Road to e-booking
Some of you may have heard that I’ve been working on preparing the Apocalypse Blog for being made into e-books (I’ve talked about it randomly on Twitter and Facebook). This is true! And despite all the recent delays and headaches I’ve had – which I’ll probably whine about on here later – I am making progress.
The current plan is to break the AB saga (340,000+ words) into three books, each of roughly 100,000 words. This fits into three story arcs: the end of the world; the sickness and the shamblers; and trying to find a new future (at some point, they’ll get proper names, but I’m still working on that!).
There will also be a prequel ‘book’, covering the entries that were made before the bomb went off, back when Faith’s world was normal. I wrestled with the idea of splitting this off, because I like the lead-in that this ‘normal’ week gives the story. It sets up Faith’s voice and some of the plot points that come into the story much later on with Matt and Bree.
However, because I am looking at offering the e-books for sale through Smashwords (with other possible venues later), having this week-long prologue on the first AB book might be counter-productive. The previews available on Smashwords always start from the beginning of the book, so prospective readers would have to get past the first 7,000+ words before anything apocalyptic happened. It didn’t seem like a good way to hook new readers, so instead, the prologue section will be Book 0 in the saga, and Book 1 will start with the bomb exploding.
To prepare AB for e-booking, I’m editing the existing posts, mostly tightening up the language and correcting any errors the slipped through the proofing that was done before it was posted. It’s interesting to see how my writing has changed since I started writing AB!
I’m also keeping in mind some of the feedback I received in AB reviews, particularly about glossing over events, and trying to rectify that where I can (where it fits into the story and atmosphere). As a result, many posts have been expanded, and some have had whole sections added in.
Because the e-book format isn’t as limited as the online blog, some events that were split over several posts have been combined into a single, long post. Hopefully they will flow better now! Other than that, the structure of the piece hasn’t been changed.
I’ve just finished the first editing sweep through Book 0 and Book 1. Phew. Final proofing and formatting to go, and the covers to sort out, and they’ll be good to go! I’m planning to get them up on Smashwords as soon as they’re ready (hopefully within the next few weeks), and then move on to Book 2.
Overall, I’m pleased with how the books are coming out. I don’t hate the writing (despite it being two years old now), and I’m still very fond of it! I’ll be proud to get them up and available for others to read. Can’t wait. Wish me luck!
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