To Compose a “Feathered Frog Press”

Behold, the fabled Aves Amphibia resting calmly in my hands!

Feathered Frog Press is a self-publishing company for B. L. White to develop and sell original stories to various online ebook outlets like Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.

This is the description for any who ask.  The next question is a given, “Why so strange a name?”

It all happened eleven years ago.  Centenary College of Louisiana was in full semester swing and my mind was just getting tuned in to whatever music courses lay ahead.  After the very first day of my freshman classes, whimsical feet led me to the front steps of Magale Library.

The year was 2000, a simpler time for a 125-year-old campus on the verge of computerized revolution.  I was still wrapping my head around how many computers there were on the first floor of the Library.  Shouldn’t there be more books here, I pondered?

I walked over to one of the computers and sat down.  Keep in mind that this was before YouTube and Facebook.  I really had no idea what I would accomplish here.  Thus, out of boredom, an idea sparked, a challenge to write the most descriptive short story I could.

What else was there to do in a library partially void of books?  I might as well start composing one of them.

My ignorance was bliss at the time, creative digits taping out a rather odd, ill-fated sentence, Once upon a heart there stood a Greenish Tall Tree, and beside that sat a Wonderful Sight.  Such were the humble beginnings of the fickle past… leading me to my present state.

Over the years, the simple six-page story about a feathered toad, grew fast into a sprawling epic.   My writing skills, thankfully, grew with it.  This included a different opening, “Once upon the time of now…”  which had the nagging paradox of being both past and present-tense… thus dooming the quirky phrase right where it stood!

I never gave up though, spunky imagination alive with vigor for what it could accomplish.  several revisions later the story of the Feathered Toad became what friends and family fondly remember as, The Feathered Frog’s Demise.

Even after graduation I fiddled with it, rewriting the thing over and over, until I grew dizzy with trepidation!  It was far from the magnum opus I wanted it to be.  Worst of all, I was too close to see it in an objective light.  Thus ended my affair with dreams and riddles.  I moved on to other ideas and other tales.

I will never forget the beast of a story that sparked my writing style though, paving the way to where I stand this very second.

Someday I will work through the issues of The Feathered Frog’s Demise and put the dreamy fable on the market.  Until then, its iconic protagonist, the venerable Feathered Frog himself, will live on as the symbol for my new self-publishing company.

First order of business, get Feathered Frog Press recognized by the state.  Next order, finish the epic sci-fi story, Void Voyage 1 (coming out… whenever it does) Third order… I don’t know, perhaps a supreme pizza no anchovies… and a nice, cold coke to warm me up.

Any serious ebook authors should check this site out for practical advice on how to start your own self-publishing company.

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Void Voyage 1: sent back to the editor for its final edit!

Story Synopsis: A good emperor inherits a corrupt empire that he must fix, planet by bleeding planet, before war consumes the Solar System.  The first episode is set on the Martian heights of Olympus Mons.  A beautiful clone, spawned to symbolize the sacrifice of perfection, must choose to live for peace, instead of die to it.

New expected due date: the end of April, 2011 (be patient, it is well worth it)

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The Shreveport Chronicles: Shadeskin is a mutual project in connection with two other local ebook authors, Amanda White and Jason Craft.  It will be a collection of urban fantasy novellas, synergized with borrowed characters and placed in chronological order.

Status: we are finished with our first drafts, now on to friendly edits in order to work out story cohesion.

Story Synopsis: an urban fantasy setting where Shades and Illumin hide in plain sight, fighting for humanity’s fate amidst the heaven-reaching skyscrapers of Shreveport.  An ordinary young man, with an extraordinary past, is unwittingly caught up in this eternal battle.  Can Matt uncover the Shadeskin mystery while fighting black-winged murderers, dry-cleaning routs, and zombies?

Expected due date: Mid-June, 2011

Until then… happy reading!

To Compose an eBook

The author’s dream is to touch a reader’s heart and mind with stories woven from the soul.  For the longest time, Publishers held the means to break apart the delicate relationship between artist and patron.  A world void of such middle men would be ruled by free-market and democracy.  This is why self-publishing as the next frontier of books.

Some fear a writer unhinged will only produce half-baked tales, literature ill-prepared for any capital gain.  The unfortunate truth, companies publish half-baked tales of their own.  Read books three through six of Frank Herbert’s Dune series for proof.  Better yet, for your own sake, read the first two and skip the rest!

It’s really a shame because Dune and Dune: Messiah got me into writing.

Frank Herbert set his tale in a grand universe, expanded over seven thousands years.  I really wanted to enjoy such a ride!  Unfortunately, the magic that made Dune so epic, dwindled in each book that followed.  Halfway through Children of Dune (book three), I found myself nodding off.

I still cannot fathom, how the best sci-fi book ever written preludes a series lost in a sea of plotless words.  Perhaps the editors ran out of red ink.

More likely the publishing company was unwilling to tell legendary Herbert that his books expanded, with plot-stopping monologues, while the storyline itself grew ever small.

What is more, before Mr. Herbert became a household name to nerds everywhere, Dune (best sci-fi book ever written mind you) was rejected by more than 20 publishers.  It was the small company Chilton Books, known for auto repair manuals, that gambled with Herbert’s ground-breaking story.

This raises a dooming question.  How many awe-inspiring books have never seen the light of day because an author gave up on their 19th rejection letter?

Self-publication places power in the hands of the public.  It is the audience’s delight to uncover the next Frank Herbert.

Yet, none can argue how, for hundreds of years, these same faulty publishers have produced every page-turning, trend-setting, best-selling classic we know and love.

We shouldn’t throw away everything that came before just to be different.  Aspiring authors can learn much from the process publishers have perfected.  This means that writers should not work alone in bringing their fiction to the public.

Where should a writer go then, without losing any freedom?

Once upon a time, publishing companies where the only solution.  This placed beginning author’s at the whims and fancies of executives, who held the power to change manuscripts for the sake of the bottom line.  This framework has worked out in some cases (everyone wants to make money), yet I believe many great stories have been marred by the bureaucracy of large publishing companies.

Huge cuts and forced deadlines are a detriment to well-paced, thrilling literature.  Sometimes too many people have looked at a book.  Put all of this together and you get a patchwork of failures.

Conventional wisdom has deemed the author incapable of figuring out how to do any of this on his or her own.  With the rise of self-publication through the Kindle, nook, and iPad, such sentiments are slowly dwindling.  Out of necessity, self-publishing authors must learn how to write and market their fiction.

Self-publication doesn’t mean working alone.  It simply means you are the publisher, in charge of finding as many people as it takes to bring quality fiction to the public.

Editors, cover artist, and marketers all have their role to play in publishing industries.  Indie writers must learn how to duplicate this.  Unless you can write, edit, and paint, all by yourself, you’re going to need some help.  Which brings me to how I will self-publish my own eBook.

Void Voyage 1, has been in the works for nearly a year.  The idea itself came much earlier.  For over 12 years I have perfected and matured it, honing it into a lean focused tale, very different from the simple musings of my teens.  Now I see it nearing the point of no return, when I place my dearest story in the fickle hands of the public.

This has not been a lonely trek for me.  Friends and family have played a crucial role in the development process, reading through its many dubious drafts.  I have gone out of my way to find and pay free-lancing editors and artists willing to add their professionalism to the table.  Over the next few weeks I will be highlighting these noble souls doing their best to help me write quality fiction.

 

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Synopsis of Void Voyage: A good emperor inherits a corrupt empire that he must fix, planet by bleeding planet, before war consumes our Solar System.  The first episode is set on the Martian heights of Olympus Mons.  A beautiful clone, spawned to symbolize the sacrifice of perfection, must choose to live for peace, instead of die to it.

Current status: Book cover: nearly done.  Halfway through first edit.

Expected Sale’s Date: Due to editorial reasons, I have pushed the original March 31st date back to mid April…

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