Being Afraid of Writing

(Firstly, for anyone who might be keeping up, I’ve got the next part of Buried Hope all finished up. It’s a lot longer than I thought it would be at about 300+ pages. Just a few more rounds of editing and it should be good to go. Will be out before May, I’m 90% sure. I’m sorry it’s taken so long, this post can partially explain why.)

2013′s been rougher than 2012.

I’m not sure what it is, because nothing too negative has happened in my life lately, nothing that I didn’t have to deal with last year. I think it’s phases. Phases of bla bla and bla bla and more bullshit that I’m sure no one really wants to hear about, and me telling sob stories is not the point of this post.

I’m writing this post today because I want to talk about one of the biggest side-effects you get when you get into these “phases”: You don’t want to write. 

Self-Publishing, One Month In (And I Need Reviews!)

So here we go. A month (and a week) into self-publishing. I’ve received a few messages from some of you guys asking for an update on my self-publishing adventure. Truthfully the reason escapes me, because there are probably thousands of blogs out there that have this exact post, but I guess you guys like me. I’m kidding. You have to read this.

Buried Hope is published!

I am now officially a self-published writer, which means I have to rescind my self-given title of Unpublished Bestselling Writer. Maybe Soon-To-Be Bestselling Writer, just to keep the same shallow sass. This isn’t as exciting as I thought it would be, though it probably doesn’t help that I’m going through a lot of personal things right now. But it is absolutely great still.

It’s up on Amazon and you can buy it here.

It’s a 25,000 word sci-fi/dystopian novella at $.99, and I have both a short blurb and a long blurb you can read to pique your interest.

The world is dead… and for a thousand years, they’ve hidden.

The citizens claim they love Spes, the underground city where they evade the deadly toxins of the surface world, but the walls never end and the guards never cease to watch. There is a longing to escape, and a hope that someday the world might live again.

But how do the people know what they are told is truth? How far will they go to trust the unknown, and how much will they fight for that they cannot have?

And…

The world is dead. The world is dead. The world is dead… and for a thousand years, they’ve hidden. The bulb in the sky burns too hot and the winds of the surface world cut like knives. But it is the air that will kill you—when the cold wind seeps in, you die.

In the underground city of Spes, one bloodline has been granted the living gift by the timeless Eye. Only the Numbers and their blessed blood can survive the toxins of the world-with-no-walls. Through the Home Gate, the Number teleports to distant Gates—where the speeds of time have ripped, and years in one are days in another—to see if time has cured the land from the sins of men long gone and dead. 

Thirty-one Numbers have come and gone, the gilded cloak passed from kin to kin, and when young Victor takes his right as Number Thirty-Two, his callow heart leads him wrong. He breaks the code. He risks his life. He travels to the surface world without planting the seed in his chosen bride, the seed to continue the blood solely his.

The Chancellor and the Eye’s Guard must hope the young Number returns from the voyage to the dead world, or the ancient line will end. And if they end, how will Spes know if the world is habitable? If they end, how will Spes survive the Eye?

So yeah, it’s only $.99 which is pretty much one less soda this week. I’d really appreciate you guys giving me a chance, and if you like it maybe you could leave a review. Every review and every purchase helps me go up the ranks, and higher ranks means more visibility.

February 4 — Buried Hope Release! And Self-Publishing Thoughts

So yeah! I’ve finally gotten around to figuring everything out, and in about a day or two I’ll be self-published. I’m pretty excited; who wouldn’t be? Before anything else, it’s a 25,000 word sci-fi/dystopian novella, the first part of a series, and I’ll have it on Amazon for $.99.

It would mean the world to me if you guys could snag a copy (especially right on the day it gets released) — every single copy I sell on Amazon helps push me up the ranks, and higher ranks means more visibility, and visibility is the key thing you need if you want to play the self-publishing game properly. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle app for your tablet or phone (apps like this), and if you don’t have a tablet or phone, you can still download the book onto your computer and read it from there on the Kindle Cloud thing on Amazon. $.99 — charging low because I need to build a following more than I need to make money right now, so maybe drink one less soda today and help a guy out? I’ll make another post right when the book comes out, and after that I promise I’ll stop spamming my followers with this blog’s emails.

Here’s the blurb I have right now, though I may change this before release (it’s way too long by Amazon standards I think):

Why I’m Self-Publishing

Firstly — I’m nobody, but I’m one of those guys who just a few months ago would never take self-publishing seriously (I think I wrote a post about it, and I have half a mind to take it down (I probably will)). But after keeping tabs on it for a while and just researching on it whenever I can, my views have changed from “Self-publishing is what you do when you can’t get an agent, just a Plan B” to “Self-publish ASAP.” For anyone who doesn’t know much about it or is perhaps undecided, this post is for you.

So I’m going to assume that anyone reading this knows at least the basic differences between trade publishing and self-publishing; and if you do, let me just ask you one question: why are you still not self-publishing? Because honestly, once I understood the pros and cons of each to a respectable extent, there wasn’t much doubt in my mind which road is the better one.

“I’m a Writer”

I’ve previously discussed the topic of how everyone thinks they can be a writer. Of course, there’s no reason why anyone can’t be a writer, but what’s unusual about this profession is that since there’s no real barrier to step into it, everyone who’s ever picked up a book believes they can do it and the only reason why they haven’t become successful writers yet is simply because they haven’t bothered to try.

In my previous post regarding this, I just went over how it bothers me (to a tiny degree). I mean, good on you if you think you could just sit down and type out your first novel and have it ascend to worldwide acclaim, but while you’re making excuses for yourself, you’re making the people who really do practice the craft strenuously seem incompetent–if just indirectly–and feel like we’re wasting our time. We start to wonder why we haven’t succeeded yet, since the majority of you make it out as child’s play; and eventually, we lose faith in ourselves. It doesn’t help that there seems to be an incredulously high amount of people who are “writers”, making even the slightest thought of jumping into this career path seem like stuffing ourselves in an overflowing can of sardines.

Looking For Beta Readers

Hi. I don’t post as often as I used to or as often as I should to retain interest from you guys, and I apologize. I’ve been writing a lot lately, though, and I feel I’ve improved enough to be taken a bit more seriously (and I’m sure in a few months I’ll look back on this and realize how wrong I was, hah.) For full disclosure and to anyone who might be interested, my desk drawer of writing is filled with:

*Fantasy Book A, 205k words
*Fantasy Book B, 100k words
*Contemporary Book A, 28k words
*Sci-fi Book A, 18k words

The fantasy books are on hiatus for reasons that may or may not include the fact that (I think) I’m a much better writer now than I was when I wrote them, and I no longer feel they are the quality they need to be. Once I thought they were as awesome as Chewbacca playing baseball, but now I have my doubts.