The State of the Labor
Happy Labor Day everyone!
I know it can be really rough to grind it out nine to five day in, day out. I know that grind well, so you’ve my condolences.
I want to take today and be honest about where I’m at, as far as my own labors are concerned.
My life, since I’ve awakened to my true purpose, has taken on a three pronged approach to dream-accomplishment. First and foremost: I want to be an author. On the heels of that, I wish to also be a successful streamer of video games. Rounding out the group, I wish to become an internet personality through Youtube, Twitch, and Podcasting.
A Book is Worth Roughly 56,000 Words.
The first portion of my goal is easily my most successful to date. So far, I’ve managed to have three short stories published. All are part of the Temple in the Stars serial, and so far all have been generally well received. Building a readership is still slow going, but I honestly expected nothing less. I don’t have a huge fan fiction following, I’m not well known for other things, and I’m not an incredibly talented author who produces works of staggering beauty. Yet. One day, but that day is not this day.
I’ve also given up on Amazon ever being anything other than a joke and a bundle of broken promises. Are you a small-time author looking for a platform that will promote your work in an effective way? Look everywhere but at Amazon. Unless you want to sink hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars paying Amazon for your promotion, expect little to nothing. Your work won’t be prioritized unless you’re a known quantity. So, give up any dreams (like the ones I had) of being able to release serialized stories for a modest living. That ship crashed, burned, and sank to the bottom of an ocean of tears. It’s not happening, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
Plus side to those crushed dreams though: I have found other avenues that DO actually make a difference in promoting work. First and foremost is Inkitt. I can’t stress this enough: I am about fifteen separate promotion services / sites / facebook groups / reddit channels in now. All of them combined have done a tenth as much to bring in readers as Inkitt has. My numbers aren’t staggering, but I continue to be promoted, I continue to be prioritized, and I feel valued. I get good advice on how to actually make things work, and I can hold onto a modest hope of creating a small amount of revenue through my work there. It’s not perfect, but it’s been the best thing I’ve gotten so far.
Wattpad is great, but I’ve gotten no traction there, and it appears that I never will. I’m a little saddened by that, as I’ve been told by many that Wattpad would be the way to go. It is what it is though, and I will continue to write my butt off in the mean time.
So far, Temple is at a full three releases. A fourth release is mostly done, and this week I plan to put the nail in that particular coffin. It’s taken me longer just because of how much stuff I’ve tried to work in with the world and the story. There are a TON of highly intricate moving parts there, and keeping them all well oiled has been a challenge. I’ve strained my writing skills more on this piece than on anything else I’ve done. Part four is currently at 2447 of 5000 words. It sounds far more incomplete than it is, and the last half should be one or two sessions, tops.
Anrachea is proving a tricky thing to manipulate. I have so much I want to do with it that I’m afraid I’ll fall into scope creep. I’ll keep trying to tack everything I think up on it, and it’ll become so bogged down that it turns into an unnavigable quagmire. That’s a guaranteed way to turn readers off of your work completely. Basically, the worst thing imaginable. I will be steering clear of those waters by narrowing my focus and cleaning up the writing. Mostly though, I’ve come to find that my writing style is one of discovery. I enjoy finding things out about my world just as much as the reader does. I have idears about what Anrachea will be, but I’m trying not to cut myself off from inspiration by locking myself into any specifics. Anrachea is at 3150 of ~ 15000 or so. The wife feels that I should turn this into my first novel. We shall see, but I’m not entirely sold on the idea of a novel right now. I’d rather stick to smaller works until I’ve ironed out my own process as well as the appropriate way to tell a story.
FOR DA STREAMERLORD
On the streaming of games front, I’ve made significant headway in the technical department. With the aide of my good friend, I’ve secured a microphone set-up which will last me indefinitely. It produces fantastically crisp, clean sound. I am an enormous fan. The web-cam is adequate, but that’s hardly a thing that has to be fantastic for my current plans. I don’t intend to do a weekly video service ala Binging with Babish or something along those lines. Mostly the technical aspects have to fit streaming and podcasting. I’ve knocked that out of the park.
As for having people watch the stream… That’s a different beast. To date, my best view was two viewers, for what amounted to a handful of minutes. Not ideal. I’ve conferred with some of the best streamers for the game I enjoy, and it seems to be a common theme that breaking through in streaming is a lot like breaking through in writing: Dogged persistence in the face of all lack of progress. It weeds out 99% of the people who try it, so I just have to remind myself that it’s no different that my writing career. It’s going to be the function of time and effort, and nothing more.
It doesn’t help that I continue dying on my Path of Exile character, or get set back an entire league on League of Legends. I think the streaming will stay mostly with Path, as that seems to be something I can actually handle adequately. League is…. proving problematic, both mentally and emotionally. Not sure I’m in the right place at my life right now to try and promote League of Legends as a thing I do for money. It’s oogly right now.
The Pod Has Been Cast, But Not Cast Aside.
The podcast is currently on hiatus, but that is less a function of my own devices, and more a function of the crazy schedule maintained by my friend who is the anchor for Channel 3. I neither begrudge him for having other commitments, nor do I resent the fact that we cannot progress on that front. I have ideas burbling, and we’ve agreed on ways to step up the quality, but honestly the podcast is something for the winter months. We are also planning on recording multiple sessions and having them released in a very strung out fashion for when he is once more consumed by the busy season.
FLAME HORIZON BABY!
Things are also appearing upon the horizon, barely discernible but most definitely present. I have my good friend Dr. Matt Scrivner propositioned to do the reading for Temple. As he is a highly trained operatic bass of barely rivaled skill and talent, I do believe if he narrates my work it will sell approximately a zillion more copies. Anything, and I do mean anything, sounds good when Dr. Scrivner reads it. So I’ve got that as an option, which is an incredible thing to be holding in my back pocket.
All in all, I’ve broken quite a lot of ground, and laid several foundations which will support the castles I plan to place upon them. I have a lot of hope for this next year, and it will rest upon how much work I’m able to motivate myself to get done. I am excited to see what I can accomplish, and grateful for all of you willing to follow along with me.
Cheers,
Justin
