Oneironauts 2 Cover

So I had a grandiose idea about the cover of the second Oneironauts. It was going to involve nice cameras and paint in water. Unfortunately I couldn't muster a fish tank for the photos, so it turned out out to be only a dream...

It was at this point that I decided to take matters into my own hands. I fired up GIMP yesterday and came up with the following. It likely won't be the final draft of the cover, but it's a big step in the right direction. I'm going to try and finish everything tomorrow (interior included) and order a proof. If everything looks good, I'm going to publish These Apparitions next week. Until then, enjoy the cover. Please comment with any feedback.

FYI: the word count for this book is about 97,000 words. It will be 344 pages (not including front and back material).

Update (6.16.15): I've finished the interior. The chapter names took quite a while. Luckily I learned some good lessons from my first time around so creating the interior was a fairly smooth process. I also posted my cover on an authors' forum and have gotten some feedback which I'll be implementing.

Update 2 (6.18.15): The final cover is nearly complete. I just need to get a picture of my own model (as I don't have rights to the one I used). I'm in talks with some people right now, Hopefully I'll have the shots before the end of the week.

Update 3 (6.19.15): I ended up just using myself as the model for the cover. I would have preferred someone else, but meh. I can change it later if I want. I spent all day yesterday doing the eBook for book 2 and fixing the eBook for book 1. My proof is on the way, so it should be published next week! Anyway, here's the final cover:

The Kindle Relents, Lets Oneironauts In

I could try to get you to believe how difficult making my book into Kindle material was, but I know you don't like unsolicited preaching as much as the next guy. Suffice it to say, I had a wild ride getting this thing to work. The biggest hurdle is the lack of documentation. Amazon apparently expects the majority of people to upload a document file then let their algorithms chew through it and spit out a .mobi file. However, my attempt at getting such a file generated fell flat on its pupillary sphincters. It was all kinds of messed up. So many kinds of messed up, it would have been easier for me to write my own file than try and fix theirs. And did this happen because of my sloppy use of Microsoft Word formatting?

Absolutely not. It's quite obviously an issue with Amazon's code ;)

Let me explain though. To make a .mobi file, you need an HTML file of your book, and two additional XML files for navigation and such. You then combine all this in a command line executable (which I have no issues with). Nowhere is it documented that you need to use the .opf file in the cmd line argument. Also, there is little in the way of tutorials on making the two XML files (the .opf and the .ncx), so that took an age.

Fortunately I'm now in a position to easily produce another eBook once I acquire the text. If you have any questions on the process, just ask.

Here are the links: Book page and the Kindle-specific page. I'd love to hear any feedback on the eBook for those of you who get it. **I've also told Amazon that if a customer buys the physical copy, then they can download the digital book for free.

Now Available on Amazon

Good news, folks, The Oneironauts is now available on Amazon. It's currently listed at 10% off http://www.amazon.com/Oneironauts-Schools-Thought-1/dp/1501050974. Pick up a copy and tell me what you think. I'm working on getting the eBook up, but I have a math test this week and then there's General Conference during the weekend plus other homework. Oh, and here's the updated cover art that I designed.

Lucid dreams!

Oneironauts Book Proof

Today something beautiful happened. Almost a week delayed (which may have been due to me inputting the wrong ZIP code), the proof of my book The Oneironauts: Schools of Thought peeked its head through the mail slot. Bless that UPS guy. Here's what the copy looks like.

It just amazes me how you can just open it up and read what you've written. The book is a remarkable invention! Although I did decide that I want the pages to be cream instead of white.

There were a few hiccups with the lineup. The 'R' got cut off, and the spine image is bleeding over onto the cover. I redid some stuff then uploaded a new cover.

Luckily there's a lion consellated on the back. That came free with the package.

The line spacers that I put in were somewhat pixelated, so I went back and replaced them with 2-line drop down starting letters. If you know what I mean. I realized that I don't have the know-how to make this particular aspect work. I also added an author bio right at the end in case anyone that buys it doesn't know me personally ;)

You may have noticed that the cover is different than the one previously posted. Well, I realized that I had made a pitifully small cover (at 72 dpi). They recommend/require that your cover be at least 300 dpi, so I started from ground zero and built up an entirely new cover. I also designed a full wrap instead of just a front. It was tricksy getting the spine lined up, I'll tell ya.

I don't know, what do you think? Disregarding the minor blemishes, does it look like something that would catch your eye in a bookstore (including online)? I hope so. I'll also have you know that I am working on the second book (progress over in the side bar), but it's hard while pursuing a physics degree.

The price will be $13.99 on Amazon once I approve the final copy. I wanted to make it lower, but the minimum price Amazon would allow is $13.10, so I rounded it up to a consumer-friendly value. Link will follow in a week or two.

The Oneironauts Cover Art!

There won't be much in the way of sageness with this post; it's mainly to reveal the cover art that I've produced for The Oneironauts book 1. It took less than a day and I had to go through several iterations, but I came up with a cover art that I'm fairly satisfied with. I'm in the process of querying agents, and if I get a real publisher then they'll pay a real artist to do the cover. But just in case I decide to self publish, I'm prepared! Here it is:

Isn't it glorious? Now, I'm not really an artist. I can't produce anything aesthetic with a pencil. But I do know what I think looks good and I know how to Google things. I made this using GIMP 2.8 and Google. If you're interested, this is the picture that inspired my cover. Feedback would be appreciated, seeing as I can still change things. Tell me what you think!

Here's my first draft for comparison:

Oh, and for those of you who don't know, oneironaut is a word of Greek origin and of the same form as astronaut. Astronaut is Greek for star sailor. Oneironaut is Greek for dream sailor. My book is therefore about people who explore the dream plane.

(Edit 6/26/2015) I figured I might as well throw up the actual cover art :)