Print Edition on Amazon

Just a quick note to let you all know that the print edition is now up on Amazon! I changed the hyperlink on the right to direct you to Amazon instead of my e-store for those of you who enjoy benefiting from free super saver shipping on purchases over $25. It may take a few more days for the book cover image to load to Amazon, but the book itself is there. Don't forget, The Gateway Chronicles make great Christmas presents for avid readers, young adult readers, and even reluctant readers (I've had many testimonials to that effect). If anybody would like to look into getting a signed copy for somebody, contact me directly at kbhoyle@yahoo.com.

Print Edition Now Available!

After much blood, sweat, and tears, The Gateway Chronicles 3: The White Thread is now available in print format! Huzzah, huzzah! If you click on the link on the right, that will take you to my e-store with createspace where you can purchase my book immediately. If you prefer to use Amazon, it will take 5-7 days for the posting to upload to Amazon, and it will take 6-8 weeks for it to show up at all major booksellers. As soon as it shows up on Amazon, I will change the hyperlink on the right to direct you directly to Amazon instead of my e-store. I'm very excited to be finished at last! Kindle sales have continued strong and lots of people have already read it (some people already more than once!). There will be a book release party at my school sometime soon.

Update on the Print Edition

So, frustration of frustrations, I received my final proof copy today to discover that createspace did, indeed, shrink all the text down instead of trimming the extra white space around the outside. Again, I submitted the exact same size document as I always have, and it has never been a problem before, but this time it was. I spoke with customer service just now and they are sending my query on to technical support. They will hopefully just go ahead and fix it for me, as they've always done before, but they might require me to submit another document (which would really be frustrating, as I can't send any other sort of document than what I've been sending all along). Anyhow, it's going to take several days, probably, for me to hear back from them, and then I won't be able to okay it for purchase until I approve another proof. This was really not meant to take this long, so I apologize to all of you that are waiting for it. I'll stay on top of it and get it done as quickly as possible!

Kindle Edition, Now Available!

I'm happy to announce that the Kindle edition of The White Thread is now available for only $4.99. Just follow the link below to purchase it. Don't forget, this is book 3 of The Gateway Chronicles, so if you haven't read books 1 and 2 yet, you will want to do so! Book 1, The Six, and Book 2, The Oracle are available on Kindle for only $2.99 each.

http://www.amazon.com/White-Thread-Gateway-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B005UD7MR6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1318374413&sr=8-4

For those of you who are a little more traditional readers (such as myself), the print edition of The White Thread is forthcoming. I'll post as soon as it is available!

Progress Update

The GOOD news is that I have finished my final revisions and submitted everything to createspace for review. I have also set up my Kindle edition and that is in the process of publishing. The bad news is that for some reason createspace has gotten back to me stating that the interior file I submitted is too large and they have, basically, made it fit. So I CAN order my proof, but I need to check it really carefully to make sure that everything looks okay. This is very puzzling for me because I submitted the exact same interior file size and in the exact same manner as I always have, so I don't know why I would get that message from them now. (For example, I didn't get this message on the first file review for this book, and I literally took the same file I submitted and made revisions to it and submitted it again.) So, anyhow, my excitement at being finished is somewhat dampened by this. I've ordered the proof, but it will take a few days to get here. If, for some reason, it doesn't look as though it fits, I will have to figure out what changed between last time and this time, and that could take some time. If everything looks good, I will okay it for publication. It's a bit frustrating.

Regardless of what happens there, the Kindle edition should be ready within the day, so that's something to look forward to. Here's hoping that everything is okay with the proof copy!

Productivity... or Lack Thereof

I know that I am way overdue for an update on my progress, and for that I apologize. Just chalk it up to the productivity problems I have been having for the past month. Let's just say that I am trying my hardest to get The White Thread out as soon as possible. I have been, however, severely hampered by exhaustion ever since school started up for the year (it's difficult to get revision work done when every time you sit down to work on it, you fall asleep!). I have a great teaching schedule at work this year, I'm just... tired. I'm recovering now from a bout with the flu, too, which hasn't helped things. Once I started to feel a little better this afternoon, I got about an hour's worth of work done, so that's good, and I'm going to try and hammer out the rest of the fact-checking and revisions starting this weekend and into next week. I think it's going to be very difficult to have book 3 done by Sept. 30th, but if I can't make that deadline, it will be finished in early October, THAT I can promise!

Student Questions, Take 2

Q: What inspired you to name the new world Alitheia?
A: This is a pretty simple question to answer. When I set out to write this series, I knew that I wanted most of my names to have very particular meanings - meanings that would tell the reader something about the place or person. Many of my names have been taken from Greek words, and "Alitheia" is one of those. I won't reveal what it means, but if you're interested enough, you should be able to figure it out!

Q: Did you base your books on The Lord of the Rings?
A: Not directly, no, but I have made it no secret that The Lord of the Rings is my favorite fantasy series of all time. There are aspects of my stories for which I have drawn inspiration from Tolkien's works (such as having the narks be a type of elf), but The Gateway Chronicles is a much different type of story. I really wanted to write something that was more The Chronicles of Narnia meets Harry Potter.

Q: How long does the publishing process take?
A: Well, I can really only speak to the self-publishing process. It really just takes as long or as short as I make it take! Createspace is very quick on their end of things as far as turning over the manuscript after review and the proofing process. What takes the longest for me is the revision and editing process, but as quickly as I get that done is as quickly as I can get the book published. All things considered, from the time I begin to write a novel to the time it is available for sale, about 4-5 months pass. Although I have not traditionally published, I have heard that that process often takes much longer.

Q: How many more books do you think you will write?
A: 15? 20? 30? 100? Lol, I don't know! All I DO know is that I already have multiple projects on the back burner. The project I am going to start after I write the final three installments of The Gateway Chronicles is a trilogy. Then I have another trilogy in mind, and after that a project that will be the sort of series I can continuously add books to (but I'm waiting for some public domain issues to clear first for that). I have another 3 or 4 book series partially planned after that, and... the list goes on and on. Let's just say that, God willing, I will write and publish at least one book a year for the rest of my life! (This actually answers about six questions I had to this effect).