I'm going to finish "Garmil's Gate" by the end of this month, so I need to decide what to do next. Late last night, this came over my Twitter feed from the leading Hispanic voice in science fiction, Jon del Arroz. Behold!
And look at this. Military. Adventure. Space Opera also dominate. It's almost like the audience has definied tastes and publishers/agents are intentionally ignoring the markets. Weird! #PulpRev #IndieAuthors pic.twitter.com/4IpPdb48uT
— Reverend Jon Del Arroz (@jondelarroz) June 1, 2018
As Jon goes on to clarify, this is from the Science Fiction Writers of America's meeting at the Nebula Awards. Seeing this finally got me to get off my ass and move to the next step as a writer: getting paid. To that end, I opened a FreeStartr account. I'll spend my Saturday post on the main blog announcing this with more grandeur, but for now know this: this is how I intend to raise money for turning these stories into books (as I would at IndieGoGo) in addition to accepting ongoing support (ala Patreon).
At the very least, I want to collect "Garmil's Gate", re-write it (because it needs works), let an editor help me finish the job, put a good cover on it, and get it out for sale on Amazon before North America turns cold again. This also means that I'm going to start accelerating work on Taking, since I can see now that the iron is hot and that means it's time to strike.
I think it's time to launch an email newsletter of my own, and put posts like this there instead. I also think it's time to move the serials over to Steemit, reverting this blog to industry-specific as well as craft-specific commentary and analysis. (Yes, I solicit your feedback for this.) Time to increase my skin in the game. It's one this to be well-spoken and respected. It's another to be able to buy your own mountain.
I want to buy my own mountain. Time to make that happen.
I think you made a wise decision.
ReplyDeleteBradford,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading Gamil's gate and has inspired me to give my take on Gundam/mecha fiction with a Catholic bent.
My suggestion would be to put up some of your fiction here with commentary/writing reflections. Basically interact with your readers about the writing craft, world building etc with your fiction as a point of departure
I know I'd benefit immensely with this kind of interaction
By all means put your fiction on steemit; in my case, I'll wait for your work to be available on Amazon. I can't be a patron yet for all of my favourite writers via steemit and the like but I can support all of you by buying your books, submitting honest reviews and interacting with you at your blogs
xavier