Tag Archives: epic

A Print Proof Is Almost In My Hands …

On Friday night, I completed the interior design and layout for The Redemption of Erâth: Exile. I uploaded the copy to CreateSpace, and within literally a few minutes, I’d ordered by proof copy. I love how quick and easy this stuff is nowadays!

I was pretty impressed by the tome; although I’ve spaced the text at 1.5 and given the book ample margins, it clocks in at a whopping 500 pages, which is almost 150 pages more than the first book. I intended it to be a little longer, but I didn’t expect quite so much.

Of course, there is an argument that longer is not, by definition, better (although in the case of epic fantasy, it does help). When I published through iUniverse, they were pretty adamant that the book be kept to under 100,000 words, and so I did quite a bit of harsh cutting. Now that I’m publishing myself I’m not under the same restrictions, although I did actually cut quite a bit of fluff from the manuscript anyway.

It’s nice, though, to be able to offer the story without compromising on scenes. I hope that you won’t find it excessive; my goal is certainly not to introduce unnecessary plot elements, but rather to ensure that every scene that is there is important to the final goal of the story. This, in fact, was something I struggled with, and my editor pointed out—for a large portion of the story the main character, Brandyé, had no goal. I’ve tried to remedy this in my revisions, and hopefully you’ll find it satisfactory.

As it stands, once I receive the proof I’ll start the final read-through for last-minute typos and edits, but the major edits are, for all intents and purposes, done. This means it’s almost time to start looking for reviewers to send advance reader copies (ARCs) to, and try and get some love! I know certainly that even the less positive reviews of the first book, Consolation, expressed interest in where the series will go, and I hope they enjoy it! If anyone reading this would like a free copy of the book in exchange for an impartial review, please contact me and let me know—I’d love to hear from you!

For now, I’m biding my time waiting for the proof copy to arrive (it’s supposed to be here by Wednesday). I can’t wait to see my book in the flesh (paper)!

The Redemption of Erâth: Book Layout Begins

With the final edits for The Redemption of Erâth: Exile wrapping up, I’m starting to look at the internal design of the book. When I published Consolation, I had a publishing company to do all the design work, and I have to say that for the internal design, at least, they did a pretty good job.

This time, though, I’m on my own. I got some practice in when I published the History of Erâth in October, so I know a few things to look out for (for example, good guttering), but since this is a major sequel (the second ‘true’ book in the series), I really want to make sure everything comes out just right. I’m going to try a few different print options—I went for cream paper with History of Erâth, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the stock (it’s a little too thin). I might test white paper, and see if the stock is any better.

I also want an internal design to match the first two books—fire for Consolation, trees and leaves for History. The major theme throughout Exile is mountains, so I’ve designed a couple of black and white mountain silhouettes to try and replicate the feel of the first two books. I use them for Part pages and for Chapter headings, and to separate sections of the book. Below are some examples of what this looks like:

Part Page
Chapter Heading
Body Page with Break

I’d love honest feedback on these; I’m open to changes at the moment, but pretty soon it’s going to have to be fixed and locked in. If there’s room for improvement, please let me know!

Satis Logo 2016

Thought of the Week: On Reading One’s Own Writing

As I begin to gear up toward the February release of The Redemption of Erâth: Exile, I find myself reading and re-reading the book itself over and over again. This is a natural process, I’m certain, of anyone who’s every published a book, but you get interesting looks from people when they ask you what you’re reading.

It’s a curious fact that artists aren’t supposed to enjoy their own work.

Continue reading →