Merrellart

Finished my longest graphic piece that I can call a novel — 130 pages.  It is the first book I have priced.  The story is of an aging artist who, due to circumstances, must face the end of his art career.  This book and cover were done totally on an ipad app, then tweaked through Artrage, so all electronic.  The link:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/389183

My first true graphic novel is done (130 pages) and I’ve Indie published it on Smashwords.  All the drawings were done on an ipad and tweaked through Artrage.  This total electronic process has been a major learning experience.  I will continue using this for my future work.

This is the story of Leon Bell.  In his younger years, he was part of a group dubbed the “Gritty City Seven.”  This emerging group was championed by gallery owner, Curt Brunnel.  Many years have passed and Leon is now the sole surviving member of the group.  Curt Brunnel dies unexpectedly.  An aging artist, Leon is now confronted with the end of his art career.

I have finished “Twilight of an Artist” — 130 body pages plus front and end pages.  Checking the technical aspects with Cal so he can format it.  Smashwords does have a 10 mg download limit, so I am watching this carefully for future books.  I’ll have to decide what to do if there needs be cuts.  One tactic was to do the body in a sepia tone — color eats up much more memory.

I designed and sized (used the 2:3 ratio) this graphic book to fit the e-readers.  In earlier research, it was noted that most graphic books were designed for print.  When resized to ereaders the page ratio was off and the text was too small to read.  The recommendation was to get an ereader and study how graphic  images display.   Mine is one panel per page — large text that can be read when reduced in size.

I was just shown how to save my book panels from the computer to my ipad (thanks Joseph).  I have a hard drive backup but wanted something more immediate if needed plus I can take my ipad with me to demonstrate what I can do and what has been done.

Nearing completion of the body of Artist (working title).  I reworked two text sections via Artrage to reduce the file size.  I finished the two versions of the painting THE CIRCLE which begin and end the story.  I am going to use the pre-release option with Smashwords.  That will drive traffic to my free stories and hopefully purchase of Artist.

Made a number of drawings for the new graphic book I’m working on.  Now to put all through Artrage to tweak and add text.  The graphic story will run more than 100 pages which is good as it will be for sale rather than free.  Following the advice of Mark Coker at Smashwords:  First, do some free books to build a readership.

Just checked my Smashwords figures.  Both NIGEL & JINX and SQUAWK! have more than 150 downloads.  DEATH just hit 300!  Got another 5 star review for DEATH.  These three stories were free.  Now I feel it bodes well for the coming graphic story which will be the first that is priced.  It will be nearly 100 pages; fit to be called a graphic novel.

Approximately half the panels have been drawn for the Artist graphic book.  Working intensely has me tired.  But at this stage, I feel like I’m flying.  “Artist” has been the working title.  The tentative final title is “Twilight of an Artist.”

I am making progress drawing the panels for the new graphic book.  It will be about a 100 pages long.  I have expanded the dialog in several places to clarify the story.  As I have the story in my head, it’s easy to let details slide and not provide enough information to the reader.

This morning I did my usual scan of new books just posted on Smashwords.  Aarugh!  I am astounded at the number of misspelled words in the book descriptions that appear in the listing.  I ask: Why would I download a book or more so, why would I BUY a book from an author doesn’t care or doesn’t notice.

When I’ve written my own descriptions, misspellings do creep in.  But please, proof read closely — word for word.  A more common problem I see is the correctly spelled wrong word.  Mark Coker hammers at this in his books.  And yet it continues.