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Zounds!

Jul - 28 - 2009
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Today I discovered that my email program is trying to take over the world. Its first act of tyranny was to sentence incoming requests for bookmarks to the junk mail gulag. I was able to liberate only a precious few survivors. Who knows how many others have been silenced and lost?

I’m not sure how long this has been going on under my nose, so if you requested a bookmark and didn’t get it, I must humbly ask you to renew your request. The situation is now well in hand and I’m hopeful that disaster has been averted quickly and quietly enough that we can all simply forego the rioting in the streets, the burning of cars and effigies, and the senseless looting of downtown electronics stores.



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Flawless Bookmarks

Jul - 23 - 2009
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Now they’ve done it. The printshop has gone and printed an order of bookmarks without a single flaw. All the art is facing the correct direction, the text resolution is sharp and clear, and they smell like fresh, purply dittos. Okay, I made that last part up. But they do smell fancy and newish. I still have a few of the old “Collector’s Edition” ones if anyone missed their shot. My broker tells me their price on the open market is skyrocketing, so if anybody wants one just click over to the Free Bookmarks page and drop me your address.

The crisp new ones will be included in every order from the Rabbit Room Store. Go on a shopping spree and buy a CD, or a book, or some sheet music, or a Karmen-Ghia T-Shirt. Actually, it’s more like buying a really snazzy bookmark for $15 and getting a free CD, book, or T-Shirt with it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is amazing.

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Why Independent?

Jul - 21 - 2009
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Coming to the decision to publish The Fiddler’s Gun independently wasn’t easy. When I began writing it I envisioned, like most authors, that one day it would be picked up by a traditional publishing house and find its way into Wal-Marts all over America. When it was written and rewritten enough times, the manuscript went out to the major houses and received a lot of good feedback (as well as some welcome constructive criticism) but in the changing climate of the publishing industry, the idea of becoming an independent publisher began to have a strong appeal to me.

The idea of working within a system that valued sales, marketing, and genre definition over quality became distasteful. Don’t mistake that to mean I’m averse to applying changes to my manuscript, I’m not. To the contrary, I’m anxious to change it, to make it better, more appealing. It’s the system that I dislike, a system that...Read the entire post

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Bookmarks: Collector's Edition

Jun - 11 - 2009
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The FedEx man dropped off a little box last week and I tore into it like a kid on Christmas morning. Bookmarks! But wait, what on earth have they done? They are printed wrong. The knuckleheads at the printshop got the front and back image turned in opposite directions so that you have to flip the darned thing over end to end to read the other side.

My first reaction was to call and complain but then I remembered how I declined the option to have a proof sent before the printing. I bet they did it on purpose.

It’s only a first printing of a hundred and it didn’t cost much so I can’t really complain. I guarantee I’ll say yes to that proof option next time though.

But all is not lost. Like anyone who’s ever collected stamps or coins knows, flaws are not always a bad thing, not when they are the fault of the manufacturer. Yes, that’s right, the print error on these bookmarks has rendered them rare collector’s items. They will probably be worth hundreds one day, if not millions. Hundreds and millions of what? I’m not at liberty to say.

If you want one, send me an email with your address. Guaranteed in mint condition*.

*not liable for folding, crumpling, wetting, or other detriment caused by the postal service.

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Bookmarks

Jun - 02 - 2009
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One of the challenges of independent publishing is that I don’t have the benefit of a promotional team to help generate interest in the book. It’s all up to me, or me and anyone I manage to talk into helping. So I spend a lot of time wracking my brain for ways to put the word out. The result of one such brain-wracking session was to print bookmarks.

Using the character artwork that Chris Koelle did a few years ago I put together a simple 2x6 graphic and a short pitch for the...Read the entire post

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