Still Rollin

Another day of marketing the book. Stopped and said hello at Legend Comics. Sold two more copies of Der Sternvolker at Krypton Comics here in Omaha, and the Barnes and Noble off of 144th and L in the Oakview Plaza is looking into carrying it. Books-A-Million off of 132nd and L wanted to carry it, but for some reason can't. They might have to become a CreateSpace Direct member. We'll see.

So I'd say all in all that it was a successful day. Still waiting to hear back from The Bookworm and The Game Shoppe, but it all takes time. Patience is key here. The managers at these store do have other things to do...like run their stores.

So where am I at right now with writing?

The novella Run is in the hands of a friend being edited and I should receive it back any day now and will begin working on reworking and rewriting. When done, Run will be available as both an eBook and as a trade paperback.

On the Facebook page I asked if people would read a short story set in the "Der Sternvolker" universe and critique it. Several people voted they would, and I set out to write that short story.
Here is the beginning.

And here is the end.

The short story (to be named) is 4,356 words in its first draft. I've set it aside for now and will revisit it with a first edit in about a week.

More good stuff to come, so keep your eyes peeled.

Until next time. . .

My Case to Apple: Give Me A Bigger iPhone

I write this because it's been nagging me for a while.

My case to Apple (the company, not the fruit) is that they should make the iPhone bigger.
Why?

1) My fat fingers - I'm not a fat guy. I run and lift regularly, and eat healthy. But I have big fingers. Even when the iPhone is turned on its side my fat fingers mash every button BUT the one I want. I have to type slowly to get my message across. Texting, E-mailing, Facebooking, and Twittering are made difficult.

2) Better picture - along with bigger buttons, a bigger screen would also mean I could see more of a webpage or text while typing. As it is, the screen gets chopped in half, or worse.

3) More powerful - with a bigger phone comes a bigger processor. In my mind bigger = more powerful. I would like that for an iPhone that regularly slows down (I have an iPhone 4, and there could be improvements I haven't seen yet in the iPhone 4S). Regardless, more power is gooder.

My recommendation: make it Samsung Galaxy Nexus size.

STOP! Before you get angry and throw your MacBook Pro at the sight of your arch nemesis Samsung, let me explain.

I don't want a Galaxy Nexus.
Yes, it has the size, screen, and touch-screen-buttons I want. But the touch screen itself is HORRIBLE. Try to zoom in on a webpage and it selects links and buttons I don't want. Trying to blog with it is a study in frustration. That and I couldn't find the dedicated browser, and had to keep using Google Search to get to sites. Ice Cream Sandwich is not for me (plus ice cream sanwichces will give me those love handles I've been working so hard to get rid of).

My idea: Make it roughly the size of a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but keep the nice iPhone 4 rounded-off-rectangle design. A 5" long x 3" wide screen would be AMAZING. I could write whole books on an iPhone like that. Hell, a 6"x4" would be pretty cool.
And keep the width of the iPhone 4, at just under a centimeter, or roughly 3/8". Maybe a tad thinner.
Keep both cameras, and with a larger iPhone they could be made bigger and better. Mega-MegaPixels!...TerraPixels?

The pros: It would be larger than the current iPhone and great for fat-fingers like mine, plus it has more power, better resolution, and a larger screen for videos, webpages, texting, etc. It's smaller than a tablet, and will appeal to those that don't want to spend the money on an iPad, but would like more out of their smartphone. A middle-market, so to speak.

The cons (because there are always cons): it's going to be bigger and heavier, and some people may balk at the size and weight. It will cost more to produce, and cost the customer more to purchase. People may balk at the price.

But if marketed as an inbetween smartphone/tablet, and with Apple's hush-hush-product-debut-followed-by-religious-devotion-of-consumers, I think it would work.

Just rambling. Now: back to work...and writing. I have a short story to finish!

Until next time...