Welcome to the “Indie Writing Life,” my semi-regular blog series about my ongoing activities as a writer, i.e. – somebody running a business writing and selling books. My 2024 inaugural episode can be found here, if you’d like to start at the beginning. The last episode is here.
Conventions & Events
I just got back from the 55th Bluemont Fair, which is a delightful, family-oriented, two-day extravaganza in rural Loudoun County, Virginia. In addition to authors like myself, the event features unique arts & crafts, a Beer Garden, live music in multiple locations, and history/science exhibits, plus an ATV-propelled children’s train ride, a petting zoo, and flyovers by historical airplanes.
In short, it’s an excellent two-day fair and, not coincidentally, one of my biggest book sales events of the year. As you can see, this year I was there solo, which is unusual.
Sales were good, but I noticed a few things that made me realize that, if I continue to do more events solo, I need to up my game. First, I need stand-up banners at the front of my canopy to catch people’s attention and draw them into my nefarious clutches. Probably one stand-up banner for myself and my books, and another for myself as a Tannhauser Press author. Additionally, it’s possible to get a table runner that goes over the tablecloth and hangs down in front advertising the author.
Vistaprint does custom production for these types of products, so I’ll be spending some money with them to “up my game.”
Why was I solo this year? Well…there’s a story behind that…
I’ve been selling books at events since 2018. My first sales event was Capclave, a small SF convention, where I shared a table with fellow author Martin Wilsey. Ever since, we’ve mostly shared a table at any sizable event. But, this year, Marty had to cancel out of the Bluemont Fair.
You see, he got canceled by Amazon, which is where indie authors typically both sell their books…and produce them via Amazon’s KDP printing services. Now, this is something authors fear, i.e. – getting their account suspended by Amazon. It shuts everything down, sales and book printing. With Amazon being so automated, it can happen automatically with zero human oversight, for no discernable reason, which is what happened to him. Of course, he’s working with the company, trying to figure out what happened. But like most big tech companies, they’re very short-staffed when it comes to dealing with problems so he’s coming up on two months of down-time. In the meantime, he’s sold all of his stock that he had on-hand through his online store.
Bottom Line: I was by myself because poor Marty had no stock left to sell.
He’s now getting his books available again by bypassing Amazon’s KDP services. So, check out his website. If his books appeal to you, help him out with some purchases. He’s a full-time writer, so this was his actual income that Amazon stomped on.
Work-In-Progress (WIP)
This is turning into the year where I finish a bunch of long-gestating stories, all of them at novelette or novella length. I’ve been rotating between the various projects whenever I’ve hit a delay or problem. The stories include Pivot Point (an alternate world fantasy steampunk story with magical airships), Winter Spirits (first in the War Shaman post-apocalyptic fantasy series), Run Hard, Run Fast (second in the post-apoc series), and Banner Yet Waves (near future SF Solarpunk story in my Inflection Point series).
I’m busy doing research on 1840’s Paris for the new chapter I need to add to Pivot Point. Banner Yet Waves turned feral on me and decided to be a novella instead of a short story, thereby blowing up my chances of submitting it to an anthology I’d been eyeing. I’ve finished Run Hard, Run Fast…but it’s #2 in a series, so I can’t publish it until #1 is done, but Winter Spirits needs some major changes (three new chapters, fixing some ripple effects, and a tighter ending).
So, right now, I’m driving hard toward the ending of Banner Yet Waves. But it’s already clear that this is a first-draft/second-draft hybrid. It’ll be good to finish it, but it won’t be publishable. The story will need an expanded third draft backed by some more science research.
So, I’ll finish this Banner Yet Waves draft, then switch back to Pivot Point in October. Ah, life as a writer. Someone once said, “Being a writer is like having homework for the rest of your life.”
If you’re curious about all these stories, I have Previews on my website for all of them:
Thousand Kingdoms Hardcovers
My novelette, Jonelle Crosse, is now available in a Deluxe Hardcover edition. This is what they call a Case-Laminate Hardcover, where the cover image is printed directly on the hardcover. This is a signed edition and is exclusively available on my Online Store, just as I did with my previous Deluxe Hardcovers for Bitter Days and The Rooftop Game.
With this publication, for the first time all three novelettes in my Thousand Kingdoms series are available as Deluxe Hardcovers. I also have a Bundle on my Online Store where all three can be bought together for a lower price (and free shipping, too).
- The Rooftop Game – Hardcover (Signed), Trade Paperback (Signed), Amazon
- Bitter Days – Hardcover (Signed), Trade Paperback (Signed), Amazon
- Jonelle Crosse – Hardcover (Signed), Trade Paperback (Signed), Amazon
Lonesome October
We’re coming up on that time of year again—October. It’s the time of year in which I like to reread one of my favorite books…Roger Zelazny’s last novel, A Night in the Lonesome October. The best Halloween novel, ever.
Every few decades when the moon is full on the night of Halloween (a very rare “Blue Moon”, meaning the second full moon in that month), the fabric of reality thins. Whenever this happens, a mysterious group of Players come together to participate in “the Game,” which culminates in a mysterious and unearthly magical ritual. Each Player is accompanied by a strangely intelligent animal familiar.
In the run-up to the ritual, the Players and their Familiars jockey for advantage, collecting arcane ingredients, making deals, forming alliances, spying on each other, and sometimes even killing their competitors.
The story is narrated by Snuff, the canine familiar for Jack the Ripper, with a chapter for each day of October. Like other Zelazny fans, I enjoy reading one chapter a day throughout the month as the tension mounts and the climax, the ritual, looms ever closer…
Check out A Night in the Lonesome October! It’s a fun book.
Note: With ten Players and eight Familiars, there are a lot of characters. A couple of years ago, I created a spoiler-free Lonesome October Cheat Sheet to help keep things straight. I hope it’s helpful to you.
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