Opportunistic Practices.

I have never liked TikTok. I tried it a while back as a way of advertising my works but just did not like it. If any of you reading this do, awesome. However, users of that platform decided to post videos that would start off an ugly, wrong, and blatantly opportunistic trend.

Those people, who I will refer to, as kindly as I can, as... individuals, posted videos suggesting that people can return ebook purchases to Amazon after reading them, provide whatever reason is available, and get their money back. I will not post links to the videos here for two reasons. First, I do not want to give the individuals or their videos any more attention. Second, I know how the internet works. I don't want this turned around on me and be accused of "bullying" the individuals in question. Needless to say, this has had a negative impact on the authors caught up in it.

One author had (at the time of writing this) forty-seven returns last month. This month, which has yet to end, he has had ninety-seven. Another author had twenty-one returns in the last thirty days. There are many other examples out there. I have even seen one of an author who was put in a position where they owed Amazon money as a result. That is insane.

We authors all share a dream that one day, we can make a living from our writing, especially us indies. We pour our hearts and souls into our work, pay editors to fix the mistakes, pay artists to design a cover for us, and even pay for advertising when we can. We want our books to reach as wide an audience as possible, because we want to entertain every reader who buys our work. When people do things like this, it is stealing, pure and simple. Don't try to make up reasons or excuses to defend such a practice, because there will never be any that I will take seriously. For those who will try and play the "can't afford it," or the "we're living in tough times," cards, don't bother. We are all living in tough times. Authors need to pay bills and put food on the table. You are stealing from us.

But, I have hope. For those of you who are still happy to continue stealing from authors, pay attention to this last part.

You may think you are happily gaming the system by stealing like this, but do not count on it lasting. A petition on change.org has gathered a large number of signatures, including mine, and is almost at its goal of 75000 at the time of writing this. Hopefully, Amazon will take notice soon.

You must also be made aware that this constant theft of our work may get detected by Amazon and could put your account at risk. Yes, I am aware that this is a hypothetical, but it is something that I am confident of. As far as I am concerned, that sword you're swinging cuts both ways; it is just a question of when.

Finally, remember the controversy surrounding John Locke. He was an author who thought he could game the system.

Ironic, I know.

For those who don't know, Locke purchased reviews for one of his books and was catapulted into the limelight before the truth was revealed. For further reading, I would suggest checking out this article. When that scandal hit, Amazon came down like an anvil on the review process, but the damage had been done and other indie authors took the brunt of it. As far as I'm aware, Locke is still writing, but his credibility was forever tarnished.

Please take notice of these examples. It is not too late to stop what you're doing. And, please don't try debating this with me or any other author. Your chances of justifying it will be low, at best.

It's Been a While.

 

I had planned to write at least one blog post a month. Sadly, I failed at that this year, but it was with good reason. Allow me to explain.

Another author had recommended that I try writing a LitRPG novel some time ago because I used to be a massive gamer growing up. I liked the idea of it, but I had no ideas for a story, so I let it be for the time being. Well, one day, the idea for a novel hit me a month after I had finished writing a passion project of mine. This would be titled, Escape From Crescendo Station One, but I will tell that story later.

My debut LitRPG novel was written in two months. Titled, Ataris Station. It is something I am very proud of. I ended up working with a new editor, a lady who specialises in the genre, and she helped shape the manuscript into something wonderful. I am looking forward to releasing it when the time comes.

Other ideas for stories in the genre hit me while I was writing Ataris Station, including two more standalone stories and two series. I decided I needed to change things around to reflect on where I would be taking my writing. So, I wrote a prologue short story for the first series, called Annex of Alhena, that tells the origin of one of the main characters. It will be a mailing list exclusive, replacing Wasteland Vigilante, which will get its own proper release shortly.

As a result, the next two months will be busy ones for me with three releases in total. I am excited about it, because it feels like real progress for me. I have also developed working relationships with other authors who have been encouraging me along the way. It is so nice to have such wonderful people cheering me on.

For those of you who have stuck by me throughout this time, I thank you for doing so. I will do my best to keep entertaining you.

For new subscribers to my mailing list, please paste this link into your browser: https://t.co/7ACSUuFBmr

Niven's War Released.

Finally, Niven's War has been released, making it my first book of 2022. It took a little while longer than I had planned. I went through it several times, making sure the manuscript was as polished as I could make it. Also, as I had said in past blog entries, it was my first time delving into military science fiction. I wanted to make sure I did a good job.

At the time of writing this, the campaign has mostly been fulfilled, with only a few copies left to mail out to backers. What makes me even more proud is that I have managed this with two months still to go on the project's clock. I don't want to gloat, but if I can fulfill a crowdfunding campaign, preparing and mailing out all the copies on my own, certain other individuals out there have no excuse.

With that, I continue on with other projects. Once I have finished writing the one I am on now, Niven's War book two will be started, and I can't wait to delve into that again. But, one thing I have found is that I enjoy branching out into other areas of science fiction because I can really let my mind go nuts. I have three other projects planned, different from what I have done before, and the ideas alone excite me. Not to mention, I have really improved my editing, so that has become a much less painful chore to endure.

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone who has been with me on this journey, reading my work, or supporting me in other ways. It will forever be appreciated.

New Year, Good Plans.

This year was a good one for me.

Well, creatively at least.

I shared in the struggles of many these past couple of years, including the loss of a relative to the virus. I chose to keep myself busy instead of watching the continuing misery unfold outside, as it seemed the best course of action. Sadly, I feel it'll be like this for a while, but we will prevail. I'm sure of it.

I wrote three good books in that time. Some of my best work, in my opinion. Even my editor, Tim, has commented that my writing has improved since we first began working together.

The first was the second in my Furman Simms series, Furman Simms vs the Anti-fun. I enjoy writing pulp-length books and this one was a prime example of that. Plenty of mayhem, action, fun characters, and a few nods to other stories I was inspired by growing up. This will be out towards the middle of next year.

Niven's War was my second, and was successfully funded through Indiegogo. It will be fulfilled and released in January, two months before the target date. It was my attempt at a military science fiction novel, and came out great. It is to date, my longest book yet and the first I worked on with a different cover artist, Carla Tornielli. I wanted a manga/anime cover, and she was a perfect choice for it. Since she has now focused on other ventures, I will be working with a different artist for the second book's cover. I have seen the rough draft and it looks great.

The third book I wrote this year is the one I am most proud of. Escape from Crescendo-Station One was a love letter to a genre of movie I cherished growing up, underwater science fiction. It has elements of action and horror, and is without a doubt the book I'm most proud of writing. It will be my second release of the year.

I only released two books this year, Wasteland Vigilante and The Adventures of Furman Simms, because a lot of time was spent improving my craft. My editing process is much better and I can now submit a much more polished draft to my editor. As a result of this, the time to edit will hopefully be reduced and make his job easier. The audiobook of the Harem Nights omnibus is still in production and I have been listening to the chapters. Michael is doing an amazing job for sure.

I want to thank everyone who has been with me on my continuing journey, either by encouraging or reading my work. Your support has meant the world to me and I do not want to ever disappoint you. I hope all of you have a great Christmas and a happy new year.

See you all in 2022.

Audiobook!

 

Alright!

I am so very pleased to write that the audiobook for the Harem Nights Omnibus is officially underway!

I advertised the project on ACX, the website used to create audiobooks, hoping I would catch the eye of a narrator, and continued working on my current project. Sure enough, I got an email informing me someone had submitted an audio audition while I was at work, so I couldn't wait to get home and hear it.

The audition was by a Mr. Michael Beckett, and to be blunt, it blew me away. I listened to the audition a number of times, purely out of sheer enjoyment, before offering him the job. Of course, he accepted and began working on the project. 

Part of the process of recording an audiobook on ACX involves the narrator submitting the first fifteen minutes before continuing, so the writer can approve. Michael submitted it Friday evening (UK time) and I listened to it first thing this morning (Saturday) and was, again, blown away. At the time of writing this, he's now working on the rest of the project.

It's stuff like this that makes being an independent author fun. Hearing another creative's take on your work is something of a thrill, especially when you look forward to hearing what he does with the characters further into the story. And, already, when I'm thinking of future projects, a little part of me is wondering what Michael could do with them.

More updates will follow on this, but for anyone interested, Michael has narrated another book, A Knife in the Dark. You can find it here. I've already added it to my wishlist. Do pick it up, you'll be supporting an independent author and narrator.

My First Omnibus.

 

So, this announcement is a little late, and I apologise for that.

I was going to wait a little longer before releasing this collection so I could pay to advertise it properly, but such is life that other things needed paying for. So, I quietly released the book and made a mental note to announce it via this blog.

You can see how that worked out.

I began writing another book, something of a passion project, while Niven's War is being edited. It is something I've been brewing for a while and wanted to get it out of my head while all the mental images were still fresh. I realised the other day that I had forgotten to write about the release of, you guessed it, my first omnibus.

The Harem Nights trilogy did quite well for me and I wanted to do a collected edition of them for some time. I'd seen many other authors do it with their works, now it was my turn. But, I didn't want to just release them at a discounted price with a new cover, so I have included the short prologue story Final Days, which was previously available as a free download for my email subscribers.

As I said, the omnibus' release was a quiet one. But, upon checking my sales dashboard, I was pleased to see it had sold a handful of copies already, which was nice. Advertising is something I need to work on, but it's awesome to know there are people out there paying attention for new releases. For those people, I offer my sincerest gratitude. Stick around. Hopefully, you'll still be enjoying the ride.

To check out the book, check out the following links:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Niven's War: A Success!

 

Wow.

This was one hell of an end to my week.

Thursday night, I sent a message to a friend, asking if he could advertise the project to any friends of his, as the finish line was just over a day away. He did so, and I went to sleep because it was late and I had to be up for work in the morning. I woke up to a donation from my friend, someone backing the paperback, and a large donation, from someone I didn't know, putting me over the finish line. 

I couldn't believe it.

The pledges flooded in over the course of the day. I celebrated the campaign's success on a podcast with Aria and Dave from the Bargain Bin show, plus Will, whose show I'd been on previously, and the super artist Yan. It was made all the more memorable, or horrific, by the videos Aria made of me to act as intros and outros. I don't ever want to see them again.

So, as of this morning, my editor has the book and is working on it. I'm waiting for Indiegogo to send the cash to me so I can order the packaging and bookmarks. In the meantime, I've almost finished writing my next manuscript this weekend and will start another one as soon as I'm ready.

Tonight, I'm going to celebrate the campaign's success with some beer and ice cream. A massive thanks to all who supported the campaign by either backing or promoting. All of you are awesome.

The book will remain In Demand until fulfillment begins. Find it here until then. Cheers.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/niven-s-war/x/18589009#/