Absolon, life like? (Or- Michigan is fucking NUTS!)

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absolonsmI posted the second chapter of “Absolon” today.

It’s kind of freaky, actually. I wrote it, and posted it. In this chapter we start to see what happened to the world after WW3, and what people are dealing with in their daily lives.

One part of it, I think I might spoil a little, because I was shocked to learn it wasn’t as inconceivable as I thought it might be.

In Michigan they just passed a law that requires community service (that is, they will have people work for free) in order to get basic health care and food stamps, and/or unemployment.

Sounds kind of straight forward, right? Even a little intuitive when you think about it. They get “free money from the state” so lets have them work for it.

Now lets look a little deeper.

Everyone who works pays into the system. We pay taxes, social security, and medicaid. We pay these things so that when we are down and out, out of a job, and looking for a new one, then we have a little security to fall back. We also get roads, military, politicians, and all sorts of other things out of the deal. Not all of which we agree with, but we pay our taxes, elect our officials and hope things work out.

Second, there is a system for unemployment for a reason. Everyone who works pays into it. And when we are out of work we take from it. That is how it has worked for a very long time. It gives everyone a chance to look for a new job, get well (if it was a medical reason) or just take a breather and recover for a bit before jumping back into the rat race.

Not everyone will get a chance to take advantage of unemployment, but shouldn’t we be grateful? Unemployment only pays a small percentage of what you were making before hand. Not enough to pay your bills usually. Who the heck wants to be on unemployment? Most people want to get back to work as soon as possible.

Which brings us to another problem in this system…. Work.

If you have a bunch of people on unemployment and food stamps working for the city for free, then what happens to the people who did those jobs before the city started getting free “community service”? Do they get laid off? Fired? Restructured? Retrained?

Or do you throw them back on the unemployment lines so they have to come back and do the job they were doing before, only this time for free.

Even if you figure that the people working this community service are doing it for “pay” in the form of unemployment and food stamps, how can you guarantee that they are being paid a decent wage for that time? How do you measure that? How do they still have time to go find a “real” job?

Why not just create new jobs and hire them?

Grumble, grumble, grumble….

Anyway, there is a lot more to this argument. A lot of fall out that could happen if it passes, and sticks.

Writers should write!

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I just read this great article by Hugh Howie over on Huffington Post. In it he talks about his advocacy for writing, and self publishing that writing. He said:
“We don’t rail against the proliferation of YouTube videos from aspiring filmmakers or DeviantArt accounts from future designers. We celebrate the act of bettering our craft by producing early works.”

This got me thinking about my own journey as an artist and writer, and the little encouragements along the way.

Drawing was easy. I started with an Elfwood account, that actually still exists. I got a DeviantArt account later, and still update it now and then. People like and comment on my art still. I sold some paintings, wrote some tutorials for wetcanvas.com, and could have continued on a path to an artists career. Not an amazing one, but a nice one.

But as much as I love art, I couldn’t make it my career. I’m good, I’m not amazing, and I don’t have the patience to practice and study to become amazing. I can’t even decide what style I like to do, so there is nothing consistent in any of it.

But writing…

I posted my first chapters/short stories to Elfwood. That was my first taste of reader feedback. Again, some of it still exists, and I don’t plan to take it down.

Then I switched to writing.com. An interesting platform, with some nice features. I had a few readers, but I couldn’t pay for a subscription so the limit of five stories up wasn’t enough. I did delete my account there.

I had my own websites. Several, in fact. Getting people to go to your website is a pain in the ass. I loved building them, but then I’d take them down a few months later.

The first time I actually got money for something I wrote was when I joined redpaper.com. It was the first micro-transaction community, and I really loved it. I won a contest and made ten bucks there once. Sold some comics, some desktop pictures, and a few articles and stories. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was incredible to actually get money, even less then a dollar, for the things I wrote.

This was a form of self publishing, and I didn’t even realize it at the time. It encouraged me to produce more things all the time. I don’t care that I got so little… it was mine! I earned it. It felt amazing.

Later, I switched to magazines… I was suppose to earn $20 per article/story they published. It didn’t work that way. I ended up getting nothing, which cut my confidence in publishing a lot. The fact that they didn’t see fit to pay me, even though I had a signed contract saying they would, contributed to my writers block. It made it a little easier to walk away when my life got so stressed out.

Youtube, DeviantArt, and similar venues… they offer more then just places to show your work. They aren’t just brag galleries, and show pieces. They offer the chance to actually make money doing something you love. Authors should have that same opportunity.

It might not be a lot of money sometimes, but does it really matter? It’s about encouraging an artist of any kind to get better at their craft. And if I can earn enough from writing to go to Starbucks once in a while, then that’s encouraging. Because it makes me believe some day I might make more. Maybe even enough to do this full time.

And that’s worth it.

Absolon

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absolonsm

I have been wanting to publish something new for a while, but have been working on “Forgotten Ones” for quiet some time, which won’t be released until it is finished.

But, I had been considering “writing in public” on Wattpad.  I had two ideas, a post-apocalyptic following a group through the ruins of Seattle, and a science-fiction space opera aboard a ship in deep space.

I haven’t ruled out the space opera, but I did the first chapter of “Absolon” and published it over on Wattpad.

I will do a new chapter of “Absolon” every other week, and still keep working on “Forgotten Ones”.

I have three chapters to go on “Forgotten Ones”, then I need to finish the cover, and send it to an editor. Till then, hopefully you’ll enjoy Absolon.

Amazon is annoying

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 A few months back I added my book, Small Bites 1, to Kobo as free. It’s a starting point to get people interested in my writing. And I also wanted to price match it on Amazon so that I had the same ability there.
Well Amazon had other ideas. They did not price match to free for SB1, but they DID  price match to 99 cents for Small Bites 4 because I forgot to raise the price on that.
Well that’s fixed. i raised the price, and it only took a couple days for Amazon to raise the price. But lowering the price… especially to free? Not happening.
But I’m still trying.

Please go to Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Small-Bites-1-ebook/dp/B00CFDHKGW
and tell them my book is free on Kobo here:
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/small-bites-1

Or, heck, just go get the book on Kobo. It’s got a free reader too.

Hypercritical

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I haven’t published ANYTHING in a couple of months. It’s depressing me a little.

Now, I realize I’m being hypercritical of myself. I am watching the word counts go up, the chapters get finished, the edits work… but the bar I placed, publication, isn’t happening. It hasn’t happened in a few months, and it bothers me.

Objectively, this is ridiculous. Other authors spend months writing, editing, and publishing novels. If you go through the gambit of traditional publication you may only see one or two books A YEAR come out. I did eleven, in six months.

I should be proud of myself. I should be happy with my progress. But ultimately, it isn’t enough.

But I think this is a good thing. If it were enough then I wouldn’t be pushing myself so hard to write more. If it were enough then I wouldn’t be striving to up my word count, fix my formating and spelling on older books, or attempting to come up with book covers that don’t suck too much.

I am taking comfort in the fact that this isn’t enough, because it means this is incredibly important to me. To go farther, write more, and tell my damn stories to everyone willing to listen.

My stories should be seen. They are worth it. It’s never going to be “enough”, so I’m just going to have to get better.

FAQ- How do I promote my book?

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Okay, you have a book. It’s up on Amazon, Kobo, and everywhere else… Now what?

Well, the best answer is… Go write another book!

No, seriously!

Here’s the deal, if you have one book and go promote it, great, people can buy that book. But, a lot of people won’t buy a book if you only have one up there. They like to sink their metaphorical teeth into their favorite authors and read LOTS of stuff from them, so if you have only one book out, and they love you, then they aren’t going to be as willing to take a chance.

Also, what if you do well with your book? Where do the readers go from their? And what if you put the first book up for free, they read it, but have no second book to buy?

It just makes sense to have more books out. The more you have, the more you can share with your readers. The more you share the more they can share.

The concept of visibility dictates that the more surface area you have, the greater the chance someone will spot you… so give yourself lots of books, and lots of feelers out there for maximum chance to be seen.

Okay… got your second, third, etc, book done? Great!

Now… go play on social networks. Meet people, comment on their threads, share your stories. DON’T PROMOTE!

Seems counter intuitive, doesn’t it? Yes, well, we are living in a counter intuitive world. How many of us skip cable, TiVo, use Netflix or anything else, just to avoid advertisement? Why would you think anyone would want to see and advert about your book if they don’t want to see a commercial in the middle of their TV show?

No, they want you to interact with them. Be funny, be interesting, join the conversation. Or produce something worth talking about. if you can do both then you are GOLDEN! People will go looking for you to see what you say if you are interesting enough. People will search out your commercials on youtube if you’re funny. They will Google your story if you’re exciting. They will post tributes, make fan fic, and generally make a joyful noise as long as you making something they care about, or you are someone they care about.

My best success hasn’t been screaming “BUY MY BOOKS!” It’s been making friends. Sharing stories. Interacting with fans. That has brought more people into my little corner of the web then anything else out there. And I am so grateful to all the friends that have made this possible.

FAQ- Editors

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FAQ- each week I’m going to pic a frequently asked question and answer it here. You will be able to find the entire FAQ on a page soon.

This weeks question:

“I finished my novel, and now I need an editor. Is it normal to get an editor lined up, and for them to take weeks, or months, to get back to me?” (paraphrased)

No, that isn’t normal. An editor should get back to you within the week unless they tell you they are going on hiatus for a while. But perhaps you are too swift to choose your editor.

Every editor I’ve worked with I’ve asked them to do a sample edit. They usually get 2000 words, go through it, and see what it’s like. That way they know if they want to work with you, and you know if you like the way they work/edit. That includes how fast they answer emails, how they respond to your work, etc.

Not every editor is going to fit your work. Some are terrible at it, but claim they are editors anyway. Others won’t like your style or subject matter. Some will just be over booked and unable to give you any help, but may not want to brush you off right away.

My advice… go find a few editors. There are several places you can look. Elance, Predators and Editors, or just Google “editor service”. Even amazon has a relatively cheep editing service for .012 cents a word through Createspace.

Do some homework on the editor you are trying to get, and **get a sample**. Most will not charge much, if anything, to do the sample. Check them out on Facebook, G+, and Twitter to see if they get any good/bad reviews through social media.

Most will ask for half up front, the rest when finished. If they ask for all of it up front then RUN! Price, in my research, has been 2 cents a word, so for 79k words that’s about $1500.

It may also be helpful to get a few people to read your manuscript before sending it to an editor. Beta-readers help you iron out the roughest bits before an actual editor gets a hold of it. Always a good idea.

Good luck.

An Author at Pax

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If you’ve been following along, I went off to Pax with a bag full of buttons, stickers and a couple books.

I decided that I’m horrible at marketing myself.

The buttons were easy. I gave them out left and right, left a few around the convention center, and then didn’t have enough to give away towards the end when they had a button exchange.

The stickers …. not so much. I gave out a couple, but I just balked.

This is just a case of me having absolutely no self confidence. I went to pull out the stickers and I started to worry… are they good enough? Are they going to be offended that I’m trying to tell them about my book? Do they think self-publishing isn’t ‘real’ publishing?

I did pull my book out and show a couple people that sounded interested in it. Showed them the cover, answered a couple questions. I even met a couple of fellow authors, and we discussed why we were self publishing instead of traditionally publishing.

I also sat in on a panel about having confidence in yourself to go pursue your dreams. A few were writers as well as their day job, and the question of “traditional vs self publishing” came up. They echoed what everyone else is seeing… A lot of traditionally published authors are jumping to self publishing because they see more of the money, and are just as instrumental in the marketing.

I know I shouldn’t have been so nervous to hand out the stickers. I could have put a sticky on the book and said “free book” and put it on a table. I could have had more confidence in myself. But I’m a work in progress.

Next year I’ll do better.
Till then… want some stickers?

Pax Prime 2013

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2013-08-30 11.08.31 Got back from Pax last night around midnight, and I am exhausted. And… I’m going back tomorrow, and the next day.

I’m actually glad I took a day off from all the hub bub at Pax. It’s so much fun, but I think four straight days would have killed me. It’s just too much.

On the plus side, I met a lot of cool people, traded buttons, gave out a few buttons to people who I talked about my book to. I never actually got to give out a copy of my book, but I’ll have a two more days to do so.

I also played a lot of games, and got to test drive the Oculus Rift. Hint: I suggest you be sitting, leaning up against a wall, or strapped into an Omni Treadmill for this thing. I could not feel anything, not even the floor under my feet really, and when the me in the video game left the surface of the ground, or walked THROUGH trees, I got a little queazy.

However, playing a plat-former on the Oculus was kind of cool. I could look to the left and right, see down the tunnels, but I didn’t lose perspective of where I was. I could feel the desk, and the ground, and even though I was looking into the virtual world of the plat-former, I did not get queazy like I did in the 3D environment.

My friends and I agree… Oculus + Omni + Noise canceling headphones + Horror Survival = FUCKING AWESOME SCARY TIME!

For more pictures you can check out my G+ post. And expect more on Tuesday!

Around the Web

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“Around the Web” has taken a new path. I use to gather a bunch of articles I found interesting and just share them here. But now… I have a whole podcast to share and talk about them on!

So, here are a couple things we did not get to, and a couple that came up this morning:
Literary agent wish list.

6 things only writers understand (I found this list hitting really close to home.)

How to write action that won’t show you’ve never thrown a punch.

And here is the show. A lot of great info this show, and some awesome websites.