April 2011 – Kane Gilmour

Brett Battles Interview

On April 21, 2011

In Author Interviews, Inspiration, Writing

Award-winning thriller author, Brett Battles has just thrown his name into the ring along with other published authors who are seeing the possibilities with self-publishing their work as e-books. His new thriller, LITTLE GIRL GONE, has just been released. His new paperback, THE SILENCED, is out this month as well. Plus he has a few other surprises for us.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Brett. What made you decide to release LITTLE GIRL GONE as an e-book?

Several factors actually. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the growing e-book market, and the ability for authors to get their work out there faster and in a way where they control everything. That had a lot of appeal to me. I write a lot faster than my books have been coming out, and this gives me the opportunity of getting that work out there a lot sooner.

Free Steven Pressfield Book!

By Kane

On April 20, 2011

In Inspiration, Reviews, Writing

One of the blog posts I have in mind to write here (and haven’t even started yet), is a listing of essential books for the writer–whether that writer is published or pre-published.

One of the books on that list (and perhaps the most important one) is The War of Art: Break Through the Block and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. I haven’t read any of Steven’s fiction yet, but that little slim volume of non-fiction is worth its weight in gold to a writer.

Today I discovered that Steven has a new book available on the Kindle for free. That’s right. Free. The new book is called Do The Work, and it’s more of a step-by-step workbook to getting through a project. GE is sponsoring the book for a limited time, so go snatch it up now, while it’s free. It could end up being the most important book you read as a writer, whether you are a seasoned pro or a newbie. It will most certainly be a useful tool if you are thinking of jumping into the fray of the newly self-published in the world of e-books.

Little Girl Gone Review

By Kane

On April 8, 2011

In Reviews

Brett Battles has a new book out called LITTLE GIRL GONE. Directly self-published to e-book format. If you haven’t been following his Jonathan Quinn series about a “cleaner” in the espionage business, then you are missing a great thing. With that series, Battles turns a tired genre on its head and gives us an interesting and compelling character with a career that we have little seen in fiction—the guy who comes in after the fact.

Now, Battles has a new series character and is throwing his name into the ring of those who have chosen to embark on self-published e-books as a way of getting more books out in a year (and of making a larger royalty to boot).

Some Days I Think Bradbury Had It Wrong…

By Kane

On April 2, 2011

In MONSTER KINGDOM, Writing

One of Ray Bradbury’s many famous quotes rolling around on the Internet this week is the one about Writing being 99% thinking and the rest being typing.

As I try to get the word count up on Monster Kingdom, it certainly feels like writing is sometimes 5% thinking and the rest is typing. And typing. And typing.

Whether you are an artist or a writer, the hardest part is always getting the greatness to transition from your brain to your media.

7000 words and counting. YA novels tend to range from as low as 40k to as high as 90k or more in length. Typical is probably around the 50k – 60k range. I expect Monster Kingdom to come in around the 65k region. Quite a bit to go yet, in other words.