"Raised by the Fox" Published

"Raised by the Fox" Published

11/9/2011 11:23:23 AM

 
Well, it's official, I submitted my short story collection for publishing, and it's now available for sale. To find the book go to the Smashwords Author Page at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jwalkerbell

Table of Contents
Introduction, Acknowledgements, Special Tribute
Dominant Species
Outpost
The Porch
Gates of Delirium (poem)
Infant Dawn
Birth of Words
Of Cactus, Castles, and Queens
Testament of Faith
The Net

The book is just over 41,000 words and if printed would reach 72 pages. There are seven fiction stories, one true story, an essay, and a poem in the collection. Every entry has it's own introduction.

The final tasks involved going through a 39 step process of formatting those 41,000 words into something that could be turned into an ebook readable on a multitude of devices from computers to Kindles to smart phones. After reading and re-reading, and then reading again, I reached a point where I had to say DONE even though I still wanted to proof it some more. It took a full day to design and create the book cover. I decided to go with a black and white cover instead of color since some formats don't support color. I intend to be flashier in future submissions, but I like the cover I came up with and I hope others do, too.

Once the ebook was available for download, I checked the final product using the epub format. Of course, I discovered typos that despite everything still escaped the proofing process. The good thing about an ebook, though, is that I can correct the errors and upload an updated version. Overall, though, the ebook looks good and I did not have any horrific problems that some folks have. I was very careful to follow all directions and used recommended the style guide, which eliminated a lot of self-induced problems.

At the moment, "Raised by the Fox" is available only through Smashwords. I've met all of the criteria for Premium service, however, and once that has been confirmed by Smashwords, they will forward the ebook to Amazon, Sony, Barnes and Noble, and other major book publishers.

If the 99 cents is too steep, you can still read the first thirty percent of the book for free. Just go to the above link and select online reading, or download the sample in your choice of format.