It took me a little longer than I thought it would to dig out the appropriate Echoes file.

I’ve been through a few computers in the last three years. I back up everything – only had one or two slips lately – (knock on wood) but the end result is I often have multiple copies of everything. Considering how long it took me to properly format Echoes the first go-round (and how many versions I have just to fiddle with), selecting the right one was a bit of a challenge.

But it’s set, and now I’m trying to put the finishing touches on it in Calibre. It would be nice if Echoes decided to give me a break this time around and just behave itself, but things never quite work out that way. I’ll probably be tinkering for another two hours at least. Meh.

Coffee recommendation: McDonald’s hazelnut iced coffee. Picked some up last night with dinner (what? I was hungry and it was cheap) with the intention of saving it for this morning. Which I managed to do. Go me.

Hmm. Echoes actually looks pretty decent thus far as I flip through it in the Kindle app.

I can’t say it hasn’t been a bit of a professional disappointment. It’s a good story. I love my happy-go-lucky zombie survivalists, but Echoes was a more “serious” work, I guess, and I think it’s the best-written of the three novels (well, two novels and one novella) I have out at the moment. I never in a million years thought Grave New World would take off the way it did. It was “my silly zombie story” that I threw up there as an experiment and it ended up paying my rent.

I guess the zombie craze was strong, or something. It must have been; there’s been virtually no crossover between GNW and Echoes readers (a few folks who really liked one or the other made the jump, but they’re very different genres. I respect that.). So Echoes, really, is my effort to break into the space opera genre, which I do love.

Hmm. Well, Echoes looks great on the Kindle app. The next step will be viewing it on an actual Kindle, and then the Kindle previewer on Amazon. And then of course it will take a while to be uploaded to Amazon, but maybe by Monday or Tuesday…

Then rinse and repeat with the B&N version.

Aw, aren’t ebooks fun?

No, I have not managed to upload it properly yet. The computer I wrote and published Echoes on is long gone; yes, I have a backup, but I’m chest-deep in projects and haven’t managed to pull the file from the external drive yet. This weekend for sure.

In the meantime, enjoy Steven‘s beautiful new cover art!

Things like this make me realize I don’t have an iota of graphic design skill.

I think this is actually the first of my books where you can see a character face. Vibeke is on DBG, but you see her back. So…there’s Kate Hawkins.

Top lesson in self-publishing? (Besides “Don’t make changes after your editor’s been through it.”) Get a real cover artist. It makes all the difference.

The whole Galen Situation made me nervous, so I went to the family lawyer for some counsel.

[heavily paraphrased]

SUZ: Hi, Dad. Has Mom explained my problem?

DAD: Well, you sound better than you did. So what’s the problem with this book?

SUZ: Uh, my main character has the same name as an author.

DAD: Huh. So?

SUZ: Um…is he gonna sue me?

DAD: Is the character named Dan Brown, and does he look like Tom Hanks and solve riddles posed by Da Vinci?

SUZ: ….not really.

DAD: Are you using it as a marketing tool? The name, I mean.

SUZ: No. The book is barely moving.

DAD: I think you’re okay. It’s coincidental. If you named him Stephen King and he was a writer…that might be one thing. It’s the really big names you have to worry about.

SUZ: So he won’t sue me?

DAD: Maybe if you make millions.

SUZ: I had nightmares about it last night.

DAD: *facepalm* Really, you don’t need to worry. I remember a case years ago…

I’m off to craft a letter for a gig, so I will leave you all with this cute picture of Juno.

I would rather cuddle than mug, actually

There is nothing quite like realizing the lead male in your sci-fi novella shares a name with a freaking author.

Yep. There’s a Galen Beckett, Author, floating around out there. Found out by accident, glancing at a forum where someone asked about a book written by him.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked aloud, once I realized they weren’t talking about my Galen (I got so excited for a minute!).

Naturally, this makes me a little nervous. Galen was originally a filler name that ended up sticking, because after 52,000 words…well, you try changing a name after 52,000 words. The character went through a bunch of different last names before I settled on “Beckett,” because the thing had a nice, Earthen ring to it, but still sounded suitably “sci-fi.” I was pretty sure I googled it…but maybe that was one of the prior last names I used. Or maybe I just checked Kate Hawkins.

This is probably going to lead to an insatiable urge to search every damned name I use, but I’m trying to resist. The way I see it, there’s almost seven billion people on the planet. Someone is going to have the same name. Look at poor Michael Bolton from Office Space. Or anyone named John Hartnell or William Braine (I don’t recommend googling those names unless you’re really into mummies). Think of all the poor souls named Justin Beiber or Michael Jordan out there.

If the subject continues to haunt me, I may go into the manuscript and change his last name again and re-upload it. In the meantime, ain’t life serendipitous?

Ugh.