Back From Mexico

The blog has been pretty quiet these last few weeks, but for good reason.  I had to work pretty feverishly to get the print-on-demand version of Gamers ready for proofing before we left for vacation.  Since my wife and I have been back, we’ve been fixing the problems that surfaced in the proof.  The bad part is those issues were in the ebook versions of the novel on release.  The good news is fixing them is simple and quick and I’ve already updated the published ebook versions.

The print-on-demand version still needs another proofing, but I think we’ve got everything fixed.  The lesson learned from this book is to wait until the proof arrives before releasing the ebook versions.  Seeing the words in book format brings out problems that my editor, copy editor or myself didn’t catch.   Plus, I identified a few of the items as errors introduced when fixing problems brought to light by my copy editor.  The POD version of Gamers should be available in a few weeks and I’ll be adding the additional steps to future publications to ensure a better product.

I’m also planning on an educational version of the book for use at book clubs or classrooms with questions and additional material at the end.  While the novel is a good entertaining read for young adults, the underlining theme relates to our current education system and how we learn in general.  I’m not providing the answers, since I don’t know them myself, but since we’ve spent the last few years homeschooling our children and making many adjustments to their teaching, I feel my wife and I have a good idea of what the questions are.  But that won’t be ready until later in the summer.  Hopefully right before school is ready to start.

In other news, I’ve been interviewed by Snell’s Scoops about the Mirror Shards Anthology.  If you haven’t seen on Ralan’s or somewhere else, I’ve increased the bottom rate of pay to $0.02/word.  So far the stories coming in at a decent pace.  If you’re interested in getting your story in the anthology, the deadline is July 8th of this year.