I can’t express this any better than Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell: Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.
I’ve really enjoyed fine-tuning the paperback version of A Calculated Life and it’s now available on Amazon. Read more
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/kindle-cover-vsm.jpg453283annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2013-02-18 11:01:002015-07-30 19:58:54Paperback Paperback! Released
Indie-authors who operate outside the US often feel like country cousins who invariably arrive late to the party. But slowly things are improving. One breakthrough came earlier this year when Amazon’s CreateSpace switched to regional distribution for print-on-demand books. This alone persuaded me to go with CreateSpace for my paperback (announcement coming imminently on that front). Read more
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/£.jpg264340annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2013-02-14 08:45:052015-07-30 20:02:06Kindle Dollar Royalties Sorted, At Last
I’m wearing my artist’s hat this morning and I’m chuffed that Flashlight Worthy Books has published my list of recommended art-related novels: Novels on Art, Artists and Art World Shenanigans.
FLW operates from the US and brings together ‘Handpicked Book Recommendations on Hundreds of Topics.’
Here’s the full list, not exhaustive, but it covers a broad range from historically based novels to others with a contemporary setting. This list first appeared on The Huffington Post. Read more
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Art-list-FLW.jpg255283annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2013-02-12 11:51:002015-08-01 10:58:28Flashlight Worthy: 10 Novels on Art, Artists and Art World Shenanigans
As many of you know, I’m a fan of the Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin and I decided on the title of my novel A Calculated Life when I read this sentence from his science fiction dystopia, We:
But a thought swarmed in me; what if he, this yellow-eyed being – in his ridiculous, dirty bundle of trees, in his uncalculated life – is happier than us?
The ‘yellow-eyed being’ was a human, one of many, excluded from the perfect world of ‘One State’.An article in io9 this week, Did the very first science fiction magazine appear in Russia in 1894?, gives fascinating insights into Zamyatin and the emergence of Scientific Fantasy, Nauchnaia Fantastika, in the years before the Russian Revolution. It includes exclusive extracts from We Modern People: Science Fiction and the Making of Russian Modernity by Cornell University Professor Anindita Banerjee (Kindle edition more expensive than the paperback!) She delves into the history of early Russian science fiction and explains the Russian obsession with all-things-modern.
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Screen-Shot-2015-08-01-at-11.01.15.png274356annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2013-02-08 13:20:002015-08-01 11:01:45Did the First SF Magazine Appear in Russia in 1894?
I have discovered, unexpectedly, a major advantage in buying your own ISBNs for the print versions of your books. Self-published paperbacks (and hardbacks, I assume) with ISBNs can be pre-ordered on certain Amazon sites before the publication date.
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/isbn-post.jpg369567annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2013-02-06 16:30:532015-08-26 16:44:36Buy Your Own ISBNs To Unlock Pre-Ordering
So, your manuscript is finished (raise the flags!) and you’re ready to self-publish your ebook. You’ve already set up an account on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and you’ve completed all the information requested – book title, description, categories, verified your publishing rights.
Here are my hints and tips that should contribute to a smooth upload of your completed book. My advice is really aimed at other novelists rather than writers of non-fiction since their books have more complex formatting issues. And I took the simplest route, I believe, by preparing and uploading a Word document to the KDP website. (I won’t deal with the Front Cover upload in this blogpost). The KDP conversion process will produce a .mobi file, which you can download and check before you hit the Publish button. Read more
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/nope-KDP.jpg322567annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2013-01-17 17:23:152015-07-10 16:42:43Self-Publishing Tips: From Manuscript to Kindle
A passing remark on The Guardian Books Blog cost me dearly in woman-hours in the run up to Christmas. Blogger Alison Flood reviewed a self-published novel to test whether the online praise for the book was justified. (Mary Campisi’s A Family Affair – not my own cup of tea). I won’t present Alison’s conclusions, only her first comment:
First up, the commas. She employs the scattergun approach.
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Screen-Shot-2015-07-30-at-20.12.33.png354456annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2013-01-08 14:58:002015-08-26 16:33:45More Punctuation Malarky: A Crisis of Commas
I expect most of you will be off-topic for the next 24 hours so here’s another random addition to the blog. Among my dad’s books, which I’m currently sorting through, there’s a volume of poetry with a red suede cover — “Poems of Experience” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, dated 1916, published by Gay and Hancock of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London. The suede is pretty fragile and my hands are covered in red dust.
The inscription is fascinating and I’ve no idea how this book came to my dad:
To Mrs Affleck.
a gift from the Committee of the Farnworth Society for Women’s Suffrage in commemoration of the passing of the Representation of the People Bill, and in grateful recognition of her work as Secretary 1910 – 1918.
May 15th 1918
And in case you think that intellectual property rights are mainly the burning issue for the digital age, there’s a note from Ella Wheeler Wilcox:
Any edition of my poems published in England by any firm except Messrs. Gay and Hancock is pirated and not authentic.
Nothing changes . . .
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/suffrage1.jpg480640annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2012-12-31 16:34:002015-08-01 11:36:51Off-Topic: Farnworth Society of Women’s Suffrage
I came across this quite by chance. My brother is visiting for Christmas and he showed me the wowhaus website for ‘interesting’ and retro properties. As I scrolled through the properties I was stunned to see Montag, hero of Fahrenheit 451. He’s shown walking out of his home – a midcentury Renway bungalow, recently for sale in Edgcumbe Park, Berkshire, UK.
This Renway bungalow must have been the last word in modernity when Francois Truffaut made his 1966 movie adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. Montag lived in a Type 60 property!
My paperback proofs were left at a neighbour’s house while I was at the dentist. I sprinted down the street and in the past 10 minutes I’ve ripped open the package and taken this photo! Read more
https://annecharnock.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/POD-draft.jpg280510annehttp://annecharnock.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AC-name-banner2.jpganne2012-12-20 11:31:002015-08-26 16:41:14Democracy Rules on Front Cover: Paperback Proof
Paperback Paperback! Released
/in PRINT-ON-DEMAND, Science Fiction, Self-PublishingI can’t express this any better than Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell: Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.
I’ve really enjoyed fine-tuning the paperback version of A Calculated Life and it’s now available on Amazon. Read more
Kindle Dollar Royalties Sorted, At Last
/in EBOOK PUBLISHING, Self-PublishingIndie-authors who operate outside the US often feel like country cousins who invariably arrive late to the party. But slowly things are improving. One breakthrough came earlier this year when Amazon’s CreateSpace switched to regional distribution for print-on-demand books. This alone persuaded me to go with CreateSpace for my paperback (announcement coming imminently on that front). Read more
Flashlight Worthy: 10 Novels on Art, Artists and Art World Shenanigans
/in Book Reviews, POSTS on HUFFPOSTFLW operates from the US and brings together ‘Handpicked Book Recommendations on Hundreds of Topics.’
Here’s the full list, not exhaustive, but it covers a broad range from historically based novels to others with a contemporary setting. This list first appeared on The Huffington Post. Read more
Did the First SF Magazine Appear in Russia in 1894?
/in Book Reviews, Science FictionAs many of you know, I’m a fan of the Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin and I decided on the title of my novel A Calculated Life when I read this sentence from his science fiction dystopia, We:
Read more
Buy Your Own ISBNs To Unlock Pre-Ordering
/in EBOOK PUBLISHING, PRINT-ON-DEMAND, Self-PublishingRead more
Self-Publishing Tips: From Manuscript to Kindle
/in EBOOK PUBLISHING, Self-PublishingSo, your manuscript is finished (raise the flags!) and you’re ready to self-publish your ebook. You’ve already set up an account on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and you’ve completed all the information requested – book title, description, categories, verified your publishing rights.
Here are my hints and tips that should contribute to a smooth upload of your completed book. My advice is really aimed at other novelists rather than writers of non-fiction since their books have more complex formatting issues. And I took the simplest route, I believe, by preparing and uploading a Word document to the KDP website. (I won’t deal with the Front Cover upload in this blogpost). The KDP conversion process will produce a .mobi file, which you can download and check before you hit the Publish button. Read more
More Punctuation Malarky: A Crisis of Commas
/in Self-Publishing, Writing FictionA passing remark on The Guardian Books Blog cost me dearly in woman-hours in the run up to Christmas. Blogger Alison Flood reviewed a self-published novel to test whether the online praise for the book was justified. (Mary Campisi’s A Family Affair – not my own cup of tea). I won’t present Alison’s conclusions, only her first comment:
Read more
Off-Topic: Farnworth Society of Women’s Suffrage
/in RandomI expect most of you will be off-topic for the next 24 hours so here’s another random addition to the blog. Among my dad’s books, which I’m currently sorting through, there’s a volume of poetry with a red suede cover — “Poems of Experience” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, dated 1916, published by Gay and Hancock of Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London. The suede is pretty fragile and my hands are covered in red dust.
The inscription is fascinating and I’ve no idea how this book came to my dad:
And in case you think that intellectual property rights are mainly the burning issue for the digital age, there’s a note from Ella Wheeler Wilcox:
Nothing changes . . .
Fahrenheit 451: Midcentury Renway Bungalow
/in Science FictionI came across this quite by chance. My brother is visiting for Christmas and he showed me the wowhaus website for ‘interesting’ and retro properties. As I scrolled through the properties I was stunned to see Montag, hero of Fahrenheit 451. He’s shown walking out of his home – a midcentury Renway bungalow, recently for sale in Edgcumbe Park, Berkshire, UK.
This Renway bungalow must have been the last word in modernity when Francois Truffaut made his 1966 movie adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. Montag lived in a Type 60 property!
http://bit.ly/RUn829
Democracy Rules on Front Cover: Paperback Proof
/in PRINT-ON-DEMAND, Self-PublishingMy paperback proofs were left at a neighbour’s house while I was at the dentist. I sprinted down the street and in the past 10 minutes I’ve ripped open the package and taken this photo! Read more