# Boom! In progress MG/YA illustrated novel -- Cindercast



## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Hey Kboards! I'm a visual effects artist by day: anyone seen a little film called Iron Man? Yeah, I worked on it.... If not maybe you've heard of District 9? I Worked on that too...

When the sun sets I'm a novice author and illustrator. I've been working my way through my first book over the last year and I finally have the text in a place that I'm trying to get some critiques on it, It's amazing how hard it is to get friends and family to devote hours to comment on your work. The words are coming along, and as an added bonus I've finally developed a style I like for the art.

I got the idea to take this project from ideas bouncing around in my head to real words and real art in the real computer by the distinguished Mr. Howey. Amazing work Hugh! I'm excited to read Dust when it's released, oh and if you're reading this I'm working on The Ender's Game film too.

I'm here to ask some questions for those of you who have traveled this road before...

Firstly, is there any self published examples of work written to be read to 6-7 year olds or read by 8-12 year olds that are illustrated... I'm thinking like The Search for Wandla, but self published. There are a lot of questions about formatting I have for the artwork that would be informed by seeing what decisions someone else made.

Secondly, If you're writing a serial story can you wrap it up nicely (which I've done) and then include the first chapter of the next segment and end it on a brutal cliffhanger (which I've also done). I've heard Amazon may potentially have issues with publishing the second volume if it contains work published in the first.

Thirdly, I don't really have a thirdly yet. But I'm sure I will. I've tried to capture the flavor of a Myazaki film in my story and I'm hoping that there is an audience out there for a tough 10 year old female protagonist having to find her way in a world much bigger than her.

Forthly, twitter! I've just discovered it and I'm having a really good time reading 'news' on there. From the cutting edge developments in the NSA domestic spying scandal to Ricky Gervais and his bathpics It's a pretty interesting place. I've followed a few authors already and I'll follow more if you guys follow me... @mikeblackbourn, an extra cool point goes to Hugh if he reads this and follows me (I talk a bit about the films I work on).

Fifthly (sounds like filthy), Eyecandy! See below for some development sketches for the artwork in my story! All of this and more on my blog www.cindercast.com






























Mike Blackbourn


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

I can't answer most of those questions, but I just wanted to say that your artwork is amazing! I really love it


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

YolyM said:


> I can't answer most of those questions, but I just wanted to say that your artwork is amazing! I really love it


No problem! I'm glad you like the style. I've been stuck for so many years now doing thumbnail sketches for work to visually work through problems that It's taken me a while to get back into working with color and light in a smeary painting context. A big inspiration I've had recently for the art side of things has been Matt Nava's work on the PS3 game Journey. Even if you're not a gamer you owe it to yourself to find a PS3 and play this game. Absolutely amazing experience. Austin Wintory's soundtrack for it will also blow you away.


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## BelindaPepper (May 19, 2013)

Hey dude, welcome. ^_^ What work do you do in your day job? Matte painter? Texture artist? Compositor?

I'm afraid I can't really help you with your questions, but I can help out with the whole digital painting side of things. Are you still using ArtRage for all your work? Pretty good program, I prefer Photoshop personally (keep it simple- round brush and a Wacom pen). There's only two things I'd recommend focusing on in your illustrations- your blending and your palette. I looooooove paintings where you see the brushstrokes, so you don't want to blend things in too much, but at the moment the blending looks a little haphazard, like areas were smeared around too much while others weren't blended at all. And this has produced some muddy colours- something that would be rectified if you blended more using your palette, rather than with tools. There's some killer digital artists on YouTube- just watching them has hugely benefited my own painting skills. I've been looking at Tyler's stuff a lot lately: http://www.youtube.com/user/TylerE2284/videos

I hope that helps! Best of luck with your book, dude. And really, you don't have to name drop projects you've worked on to impress us.


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## Charmaine (Jul 20, 2012)

> There are a lot of questions about formatting I have for the artwork that would be informed by seeing what decisions someone else made


For formatting:

I can help with this 
Putting illustrations in ebooks is actually really simple. 
I use word for ebooks, so here are some instructions for that:

Image between text:
it's as simple as simply dragging the image into the document.
Highlight the image.
Then make sure the image is centered if you want it between text.

Or you could put the image on a page by itself:
Put a page break after the last bit of text before the image.
Then place the image on the page, again center it.
Finally, put another page break.
^this will read as a single page image 

Also, if you wanted opinions on artwork (not sure if you're asking :/)
I agree with Belinda on everything, especially about the blending and photoshop.
Also, you may want to even consider keeping your line work (which is really good) and doing cell-shading.
I would also consider making the images black and white for a middle grade book.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

BelindaPepper said:


> Hey dude, welcome. ^_^ What work do you do in your day job? Matte painter? Texture artist? Compositor?
> 
> ...
> 
> I hope that helps! Best of luck with your book, dude. And really, you don't have to name drop projects you've worked on to impress us.


I'm the CG supervisor at The Embassy VFX, but I come from a generalist 3d background. We did the visual effects for the Mark1 suit (that Tony builds in the cave) and the Black Mech at the end of District 9. The name dropping was all in fun. In a world where I'm a complete poser (I haven't published anything) It was simply a way to dress up my post with a bit of street cred. (totally different street though).

Thanks for the tips on the paintings. I totally agree. Most of those were 1.5-3 hour efforts snuck into the end of a workday after the kids are in bed. Once the text is solidified I'll sketch each piece of art and refine them much more (hopefully) than whats gone into these (what I'm calling development) sketches. A lot of it was just working out how I wanted things to look....


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Charmaine said:


> I can help with this
> Putting illustrations in ebooks is actually really simple.


What about aspect ratio for full page work? Do you assume everyone reads in portrait? I'm leaning towards using a square shape to minimize the blank space regardless of which orientation people read in. I'm also not really that partial to framing work in tall aspect ratios as I'm so used to wide cinematic frames. But I can adapt... This is exactly the kind of conversation I wanted to have. Thanks.


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## Charmaine (Jul 20, 2012)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> What about aspect ratio for full page work? Do you assume everyone reads in portrait? I'm leaning towards using a square shape to minimize the blank space regardless of which orientation people read in. I'm also not really that partial to framing work in tall aspect ratios as I'm so used to wide cinematic frames. But I can adapt... This is exactly the kind of conversation I wanted to have. Thanks.


I always use a portrait format.
The only time I have ever seen people using a landscape format was for picture books where the whole book was oriented to landscape.
I would suggest working in a square format if that's what you're comfortable with.
Also, how much thought have you put into using vignettes? 
Most middle grade books use vignettes with only a few full page illustrations.

Also, I should note that the method I mentioned isn't going to display as taking up all the white space.
Again why the image breaking its border (partial vignette) here could be fun.
Formatting for full screen illustrations is a whole different beast. ( A really vicious, angry beast )
It involves html formatting and I'm not sure I would recommend it outside of picture books.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Charmaine said:


> Formatting for full screen illustrations is a whole different beast. ( A really vicious, angry beast )


Charmaine: Good to know portrait is the way to go. Are you suggesting work in square then crop and reframe for the final? Can you tell me why getting full page illustrations to work would be so hard, You basically put a page break before and after, no?

BelindaPepper: Thanks for Tyler's youtube videos. Tons of good info there.


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## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Wow. Congratulations. Fantastic art work. 
I've always wanted to have a graphic novel done of my angel series, It's aimed at 12-16 year old girls. 

I'll be following your progress and hope to learn from your experience.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

LisaGraceBooks said:


> Wow. Congratulations. Fantastic art work.
> I've always wanted to have a graphic novel done of my angel series, It's aimed at 12-16 year old girls.
> 
> I'll be following your progress and hope to learn from your experience.


I'm also hoping to learn from this experience!

Graphics novels are very cool. I'm not going that art heavy with this project, the art will support the words. A little like the Secret World of Og illustrated by Patsy Burton, mostly full page art every now and again. I'm thinking maybe three of these per chapter.

I'm really curious is there are examples of this type of work available in ebook format...

Thanks to everyone who took a look at my blog or followed me on twitter @mikeblackbourn


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## NathanWrann (May 5, 2011)

Secondly: In general Amazon has no problem with you publishing the first chapter of book 2 at the end of book 1 (or other type of teaser). Where they would have a problem would be if you were enrolling your book in KDP Select which is a program that they have for books that are exclusive to Amazon (they offer some special features for exclusivity). If your "preview" at the end of book 1 is more than 10% of book 2 AND it is published elsewhere then they wouldn't consider book 2 to be exclusive. 

(By "Serial story" I assume you mean a series, like a trilogy where there are three distinct connected books, and not a "serial" which would be much smaller parts of one bigger story published individually)


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## Charmaine (Jul 20, 2012)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> 1. Are you suggesting work in square then crop and reframe for the final?
> 2. Can you tell me why getting full page illustrations to work would be so hard, You basically put a page break before and after, no?


1. No you don't have to, that's just an aesthetic that I like that I also see employed quite a bit. 
You can keep it in a square if you want (with frames too)

2.Putting the page breaks before and after will give you a single image displayed by itself *BUT* it won't be a full-screened display.
With the page break method you'll get for example: a 5-7inch square on a 10 inch page (it doesn't take up all the space).

To get a full image (10 inch image on a 10 inch page) requires html formatting.
Although if that's what you want, it's not that it's SUPER HARD, but it is a HASSLE.
Writing programs is very difficult, for me at least.
But if you want to, search for an image/text html template. (They'll probably have books on amazon for it, which include templates.)

I think it's similar to this, but this was for a picture book with no text:
store images in jpg in a folder (remember name for coding)
open template
Tweaking of titles, names, etc.
Usually a paragraph of code containing an image id, replace for your first image's id.
Repeat for all the images
* and here I think with the text, you'd have to find where to put the images and place all the text according

Hassle for me anyway


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## caleemlee (Aug 5, 2011)

If you're thinking of creating a graphic novel, I believe the Kindle Comics creator is out of beta and available to download.  This is the easiest (non programming way) to create full spread images.  The kindle (and nook) full screen image size is 1024 x 600.  But unless you either use the comic creator or program it in HTML yourself (or hire someone) if you create a regular Kindle book the image will not fill the full screen, it will be slightly smaller (but still maintain aspect ratio).
(Ah, I just saw that this info was already posted. Sorry)

Publishing an illustrated children's book is a very complicated task.  It sounds like you've got the technical skills to figure it out and your art looks good. 
I would highly recommend creating your art in two formats: the square with text beneath and the full spread with text integrated. If you ever decide to move out of the Amazon universe and go to a retailer that does not offer fixed layout epubs, this is the format that we've found works best on the widest number of ereaders and tablets. 

Feel free to ask any other questions or shoot me a DM.  Our company has published 170 children's ebooks in the last two years (and the Kindle Children's Daily Deal today is ours  so I've made about every mistake you can when it comes to formatting these things.

Good luck!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Thanks for all the great information.

Nathan: Good to know you can teaser chunks to books.

CCKelly: I'll keep updating this thread as I go.

Charmaine: Thanks, I might end up doing a bunch of trial and error to get it right, but I'm not scared of a bit of coding. Good to know it's not hard.

Caleemlee: Thanks for the offer! I'll totally message you for more information as I need it.

This is a macro photo I took that was partially the inspiration for the story and world. Imagine you were small enough to have to climb up the side of a barnacle!










There's some more photos that have contributed to the vision for this story on my blog:
www.cindercast.com


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Caleemlee: is there anyone you would recommend for editing and formatting services?  I don't have a Hugh budget for these but would like a professional editing job as I know they work is still rough in parts.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

More testing of ideas. I like the framing of this one.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

She thought she could hear a faint squeaking sound from the other side of the oyster shell.
Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.
Not recognizing the sound she crept around to the other side, one hand dragging along the wall of shell next to her and the other on her loop of metal blocks.
What was that squeaking noise?
Rounding the other side of the shell she found Snarz.
"Oh no..."He'd been lured by something irresistible.
The waist high chunk of styrofoam debris squeaked with every jump. The sight of the grinning orange crab bouncing up and down on the spongy white fragment made her laugh and angered her at the same time.
"You scared me. What are you doing?" As soon as she said it she realized it was a pointless question. He was clearly having a great time being crazy.


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## Gabriel Morcan (Mar 19, 2013)

Hi Michael,

I don't know if you wanted opinions on artwork. I hope I'm not tactless and intruding.

I like your idea. I've also pondered the thought of doing a book like this but the main drawback is that I don't really know how to draw. 

I love the composition and the colors, but I think you could add a little more contour to the pictures, because they look a little bit too smudgy. You said you are aiming at 6-7, 8-12 years old. I have two nephews, and the artwork seems like something the younger one would enjoy, but the older one has already moved up from that. I know, they grow so fast.  I don't know how to insert images here, so I'll post some links.

Exemple: http://www.agentiadecarte.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/MILA-23-coperta-1.jpg
Example: http://www.agentiadecarte.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Mila-23-_p10_zbori-cu-vaslele.jpg

I totally enjoyed Journey. It is such a great game!

So, you're working on Ender's Game. That sounds nice. Are they really using "Another Brick in the Wall" as the original sound track? 
Some of my friends want to learn visual effects and 3d rendering and they started with cinema 4d and houdini. Are those good choices?

I hope I helped,
Gabriel


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## Ian Marks (Jan 22, 2012)

It always seemed to me that the Kindle was optimized for text and that (with the advent of the Fire) it was just beginning to edge towards being a good platform for illustrated works. No problem if you're a novelist, but a real problem if you're a designer/illustrator. Still, I'll be following your progress with great interest as I've always wanted to do something like what you're doing, which looks pretty great.

If you haven't already, check out both Sketchbook Pro and Manga Studio... they're absolutely worth a look. I'm a long-time Photoshop user, but for illustrating these programs are awesome (and reasonably priced). Manga Studio, in particular, might be just the ticket for you (don't let the name put you off). I can't ink worth @#$% in Photoshop, but in Manga I'm suddenly, well... adequate. And Sketchbook is very intuitive, especially for those used to traditional (non-digital) illustration.

Anyway, best of luck!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Gabriel Morcan said:


> I don't know if you wanted opinions on artwork. I hope I'm not tactless and intruding.
> 
> Exemple: http://www.agentiadecarte.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/MILA-23-coperta-1.jpg
> Example: http://www.agentiadecarte.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Mila-23-_p10_zbori-cu-vaslele.jpg
> ...


Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to polish any art pieces that make it into the final a lot more than these quick paintings I'm using to explore ideas.

I've screened an in-progress version of Ender's once about a month ago. It was still heavily in progress and the final audio and music weren't there yet so I have no clue what it will sound like. I mostly get the full experience like anyone else when I'm eating popcorn in the theater. We'll work on all kinds of interesting visuals and only find out later what any of it sounds like.

I don't know any shops using Cinema4D but Houdini is a good bet.

We did all our work for Battleship in Houdini. It was a tough project but the results we achieved were outstanding:

Embassy Battleship before and after:
http://vimeo.com/46907473


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## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> More testing of ideas. I like the framing of this one.


Very nice, dramatic framing, indeed!


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## Gabriel Morcan (Mar 19, 2013)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> I don't know any shops using Cinema4D but Houdini is a good bet.
> 
> We did all our work for Battleship in Houdini. It was a tough project but the results we achieved were outstanding:


Thanks for the info.
I'm really looking forward to see your final work. Let us know when it's out.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

C.C. Kelly said:


> I'm digging the artwork and style. It has a whimsical feel, for lack of a better word, and yet has something deeper working - it's emotive.


Thanks.

More art.....








I'm trying to stay away from hammering everything with a pallet knife. I like how this turned out.


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## Jan Thompson (May 25, 2013)

Amazing artwork!

I don't have the answers to most of your questions either. However, as a mom, I've read plenty of children's books, so here are some things I found. Hope they are helpful to you.

Here are the novels currently on Amazon for kids ages 6-8. You can see that they don't always do portrait. Love those square and horizontally rectangular books. Nostalgia.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_2966_nr_p_n_feature_five_bro_2?rh=n%3A283155%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A4%2Cn%3A2966%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A2579000011

When you get to 9-12YO, they start reading more words and see fewer pictures. Something like one photo for every chapter max. Chapters get long. I've seen books that age that are 40K words long.

I definitely vote for color pages. Those might be expensive to POD though...

Another thing you might consider - how much of your storybook are you already giving away free on your website? You want to save some surprises for your young readers, no?

If you want to publish the storybook as you draw each scene, how about serializing your eBook? You can, IMO, say every week, produce an "episode" and price accordingly. When you are done publishing all the episodes, then you can produce a bundle/compilation of all the entire story. And charge another price for the bundle with bonus sneak peak of the next series.

That's how I would do it if I were writing a children's book, which I'm not. I write MG in my spare time when I'm not writing thrillers, historicals, and non-fiction.

Another thing I would do is go to the local library and check out all the Newberry Award winners for that age group, and check out all the books with the best illustrations. Your competition is truly traditionally published children's books that have awesome amazing artwork that can be turned into gifts.

Christmas coming up, you know. Time to buy new books for the kids...


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

JanThompson said:


> Amazing artwork!
> 
> I don't have the answers to most of your questions either. However, as a mom, I've read plenty of children's books, so here are some things I found. Hope they are helpful to you.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I plan to release each 20,000 word chunk as separate books. There will be probably three big panels of art per chapter.

I'm not really giving anything away on my website as far as the story or the art goes. All of these pieces are just experiments to help nail down my technique and the feel of the world.

New art:


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

Hey Mike 
Always nice to meet other author/illustrators!
My Memory's Wake trilogy have illustrations. They are more targeted at upper young adult age range though. I specifically did black and white illustrations for it knowing the paperback printing and Kindle e-ink readers would be black and white. One smaller illustration per chapter at the chapter start, plus about 10 full page illustrations throughout, like this one-









(Hope you don't mind me posting that, it's just exciting to share show and tell with another author/illustrator!!)

I love the look of the illustrations you've got going so far, and they are perfect because one look at them conveys so much about the characters and story type, which looks really appealing! I'm not sure how much advice I can give you about formatting, except that if you're going for print books, through a print on demand company, you're going to pay a lot more for colour. POD companies don't count colour pages versus black and white (text) pages, to them, it's either ALL colour, or ALL black and white. To get colour images into a big book that also contains story, you may have to look into printing bulk in china or a local digital printers if you're lucky. As for ebooks, lots of ereaders show colour now though, so that's not a problem, however, black and white has an advantage again as they are smaller file sizes. You need to keep your overall file size in mind for ebooks, because bigger downloads do actually cost more, or so I've been told.

Good luck with the project!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Selina Fenech said:


> Hey Mike
> Always nice to meet other author/illustrators!
> My Memory's Wake trilogy have illustrations. They are more targeted at upper young adult age range though. I specifically did black and white illustrations for it knowing the paperback printing and Kindle e-ink readers would be black and white. One smaller illustration per chapter at the chapter start, plus about 10 full page illustrations throughout, like this one-
> 
> ...


Wow, that looks great! Very nice artwork.

For now I'm sneaking in an hour here and there in the evenings as my film work takes up most of my time.
I was considering using createspace for paperback, maybe that's not wise for color images... But I imagine people have made things like self published travel books and things with a mix of text and color imagery. I'll have to look into it more.

The digital delivery fee doesn't apply to 99c books and I think that's where I'm going to price this once I'm done.

I think I should do some black and white experiments and see if I like the results. Follow me on twitter and I'll follow you back. @mikeblackbourn

blog: www.cindercast.com


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

I could use a beta reader/critique person....  Anyone willing to try a few pages and see if what I'm working on is something you want to read? Send me a message.


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## Vivienne Mathews (May 7, 2013)

Sheesh -- you crazy, talented people! My silly cartoons seem so very sad by comparison, now. 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ibt9cdz9o28/UYyQgnrSrwI/AAAAAAAAALg/aA_b68cZm6k/s1600/Banner%2BWork.jpg

Now I'm off to figure out how to sabotage the lot of you...


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

No way Vivienne, your cartoons are awesome! I always envy artists with such a strong and developed look.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Vivienne Mathews said:


> Sheesh -- you crazy, talented people! My silly cartoons seem so very sad by comparison, now.
> 
> http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ibt9cdz9o28/UYyQgnrSrwI/AAAAAAAAALg/aA_b68cZm6k/s1600/Banner%2BWork.jpg
> 
> Now I'm off to figure out how to sabotage the lot of you...


I like your characters. Are they foxes? Weasels?


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Quick painting of a view across a tidepool at our heroes running among periwinkle shells.










Bigger version here: www.cindercast.com

I really need to wrap up editing the story... It's gone from 20,000 words to 22,000 in the last couple weeks. I thought editing should make it shorter?


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## elusya (Apr 20, 2013)

Hello there fellow vfxer - I'm also an illustrator that most recently worked for Rhythm & Hues in Look Development on Life of Pi and RIPD. I'm almost finished editing my first novel as yet untitled YA and was going to hop on an illustrated novel next. (Editing is such a b**tch - man and my novel also got longer!!)

You've inspired me to get started on working on the next one! I love the quality of your images. Great colors. This thread has already given me enormous insight into what it takes to publish illustrated novels.

This is my latest illustration for the cover of the YA novel:








Nice to meet you and share in your work! 
Cheers,
Dominika


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

elusya said:


> Hello there fellow vfxer - I'm also an illustrator that most recently worked for Rhythm & Hues in Look Development on Life of Pi and RIPD. I'm almost finished editing my first novel as yet untitled YA and was going to hop on an illustrated novel next. (Editing is such a b**tch - man and my novel also got longer!!)
> 
> You've inspired me to get started on working on the next one! I love the quality of your images. Great colors. This thread has already given me enormous insight into what it takes to publish illustrated novels.
> 
> ...


Very cool! Thanks for the comment. I agree that editing is a pain.

I did a repaint of the same angle/idea above. I like this version quite a bit better.


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## Austin_Briggs (Aug 21, 2011)

Hi Michael, love your work and wishing you the greatest success. I’m very impressed with your illustrations—dynamic, full of character and the feel of adventure.

I’ve started 2 series of middle-grade picture books: one for boys, one for girls (in my sig) and although I’m not pushing for sales yet I’m in love with the format. I plan to eventually make 18 books in each series.

I went with 640x1024 aspect for the images in my first 2 books, but now I’m trying the 9:11 aspect for my second two books. Will see how it goes. For the actual eBook production, I work with www.allenmohr.com who produces tasteful, pleasant-to-hold ebooks. 

I’m now working on a Young Adult picture book, a time-travel fantasy with elements of horror. Looking for the illustrator for this one. Will send you a PM to see if you have any recommendations!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Austin, good luck with your books. Sorry I have no one to recommend.

I might go back to using a watercolor treatment for my paintings. I think it feels better than the heavy oil style paintings I've been doing.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

I totally like the natural media feel of watercolors in Artrage:


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

wow - wonderful art! are you interested in taking commissions, and how much do you charge per painting? please PM me!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Is there any other dual citizen Canadian/US authors here that are residing in Canada?  How do you handle tax witholding from Amazon?  

Mike


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Still getting the hang of digital watercolors.


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

The digital watercolour look is working well for you. 
Did you get my email back with the beta-reading comments, a few weeks ago?


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Selina Fenech said:


> The digital watercolour look is working well for you.
> Did you get my email back with the beta-reading comments, a few weeks ago?


I did for the first part I sent your way! Thank you. I then sent on the rest of the story to you. if you've gone through the whole thing.. Thank you, but I haven't gotten any notes about it.


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## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

I have no answers, just wanted to say very nice work!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Christa Wick said:


> I have no answers, just wanted to say very nice work!


Thanks! Its been a stuggle ! Writing doesn't come naturally to me. I eventually added a teaser chapter for the next book at the end of book one and that flowed a little easier, but writing is hard. Editing is hard.

Glad you like the work. I just need to wrap it up and get it out the door but in guessing that won't be until spring at the speed im going.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

That bandolier of blocks worn by my character can be used to built little contraption robots!










I'm still pushing forward editing my manuscript and incorporating notes from my beta readers!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

I think I'm finally happy with this look. A combination of pencils, ink, and watercolor.

Image hosted from my blog www.cindercast.com:


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## Vivienne Mathews (May 7, 2013)

Good lord, these are just SO stunning!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Vivienne Mathews said:


> Good lord, these are just SO stunning!


Thanks! I hope to have 25-30 paintings in my 23,000 word book. Everything still needs more work though.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

More art.....

hosted from my blog: www.cindercast.com


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

New illustration... in progress.

Ollie is trapped at the bottom of a shallow ravine by an attacking hermit crab.

more here:
www.cindercast.com
-let me know what you think!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

And it's painted.


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## CLStone (Apr 4, 2013)

How are you putting these together?

I've been dabbling with Ren'Py and lately started fooling with InDesign for their interactive ebook section.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

CLStone said:


> How are you putting these together?
> 
> I've been dabbling with Ren'Py and lately started fooling with InDesign for their interactive ebook section.


I haven't started putting it together yet. 

Question: Any dual Canadian/us citizens living in Canada here? I'm curious how you set up payment from Amazon.


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## ElleT (Feb 2, 2014)

You are so very talented!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

ElleT said:


> You are so very talented!


Thanks...

I'm finally back working on the art for this.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

I'm newly returned to KBoards after some time away writing a novel. I'm really glad this post got bumped up again. I had missed it. Iron Man, District 9, and Ender's Game are three of my most favorite movies ever. Miyazaki is one of my and my family's most favorite directors ever. We totally love his beautiful artwork and storytelling! Your book looks incredible. I followed you on Twitter and look forward to seeing where your book-creation journey takes you.  Also, I agree that the PS3 game, Journey, is incredible. In addition to the amazing artwork and music, I especially love that the game physics force you to take the hero's journey - a genius idea.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> I'm newly returned to KBoards after some time away writing a novel. I'm really glad this post got bumped up again. I had missed it. Iron Man, District 9, and Ender's Game are three of my most favorite movies ever. Miyazaki is one of my and my family's most favorite directors ever. We totally love his beautiful artwork and storytelling! Your book looks incredible. I followed you on Twitter and look forward to seeing where your book-creation journey takes you.  Also, I agree that the PS3 game, Journey, is incredible. In addition to the amazing artwork and music, I especially love that the game physics force you to take the hero's journey - a genius idea.


Thanks! I'm glad that what I find inspiring also inspires others. There is so much good art to draw on, so many talented storytellers. I can't recommend enough for people who don't know Studio Ghiblis work to look them up.

Here is some more in progress art:


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## ricola (Mar 3, 2014)

Your work is so lovely!  I don't envy you.  Children's fic is brutal!


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> Thanks! I'm glad that what I find inspiring also inspires others. There is so much good art to draw on, so many talented storytellers. I can't recommend enough for people who don't know Studio Ghiblis work to look them up.
> 
> Here is some more in progress art:


That drawing is precious! I'm looking forward to seeing and buying the finished version of your book. I have a story about the wonder of Studio Ghibli movies. My family's loved Miyazaki's movies for years. When we bought a baby bearded dragon lizard for our younger son, we were told that beardies love to watch television and will sit and watch it with you. Sure enough, Norbert our bearded dragon loved to sit on my husband's knee and watch TV. Beardies have to stay under a lamp for many hours every day. When we thought about ways in which we might keep Norbert from getting bored during all the long hours she had to be in her tank under a lamp, we decided to buy her a small movie player and set it up outside her tank where she could see it. Most of the things we played for her didn't keep her interest for very long, though - she was after all a lizard. She liked animated movies the best. But the only movies she would watch all the way through were Miyazaki's movies! Toward the end of her life when Norbert was old, she watched Miyazaki's *Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind* all day long, over and over again. It was really sweet how much she loved that movie.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> That drawing is precious! ... Toward the end of her life when Norbert was old, she watched Miyazaki's *Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind* all day long, over and over again. It was really sweet how much she loved that movie.


Thanks for the kind thoughts about my artwork. And I love the story about the Lizard with good taste in films. What a great story and memory to have of a pet. Did it prefer the sub'd or dub'd version?


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> Thanks for the kind thoughts about my artwork. And I love the story about the Lizard with good taste in films. What a great story and memory to have of a pet. Did it prefer the sub'd or dub'd version?


What a great question! HaHaHa. It was the Dub'd versions - Norbert watched the same DVDs we watched and, sadly, we don't know how to speak Japanese.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> What a great question! HaHaHa. It was the Dub'd versions - Norbert watched the same DVDs we watched and, sadly, we don't know how to speak Japanese.


That's why they translate it for you and write what it means below the picture!


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## callan (Feb 29, 2012)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> ...
> Thirdly, I don't really have a thirdly yet. But I'm sure I will. I've tried to capture the flavor of a Myazaki film in my story and I'm hoping that there is an audience out there for a tough 10 year old female protagonist having to find her way in a world much bigger than her.
> ...
> 
> Mike Blackbourn


In my middle-aged female nerd universe, there is a crying need for a new Miyazaki. Publish, and they will come ...


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

callan said:


> In my middle-aged female nerd universe, there is a crying need for a new Miyazaki. Publish, and they will come ...


Working on it!! But everything takes longer than I think... Working on art now.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> That's why they translate it for you and write what it means below the picture!


I probably should listen to Miyazaki's movies in Japanese, since I love foreign films done that way. I really love the voice actors that Disney used in the English language version of Miyazaki's movies, though - pretty much perfect for the characters.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> I probably should listen to Miyazaki's movies in Japanese, since I love foreign films done that way. I really love the voice actors that Disney used in the English language version of Miyazaki's movies, though - pretty much perfect for the characters.


I originally watched Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) in Japaene is subs. The voices for the boars are awesome. I do agree they do a good job with the voices for the dubs, other than gigi the cat from Kiki. Phil Harman's sarcastic take on the cat kinda bugged me.

Inking done! Time for a new panel


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

I'm on fire! Here is the start to another panel.... I've gotten a lot quicker now that I've switched back to pen and paper.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

Wonderful! I love the spunky look of the girl.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> Wonderful! I love the spunky look of the girl.


Less spunky in this one. Exhausted.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

Awwww. Such a sweet picture. I love following the progress on this book. It looks like it's going to be a great book for kids.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> Awwww. Such a sweet picture. I love following the progress on this book. It looks like it's going to be a great book for kids.


I hope so! I'm having fun working on it but it's a lot of work. Here is the next one. About half finished.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

That's so cool. Your book looks like a lot of work - such intricate detail plus the written story. When do you expect to publish it? Also, are you publishing it in paperback or on Kindle or both?


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

These are just wonderful! 

I'd love to have my MG/YA fantasy illustrated at some point but I'm not sure I could afford it just yet. I wish I had your talent.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

sarahdalton said:


> These are just wonderful!
> 
> I'd love to have my MG/YA fantasy illustrated at some point but I'm not sure I could afford it just yet. I wish I had your talent.


Same here. I have ideas for two children's books and a superhero graphic novel that I hope to have illustrated someday. And I have no talent for artistic drawing whatsoever.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> Same here. I have ideas for two children's books and a superhero graphic novel that I hope to have illustrated someday. And I have no talent for artistic drawing whatsoever.


If you have piles is cash maybe we can work something out!  mostly kidding, working on my own stuff is taking all the time I have. 

Next panel I'm working on:









Ollie and Snarz and leaping from a great height. Lots more to do on this one, stronger lines for separating the forms, some background work and the thread she's flinging with her left hand (she's small, really small, so she can parachute and travel on the wind with just a long thread)


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> If you have piles is cash maybe we can work something out!  mostly kidding, working on my own stuff is taking all the time I have.
> 
> Next panel I'm working on:
> 
> ...


Love every picture in your book so far!  I'm in the process of writing a story Hugh Howey's approved for his *Wool* series and five more novels in my YA *Shade* series. After that, I'm thinking about possibly writing two stories for children's picture books and a graphic novel. It's tough finding the time to finish all the writing projects.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> Love every picture in your book so far!  I'm in the process of writing a story Hugh Howey's approved for his *Wool* series and five more novels in my YA *Shade* series. After that, I'm thinking about possibly writing two stories for children's picture books and a graphic novel. It's tough finding the time to finish all the writing projects.


Sounds busy! I'm just trying to get this one project wrapped up...

Here is the finished leap image. They jumped from a barnacle high on the side of a sandstone cliff.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

Nice! I absolutely love the look of that little girl. She looks adventurous, brave, and adorable.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> Nice! I absolutely love the look of that little girl. She looks adventurous, brave, and adorable.


One more.... The next one in progress...

Climbing down strands of seaweed to the anemones below.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Ollie and Snarz descend on strands of seaweed. Anemones wait below, lurking in the shadows, tentacles tucked away during the low tide.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Under the driftwood, deep in the shadows, something lurks.

This was a fun one. Completed in two evenings. I'm on a roll! I have probably another five panels of art to get through so I'm getting close to being finished. Finally.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

The barnacle attacks!


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## Donovan Scherer (Mar 11, 2014)

This is super cool! Do you still have questions on formatting? I do MG illustrated novels too and I've found that Adobe InDesign is the way to go. Let me know if you need any help when you get to that point.

Also, save all those originals! They make for awesome treats to give the super fans. I just did up some prints of the inks from my last two books. Won't know how they sell until after next weekend, but there have been a few people asking for them.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Donovan Scherer said:


> This is super cool! Do you still have questions on formatting? I do MG illustrated novels too and I've found that Adobe InDesign is the way to go. Let me know if you need any help when you get to that point.
> 
> Also, save all those originals! They make for awesome treats to give the super fans. I just did up some prints of the inks from my last two books. Won't know how they sell until after next weekend, but there have been a few people asking for them.


Thanks!. I might shoot you a few questions but I'm going to finish the art and setup the ebook first. Then jump into the print version. Do you use indesign for the ebook as well? I was planning on putting that together using Sigil, but again, I don't know much about that part of it yet.


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## Donovan Scherer (Mar 11, 2014)

Yep. InDesign for all formats. You just need to make sure to change the ISBN numbers on the copyright page of each version. If you set up the print version first, you can create an epub version of that one, then swap all the images in the epub folder with lower quality ones for the ebook to keep the file size small. That'll save you from swapping them out in InDesign. I'd recommend print first because I think the switcharoo would be easier that way.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Donovan Scherer said:


> Yep. InDesign for all formats. You just need to make sure to change the ISBN numbers on the copyright page of each version. If you set up the print version first, you can create an epub version of that one, then swap all the images in the epub folder with lower quality ones for the ebook to keep the file size small. That'll save you from swapping them out in InDesign. I'd recommend print first because I think the switcharoo would be easier that way.


Interesting. Doesn't all the formatting and margins and stuff really get in the way when trying to output a clean html file? Also linked TOC... This sounds interesting though, if you can just format once (mostly) that would be a big time saver.


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## Donovan Scherer (Mar 11, 2014)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> Interesting. Doesn't all the formatting and margins and stuff really get in the way when trying to output a clean html file? Also linked TOC... This sounds interesting though, if you can just format once (mostly) that would be a big time saver.


If you set up paragraph styles for both the text and the images, they'll be packaged inside the ebook version. For example, I set up one for chapter titles which are big and centered and have a page break in front of them, I've got the main body copy style, and one for images which center aligns them and has page breaks before and after them. The margins you initially set up with are ignored for the ebook version. They can be adjusted when you export. And for the TOC, I don't remember what I did for that but I think I had to tweak the code after exporting it off (my system's not perfect yet!)

You've got to have the images set as inline text to get the formatting to apply to ebooks. To do make images inline, just drop the image onto the workspace, Edit>Cut, then stick your cursor where you want the picture to go between the text, paste the picture in, and apply the paragraph style to it.

For page numbers, chapter names, etc on each page - you can handle that using Master Pages. These won't be exported in the ebook version but will keep everything looking nice for the print version.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Time to get this stuff into the computer!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

All those images have been painted in Grey scale watercolor using art rage and I'm almost done putting the ebook together using Sigil. After reading about the formatting problems some people have I'm glad I taught myself enough HTML to sort out the issues. I managed to get the final .mobi under 3mb as well.

Big thanks to Hugh for his tutorials as I'm now starting to get into the print version.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Print version done! Will order a proof shortly! Huge props to Hugh for his tutorials.

I added some info to go with his tutorial if your doing full bleed edge to edge images like below. Here is my post with the info:

http://www.cindercast.com/2015/01/print-version-layout-done-thanks-hugh.html?m=1


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Cover:









Should be live on amazon in 12 hours. Booyah.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

Congratulations! It's been fun watching this project develop.


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Thanks.  I couldn't have done it without the help that this board provides. Thanks everyone.

Now... To add my book in my signature...


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

It's funny how working your way through the KDP process ends up with you on the other side with a book available for purchase. I'm not sure what I was expecting... a big red button or a pair of nuclear launch keys you had to turn at the same time... At least a captcha.  But you just go through the steps and boom... its waiting to go.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> I'm not sure what I was expecting... a big red button or a pair of nuclear launch keys you had to turn at the same time... At least a captcha.


No, that's the procedure for getting sales and reviews. 

Will your book be available in paperback or hardcover?


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> No, that's the procedure for getting sales and reviews.
> 
> Will your book be available in paperback or hardcover?


Paperback. I had one glitch with CreateSpace where they bounced back my cover. Should be good to go now.


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## Marilyn Peake (Aug 8, 2011)

MichaelBlackbourn said:


> Paperback. I had one glitch with CreateSpace where they bounced back my cover. Should be good to go now.


Great! I bought the Kindle version and am thinking about buying a paper version as well. I've been looking forward to the publication of this book. Love your artwork!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Marilyn Peake said:


> Great! I bought the Kindle version and am thinking about buying a paper version as well. I've been looking forward to the publication of this book. Love your artwork!


Amazing! Thank you. I hope create space gets back to me today about my status. I should be good to go.


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