New story and English translation of my first book

In the beginning of September, I’ve published on various e-books platforms the first story I’ve wrote.

I must admit I’ve took some pleasure to write this and I’m currently writing another one, set in the same universe. But first, I would like to send many thanks to the people who bought the books I’ve published since the beginning (including Linux Explained). I hope you enjoyed it.

A translation

Since the story was written in French, I thought it would be nicer to translate it in English for a wider audience. And now, that’s the case.

I’m happy to share the English translation of this book, available at the same platforms. You may find all the links in the Books section of my homepage.

Since I’m note confident enough to write in English these kind of stories, I’ve relied a lot on DeepL. DeepL is, in my experience, the best translation engine available on the Web. And it’s a European tool by the way, the company behind it is German. As you may have read on this blog, I try to avoid being too much dependent of the Big Tech companies.

But, we all know that automated translations can be limited and are not perfect. That’s why I’ve also tried to use their beta tool named “Write” that was made to “perfect your writing”.

Since this tool does not support French I could not try it and evaluate it for my own native tongue. However, the enhancement made from the automated translation was pretty nice when I’ve had some difficulties with the result.

Yes, despite having used the translation service in a “batch” way (I’ve translated the whole book with it, it was pretty long, especially because the Free version is limited in number of usage per days and I’ve played the game by the rules), I did several reviews of the content. And a lot of parts bothered me. The exercice was pretty interesting and I will renew it for the next one which is currently being written. It’s also a good opportunity to improve my English.

The next story

Now, regarding the second one, let me share some details about it.

This book will be entitled La dernière expédition, or The final expedition in English. Set in the same universe, this is the story of an historian author who is currently writing a book about a famous explorer and his last career achievement. During his investigation, the writer will find some disturbing and undisclosed hidden elements that will cast doubt on what the explorer’s biography and archives mention.

I can’t tell about a release date, I still have a chapter to finish and ensure the content is consistent. The French version will be released first and the English one later.

And a discount

To celebrate this new step in a hobby I’m discovering to enjoy a lot, both versions of Un voyage en train / A train journey will be on a discount period until November 5th at the price of 1.99€ (instead of 2.99€).

• For Ko-Fi, you can use this link or the “TRAIN” code.
• For Kobo and their partners, the discount will be applied from Saturday since a price change could take 2 days.
  • Please note the price is converted in local devises on Kobo’s platform and partners

An attentive reader will have noticed that was the original selling price I’ve put for this book. But for a transparency matter, after comparing the work I’ve produced with several similar content regarding their word and pages count, I think I was underrating my work. It may sound a little pretentious for a newbie like me, but that’s why I’ve preferred to increase up to 2.99€ for the regular price. The second reason is because of Amazon, the royalties were only 35% at this price and the minimum for the 70% rate is to sell at 2.69€. So I’ve realigned them.

BTW, the offer will not be available on Amazon Kindle because of them : you can’t set a discount if you’re not publishing your book in the “KDP Select” program. And being of this program would have constrain me to exclusively publish on this platform. It was unacceptable to me.

Thanks again

Many thank you again for your support. If you would like to share me some advice, feedback, constructive criticism and so on, you can reach me using various ways. It’s a new hobby to me, and if I will enjoy any improvement.