How Norra obtained the Power and the extraordinary lengths she went through to rid herself of it.

The greatest mage in the world reluctantly transfers his magical power onto a sixteen year old girl just as he dies. It might seem like a blessing, but on the world of Polda, females have been cursed with the inability to perform magic. Wizards and mages seek her, so she must flee for her life. A possibility exists for her to return to the Master Mage’s tower to transfer the power, but she must travel through hostile lands in order to even make the attempt.

The book is 92,000 words long and I would consider it Young Adult Epic Fantasy.  It is a classic quest book where Norra must travel to a distant land in order to get the power eradicated.  I wrote the first draft of this novel for NaNoWriMo in 2010 and it’s been through a number of edits and rewrites.  I hope you like it.  The Amazon link is:  http://amzn.to/HeR9DY   The Smashwords link is: http://bit.ly/H1lpiY    I’ve priced this at 99 cents for this initial promotional time period.

The Power Bearer has been gone over three times for grammar, spelling and punctuation and still errors are cropping up.  I wish there was a reliable tool that would take that away.  MS Word’s grammar checker is fair, but by no means comprehensive.  It’s sort of a rough chop approach (warning: using culinary terms) when you need a fine mince.  No food processors available.

Does it make the novel better?  Well, I must say that it does.  My in-house editor (my wife) uses the comment feature in MS Word and I put the changes in.  Invariably, I find new errors what weren’t introduced from the last read-through.  It’s all frustrating.  However, The Power Bearer should be the cleanest book I’ve released.

As I got through another novel rewrite, I’m finding errors, but they are more writing errors.  (like repeating the same word too closely together).  I’m also providing the characters with a little more ‘think’ time–one of my shortcomings.

Perhaps this will lead to cleaner and better writing, and I hope so.  At least my own personal sensitivities are improving.

I didn’t want to do it, but now we get to see if there is a 99 cent market willing to take a flyer on Guy Antibes’ offerings.  I put my short story out there to see if it would attract any new readers.  It didn’t.  So I go cut rate.  Evidently Guy Antibes as a brand isn’t shining too brightly at the moment.

I’ve got The Reluctant Mage just about ready to go.  New cover and I’ll release it with a new title:  The Power Bearer.  One last rewrite to fix some typos and then it’s out on the virtual shelf.

When I publish that, I’ll take Panix off of KDP Select. That Amazon program didn’t work and it may not work until I’m more established.  I’m also contemplating a cover change for Panix.  Maybe it’s too light and bright for the market. I still need to use my illustration, but I’ll put it in the preface part of the book along with the map.

I’ll have my refresh of The Star Amulet ready in a couple of weeks.  I’m about a third through with the re-write.  I’ll also create a different cover for that, too.  I’m re-publishing it under a new title and series name:  The Nile City Adventurers is the series and the title is Egypt:  Trouble with Temples.  The next book in the series will be China:  Trouble with Princes.

This self-publishing journey isn’t going as smoothly as I thought it would back in October and November when I sold 5 Sword of Spells books a day.

It’s only been six months of e-pubbing and I still don’t have a handle on the selling part!

Hand of Grethia – In the editing queue

The Unintentional Mage – One week to put in the edits  -  One week to rewrite first chapter – One week for a final run through and then publish!  Goal is to get this out by the end of the month.  My March publication.

Shattuk Downs – I’m probably a third of the way through my first draft.  I’m conflicted on the conflict.  Must pursue to the end.

Next project – A refresh of The Star Amulet.  Samantha and Ian pick up a few years in age and there will be a new name:  The series will be called The Nile City Adventurers and The Star Amulet will be re-titled:  Egypt:  Trouble with Temples.  That will be followed in May by China:  Trouble with Princes

Moribund sales.  Time to go off Amazon Select with Panix.

I wonder if that’s why his book sales have never recovered?

The interesting thing is that I had more page views for all of my books.  Curiosity seekers, no doubt.  I even sold another copy of the moribund Sword of Spells.  Now we’ll see if I get any bounce over at Amazon.

I guess the take away at this point, is that you can tinker as you play around with your publications.  I published Zombies of Clay because I read about a site that tells you what your writing style is.  The link is:  http://iwl.me   The original story is by James Joyce and, wonder of wonders, that’s what the software said the story was in the style of.

So publishing that story on a whim has given me another thing to look at as I publish my works.  Do they provide any increased traffic, do they lead to sales.

My Smashwords description:

Ever wonder what zombie life was like in 1900 Dublin? Zombies of Clay gives you a quick look. Zombies of Clay is a parody of James Joyce’s short story CLAY. This story (and the original, by the way) takes place on All Hallow’s Eve.

An older woman, who helps tend female zombies who can no longer find men who they like, leaves the home early to visit the family of one of the boys she brought up. Along the way she picks up some treats. It culminates in a heart-rending moment. (pun-intended)

Many of the words are the same, but our main character, Maria, is now a zombie and the story is told from a zombie standpoint. This story is NOT for the squeamish.

Since the original story is only about ten pages (as is this parody), I included it at the end.

My Writers of the Future entry (WotF) just didn’t have what it takes.  I knew when I sent it out to first readers that it wasn’t up to snuff.  It wasn’t.  So now I’ve got an outline I’m thinking about.  It’s loaded with significantly more angst at the front.  I only hope I can get the rest of it to follow.  For me the first draft of a story is all about story arc.  Then I’ll let it sit awhile before I go after it again.  That works best for me, because I write pretty fast and while that works for getting the gist down, it’s not the best for the story.  Then I’ll change things around a little and add some more character and setting.

I think its a bit easier for working on the first draft of a novel because I do a lot of prework on the world and sketching out the main characters.  Still a pause can refresh and let you find nuances to the story that you didn’t think of when you started out.

Now I’ve just got to spend more time writing and less time reading and watching sports.

In the midst of all that, I’ve started my Shattuk Downs series.  I’m not sure I’ll be publishing that as Guy Antibes, but it depends on how the book turns out.  I’ve given it a good start and I’ve just about gotten the beginning done.

No real evidence that my new pricing strategy is working.  I’ll give it a couple of more weeks and do some more tweaks.  In the meantime, I continue to write.

I’ve also retagged Panix on Amazon to include it as a Historical Fantasy to see if it might show up on more searches.  I’m going to do the same thing with The Star Amulet and take the Juvenile tag off.

We’ll see if that will make the books move a bit more.  This e-publishing stuff is fun and requires flexibility.