An International Debut!

FREE 'til Sunday!

Authors, have you ever considered having your book translated into another language? It allows you to reach out and touch a whole new audience!

I've just released the German translation of HAPPILY EVER AFTER, which is entitled UND WENN SIE NICHT GESTORBEN SIND... (literally, "and if they are still alive...")

The book is FREE THIS WEEKEND - here's a link to the German Amazon site - http://amzn.to/S0AZyF - so if lesen Sie Deutsch, I cordially invite you to grab a copy... If you don't read German, but have any friends who do, won't you please help me spread the word by forwarding them the little link above, or recommending this blog post?

Also, if you're on Twitter, a Tweet to the world would be wunderbar! Here's a cut-and-paste sample you can use!

Tauchen Sie in die Welt der „bösen Hexe“ aus Ihren Lieblingsmärchen, selber zu Wort kommt http://amzn.to/S0AZyF #frei #buch #deutsch #marchen

OK, enough with the promotional stuff, here's a little more about the process.

Translation requires you to find a good translator - I found the wonderful Sabine Ströbele by talking to my friend Julia, another German translator who was too busy to do the work. Translation does cost money, unless you have a friend who's willing to help you out. Some translators may work for a percentage of the profits... Do NOT use Google Translate unless you want to be laughed at, and if finding a freelancer on Craigslist or elsewhere, it would be wise to have them translate a short passage, and then have a friend who is a native speaker of the language read through it and comment on the quality of the work.

Translation also benefits from having an appropriate story. In the case of UND WENN SIE NICHT... it's based on the old German Märchen that we know as "fairy tales" - thus, a German translation seemed appropriate, and this assumption was justified after a couple of German friends, who had read the English version agreed that it would be a great read in German.

That said, I doubt I'd have SEVEN LIVES TO REPAY OUR COUNTRY, a WWII story featuring Japanese and American soldiers on Saipan translated to German - even though I know a good translator, the audience connection just isn't there. However, SEVEN LIVES... would be a perfect book to translate to Japanese, because it's written from the perspective of a Japanese soldier.

So, when you're looking at your bookshelf, consider this - to get a new book out on the market, you can write another one - or consider having an English title translated into a new language! The choice is yours!

Bonne chance!

Edward

New Story and a #ROW80 Update!

The Zugspitze on a clear day...

When it's a rainy day in Bavaria and the Zugspitze is covered in clouds, there's no hope for hiking, so it's the perfect time to post an update on writing, etc.

I'm in Germany for a 3-week course in international and military relations as they apply to Europe, Central Asia, and the Trans-Caucasus, so I've put the French on hold and am learning to sprechen sie Deutsch instead... By the time I leave, I hope to be good enough to get around, which I've always considered to be "order a drink, be polite, check in to a hotel, and buy a garment." If you can do those little things, you'll probably be OK... And of course, many people here speak great Englisch, which is both helpful, but also makes it harder to learn Deutsch, since you aren't actually forced into it...

My latest release!

Since I'm here, I thought it would be a great opportunity to release the German translation of Happily Ever After, whose translated title, Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind... means, literally, "And if they have not since died..." (then it is implied that they must be living happily ever after...)

Translation is wonderful! You learn so much through it... For instance, when my translator, the wonderful and talented Sabine Ströbele sent me the draft, I noticed that a line in which the Queen observes that she was never an ordinary, average princess now included a strange-looking numeric code: 08/15.

I thought this was a typo, and asked Sabine about it - it turns out, this is a German idiom that dates back to the first World War when the MG 08/15 machinegun was the "standard issue" weapon, and was so ubiquitous that even today, someone or something that is ordinary, average, or lacking in originality is referred to as being "08/15."

So, if you read German (or know someone who does!) please recommend this short, fun Märchen (fairy tale) for their reading pleasure!

This announcement is also the biggest part of my ROW80 update, because it's the final check in the block for my publishing goals category in this round:

WRITING
- Write 10 Chapters of The Perfidious Mister Wickham COMPLETE!
- Write 3 Chapters of my Learning Indonesian book
- Finish Charming
- Finish The Welsh Mouse
- Finish The Artillerists
- Finish Merry Christmas, Mister Washington
- Finish Intercepts

PUBLISHING
- Publish the German Translation of Happily Ever After COMPLETE!
- Publish A Matter of Honor COMPLETE!

FITNESS
- Score 300 on the Combat Fitness Test
- Bench Press over 100 kg

LANGUAGE
- Five hours of studying French per week (replaced this with German until 15 September...)

NETWORKING
- Execute my “Social Media Plan”
- Build my “Core Group” to 25 people

ADMINISTRATION
- Re-Design my blog COMPLETE!
- Create a Kickstarter Project to support The Perfidious Mister Wickham COMPLETE!

Well, obviously (and disturbingly, from the perspective of an author) the biggest thing I have left to do in the next 3 weeks is write! (And not blog posts, either!) So, back to the drawing board (errr, keyboard!)

Wishing you all a great week, and will try to have some more interesting posts in the next few days about awards, electronic newspapers, etc...

Auf Weiderzehn!

Edward

#ROW80 Update!

Finally, a ROW80 update post, but unfortunately, there’s not a lot new to report.

On the writing front, I’ve been so busy with work and family of late that it’s been about all I can manage to crank out my weekly chapter of The Perfidious Mister Wickham – and I’m enjoying working in the serial format because it keeps me honest about getting a minimum amount of writing and editing done every week. Looking forward to getting back into my short stories (and sketching out the world and plot of a new novel) as soon as the pace of work slows down a bit.

Fitness and French goals are coming along – I’ve been pretty consistent about logging half an hour of French practice Monday through Friday, which means I’m making about half my required study hours. I’ll look forward to reporting better progress in my language studies in the weeks to come.

I’m 2 weeks into a 3-week cleansing fast, which has reduced my overall weight as my various workout programs have been making me stronger, and while I am looking forward to the end of this rigorous program, it has given me a renewed appreciation for both the pleasures of eating, and the importance of a very healthy diet.

One of my other non-writing goals for this ROW was to re-design this website, and I’ve managed to get that done this week as well... Would love to hear your thoughts on the new look!

I’m getting ready to head to Europe for a 3-week seminar class focused on politics and security in Eurasia, which will be a great learning opportunity and also a nice change of pace from my daily duties here in South Carolina.

It also seems be a most appropriate opportunity for me to release Und Wenn Sie Nicht Gestorben Sind..., the German translation of Happily Ever After. That will complete the publishing goals for this round, and leave me with just social networking and writing to focus on (but not necessarily in that order!) 

Well, that’s where I’m at this week – not a terribly thrilling update, I’m afraid, but it is what it is.

Wishing everyone a happy and productive week to come,

Best,
Edward

The Perfidious Mister Wickham & Another #ROW80 Update!

Well, it's been quite a week here in Jakarta... I completed my check-out from the Embassy, have written most of my final reports, and spent last night watching international rugby and encouraging my friends and teammates to help me get rid of the last of my liquor stash, a rather impressive collection of rum, gin, tequila, and assorted wines. Oh dear.

But the big accomplishment of the week is that after 3 days of spending every spare minute coding HTML, I have a website to showcase the serial release of my first novel, The Perfidious Mister Wickham. I'd cordially invite you to check it out and give me some feedback!

Getting this website up and running was a big administrative goal of this ROW80 challenge for me, and getting it knocked out brings me up to a 66% completion rating on my goals for this period. I'm also back on top of the French study and fitness goals, and have the translated material and cover art for the German translation of Happily Ever After (Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind...) So my plan is to get that uploaded to  Amazon next week and I'll have finished all my publishing goals for this round!

Which leaves the writing as the big area that I need to focus on in the next few weeks - but with at least one round-the-world flight (Jakarta-Dubai-DC-Charleston) flight coming up, I should have a little time to get caught up.

Just ten more days to go in the ROW!

Best to all,
Edward

Terra Cotta Warriors and #ROW80 Update!

Well, it's Sunday here in China, which means it's time to check in with my ROW80 progress. I'd like to say that I've got lots to report, but... Still lagging on my French / fitness goals, but looking forward to getting focused on both next week when I'm back in one place for a few days.

Looking back over my original goals in writing / publishing / artistic / networking, I see that I'm sitting at:

WRITING - 12% Complete - Behind on finishing up Charming, The Welsh Mouse, The Artillerists, and Merry Christmas Mister Washington and logging the required number of chapters for my two non-fiction works-in-progress. In my defense, I just wrote 2700 words of a brand new short story inspired by my latest travels, and completed a similarly inspired flash fiction story.

PUBLISHING - 50% Complete - Got Lethargica launched, and the German translation of Happily Ever After is nearly complete, thanks to the awesome efforts of Sabine Ströbele. Once I have the translation in hand, I'll be able to format and upload it to Kindle, and see how well it's received in Germany.

ARTISTIC - 100% Complete (video trailer and cover art for Lethargica) - and a bonus here as the draft cover art for A Matter of Honor and The Perfidious Mister Wickham have also been created.

NETWORKING - 50% Complete - got caught up on Author Karma, but still behind on building my Core Group. I did get some bonuses here as well, getting onto Triberr and Klout, and also found some Twitter tools to help me improve my use of that platform. Wrote a guest post, got all my critiques in on Author Salon, and have an author interview pending.

PROMOTIONS - 100% Complete - Ran 3 KDP Select promotions and blogged about the results, which I'll use to hopefully improve the sales rank of future releases and promotional days.

Last but not least, I have built a good bit of the framework (websites, write-ups, Twitter accounts, Facebook celebrity pages, etc.) necessary for a couple of upcoming Kickstarter projects; one of the being a serialized release of my first novel, and the other being a test for an alternate payment model for future short story releases.

The bad news - with 69% of this round behind me, I've only accomplished about 43% of my original goals; the worse news - the thing that has suffered most is the thing that should be the most important for an author - writing.

So, I clearly need to get focused and knock out some of these unfinished projects.

Wishing you all the best in the coming week,
Edward

ROW80 Update and News of the Week...

So, since Wednesday, I have made it around the world with a bit of luck, a lot of patience, and about $300.00, so this update comes to you from South Carolina, where I'll be for the next 2 weeks doing some training and looking for a house to buy in anticipation of my transfer here in June.

On the ROW80 front, the good news is that the proposal material for The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Indonesian is finished, and I'll send it off next week after giving it a final editing.

A bit behind on the goals for my non-fiction book release, and my article for Current Intelligence, but I think I can catch those both up this week between classes. Looking forward to being able to provide a more thorough update on Wednesday.

In other news, I'm using the month of February to test the efficacy of Ever After PR's "Featured Author" package; you can look forward to a report here sometime in March detailing the results of that promotion. And finally, Happily Ever After is being translated into German, so I'll be looking forward to releasing that on Amazon.co.de next month, and then working on getting a French translation done as well.

Best wishes to all,

Edward