing Man]

Ya know what? I've been doing some thinking, and I've decided that I'm going to give you guys the audiobook for free. I found someone who'll read it for me (his audiobook reading skill is easily a thousand times better than mine!) and when he's done, I'll post it for you guys to download and listen to. If you like it, then consider buying the book too. :)

Aww but I wanted to hear the audiobook version in your soothing voice. ;) lol (just kidding of course)

[VulcanRidr]

Ya know what? I've been doing some thinking, and I've decided that I'm going to give you guys the audiobook for free. I found someone who'll read it for me (his audiobook reading skill is easily a thousand times better than mine!) and when he's done, I'll post it for you guys to download and listen to. If you like it, then consider buying the book too. :)

Sweet! One request, could you also put it up somewhere other than bit torrent? I am on commie-cast, and they are apparently trying to traffic-shape torrent out of existence. I had been working on the torrent of your book for about 4 days, and it was perpetually stalled.

--vr

[Lord Raiden]

Yeah, I can just put it up for direct download on my site like before. Plus, with The Pirate Bay going bye bye, I'm soon gonna loose my tracker anyways, so I guess it's back to the old fashioned way. :(

[ColdFusion]

Yeah, I can just put it up for direct download on my site like before. Plus, with The Pirate Bay going bye bye, I'm soon gonna loose my tracker anyways, so I guess it's back to the old fashioned way. :(

Actually they've added the OpenTracker to the torrent files, so it should be working after they've closed it down. Which as far as I understand they wouldn't do it anyway, just adding a way for content providers to remove or ask for revenue on uploaded torrents.

[Lord Raiden]

Well, if they're gonna edit the torrents so that everything is moved over to the open tracker, then that's good. It keeps the torrent from dying.

On a side note, if you're downloading the files via the torrent, that's all recorded off the older manuscript. The printed novel, and the upcoming remade audiobook, plus the upcoming ebook files will all be based off the final draft of the manuscript.

The reason the stuff that's posted on my site isn't final draft is because I have a policy never to post final draft of anything up there. It's so that if a publisher wants to print my work, they'll always receive the latest and best copy from me. There's also the fact that by not posting the final draft, it gives you something to look forward to when you get the printed copy, since I almost always toss in a little something extra in the final draft. :D

There's also the fact that ideas, characters, the plot, etc, all get tightened up as the drafts progress, so everythings much cleaner in the final, printed version.

[Laughing Man]

That's actually a good idea. That way people can get an idea of what your work is like. An in progress type of thing. I think more musicians should do something like that, release a uneditted rough recording of their song.

[ColdFusion]

I'm not sure it's good to have a bad copy for download. Either show off your best or don't show anything, otherwise people may think that your writing is sub-par and move on never to comeback despite the warning that it's work in progress.
I don't think people would buy the book so much because it's polished, but because they want a physical book to read and hold.

[ColdFusion]

I'm not sure it's good to have a bad copy for download. Either show off your best or don't show anything, otherwise people may think that your writing is sub-par and move on never to comeback despite the warning that it's work in progress.
I don't think people would buy the book so much because it's polished, but because they want a physical book to read and hold.

[Lord Raiden]

laughing man, yeah, that was actually suggested to me by quite a number of people. It's the demo vs professional recording argument used for years. They'll happily give away demos which allow you to hear what you have to look forward to on the album, but it's neither full quality, nor the final version of the song. Sort of the "rough recording" thing you mentioned.

And coldfusion, I take it you haven't seen what my idea of a "rough draft" is. lol. Most of my "rough drafts" are darned near finished quality right from the start. I do go through and fix some spelling errors, sentence problems, etc before posting, so what goes online is actually more of an "intermediate" draft, than a true rough draft, however, I still treat them as rough drafts, since I make adjustments to the story as I see need based on user feedback.

[Lord Raiden]

Well, the case of books just arrived today for the signed copies. So if anyone wants one, just shoot me an email. I got 50 in the case to work with, but those are likely to go quickly, since I already have nearly half of them spoken for already. ^_^ And if you miss out, I got a second case of 50 coming right in behind it.

[Lord Raiden]

Well, I finally found a place to create Ebooks in Epub format, but now I just need someone to test them and make sure they work. If they do, then I'll go ahead and released everything in ebook format from now on in conjunction with the printed version. :)

[verumgero]

nwerneck, the ebook file is coming eventually, but right now the only kind they'll produce is a Kindle compatible file, which means that pretty much everyone else is locked out. Only Kindle users can read it. So what I'm planning on doing is creating a universal ebook compatible file myself and just selling it off my website. Of course, if you guys can read PDF on your readers, I may just go that way instead. :)

Texrat, you know digi? Dude, yeah, this really is a small world. :D Speaking of which, since you know him, why don't you drop by and say hi. :D

Hey! I'm a kindle user! Wow that paid off for once. Woot! :cool:

[Lord Raiden]

hehe. You're welcome. Once I get this whole ebook thing sorted out, and if you've already got a paperback copy, I'll go ahead and email you a free copy of the ebook. :)

[Lord Raiden]

http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/locutus/for-those-who-vie-for-scifi-33800

Hey, check this out! Locutus of IT Toolbox gave me a great plug about my books and my writing! Check it out! :D

[Lord Raiden]

Hey, just FYI. Book 2 "Destiny's Mission" has been released, along with a short story anthology called "The Dreamland Articles". You can get Dreamland Articles via the bookstores now, but Destiny's Mission is near impossible to get right at the moment, save through me. The reason being that Amazon and the other book sellers are backlogged and it's taking forever to get new books processed and online. Just FYI in case you're interested in getting a copy. ;)

Also, I setup a new website to track all my writing stuff. It's called www.realmsofimagination.net and I try to keep it updated regularly.