Category Archives: News

News about the site.

NEWS: Book Release Details

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It’s finally ready!

After months and months of hints, teasing, waiting, and delays, the release date for Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One has finally been set. The book will be available on January 31, 2011, and will cost $12 (plus shipping) in print, or $4 electronically.

Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One is a perfect-bound, six-inch by nine-inch book containing 58 pages of original content.

Available January 31, 2011.
Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One, available January 31, 2011.

Volume One contains 100 of the best stories I wrote on this site during my first year of work (February 22, 2009, to February 22, 2010). But I’m not just selling you a bunch of stories that you could read for free: most of the stories in the book have been improved in some way, whether that means the adjustment of a few words, a change in title, or a major rewrite. I’m really pleased with the improvements I’ve made to the stories contained in this book, and I think you’ll notice an upgrade in writing quality, as a whole. The book also includes bonus content in the form of some of my best nanofiction (stories written to fit within a single Twitter post), as well as a “Tips and Tricks” section that contains a plethora of pointers designed to help you write your own microfiction, based on my experience over the past two years.

There will be three ways to buy Volume One:

1) You will be able to order a copy of Volume One in print for $12 plus shipping via Lulu.com. There will be a link to my Lulu storefront from the FiftyWordStories.com Store.

2) You will be able to purchase and download a Volume One ebook bundle directly from the FiftyWordStories.com Store for $4. This bundle will include all three available ebook formats (PDF, ePub, and mobi), as well as a high-quality image of the cover. I’m not going to force anyone to pay multiple times to get the ebook in multiple formats.

3) You will be able to buy a Kindle-viewable version of the book directly from the Kindle Store for $4. I realize that it seems a little strange to offer this when you can buy all three formats bundled together for the same price, but a lot of people feel comfortable buying from the Kindle Store, so I want to make that option available. I recommend buying the bundle, not only because you get all of the formats together, but also because I receive more money that way, instead of surrendering a large part of my proceeds to Amazon. However, if you contact me and I am able to verify that you bought the book from the Kindle Store, I will send you the other formats, as well.

This book represents months of work in story selection, rewrites, formatting, layout, and cover design. I’d estimate that I’ve put close to a hundred hours into Volume One, not including the original time it took to write all the stories. I’m so close to pushing it out the door, and I’m really proud of the final product! I hope you enjoy it.

I’m planning a bit of extra fanfare for Launch Day, and I’ll keep you updated on what that’s going to look like during the lead-up to January 31.

NEWS: Site Features and More Social Media

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I’ve been tinkering with various elements of the site over the past week or so, as you may have noticed. A few new social media tools are available on the site, so you can more conveniently tweet your favourite stories or share them on Facebook or StumbleUpon. The more you share, Like, tweet, or comment on stories, the more other people will take notice, so I really appreciate it.

I’ve also created an official Fifty-Word Stories fan page on Facebook, so you can get site updates and participate in calls for story prompts or any future contests in more ways. Head over and “Like” the page to get the updates and share the site with your friends.

Finally, I created a Top Stories page that lists the 50 highest rated stories that have ever been posted on the site. The tab in the sidebar only shows 10 stories, and only includes stories written in the past year, so I figured this would be a good chance to expose readers to popular stories from before they found the site. I hope you enjoy this feature and work to get your favourite stories voted up the list!

NEWS: Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One Book Preview

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I’ve been working hard to get the fifty-word stories book ready to go on sale, and it’s very, very close! In fact, it’s so close that I’m able to give you a preview of the book’s contents right now.

To check out the free preview of Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One, click here. You will need the free Adobe Reader program to view the file, which includes the book’s Table of Contents and Introduction, as well as the first few stories.

Bear in mind that the contents of the book may still change before the book is made available for purchase. This preview may not be a perfect representation of what the end product will look like.

Comments are welcome!

NEWS: 2010 in Hindsight; 2011 in Foresight

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Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope and pray that you had time to relax and enjoy family and friends, and to remember what Christmas is really all about.

Christmas means, for this site, that another calendar year is nearly over. This year I finished my first year’s worth of stories, took a hiatus, came back refreshed, and have been going strong on Year 2, which started July 5. I’ve been fueled by all of the comments, star-ratings, suggestions, title submissions, and retweets supplied by everyone who reads the stories on this site. Thank you so much to everyone who provides me with feedback and reader interaction! It’s a huge encouragement, and it’s the reason I write.

I had hoped to have the Fifty-Word Stories book out this year at some point, but unfortunately a variety of circumstances have prevented that. I’m expecting to have the book ready some time in January or February, though, so even though it won’t be a Christmas present, you’ll still have a chance to get some microfiction in paper form for your shelf, your coffee table, your bathroom, your ceiling, your front door, your fireplace, or wherever else you may want to put it. The draft copy I received has been getting pretty positive reactions, especially from people who haven’t been following the website for the past year-and-a-half, so I’m feeling pretty good about how this is going to turn out, and I think it will make a good gift, for yourself or for people you know.

I have some other thoughts and plans for the coming year, including another Mere 50 Words guest-submission contest, live-writing events, site enhancements, a possible return to nanofiction, stories from special guests, and as much reader-interaction as I can make available. I want to break out of the box a little and make this a unique and interesting year.

I’m excited about 2011, and I hope you are, too! Keep on reading, and I’ll keep on writing…

NEWS: Book Getting Closer?!

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It’s true! The 50-Word Stories book has taken a step closer to actually becoming available.

Crazy. I know.

I’ve been so distracted by other things and busy with school and life that I’ve been negligent in moving the book forward. But today I sat down and hashed out some details, found the files I’d been using, and decided it was about time I made this happen.

There’s not going to be a fancy cover design with a half-hidden story written on the binding or anything clever like that. I had some ideas, but in the end, I’ve realized that one of the biggest reasons I haven’t gotten the book done yet is that I had all these little ideas and tweaks that I wanted to get just right, and I was getting discouraged by any imperfections that I saw. So taking a cue from the Cult of Done, I made up my mind: forget about the imperfections, forget about whether the cover is pretty enough, forget about whether people are going to nitpick the final product; just get it done.

So to that end, I’ve finalized the (very simple) design at Lulu.com and ordered a proof copy. Once I have that and am satisfied with it, I’ll open up sales. I don’t know if I’ll sell 2 or 20 (maybe 2 is optimistic!), but regardless, I’ll be able to say I put the book out there.

And I’m planning to make a downloadable PDF version available for free, as well.

Finally!

NEWS: Why I’ve Missed Two Days This Week

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I missed posting stories this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, and for that I apologize. I intend to fill in those two days soon, probably this weekend. I’ll write some new stories and back-date them, so make sure you check back for those.

The reason I missed those stories was that on Tuesday I proposed to my girlfriend, and she said yes! So I’ve been a little preoccupied with happiness and phone calls, and writing stories fell by the wayside. I’ll do my best not to let it happen again. :)

Thank you to everyone who follows to the site for being understanding!

NEWS: Fifty-Word Stories Live-Writing

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EDIT: It’s over! Thank you to everyone who came and participated!

Wednesday, July 14, at 5 PM PST, I’ll be trying out something new that I think could be a lot of fun. I’m going to go on UStream and live-write stories for between 30 and 60 minutes (depending on how well it’s going and how much time I have).

If you want to watch and participate, head to the show page, where you can join in the chat. You can also watch via the embedded stream below.

I’ll be writing stories based on audience suggestions, and I plan to open up a Google Docs file to do the writing in, so that people can follow along as I type, if they so desire.

NEWS: Stories Begin Again on Monday, July 5

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Mark your calendar; it’s finally time!

The first new fifty-word story since February 22 is scheduled to go live this Monday, July 5, and there will be a new story every weekday after that. My goal is to complete another year of stories.

In the first year of fifty-word stories, I posted a story every day of the week. This time I’m going to restrict the stories to Monday to Friday. The reason for this is that I found myself burning out a bit as the months went on, and a couple of days each week to recharge my creative juices will help me avoid that.

The site has undergone a couple of changes, as well. The most notable changes are the addition of the ability to share and comment on stories via Facebook and Twitter as well as a new navigation bar to make different parts of the site easier to access. I’m also adjusting the way stories are classified and categorized, so that you can find what you want to read without having to read through the entire archive.

Finally, the FiftyWordStories.com book continues to move forward. I have to finalize the cover, make a few changes to the order of the stories and the way they’re divided into chapters, and take a look at a proof copy, but I’m reasonably confident that the book will be ready for ordering by the end of the month.

Let me know what you think of the changes! I’m excited about the new stories, and I hope you are, too.

NEWS: Facebook and Twitter Integration

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FiftyWordStories.com is diving further into Web 2.0!

I’ve added some new functionality to the site, so that readers can now post comments using their Facebook or Twitter accounts, and can “Like” posts using their Facebook profiles, as well. Hopefully this will make it easier for people to get involved with the site and share it with friends.

Let me know what you think of the new features and functions in a comment.

NEWS: Book Is On Its Way!

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A fifty-word stories book is on its way!

After taking a few months away from this site (a little longer than I had planned or expected, actually), I’m finally buckling down and assembling my favourite stories into a book. I plan to make the book available in a variety of ways, both in print and digitally.

I don’t have pricing details yet, or a date, or even a final title, but I’m working on figuring out that information, and I’ll share it as soon as I know.

I do know that there will be close to 150 stories in the book, and I’m looking at ways of including bonus content in various forms to make it worthwhile for people who have been reading my stories since the site started.

If you have any questions about the book, or any thoughts or suggestions, please leave a comment!