Day 17--The Cover for the SEQUEL!!!!!

I FINISHED THE SEQUEL TODAY!
Here it is! It's called Terminal Velocity!!!This has to be one of the coolest covers possible for the book, is it not?

Also, I apologize for all you who wanted to listen to the Blog Talk Radio show...the mic just died before the show started.

Too tired to write anymore,

Dawson

Day 16--BlogTalkRadio, Sequel is Almost Done, and Listmania My Book!

First of all, I'm going to be hosting a show today at 3pm Eastern Daylight today! Go yon! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dawson-Vosburg You can call in via Skype (if you live in NY, you can just call in with a phone and not be charged for it). Skype only costs 2.1 cents/minute, and thus would be very inexpensive for calling into the show. You'll find the number on the page to call in when the show goes live.

Also, the sequel to Double Life is almost finished! I can't wait to reveal to the world the title and cover! It looks WAY MORE AWESOME THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE!

Here's something cool that you can do. Want to promote your book with a Listmania, but don't know what else to put in it? Are you just going to be nice and create a Listmania? Include my book in it! Just search in Books for Double Life when making your list and it will come up as number 2 on the list. It's that simple!

That's it for today. Hope you can call in/listen to the show today, and I'll be back on Wednesday for the cover of the second book!

Dawson

Day 15--Alex Rider, Website, and some Exciting News

First of all, I want to say something--I never new of the book series Alex Rider when I went to write Double Life. However, I think it's a great comparison tool. Yesterday I was looking through the recommended book for "people who bought related items also bought..." and I saw Alex Rider on there. I looked it up, and a few minutes later we were watching the movie adaption of Alex Rider: Stormbreaker. I am now a fan of the series--if the movie was that well done, then the books must be infinitely better (sort of reminds me of Holes--the movie was excellently true to the book. Also, both movies' screenplays were written by the book's author, which I find very good).

Second--I finished the basic coding for my website last night. I have all the pages and they look decent, but I'm going for something a bit better than decent, so I'll keep working on it and then get some cheap web hosting. Thank goodness there are so few images on the site...image-heavy pages are expensive to host and take a long time to load.

Just a little while back on last Wednesday, I was contacted by a member of the PR Department. The message read as follows:

Dear Mr. Vosburg,

My name is Kim Smith and I work in the Public Relations department at Lulu.com. Your book, "Double Life" has caught our attention on Lulu.com's global marketplace. We would love to gain more information about you and how you came to write this book using Lulu.com's self-publishing services.

Attached is an author questionnaire form that we would like for you to please fill out. Please return it to me as quickly as possible so that we can store your information. This questionnaire will help us if we were to ever write a press release regarding your work or if someone from the media wants information about the author for your great book. It gives you the potential for some free press!

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you!


Well, obviously my jaw dropped to the floor in surprise. This was DEFINITELY not something I was expecting, but it's something GOOD that I wasn't expecting. Anyway, I filled out the questionnaire and sent it back and I hope to get a message back about any news.

Also, I'm currently storyboarding a book trailer for Double Life that I'll shoot with my cover designer, Phil Dragash (who also is a filmmaker with a really good camera). I'm excited about that too.

I'll keep posting as updates continue to come in.
Dawson

Day 14--Borders Book Club, Sequel Coming Quickly: Pre-order Form Will Be Online

Hey, there. Just a quick announcement. I've been talking on Twitter with Borders Media. I asked them what it would take for me to get an interview with the Borders Book Club, and they said that they only had a budget for a few people a year, and that I should keep them in the loop. It wasn't a yes, but it certainly wasn't a no either. I'll update you as soon as more info comes in.

Next up: The sequel should be finished by March 31. That is my deadline, and it is approaching quickly. Luckily spring break starts Friday with a half-day, so I'll have tons of time to catch up. Currently around 16-18k with that, hopefully breaking 20k by the end of tonight, and I'll have 30k to go in 6 days. Realistically, 5k a day isn't too bad. I feel like I am in pretty good shape right now. If I have to go longer with the story, 60k wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Don't forget that Script Frenzy is next month! Go to yon website and look at your options for April to write a screenplay! Rest assured, I will have a screenplay for Double Life by April 30, and you will all be happy.

I will be posting with my sequel title announcement the cover of the sequel and an early-bird pre-order form with the regular discount of $2 off. The trade paperback for this one will be $12 (the non-POD one), and I will pre-order sell them for $10. Why'd I raise the price? This book is going to be looooongeeeeer. I'm aiming at 224-240 pp for the final draft including title page, ToC, back pags, bla bla bla...

So, there you have it. I'll be posting soon.

Dawson

Day 13--Antarktos Rising, Explanation about Twilight, and "Are you writing a sequel?"

'Sup, gang? Good to see that I now have 3 followers: Phil (who happens to be my cover designer), John, whom I don't (think) I know, and Jim Grateman, whom I certainly don't know.

Anyway--Since I am just awesome like that, Antarktos Rising is now an official and permanent member of Anderson Public Library. In case you didn't know, I'm a huge fan of Jeremy Robinson. He's probably the best thriller writer I've ever read. He gives his stuff a new voice. Plus his covers are freaking awesome. Definitely look into that.

And for those of you who live in Anderson, sorry--I'm checking this one out today.

Continuing on, let's get to the next novel I want to talk about--Twilight. Oh, gee. This one's a downer.

First thing, it's beginning to wreck my social life with girls AND guys. Girls say, "You can't say that it's not good unless you finish it!" And, obligingly, I keep reading. Then, any guy sees me with the book and calls me a fruitcake for reading Twilight.

See how this book has caused more trouble than it's worth?

Second, it's a pretty poorly done book. I could understand someone who said (unless their a guy--then this would be kinda creepy) that they like the book because Edward is hot. Apparently, girls like guys who are dangerous (which is a common fact), are pale, smile crookedly, whose moods change "suddenly" and who talk like girls*.

But if someone talks to me about how they like it for being well-written, that's when I start to gripe. Let's face the facts: Stephanie Meyer is an ameteur.

Let's start with the beginning, appropriately. She put her hook line in the preface (which should have been called prologue, but again, this woman is an ameteur). But yet in chapter one, where most people start reading, she begins by talking about the weather. In Pheonix.

Because apparently, nobody knows that Phoenix is usually in the 70s or 80s.

Then it gets worse. She goes to a town named Forks (which I've heard is a real place) where it is perpetually raining. Now she finds herself somewhere with tons of green plants. She says that it's beautiful, then confuses the reader with poor pronoun usage, and then contradicts herself by saying that it was "too green, an alien planet."

In one paragraph.

It continues like this throughout the whole book. Semicolons and comma splices make appearances on nearly every page, plus unnecessary fragments that have no stylistic or grammatical reason for existing.

Then we get to Edward. Oh, gosh...

Bella WILL NOT SHUT UP ABOUT EDWARD. She keeps going on and on about how perfect and beautiful and awesome and angelic and heavenly he is, just to name a few adjectives. Everytime she makes mention of Edward's face, even in passing, she uses one such adjective. WE KNOW ALREADY THAT YOU THINK HIS FACE IS PERFECT.

Well, that's all I have to say so far. I'll have a follow-up report after reading the book. *steps off soap box*

Also, I seem to get asked the question "Are you going to write/are you writing the sequel?" This will be your official answer, out there for everyone to see. The answer is a resounding YES. I have been writing it for about 3 months and only have about 15k words. Pitiful, I know, but I'm banking on finishing it by the end of the month, at which time I will release to the public the title for said sequel and the planned month of release.

So that's about it. I'll post again soon, and I hope that you keep reading.

Dawson

Blog Day 12--Burst of Marketing Gusto, Extreme Happiness with Fans, Extreme UNhappiness with Twilight, and other such stuff

Hey, I'm back after a long absence. I've been meaning to post here every day, so now I'll just say that I'll post when there's something worth posting about (or when I'm not tearing my hair from my head in frustration).

Couple things. First off, I'm doing the thing that I should have done MONTHS ago for my book, and that is a "marketing blitz." It usually happens at the beginning of a book's life, but since I was scrambling to get everything done at the launch of the book, I had no opportunity to do this. Now it's become apparent that this author needs to burst onto the scene of the writing world and really pack a punch with it, too. Here's the plan:

- Big promo emailing
- Website (finally)
- Book Signings (when it fully reaches all the distribution markets)
- Speaking engagements at libraries and schools
- And much, much more!

And soon you'll be reading this very blog on a slick new website designed just to be about me and the Adventures of Josiah Jones. I can't wait! The hard part is actually coding all this crap--that's what takes forever.

Also, I've been getting some tremendous feedback with a review by this guy and a person I hardly knew come to me at school to say he loved my book. Also, as I previously stated, an interview with the Lulu blog and an upcoming interview with Stacey Cochran.

So far, I've been disappointed with Twilight, but the details are for another time, as I have no time left on the library computer.

See you later!

Dawson

Day 11--Keep Taggin', Failpire, David Lubar, and Why You should Join ScriptFrenzy!

Just a reminder for you, remember to keep tagging Double Life on Amazon. I'm at a standstill at 33 Sci Fi tags. That's not enough to get me onto the top four pages, which is currently my goal. I need a few more scores of people to click the little box (which shouldn't be too hard) next to the tags on my book's amazon page.

Also, Failpire, a comedy show by Samuel Proof, is live tonight at 6 o'clock Eastern time. Watch it--very funny, full of comedy sketches and music. You'll be able to watch it HERE.

Last night, I went to a "Read n' Feed" at the Anderson Public Library, at which I consumed pizza and watched David Lubar, a bestselling author, talk to us about writing, video games, and make funny jokes. I loved it as a whole, and afterwards he signed some books and everyone was happy. He was actually intimately involved in the creation of Frogger and Frogger 2 for the GameBoy. I was impressed, needless to say!

Also...something cool and good for you is coming up next month. What is it? Why, it's ScriptFrenzy of course! In case you don't know what this is, ScriptFrenzy is an amazing competition in the month of April. Your goal: write 100 pages of script (any kind) in the month of April. Why would you want to participate? You can write ANY KIND of script! Screenplay, stageplay, radio drama, comedy sketches, television shows, comic book scripts--anything. This is where I will be writing the screenplay for Double Life (as in the movie that I plan to make as opposed to a comic book or *blech* a stage version). You can check it out HERE.

Alright, catch you later!

Dawson

Day 10--Lulu Blog, Sorry about reVamped (or lack thereof), and Harry Potter

First of all, sorry about not posting the Fancypants reVamped intro last week. I had one busy week and never had the chance to make it.

Second, the interview with the Lulu blog is live! Go yonder! I had a lot of fun talking with Dan London--he had some great questions and a good introduction.

Also, I have just started reading Harry Potter. I know, a bit late, but it's only been a week and a half and I just finished Chamber of Secrets, so I've got it pretty good. I'm starting Prisoner of Azkaban today. I hope that'll be a good one. So far I love the series--excellent and well written. You can expect to see my reviews on Amazon of all seven once I finish them.

Booksigning is coming up...that'll be about May 1 or 2 depending on what we work out. It'll be at the Waldenbooks in Mounds Mall for those of you who live around here in Anderson. That's probably most of you. So, come along and check it out. This "happens" to be the same night X-Men Wolverine comes out (I put "happens" in quotes because this was intentional), so we can catch the lines full of sci-fi enthusiasts right in front of my colleague, Elmore Hammes, and I signing books and making a killing (hopefully).

So, lots of opportunities for everyone in the very near future. Hope to post soon, and sorry I didn't post earlier.

Dawson

Day 9--Tagmybookonamazon Blog, LLBR review, Lulu blog interview, and ***100th SALE!!***

First of all, I celebrated my 100th sale on Sunday. Let's all clap our hands for that.

Second, my book was featured on the blog (a very well-visited blog) Tag My Book On Amazon. You can find it on the Tag You're It! page, second from the bottom. Since then, I've gotten over 12 more tags for Science Fiction alone. That's pretty good for two days.

Also, the book will soon be featured on the Lulu Book Review (LLBR) in a review (hopefully a good one) and will also be placed on Amazon and Lulu.com. On top of THAT, I'm going to be interviewed by Dan London of the Lulu Blog.

So, three features on three very well read blogs. I can't wait.

Also, in other news, I'm going to be reading Twilight (the first book). Okay, I'm not a fan of these books. I have hated every word that I've read so far. I have the large print edition reserved at the library (the regular version had a 30-person waiting list. I didn't even want to go there). This is just to add another bad review on Amazon and to see what the heck the hype is all about.

That's about it for this post. See you later.

Dawson