Monthly Archives: March 2013

Rewriting in the Digital Age

No matter how hard you try, your book is never going to be 100% perfect. Hopefully, during the editing process you’re able to fix the plot holes and inconsistencies.

But even after you push the publish button, you’re going to find typos and errors. Maybe a sentence that doesn’t make as much sense as you’d like. You’re going to find something that you want to change.

I’ve spent most of the last week or two cutting back on the overly descriptive prose that I used in The Cerberus Rebellion and adding in a couple of chapters that I really should have included in the first place.

I had a conversation with Harry over at A Way With Worlds that basically went something like:

Me: “Hey, so I’m making some additions to Cerberus”
Him: “Wait, you can do that?

In the past, with traditional paper printing, you’d be pretty much out of luck. Your publisher could print a second run, with the corrections in place, but that’s assuming that your book warranted enough attention and sales to call for a second run.

In the age of digital publishing, the solution is much simpler. Correct the errors, recompile your book, and republish to your selected markets. Amazon, at least, will send an email to anyone that has purchased your book and give them the option to redownload it.

Now, this won’t necessarily turn someone who hated your novel into a fan overnight, but it can definitely improve the experience of future readers.

I know with The Cerberus Rebellion, the overly descriptive text was a consistent theme in the reviews that  I received. In the age of digital publishing, the ability to respond to feedback and fix your errors cannot be overlooked as a great tool to gaining readers.

Review: Duck Blood Soup

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had found yet another author (or in this case, a pair of authors) who had created a Gunpowder Fantasy. During their free day, I grabbed their novel Duck Blood Soup and have been reading it over the last few weeks.

I like what the authors did with this book in many regards. Their source of power was unique, their approach to politics was interesting, but the thing that stood out the most about this book was their different take on Giants.

It was refreshing to see Giants represented as something other than stupid oafs.

I would definitely rate this novel as “Muskets and Magic”. There weren’t a lot of muskets (two major battles, that I recall, and one of them focused more on the magical members of the party), but there was a fair amount of magic.

There were some things that bothered me about Duck Blood Soup. I was not a big fan of the constant POV shifts. While they were internally consistent, hopping from head to head was a bit distracting and I think there were some things that could have been done differently if we didn’t know immediately what all of the characters were thinking.

The other thing that was a bit off was the use of a more modern vernacular. Maybe I’m just a fantasy purist (ironic as, like the Hofers, I write Gunpowder Fantasy) but this aspect was distracting.

Overall, I liked Duck Blood Soup and I look forward to the next book in the series.

The Cerberus Rebellion Book Trailer!

I’ve put together a book trailer for The Cerberus Rebellion! Have a look!

And don’t forget, we’re less than 14 Days from the end of my Kickstart The Cerberus Rebellion Into Print Campaign