THIS FUTURE SUCKS

We’ve said it before, but what does ‘aggressively DIY’ mean? Don’t all authors write their own books? Well to start with of course they fucking don’t (and if you believe they do I’ve got a bridge to sell you), but that’s not the point. We’re selling eBooks. There’s a lot more to making an eBook than writing the script, kinda work your publishing house has a whole hive to gnaw at while the authors squeeze out their next chapters. Someone runs the socials. Someone does the books. Someone makes sure the storefronts aren’t dicking us. Someone gets the authors coffee. Someone cleans up the vomit. 

and guess what? At Fixer Optional, it’s just us, Abi and Jed, every step of the way. We’re doing all the fucking work, while holding down bullshit paying jobs, and actually doing some writing on top of all that. 

So we’ve been writing together for, what, four years? Swapping work for more like ten. It became a ritual, every Tuesday night. We’re autistic creatures of habit. And eventually we finish a draft. We get big leagued by a couple of agents, get disillusioned with the whole tradpub thing, and decide to found FO. Which leads us to today’s lesson in indie authorship: Typesetting. 

Someone, to add to the list, has to make sure the eBook actually works, fits on the page, all lines up and doesn’t generally look like shit. Guess who gets that job? Us.

We’re using a program called Sigil. It’s specifically for typesetting eBooks, it’s open-source and completely free, and we’re into that. Not ‘cause we’re broke. Okay, not just cause we’re broke. It’ll run on a toaster (if you’re drowsy enough to run your toaster through your wifi), and all it takes is a little HTML-nous. Fortunately for us you, we’re of the generation that was issued a Myspace page with our training bras, so it’s like stealing a bike for us.

Anyway, enjoy this first glimpse into our upcoming novel I Need Better Dreams. If you wanna know more, sign up for the mailing list. If you want to know less, buy Nils’ Shroud, print it out on the library inkjet, and bash yourself on the head with it.