Month: March 2014

eReady and eAble

If you have ever had a book published by a mainstream publisher you will know that the publishing house generally takes care of most things in regards to polishing your manuscript and preparing it for public consumption. Depending on the publisher in question, they may have performed a better or worse job on any, or all, of the tasks that contribute to the success or failure of your masterpiece.

If you have been fortunate enough to secure a contract with one of the Big Six, the ePublishing agenda will probably be tied in with the digital rights of your contract. If you have not already secured a contract with one of the Big Six your chances of being taken on by any of them now are probably more remote than ever. The Big Six are of course sticking with their tried and proven, established, best-selling authors, taking fewer and fewer chances on unproven newcomers. Continue reading “eReady and eAble”

The Idea Graveyard

graveyardThe road to success is paved with the bones of failure. We try to keep things fresh here at Indies Unlimited by introducing new types of features from time to time.

Not all of these features catch on. Some do well at first, but sort of fizzle out as they go along. That’s the thing about innovation – you never know what’s going to work until you try it. Who would have guessed that putting sleeves on a blanket would make somebody a bazillionaire?

In the mean time, the makers of Jello have rejected all my ideas for meat and vegetable flavored gelatin. Come on! Who wouldn’t rather have their Brussels sprouts in a jiggly form served up in a dessert cup? Think, people! But, I digress…

Never discouraged, I have brought that same spirit of innovation and enterprise to Indies Unlimited. Sometimes my blog partner, K. S. “Kat” Brooks, is a bit more cautious.  She did, in fact, talk me out of “Indie Author Death Match.” Otherwise, we do tend agree on most everything else. But, as my father used to say, you can’t make an omelet without cracking a few heads. Not everything worked: Continue reading “The Idea Graveyard”

Book Brief: Mystery of the Attic

Mystery of the AtticMystery of the Attic
by TJ Perkins
Genre of this Book: YA mystery
116 pages

Melissa is just an average thirteen-year-old with a semi-average life until she moves into a ninetheenth-century farmhouse.

There she discovers that the house is haunted by two ghosts – one good and one evil. With the help of her stepsister, they unravel an age-old mystery and solve an unsolvable crime; one that was never intended to be solved. Many evil hauntings attempt to prevent the girls from discovering the truth. It’s a race against time and a battle of wits to see which will prevail – the living or the dead.

This book is available from Amazon, Smashwords, and Amazon UK. Continue reading “Book Brief: Mystery of the Attic”

Flash Fiction Challenge: Blood and Ice

boston garden juneau96
Photo by K.S. Brooks

I wasn’t there to watch the game, but that’s what I was doing. I was sidelined with an ankle injury that made me miss my first game in six straight seasons.

I don’t like to think of myself as the kind of guy who wants others to fail, but I found my stomach turning every time the rookie goalie replacing me made a save. He was good, and that was bad for me.

I was starting to think about life after hockey. While I was daydreaming about endorsement deals and my own restaurant franchise, a fight broke out on the ice… Continue reading “Flash Fiction Challenge: Blood and Ice”