‘Dead 2 Rites’ Is Ready to Launch

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p class=”has-drop-caps”>I just finished some last-minute alterations to Dead 2 Rites, which will improve the flow of some of the jokes. Remember, this DRM-free eBook is on sale for 99 cents only until September 1st, when it becomes available.

Final Edits to ‘Dead 2 Rites’

It’s been hectic in my neck of the woods. Right now, I’m finishing up some last-minute improvements to Dead 2 Rites. As of this writing, it’s still on sale for 99 cents and will be until it releases for Kindle and paperback on September 1. So if you’ve read Jake and the Dynamo and found it amusing, reserve your copy of the sequel now while it’s cheap.

I’m also working at getting the art for Rags and Muffin. I’m still hoping for an October 1st release date for that one but don’t want to pin it down yet. I really like the guys who did the covers for the Jake and the Dynamo books, but I think something a little different would be appropriate for Rags, so I’m hunting around.

I’m also currently at work on a planetary romance, a bit of a departure from my usual “theme.” I’ll discuss the details later. I have my fingers crossed for a release date before the end of the year. I really want four books out this year.

‘Jake and the Dynamo,’ the Paperback

We have here the paperback edition of Jake and the Dynamo, currently available both at Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, with additional buying options forthcoming.

Jake and the Dynamo paperback spine.
A view of the spine.
As you can see, this edition has a wraparound cover. Amazon, for whatever reason, requires an upload of the cover as a single image even though other print-on-demand services will allow you to upload the cover piecemeal. So a wraparound works best anyway.

Comparison of the two covers of Jake and the Dynamo.
The first and second versions.
Here you can see a side-by-side comparison of the two versions. The first is the original from Superversive Press, now sadly defunct, and the second is the new, currently available edition from Girls at Work. Both cover illustrations have points to commend them, but I’m particularly fond of the second one because it captures the iconic image of Jake and Dana I’ve always had in my head. I think I’ve described that picture to three artists, and this guy finally got it right.

Comparison of the book interiors.
A comparison of the interiors.
Although we might weigh the pros and cons of the covers, the interior of the new version is unquestionably superior, as you can see in the image above if you will excuse my photography. I have provided a slightly larger font and a larger line height for improved readability. The font and line spacing are both bigger than the standard recommendations for Amazon print-on-demand paperbacks, similar to what you might expect in a traditionally published hardcover.

Jake and the Dynamo interior.
A full view of the interior.
Because this edition has gone through a final and thorough revision, the text is considerably shorter, but because of the improved layout, the page count is considerably larger. The original Jake and the Dynamo ran to 382 pages, but the new version is 412 pages. No material has been removed, only improved.

Interior illustration.
An interior illustration.
All of the interior illustrations from Roffles Lowell, including chapter headings and sections breaks, are present in the new version. I have no control over their final quality, of course, but they look to me to be comparable to, perhaps even slightly improved on, the original version. I have added captions to the full-page illustrations, something I always wanted them to have. I have also moved all of them to the chapter ends simply because it is next to impossible to prevent them from cutting the text off in odd places otherwise. The eBook version, of course, has full-color images.

Buy ‘Jake and the Dynamo’ Today

The wait is over. Instant gratification can now be yours.

The DRM-free eBook features full-color illustrations. The paperback features new, more readable formatting with illustrations in glorious black and white.

And if you read, remember you can do me a solid by leaving an honest review.

Jake Blatowski can’t wait for high school—basketball, calculus, and a cafeteria that isn’t under investigation by the health department.

But he’ll have to wait: A computer malfunction has assigned him to the fifth grade!

It’s bad enough that he bangs his knees on the desks or that Miss Percy is going over long division . . . again . . . but Jake has to sit next to Dana Volt, a perpetually surly troublemaker determined to make his life a living hell.

Worse yet, Dana secretly belongs to a coalition of girls who protect humanity from the horde of deadly monsters plaguing the city—monsters that have chosen Jake as their next target!

Jake’s no hero; he just wants to make it to varsity tryouts. But now the impulsive and moody Dana is the only one who can save Jake from certain death—and Jake is the only one who can save Dana from herself.

Buy Now

  • Kindle eBook: $3.99
  • Paperback: $14.91
  • Kindle Unlimited: Free with Membership

Last Chance to get ‘Jake and the Dynamo’ for 99 Cents

Tomorrow, , begins the book launch of Jake and the Dynamo, first volume in a new series full of adventure, laughs, and lots and lots of magical girls.

Upon release, the book will be available as a DRM-free eBook with unlimited lending. It will also be available on Kindle Unlimited and as a paperback.

This is the last day of the low, low preorder price of 99 cents.

Read the novel that fans already call “hilarious, insightful, poignant” and “a great story for anyone who likes humor, adventure, and a truly unique setting.”

The eBook will be an Amazon exclusive for three months. I will announce when additional purchase options become available.

Buy Now

‘Dead 2 Rites’ Coming Up for Preorder!

I just submitted Dead 2 Rites for preorder on Amazon. As with the first book, Jake and the Dynamo, this should give me enough time to get th the kinks worked out before the book actually goes up for sale.

As stated before, I’m new to all this. I’m really glad I decided to have a preorder period even though, as a new author, I don’t have any name recognition to build excitement with. Thanks to the preorder period, I’ve been able to adjust keywords and categories to get Jake and the Dynamo situated where it belongs on Amazon’s site: It’s gone through adventure romance and gay romance, and appears to have finally settled in where it belongs with satirical works, harems, and adventure light novels. Next, I’ll email Amazon and ask for a manual adjustment to refine it further.

Then, once it releases, the ad campaign begins.

Even though Dead 2 Rites will not release until September 1, I am beginning the preorder period now so potential readers can see that this series already has two books and that they won’t have to wait long for a sequel. Both novels are only 99 cents on Kindle during the preorder period. They will also be on Kindle Unlimited for at least three months before I push them to other platforms.

Both eBooks are DRM-free with lending enabled because I believe the books you buy should belong to you. Paperback versions will also be available after the release dates.

Order Your Copy of ‘Jake and the Dynamo’ Today!

Right now, Jake and the Dynamo is available for preorder. Featuring brand new cover art and the same fantastic, full-color interior illustrations, this revised and definitive edition is the must-have introduction to the JAKE AND THE DYNAMO saga.

Celebrate with this free wallpaper, courtesy of Barbusco Comics and Nodsaibot.

The novel will release worldwide on .

Jake Blatowski can’t wait for high school—basketball, calculus, and a cafeteria that isn’t under investigation by the health department.

But he’ll have to wait: A computer malfunction has assigned him to the fifth grade!

It’s bad enough that he bangs his knees on the desks or that Miss Percy is going over long division . . . again . . . but Jake has to sit next to Dana Volt, a perpetually surly troublemaker determined to make his life a living hell.

Worse yet, Dana secretly belongs to a coalition of girls who protect humanity from the horde of deadly monsters plaguing the city—monsters that have chosen Jake as their next target!

Jake’s no hero; he just wants to make it to varsity tryouts. But now the impulsive and moody Dana is the only one who can save Jake from certain death—and Jake is the only one who can save Dana from herself.

Order Now

(This is an affiliate link)

If you preorder today, you pay only 99 cents for this DRM-free eBook. However, the price will rise after the book becomes available on August 1st.

The eBook will also be available on Kindle Unlimited for three months, and that means it will be an Amazon exclusive for that timeframe. After that, it will be available on other platforms.

The paperback will also become available on August 1, both through Amazon and other publishers. Stay tuned for details.

‘Dead 2 Rites’ Is Good to Go

Obviously, I’m still absorbed in my projects over here. I worked with Barbusco Comics and Nodsaibot to fix the issue with the cover of Dead 2 Rites. They were both very accomodating.

As you can see from the post’s eye-catch, I’m looking over the previewer on Amazon’s KDP module to make sure the paperbacks look the way they are supposed to. Once that’s squared away, I can look over the eBooks.

I can see that Vellum, despite its gigantic cost, has saved me any number of headaches. Since this is the first time I’ve done this, I now know I did a few things in the wrong order—for example, I should have already uploaded the manuscript and reviewed it before commissioning the cover art. Fortunately for me, Vellum’s presets are built to accommodate Amazon’s requirements, so, for example, my inside margins aren’t screwed up. If I had to widen those, that would throw off the page count, which would then throw off the cover art again …

Anyway, it appears my first-time, amateurish disasters have been largely averted so far. I learned a few lessons, but they have been mostly pain-free.

Also, Amazon’s software is more user-friendly than I expected, at least when you have all your files pre-built. (I understand that trying to build your paperback from a Word file using Amazon’s software is a major headache.) It automatically checks the margins on everything, and it automatically requires a deeper gutter for Dead 2 Rites than for Jake and the Dynamo because the former is considerably longer.

At least for now, it seems that the greatest difficulty comes from the requirement that the cover—front, spine, and back—need to be a single image, which means the book dimensions have to be set in stone. On the other hand, that makes wraparound covers a possibility, and that’s what we have for these two books.

Volume 1 Is Fine; Volume 2, However …

Looks like the cover for volume 2 has been rejected by KDP because the dimensions are slightly off. Looking back over the files and prep, I’m pretty sure how it happened. I’ll be going back to my artists to get this resolved; I think it’s fixable, but I’ll keep you all posted.

Preparing to Publish

I am currently wrestling with the Amazon’s esoteric system in an effort to get Jake and the Dynamo published in the new edition. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the preview and realized that I and the artists had, in fact, got the dimensions correct. There is just the slightest error here, easy to repair—and props to you if you can spot it.

Looking at the interior, it appears also that Vellum, the software I’m using, behaves as advertised: I haven’t been through the whole thing, but so far, it appears that the formatting is correct with now weird artifacts or margins. I believe this new version will be even more attractive and readable than the original paperback publication, which I was already quite pleased with.