Premium approved on Smashwords

Not much of a post here, but all my newly improved short novels have been vetted through and are now being distributed via Smashwords premium catalog. Tempest didn’t make the cut until I make one minor adjustment. I will do that when I can. All this means is aside from my direct works on Amazon for Kindle, Smashwords will make my work available on a host of other distribution sites such as iBooks, Kobo, Sony, etc.

I am working on a post that will step-by-step log my process of signing up and uploading my e-books through a new digital distribution service. Stay tuned for that.

Happy reading.

 

 

Short Stories

Wow! I feel like its been an eternity since I made my last post after taking all my short stories and novels off-line for upgrades. Upgrades…a soft way of saying they needed a stronger edit. Ehem, I feel and hope that any error has been corrected or at least they are fewer and farther between. As usual life has gotten in the way of my regular twitter following/ posting, and blogging but I am hopeful that in the coming days and month I will be writing again and adding to my collection of stories.

Dark Moon Shadows (my fantasy novel) has been stuck in thought all this time and is dying to get finished. I can’t wait to help this novel reach maturity. My new aim will be for it to be completed by the end of the summer months. Stay tuned as I will be posting my progress. I also look forward to meeting and following new writers and bloggers for whom I will also share links to their pages and writings. This is my way of spreading the word and helping Indie Authors.

Since my favorite podcast and ebook news source The Dragon Page Cover to Cover passed away into airwaves abyss, I will do my best to find and pass along new pearls of wisdom I learn and pick up across the amazing net.

All my short novels sell for $1.50 and have links to them in the bookstore.

Thanks for all your support and I look forward to conversing with you all again very soon.

Happy Reading!

Breakout Books by Apple

I haven’t been to the ibookstore app in quite some time until today because of a blog I was reading here: http://www.teleread.com/ I have written critically about apple and the ibookstore because of the high prices and mostly because they make it so difficult for the indie author to publish. Save yourself the trouble and have Smashwords do it for you. I have to eat some crow now because I was blown away by what I saw in the ibookstore. Apple transformed a clunky, hard to find books, and over priced online book store into a gem of eye candy. Best of all Apple is now featuring Breakout Books from self-published authors. Credit to Smashwords for being the source for the bulk of those books. I also noticed a ton of e-books from $3.99 and lower. This is great news for us Indie Authors. Amazon Kindle is still my favorite, but I am excited that Apple is making it easier and better for us aspiring authors who choose to make it our own way.

I see this as a major breakthrough in the power play against traditional publishing and self publishing. Although I am still not 100% clear on how the Breakout Books are selected, but in any case they are still from self published authors and that, for me, is a good sign. However, (taking off my rose-colored glasses) this could be another way of Big Powerful Company trying to control. “Just saying.”

Either way, publishing is ever-changing and it is up to us to stay alert and ahead of what is going on out there. Most importantly, if you are an Indie Author, keep writing and putting out good material.

Fantasy Fiction

Attached are a couple of articles on the topic of fantasy fiction. As some of you may guess I write and read fantasy. I simply love it. The main reason is real life and the drama it brings is simply all one can handle at times. Why spend my time watching or reading more real life drama? Fantasy is a great escape for entertainment. The Passive Voice had a great article about fantasy writing rules and why fantasy authors should break them in order to produce better fantasy. http://www.thepassivevoice.com/ As long as the story is entertaining I say “Hey write the story as you see fit.” If it is fantasy, fantasy readers will love it. As long as the story is good. The article talks about the omniscient view of writing. I, personally, prefer that style of writing, and as a reader I love it even better. I like to see the BIG picture instead of one persons point of view all the time. Not to say that first person is not good, I just prefer the overall view. Great article for fantasy fiction readers, I encourage you to check it out.

Another article a read on the subject of fantasy here:http://www.film.com/movies/fantasy-genre-movies-failure  is why fantasy movies these days fail at the box office. This story cannot be more dead on. Fantasy movies for a long time have really “sucked.” Aside from The Lord of the Rings, and most recently The Hobbit there hasn’t been much in the way of good fantasy. Most movies these days are re-makes of fairy tales poorly done. The main reason that I haven’t enjoyed fantasy movies lately is the way they are filmed. Too cartoonish, not real enough to make me feel like I’m in another world outside of my own. Secondly, bad CG (Character Generation). When CG is involved at least make it look real. I don’t want to be watching something and say WOW that looked really fake. At least that is my take on the box office. I can handle a little lesser quality if I know the budget is low. For instance, I just finished watching a really good fantasy series that aired originally in the UK and is also on the Syfy channel called Merlin. I had great fun watching this, and yes it looked fake at times, but because the story was so good and fun I didn’t mind. Although I wish Arthur knew of Merlins secret earlier. I will say the CG of the dragon was really awesome too.

Fantasy is simply that…Fantasy. That is why we love it. It doesn’t need to be complicated, just a fun story. Lots of adventure sprinkled with magic.

Amazon and E-books

Thanks to Michael Stackpole for tweeting this story, you can find it here: http://bit.ly/VqwEWV

This story has some great interest for me since I write/ self-publish/ read e-books.  Although I am super fond of paper books I have learned and grown to love reading on my e-book device. I have several reading devices in my house: ipad, kindle paper white, nook (1st edition), and my daughter has a kindle fire. All are great gadgets, but by far my favorite to read with is the kindle paper white. I only wish the book covers were in color. Oh-well you can’t get everything you want. I jumped on this e-book revolution years ago and even before the curve thanks to The Dragon Page Cover to Cover podcast that turned me on to the subject. No looking back from that time on. Amazon and Apple have been the leaders in the e-book market as most of you may already know, but I am growing ever so irritated at the rising cost of the e-book. As Amazon profit margins soar, I can agree with the article that the next five years will not look anything as the first five. I think, at least for me, the cost of purchasing a paperless book will have a lot to do with it. Apple is even pricier than Amazon. It really is amazing to me how anyone buys e-books through the ibook store. I know Amazon lets self-published authors set their own prices so I am not exactly down on them for that part. Here is just one example: Terry Brooks, whom I read, sells his books for mostly 8$ and higher. Exactly the same as a paperback edition. Hard to justify. Although no disrespect to Terry Brooks, more power to you if you make sales. I think that is great for him, but bad for the consumer. I am a sucker though, I bought his book anyway.

Ipad and Kindle Fire are not great for reading books, in my opinion, because of the glass screen and headache causing glare. But they do look good though…a ton of eye-candy for book covers.

Great article, check it out.

 

Check out Blood Skies by Steve Montano: FREE

Below is a free ebook from author Steven Montano. I have this book and it is an exciting read. He has written much more in this series so if you like it, you are in for a real treat because there is MORE! I believe is supporting independent and self published authors. He has a great “Star” rating on Amazon. Check it out. Visit his website here:  http://bloodskies.com/

Humanity is threatened by one of its own.

Eric Cross, an enlisted warlock in the Southern Claw military, is part of an elite team of soldiers and mages in  pursuit of a woman known as Red — a witch whose stolen knowledge threatens the future of the human race.  The members of Viper Squad will traverse haunted forests and blighted tundra in their search for the traitor, a journey that ultimately leads them to the necropolis of Koth.

There, in that haven of renegade undead, Cross will discover the dark origins of magic, and the true meaning of sacrifice.
Experience a dark and deadly new world in the debut novel of the “Blood Skies” series.

79,000 words
E-Book Edition: FREE!

Pennerstories Update

Hello and greetings…I hope this day finds you all well. This past year (2012) was not a good year for Pennerstories in the way of progress. Dark Moon Shadows (my current writing project) had to be put on hold as well as my blogging and twittering. I do appreciate all of you who dropped by now and again to track my site. The good news for me is it is now 2013 and enough time has passed to solve some issues that stood in the way of my progress. As a result of being absent for many months I have the painful task of re-learning all the technology and tricks I used while writing ebooks, posting, blogging, and updating this wordpress account. There is so much one forgets when not engaged actively in computer stuff. In the coming weeks and months I will be contributing more to this blog and writing will proceed with Dark Moon. The last couple of weeks I re-read all what I have written so far to re-familiarize me with my story and I feel I am caught up enough to continue. I will update my progress meter and that will tell you all where I am with it. I also hope to make some changes to this site as well. Stay tuned for all of that.

Also, you may have noticed that my e-books are not for sale in the book store at the moment. They might be off-sale for some time as I find the time to enhance and improve them. It came to my attention recently of some missed spelling errors in The Magic Library Chronicles that I and some others missed. While it is hard to catch all the errors I do not want a project, or projects out there with known errors. It is my duty to put the best product out there for entertainment and financial value. Because of this I have taken all my short story e-books off-sale for now to make sure they are as best as they can be before getting them back on-line. After all it’s not just about the money is it? If one does not like the story that is one thing, known errors is another.

Work on Dark Moon will begin this week and continue until completed. This is one book that I want to put through the traditional route of publishing and I will push that before making it an e-book.

Thanks for all your support over the years. Happy reading everyone.