Ebook conversion with Calibre

Okay, so I’ve recently been doing a bit of conversion, generating ebooks. I’ve had a number of people ask about the process, so I figured I may as well write a blog post about it. (Yay for content generation, right?) Anyway, I’m far from a master at this but I have worked out the kinks in getting a manuscript out of Microsoft Word and into the Shakespearean tragedy that is Amazon. How something can be simultaneously wonderful and painful, I’m still working to understand.

Anyway, you will need the following things before proceeding:

A completed manuscript. (This may seem glaringly obvious, but I suppose in a country where coffee needs to be labeled hot, nothing is too obvious to mention.) Your manuscript should be (at this point) finished, edited, proof-read, left to age gracefully in a wooden ice box on the side of the Rocky Mountains for a couple months, then re-read until you don’t want to change even one comma.

Okay, perhaps that’s a lie. No true author can ever read their own work and not want to change something. So, suffice to say, get the edits and proofs done, and put the manuscript in a state where you can read it without screaming.

Completed artworkThis includes the cover as well as any interior (chapter header) art you wish to include as well as if you are going to use an artistic element as a scene break. (Looks a bit nicer than * * * in print.) This too is part of the whole completed manuscript thing. You’ll want to have the interior art embedded in the Word document beforehand.

Calibre Ebook Management. Here I am again with the glaringly obvious thing. It’s difficult to use a piece of software without actually having that software installed. So. Install it. If you’ve never heard of it, you can find it here: GET CALIBRE. I do not have any affiliation with the creator of Calibre, other than using the software.

Microsoft Word – This little guide is written assuming you are using MS Word. I’m not terribly familiar with OpenOffice, but if it has the ability to save a document as Webpage, filtered, it should be okay.


Step One – Formatting in MS Word

There are a few things to bear in mind when formatting the manuscript to be turned into an e-book. I tend to have three copies of the MS. One is a master file with no formatting at all, the same thing the editors and proofreaders saw. Take that file and save two other copies with different names, one for e-book conversion and one for paperback conversion if you’re going to do that.

With an e-book document, most of the fancy fonts aren’t going to make it into the final MOBI file. That nice fancy Foglighten font you’ve got as chapter titles is going to turn into something plain. Kindle readers (so I have been told) are more interested in story than fancy, so don’t worry too much if your nice fonts go poof.

Drop Caps – It’s been my experience that drop caps and Calibre don’t get along well. They float above the line, disappear, migrate to another page, and so on. Even the e-books my publisher puts out sometimes have drop caps with an irresistible migratory urge to head south. (I guess it’s the margaritas?) So, unless you’re a master already at converting e-books (in which case, I doubt you’re bothering to read this) skip the drop caps for the Kindle version. In print, they’re fine.

Page Breaks – herein comes the tricky part. I found a little workaround that helps, since I like to use chapter header art. This is a screenshot of The Forest Beyond the Earth Word document that I set up for ebooks. By default, Calibre detects new chapters with Heading 1 or Heading 2 styles. The problem I ran into when using chapter art, is that the heading comes after the artwork. That resulted in the image floating by itself on a separate page.

To get around this, I added a blank line formatted with Heading 3 above the image. I’ll explain more about how that helped later on, but for now… if you are using chapter header art and you don’t want it floating on a separate page, drop a blank heading 3 line above it.


Once you have the Word document ready and formatted, the next thing you’ll want to do is save it. After you save it, save it again just to be sure. When you’re sure the e-book formatted document is saved, go back into the file menu and select “Save as.” Scroll down the document type to “Web page, filtered.”

I suggest you save this file in a separate directory as Word will create a subfolder for all the images contained in the document. You will wind up with an HTML file and a folder.

After the save completes (be careful not to close Word before it’s done exporting) you’re ready for Calibre.

Calibre Ebook Management

This is the main screen you’ll get when you open Calibre. Any e-books you have are in the middle, the highlighted one will display its cover in the top right.

The first step – click the “add books” button at the top left corner, and navigate it to the filtered webpage document you just made.

Here, I’m using Axillon99 as an example. This is what the folder should look like where Word did the export. The highlighted file is the HTM, the folder above that contains the artwork. Click on the HTM file and hit “Open.”

Calibre will then import the webpage document and appear like this. Since you haven’t done anything yet (and Calibre is not psychic) the cover area shows a fancy little pattern like grandmother’s tea set.

Next step: click on the “convert books” button at the top.

Important: Make sure that you select MOBI as the output format at the top right. Whenever you change this selection, all the fields below it clear out. So if you do this last, you’ll have to re-type everything else. (Ask me how I know this.)

So, after you select MOBI for the output type, fill out the other info: Title, Author name, tags, series title, and book number. Then, click the little blue folder icon in the middle section to add your cover.

Navigate the file window to the cover image and hit Open, and Calibre should look like this. (Well not exactly like this. You shouldn’t be using someone else’s book cover. But, you get the jist. Your cover art will appear in the middle of the screen instead of grandma’s teacup. And you’re done with this page.

Next, on the “Look & Feel” tab, check these two boxes. Embed all fonts in document will attempt to load the data for the font files you use so that other readers can see them. Depending on the font, this may or may not work and your readers will still get plain text. The subset all embedded fonts is a file size saving measure. Font files can contain hundreds of characters. This option causes Calibre to delete data from the fonts for any glyph (character) that is not used anywhere in the document. Basically, you’re only packing up the stuff you’re going to need.

The text tab has some options (like insert blank lines between paragraphs that some people find help readability). Other people hate the blank line. Fiddle in there at your own discretion, but you don’t need to.

Skip Heuristics unless you’re a programming wizard with copious amounts of LSD on hand. On Page Setup, select the device you’d like to optimize for. (I tend to prefer Kindle Fire as they seem to be pretty popular these days.)

Structure Detection – This is the important part. This is the part that made me tear my hair out and scream invocations to ancient Assyrian demons until I figured out the reason my chapter art floated on separate pages. When you first arrive on this screen, you’ll have an enormous text formula at the top and a not so enormous one in the middle.

Remember the heading 3 thing I mentioned earlier? This is where it comes into play. This page tells Calibre where to create the chapter breaks. By default, it’s looking to do it for heading 1 and 2. Now, if you did NOT use chapter header art and you don’t have the extra blank Heading 3 lines in your word document, you can probably leave this page as is and not change anything except for the middle line.

The “insert page breaks” line does exactly what it says. I have no idea why this is a default option since it results in extra blank pages in the MOBI document after every chapter. People hate having to double swipe to get to the next chapter. Delete this line.

If you DO have chapter art and did the Heading 3 thing, you’ll want to edit these formulas as follows:

Edit the top line so it has only H3 and not H1 and H2. Clear out the “insert page breaks” line in the middle. Leave it blank. Extra white pages = bad. No one likes a litterbug.

Skip down to the MOBI output tab. You should have added a Table of Contents in Word, so you do not need Calibre to add another one. Check the box for Do not add Table of Contents to book. I get it that a lot of people these days have short attention spans, but no one needs TWO tables of contents in a book.


And that’s that… Click the OK button at the bottom of the screen. The little army of gnomes inside Calibre will start slaving away at their hot forges. Eventually, that little “Jobs” indicator at the bottom right will go back to zero. When that happens, the magic is finished.

Hopefully.

If you’re like me, you’ll know that nothing ever works perfectly the first time. More like conversion #40. So, the true final step is to open the e-book and scroll through the whole thing. Look for weird formatting, stuff out of place, strange justification.

Calibre does a pretty decent job of rendering the e-book but it’s not infallible. If you don’t catch any errors while viewing it through Calibre, you can move on to the next step. If you DO find a problem, delete your Webpage, filtered folder, go back to your e-book version of the Word document and make any changes there. Once you’ve updated the Word document, save it again. Then save it as a Webpage, filtered. Then repeat all the steps in this article all over again. Keep doing this until you can’t find any flaws in the e-book while looking at it in Calibre.

Finally, ten shots of the hard stuff later, when you’re sure the e-book is perfect, go up to the top and click the arrow next to the SAVE button. Select the option “Save only MOBI file in a single directory.”

Point Calibre at wherever you want it to generate the MOBI file.

This is the file you’ll upload to KDP. If you have a Kindle (I really hope you do since you’re an author) email the document to yourself at your kindle.com address. Open it on your actual kindle and repeat the checks to make sure everything looks fine. If you find any issues, it’s back to the e-book version of the Word document to fix them, then re-export, then re-convert.

Isn’t this fun 🙂

But it’s worth it.

Happy writing!

-Matt

(Feel free to post questions in the comments)

Oh Noes. Swear Words.

I saw the above image on Facebook today and it struck a chord with me.

As an author, I feel I have an obligation to present characters true to themselves and to the world in which we live. I understand some people feel that swearing is evil, and they don’t like it – and that’s fine. [Don’t like it, don’t do it] However, some people take it further, attacking anyone who does invoke ‘naughty words.’ These individuals feel that because they object to swearing, everyone needs to follow their beliefs and no one should ever swear.

Alas, this is not the world in which we live.

I’ve seen articles posted claiming that intelligent people swear more frequently – I have no idea if that’s true or not, but I know how things were/are around where I live. I’ve had a few people get ‘offended’ by a 13 year old character swearing in my novel Caller 107. When I was that age, pretty much everyone around me in the same age group swore (far worse than the character in this book). It’s something kids did at that age here to feel older than they were.

Also, as the narrative progresses, the character decides to stop swearing so much – which is a representation of her attempt to change. These dime-store moralists ignored that aspect and focused on being horrified at a couple of words. Another thing about it that feels wonky to me is that these people were more bothered by the use of colorful language than by the horrible things that happen to the character.

People swear. It happens. If someone is more offended by the word fuck than by the idea of divorce destroying a child’s life, or by what happens to said child when she falls in with a pack of wanna-be street thugs, it’s time to re-evaluate one’s idea of what is ‘wrong.’

So… I wrote an LGBT YA Fantasy.

So… I wrote an LGBT love story.

A YA fantasy where two girls fall in love in a kingdom where such relationships are frowned on.

I’ve written quite a few novels now as well as a bunch of short stories, and I can’t say I’ve been as excited (or as nervous) about any of them as I am about The Eldritch Heart.

Two or so years ago, I was at the day job and I overheard someone (I still don’t know who it was, merely a voice floating over cubicle walls) complaining in earnest about how “disgraceful” it was that Disney put out a movie with two girls “doing lesbian stuff.” Of course, this particular example of genius was talking about Frozen, which has nothing whatsoever to do with two girls in love. (I didn’t bother to insert myself into the discussion to point out that they are sisters in that story.) However, hearing that did get me thinking about the lack of those kinds of stories. I got the idea to write a “princess story” where the princess falls in love with another girl instead of the handsome prince everyone expects her to marry. I jotted down a couple of early ideas for a plot – arranged marriage the princess doesn’t want any part of, a servant girl she’s close friends with, running away, some magic going on, etc. I had a bunch of other projects on the table at the time (writing and editing) so I set this file aside.

Eventually, my writing schedule opened and I found myself staring at this file again. And I’m thinking to myself: How would people react to a cis man writing a princess story where two girls fall in love? I hesitated, unsure if I could do it justice.

Enter a beta reader.

At request, I’m going to be anonymous here… but there is a woman who has done a fair amount of beta reading for me. As we exchanged more and more emails and got to know each other as “internet friends” tend to do, she mentioned that her eldest daughter had recently come out to her after a long period of being terrified to tell anyone. There are still people in their circle who don’t know, and that is the reason for the vagueness here. Anyway, when I heard how the daughter had such a harrowing path to walk leading up to her decision to finally tell her mother the truth – all the fear involved… that made me decide that I needed to at least try to write this book.

So, I pulled open that little list of notes and added to it, fleshed out the characters and their motivations, the kingdom, and the storyline.

Magic… check.

Fantasy creatures… check.

Two kingdoms at war… check.

Once I had the chapter outline done and revised a few times, I sat down and started writing.

And something happened… for a while, I stopped worrying how people would react to me trying to tell this kind of story and got engrossed in it. Eldritch Heart became a tale of two people deeply in love with each other but so afraid of losing the person they love to hatred they can’t bring themselves to speak their true feelings. When, finally, the moment comes for the characters to be in a position where they can no longer keep silent, that scene where they admit their feelings for each other got me misty-eyed. Every time I read over the draft during self-edits, publisher edits, and final proofread, that scene gets me.

Something even cooler followed. When I finished writing the story, and finished polishing it up enough to let beta readers have at it, I sent it to the woman who I mentioned before. I admit, I was a bit mischievous about it as I did not tell her what kind of story it was. She figured it out pretty quick and I could practically feel her grin over the internet. She asked if the daughter could read it too, and of course (while biting my nails) I said yes of course – she’s the whole reason I decided to write it.

A week or two later, I hear back that the girl adored it… even read it twice (a rare thing according to her mother). The best part, she said she “could totally relate” to several parts of the story.

Feeling like a million bucks… check.

Still nervous… yeah.

Why? Because some people are assholes.

But, I’ve realized… I have no right to be worried about how people might react to a book with LGBT characters written by a straight guy. There are people out there who LIVE that, and they don’t have the separation from the hate of ‘just writing a book.’ It’s their identity, who they are, and who they’ve been afraid to show the world.

So, I am no longer nervous about this book.

I’m excited.

And if it resonates with even one person in that situation, I will be grateful for having reached them.

Happy reading,

-Matt


Eldritch Heart page (goodreads link here)

#Fantasy #Young-Adult #LGBT

April Updates

Well, April is upon us once again. Figured I’d take a few minutes and make a post since I’ve been somewhat lax in regards to the blog as of late. (There has been much writing and editing going on). Seems I’m on a fantasy kick as of late, editing Eldritch Heart while also putting some last minute touches on Emma and the Elixir of Madness, and also starting the first draft of Emma and the Weeping Spirit.

Some good news – Curiosity Quills has signed Emma and the Elixir of Madness, the fourth book in the Tales of Widowswood series (a middle-grade fantasy). Also, I’ve started drafting on the fifth, Emma and the Weeping Spirit.

The Eldritch Heart is in mid edits, and I am excited to the point of losing a little sleep since it’s proving difficult to pry myself away from the computer. There’s some welcome tweaks happening which is making the story more fulfilling and complete.

Also, in about a month, the fourth book in the Division Zero series, Guardian, will release. This is a novel I hadn’t initially planned on ever writing. The end of book three left Kirsten at a place I thought good to leave her… however, I kept having readers tell me they wanted more time with Kirsten. So, I sat down and spend a couple weeks thinking about various plot ideas before settling on what would become the fourth novel in the series. (Attention Book Bloggers: early review ARCs are available. If you are interested in reading Guardian early to post a review on release day, please email me. Mcox2112 at gmail dot com.

I’ve also been elbow-deep in edits for the second book of the Roadhouse Chronicles series – The Redeemed. I’m humbled at the wonderful feedback I’m receiving in regard to the first novel in that series, One More Run, and my editor seems to like The Redeemed. The only downside is having to wait for its release date.

Eldritch Heart will probably wind up back with the editor later tonight, and I’m fortunate in that she is as excited about it as I am. Anyway, I suppose I’ve rambled enough for now.

 

Happy reading!

Characters and Food

Perhaps I should have titled this post “Why You Shouldn’t Blog While Hungry.”

I was having lunch today and wound up randomly thinking of jalapeño-and-egg sandwiches, which in turn made me think of Kirsten from the Division Zero series. Ever since I wrote in that she’d developed a fondness for them, I’ve associated that food to her character.

From a development standpoint in writing, adding the little details to a character often helps deepen their reality for the reader. Small quirks such as a favorite meal add a bit of normality to characters. I once had a reader comment about Althea from Prophet of the Badlands. In one scene, she’s stuffing enchiladas, so she wants to keep her hands ‘food clean.’ When her leg itches, she scratches it with her foot. That minor action resonated with a reader enough for her to comment on it, specifically a character who by all rights is beyond a normal person (strong paranormal abilities) doing something like that – so mundane – that it made her relatable and real.

This of course got me thinking about the various main characters (and primary support characters) in my novels. I gave a bit of thought to what their favorite foods are (since I happened to be eating lunch while thinking around this idea). The result of this is a little ramble about my characters and what they like to eat.

(Yes I was hungry while writing this.)

So, without further delay, here is a list of my characters, the series or book they appear in, and their favorite foods.


During his days playing for the Arsenal Frictionless Club, a rather impressive fish and chips wagon frequented the area around the stadium. Aaron has been on a quest for F&C that’s anywhere near as good as what the old man with the cart made, but has yet to find anything close.

Chicken Enchiladas are the first meal she had after being taken in by Karina and Father. After spending half her short life enslaved for her healing powers, eating them always reminds her of being welcomed into their home and having a real family.

Anna ran away at twelve, forced to live on the streets of London after accidentally killing her father when her electrokinesis lashed out defensively during a drunken beating. She had few happy memories growing up. Her friend Penny begged, wheedled, and scammed enough money to somewhat routinely provide them both “the full English” most days. (At the time, it was the extent of her ability to cook). The elaborate breakfast always makes Anna think of the happier times she’s had.

Much of what Aurora does is motivated by her love to make people around her uncomfortable. She adores the way people squirm while watching her eat it.

Emma’s mother has never grown out of her fondness for Nan’s cherry pie. While not technically a “meal,” it is her favorite food item.

Much to Riley’s abject horror, her father lives as a recluse in the vast open nothingness of New Mexico. His cabinets are packed full of Spag-Os, which he likes for their ease and simplicity. He’s also rather fond of the taste.

A dish his grandmother served when he was growing up, and still makes once a year at family gatherings. During his time in the UCF Military, many of his platoon mates called him “Toofey” for his constant grumbling about not being able to have this dish.

A family recipe that’s been around for a few hundred years, Nan’s cooks-all-day stew is her favorite both for the flavor, for the way it warms the whole house with its fragrance, and because her grandmother made it.

  • Evan Wren (Division Zero) – Grilled chicken (with loads of black pepper).

It’s the first meal that Kirsten attempted to cook for him (and one of the few her nascent cooking skills don’t butcher).

A good steak dinner was always high on his list of pleasant meals, but it elevated to a state of fond longing after he became a vampire and could no longer partake.

During her time with the 494th Night Terrors in World War III, Genna returned to base after a harrowing mission she felt certain would kill her. Upon heading to the mess, she found the freshest thing available to be a tray of mac and cheese. Ever since, the simple dish has become like eating “holy shit I’m alive” in physical form.

From his years living low in the grey zones, Joey developed a taste for “the dreaded third stage.” When the molecular rearrangement of OmniSoy starts to break down, the food devolves into a puddle of tasteless slime. When enough time passes after that, it congeals into a cheese-like substance known as (by Joey) – the third stage.

After years of living in underground tunnels between the Sanctuary Zone and the Habitation District, Pope has gone from eating rat to survive to becoming fond of it. In addition to liking the taste of grilled rat meat, it represents his independence from both the high and the low end of “established society.”

With her insane metabolism due to her out-of-control pyrokinetics, Kate needs to eat about three times as much as a normal person not to starve. Since she is stuck living in bad parts of town, the fast food chain CyberBurger provides her most frequent source of meals, and her favorite: the double orbital – a two-patty monstrosity with all the trimmings.

Much of Katya’s childhood was spent as a ward of the OOI (Office of Operational Intelligence, the ACC’s military intelligence group), being trained as a “ghost” or spy. For years, she had no ‘favorite’ food, having a guaranteed (if plain) – meal at all felt like luxury. After defecting to the UCF, she’s developed a fondness for Italian food, especially if it is loaded with garlic.

Kenny’s favorite eats are simple. He lacks the patience for “fancy” dining and much prefers to grill something himself over an open fire out in the Badlands.

While attending UC Berkeley for Xenoarchaeology, Kerys spent many long hours sitting at a table in “Saint Vito’s Pizza.” A fan of chicken parmesan sandwiches since her early teens, she almost always had one while studying.

Long hours spent on the road driving other people’s crap between settlements always ends best at Wayne’s Roadhouse in Hagerman, New Mexico, where he can enjoy a “roadkill burger” cooked by the android Bee. He especially loves mashing French fries into his mouth while chewing on the burger.

  • Kirsten Wren (Division Zero) – Omelet sandwich with jalapenos.

Nicole (her friend) – suggested it once, and initially, Kirsten was hesitant at the idea of mixing jalapenos with eggs. After trying it, she’s become hooked.

A servant girl in the castle, Kitlyn’s options for food have been rather limited, though among her narrow choices, she has come to adore “servant’s feast” the most, which is made of various leftovers that go together mixed into a stew pot. (Typically some combination of turkey, ham, beef, beans/peas, and bread.)

Emma’s father’s favorite thing to eat is a breakfast of cheese, apple slices, muffins, and sometimes sausage. He loves stacking cheese atop apple slices and eating them together, which Emma cannot even bear to look at.

Mamoru is still a tween boy addicted to video games somewhere deep inside beneath the rigidity imposed upon him by being raised as a samurai. The noodles appeal to that part of him. Also, they lend themselves to being consumed fast, so he can get back to whatever he had been doing before needing to interrupt himself with food.

Masaru has expensive tastes, and often frequents the Toko Lounge, where he orders a spread of high-end sushi that can cost several thousand credits per serving.

Despite possessing an unusual intellect and a high-school education by the age of nine, Maya is still only a child. After years of re-hydrated prepack meals, she has fried chicken fingers at The Hangar (a military-themed bar) – and discovers the meaning of addiction.

Paige’s eight-year-old sister, she is soft spoken, cute, and highly girly… unless pizza is involved, at which point she turns into a little red-haired Tasmanian devil.

Emma’s grandmother’s favorite meal is baked ham, coated in enchanted herbs and seasonings and left to bake all day, best served with roast potatoes.

  • Natalie Rausch (Caller 107) – Rotisserie Chicken

After the divorce, Natalie would visit her father once or twice a month at his high-rise apartment. Whenever she spent the night, her busy lawyer dad would usually pick up a pre-cooked chicken for dinner and they’d share it while watching movies.

The dish got served at home somewhat frequently when she was growing up, and it is the first thing she cooked for Elizaveta.

As princess of the Kingdom of Lucernia, Oona has never known want for anything (except freedom from her obligations and a life without fear of assassins). Her favorite meal is Turkey, specifically drumsticks. Castle rumor holds that if turkey is served and she winds up not getting a drumstick, at least one servant will wind up reassigned to shoveling out the stables.

They’re quick, easy, and present an opportunity to dodge having to argue with her mother or deal with the fact that her mother often “forgets” to cook for Paige while feeding her little sister.

A long-time bachelor and officer in the Mars Defense Force, Pavo’s meal of choice is noodle bowls from any of the hundreds of vendors in Primus City. He does not have a particular favorite (shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, seafood) – as long as it’s got broth and noodles, he’s happy.

It’s the first “real” dish her mother taught her how to prepare. Of all the recipes in her cookbook, it reminds her the most of spending time with Mom.

The giant egg-and-bacon sandwich is the first food she has in several years that was not generated out of OmniSoy. Kree finding her leftovers and adorably “stealing” them cemented the vastly unhealthy thing as her favorite.

Sabine has spent more years as a vampire than as a mortal girl (8), so she does not remember much of real food. She has developed a fondness for the way a good-natured woman’s blood takes on notes of fruit or sweet things in a vampire’s brain. However, one thing she does remember is having breakfast with her mother, which often consisted of toast spread with fruit jam.

Sarah’s father Billy is a veteran, and qualifies for the free cheese sandwiches provided as assistance. Living out in the Habitation District where most people wonder IF there will be food, not WHAT to eat, she’s developed a fondness for the self-warming mystery meal that inflates to a simple cheese sandwich on white bread when activated. A reliable source of nutrition, she likes it because it’s always there for her and it also reminds her of Dad.

Growing up in the Enclave, where 95% of all food is vegetables, Triss became quite sick of sautéed vegetables, salad, vegetable stew and a dozen different permutations of squash. Soon after finding herself out in the Wildlands, she got a taste of Dust Hopper meat (think a massive rabbit) – cooked over an open flame. For being her first substantial meal that did /not/ consist of vegetables, she’s developed a fondness for it even if most people out there consider it “what people eat when they ain’t got nothin’ better.”


Well, now that I’ve written this, and re-read it a few times… I made myself hungry again. Happy reading!

/wanders off to have a snack.

Word Count

Word count. Love ’em or hate ’em.

I remember being in school, and being given an assignment to write a 1,000 word essay on something, and feeling like the world had just ended. Oh, if I had only known then… Lately, I’ve made a habit of writing 100,000 word books left and right. The idea of writing something at 1,000 words feels trivial now.

Clare, an indispensable member of the team at Curiosity Quills, recently teased me for never having read the Harry Potter series. In a recent lull, I remedied that – binge reading the entire series while watching each respective movie between the books. (A rather striking example of the difference between movies and books dare I say. That old meme of the movie being the mere tip of the iceberg shines clear.)

I noticed the first book went pretty quick, and out of curiosity, I looked up the word counts for them.

Philospher’s Stone: 76,944

Chamber of Secrets: 85,141

Prisoner of Azkaban: 107,253

Goblet of Fire: 190,637

Order of the Phoenix: 257,045

Half-Blood Prince: 168,923

Deathly Hallows: 198,227

When I first started writing and trying to get published, I kept hearing people say that a long book is never going to get printed. The first novel I completed writing, Virtual Immortality, clocked in at 255k at first draft. (I wound up editing it down to 206k, but it snuck back up to 211k during edits.)

As I sought advice on publishing, I ran into some people who took it like blasphemy to suggest a book over 90k words had a chance in hell of getting picked up. These people got quite sanctimonious at the mention of The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss’s debut novel over 250k words. At that point words like ‘anomaly’ and ‘winning the lottery’ got thrown around. To hear them talk, a book must be within 70-80k words. Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but their advice – though given with a touch too much smarm – did have a point. While it is possible to have an agent or publisher pick up a brand new unheard-of author with a book outside the convention, it reduces the chances. It would have been better to hear “a book that big will be more difficult, you should consider writing something smaller,” rather than “oh, my God, you wrote a huge book for your first title? you are shitting over the entirety of publishing and offending the spirits of every dead author who’s ever put pen to paper!”

Okay, perhaps they weren’t quite that bad… but that’s the tone I took away from it. So, for any of you who might be wondering about getting that first book accepted by a publisher or by an agent, know that word count does matter. There is a preconception that a new writer will throw together 300,000 words of drek and hope to get signed. Thus, the larger a book, the less likely it is to get signed. However, if your work wows the agent/publisher/editor enough, the length can matter less. Some agents will see a wordcount past X and toss without even looking further. It’s a gamble.

In my case, I decided not to roll those dice, and wrote Division Zero #1. Compared to Virtual Immortality, it had only one main character (no rotating POV), and a less complex plot with fewer moving parts. Once that book got signed by Curiosity Quills, I sent them VI, and thankfully, they liked it.

It’s said that a writer doesn’t find their voice until they’ve written a million words. I’ve recently completed the first draft of Emma and the Elixir of Madness, the fourth book in the Tales of Widowswood series. At 90,147 words, it brings my lifetime word count (as of 3/9/17) up to 4,002,503. If there’s any truth to that ‘finding a voice’ thing, I hope I’ve done so. Maybe a writer is too close to ‘feel’ their own voice. If any of you think I ‘have’ a voice, please drop a comment : )

So for any of you who may be curious what my word counts look like–(I found the word counts of famous books fascinating)–here’s my list.

Happy reading!


Title Word Count Series
Prophet of the Badlands 144,279 Awakened
Archon’s Queen 126,855 Awakened
Grey Ronin 114,121 Awakened
Daughter of Ash 118,125 Awakened
Zero Rogue 106,528 Awakened
Angel Descended 197,421 Awakened
Hand of Raziel 144,876 Daughter of Mars
Araphel 114,175 Daughter of Mars
Ghost Black 111,508 Daughter of Mars
Division Zero 97,657 Division Zero
Division Zero: Lex De Mortuis 108,531 Division Zero
Division Zero: Thrall 144,914 Division Zero
Division Zero: Guardian 169,572 Division Zero
Heir Ascendant 113,000 Faded Skies
Ascendant Revolution 106,280 Faded Skies
One More Run (Novel) 136,291 Roadhouse Chronicles
The Redeemed (Roadhouse 2) 126,493 Roadhouse Chronicles
Dead Man’s Number (roadhouse 3) 140,152 Roadhouse Chronicles
Emma and the Banderwigh 59,410 Tales of Widowswood
Emma and the Silk Thieves 73,270 Tales of Widowswood
Emma and the Silverbell Faeries 66,974 Tales of Widowswood
Emma and the Elixir of Madness 90,147 Tales of Widowswood
Virtual Immortality 211,386 Virtual Immortality
The Harmony Paradox 231,536 Virtual Immortality
A Dream of Clouds (short) 20,290
Caller 107 54,625
Chiaroscuro: The Mouse and the Candle 100,741
Loose Ends (Short) 10,737
Maestro’s Requiem (Short) 13,066
Nine Candles of Deepest Black 109,045
Operation Chimera 42,180
Out of Sight (short) 19,530
Ruin of Man (short) 16,879
Stolen Orchid (short) 7,247
The Dysfunctional Comspiracy 110,942
The Eldritch Heart 128,707
The Far Side of Promise 108,500
The Old City (Short) 18,823
The Summer The World Ended 92,508
Wayfarer: AV494 98,509