Rants & Ravings
This blog will contain information about my various works, resources related to them as well as miscellaneous rants and ravings of a lunatic… err author.
Become a Patron
Many creators have Patreon pages these days, it’s an awesome concept and one of the main reasons I decided to actually publish what I write.
With tiers priced at less than a cup of coffee per chapter it’s very affordable and helps to offset the ongoing costs of domain names, hosting and other writing/publishing related expenses.
Writing takes time and effort and I do have a family and a full-time job… it’s not like I sit at home writing for hours each day and pumping out 5 chapters per month! Often it’s simply 1 chapter per month, maybe 2 if I get on a roll!
By charging per chapter, rather than per month, you don’t get charged without getting something tangible in return!
What can you expect by supporting me?
Currently patrons get early access to chapters of my stories, plus patrons are welcome to participate in a community that contributes to story plot lines, characters, scenes, etc. They also receive discount codes used to obtain the finished products when they get published.
Can’t spare any pocket change, but still want to show your support?
There are ways to read the story for FREE as I publish my stories on several websites. They aren’t as user-friendly as an eBook or Book is and they don’t have all the latest updates, but they are free.
All I ask is… if you do use one of the free services, please leave a review and/or vote for the story. Every review and/or vote helps gain the attention of future readers and potential patrons!
Writing Resources
I was talking with another new author recently and we got on to the topic of what we use in writing our books. So here’s a breakdown of my writing resources, for anyone curious about the process.
My most important writing resources are my imagination… after all, it creates the stories! Followed second in importance by the patrons that support me, paying as little as $1 for advance access to everything I write, and third is the thousands of beta readers that read the rough second drafts on the free sites and provide invaluable feedback!
Second drafts? Yup, as Terry Pratchett says, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.“
Here’s all the technical nitty gritty…
Being an IT guy, I started off using Microsoft Word, then trying Google Docs for writing my book. Then I learned about Scrivener and have never looked back since. It’s just so much better for writing, planning, character development, name generation, compiling and, well, pretty much everything that relates to writing a book! Plus it’s a simple one-time fee!
My main computer is an old iMac, although I also have Windows and Linux computers in my house… hey I’m still an IT guy at heart. The decision to buy an older used iMac was so I could use the original, tried and true Scrivener program, although Literature & Latte do have a Windows version available now that is comparable to the Mac version.
A big bonus is that Scrivener also works on my iPhone and iPad and they all synchronize via Dropbox. Believe it or not, most of my writing is done on my iPhone and iPad, whenever I get a few minutes of free time. I do use the computer for writing as well, but it’s main purpose is editing and compiling. My backups go to iCloud and other cloud storage services.
For grammar checking small snippets, I use GrammarChecker.io, but my primary grammar checker is Pro Writing Aid, because it can work directly with my Scrivener files.
For my Book Covers, I use GetCovers.com, they’re a great team that do quality work for very reasonable prices. I originally used another book cover site, they had good quality, but it was just so expensive and now that I’ve experienced GetCovers, the quality actually wasn’t as good.
For my stunning book advertisements, I use BookBrush.com. They make it easy to create awesome advertisements for pretty much any social platform or application.
For my website, I host with my publisher, Dawn Patrol Publishing using the Website Builder. I still do lots of WordPress web design and I use the Divi theme from Elegant Themes, a truly customizable page builder for WordPress.
For all my graphic needs I use 123RF Stock Photography for the major graphics and use Gimp to edit them and if I have to make maps I use Inkarnate.
Hope you find this helpful.
Aliens and Cowboys @ Bookapy
Since World Literature Publishing Company has been such a huge part of the popularity growth of the Aliens & Cowboys series, I decided to use their publishing arm as the first step to getting the books into the hands of the public.
The books are now for sale and even have samples to read.
Check out my author page at https://bookapy.com/a/16/kkindle
Why Aliens and Cowboys?
Traditional nomenclature is usually spoken as “Cowboys and…”
Originally did call my story Cowboys and Aliens, but the story grew into a series and many people commented on the similarity to the 2011 movie or the graphic novels of the same name.
Fortunately, I have some smart beta readers, one of my readers mentioned, why not reverse it to be Aliens and Cowboys? The premise of this series is almost the exact polar opposite of what the movies and graphic novels were about.
So that’s how the series got to be called Aliens and Cowboys.
One Year Update
Well it’s actually been more than a year, but it’s close enough, as I realized I hadn’t posted anything since my 6 month update. Plus the first chapter of Book 3 (The Atlantean Federation) has just recently hit the sites.
I’ve been busy writing and editing. The first book is just going through a final re-read before it gets self-published. The second book is going through the editing process and I’m several chapters into the third book.
I have talked to several publishers, they’ve all turned me down, but they’ve given me some great feedback. Almost all of them have said my chapters are too long, coupled with… “120K words is too big for an author’s first novel. You need to cut it down to about 80K words!”
A few of them even expressed concern that I was posting the story on free websites, but others commended me for doing that, as it was collecting public feedback and growing an audience, plus I was using the feedback from the readers for editing and story development.
Long story short, it looks like I’m going the self publishing route!
Anyway, without further adieu, here’s the stats from the biggest sites, I’ve got the story published on many more sites than these, but Stories Online and LitErotica are by far the biggest and they provide statistics.
Stories Online 194,052 Reads, 1,328 Votes averaging an 8.04/10 score (80.4%)
LitErotica 252,794 Reads, 15,462 Votes averaging a 4.72/5 score (94.4%)
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