Saturday, October 14, 2017

Timeline update

First off, about Twitter:

I did just create a twitter account to help promote Neostriker. I don't really have any plans to use it much more than the facebook page, but I figure it is easier to do some promotions and make some contacts. Don't hesitate to follow at @JDNyle

Second, Publication Plan:

I'm going to order a proof for Neostriker: Shining. A proof is sort of like a pre-published copy. This is so I can see how the book appears in physical form. If this goes well, then I'll technically be ready for publication.

There are still two things that I do need to figure out before publication. First is which copyright date to put on the book. I'm trying to get a hold of the copyright office to take care of that. Second is trademark. I want to make sure no one can prevent me from using the Neostriker brand later on, but I also don't want my identity to be public information. So I'm trying to contact the US Patent and Trademark office about what my options are.

As for cover art, I gave my artist a timeline. He thinks he can make it. I did a cover draft using the trial piece he gave me and I think it worked. So I have hope that whatever he makes will work. If he cannot produce anything good, I have a backup plan to use a photograph. I was originally thinking about using something else, but when I found the photo, I figured that it actually was fairly appropriate. I'll see how it looks when the proof arrives.

Expected release date is now December 1st, 2017! Yay! I hope for everything to go well so that I can make this date.

Pricing: $12.

I tried for $10 but the publisher wouldn't let me. Apparently this is because I want to have the book available for libraries and schools as well. However, maybe I can still get it to $10 for the kindle version. I'll have to wait until I'm closer to actually publishing before I find out.

The book itself is estimated at 284 pages. Over 20 pages is new content (1 tiny, bonus "episode" and 2 appendices). It has also been edited and reviewed by a professional so it should be higher quality than the draft posted on this blog (to be fair, it was only 1 session so don't get your hopes up too high). I hope you will all buy a copy, enjoy it, and tell your friends. I'm so excited that it's almost time. I can't wait to finally hold a copy in my hands.

Dream on,
J. D. Nyle

P. S. about the game thing I mentioned before. I bought a course about how to create a games. It's over 48 hours of material so I'm not sure how long it will take me to actually go through it. I will definitely need the support of my wife before starting this project.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

October 2017 update

Something I realized is that it is not too important to have cover art. I wanted the cover art to help sell the book, but this has resulted in waiting for well over a year with no one providing even a draft for me to view. As a result, I'm thinking I will just publish the book without art. If I can get good art, then I can republish later, but the main purpose of the book is so that it's easier to read and so that the physical book exists. Whether it has art or not, I'll be extremely happy to be finally holding one.

In the other areas, I'm contemplating shifting focus for a short time. Something I've always wanted to do, and the reason why Neostriker exists in the first place, is to make a video game. Since I do not have all of the various skills and resources, I keep putting it off. I tried to make a demo in Unity last year, but had trouble getting the turn based system to work. However, my head started swarming with ideas again and I figure that I can do some faux coding where I plan out the classes, gameplay, and progression. That way when I find an engine, I can more quickly write the code. Of course now I just need to find the time.

J. D. Nyle