TAG - A Techno Thriller set in the near future

[simonroyle]

Hi All,

Since this message is the "landing page" for the Tag thread I will update it periodically, whenever a "major" change has happened. Such as now.

19 March 2011

Here's the back flap:
In the wake of Arbitrator Jonah Oliver's interrogation of Jibril Muraz, a prisoner of UNPOL, his secure life disintegrates into one of lies, corruption, conspiracy and murder due to what he learns.

Jonah is thrown into a race against the clock to stop a plot designed to eliminate two-thirds of the population. The odds are stacked against him. He soon finds his past is not what he thought it was, those closest to him cannot be trusted, and what he's learned could get him, or worse, his loved ones, killed.

On 15 March 2110, 6.3 billion people will die at the hand of one man.

A man with a twisted vision, to make humans a better, more intelligent race.

From a world where personal privacy has been forsaken comes a tale of conspiracy, love and murder - and the bond shared by brothers.

Hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your comments.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Simon, thanks for the freebie. This sounds like just the type of book I enjoy reading. I plan on coming back with comments on the book after I've read it.

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Simon, thanks for the freebie. This sounds like just the type of book I enjoy reading. I plan on coming back with comments on the book after I've read it.

Hi Hampshire Nanny - thanks I hope you enjoy Tag.

[GraceKrispy]

Can you give us any more info about the book? A blurb that tells me a bit more? I didnʻt see any on the link you posted either.

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by GraceKrispy

Can you give us any more info about the book? A blurb that tells me a bit more? I didnʻt see any on the link you posted either.

Hi Grace,

Yes sure. I've been working hard on the "back flap" - If political conspiracy thrillers, combined with sex, murder, humor, and lots of new technology are your thing - let me know what you think. :-)

As a top Arbitrator based in New Singapore Jonah Oliver is on top of his game. When he receives a request to take a pro bono case for UNPOL (United Nation Police) his first instinct is to turn it down; he’s already got more work than he can handle. Two hours later he wished he had.

The Tag Law, a proposal to implant every human with an embedded rice-grain sized chip that contains all of our personal data and credit, will have a Global PopVote on March 15, 2110.

If it passes, 6 billion people will die, everyone with an IQ of less than 100.
Jonah’s whole life has been spent upholding the Law. To stop the Tag he to has to break the law.

Tag, a fast-paced conspiracy thriller, takes place in the near future, set in a world ominously similar to the one we live in today.

[lene1949]

Hi Simon

I'm not much into PDF, but would love to read the story... I've had a bit of a taste

Just wondered if you could publish it on smashwords, sort of like a beta version, so anyone could download it in any format???

[GraceKrispy]

Thanks for that, it sounds just my speed! I agree with publishing it on smashwords if can!

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by lene1949

Hi Simon

I'm not much into PDF, but would love to read the story... I've had a bit of a taste

Just wondered if you could publish it on smashwords, sort of like a beta version, so anyone could download it in any format???

Thanks for the kind words. I had planned to spend a bit more time getting the novel into better shape, primarily formatting and the cover art, before going for a general release.

I didn't realize (I am a total newbie) that I could publish on Smashwords as a "beta". Of course my goal is to have as many people read the book as want to and hopefully get feedback.

Let me check it out and I'll let you know via this space. And once again thanks for your kind interest. If anyone has any advice to offer in this area of "beta" testing I'm all ears...

[kacir]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

... as a free PDF
...
Hope you enjoy and would love to hear your comments. ...

Hi simonroyle.

Welcome to Mobileread.
If you read posts a little bit here on Mobileread, you will see that there are two categories of people here. People that love freebie books and communication with authors and people that wouldn't touch a self-published book with a 10 foot pole. I personally obviously belong to the first category.
Both categories have one thing in common. We like to read on mobile devices, hence the name of forum - Mobileread. Mobile devices tend to have small screens, so they are unsuitable for reading pdf files. Especially pdf files that are formatted for Letter, with small font, large linespaces and wide margins.
A typical e-ink reader has 5 inch or 6 inch screen. Try printing out your pdf on paper that is 6" diagonally and see how readable it is. If you really want to see what it would look like on a 6 inch e-ink screen, use dot-matrix printer that has similar resolution as an e-ink screen ;-)

I am not looking your gift horse into the mouth - not yet, anyway, I might try judging it when I can load your book on my 5" e-ink device.
I am trying to suggest you publish your book also as epub or mobi file.
Many writers that want us to read the book publish it on Smashwords with a pricetag and provide a time-limited coupon code for downloading the book with zero price.

If you are unable to produce epub file and unwilling to try using Smashwords, you can at least produce pdf file that is formatted for 120x90mm page with tightly spaced lines and small margins.

I can convert pdf file into .txt, or epub or whatever file format I need, but it is quite a lot of work [to do it properly], and there are many people that will not have the skills or motivation to do so.

[pchrist7]

Hi SimonRoyle
Don't have a dedicated eReader yet, but waiting for the Kindle 3.
Preparing as I wait. With my so far limited expirence I can only concur with recommending different format/formatting of your work,
Did download the pdf, havent read it all yet, but I totally agree with previous suggestions about formatting.
Hope you're up to format/formatting change, so I'll keep watching this thread, while waiting for K3.
Cheers

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by kacir

Hi simonroyle.

I am trying to suggest you publish your book also as epub or mobi file..

Thanks Kacir - I'm playing around with mobicreator right now. Hopefully it'll take my PDF and make something that will be suitable for your screen. Or do you have any other suggestions of tools that will take a PDF or Word file.

I am happy to produce different formats for d/l's just didn't want to get locked into the Smashwords scenario until I was ready (which is not now).

Thanks again for the advice.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Thanks Kacir - I'm playing around with mobicreator right now. Hopefully it'll take my PDF and make something that will be suitable for your screen. Or do you have any other suggestions of tools that will take a PDF or Word file.

Do not use pdf as an input to any converting tools.
Use your word file, or better yet, open Windows Write program [that you can find in in Start Menu -> programs -> Accesories], and copy & paste text from MSWord to Write. Then save book from Write as an rtf file.
You can then publish the rtf file directly if you wish, or ask somebody here to help you convert it.
There is also:
- Calibre. Calibre is THE tool to use for converting between various formats. Just DO. NOT. USE. PDF. AS. SOURCE. FOR. CONVERSION. I suggest, use rtf file or anything but pdf.
- Atlantis word processor that can directly produce epub (commercial application, you can try it for 30 days).
- plugin for OpenOffice.org writer that can produce an e-pub
- bookdesigner program
- mobi pocket creator
- last but not least, there is Conversion Software section in our Wiki - https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Main_Page
- I have seen a nice on-line convertor mentioned somewhere (Teleread?) but I can't find the link at the moment.

When you publish book as pdf, you throw away much of the formatting data. Search the forum for posts by Kacir, with pdf string, I will not repeat explanation over and over ...

[GeoffC]

That looks like it might be an interesting read, certainly after a quick glance.

I'll hold off until there's another format.....

[columbus]

What everybody else said

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

That looks like it might be an interesting read, certainly after a quick glance.

I'll hold off until there's another format.....

Hi Geoff,

No need to hold off any more. Here's the epub version.

I'd be really interested in getting any feedback on the format as I'm quite new at this and this was my first attempt. It looks good in the mobipocket reader for PC but as I don't have a reading device per se would like to know if it translates OK.


Best regards,
Simon