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Hi everyone :) Here's some advertising. Hope it's okay to advertise on this website, it's related to interactive stories, anyhow...

Hi everyone :)

This is a Press Release I've been working on. I borrowed some information from the History of CYOA in the FAQ on this website. For those who don't know, I've been editing, revising, and expanding the "Ulysses: Episode One" story on this website, into a paperback gamebook, along the lines of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. I've finally finished the book. It's a 6" x 9" paperback, 220 pages long, with 170 story sections, and 12 endings.

I plan to unpublish "Ulysses: Episode One" tomorrow, and I'll change the text on each page in the game, so that it matches the text in my book, then republish it. However, the web-playable story on this website is only the first two third's of the book, so if you like it, and want to get to the end of the first story, you'll have to buy my book :) I thought that two thirds of the book would be a good sized demo.

I know my stories aren't as amazing as Joe Dever, Steve Jackson or Ian Livingston's famous works, but it's my first attempt at writing a book, and I think my writing will develop as I write the rest of the series. Since I am unsure as to how new gamebooks would be recieved in the wider market, I have opted to self-publish the first book through an online print-on-demand company. This means you won't find this book in bookstores, but will have to order it through my online shopfront.

However, if I find it sells well enough, and people seem to like it, I will broaden distribution for my books to online bookstores, like Borders, Amazon.com, etc. That also means that if someone went to a major bookstore, they could get the shop to order the book in for them, rather than purchasing it over the internet. However, I will not go that path unless it seems commercially viable, as it all costs money :) I'm trying to make sure that after all my publishing and advertising costs, I might actually make some money, and not just cover the cost of making the book.

The book should price at:

US$12.68     AU$15.30     CAD$14.22

However, you've got to pay your own postage and handling. I wish the P&H costs were a cheaper, but I have no control over that. I've calculated AU and CAD prices using an online currency converter using today's exchange rates. (for anyone who's interested) There's an Express option as well, but it costs a lot, and only works inside of America, so I wouldn't use it. I just use the Economy.

Economy: US$10.75     AU$12.97     CAD$12.05
Standard: US$20.74     AU$25.01     CAD$23.26

Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

I'm planning for it to go up for sale on the 10th of May, but it might take as long as 20th of May if there are any delays. As homage to ChooseYourStory.Com, I've listed this website in my book's dedication page! Thanks to this site and members for reminding me how much I enjoyed interactive fiction :)

- Paul Turner (tsmpaul)

thats sweet dude. congrats.

nate

oh my God are you serious? Dude, that's awesome. Go tsmpaul!!!

riley

October:

It's getting published in America. It was hard finding any publishers interested in gamebooks, let alone a first time author without paper credentials. After reading up on the net, and reading what numerous other authors had to say, I decided to go into self publishing for my first book. The issue with self publishing is that you don't have a major publishing house backing you up, marketing you, and paying for stuff. With most publishing, lots of copies of the book get created, and placed in a warehouse, and then bookstores can order books from the warehouse. If they don't sell, the bookstore can return the books to the warehouse, and they get a refund. When self publishing, I don't have the money to cover stuff like that, so, I'm going with Print On Demand, which means, when someone orders your book, the self publishing company produces a copy of the book for them, and mails it off to them. That way, there's never left over books, and books are only made when they are sold, so you can't lose money. Doing this also means, though, that there is only a small discount when bulk buying. Bookstores that bulk buy usually get a bigger discount, which encourages them to stock books on their shelves, so with Print On Demand, bookstores aren't very likely to order copies of the book, unless it is a bestseller - and you can't become a bestseller without already having sold lots of books. So, I'm beginning with only online ordering of the book, and after a month if seeing how it goes, I might then attach an ISBN number to it, and broaden its distribution to online bookstores like Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc. When I do that, bookstores that have an online store will list it in their online store, and if it is popular, they may then buy some copies to put on their physical shelves - but it will always be up to them as to whether they think it's commercially viable for them to have physical copies on their shelves or not. I'll just have to wait and see :)

To give an idea, going with online ordering, Print On Demand, or going with hardcopies in warehouse waiting for distribution, with an ISBN, can be a difference of many thousands of dollars - so I'm going with what's easily affordable to begin with, and if I make any money, moving on from there.

I might pick up a copy.

Thanks!

It's not up for sale till around the 10th of next month. I'm currently making an official website, which will have purchase links to the shop where it can be ordered, as well as other stuff. The title will be "Ulysses: The Pegasi Incident".

ahhh "...Mr. Turner's first book, "Ulysses: The Pegasi Incident", will be available for purchase early in May of this year..." maybe i should read more carefully lol.

make sure to post a link when the site is ready :D

Solostrike:

You're welcome to look at my website-in-progress, at

www.pjtgamebooks.com

I just registered at your site, but I never use that e-mail address (someone else set it up for me and gave it the name), so I can't remember the password.  Until I do... well, I'm kind of stuck....

Hi guys! Looked like I jumped the gun a bit, announcing my book. I thought it would be ready, but due to delays, it won't be out until late June, or early July 2007!

However, those who have been chatting about all this with me will have noticed lots of changes in estimated release date over the last few months. Luckily, I'm learning all the ins and outs of self publishing and marketing while working on my first book, so when I go to publish any other books, I'll know what to do and won't keep running into problems!

Anhow, I'll make sure to post when that time comes... On another note, I've decided I'll probably get an ISBN number before I release it, and make the book available for any bookstores or libraries that wish to order it. (It's up to them whether they want to stock your book or not)