Humanitarian Aid
February 19, 2013
This is the cover of a science fiction short story that will be published in a few days as an Amazon Kindle Short. When it's live I'll link to it and have more to say.
Note: Wow! That was fast. The story, Humanitarian Aid, is now available for Kindle only for 99 cents!
What's it about? Many years in the future humans have spread out into the galaxy. 42 races belong to the Galactic Union. When the Kevlu wipe out the Earth colony Manitoba, Dr. Con Torres, a physician with the Galactic Health Organization, is sent to Manitoba to help find and treat any survivors. It's a hopeless task with an estimated 500 million dead and the Kevlu still insisting the planet is theirs ... but Con likes to think that "humanitarian aid" still has meaning in a galaxy filled with non-humans.
But I wanted to point out a couple things first.
1. Yes, it's under a pseudonym. T. Ray Drew (the T stands for Terry, because, you know, I'm not that imaginative. Drew is my middle name. Ray is something of a family name - my brother's middle name and my maternal grandfather's first name. Plus, I thought T. Ray sounded sort of cool). It's no secret, I just wanted to differentiate a straight SF short story from all the other things I write in the thriller, mystery realm.
2. Like the cover? I did it myself. And no, I don't have PhotoShop. This was surprisingly easy and inexpensive to do and I'm very pleased with the cover. If people are interested, I'll write a blog post about what I did for the cover. I don't think it would be the best way to go (I guess) for more complicated covers, but I was pleased with this. What do you think? A blog post about this cover?
3. In terms of inexpensive, the stock photograph cost me $19. The short story will sell for 99 cents. The royalty rate on that is 33 cents. I need to sell about 60 copies to break even on this thing. It's an experiment.
Note: Wow! That was fast. The story, Humanitarian Aid, is now available for Kindle only for 99 cents!
What's it about? Many years in the future humans have spread out into the galaxy. 42 races belong to the Galactic Union. When the Kevlu wipe out the Earth colony Manitoba, Dr. Con Torres, a physician with the Galactic Health Organization, is sent to Manitoba to help find and treat any survivors. It's a hopeless task with an estimated 500 million dead and the Kevlu still insisting the planet is theirs ... but Con likes to think that "humanitarian aid" still has meaning in a galaxy filled with non-humans.
But I wanted to point out a couple things first.
1. Yes, it's under a pseudonym. T. Ray Drew (the T stands for Terry, because, you know, I'm not that imaginative. Drew is my middle name. Ray is something of a family name - my brother's middle name and my maternal grandfather's first name. Plus, I thought T. Ray sounded sort of cool). It's no secret, I just wanted to differentiate a straight SF short story from all the other things I write in the thriller, mystery realm.
2. Like the cover? I did it myself. And no, I don't have PhotoShop. This was surprisingly easy and inexpensive to do and I'm very pleased with the cover. If people are interested, I'll write a blog post about what I did for the cover. I don't think it would be the best way to go (I guess) for more complicated covers, but I was pleased with this. What do you think? A blog post about this cover?
3. In terms of inexpensive, the stock photograph cost me $19. The short story will sell for 99 cents. The royalty rate on that is 33 cents. I need to sell about 60 copies to break even on this thing. It's an experiment.
posted by Mark Terry at 7:07 AM
5 Comments:
Hi Mark - I've just finished reading The Fortress of Diamonds and really enjoyed it. Will there be others in this series? I have also downloaded the Battle for Atlantis. These are YA novels but I enjoy your writing style so I got them for me.
Thank you.
Thanks. I don't know about Fortress of Diamonds. I originally wanted to do more, but its sales have always been slow. I'd like to someday finish the series for the Battle for Atlantis, and my son's follow-up to Monster Seeker will be out fairly soon.
I'd like a blog post about the cover process...
I'd also second the request for more Peter Namaka books. My sons both liked that first book (as did I).
Tomorrow I'll write a post about the cover.
As for Peter Namaka, hmmm.... good idea.
Well, my Kindle was parked in the middle of Atlantis (36% to be precise) but I clicked through to Amazon and now Humanitarian Aid is downloaded, so I think I shall take my workout break now and go read it on my exercise bike.
Yes, please tell us about the cover.
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