Filed under: Amazon, Art, Brave New World, Connections, Feedback, Humor, Isaac Asimov, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, feedback, free, humor, Isaac Asimov, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, writing
A couple weeks ago, when I was setting up the price change and promotional stuff for the one-year anniversary of Communion of Dreams, I was again confronted with something I had pondered and then ignored previously: was this book part of a “series”?
See, when you’re going through the interface to publish a book with Amazon, that’s one of the questions you need to answer. The helpful little dialog box explains the idea this way:
A series is a connected set of books. If this book is part of a series, identify where the book exists in the sequence with a volume number. We only accept volume numbers in numerical format (“1”, “2”, or “3”). Magazines and journals are also often grouped as a series. Identifying the series helps customers find other books in the series.
It makes me jealous.
Well, OK, it doesn’t really. But it does make me wonder. What would I call the series for the slightly-altered-universe in which Communion of Dreams exists?
When I first published Communion of Dreams, I thought that I would eventually like to write several other related books, but I didn’t know for sure whether I would ever get around to doing so. I mean, we make plans, and have hopes & dreams and all that, but it seemed both a little presumptuous as well as potentially risky (in the “tempting fate” sort of way) to claim that I was going to write a series of books before seeing what the response to the first one was.
And then there’s the complicating fact that at least for the time being I consider Communion of Dreams to be the end of any such series. St. Cybi’s Well is a prequel — the start of the so-called series, in fact. And I have some rough ideas for other books which would be related to the overall story arc, about one per decade of the time between now and the setting of Communion (2052). But those are just approximations. How can I number the books in the series when I have little confidence in how many there will be? And wouldn’t it be confusing to number the books in the order they are written, since they jump around in chronological sequence?
Anyway, this is all by way of saying that I could use some help and suggestions with this. If you’ve read Communion of Dreams, you have some sense of the overall arc of the series, at least as the history is outlined in that book. And I’ve chatted a fair amount about St. Cybi’s Well. Knowing those things, what do *you* think would be a good ‘series name’ for these books?
I’m serious — I’d like suggestions. Post it here in a comment, drop me an email, say something over on the FB page. If I use your suggestion, I’ll credit you with it and send you a hand-bound copy of either Communion of Dreams or St. Cybi’s Well depending on your preference (and if you’ve already got those coming as part of the Kickstarter rewards or something, we’ll work out an equitable substitute).
Thanks!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Feedback, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, feedback, free, humor, jim downey, Kindle, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction
So, earlier this week I mailed off the first ‘backwards’ books, and have now heard from four of the recipients. Here are a couple of excerpts in their responses:
“The koob arrived safely – thanks! Looking forward (er, backward?) to re-reading it ;)”
“words. fail. me. the exceptional feeling of awe at this exquisite, hand-made work of art, serendipitously brought about can hardly be conveyed. it’s beautiful.”
Damn, I wish *I* had thought to call the thing the “koob”! See? My readers are clearly more intelligent & witty than I am. Pat yourself on the back — you deserve it.
Anyway, so that’s that.
Speaking of reviews, there’s another new one up on Amazon, this time breaking the 1-star streak I was afraid we were falling into. Here’s a bit of it:
I read this and thoroughly enjoyed it. It definitely has an ‘early sci-fi’ feel to it. People have compared the writing style to Clarke. I’m more into the military sci-fi but this was a refreshing and enjoyable change.
Today’s the last day of the big promotion. So far this week things have been really slow, and we haven’t made hardly any progress since Wednesday. Meaning that there’s still something like 1,400 to go to break the 25,000 mark. Obviously, it’s not a big deal if we don’t make it. But if you haven’t yet picked up a copy of the Kindle edition, or know someone who might like it, you might as well get it for free today. And if you prefer paper over electronic format, then use the $2.00 discount code in my CreateSpace store: 99K4TNJZ
Have a great Friday!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, humor, jim downey, Kindle, promotion, Science Fiction
So, the promo is off and running, and we’ve already seen about 200 downloads/sales. Meaning that we have about 1,500 to go to break 25,000. Since the goal was to do this before Friday, I’m pretty confident that we can achieve it — there have been several cases where one day promotions have done that well or better. The last promotional day was right at 700 downloads, and I think the best ever was something like 6,000 back when the book was new. So, 1,500 before the end of the day Friday? No problem.
With your help, that is. Even feverishly downloading and then deleting the book from my Amazon account, I’d never be able to make it to 1,500.
Oops. I probably shouldn’t have said that, should I?
Ah, well.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Feedback, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, humor, jim downey, Kindle, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction
So, just shipped off the first batch of ‘backwards’ books.
Including one to a major Science Fiction author & internet personality. Who shall remain nameless, since I promised said person that I would not use their wanting the book for any kind of promotional benefit. But obviously, this is someone of considerable taste and good aesthetic sensibility. 🙂 If they say anything about the book publicly later, I’ll let you know.
But still, it’s kinda a kick in the head to know that *my* book will be on their bookshelf.
Yeah, very cool.
Remember, today’s the first day of the promotional push to break 25,000 copies of Communion of Dreams disseminated in the first year. Help me out if you can and share the word.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, humor, jim downey, Kickstarter, mistakes, predictions, printing, promotion, Science Fiction, serendipity, St. Cybi's Well
I just printed out the following text:
Following the completion of my successful Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well in the Fall of 2012, I proceeded to make arrangements for a limited edition print run of Communion of Dreams to be bound by hand. See the Colophon on the dedication page of this book for details.
However, there was an error at the printer’s with the first printing. In spite of having had a correct proof copy, the initial printing was done entirely backwards – laid out as though the book was intended to be read back-to-front, with the spine on the right side, and in which you turn the pages from left to right.
At first I thought the entire print run would need to be recycled. Indeed, once the printer realized their error, that’s what they asked me to do with the printed sheets in order to save them the cost of shipping.
Errors are part of the handmade process. In this case, the error wasn’t mine, but came from the printer. Whoever set up the print run managed to load the pages backwards, and in the process opened an unexpected door. When things like this happen, I’ve learned to roll with it. It’s like a little surprise, something special the universe gives you – serendipitous art.
So I decided to hand-bind a few of these ‘backwards’ books, as curiosities. How many? Just 15 copies – thirteen ‘lettered’ copies (A – M), and two artist’s/author’s proofs. This copy is letter _____.
Add a designated letter, and my signature, and then those sheets will be the ‘paste-down’ sheets for the back cover — er, I mean front cover — of the backwards books. Yup, I’m all done with that little binding project. There are still 7 copies unclaimed, but now that they’re actually made I expect that they’ll find homes fairly soon.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The little photo essay of making these books isn’t fundamentally different than the first set shown, but it’s kind of fun to see the larger volume of the whole process.
Sheets for collating.
Sheets gathered & folded into sections.
Text blocks sewn, lined, stacked to dry.
Making the covers. Note the stack of cut boards, the stack of cut pieces of book cloth.
Boards mounted, turning in the edges & corners to finish the covers.
“Pasting in” – the process of mounting the text blocks to the covers.
Finished books, stacked and drying.
And all done.
Filed under: Humor, NASA, Science, Space, tech | Tags: blogging, GRAIL, humor, jim downey, Moon, NASA, science, space, technology, video
I love the sense of humor:
GRAIL’s Gravity Tour of the Moon
This movie shows the variations in the lunar gravity field as measured by NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) during the primary mapping mission from March to May 2012. Very precise microwave measurements between two spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow, were used to map gravity with high precision and high spatial resolution.
There’s more, including images and vid, at the link.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, humor, jim downey, Kickstarter, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction
A couple weeks ago, I wrote this:
If I wanted to, I could actually bind the book so as to read ‘backwards’ like a Hebrew Bible, though the page numbers are all in the wrong location for that.
I must admit, I’m tempted, just for giggles.
And as I posted yesterday, I gave in to the temptation. Yup, I made a ‘backwards book’, one which has the spine on the right side, and in which you turn the pages from left to right. And I’m going to make a few more.
Why? Well, for the fun of it, mostly. But also because when things like this happen, I’ve learned to roll with it. It’s like a little surprise, something special the universe gives you — serendipitous art.
And for some people, such things are quite collectible. Think of philately or numismatics, where errors of one sort or another make for highly-valued stamps and coins.
Errors are part of the handmade process. In this case, the error wasn’t mine, but came from the printer. Whoever set up the print run managed to load the pages backwards, and in the process opened an unexpected door.
Now, this isn’t something that appeals to a lot of people. So I’m only going to make 15 of these books — thirteen ‘lettered’ copies (A – M), and two artist’s/author’s proofs, all covered in book cloth as shown. Those who have opted to get one of the “archive” sets will have it included in the set at no additional charge as long as the copies last. Others may opt to buy a single copy for $150.00. But there are only 13 copies, and of those four are already reserved. Meaning that there are only nine remaining, and are first-come, first served.
So, there ya go.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What follows is a little photo-essay showing the process by which I bound the first book (and will bind the rest). This will also be the same process for binding the ‘normal’ hardcover cloth edition.
Sheets gathered into sections, then folded.
Sections punched for sewing.
Starting the sewing onto linen tapes.
Sewing complete.
Text block trimmed, ready for adhesive & spine liners.
Gluing up the text block.
Checking fit of the boards.
Making the cloth-bound case (hardcover).
Case done, checking fit with text block.
Cover sheet next to case.
Me cutting the cover sheet to size.
Cutting the cover sheet – this is how it would normally be laid out for a conventional book.
Re-arranging the cover for this ‘backwards’ book.
Cover completed.
It’s a backwards book!
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Failure, Humor, Publishing, Science Fiction, tech | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, humor, jim downey, Science Fiction, technology
So, last night I posted about the fiasco with the print job for the special edition of Communion of Dreams. I thought this morning I would explain just exactly what the problem is.
Typically, inexpensive paperbacks are made using a process called “perfect binding” where the stack of individual pages are glued up along the spine and a cover is slapped on. The cover at the spine provides a backing to the adhesive used. It’s a process which can be completely mechanized, and is fast & cheap, providing decent value for the money. It’s how the paperback copies of Communion of Dreams are printed.
However, more expensive machine hardcover books, and most varieties of hand-bound books, are done using sheets which are folded and sewn. A folded sheet is called a folio, and a gathering of such folded sheets is called a signature (or section, or quire). How many folios are in a signature varies greatly, from single sheets up to about a dozen, depending on the thickness of the paper and how the book is designed. To make the book ‘work’ properly, the book designer has to make sure that the individual pages are laid out such that when the signatures are gathered together the sequence of pages is correct.
Chances are, most of the physical books you’ve read conform to what we in the West think of as ‘normal’: they have the spine of the book on the left side, pages are numbered with odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left. To read the book, you turn pages from right to left.
But if you think about this for a moment, it is not the only way a book could be arranged. You could have the spine at the top, for example, and have the ‘book’ work like a typical calendar, turning the pages from bottom to top.
Or you could have the spine on the right side. This orientation would then have you turn pages from left to right. This, in fact, is how traditional Hebrew Bible books are printed, and the same convention is used with Japanese books.
And it’s the way they printed Communion of Dreams, which we discovered when we started looking at the sheets last night.
Here’s an image of the center folio of the proof they sent us:
Correct.
And here’s an image of the same center folio from the sheets we picked up yesterday:
Incorrect.
Note that even the page numbers are now in the wrong locations, being in the center rather than the outside of the pages. The entire book — the entire print run — is done this way. If I wanted to, I could actually bind the book so as to read ‘backwards’ like a Hebrew Bible, though the page numbers are all in the wrong location for that.
I must admit, I’m tempted, just for giggles.
But we’ll get things sorted out with the printer, and get the proper printing done.
Edited to add on Friday afternoon: Yeah, so I think after the printer saw this blog post, and went back over their own records, they realized where & how they had screwed up. They’re now going to reprint the whole order.
Which is what they should do, but it is nice to have a business who is willing to make good without much of a fuss. I can only compliment them on their business practices, and will be happy to use them again in the future.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Humor, tech | Tags: blogging, GoDaddy, humor, jim downey, technology
…we’ve had a pretty good relationship, but something has come up that we need to not talk about.
Yeah, with a heavy emphasis on the NOT.
A week or so ago I got your nice reminder that I needed to update my credit card info, since I hadn’t done so recently and would have some automatic billing charges at the end of November. That was considerate of you. No, really, it was very thoughtful. I appreciate a short note about such things.
And I took care of it.
But then one of your helpful assistants called me.
Now, I was busy, and so a little more curt than courteous. I’ll admit to that. But I wasn’t rude, just told the person not to call me, and that I had taken care of the update.
That was Thursday or Friday, I think. Yeah, I know, it’s thoughtless of me to not remember such details. I’ll work on that.
But then someone else from GoDaddy called me on Monday. Nah, it wasn’t too early. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that they again wanted to “help” me with the upcoming automatic renewal. ‘To see if we can save you some money!’ he said, in his most upbeat sales-person voice.
Again, I said that I would take care of it myself. And specifically I asked him to NOT CALL ME.
See, I don’t like talking on the phone. Not unless I know the person well.
Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come across quite so harsh. Yeah, I know we’ve known each other for a long time, and I’ve been pretty happy with the relationship. But I really *don’t* like calls. It’s a quirk of mine. No, seriously, this isn’t about you.
Well, maybe it is a little.
Anyway, sorry. But I thought that would settle the matter.
Then this morning, while I was in the shower, someone from your place called me again. Now, I’m not sayin’ it was you. But it *was* your number. I’ve got it right there in my phone.
And, honestly, that kinda ticked me off.
Now, just to make sure I went the extra mile, so to speak, I just jumped through the hassle of getting into my account and finding the “Contact Preferences” page buried in the site. I gotta say, you might think about making it a little easier to find such things. But yeah, I did find it, and made the necessary change on the question: “May we contact you via phone with support for recent purchases, renewal reminders, or product information?”
So yeah, some of this is on me. I admit that. Though I’ll be honest and say that I don’t think I ever saw that page in the account settings before. Still, it was there, and the default setting was still set to “yes”.
But seriously, I twice asked your helpful assistants to not call me. I thought that was pretty clear. I mean, I didn’t want to scream or curse at them or anything. You know that’s not really my style.
But c’mon, it’s such a little thing. I’m not asking you to change, just to consider my preferences in this relationship.
Cause, you know, there *are* other hosting services out there …
Jim Downey
Edited to add: I tweeted this post, got a quick response from @GoDaddy with an apology and confirmation that the account settings were changed. Good on them — that’s decent & courteous customer service.
Communion Of Dreams 