The Next Progress Report

Easy to tell I’m back in full writing mode. Its just gone 03.19am and I’m wide awake!

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Despite what some may say, there is no such thing as a magic formula for a best seller. As writers all we can ever do is give our literary progeny a chance to be read. Even if a book is well written, expertly edited and has the best possible cover, it still does not guarantee its success no matter how hard you try. Making a book available to the public is always a gamble. You can’t get away from the fact that while some will like it, others won’t.

Its been twelve years since I wrote a full length science fiction novel and five years since it was published. Even though the one hundred and fifty thousand word space opera Onet’s Tale was professionally edited and published via a traditional publishing house, receiving a presale boost in the form of a five star review from a carefully selected industry reviewer specialising in scifi by the publisher, the public at large simply didn’t rate it. In all, a paltry twenty-five copies were bought, and so it was withdrawn from sale after being available for barely two months on Amazon and Barnes & Noble to name but two of the many book outlets it was sent to in both its paperback and eBook versions.

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I’m still in the early stages of the first draft (approximately five thousand words) of my latest science fiction novel. I’ve begun to establish the characters. So far I’ve concentrated on the one character central to the story, the ship’s fully aware artificial intelligence Céleste and her particular attachment to the other main character, the mission commander David O’Leary. Regarding the others I’ve established a few essential characteristics and traits for one of the two other female crew members – Constança Blanco. I’ve already shown how jealous she is of the time David spends with Céleste. I’ll being adding more about her and each of the four remaining human characters as the story gradually unfolds.

I’ve more or less already decided that its title will simply be Céleste. You will all see why when you read it. Just to please my friend and fellow author Nicholas Rossis, I’m avoiding great swaths of information like the plague with this one, as well as paying particular attention to the editing. 😉

When it comes to the cover Chris The Story Reading Ape, I know I said I’d leave it up to you. But its my prerogative to change my mind. So I’ll be emailing you shortly with all the information you will need for what I would like it to be. There is no hurry Chris as I’ll be working on it well into next year. One thing to bear in mind though my friend. As I will be publishing it via Smashwords (eBook) and CreateSpace (Paperback), the quality of the image you produce is paramount. Both Smashwords and CreateSpace are extremely fussy when it comes to image size and quality. The eBook version will include the title and my name, possible with a secondary title. I’ll get back to you on what that will be later. The paperback version will be the cover pic minus any added text as I’ll be adding it to one of CreateSpace’s cover templates.

Well Céleste and my beautiful muse below are calling. Like every female I have ever met, they both demand my full attention. Am I having fun? Silly question. Of course I am…

My beautiful muse Bianca ❤ xxx

More later folks,

Jack

😀