Kindle Unlimited: Hugh Howey, Free Books, and My Compromise

Indie writer and poster child Hugh Howey recently wrote an article about what a "knockout" Amazon has scored with their new Kindle Unlimited subscription program.  I, personally, have mixed feelings, as I know a lot of people do.

For Hugh's post, just click here.

I have ultimately decided to post three of my smaller works on KU as well (which are pretty much free to download if you have a subscription), which I'll show in a minute.

First, this is the gist of the comment I posted on Hugh's blog, which is the argument and compromise I ended up making with myself:

I’m in the same boat as many: I have objections to Amazon becoming the all-powerful dictator of the industry and to exclusivity, but, gee, it’d sure be nice to sell some books, too. Thanks, Hugh, for this article, which has started me thinking.

Points I’m considering:
1. Obviously, I’m against giving all the ebook power to one retailer, no matter how nice their product, or how good their business savvy. I’m also against making my own work only available to their customers and not to others.
2. When the whole “pay per page” thing first came out, my first reaction was, “Amazon’s cheaping out on us again.” And that hasn’t changed in my mind. I assume they’re making a killing and passing the loose coins onto us, the sacrificial writers.

On the other hand:
1. The subscription service buffet is a nice way for readers to experiment on authors and books they might not otherwise give a try.
2. Some books just don’t seem to sell well, no matter how many retailers we have them on, most notably the shorter works. And, yes, Amazon sells more than all the others combined. Only one month did I sell more on B&N than on Amazon.

So between my conscience, my feeble sense of business, and my need to reach more readers, here’s the compromise I’ve come up with while reading this article and everyone's comments:
I think I’ll pull some of my shorter books that don’t sell well anyway, throw them up exclusively on KU for a little while, and see how they do. The shorter page counts won’t yield much raw income, but maybe they’ll serve as “free samples” that will drive readers toward my full-length books, which they can purchase for a full-book price rather than fractional cents per page. And I’ll leave these primary books non-exclusive (which do sell, at least a little, with other retailers) so I’m not cutting out non-Amazon customers and I’m not willingly handing one company the fate of the universe.

A good compromise for me, and a fun experiment to see how things change.

*

For those who don't know, the KU program is great for readers, but not necessarily for writers.  We often end up getting far less in royalties than we would have had the reader purchased the ebook normally, and we get paid per page read, not for the book itself.  (What kind of Big Brother shit is involved in tracking how many pages you read, I don't know...)

But, because of the reasons I outlined above, I'm going to give this a try.  So what books have a sacrificed for this experimental cause?  My three shortest ebooks, and I'm considering posting a couple more novelettes in the superhero vein in the not-too-distant future.

Click here to find their homes on Amazon:

A Long Walk Down a Dark Alley (four dark fantasy/horror stories)

The Prince of Luster and Decay (dark fantasy warfare)

The Thorne Legacy (military SF/space opera)

Superhero Movies: Batman V Superman, Avengers, and Hungry Gods?

Superheroes aren't just for nerds anymore.  With spandex entering the mainstream these days, especially in Hollywood, and mega-blockbusters like Avengers and the upcoming Batman V Superman, it's only natural for me to do a fancast for my superheroes v zombies novel Hungry Gods.  

DC zombies by Jophiel Ray Saura

Fancasts are a lot of fun (I did one for my fantasy novel Tarnish too), though my Hollywood knowledge is limited, as you'll see with my first character:

SPITBALL

With the leading role, I again had the problem of being too old to know today's younger actors.  So I went to my good friend Google, and found an article of the “top 25 best actors in their 20s,” or something like that.  And one stuck out to me more than the others, partially because I recognized him—duh!  I like his look and his talent for Spitball, and he already has experience playing a smart-assed superhero: Spider-Man!  (Which is also a good draw for the superhero movie crowd, ya know?)  So my top choice at this point would be Andrew Garfield.

The actor I actually had in mind originally was Seann William Scott, of Role Models, Bullet Proof Monk, and Dude, Where's My Car?...  Yeah, I know.  But he'd work if he were younger, I think.  Turns out he's a month older than I am, so hard to play a 22 year old.  

SILK SPIDER

Filling this role is easy, a no-brainer.  Tough chick in her 30s, preferably blonde, excellent actress who's also a badass: Charlize Theron, most recently of Mad Max: Fury Road fame.  (And let’s face it, she's the star of that movie – Tom Hardy’s Max was more of a bit part next to her.)

Back-up actress: maybe Ronda Rousey who has been generating buzz to play superheroine Ms. Marvel. 

Emily Blunt is also a bit of a badass and a great actress.  Maybe too thin for this role though.

GARGOYLE

awesome art by Lang, found here

Though he’d be mostly costume and make-up (or maybe even CGI), Gargoyle needs a strong casting.  And Spitball (a big movie fan) already cast his part for us in the book: Samuel Jackson.   

FRANKENSTEIN

Speaking of Tom Hardy…  The mysterious, creepy, nameless soldier who massages Spitball’s shoulders before sending him into the Blackout Zone, known only as Frankenstein for now.  He needs a big, tough bastard to play the part.  

Big difference between this role versus Mad Max and Bane from The Dark Knight Rises: I’ll let the audience see his face!  (Even Max had something over his face for half the movie – was that a joke, a reference to the Batman movie, or just coincidence???)

COLONEL BABCOCK

Frankenstein’s boss, though a minor role, might as well have a cool actor in there too, right?  Bruce Willis is one of my faves, and I think he’d make a good secret Army asshole.

ZOMBIES

Maybe we can borrow some of that horde of undead extras from The Walking Dead to fill out our zombie ranks.  And I'd like to do a cameo myself as the convenience store zombie "phil" (all lower-case letters — read the book, you'll see).  That'd be a blast!

What about the rest of the Phen Five?  Well, we’ll have to wait until the movie for Twilight of the Gods comes out…  (Book being written right now.)

Blurb Doctor: Writing Book Blurbs and Descriptions

Like most other writers, I am not confident in my blurb-writing ability. 

“Blurb,” for those of you who might not know, refers to the little description of a book or story that you read on the ebook site or the back of the book.  It’s the “sales copy,” the brief squirt of information that tells you what the book is about, just enough to get you interested without ruining the whole story for you.  And it’s hard to do. 

Recently, writing guru DeanWesley Smith has blogging about this very topic, which has been very helpful for me.  Even though I don’t find all the blurbs he’s been giving as examples all that alluring, at least the principles are there.  He uses a basic, general structure, and comments on others’ blurb-writing philosophies as well.  Strangely timely in its release, BookBub also published an article with some tips.

So taking a page from these notes on the subject, I’ve been reworking some of my own.  The main principle I’ve been in serious violation of has been don’t give away the whole plot.  After all, what’s the fun reading something if you already know what’s going to happen.  It’s like reading a story about the Titanic; you know how it’s going to end.

I’ve come up with a loose structure now that I’m trying out, based on DWS’s examples.  Though contrary his form, I’ve added taglines to the beginning.  Something to catch your attention, like on a movie poster; some bite-sized, quick-to-sample bait that gets the reader to the next paragraph.  Hopefully it works.   

So my experimental structure is kind of like this:

1. Tagline. (If I have one worth trying.  If not, skip it.)

2. Character/world intro. (Along with the cover, also points to the genre.)

3. Introduce plotline/conflict, but only up to the first page/chapter.

4. Raise the stakes/cliffhanger (if not done in #3) or give additional incentive to read this.

Each of these should be kept short, so the whole thing is short.  For Smashwords, you also have to provide a 400 character version, which is damn good practice for keeping it brief, and I use the same blurb in my back-of-book Fugitive Fiction Library listings.  I have read some advice from one online market saying that the more you give in your description, the better.  But that’s contrary to what DWS and others are saying, and I tend to agree with them.  I think the blurb should be short, easy to digest, and just offer enough to pique a reader’s interest. 

Applying these new principles, here’s a few of revamps. 

The Thorne Legacy

He'll be court-martialed.  If he lives that long.

Corporal Cranston Thorne is the black sheep of the family and about to be kicked out of System Guard for his selfish and reckless behavior.

His father, Captain Thanos Thorne, would like nothing more than to see that happen.  Unfortunately, he can’t stay for the trial.  A remote outpost at the edge of the system has gone silent and he must take the fleet out to investigate.

The real danger, however, isn’t at the edge of the system... 

A Writers of the Future contest finalist.

Tarnish

Being a hero isn’t as easy as the tavern tales would have you believe. 

Billy Cole has always been a quick study, be it at telling tales, brewing ale, or swordplay. 

And yet it surprises Wil Thunderstrike, his alter ego, at just how hard and fast the lessons come on his first venture into the real world of back-alley thieves, traveling talespinners, and warriors of renown.  

Wil’s quest is to find epic heroes to save his home town, but it'll take more than a sword and the inspiring tales of his legendary idols to survive the harsh world beyond Redfield.  And the further he travels into the night, the darker he gets.

Tarnish is a grittier coming-of-age story than you’re used to, where destiny is forged, not written.  

What kind of hero would you be?

The Prince of Luster and Decay

In war, men don't only fight the enemy. Sometimes they must also fight themselves.

Sergeant Knox leads the Head Knockers, a unit of scout-saboteurs in the war against the Dread Duke and his armies. They are the favorite squad among Captain Brighton’s Stormwalkers, until an ambush kills the Captain, half the company, and Knox’s best men.

Now the new Captain has new orders.  He’s sending the Head Knockers to investigate the possible source of the attack.  The town they find appears empty, but there’s something waiting for them there.  And they’ll need both heart and steel to defeat it.

This stand alone, sword and soldiery novella gives a glimpse into history of the fantasy novel Tarnish.

*

How did I do?  Any suggestions?

This last one I didn’t change at all.  I’ve already hurt myself too many times trying to fix things that weren’t broken, so I exercised restraint this time.  I’m just including here as another example.  The first line here is more about including key words and comparison stuff to say, “If you like these, you’ll like this too.”  The tagline is the second paragraph.

Hungry Gods

Avengers and Watchmen meet The Walking Dead and Pulp Fiction.  Spandex adventures for adults.

Superheroes.  Undead.  ‘Nuff said.

The country’s premier superhero team is missing.  So when a mutant monstrosity goes on the rampage, it’s Spitball to the rescue!  He’s a third-string hero today, determined to be first-string tomorrow.  And the Army may be giving him just the chance he needs.  Spitball’s been invited to undertake a secret mission into America’s heartland.  What he’s about to discover, however, is not a chance at stardom but a horror movie come to life...

Hungry Gods is a fast-paced adventure of costumed superheroes, government conspiracy theories, and flesh-eating zombies.

*

I am far from an expert, but I thought I’d share my learning process with the world and see if anyone else has some advice, or maybe even benefits from my experiments.

In either case, let me know!

ANOTHER military sci-fi cover using FREE graphic design software

A couple weeks ago, I experimented in a half-assed manner in creating a new cover with KDP’s Cover Creator.  The big drawbacks to this new cover were 1) it wasn’t very inspired or impressive to behold, and 2) it could only be used on Amazon and was not usable through any other medium (like Nook, etc.).  So last week I sought out yet another cover design, and this time I used two different FREE graphic design programs to get it done. I now have the FINAL cover for my contest finalist SF novelette, The Thorne Legacy.

I’m especially proud of this image (mainly because I did it myself).  It clearly relays the story’s genre and more clearly states that this is an adult story, rather than young adult.  Plus, it just looks cool! 

And here’s the square CD-caseversion for the audiobook on Audible.

So how did I do it?  How much did the whole thing cost? 

Only two dollars and a few hours of my time. 

There are many sources of royalty free and creative commons licensed artwork.  I got the two images I used here from the Dollar Photo Club, which requires a monthly membership of $10, but gives you 10 downloads for that and allows more at a dollar each.  Now this may be too much if you’re not consuming a steady diet of images, but the site serves as a darn good source.

I have had Photoscape on my laptop for two generations now (meaning two laptops), which is a free and very user-friendly photo editor, but is also somewhat limited compared to something like Photoshop.  I also downloaded Paint.net, which mimics many of the features on Photoshop, but also has a downside: it pretty much sucks when it comes to text or titles. 

So bouncing back and forth between these two, and using my own rough skills gleaned from watching my wife use Photoshop, I created a background canvas, altered image colors, clone-stamped the starscape, then overlapped my two modified images, and faded and erased much of the top layer.  BAM! a cool cover image is born.  After doing it in 5x8 format, doing it again for the square audio shot literally took only minutes to complete. 

In the final stage, I bounced back to Photoscape again and planted my titles and text. 

The only thing I can’t do for this on these two programs is create a PDF paperback cover, which I’ll have to reflect back to my wife and Photoshop back home.  (Though that’s not a priority at the moment, it will allow me to revive the paperback edition of this novelette, which I discontinued because I wasn’t happy with the previous cover results.)

FINALLY that uncomfortable itch at the back my mind has faded away.  I can stop glancing back at Legacy’s cover image and continue forward to the next big project.

Here’s a look at my previous covers:

This one only had about a week up on Amazon, created with the same soldier image and using the KDP Cover Creator, which is a nice program but can only be used on Amazon, leaving me to find something else to do for my other outlets.

I still really, really like this one, derived from original artwork created specifically for this story by artist Julius Camenzind, but I have also had a few reservations about it (thus the ghost itch that wouldn’t go away).

Here’s the very first one I made myself (using Photoscape) when I first published this story.  I have since used the blue planet (with my wife’s help) to create an AWESOME cover that I plan to use for a future collection, which will include Legacy and set the stage for my Endless Dark Universe of science fiction books.

If you’re still reading this far, Thanks!  (And while you’re at it, why not read The Thorne Legacy too?) (hint-hint) 

A Question of Cover Art Design, And Your Opinion Matters!

I have struggled with cover art for this story ever since I published it.  We all know cover art is a major element for a book, and a huge factor in book sales.  Does a book's art and design draw in readers?  Does it convey the genre, pique your interest, and make a professional presentation?  It should, or it isn't doing its job or helping you reach your goals.

**Notice the survey at the top right of this post...**

I thought I had the problem solved with Julius Camenzind's cool action scene image.  But...  I have two issues with it.  One, I'm not real thrilled with the figure in the foreground (presumingly Thorne himself); and two, when printed out in paperback form, the image proved to be too detailed and just too busy to make a nice, clean cover.  So as much as I like this image, I still feel this is an incomplete mission.  The cover still isn't where I want it to be.

So the other night, I spent too many hours on a new one.  I wanted to experiment with Kindle's own in-built cover designer, and so after shopping around for an image I wanted and altering it to fit my tastes, I plugged it into Kindle's device to see what it could do.  And mostly, I like the application.  The biggest drawback on the KDP Cover Creator is that I can only use it on Kindle.  I can't download the image for use on other sites, at least not that I can see.  And that makes perfect sense, especially for Amazon, who encourages us to only sell with them in the first place.

The image itself... Well, it's far simpler, which seems to be the way to go.  And it's kinda cool and gives more of a military thriller feel to the book, but is it better?  Does it answer "yes" to those questions I asked above? Are potential readers more likely to react to it?

Please take a second to share your opinion with me.  Visit the survey question, Which "The Thorne Legacy" Cover Is Better? and simply click on an answer. 

Your feedback is appreciated!  

(In fact, if you want to say more than the survey allows, just leave a comment!)

Thank you.

 

Mallory Heart Reviews Superheroes vs Zombies in Hungry Gods

Just a quick post amid the chaos that is my trans-national life right now:

Mallory Hearts book review blog has just featured HUNGRY GODS and had some very good things to say! (Click here to check it out.)

Patriotic Pricing: Independence Day Ebook Sale

The Spirit of '76 featuring Minutemen of the Revolution

In honor of July 4th and my own military deployment to the Middle East this month, I have implemented what I call my Patriotic Pricing Model.  (Like all my pricing models, this is a structured system based on word count.)  For the most part, this will reduce nearly all of my ebooks by a dollar each.

How long will these lower prices last?

All summer?  Independence Day through Veterans Day?  The rest of 2015?  Forever?  I don't know yet, but take advantage while you can.

Minutemen from the Watchmen movie

Book Review: The Long Way Down

One of my New Years Resolutions was to read at least four novels this year and to review them (especially since I hope people will review my books).  Today I gave up on this book, which I had nearly dropped a couple times before.  My reading time is just so limited that unless a book really drives me to pick it up and keep reading, I eventually lose interest.

Below is the review I've posted to Amazon, B&N, and Goodreads.

I forgot to also mention in it that I didn't like the author's chapter breaks either; rather than ending a scene with a cliff hanger or interesting lead, he just broke the scene itself in half.  An unclean gimmick instead of an artful break.  

I didn’t make it all the way down in The Long Way Down. 

It’s not that it’s a *bad* book, it’s actually a decent book, and a fun one.  I made it just over halfway before finally deciding I wasn’t interested enough to continue, and had almost given up a couple times before that.  I picked it up because it sounded similar to a story I’d written a long time ago, the cover was very alluring, and it just sounded like fun.  

I’m not a big Urban Fantasy fan, but this one makes a damn good fit for the genre: a former private eye and modest sorcerer operating in the mystic underground of Las Vegas. 

Unfortunately, it just wasn’t a good fit for me.

Stuff I liked:

- The detective work he does is well done and realistic, like going to the county clerk’s office for property records. 

- The world building is kinda cool.  The author obviously knows Vegas and what a great place for this kind of story.  And I liked the underground community of odd magicians he gathered together, as well as the corporate cult of bad guys. 

- Though I didn’t get through enough of the book to get all of the character development for the hero, it was there.  Flashbacks and hallucinations make a scattered attempt at giving him some background, but it’s kind of few and far between, and feels a little forced. 

Stuff I didn’t like:

- It’s written with what I can only call the Joss Whedon voice.  A lot of quick quips, sarcastic comments, and clever comebacks.  Everyone’s a snarky hipster, which gets on my nerves quickly.  To me it sounds less like how real people talk and more like a corny TV show.  A lot of readers (and TV viewers) like that, and if you do you’ll enjoy that voice here too.  But I don’t.

- Similarly, the book reads kind of like a fun comic book and less noir as I’d like.  (Though he certainly makes a lot of effort to sound noir-ish by using—sometimes over using—old narration tropes and clichés.)  This also made it kind of weird for me that he’d dip into such dark places as snuff films and still handle it with that corny Whedon voice.

- The second most important character in the book is a stylish demonic hottie who dresses like an Anime chick, drives a sports car, and has a crush on the loser magician.  Again, too comic book/CW TV series for me, and I just didn’t buy that a demon prince’s right hand would give a damn about the hero.  (Granted, as far as I had gotten into it, she hadn’t gone all in for dating him yet, but she was heading that way, and that didn’t work for me.)

Overall, I firmly believe that a lot of readers will love this book.  And I certainly didn’t hate it, but…  It just wasn’t for me.  3 stars.

Love Hurts: Meerkat Press Anthology

Now that Meerkat has it up on their site and it's all official, I'm proud to announce that my short-short story "Green-Eyed Monster" is going to be included in their spec fic anthology Love Hurts.  It's a collection of science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, slip stream, etc. stories from a wide range of authors.  My story will share space between the covers with big names and award winners, including Hugh Howey, Charlie Jane Anders, Morgen Knight, and Steve Simpson, among others.

You can check out the preliminary info and my own related bio on their site by clicking here.

Love Hurts is scheduled to release in October.

Top Blogger's Fantasy Review of Tarnish

Some time ago I submitted Tarnish to a big book review blog-off, initiated by celebrated fantasy writer Mark Lawrence, author of the Broken Empire series.  My book went in a big batch of others to Bob R Milne, who has a reputation as a big-time book reviewer.  You can see his shining review of Tarnish and four more indie book here: Beauty in Ruins. 

Here's what he had to say about Tarnish:

This is a very odd book to talk about - on the surface, it just shouldn’t work. We have multiple narrators, between whom we switch more for narrative effect than the needs of the story. We have a distinct coming-of-age story (which I’ve long since grown tired of), where the hero hides behind the persona of who he’d like to be. We have storytelling within the story, a kind of intrusive info-dumping that interferes with the forward progression of the plot. Finally, we have a plot that seems to wander without a clear direction for much of the book, before suddenly finding its direction and racing to a climax.

Despite all that, it worked. The narrative was strong – from the language, to the dialogue, to the imagery. Brink isn’t afraid to write lengthy paragraphs and scenes, to take his time setting things up, and to show us his world. That, to me, is engaging. It draws me in, makes me read a bit more closely, and gives the appearance of depth (which, it must be said, is not merely appearance). As for the characters, the hardest aspect of writing a novel is to encourage that immediate emotional connection, to draw readers in, and make them care - and Brink does that very well. I liked Billy from the first time we met. He interested me, intrigued me, and made me want to know more about him. There was this welcome duality to him that allowed him to play the hero very well, even as he grew into the role. It’s less a coming-of-age tale and more a story of self-discovery.

There’s a lot of imagination and fantasy flourishes here as well that really caught my attention. Even small, throw-away scenes like the dream of monsters inside the tavern are full of fantastic detail, allowing you to not just ‘see’ the danger but ‘feel’ it as well. That element of storytelling within the story really won me over. It allows for things to get a bit wild, a bit over-the-top, without dragging down the credibility of the entire story. We expect people to embellish their tales of heroism because we want to be entertained as much as we want to be informed, and Brink clearly understands that.

It’s not just mindless heroism and adventure, however. There’s also a heart to the novel, a very self-aware sort of appreciation for humanity and the horrors of war. Towards the end of the story, Billy stands before an advancing army of swamp monsters and asks himself, “How monstrous can they be if they mourn?” It’s a good question, and it leads into the final evolution of Wil (the hero) coming to terms with being Billy (the boy). Sure, I would have liked a little more world building, and I would have liked more of a sense of the wider world, but those are minor quibbles to be resolved in a second book. All-in-all, Tarnish is a solid tale, a classic sort of heroic adventure that’s really pulls all the elements together in a satisfying resolution.

Writing in 2015: May Recap - Dark Fantasy, Superheroes, and Sex with Aliens

I keep checking my email for news, but there's no news to be had.  I'm checking my sales numbers every day, which are doing great and holding steady, but not on any dramatic upward rise.  How can they be when I'm not writing anything new? I realized the other day that sitting idle and not creating new stuff is driving me crazy!  That's why I'm antsy and doing the same pointless routine crap everyday with no new results.  Because I'm stagnant.  I need to be moving forward, onto the next book!  But it's not for lack of material...

Unfortunately my creative endeavors are on hold for a little while.  I have one month to accomplish two months worth of pre-deployment paperwork, planning, and training, and then I'll be in training for two to three more months before shipping out to Afghanistan.  Real life is dropping a bomb on writing life (hopefully not literally).  Once again, it's time to reassess and draw up new plans and expectations.

The month of May was far from a loss, however.  

*Photo from a couple years--and books-- ago. Not this event.*

I had my most successful book signing/sales event to date.  Each one I have turns out better than the last.  This one was on-base here in Japan at a big semi-annual bazaar.  I doubled the sales from my last one back in Texas, and am quite happy with that, though I still didn't get all the business I was expecting.  I was hoping all the young guys and gals from the ships would come through looking for books to read before they set sail, but that didn't really happen.

The biggest draw for the bazaar is Asian furniture and knickknacks, which appeals more to married folks with housing; I don't think my potential readers who sleep on a 3" x 6" rack were expecting a SF/F author to be set-up in there.  I also got a bit screwed because a big box of Hungry Gods didn't arrive in time for the event, and I sold out of what I had pretty quickly.  Postal system from the States runs slow, especially for big heavy boxes.

I also, believe it or not, sold some ebooks from my table!  I had some certificates printed up which I filled out with Smashwords coupon codes that the customers could use once they got home, paying a discounted rate at the sale.  Worked out great!

I actually intended to write up a big post about my thoughts on the event and holding signings in general, but who's got the time?!  Not me, unfortunately.  Working 13-hour ER shifts, preparing for war, and spending time with the fam leaves little time for blogging.

This month I also got two more books into paperback editions: Dreams of Flying and The Prince and the Darkness.  Both retail for $11.99, and they have a combined total of 360 pages, two novellas, six short stories, and two different sneak-peeks at Hungry Gods.  Great fun in bite-sized packaging.

(The "sex with aliens" from the title of this post, by the way, refers to the short novel Invasion inside Dreams of Flying.  The life of a superhero...  *Sigh*)

As I posted and "tweeted" about previously, May also saw my heroic fantasy, coming-of-age novel Tarnish published in an audiobook edition.  It's 15 hours of awesome storytelling narrated by Todd Menesses, who lives in New Orleans but sounds like he's from fantasy England.

What about my stats and word count recap?  Well, just as I start getting into a good routine, some earthquake hits and screws up my nice trend.  (We did, in fact, have two earthquakes here this month, too, but I'm referring to the deployment.)  I will leave here in July and not return to my home and family until well into next year.  So there goes my 12,000 words a month goal and the nice streak I had going.

Aside from the nice accomplishments above, I did get 5300 words written in May, some of it on the next story I intend to float around to magazines.  But the blog series I started this year may be ending right here and now.  I'll continue to track any work I get done, but I probably won't be spending any more precious time blogging about it.  My writing efforts are about to get much more focused, and things like marketing, social media, etc. will be taking a seat even further to the rear than they already have been.  Doing these things take time away from the most important aspect of writing: WRITING!

(In fact, it amazes me how much time and energy I see spent on Facebook and Twitter by people who say they are "writers" -- when do they write stories or books if they're always online gossiping?)


So that's my "writing recap" and probably the last of that series.  But looking to the future:

I still hope to write Twilight of the Gods by the end of the year, which is the prequel to Hungry Gods and Identity Crisis: Book Two.

And I continue to simplify and focus my writing career goals looking forward.  I think if I do these rather easy things for the foreseeable future, I'll be doing pretty damn well for myself:

1. Publish 2 to 3 books a year, every year.

Period.  This year I've already gotten out Hungry Gods, The Prince and the Darkness, and Dreams of Flying, and it's just now June!

2. Double my overall sales from one year to the next.  

This one I have less direct control over, but I think it's a realistic and ultimately successful expectation.  I figure if this trend does continue--selling twice as many books this year as last year, and twice as many next year as now--then I could be making a decent living from writing in about five years, maybe even enough to ween myself off of a day job.  Not a Hollywood, one-in-a-million instant best-seller story, but a realistic goal and certainly one I can live with.

Increasing the availability and media forms of my work help accomplish this.  This means not being exclusive to one outlet (*cough*cough* Amazon *cough*) and diversifying with ebooks, paperbacks, and audiobook versions, as well as writing in multiple genres.

3. Continue to work both sides of the fence: indie publishing and getting stories into magazines and anthologies.  My story  "Green-Eyed Monster" has been picked up for Meerkat Press's "Love Hurts Anthology" and I have a couple more in circulation with high expectations.

4. Focus on the single most important aspect of writing: WRITING. 

But what about marketing?! you might ask.  In my opinion, over-rated.  But if you want to make real money, start up your own indie book marketing outfit.  I bet the marketing side of the indie author boom is making five-times what indie authors themselves are making.  Every Tom, Dick, and Harry has their own "book marketing and tweeting service" that they're happy to let you pay them for.  And I'm not convinced they help all that much.  But that's just me.

When I get half a million words out there, I'll start marketing.  Until then, what's the point?

Okay, that's it for me.  This post has been two or three that I've had in mind combined to "save time," but I've sure been out here on the patio typing away for a long time.  In fact, the sun is now cloaked behind some grey clouds and a nice, moist breeze.  Looks like rain...