David Drazul's Blog

I'd like to thank the 953 people who expressed interest in my giveaway for Armistice Day! And to the 100 people who won a Kindle copy, I hope you enjoy it!

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Dave

Hi all,

If you've never read my first novel, Armistice Day, then enter the book giveaway here on Goodreads. The drawing lasts for the month of September. The ebook format is Kindle.

Enjoy!
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Dave

Well, it took far longer than expected, but Gateway to Empire is now available in other ebook formats besides Kindle. If you want it on the Nook, click here. For all other ebook formats, head over to Books2Read.com and choose your preferred platform. But if print is still your thing, well, there's that too.

And when you're done, a rating or a review would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
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DED

I had every intention to get Gateway To Empire published in other ebook formats besides the Kindle, but those plans have gone awry. Previously, I used Smashwords to publish all of these myriad other ebook formats, but they were purchased by Draft2Digital (D2D). I discovered that they use a different formatting program than Smashwords.

I attempted to get this done in February, but I struggled to get the D2D software to properly format my manuscript. After weeks of frustration, I decided to take a break. Days turned to weeks turned to months. My attempts this month to try again have met with failure.

In the help section FAQ, here's what I found:

If I format my file myself, will it look exactly the same when you convert it?
No. Ebooks are a reflowable format that allows the reader a lot of flexibility in how they consume content. Draft2Digital's automated conversion process will strip out things that force formatting to be one exact way—embedded fonts, extra line breaks, empty pages, footnotes, or anything the system considers unnecessary to the final file.

I'm not trying to do anything fancy. I just want to get paragraphs to align, a particular quote to be indented, and the information pages (ISBN page, Other books by..., etc.) to line up. So I'm at a loss. I guess I'll keep pounding my head against the D2D wall.

The thing is: I really wanted to get all of the ebook formats set up so that when I contact indie book reviewers I can offer them copies in any format they might want. But now, I can't.

If anyone has any suggestions for alternatives to D2D, please let me know in the comments.

Gateway To Empire is now available in print!

Hi all!

Gateway to Empire will be published this Friday on the Kindle!

Up Next: Trade Paperback.

Finished writing Gateway To Empire! Now to send it off to my alpha readers.

I have a lot that I'd like to say about the journey to get to this point, but I'm conflicted as to how to say it. I can't find the words right now to balance my disappointment that it took me so long to get it done with my pride that I got it done and like what I wrote. But that's the man I am.

Gateway... is up to 49,000 words. I was making some pretty decent progress (for me) then the weather warmed up and I had to get to work on outdoor projects: powerwash and re-stain the deck, chainsaw those 20" diameter ash logs, split and stack wood, spring maintenance on roof and gutters, etc.

The essay didn't place in the contest, and "Staking Sunflowers" was rejected by its seventh market. Haven't bothered trying to shop it to an eighth market or any of the other short stories because I haven't gotten over those feelings of futility.

Back in March, I took a class entitled "Fearless Writing", based on the book of the same name. It helped me to see what's been blocking my attempts to write (me) and showed me how to dispel those thoughts and get back into the flow. It's not an overnight cure; I have to keep working at it until it becomes automatic. But it made me feel hopeful, which isn't something I typically feel.

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DED

Ran across this at The Independent Publishing Magazine. It's a thorough yet succinct comparison of traditional vs. indie publishing. If you've ever sneered at an indie author out of ignorance or ever wondered what's involved in publishing, then it's worth your time to read it.

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DED