Redemption and Ruin

It has been a while since I sat down to write a blog.

Additionally, this month I finished the draft for the Salvation and Doom sequel, tentatively titled Redemption and Ruin.

Set five years after Salvation and Doom, the story begins with Josh learning the child his late wife carried had survived the Urlak massacre.

The self-editing process is ongoing with about 25% ready to go to a professional editor. When I got serious enough about writing to let other people read my work, the number of grammatical errors embarrassed me. One person I respected suggested I use ProWritingAid, https://prowritingaid.com/, to eliminate a lot of those errors. It is an AI-based program that checks my writing for errors. It allows me to write faster without worrying about minor errors. I am a fan of artificial intelligence for those types of tasks. But I don’t know if I could call myself a writer if I allowed AI to write the novel for me.

Lightning’s Edge Sequel

I have given more thought to the Sequel to Lightning’s Edge.

What if someone kidnaps Ryan’s wife, Emily, and takes her through a portal to Almirosia?

Does that raise the stakes?

Anyway, that’s where my mind has been going.

I should have a rough outline put together while Redemption and Ruin is at the editor.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Drudgery of Sales

I enjoy the creative process of thinking about and writing stories.

Moreover, I feel successful when the process has run its course.

Then I have the physical copy of a book in my hand.

After that comes the drudgery of trying to sell it.

Nevertheless, I sell a few books every month but spend more on advertising than I receive from sales.

Authors hunger for more sales so it’s easy to understand why they have to endure so many promotional offers from scammers.

It has been over a month since I signed the distribution agreement with Titan Book Distribution. The last I heard from them, they had listed the book with 40 bookstores.

However, this seems deceptive since my book is published through Ingram Spark. It lists the book for distribution to most, if not all, those stores.

The next month will determine whether Titan is legitimate, or if I was scammed out of all my money.

Direct Sales

Book fairs and other direct selling are the exceptions. It gives me the opportunity to talk to prospective customers about my books. Over the last thirty days, I participated in two small book fairs. At each, I sold enough books to cover the cost of my table. Moreover, I also got to hang out with my granddaughter who helps me. If I could participate in a larger fair, I might make a profit.