I'm please to be able to announce that my book is now available in a printed softcover edition! Not everybody wants to read books at their computers, and so I'm happy to have a traditional book to offer as well.

This edition was prepared through lulu.com, whose services I would gladly commend to anyone wishing to prepare a print-on-demand version of an e-book. This is the new paradigm, folks. No more submitting to publishers who try to guess the number of copies to print in advance. Now books can be printed on demand as orders are placed for them by readers, and they still ship in 3-5 days.

The link for the book is here:

LTP Printed Edition

I'm told that in another month or so, it will show up on Amazon and order lists for retail bookstores. Presently, only the Kindle download version is available on Amazon.

Exciting times we live in, to be sure!

-KJM

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It's been almost two years since the first draft of The Last Trumpet Project was completed. Recently, I've had the occasion to make some revisions to the book. One of the benefits of an online publication is that this is simply a matter of editing by the author; nothing needs to be reprinted. The most significant change is the addition of a new Prologue, while the former prologue has now become Chapter 1. A large number of clarifications, typographical and word choice edits have also been incorporated.

I'd like to thank my early readers for constructive feedback, and editorial suggestions, especially my friend Jim Davidson. True constructive criticism definitely helps improve almost any work of literature or art.

I have also decided to allow future readers the opportunity to register a login on this website for free, and then download the book in PDF, or read it on the site. (Though they can still purchase it later if they choose, and I hope they will if they enjoyed it.) The book continues to be available in Mobipocket format on eBookbase.com and Amazon.

The next step for me will be to arrange a printed meatspace edition of the work, which can then be ordered from various print-on-demand publishers. It is apparent that most Moshes still prefer their physical paper books.

Thanks for stopping by!

-KJM

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Sometimes an author's work gets publicized through unexpected avenues.

This is certainly the case with this interview. Mr. Mark Herpel of DGCMagazine.com contacted me a while ago and requested a short interview, conducted via email. Mr. Herpel's magazine is dedicated to covering events and developments in the digital gold and online payments industry. I found it a fascinating read, and not just for my small part of it!

This interest came about because I talk about gold-based digital payment systems of the future in my book (i.e. Aurumnet). I am of course aware of such systems that exist today: e-gold, GoldMoney, Pecunix, and so on. As a matter of fact, this website cheerfully accepts them as payment for the book! But it turns out that the interest is mutual. Mr. Herpel wanted to publish an interview with me because it's unusual to find DGCs featured in a science fiction novel.

Well, I do think that present day fiat currency and central banking "credit" systems are ultimately doomed and will end up getting replaced by some kind of commodity digital currency, similar to Aurumnet. I also think that such systems, especially while in their infancy, are very likely to be subjected to ruthless suppression by the authorities, who (rightly) fear competition they cannot hope to cope with otherwise.

Unfortunately, the September issue of DGC Magazine also details the latest government attack against one such firm, e-bullion.com, which operated out of the United States. I can't claim to know everything that's going on with this case (even after reading Mr. Herpel's excellent article on it), and one must certainly make allowances for sensationalism, but I can't help but feel that operating a business such as this in the US was probably a foolish choice to begin with. It is after all the very center of monetary monopoly. Even more unfortunately, one of the e-bullion founders, Ms. Pamela Fayed, was recently knifed to death in a parking garage.

The interview is available here, on pp. 24, 26-7. Though IMHO the entire issue is worth reading!

I'd like to thank Mr. Herpel for the opportunity to speak to his readers, who like many of us are focused on the future.

-KJM

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Hello!

My name is Kevin MacArdry, and I'm the author of the book sold on this website, The Last Trumpet Project. This inaugural post to my blog on this site will be dedicated to answering the question: "Why publish your novel in such a format?"

There was a time, back when I was writing my first novel in high school in the late '70s, when any author who wrote a book and expected to see it published, needed a publisher, and possibly an agent as well. In those days the publishing business was diverse and growing, science fiction was a popular genre, agents were optional, and complete novels were submitted to publishers in bulky packages. Most importantly the number of would-be novelists was comparatively small. Writing a book without a keyboard (I did not acquire a typewriter until I went to college) is a most laborious process, and copying it into typescript even more so. One needed special skills, such as typing and a knowledge of marking and editing shorthand, in order to produce a novel.

And then something changed: the personal computer was introduced. As a consequence, the number of people with the necessary skills and tools to write a book increased to equal the number of people capable of using a computer keyboard and word processing software. The natural result was a many-fold increase in the number of would-be novelists.

At the same time, the availability of readable content on the internet, along with digital cable, movie rentals, computer games and the like, served to reduce the size of the market for printed books. The net result was a vast increase in the supply of fiction coupled with a reduction in demand. One doesn't need to be an economist to perceive that the consequences for the publishing industry — and for professional writers — are obvious. Add to that the effect of mergers and acquisitions, to the point where today a mere handful of actual multi-national conglomerates own and control almost all of the major imprints in publishing in every genre.

Today there are few publishers who will accept un-agented submissions from novelists, and probably none who will read a complete book without having first asked to see it. Consequently, agents have proliferated everywhere. Most of them are wanna-bes too, some of them even unscrupulous cads, and the ones who are neither are hopelessly swamped with submissions (as in tens of thousands per year).

Faced with slumping book sales and an avalanche of material, the ability of publishers to separate the wheat from the chaff has become vanishingly nonexistent. The only books which really make money for anyone are the so-called black swans, things like Harry Potter which explode out of obscurity and become cultural bywords. By contrast the "average book" is lucky to earn its keep (i.e. repay its author's advance).

So publishers are looking for black swans, and nothing but black swans, and writers are hoping to produce them. The trouble is that a "black swan" is something which occurs at random. If someone could point to a black swan book in advance and say, "That's going to be a black swan!" then by definition it wouldn't be a black swan. (The first Harry Potter book, I should point out, was rejected 20 times and then finally purchased for a mere few thousand pounds.) Moreover, black swan theory dictates that the concentration effect (i.e. the extent to which black swans reap the greatest share of available rewards) becomes stronger as the pool of works on offer increases. Thus significant success becomes ever more elusive, and is achieved on an ever more random basis.

I am not someone who buys lottery tickets. They are a type of tax on people who are bad at math.

Similarly, I am not someone who writes a book (the product of many hundreds of hours of concentrated labor) in the hope of achieving publishing success, which is, quintessentially, a random event (assuming that your book can leap over the hurdle of not being obvious illiterate rubbish). And even if I were such a pig-headed optimist or egotist as to think that my book is absolutely destined to become a black swan hit, the process of getting it published looks something like this:

• Boil it down to a cover letter and a one-page synopsis, and shoot it off to dozens of agents. Wait weeks or months for replies from each. The process of finding a reputable agent who agrees to represent your book can easily consume a year.
• Assuming your agent knows what she is doing and has the necessary contact clout at the right publishers, you might see a purchase offer within another year. At that point you'd see some kind of (probably minimal) advance.
• Wait 18-24 months before the book hits the distribution channels (bookstores, Amazon, etc.).
• Once sales begin, earn something like a dollar or less per copy sold.
• Go into harness as an unpaid representative of your publisher, doing readings and signings at bookstores for no additional income.
• Hope to get a better contract for your next book, which will actually make you some money.

You know what? No thanks.

I am, however, still interested in having my book read by other people and in getting paid for having written it. So what then?


read more (3 pages)

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