Self-Pub Progress Report #4

Well, here we are, the last day in October, and we're still prepping Swords & Sixguns for publication. I do apologize for all the delays, and I want to reassure you that we are hard at work getting everything ready, it's just that life gets in the way sometimes (this is why we put "Fall 2016" on the flyers and not "October 2016"). I've been splitting my time between book work, blog work, and paying-job work, while my cover artist Matt Erkhart has been kept away from the drawing board by some personal matters. On the upside, yesterday he sent me the interior art I needed, so now I can finish uploading the manuscript to CreateSpace. With luck, we'll have the cover done soon, and then we can wrap up the whole thing with a pretty little bow and present it to y'all.
Back on the subject of blog work...for those of you who've been enjoying my Jonah Hex history project, I want you to know that it will continue, but it will likely turn into a once-a-year thing. Over the past six months since the last installment, my life became so overwhelmed with Swords & Sixguns-related work that I wasn't able to fit in the interviews I want to do for the Palmiotti & Gray era. There will be an installment this November 1st, same as always, but it'll be an Appendix piece covering a specific facet of Jonah's life, rather like the one I did last year regarding his time in the Confederate Army. As soon as the book is out, I'll get on those interviews, and if I can get the next installment ready by May, it'll go up then, but if not, you'll have it in November for certain.
That's all for now, kids. Remember not to eat all your Halloween candy in one sitting...make it last the whole week.

Self-Pub Progress Report #3

The final edit is in my hands!  Or as I like to call it, the no-more-messing-with-this-darn-thing-you've-gotta-stop-sometime edit.  My good friend, Kerrie Moyer (who's been acting as unofficial editor on this book for well over a decade) went over it with a fine-toothed comb, making sure we'd eliminated every last spelling error and continuity goof that may dwell within.  If any slip by into print, we'll just say a wizard did it.

Cover work is still in progress.  Matt Erkhart is sketching up some ideas I sent along, plus I asked him to toss in any of his own, 'cause you gotta keep your artists happy, and one of the best ways is having them draw stuff they like as well.  Speaking of art, a big thank-you to Don Walsh and Michael Davis for volunteering to distribute some of our lovingly-rendered promo flyers beyond the borders of Michigan.  Don brought 400 of 'em to the Great Falls Gaming Rendezvous last weekend and came home with about 50, plus some of the attendees were overheard discussing it, so I daresay I'll need to get a table at this con once we're got the book printed up.  By the way, if anyone else wants a bundle of flyers -- big or small -- to pass around wherever you live, let me know.

And now, I have an important question for you fine folk.  I've been thinking about perhaps utilizing one of those print-on-demand merchandise websites out there like TeePublic to help generate some extra revenue for this crazy venture.  Basically upload some images and book quotes and such so they can be printed on t-shirts or mugs or notebooks or what-have-you.  Would anybody out there be interested in buying some Swords & Sixguns merch, and if so, what would you like to see?  Keep in mind that something high-end like action figures is a long ways off (though I'd love to make some!).

Okay, that's all for now.  Have a great weekend, and keep checking back here for more updates.