A Printed Story Trap

28 Oct 2012 2 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books

** Both my books are part of the Halloween Witchy ebook promotion, from October 30th to November 1. There are many discounted and free books listed there – check out Witchy Ebooks.**

Earlier this week I got a box full of books in the mail – copies of the print edition of my book “The Story Trap”.  I’m so please with the way they came out:

The paper is a lovely cream colour, and the illustrations printed very nicely too:

This book is available from Amazon as a print and e-book, and the print version can be bought from  The Book Depository, where you don’t have to pay for international shipping.

“The Story Trap” wins the e-book Cover Designers Awards for April 2012

14 May 2012 6 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books Tags: , ,

I’m so pleased.  The cover I created for my book The Story Trap won the “E-book Cover Design” award for April 2012.

Thanks Joel!

Go have a look – there are quite a few other great covers listed too.  And by the way, if you are a writer interested in self publishing, Joel’s blog is a fantastic resource on book design and other aspects of self-publishing.

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/05/e-book-cover-design-awards-april-2012/

Meet my Strange Neighbours

18 Jul 2011 7 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, stories Tags:

At last! My stories are available as an e-book from both Amazon and Smashwords.  Here is the cover (I still get such a thrill seeing it on the Amazon web site!):

And here is the book description:

Strange Neighbours is a collection of ten illustrated fantasy short stories set in Cape Town, South Africa.

Meet a hitch hiking troll with a taste for pepper-spray and a homeless witch with a trolley full of secrets.  Discover a book hoarding mermaid and a fridge full of frogs. And learn how to greet a witch – politely, of course. These stories describe encounters with every-day magic, where strange neighbours live in the flat next door or under the manhole cover you step on every day.

-oOo-

You can buy the Strange Neighbours Full Illustrated Collection featuring all ten stories and many drawings, or you can try out  the smaller bundles:

Each of which includes 3 or 4 of the stories from the Strange Neighbours collection.

These links are all to the Amazon Kindle version of the stories. If you prefer a different format, such as .pdf or epub, have a look at my Smashwords page.

But what if you dont have an e-reader?  There are a number of options.

  1. Download the .pdf version of my book from Smashwords.
  2. Download this version of my book from Amazon, and download the Kindle for PC software so you can read it on your computer.

And now I can start writing the next book.  I already have several ideas.

The Doorbell Cat

12 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, All my drawings, Inspiration Tags:

I found some more old cat drawings (Procrastination? No!)  This one was done in Flash.   I liked this kitten so much that I named him Zumbador.  Apparently that means “doorbell” in some language, I forget which.

Zumbador stayed in my thoughts for many years and now he finally got a new life in one of my stories, the one called “Chasing Frogs” where he undergoes some startling transformations.

In this early version, however, he does not do much.  He can stand:

And he can sit 🙂

The haunted phone and other drawings

09 Jul 2011 2 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags:

I’m another step closer to publishing my short stories as an e-book.  Today I finished the last of the illustrations.  These are mostly small, incidental drawings that get dropped here and there between scene breaks or at the end of the stories.  To my surprise, not all the stories were easy to illustrate.  Not all of them had objects in them suited to this type of drawing.  One of the most difficult stories finally yielded this, a haunted office phone:

 

Then there is this mysterious bottle that a character finds in his garden shed:

Another story features a cat hopefully peering under a fridge:

 

And here is a flyer for a micro-lending firm that comes to a bad end in yet another story:

I’m tempted to post them all here, but that would make a very long blog post 🙂

My stories have been proof-read and formatted, and when I’ve placed these drawings in the text, I should be ready to publish.  Sort of a scary thought!

Thanks to those of you who added your names to my e-mail list to be notified when this book will be available.  If anyone else wants to add their names, please use the form below.

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One step closer to publishing – the cover design:

09 Jun 2011 3 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, books, stories

I’m about to publish my collection of short stories as an ebook. It’s been a very interesting process so far, lots to learn. I’ve just completed the cover designs. The stories will be available as bundles of three or four stories each, or you can buy the full collection that  includes illustrations.

Designing ebook covers has some specific challenges as they need to read clearly at thumbnail size and also in grayscale , to look good to potential buyers browsing for books on their Kindles.

Here is the cover for the first bundle:

I like the way they look as a set.  Here are the rest:

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