Tales: A Collection Of Short Fantasy Fiction is now available in paperback for $6.99! It is available at both Amazon (along with the e-book) and CreateSpace. I cannot express in words how cool it is to see your work in print form. This is my five-story collection that includes all five of the shorts I published earlier this year: “Loyal,” “Dragon’s Vengeance,” “Courage,” “Knight’s Oath,” and “Second Son.”

I hope you enjoy it!

Cover design: I spent $7 on the photograph used for my cover. Using Picassa, I created a simple, clean cover design. It is not state of the art by any means, but I think it works. Some writers spend hundreds of dollars on covers using graphic designers. That may be right for their books, and perhaps I’ll need that level of sophistication, but it didn’t make sense here. Readers do not buy books because of a cover, but they may not buy a book because the cover looks amateurish or rushed. The cover is the first symbol of a decent book. But the image is digital, and after it is reduced to a thumbnail image, all the time and extra money spent making a perfect cover seems wasted.

E-Book Formatting: This is vital and what I spent the most amount of time on. The Smashwords Style Guide was invaluable. I used it to format my Amazon and Barnes and Noble versions as well. Microsoft Word has many gremlins built into it that try to make your job easier with auto-formatting and auto-correction settings. But these can wreak havoc on your e-book. I used Calibre, an e-book conversion program, and was able to convert test copies of my book to see how they looked. Now that I know how to format, I should have an easier time going forward. This was only a 6,000-word e-book and it took me hours. I can only imagine what it takes for a 50,000-word novel.

Editing: At first I thought, for such a short book, that I could use a Beta Reader or two and get away without a professional editor. Wow, was I wrong. Shelley Holloway, at Holloway House, was my angel. She pointed out mistakes in structure and word selection that I would never have seen. I paid $75 but could and would have paid more. I learned that regardless of the length of your work, be it a 1,000-word short story or a 200,000-word novel in the vein of Dostoyevsky, an editor is crucial.

A Non-Fiction Book is Not a Long Blog Post: I have a blogging background. Blogging typically uses a stream-of-consciousness style of writing. My first pass at The Deathbed Mindset resulted in an overly long blog post. It was written in that same stream-of-consciousness style, wherein I talk “at” the reader. Not good. It was a horror show and required considerable rewriting. I added fiction-style elements into the second draft as well, but had to remove a lot of “I” references and slang.

It Was Awesome!: And the last lesson learned? I loved every minute of this experience. Without that, why bother?

I am very proud to finally announce the self-publication of The Deathbed Mindset, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. This has been a wonderful, but difficult, journey, and I believe the hard work has paid off. It is my first foray into self-publishing and has been an incredible learning experience. As described on my home page, this e-book is about time and how to change your mindset to better take advantage of what little we have. Time is not our enemy. Wish as we might, time does not stand still, and slowly our lives slip away with dreams unrealized. It is time to take a stand against time, and The Deathbed Mindset can help. Based on an experience I had some time ago, the book describes how I realized that time was slipping through my fingers. I altered my approach to time and now understand what it means to seize every moment.

I welcome your feedback and would love to hear from you. My e-mail and Facebook pages are in the Contact Jason section above and you can always leave a comment at this website. Click the links below to buy whatever version suits you. Thanks for your support.