This was the week I’d hoped to announce the e-book edition of Action Figures, but unforeseen circumstances have held that release up…and by “unforeseen circumstances,” I mean “a conversion process that isn’t terribly user-friendly.”

When creating the hard copy novel, CreateSpace was mostly clear and straightforward. There was a lot of futzing of the manuscript on my part to get the page-by-page layout right, but the instructions were not vague, confusing, and contradictory — unlike the instructions for converting my novel to a Kindle-compatible file.

I’ll skip over the gory details and simply say: Amazon, there is a LOT of room for improvement here, starting with the fact your customer support should be integrated, so customers don’t contact CreateSpace for help, only to have them sent over to the separately run Kindle division, which then sends customers back to CreateSpace. What are you, the federal government?

Anyway, I finally got the mess ironed out yesterday, so in two weeks, I should (should) have a proper e-book for the Kindle.

In the meantime, the paper push continues: promotional mailers have been sent to about 15 indie bookstores (and this is only the first wave), reviews have started to pop up on the book’s Amazon page, and I’m already being pressured by early readers to get a sequel out.

Well, work on that last one is underway, though I won’t be touching it this weekend, since I will be at (cheap plug) the Connecticut Renaissance Faire working at the Storied Threads tent for Time Travelers Weekend. I’m there because Kate, Veronica’s assistant, is enjoying a weekend getaway to New York ComicCon with her boyfriend, fellow writer J.M Aucion (of Jake Hawking fame).

Did I say boyfriend? I meant fiance. Congratulations, guys!