Filed under: Amazon, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, feedback, free, jim downey, Kindle, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction
Well, it seems that Tim’s strategy of taking advantage of the ability to get multiple entries for the second drawing paid off! His was the name we drew out of The Hat this morning — congrats, Tim!
I will be posting an announcement of the third and final drawing later this coming week. But here’s a little hint: there’s a new review of Communion of Dreams over at Amazon. Here it is:
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read, July 26, 2013Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)This review is from: Communion of Dreams (Kindle Edition)This was an excellent adventure. Definitely worth your reading time. Has an excellent view of what may be a possible future.
Check it out. Comment if you’re inclined. Or maybe even consider writing your own review, and sharing your thoughts with others — I very much appreciate it.
Thanks!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Feedback, Marketing, Promotion, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, Facebook, feedback, free, jim downey, Kickstarter, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction, Twitter
Damn – I thought I had posted an update here on Sunday. But I got busy and …
Anyway. “Debi” was the name drawn from The Hat on Sunday, and she will be receiving the first of the hand-bound cloth copies of Communion of Dreams I am giving away.
Why yes, I did just say “the first“. Because I am going to give away another one here shortly.
OK, for all those who got their name in the last time, don’t worry, your name will stay in The Hat for the next drawing.
But if you would like to increase your chances, you can. And if you want to get your name added to The Hat — this Hat:
it is easy to do so. Just follow these steps:
- Mention Communion of Dreams online someplace. It can be anywhere available to the public. Your blog. Your Twitter account. On Facebook. In a discussion forum. In an Amazon review. Anywhere — anywhere, that is, except here or on the Facebook page for CoD. You don’t have to link to the book, or this blog, or anything. You don’t have to say anything nice about me or the book. Seriously.
- Post a comment here or on the Facebook page telling me you did so. Include a link to said mention. No link back, no entry.
- You can enter once a day, now through Saturday. Sunday morning I will tally up all the entries, make a new slip for each one, and add them to The Hat.
So, it’s the luck of the draw — but you can increase your chances of winning. Just like last time, I’ll even pay the postage. And let you pick which edition number you want of those available. And inscribe it as you prefer (well, within bounds…)
Please, only one entry per person per day, and open to everyone, as long as you follow the rules noted above. If you’ve already ordered a hand-bound copy of the book (or are due one from the Kickstarter) and you win this one, you can have me either send it to you or to the recipient of your choice. Easy.
Don’t wait — get your entry in now. And tomorrow. And Thursday …
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Marketing, Promotion, Science Fiction | Tags: art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, Facebook, free, jim downey, Kickstarter, marketing, promotion, Science Fiction
So, I got these all done:
Finished product.
And I’m really pleased with the way most of them came out.
Most of them. But not all.
The first several text blocks I trimmed, I had the fence on my guillotine set in the wrong place, and trimmed the top margin a little too close. Oh, it’s the sort of thing that probably only I would ever notice (seriously, it’s only about 5mm off), but when it comes to my work I’m a bit of a perfectionist. So I just wouldn’t feel right in selling them for the normal $100 price. Instead, I’m going to use them for promotional purposes. Starting with having a drawing for one now.
So, if you would like a nearly perfect, hand-bound, cloth-covered copy of Communion of Dreams, do two things, and I will enter your name for a drawing:
- “Follow” this blog (or “Like” the Facebook page).
- Leave a comment below (or on the Facebook page).
You’ve got until Sunday morning, when I log on to see who has entered. Then I’ll put all the names into a hat, and draw one out. That person will get the copy of the book. For free. I’ll even pay the postage. And let you pick which edition number you want of those available. And inscribe it as you prefer (well, within bounds…)
Please, only one entry per person, and open to everyone. If you’ve already ordered a hand-bound copy of the book (or are due one from the Kickstarter) and you win this one, you can have me either send it to you or to the recipient of your choice. Easy.
Don’t wait — get your entry in now.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Marketing, Publishing, Science Fiction, tech | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Science Fiction, technology
I got to thinking about all the steps/stages involved in doing the binding of the handbound editions of Communion of Dreams. Here’s a step by step description (with some images below) of the process of doing the cloth hardcover books:
- Gather the sections from the printed stacks.
- Fold each section.
- Collate the sections into books.
- Punch holes through the center of each section for sewing.
- Sew up the text blocks.
- Paste up the spine of each text block, allow to dry under mild weight.
- Trim each textblock to size: head, tail, fore-edge.
- Paste up each text block again; determine size for, cut, and add endbands.
- Determine size for, cut, then paste up and apply spine liners, allow to dry.
- Determine size for and cut bookboard for the covers: front cover, rear cover, spine.
- Determine size of necessary cover cloth, cut from roll goods.
- Layout and mark up inside of cover cloth for bookboard positions.
- Paste up and mount each piece of bookboard, nip in nipping press, allow to dry.
- Cut corners on cover cloth.
- Paste up and turn in edges & corners, nip in nipping press, allow to dry. This is now called the “cloth case”.
- Determine size and cut cover image for mounting to cloth cases.
- Position and mount cover images to cases, nip in nipping press, allow to dry.
- Trim back first paste-down sheet on front and back of each text block.
- Position text block in case, paste up sewing tapes and front half paste-down sheet, nip in nipping press.
- Repeat for rear sewing tapes and half paste-down sheet.
- Paste up front full paste-down sheet, nip in nipping press.
- Repeat for rear full paste-down sheet.
- Dry under mild weight.
Simple, right? 😉
Well, it is compared to what is involved in doing the leather-covered edition. I might spend some time doing a video version of that. We’ll see.
Oh, yeah — if you’d like to have your own hand-bound copy in either cloth or leather, full information on the limited edition is here.
Jim Downey
Sheets gathered & folded into sections.
Sections punched for sewing.
Starting the sewing onto linen tapes.
Bottom of the sewn text block trimmed off in the guillotine.
Drying time.
Marked up cover stock.
Bookboard mounted.
Corners cut, ready to turn in.
Back cover image positioned for mounting.
Sewing tapes and half sheet pasted out and pressed.
Second paste down sheet prepared and ready to press.
Finished product.
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Publishing, Science Fiction, Wales, Writing stuff | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, India, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, Wales, writing
Thanks to everyone for helping make the promotion a success — I think we got an excellent response for a book which has been available for some 18 months, with 1,366 total downloads of Communion of Dreams! That breaks down as 1,193 in the U.S. market, 66 in the U.K., 102 in Germany, two in India, and 3 in Canada. It may be silly, but I think that it’s a real hoot that there are people in India who have downloaded my book.
And it wasn’t just Communion of Dreams — Her Final Year also was downloaded by someone in India with this week’s promotion. And altogether there were 272 total downloads of that memoir.
There is also a new review of Communion of Dreams up on Amazon. Here’s a bit of it:
I’ve been reading science fiction for over 40 years, and it’s my favorite subject, but I’ll be very honest and say that even after reading this entire book, I could not understand what the artifact actually was. I also did not understand what the burl was, nor what the gel was. I think this story could have been a lot more exciting if it was trimmed down by 50%. I applaud the author’s first efforts at writing, but I think he should try again.
Well, gee, I suppose that’s meant to be encouraging, and the reviewer does end with:
“Practice makes perfect — best of luck with your next book!”
So maybe they’ll like St. Cybi’s Well if I don’t spend too much time with characters, setting, or have too many difficult concepts in it. And I probably shouldn’t have it set in Wales, since that’s not science-fictiony enough. I’ll have to keep that in mind.
*Sigh*
If you have some thoughts on the book to share, I’m always happy to have the additional reviews.
Well, maybe make that I’m usually happy to have the additional reviews.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Connections, General Musings, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, movies, Music, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Weather, YouTube | Tags: A Tale of Two Cities, Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, Charles Dickens, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, Fred Hoyle, free, Her Final Year, humor, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, Led Zeppelin, literature, movies, music, October The First is Too Late, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, Sean Carroll, St. Cybi's Well, time travel, travel, video, www youtube
Partially related to stuff which happens in St. Cybi’s Well, but also I suspect because I just turned 55, I’ve been thinking about “time” a lot. The perceptions of it, how it ‘works’, how it is portrayed in books and movies. This topic is hardly new for me, though, since tropes about time travel are so common in Science Fiction.
Anyway, one interesting little side-track I was considering this morning was what you could do with a series of stories/books premised on a slightly different concept of time than what we commonly work with. Specifically, I was thinking of time as a manifestation of other aspects of the universe, analogous to how weather is a manifestation of other physical characteristics on a planet. You could have something like a “time forecast”, wherein changes in the quality of time itself had an impact on the story/characters. Perhaps our little corner of reality has long been in a ‘calm’ period of time weather, with things moving along smoothly and placidly, so that we’ve come to expect that it will always be that way. What happens when there’s a change? Perhaps a new front moves through? A storm? A tornado? Does everything get jumbled, a la October The First is Too Late? Perhaps it could literally be the best of times and the worst of times simultaneously.
Something to play with. But for now, I need to get back to work. And you, if you haven’t already, should take advantage of this last day of the week-long promotion and go download Communion of Dreams and/or Her Final Year.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Connections, Constitution, Government, Health, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: 55, Alzheimer's, Amazon, birthday, blogging, care-giving, Communion of Dreams, Constitution, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, Independence Day, jim downey, John Bourke, July 4th, Kindle, memoir, promotion, Science Fiction
Happy Independence Day, everyone!
And a quick update on how things are going with the promotion so far: almost 1300 downloads of Communion of Dreams, and the current ranking for that book is #647 overall in the Free Kindle Store (it down all the way to #289 at one point on Tuesday evening!) And Her Final Year is presently at #1,570, with 231 downloads so far. Remember, the promotion ends tomorrow night — so take advantage of it now!
Have a safe & fun Fourth!
Jim Downey
*Because I’m 55, get it? Yes, I am so very clever. Also because of the meaning of “five by five“, which is unknown to most people these days, belonging to another era.
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Feedback, Health, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, health, Her Final Year, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, memoir, promotion, Science Fiction
… that the promotion is now running, and both Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year are now free to download! Things are off to a good start, and as I write this Communion of Dreams has been downloaded 500 times already, and is currently doing quite well in the Kindle rankings. Things have been a bit slower for Her Final Year but it is still doing well, and for the first time ever I’ve had one of my books downloaded by someone in India. That’s pretty cool.
So, if you haven’t gotten your copy of either book — or if you know someone who may be interested in either one — this is the time to act! Get ’em while they’re hot!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Book Conservation, Connections, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Religion, Science Fiction, tech | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, art, blogging, book conservation, bookbinding, care-giving, Communion of Dreams, free, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, promotion, Science Fiction, technology
Remember that 700+ year old bible I posted about the beginning of June? This one:
Well, this weekend I got started working on the book. And I thought I’d share a couple of images of what I found inside, and what I’ve done to it so far.
Here’s the spine of the text block, once it had been freed from the cover seen above:
That’s after I’ve removed the gross chunks of paper liners which were applied between the cords. I’ve since removed all the rest of the liners, first using a jeweler’s tweezers and then a scalpel. Anyway, I want to note the very evident lines of sewing stations (holes punched through the folios) from the original binding. That shows that the book has been rebound at least once.
Here’s another image:
That’s an image of the interior of the cover. Which shows a couple of interesting things. First, you can see how the vellum of the cover molded itself to the spine of the text block over time. That sort of thing happens over *centuries*.
Second, how the supporting cords are laced into the cover. The sewing was done in a way that it wrapped around the cords, which helps to support the overall structure. The cords are then laced into a channel, looped over the board material, and then come back on the inside and are pasted down. This is VERY common of medieval and Renaissance bindings.
And lastly — note that the cover material is an early variety of bookboard. It’s NOT wood. This is a clue to the age of the binding. It means that it is after the introduction of papermaking to Europe. Which is to say, this book was probably rebound sometime in the 14th or 15th century. (Papermaking technology was introduced to Southern Europe late in the 13th century, but it took a little while to disseminate across the continent.)
So, I removed a couple of layers of more modern papers on the inside, and pulled the old ends of the cords out of the bookboard. Then I dampened the board on the inside, put it between moisture barrier sheets, and put it into a press to flatten overnight. Then once the spine of the text block was fairly clean I applied a layer of conservation adhesive (a blend of methyl-cellulose and poly-vinyl-acetate) and some fairly heavy Kozo-fiber paper, which I stippled onto the spine so that it would conform to the existing structure and hold everything in place. Like this:
You’ll note that it extends past the text block on the left-hand side of the spine. I can trim that excess off with a scalpel once everything is dried. I should finish up the rest of the work tomorrow.
Oh, and speaking of tomorrow … remember, the week-long give-away of my books starts then!
Jim Downey
Filed under: BoingBoing, Connections, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Science, Science Fiction, tech, YouTube | Tags: blogging, Boing Boing, Communion of Dreams, free, Her Final Year, jim downey, Kindle, levitation, magnets, Möbius strip, physics, promotion, Royal Institution, science, Science Fiction, superconductor, technology, video, www youtube
Via BB, fun with physics:
I think it’s particularly clever that they made the track a Möbius strip, in order to demonstrate how the gravitational field can be used to both float and suspend the superconducting magnet. Reminds me of this bit from chapter 5 of Communion of Dreams:
The man was a bit of a lunatic. But he was a brilliant engineer who had an almost intuitive understanding of the Apparent Gravity phenomenon, and was the first to propose that it could be adapted for use as a propulsion system. He figured out a way to trick an AG field into thinking that it was in a stable inertial reference by projecting it in front of a ship, and thereby essentially have the ship – and generator – continuously ‘fall’ into the field. The Hawking was the first ship equipped with the new reactionless drive system.
Remember, both Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year will be free all next week …
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 