Masculine Christian Fiction
admin Finally, I’ve managed to set The Spirit of Resistance as a permanently free e-book. If you haven’t had a chance to grab a copy, now you can! In the meantime, already today the book has risen to the top 13 in Men’s Adventure fiction and the top 20 in political fiction without me doing an ounce of marketing (including this here blog post. Go figure!)
Here’s the happy screen shots:
Now I hope that you’ll buy the next books in the series!
The logjam of laziness that has captivated my writing ambitions for the past week or so has finally broken (with a little help from my trusty sledge-hammer: Self-Discipline and a heavy application of Butt-Glue (That’s the short name. The long name is Butt-In-Chair-Glue).). Yesterday I plugged away at Descent, my alien-abduction type novel, and cranked out 4,173 words. Today I hope to do something similar with Jefferson’s Road: God and Country. Of course, even assuming I match yesterday’s effort, that will still put me significantly behind toward reaching my goal of finishing all six novels by the end of the year. And here I was doing so well!
Sigh. Nine days of writing very little works out to a loss of 18,000 words. I’d only banked 5,643 extra words with all my previous efforts to get ahead. Less than three days. True, I did manage to write 1,847 words during that time (almost a full day’s work), but that still puts me behind by 10,510 words. Yesterday, I reduced that to 8,337. Maybe I can knock it down below 6,000 today.
God willing, I’ll pull something off before my wife returns later this afternoon and wants to go out on a date. Family first, right? For now, I’ve got to grab a shower and get cranking.
Later!
I confess I’ve been off stride this past week. Fact is, after cranking out better than 42K the first two weeks of July, the last week has been an absolute bust. Less than 1300 words for the entire week!
In all fairness, it’s been a rather busy week at that. My Mom came up to visit us, and we’ve had some car repair issues on top of the kids needing to be ferried all over creation (okay, it’s mostly my wife who’s done that last bit – though I’ve done a little), and we’ve had get togethers on back to back Sundays. All of which conspires to almost nothing written. It’s going to take some effort to get back on track. The word counts I booked prior to this by going over my minimal word count of 2k won’t be enough to cover the loss of an entire week, so I’ll have to stretch to pull this off.
Which brings up what I think is the real culprit behind the word count fiasco. On at least two of my stories, I’ve felt the plot lines sorta getting away from me. And I’ve faced a set back on a third – meaning the heart of the story hasn’t even begun yet because I’m still dealing with leftover issues from the previous novel. It’s been a little disheartening. I suspect what I’ll have to do is sit down and outline these two books, see if I can’t get a handle on what’s supposed to happen so I can avoid any rabbit trails leading to rabbit holes.
On a side note, and perhaps related to the discouragement over all, is the realization that I haven’t approached my writing career as strategically as I ought to have. The prevailing wisdom is to write an individual series, and then release books in that series close together (like months, not years as in the traditional model) to avoid confusing the reader. Writing multiple series is all well and good, but typically this is done one at a time.
On the other hand, I can’t exactly back off on the books I currently have available to just concentrate on one series or another. Well, maybe I could, but I don’t think it would be beneficial overall.
Jefferson’s Road is the closest to being done series I have, so there’s no question I’ll keep writing that. My Janelle Becker books are the best selling series, so it makes sense to keep doing them as well. Given that Topheth has sold so little to this point, I suppose I could pull it down, rename it something more recognizable (I’m thinking of “Burning” or “The Burning”), and then sit on it until I’ve got at least two more Janelle stories ready to go.
Definitely can’t do that with the Jonathan Munro Adventures, so those books are off the table as far as this is concerned.
That leaves me also with the Dragon’s Eye Cycle – a different genre, admittedly, and the Spilled Milk books. Would there be wisdom in pulling these books and then re-releasing them when I have the rest finished? I doubt it with Spilled Milk, but Eye of Darkness, possibly. I might consider changing the title, and then re-releasing it under a pseudonym, so that I don’t confuse readers with what Michael J. Scott writes. I haven’t sold so many that it’d make a huge dent in matters, so it’s something to consider.
Of course, Turning is still out there as well. I haven’t pushed this one at all, and there are far more to write. I could pull it and then finish more before resubmitting it.
But the real solution, I suspect, is to plan out an entire story arc for a series, write the books ahead of time, and then only release them one a month once they’re all finished, fully edited, and covers professionally done and consistent. I have two unfinished books that might serve toward that end, so I’m not exactly starting from scratch here. It will take some tweaking to make these two books – both stand alones – fit into a single series, but I believe I can pull it off.
So this will be the next strategy, even as I work on finishing the current series that I have. I’ll let you know if I decide to pull anything down and then release more strategically in the future.
I’ve shifted into a new gear with my writing. Still working on six books at once, but now I’m stretching myself to write no less than 2,000 words per day. So far, this is what I’ve produced for the past week.
| 4-Jul | 2,333 |
| 5-Jul | 2,502 |
| 6-Jul | 2,508 |
| 7-Jul | 2,031 |
| 8-Jul | 2,343 |
| 9-Jul | 2,568 |
| 10-Jul | 2,669 |
As of today, I’ve written another 2,006 words, and I may crank out more later on this evening. At this rate, I will be able to add roughly 60,000 words to each of my current works in progress by the end of the year, which should mean that I finish all six books. This would be a major accomplishment for me.
My hope is, as I continue to push myself toward greater and greater productivity, that I shall soon be able to finish a book a month or less (yes, you read that right). At only 3K words a day, consistently, that’s achieved. Of course, I’m still drawing my inspiration from Amanda Hocking at this point. Girl writes an entire novel in a week. Mind-blowing. But not outside the realm of possibility.
I’ve found that working on six books simultaneously has its advantages. I can still generate my requisite number of words, even if I get stuck somewhere, merely by shifting my efforts to a different book. So long as I work consistently on the same six books, I’m able to move everything forward toward completion. As it stands right now, my works in progress, with word counts, are:
| A Glass Half-Empty | 21,990 |
| The Blood-Eater Coven | 23,057 |
| Nicholas | 23,347 |
| The Music of the Spheres | 23,585 |
| Descent | 23,717 |
| God and Country | 24,756 |
So there you have it. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s become of this list in another five and a half months. For now, I”m getting back to work.
Since I first published The Spirit of Resistance in July of 2010, I’ve been marking my writing year from July to June. Thus, now that we’ve crossed the threshold into July, it’s time for a recap.
An especially helpful recap, frankly, because for the past week or so I’ve been feeling rather discouraged. No worries, though. It’s just part of being a writer, I’ve learned. There’s good days and bad days, up and down like everyone else has.
At any rate, this year has been a year of milestones.What are they? I’m glad you asked.
#1 – TEN NOVELS WRITTEN
I’ve written and either published or had accepted for publication (Which is practically the same thing in my book) now ten novels. Yes. I’m officially into double digits. The Elixir of Life is due to come out in November, which puts me over the top. I don’t know if I’ll have another completed before then, given my current attempt at writing six novels contemporaneously, but it’s possible.
#2 – SOLD OVER 1,500 BOOKS
As of this writing, it’s more like 1,600, though I don’t have final numbers in yet from Ellechor (due Friday, and probably worth an update when they arrive).
When you combine these numbers with the freebies I’ve given away, I have almost 32,000 copies of some of my books floating out there somewhere.
Kboards (formerly Kindleboards) has just put up an author milestone page where my tally shows up (I have to update it. It’s on the honor system), and it’s kinda cool to see where I stand in relation to other authors. I’m definitely on the right target. It’s also highly motivational. I really want to get to that next threshold, now.
#3 – SOLD OVER 1,000 COPIES OF A SINGLE WORK
The Coppersmith crossed that threshold this past month, and I now have sold 1,003 copies of that particular story. That’s more than all my other books combined, which is kinda cool given that it’s my first born novel. Way to go, kid (hey, it’s a metaphor. Trust me: writers get it).
And while not exactly a milestone, I’m happy to report that I have now written over 100,000 words since mid February (or since the start of the year. If you remember, I took six weeks off at the beginning of 2013). While I’m convinced I can do better, it’s still something to be proud of. I’m averaging about 725 words per day at the moment. Now that I’ve got my groove back, I should be able to push the last two of my six current WIPs over the 20K threshold.
Of course, if I expect to maintain the growth of my book sales, I’m going to have to do some kind of promotion again this fall. I don’t know if I can duplicate the results of last year’s efforts, but I hope to pull something together that will at least get me close.
Some day, probably not next year or even the year after that, but someday fairly soon, I should reach the magic threshold of 1,000 books per month. That’s the magic line where a writer can earn a respectable living from his words alone. That’s the real short term goal. I guess I’m getting closer and more confident now that it’s achievable–and that is a milestone.
Or will be shortly, as soon as Amazon finishes reviewing the file. That being said, you can order a print version from Createspace here. And for a limited time, I am offering five signed paperback copies of the book (I’ll have them shipped to me soon) for you to read, provided that (Big Caveat!) you promise to leave me a review. I’m totally serious about this. Reviews are the lifeblood of book sales. Without them, our books just sit there in digital anonymity. I’m not asking for five stars or unrealistic praise. I’m asking for an honest “This is what I thought of the book” type review (although, I suppose if you absolutely hate the book, we can just quietly give that copy away to someone who might appreciate it more, ya know?).
Just, somewhere toward the bottom, write something along the lines of, “I received a free copy of this book to review and was in no way otherwise financially compensated. All comments are my own.”
If you want the book digitally, I can make arrangements for that as well. Just let me know your kindle email address so I can send it to you. Sorry, can’t sign the digital ones.
Happy Reading! 🙂
QUICK UPDATE: Amazon has now given me an ASIN, so you will be able to access the Kindle book here as soon as they finish publishing it.
Well, the good news is that I’ve finally got the edits from my girls for Turning, which means I can at last initiate the rewrites and final edits before releasing this book. We had a pretty good discussion about it this evening, going over the things they did like, didn’t like, and any suggestions they had. There’s a few minor tweaks I’ll be implementing starting tonight, not the least of which is reformatting the book from a 6×9 to a 5.5×8.5 cover size. My goal is to have the edits done and the book available by the end of the month. Okay, actually, it was to have the book available at the beginning of the month, but schooling got in the way (technically, it was Algebra that got in the way). The good news is that I should still be able to take advantage of the coupon I received from Createspace via NaNoWriMo for a free printing of five books–that’ll go a long way toward helping us locate more BETA readers, I expect.
In the meantime, I’ve been plugging away at the other six. I’ve got four of the six current WIP’s above 20K words. The other two are bumping their heads on it. I may decide to narrow the field a bit and give more attention to the books that I’m more productive on, but I haven’t done so just yet. I really like the idea of finishing six books together, but it’s probably unrealistic to expect that I’ll get all six done in a year’s time. Besides, I know that readers of Jefferson’s Road are chomping at the bit for the next installment, and I do want to get it out to you this year. I also have to give priority to Music of the Spheres. Even though Elixir of Life is due out in November, I kinda want to have the next book ready to hand over to Rochelle when that happens. That leaves me the opportunity to pick amongs the four remaining books for the two “most likely to succeed” (ie: get finished). I have to choose among Descent, A Glass Half-Empty, The Blood-Eater Coven, and Nicholas. And waiting in the wings, I have a Middle East thriller called Rock of Ages that has around 16K words or so (I think). That’ll certainly give me fodder for 2014.
I’ll let you know once Turning is ready to go. Later!
For those of you who’ve enjoyed (or are enjoying!) The Lost Scrolls, my wife put me on to this little tidbit regarding sales of some fragments of The Dead Sea Scrolls that hit the news recently.
Here’s the link:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/dead-sea-scroll-fragments-to-hit-the-auction-block/
Amazing to think that so many of these fragments are winding up in the hands of private collectors–but also so cool that we’ll at last hear of their contents soon. Look at some of the prices paid for these fragments. Now imagine what value the original autograph manuscripts of the New Testament might have!
Who knew?
So I took my kids to the 8th Annual Teen Book Festival at Nazareth College here in Rochester this past weekend. They volunteer to support the authors as they interact with the kids and readers throughout the day. My wife was out of town, and I planted myself on my butt in a WiFi alcove near the café and proceeded to write. All told, I churned out over 7,000 words that day – which may be a personal best (it’s at least in the top five).
And I probably would’ve done more, except that something sort of unusual and kinda cool happened.
I was typing away, when a lady I’d never met before sat down beside me, reading her Kindle. There were also some teens sitting across the alcove that I spent a little time chatting with–enough to distract me from my keyboard. At any rate, as I typed, I happened to glance at the woman’s Kindle (idle, purely nosy curiosity), and I noticed a symbol on the top of the page she was reading – a kind of swirly-gig that looked exactly like the scene break swirly-gig used in The Lost Scrolls. I thought, “Now that’s odd…” So I looked a little closer and read, “Dr. Jonathan Munro…”
Stunned. Absolutely stunned.
I said, “You’re reading my book!”
She said, “I know. That’s why I sat down beside you. I didn’t want to interrupt your writing, though.” Then she told me that she’d even facebooked the fact that she was sitting down beside me as I wrote while she read my book.
Wow.
We had a marvelous conversation. Her name is Deb, and she works at the Phelps Community Library. Make a long story short, she suggested an invitation to come do an author reading at the library sometime in the near future, and we’ve begun connecting via email toward that end.
She totally made my day. To hear from someone I know that likes my books is pretty cool, but to hear it from a stranger who just happens to sit down beside me? Even more so.
Last night I finally wrapped up Turning, the first installment of my teen dystopian New World Order series. I hope you’ll take a chance and read the book. You can find the main page here, and if you open all subsequent pages in a new window, you’ll be able to return to it to find the next chapters rather easily.
I’ll be releasing the book on Amazon and Createspace soon, and I hope that I can count on you to leave me honest reviews when I do.
The book will continue to be available for free here on the website through at least the month of May while I await your reactions, though you’ll be able to buy it for download on your Kindle or a paperback copy as soon as I have it up.
If I receive comments before releasing the book, I’ll be happy to include those in the front matter (hey! You’ll get your name in print!). If you’d rather I didn’t, just let me know and I’ll keep them out of the final copy.
Thanks for everyone for your patience as I composed this project. I know it took me a lot longer than I initially wanted it to, but writing is like that. Churning out a book in less than a year is very difficult, if only because sometimes it takes that long for the story and characters to mature. The process is very organic, and some things just cannot be rushed without getting poor results.
As soon as I’m able, I’ll get back to work on the other five projects (might be later today, though I might just take a break, too). I did crank out 6,383 words yesterday to pull this off. Getting to the finish line of a book is often like the final sprint in a marathon. Once you cross the line, you really don’t want to keep running, you know?
At any rate, there it is. Ten novels are now completed, and I hope to have two or three more done by the end of the year.