Science Fiction for the EU

[MMFinn77]

Hello everyone. Great to be on the Thunderbolts forums. I've been a fanatical EU fan since I discovered the electric universe by accident several years back. After attending the Elegant Simplicity conference in New Mexico, I decided I had to contribute in some way, but I am no scientist. I am a working artist and aspiring author however so I decided to sneak a little EU truth into some entertaining science fiction. For a little over the past year, I've bent all of my creative juices to writing said novel and have at last completed a full rough draft of the first of three novels centered around the Proto-Saturnian theory. Now that the rough draft is complete, I'm beginning to get feedback in from the manuscript and have found people seem very entertained by it. I'm looking for a couple sci-fi aficionados who wouldn't mind giving the manuscript a test read and offering their critique and suggestions.

My ultimate goal is to publish an entertaining science fiction novel that hooks outsiders who have never heard of the electric universe and open their minds to new ideas they might not have considered before. It's my belief that, for better or worse, no idea, no matter how convincing, can ever capture the mainstream until it becomes entertaining.

Here is the first draft of the cover:

[allynh]

Nice cover. Who did the art work?

When it comes time to publish, do it all DIY. There is no need to spend big bucks on the process. Cover art can be found for about 20 bucks. Look at what Dean did. All these covers are from art sites at small cost.

Smith's Monthly
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077Y ... rw_dp_labf

Print of Demand(POD) costs depend on page count. If you can limit yourself to 150k the book doesn't get too expensive. If you go over 150k consider splitting the book in half. I find that gives me the chance to flesh out the story further. It's better to have two 100k novels rather than an over priced 200k book. Plus, you end up with two books in a series rather than a standalone.

Do both paper and ebook, they don't cost anything to put into Amazon. The paper will cost a few dollars when you order a test copy and shipping.

If somebody wants you to spend thousands to print your book and have cases of books rotting in your garage, run away. HA!

[MMFinn77]

Good advice. I've got a couple publishing avenues I'm exploring but that is certainly one of them. As for the cover art, that's mine. DIY book cover artist. I'm making a few short stories that predate the novel that I'll release for free on Kindle before I publish the book there. Anyway, thanks for the reply, I love the advise.

[allynh]

Neat. Your covers reminds me of the Justifiers RPG from the 80s, or M.C.A. Hogarth of today. Similar style.

BTW, don't do free. Dean routinely does short stories on Kindle, but he charges $2.99. Then he puts them together in a collection and charges $4.99, and up. Notice that his magazine is priced at $6.99. Read the sample for the first issue and he explains what he's doing. Plus the first short story is all there, along with the start of the next.

That's how you do "free".

With a real sample, people will want to purchase when they reach the end. "Free" only draws people who will only look for free. Charge a real price for the short stories and books, and people will buy them.

Look at Dean's stuff to see what I mean.

Give a yell when you publish the books.

[danlang]

Thanks for this! Some new and interesting stuff.