Blog
New Short Story and More…
6/2/13
June brings a new Short Story of the Month to my website. You can read “Old Woman With Cat” at www.arlissryan.com/short-stories/
I’m still working on the publication of my novel Sanctuary as an ebook. You can read the first chapter meanwhile at www.arlissryancom/books/
Book Cover Battles
5/6/13
On the one hand, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. On the other hand, it’s hard not to. From the first glance, the cover is already creating impressions in your mind that will determine whether you pick it up or pass it by.
To shed a little light on the process, I’ve added a new page to my website revealing the story behind my current book covers: www.arlissryan.com/about-the-book-covers/
Check it out and let me know what you think. I’m going to be designing the cover for my next novel myself and hope to post some ideas soon for feedback.
Whatever Happened to A.J. Lord?
5/1/13
Like country music? Ever hear of A.J. Lord? Find out why not in my short story for May. You can read it on my website at www.arlissryan.com/short-stories/
Barbie Meets Freud
4/1/13
No, this is not an April Fools’ joke. The tragic encounter of Barbie and Sigmund Freud, BARBIE SELF-DESTRUCTS (Copyright©Arliss Ryan, 2013) is my short story of the month for March 2013. You can read it at www.arlissryan.com/short-stories/
The Kingsley House Goes Electronic
3/26/13
I’m delighted to announce that my first novel, The Kingsley House, is now available as an ebook on both Kindle and Nook. This option didn’t even exist when The Kingsley House was originally published in hardcover by St. Martin’s Press in 2000.
Publishing the novel as an ebook, however, was far from easy. In addition to the usual learning curve when dealing with any new technology, the novel contains both graphic elements and family trees that require special formatting. Nevertheless, my tech consultant (aka my husband, Eric) persevered and got the book up on Kindle. Nook with its ePub format proved a different story. Every time we got one glitch corrected, a new one appeared. Moreover, whereas Kindle provides fairly good author support–we emailed them a half dozen times and in each instance but one had a reply within 24 hours–Nook leaves authors in the lurch. They rather grudgingly answered one email, then directed me to their users’ forum where we searched for several hours for answers to our particular issues to no avail.
Enter John E. Simmons, a Jacksonville book consultant who was recommended to me by another writer. Step by step, he solved every problem and kept me updated on his progress via regular emails. He made suggestions to improve the ebook’s appearance and readability and addressed every one of my requests for changes. I care passionately about putting out the best book I possibly can, and John is equally conscientious about his craft. He created both an ePub and an improved Kindle file for the book. If you are a writer in need of ebook conversions and/or proofreading services, I highly recommend you contact John at http://johnesimmons.com/
My thanks to those who have already purchased The Kingsley House on Kindle, and I invite those of you who use Nook to check it out. As always, if your book club chooses one of my novels, let me know and we can chat via Skype.
