The best new fiction for today's connected readers.

GB PRESS is moving away from focusing on POD to a Digital First, Paper Later publishing standard. I started GB PRESS last year to showcase new writers that I knew, and let them take advantage of the same editors and graphic designers that I was using for my own books. So far, we have only published my three books. We have some others in the pipeline and hopefully they will be coming out later this year.

We initially focused on producing high-quality, Print On Demand paperbacks. These books were professionally edited and designed and were limited to only a handful of writer friends. GB PRESS does not make any money in producing these books. It is to the authors to pay the editors and designers for their work. The press is more of a collaborative union of independent artists. Our goal was first and foremost the creation of beautiful books. But that ideology is shifting away from paper back books and towards e-books.

GB PRESS is moving towards an e-book first and paper back second method of publishing. The costs of creating an e-book are not really that much less than creating a POD book. You still have to have a cover, although only a front cover. You still have to have the book formatted a special way, and you still have to have it professionally edited. However, what makes the e-book market so inviting, is that it’s easier to get readers to notice you in the digital markets. For new authors and artist to get noticed they have to have quality product and they have to be out there on the web engaging the public with Twitter, blogs and other social media.

From now on, when GB PRESS brings a title to the market, we will first debut an e-book and then, when the e-book develops an audience, we will focus on bringing it out in trade paperback. For some titles that may be a short period of time. For newer authors, that may be several months or years. It will be the responsibility of the author to generate interest and a social network for themselves and their books.

Tales From Ocherva, Volume One by Ken McConnell. Ten short stories about Stellar Rangers and Silicant androids set on the barren world of Ocherva. If you enjoyed my Space Opera novel, Starstrikers, you will like this anthology of Space Western short stories set in the same universe.

This e-book only release from GB PRESS is available on the Kindle and from Smashwords. Future releases on the Nook and iBookstore to follow. There are no current plans for a paper edition of this anthology.

You can read more about the making of this e-book and the writing of its stories on my blog: www.ken-mcconnell.com

Reader Reviews for Starstrikers and Tales From Ocherva:

“Kudos to Ken McConnell for creating a space saga that is both new and unique but also embraces the themes we’ve grown to love over the years in movies, books, and television. Starstrikers is indeed out of this world!” – Shannon Yarbrough LL Book Review

“Starstrikers opens up new and inventive ideas while toiling with timelines and emotions in an exciting adventure that keeps you eager to read right to the end.” – Christopher Morgan

“If the author adds more books and makes this into a series, I’ll surely be on board to read ‘em.” – Frontlaven

“…a refreshing as well as nostalgic approach to the realm of space operas.” – D W Country

“His android short stories are actually related to each other while each can be read alone, so the more you read the more you get to know about the characters involved. Yet, each story adds to that character’s history while each story is easily read stand-alone and still gives you a character you get to know.” – Bill Blohm

We have four paperback copies of the Ken McConnell’s debut mystery novel, Null_Pointer, available for serious book reviewers only.  Please contact the author at ken.mcconnell at gmail dot com if you are a reviewer with a sizable audience.  These are Trade Paperback editions of the published novel.  If you need an electronic copy, you can get it here.

Help GB PRESS get the word out about this exciting new mystery by writing you own reviews on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Smashwords. The more you talk it up, the more likely your friends are to pick up a copy or read it for free on the author’s website.  Thanks for reading GB PRESS books and spreading the word!

GB PRESS author, Ken McConnell’s mystery novel – Null_Pointer is reviewed by Shannon Yarbrough of The LL Book Review.  Shannon’s review is quite positive and enthusiastic.  Here are some highlights:

“Like a good mystery should, this story moves along at a nicely quipped pace and definitely keeps you guessing.”

“Null_Pointer is another tight, concise, attractive, appealing, and enjoyable read for me that new authors considering self-publishing should buy and use as a reference!  This is how it’s done!”

It takes a different kind of person to make their own dreams come alive.  Not everyone is prepared to put in the long hours and hard work it takes to bring a novel to the store shelves in non-traditional ways.  I’m one of those crazy, annal retentive, ego centric fools who just has to do things his own way.  I’m not content to let others tell me how my books are going to look or even if they get published.  That’s just not in my character.

As a youth, I saw the movie Star Wars.  Not the Jar-Jar Binks version, the Han Shot First version.  It captured my imagination and made me curious about how movies were made.  I was all of thirteen years old when I started making my own movies and finding creative ways to reproduce the fantastic special effects showcased in that film.  I didn’t just dream of being a film-maker, I rolled up my sleeves, inspired my buddies and together we made movie magic in Super-8 film.  Along the way, I learned quite a bit about how films are made, I even majored in Film Production in college.  In fact, you can find my name in the credits of some feature films I worked on.

Back when I was a teenager, blowing up cardboard models of space ships that I had designed, I also started writing a story that would languish in my mind for the next twenty years.  It was my homage to Star Wars and all the fun times I had making movies as a kid.  Eventually, I decided that the only way that story would get finished was to write it as a novel.  At least that way I could control the lighting, script, camera and special effects just like a Hollywood director does in a film.  After completing the novel, I shopped it around and was routinely rejected from everyone in the publishing business.  I felt like I was at the mercy of an establishment that was not really interested in fulfilling my dreams.  So I trunked the novel and went on with my life.

Eventually, technology started to catch up with my do-it-yourself attitude.  First came the Internet and I saw the potential in HTML to bring my story directly to the people.  So I created a website to showcase my novel and all the drawings of space ships and aliens my friends and I made when we were kids.  The novel was on display for many years until once again, technology caught up with me.  Through Print On Demand services, I could now make my own novel and sell it directly to the people without bothering to go through the traditional publishing process.  But there was a problem.  I didn’t know how to make a book.  I was well versed in screenplays, storyboards and film editing, but I knew nothing about interior design, cover art or copy editing.  So I rolled up my sleeves and started to learn.

I’ve now published two books on my own and each new book I write, edit and print; adds to my knowledge about the publishing business.  I don’t know everything yet, nor will I ever.  But I keep working at it and I keep learning as I go.  In a way, it’s no different then when I was a kid and spending my allowance on five minute rolls of film.  I was just an amateur back then, and I’m pretty much an amateur now, but I still have that desire to do it myself and make my own dreams come true.  My latest book is in the process of being forged into awesomeness with the help of my friends, just like those short films I made as a kid.  I have started my own press label to release my books and the books of my friends.  Together we will make our dreams come true by taking our publishing future in our own hands.  Will we sell millions of books and become house-hold names in the publishing industry.  Probably not.  But the one thing I have learned is that most of the fun in life is in the journey, not the destination.  As long as we have the means to follow our bliss, we should not be afraid of the journey.

We’ve moved off of the Ning servers and are now being hosted on our own server.  A redirect will soon take you directly here from the Ning site.  Most of the content from the old site will be moved here in the coming days.

Thanks for visiting and we are looking forward to a great year in 2010.  We are planning at least two new titles in 2010 and possibly four releases during the year.  We hope you will consider all the titles at GB PRESS when you want to sample the very best in independent publishing.

Have a Happy Holiday season and a safe New Years Day!