Seeking short stories

Are you a fan of fiction? Do you crave crime? Are you flavoured by forensics? Do things have to appear sane in your membrane?

 

Yes? Then there is exciting news for you from our cosy corner of the world…

 

We are seeking submissions for our first collection of short stories (and chapter teases) written by authors and readers just like you…

 

Many are EconomyEdits clients, but everyone is welcome.

 

Already on board are Geraldine Evans, Iris Blobel, Tony Dews, Melissa Leibfritz, David A. Eddy, John Reti, Kat Bussell, myself and others.

 

If you are interested in hearing more, and/or want to be considered, please send me a query at: EconomyEdits@gmail.com

 

We would love to hear from you.

words can hurt, but bad grammar kills….

Coming before Christmas 2014…

a novel

about a different kind of zombie

no, seriously

i mean it

you just wait n see

🙂

what would you pay for editing?

As many of you know, over at EconomyEdits.com I am an editor.

I work predominantly with independent writers (fiction, non-fiction & web content) because I want to help those I most identify with. You see, on THIS page I am an indie writer. 🙂

I think my rates are excellent for the quality I provide, being just £3 or $5 per 1000 words.

However, because I want to be working AND helping, I have come up with an idea… YOU tell ME how much you would pay for my services, and we will see if we can progress from there?

Simply send me a 500-1000 word sample of your work, tell me the genre and target audience, and where it exists in the story (as in, opening, first half, second half, ending, etc.), and I will work through it as I would a fully-paid piece of work.

You then review it, see how you feel, and make your kindest offer regarding my fee per 1000 words, being a figure we can both respect, but that will still allow you to put bread on your table and electricity in your bulbs.

Like everyone, I have my minimum monthly income requirements, but if I can meet them each month AND provide some other help to even less financially able indie writers, then all the better. It will keep me out of trouble, and will give you a better chance of finding more readers. 🙂

Sounds like a plan? Then let’s do it.

Oh, and, if YOU don’t have anything to edit right now but you know someone who does, please poke them into trying me.

 

3words August begins tomorrow

Just saying. 🙂

No doubt I’ll see you here, right?

Right?!

 

 

3words Redux kindle available

Yes, that’s right – I managed to NOT focus on my EconomyEdits job for the weekend, the first two consecutive days I’ve not client-edited since I began.

Thanks for the ok, Nicole. 😉

On top of that, I actively worked on ME things. First, I tarted up all the 3words shorts that I wanted to include in the collection. Then I created an eBook. And then I began working on the paperback version (give it a couple of days – tomorrow’s busy, and I’m back on the job again :)).

Oh, and I finished reading my novel TELL ME SOMETHING TRUE. I don’t like to toot my own horn, but… Man, I enjoyed reading that. I do think the intentional typos could be an issue, though, so will be stop-gapping that tomorrow or Tuesday by adding a “WARNING: TYPOS AHEAD!” type page at the start. And then see from there.

But today is more about 3words Redux now being available on Amazon as an eBook, and can be found here:

I do like that cover. 🙂

And don’t forget – 3words August will be upon is in just a few days… so please seriously think about committing just 10 minutes a day to an ongoing story. You never know – you may love it! Obviously, I think you will. 🙂

 

 

CreateSpace & Kindle covers – an idea

A quick word about creating covers for Kindle and paperback via Amazon and CreateSpace.

Yes, both can be strugglesome and limiting. As I’m sure you’ve found.

But something I’ve found that is possible with covers at both is… you can design your own front (and back, with CreateSpace) cover elsewhere via another platform and then upload the whole thing as a single file. This will then cover ALL of the front (and back at CreateSpace) if you opt for the relevant template. Of course, the file needs to be BIG to avoid blurring, and the DPI for the image preferably mahoosive.

Another thing I found is that you can play around with the Author & Title text boxes. I liked one design for my collection Swimming In Clouds, but didn’t like where the Author & Title boxes were PLACED, so, I simply switched them around, and effectively had my author name as my book title and my book title as my name.

For example, in the image below:

 

This was created using a Kindle template. However, DAVID BURTON is in the book title box, SWIMMING IN CLOUDS is in the subtitle box, and TEN TALES OF FAILURE AND HOPE is in the author name box. All I did was type over the text in each box as above, then clicked preview and saved that file. Of course, when I backed out the initial page now showed that TEN TALES OF FAILURE AND HOPE was the author of “DAVID BURTON – SWIMMING IN CLOUDS”. All you need do is retype the correct information in the correct boxes, so everything will now list as it should via Amazon. Of course, when you re-open the preview you’ll find everything is rejigged as I just said above, with DAVID BURTON now where SWIMMING IN CLOUDS is in my photo, etc. But all you need do is upload the image and make sure it covers the whole cover and then hit preview and ultimately save, leaving your details where you would prefer them on the cover, but still assigned correctly for Amazon purposes in the file information.

Below is another example, and one I am currently considering for my WONKY MONKY series. The image of the monkey and the noticeboard is an image at i-Stock that I am close to buying.

 

All I did with this was open it with Paint, then stretch it, and then simply create some text boxes and filled in the relevant information, leaving me with this:

And then I uploaded it to a CreateSpace template, adding the blurb on the back, so we have this:

I simply need to convince myself that this looks good enough to justify the expense for the image. 😉

Any thoughts?

 

 

first Tell Me Something True paperback sale

While I was sleeping, somebody made the first ever paperback purchase of my novel TELL ME SOMETHING TRUE.

 https://www.createspace.com/4880091

I sure do hope they enjoy it. 🙂

 

Just discovered they bought it via Amazon, not CreateSpace. Still just as happy they bought it, but there would have been a few more pennies in my pocket if purchased through CreateSpace. 😉

 

 

3words July – day 9 of 20

Today’s words are: ENOUGH – CONTINUE – AMAZING.

And my ongoing story:

 

“Should I know what you mean?”

Sandy simply stared at him.

Danny smiled and shook his head. “You mean my story?”

“Sure.”

“Let’s see. I’ve always been a guy’s guy-”

“Is that right?”

“What?”

“No, no. If you say so. Please continue.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “But recently we’ve not been hanging out so much.” He looked away, but quickly back. “And I met this girl. We hit it off immediately. It was amazing.”

“Right,” Sandy snorted. “And she’s Australian?”

“How did you guess?”Danny laughed, guzzling beer.

“Fine,” she said. “If you’re not man enough to go first, I will.”

 

 

kcw – first copy received

Not by me, as my copies haven’t arrived yet, but by Lois, who I revealed the other day was the first person to buy a copy from CreateSpace. Thanks for sharing a photo of my “baby” arriving home…

3words July – day 6 of 20

First off, I now hope to have the 3words collection of stories “3words Redux” available after the completion of this month’s story, so that would be the first Thursday after the 20th, which I reckon is the 24th.

Back to now… Today’s 3words are: SHEEP – NOTCH – ROOT.

And my ongoing story:

 

“Dan the man,” the barman chuckled. “Certainly didn’t expect to see you back so soon.” He lifted his right arm for a high five.

Danny sheepishly raised his own, up-nodding slightly before sneaking a glance over his shoulder toward Sandy, but she was busy rooting around in one of her bags on the seat beside her. He turned back.

“Paulie, dude. I’m here on the down-low, mate, if you could take it down a notch?”

Paulie rolled his eyes then smirked. “By the way.”

“What?”

“She’s not here.”

“Who?”

Paulie shook his head as he uncapped two Buds. “Your usual?”