Dragon Sage Blog

What dreams may come…

It is a moment in a writer’s life that makes all the hard work they put into their book pay off when they see that nice, shiny new book, freshly printed, and gleaming in the palms of their hands which brings a tear to the eye and swells the soul.

My friend Zack Daggy is on the verge of releasing his new book, the first in a trilogy, Dark Worlds: Project 31. Way to go Zack! And to top it off, he is offering a way cool contest! Click here to learn more!

From the Dark World’s Website:

Hey Moth Maniacs,

Big news! I just got my proof copy back of Dark Worlds: Project 31, and everything is good to go for release! Here’s the deal though. In about two weeks the novel will be for sale on Amazon.com (and other sites.) Despite the book being for sale then, I want you to hold off on buying the book until Tuesday, March 31st (3-31-09). The reason for this is to concentrate a surge of sales on Amazon in a single day and then top Amazon’s charts in the horror genre.

This “Day of Darkness” can only happen with your help my Moth Maniacs. So spread the word to your friends, family, and yes even complete strangers. How you ask? Well, for starters I’ve got three different avatars for you to use on your Myspace, Facebook, or Twitter.

Read more…

In addition to his writing talents, Zack is a well-known podcaster who hosts numerous podcasts on his own site as well as The Pod 5 Live. Check out his website for more information! Or follow him on twitter! @mothman

http://www.zackdaggy.com/?cat=11

As I have written this book, in the spare time I have, I am now in the final rewrite of the first in a series of the Realms of Ardd, Blood and Bane.

But as the late Michael Crichton has said, “Books aren’t written - they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

Ok, so I am not on the seventh rewrite, however, this first book is only the first in a series of which started as a short story. I felt the book needed it’s “past” to begin with, then to build the hope with the following series.

After experiencing the first couple of rewrites and now what is the third on this novel, I realize the importance of rewrites. Not noly does it allow you to find inconsistencies and grammatical errors or typos, the book come alive with new aspects of the story, fleshed out details, and, believe it or not, deleting things that are not needed as I once thought.

Plus it’s nice to see the word count go up instead of down!

Once this phase is complete, the book gets a once over and on to the editor! It’s gettin’ close, so stay tuned!

I read an article recently about the growing interest in podio books and podcasting. Amazing how many resources are out there now for self-publishers! And technology has only helped to fuel this!

Take for example the Kindle, Amazon.com’s amazing tool for reading books. Of course, not all publishers or authors have taken advantage of this yet, one of the other options is podio books, or even podcasts of a book, either in text or audio versions.

So now there are even more ways to market your book, more options for reading it, aside from just PDF’s or standard prints. You can even download books to iPhones!

In a recenty discussion regarding podcasting and podio books, I have decided to take full advantage of these resources. I am in talks with an online friend, the Mothman, who is a consumate podcaster. In addition to other marketing resources, podcasting is a great way for those who don’t have the time to read print to download an audio version to take “on the road”.

I will be posting updates when these become available soon. In addition, I will also have digitally mixed percussion music available for download in the coming month.

Read the podio article here.

Many thanks to April Hamilton for the retweet on this, on Mark Jefferey’s post on his blog you can read here. 

Follow April Hamilton on twitter.

Follow Mark Jefferey on twitter.

Follow the Mothman on twitter.

I have thought about this, now that we are deep into January 2009, and it’s time for me to make a commitment!

I am currently finishing my third rewrite on Blood and Bane. After this, I will be doing another check through the book and fixing any typos, missing information, and grammatical issues. Then, it’s off to an editor for finalizing!

So with THAT said, my deadline is now set at, dum dum DUM!  May 1st, 2009! My plan is to have it completely edited and ready to publish, with a planned publish date before the end of May 2009!

I will be presenting marketing materials, building clientele with books stores, and having a grand release “party” when it is officially published! I will also be offering teaser chapters for download in PDF as well as advance copies.

Woohoo! Looking forward to the final stages!

I recent discussion among other writers and artists sparked an interest regarding the latest trend in writing. Producing a soundtrack for the book. To me that is the icing on the cake of the novel. I think in addition to audio, music for books makes sense. And so because of this, I was inspired to write the lyrics for the soundtrack, to Dragon Sage: The Realms of Ardd.   [Read more →]