I’ve been thinking for some time about trying out e-publishing. For one thing, it just seemed interesting, and I thought I should know how it worked. Plus, I had Speed of Winter lying around; it’s surprising how few places there are to publish novella-length work. Plus, I started thinking about setting up a publishing firm, and eventually an online magazine. I considered the idea of a self-published, shared book, but the first concept got shot down (very nicely). So, I thought and thought, but did nothing.
Then, fellow writer Heidi Garrett told me she planned to publish a novella (watch out for Nandana’s Mark, coming soon). That was enough to tip me over the edge, and I spent the weekend publishing Speed of Winter. (For anyone born in the last century, that’s just an amazing statement.) It was a lot of fun, and I think the result is pretty good. Still some kinks to work out, but mostly, it worked out very well.
Speed of Winter is a novella, and the first part of an intended Four Seasons quintet. It will be followed by a novella or novel titled A Heading for Fall. Fall is plotted and will follow the life of the arkship pilot fr that mission. A follow-on story called “Peacebird” is already written. The other three parts will be Summer, Spring, and a story about Bureau of Planning Director Vitaldi and those who stay home on Earth.
What Speed of Winter is about: Earth is dying. In a desperate effort to ensure the survival of the human race, it sends out several ‘arkships’ – suspended animation colony ships. Near the end of the journey, two of the crew decide to bear a child during one of their multi-year watches. The ship arrives, only to find that the target planet is unliveable. “The Speed of Winter” novella tells the story of the ship’s journey through the eyes of Elise, the only child on the voyage. (Note: the story contains violence and adult situations. Not suitable for children.)
I’m happy to say that I now have an Amazon author’s page, at amazon.com/author/bmorrisallen. Not much up there yet, but give it time. Amazon “look inside” feature seems not to have selected any of the actual text of Winter, so I’ll have to see what I can do about that. In any case, nice to have something up there.
I signed up for Kindle Select, which allows a promotional period (read, giving away the book), so keep your eyes open if you’re interested.
I feel I accomplished two goals:
1) Speed of Winter is published.
2) I learned a lot about the self-publishing process. I’ll post details soon, but in short, it’s not hard. We’ll see about the marketing, and I’m not sure I’d recommend this method over traditional publishing, but it was fun to do.