Smashwords and The 2008 Knights of Arria Part 1 and 2

I should say that I have tried Smashwords. It's an okay self-publishing platform, although for awhile there was some one-upping with other authors who were doing pre-release schedules, but Smashwords redesigned their website slightly so now pre-releases don't show up on their website until they are actually released. I suppose too many people were abusing the pre-release schedule to appear right on the first page of their categories and people who were releasing their books on that very day were relegated all the way back to page 5 or so, Meanwhile, readers were annoyed that they couldn't do anything more than preview the pre-release books. At least that is my interpretation about what was happening there.

I did make a mistake in thinking about splitting my books in half or in thirds and publishing the separate parts. I was thinking that shorter books might be better for e-readers, although I suppose it is a confusing system and then there are the issues with having the same cover for the different parts, and so now people have to have different covers for different parts of the same book. Yeah, that was probably too much of a hassle. I decided after awhile not to focus on Smashwords too much. Stick more with the familiar Kindle and CreateSpace platforms, publish the book in full.

However, while I am at it, I also would like to share this:

The 2008 Knights of Arria Part 1

And this as well: The 2008 Knights of Arria Part 2

I know those are two weird titles, but I'll explain the situation here. So The Smiling Stallion Inn is technically the first 50 pages of the 2008 version expanded. Like...The Smiling Stallion Inn and its upcoming sequels, tentatively titled Servants and Followers, Power Over Death, and The Tiger of Light are the 2013-2014 versions of the 2008 version of The Knights of Arria. And The 2008 Knights of Arria Part 1 basically contains the events of these first three books. (Smiling Stallion Inn, Servants and Followers, and Power Over Death) The 2008 Knights of Arria Part 2 covers The Tiger of Light, although the 2008 and 2013-2014 versions are different in their own ways.

I started writing my fantasy series in 2002 with the Knights of Arria, and then I did some sequels beyond that. Back in 2007-2008, I went back to Knights of Arria and mostly I edited it, although I did change some aspects/scenes. However, then I went back and revamped it some more, except that I added more scenes, mature elements, new characters, new characterizations of old characters and basically expanded everything so that what originally fit within 50-60 pages became 378 pages. I know it's crazy, I just felt like adding more for the 2013-2014 version.

Book published

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted. In that time, I published The Smiling Stallion Inn. Here are some links:

The Smiling Stallion Inn on Kindle

The Smiling Stallion print on Amazon

The Smiling Stallion Inn print at Barnes and Noble

Otherwise, things are going well, I suppose you can say.