As I type this, I’m uploading the manuscript for Tanager’s Fledglings…

It needs to be checked on various devices (during which process we will find typos, they are inevitable!) before it’s ready to launch.

I’m also thinking I might tweak the blurb a bit. This is what I have, what do you all think?

Jem is a man with no real name, no past, and no family. His only home was the Scarlet Tanager, the ship he’d been raised on from a cabin boy to the first mate. Now, with the death of his captain and mentor, he wants keep flying her. It’s easy. His assignment is take the trader’s route without variance, and turn a profit. It’s a route he’s flown before… and he’s not alone. His companion is a relic of Old Earth, a fur-covered creature called a dog. Surely he can earn his captaincy, no matter what the galaxy throws at him. Can’t he?

Also, shall I put Jade Star on sale or free soon? They are not tightly tied together, but Jade is a prequel in the same universe, with a shared character.


Comments

4 responses to “Nearly There”

  1. Way too wordy. action, like the book, with ‘incidental info.’ imo.

    His mentor dead, must Jem return to the life of an orphan with no past, no future, or can he master the ship and the route….? problems problems problems

    1. Cedar L Sanderson Avatar
      Cedar L Sanderson

      Thank you. I knew it was not there, it was ginned up last night right before bed. I was *trying* to get it all done before the weekend ended, but oh well. I still do have time.

  2. John in Philly Avatar
    John in Philly

    Jade Star for free?
    Reader John says yes.
    Capitalist John asks, do you think that the exposure will mean more sales in the long run?

    Book cover thoughts.
    I color printed the book cover in two sizes, one is the size of a Baen paperback novel, and the other the size of a medium paperback.
    I then looked at them at reading distance, and then at shelf height and a little further away than reading distance.
    The fonts are readable and the color choices and font borders stand out against the background.
    The color shading and the outline and the shadows give the title a three dimension look and leads the eye to the title.
    The space ships tell the novel’s genre immediately.
    If you drop your eye straight down in the space below the FLED part of the word FLEDGLINGS I think the eye travel stumbles there and that the space between the word FLEDGLINGS and the top of the docking spacecraft is acting like a visual speedbump and slows the flow of the eye from the title through the rest of the cover.

    As always I am in awe of the artistic talent and the hard work needed to create the book cover.

    1. Cedar L Sanderson Avatar
      Cedar L Sanderson

      Giving away Jade Star is more a reader cookie – a thanks for investing in the new series kind of thing. I can’t put the promo in most of the big email or push sites as it’s a novella, not a novel. But then again, I’m not really giving this book a big push – I don’t have the time or energy. I feel a bit bad about that, but it’s the choice I made to put the books backseat to the new career. Once the career is stable, I can invest more time – or heck, hire someone.

      Wow! Thanks. I don’t usually print them out myself 😀 I just realized them on the monitor to ‘tiny’ and make sure they are legible at thumbnail. I’m happy with this cover – the ship isn’t mine, it’s a stock element, but the space station and everything else is mine. I’m still not quite there on creating graphic ships, and again, it’s a time issue.