Tuesday, June 24, 2014

UNEARTHLY TALES: The universe and all it's great mysteries, lay wai...



The printed books voyage



Hi every one this is John E Sparks, author of Unearthly Tales. I was asked recently to talk about the printed versions of my book. Unearthly Tales From Space and the second version, Unearthly Tales.

 The first book is: UNEARTHLY TALES FROM SPACE, the cover art was created by, Lamin Martin.  Creating the first book is all ways an adventure, or maybe a slight challenge.  I had been writing for some time and new I needed a little help.  Admitting I needed help I think was the best first step.  Kind of like dealing with Alcohol addiction issues.  The first step is admitting there is a problem.  I contacted a writing editor, and had the gentleman read over my work.  Peter Heyrman, plheyrman@verizon.net  As a new writer I was scared.  Fear and lots of it in my mind, but Peter did the one thing that keep me from being afraid of what he would say.
 
             Segment from first letter Peter Heyrman sent me.
“From the first page onward your overall goal is clear: a story imagined within the context of the classic science fiction theme of first contact.  The structure of two viewpoints- Earth’s and the extraterrestrials-makes perfect sense.  Your enthusiasm for the story, and for the art and craft of writing, is obvious, and is also very much in your favor.  As long as you can translate that enthusiasm into work, and if you can keep an open mind about that work, you will find that writing is a challenging task, and a valuable skill.  Will it be profitable?  No one can say.  The marketplace is fickle, and even the best writer must get a few breaks to have any chance at all, but if you’re going to try that route, you must have the best book possible.”
 
            Segment from my second letter received after I reworked my book.
“Here it is, and I’ll say again, it’s been a pleasure working on it.  I almost always enjoy doing critiques, like I did for you last winter.  But what’s really rewarding is when I see a writer make the kind of leap forward that you’ve made.  As I told you before, the dialogue formatting really helps, and you mastered a great deal of it.  Not all, but more than most people do that quickly.  The reorganization is yours, and it makes a lot of sense.  It shows how much thought you put into this, and I get the feeling you had fun with it.”
Writing for me was a journey.  A voyage into the inner mind facing fears, enjoying thoughts and exploring concepts.  After working with Peter I receiving the confidence to continue.  So I published my book through Outskirts Press.  Today I am working to shift away from Outskirts but at the time they were the only company I had heard of.  In time you learn and life reveals new and interesting paths a person can take.  The best thing we can do is start the voyage and see what life has to offer.
 
PART 2 The Printed Books Second Voyage.
Thank you every one for following my blogs.  Here I wanted to share the second voyage with my book.  I am a man that loves art.  I can’t draw, but I love and respect art and its touch on life.  Art to me is like a celebration of life and all the good elements we enjoy.  Even when it can get dark and gross.
I grew up with comic books of Mickey Mouse and all the rest of Disney’s best.  I have spent the years writing and collecting images that reflected my story and dreams of graphic novel.  Page after page of images that reflects my charters and 1940 and 50’s classic science fiction look and feel.  Much like the X-box game I played, (Fall Out).  Maybe in time I will have a page of the website dedicated to all the images I saved.  Most of the images were art, some are famous actors and actresses dressed playing there parts in good entertainment.
My desire was to create a graphic novel.  So I started the journey looking for companies.  During the journey I saw website explaining how to make your own graphic novel.  Every step I took in my voyage I knew creating my own graphic novel was not my skill.  In my voyage looking for companies I found one.   I couldn’t stop looking at the company and there art.  The company published books and graphic novels and were making animation and filming movies.  In my heart of hearts it was like landing in heaven.  A dream was forming in my mind and heart.  A dream that has been alive in my heart for a long time, dreaming about writing, books, graphic novels and seeing everything become animation.
 I republished my book with: Power Publishers.   http://www.power-publishers.com/  Publishing a second time is always a little easer, or maybe they were just easier to work with.  The book is called: Unearthly Tales.  It’s the same book as I published with a different company, just edited a little different with a new name and image.  Both versions are doing very well at this time.  You can see both version on my website.  http://www.unearthly-tales.com/
The best part of my story is the graphic novel.  As you can see on my website, images of the graphic novel are displayed.  At this time the graphic novel is still in production but I grow more excited seeing it get closer to being finished.
The next part of my voyage is the website.  Here again I learn I have no ability.  I could try making my own, but it would require an extended time of retraining and school.  The best result for me is seeking the best talent.  The company I work with: http://site4author.com/  A great company I recommend for everyone.  The company has taken its time making sure what my needs were and what I would like to see.  I am very happy with my website and its natural evolution.  Improving with every step.  Today my book and graphic novel are for sale at a discount.
Thank you for reading my blog and supporting my books and graphic novels.








No comments:

Post a Comment