Old Man's War - John Scalzi

I can sum this review in two words easily: Great sci-fi.
When I started reading, I could not stop until I reached the end. A true page-turner. As I read it, I was reminded of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, however, it's original and in truth has nothing to do with that other book (apart from the war in space). What reminded me of the classic was the tone... the sensation that I got as I read along.
The science parts of the book are well thought out and probable (however, far in the future). The plot was compelling and kept me interested. And the characters were real and well fleshed.
I would strongly recommend this to any sci-fi fan, most specifically to military sci-fi fans.

Back in Business

After some long vacations, I'm back, and with recharged batteries. This summer has been full of changes for me, and this is the reason why I haven't posted anything in my blog, and I have written pretty little.

However, I'm back on my routine. So I'll soon have a review for "Old man's war" by John Scalzi, updates on my writing progress, and many other things.

Stay tuned ;D

Publishing in Kobo Writing LIfe

I've just created an account in Kobo Writing Life to publish directly there, instead of using Smashwords. I've uploaded "The Test" and I'm waiting for it to be published.

In the folowing weeks I will be publishing all my books in Kobo directly.

Next: Barnes & Noble...

Indie Publishing Momentum

As seen in the last Author Earning report (http://authorearnings.com/july-2014-author-earnings-report/) from 'authorearnings.com' the momentum of indie publishing is still there. The big 5 publishing houses are loosing percentage of their share -which would explain the numerous attacks from their world to indie publishing and Amazon in particular. Also small and medium publishers are growing also.

All this is great news for all indie writers/publishers. It means that this path or route is no longer a last resort or a place for the ones who could not make it, but a valid option when deciding how to proceed with your literary career.

Every graph is interesting, but one of the most so, is the one dedicated to DRM usage.

As you can see, DRM does NOT insure author earnings; also, non-DRM publishing does NOT insure piracy. These are two very important affirmations that break down the myth of piracy. Readers prefer to pay for what they read, but readers are no fools, and don't want to be cheated with prices. If you charge the same -or barely- price for a e-book as for its physical counterpart, people will download them illegally. Readers aren't stupid. How is it that a physical book, which has production, transportation, and retail costs, has the same price as an e-book, which has none of those? The answer is quite easy, they increase the price of the e-book to deter possible buyers, and make them think "for the same price, I'll buy the physical copy". And the most outrageous part of this (at least for me, as an author) is that the increase in price, does not reflect in author royalties.

Dean Wesley Smith's advice on indie-writing

I stumbled upon a great blog post by writer Dean Wesley Smith. He gives great advice that every starting writer (indie-writer that is), should read. He explains how to kill the myth that if you want to make it as an indie writer, you have to publish a bunch of books really quickly.

Take a look, it's great advice.

Killing the top ten sacred cows of indie publishing #7 I have to sell books quickly

Restructuring and adding

I have been restructuring and adding stuff to my WIP "Commanders". This had translated into a longer length target for the manuscript. I was planning on 100,000 words; however adding several new chapters has grown that number to 111,000.

I needed a few more chapters to explain certain things regarding a couple of characters. Mainly Juni Lampress, a woman with a voracious ambition. Her schemes weren't clear, so I needed to add more chapters with her.  Also for Teron Cladwin, but in his case it was just to give him a little bit more of exposition.

Five Star Reviews

Just wanted to share my two first five star reviews of Children of Space. They were posted at B&N for the paperback edition.

"Nicely written and good story content."

"You will love this book!"

It is such a wonderful feeling to read these comments by people I have never met. However, in a way, they have met me, through my writing they can see parts of me (if they care to look).

I know this might sound a bit cheese, but I will save these reviews in my hard drive for later years.

Hopefully they will be the first of many to come.