All about Tim

Link: http://www.timvs.com/pages

Portland author makes publishing his breakthrough novel a family do-it-yourself project.

Portland, Oregon – June 2009

Author Timothy VanSlyke began writing his new novel, “The Cloudship Club,” for his children Andy (age 13) and Noemi (age 10). “It was kind of a pet project,” he says, “I would write a chapter then read it to the kids at night. We had a blast reading it and discussing the characters and the story together, and they had a lot of really valuable input throughout the process. I think the best part of the early stage was the feeling of creating something together.”

His kids liked it so much VanSlyke decided to polish it up and get it published. “This has been such a work of joy,” he says, “I really would like to share it with others.”

VanSlyke's wife, Krisztina, played the part of editor, reading and re-reading each draft. “I read a lot,” she said, “but mostly non-fiction. This was the first novel I've read in a long time. It's a fun read; I highly recommend it.”

The family took the same approach to publishing that they took to writing: it was a fun group project. They chose to use Amazon's CreateSpace to publish the novel and VanSlyke designed the cover and interior layout on his laptop computer relying on his family's feedback throughout the development phase.”Andy even wrote the blurb for the back cover,” VanSlyke says.

“Jack is not your average adolescent, which quickly becomes apparent when he wakes up alone in an unknown forest, stalked by fearsome hunters and their even more fearsome beasts. With no memory of his past--or even his own name--Jack's survival depends on powers that only reveal themselves in times of need. Relying on his instincts and his intuition, he flees from the danger awaiting him at nearly every turn.
Jack makes his way to the Laurel Institute for Psychological Anomalies, a school for children with "special talents." There he meets more enemies, but also meets friends and forms alliances.
With his friends, Ester and Anita, Jack must work to solve the mystery of his past before his enemies catch up to him once more.”

Once the novel was ready for production, the family moved on to marketing and promoting the book. He designed a Web site for it, timvs.com (http://www.timves.com) and began sharing information about the book through social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace.

“I'd like to sell a lot of copies, of course,” VanSlyke says, “but whatever happens, I feel we've been really successful creating this together."