KINDLE SALE! All Books $0.99!

It has been quite some time since I’ve had any sort of sale for my books, so I figured why not do it for all of them? All the Kindle formats of my books are just $0.99, so don’t miss out!

London Darkness: Infernal Inventions (London Darkness #1) - “One of my first introductions to steampunk and I do believe it did the genre justice. Stocking has a knack for making the background characters as likeable as the main characters. Fast paced action and a mystery to be solved on every page. The ending will *definitely* leave you wanting the next book.”

London Darkness: War of the Devices (London Darkness #2) - “Sequels are hard to do right, but War of the Devices was a perfect followup to the first book. It was full of action, tension, and mystery, and the ending left my jaw on the floor. I’m definitely looking forward to book 3!”

His Only Star - “HIS ONLY STAR is a gripping and enthralling tale of two kids who run away from home. It’s dark, deep, and realistic. It’s a roller coaster of emotion, and I just couldn’t put it down for one second. The story is poignant and emotional, and it’s one of those texts that stay with you long after you read it. I highly recommend this novella!”

Blood On My Hands: A Collection of Short Stories - “Wow! What a mix of amazing stories. Mr. Stocking has opened a door into yet another room of his creative psyche and given us a glimpse of some of the tenacious, complex, and slightly twisted characters that live there. The courageous and sharp Sarah on through the free living journalist who gets the tip he didn’t want. Hop in, folks! Stocking will take you for one hell of a ride!”

“It’s More Fun to be a Pirate than to Join the Navy” — Steve Jobs

Image credit Lynn Kelly Author via WANACommons

I came across this quote while reading Kristen Lamb’s Steve Jobs and 5 Tips for Being a Successful Author, and it really got me thinking about self-publishing. But first, a thought about self-publishing:

Self-published authors aren’t always the most well-liked people. We’re viewed as sloppy because some self-published books contain typos and story flaws and, well, fewer say it better than the people on Goodreads. For example:

“Aren’t best sellers. Not even worth reading most of those books. All those spelling errors. Its called spell check damnit. Imts not worth reading something that isn’t well known published. Real authors are j k rowling james patterson stephen king, ect. They make they big $. While these people. Hardly make anything for half of these books. They aren’t even in stores, how shitty is that. Therefore they aren’t “real” authors. They are more like ‘amazon’ authors”

Also by the same person:

“All the ‘self published’ book I’ve read are all full of shit! They need to go back to college and leearn some grammar. Its called spellcheck people!”

And again by the same person:

“You mean to be a good writer. Yes they may be writers but honestly anyone can “write” a book these days. These ‘writers’ hardly can even say they wrote a book that’s only on kindle format or not even sold in bookstores. These are the low income writers.”

All right, so this may be the case of a Goodreads troll. However, this person isn’t the only one to share this viewpoint. And I can see where they are coming from to a certain degree. Sure, it’s easy to click a few buttons and put your book up for sale. It doesn’t have to be good, and, sure, it may be filled with typos; but that doesn’t mean all self-published books are like that.

Yes, I know that has been said a million times. Self-published writers are shoved into a stereotype, and that sucks. But, the way I look at it, in the context of this quote by the late Mr. Jobs, self-published authors are like the pirates of the publishing world. We don’t abide by the rules of what traditional publishers say we should do. We go out and, with the help of other self-published authors and/or freelancers, and we pillage and steal from the traditional authors. We sneak up on them in the middle of the night when they’re sleeping and unleash our cannons on them. Then we board them and, with a few hacks and slashes of our scimitars, we take their money and their readers and sail off into the night, counting our treasure and seeking our next victim.

All right, maybe it’s not that intense. But if you really think about it, self-publishing is sort of the underground market of the book world. And sometimes it is more fun. We have full creative control over all of our work. We don’t have someone breathing down our necks telling us what we need to write next or how to write it. We don’t have to answer to the “higher-ups,” hoping that they deem our work “publishable.” Actually, “publishable” isn’t exactly the right word. “Marketable?” Yup. Nailed it.

But as the “pirates” of publishing, self-published authors don’t have to worry about that. We have a story to tell, and damn it, we’re going to tell it!

You know what? I like the sound of that. The Publishing Pirate. There’s a business idea in there, I just know it.

Anyway! Despite the beliefs of others, self-publishers are writers. Self-publishers are authors. I am a writer and an author. And I will continue to be one.

That’s Just What Writers Do (My 200th Post!)

My last post got me thinking about what a great community we have as writers. So much, in fact, that I had to cut myself off to actually get to the point of that post. But it was at that point I decided I might as well dedicate a whole other post to it. Also, this is my 200th post! So I’m pretty excited about that, too. It’s interesting to see how far my blog has come over those 200 posts. And honestly, it should be well past 200 by now. But, what am I going to do? I’m certainly no time lord (although that would be pretty cool!)

But all that aside, I love being a part of the writing community. There’s an incredible amount of help out there. Although I do feel like a lot of the writing craft blogs just regurgitate the same information over and over, slightly changed as the market and reading trends change, it’s all excellent stuff. And even outside of the writing blogs, I’ve never met a writer who wasn’t willing to assist me in some way. Whether it’s beta reading, or just giving me some general feedback on something, everyone has been more than helpful, and I can’t thank everyone enough.

It’s especially tough when being a writer is a career choice that brands you as: a) Someone who likes to write little stories as a hobby, or b) someone who is insane. I often times feel like I’m labeled as the former by some member of my family who don’t quite understand how intensive the writing process is. They feel like it’s a matter of just coming up with the right idea and typing it up. Then, congrats! You’re a famous writer. But, that’s a topic for another time, perhaps.

But when writing seems more like a chore than anything else because the demons of self-loathing have clawed themselves out from the pipes in your kitchen and are sinking their fangs into your flesh as you try to write, it can seem even more difficult. I’ve never reached the point where I want to give up because I feel my writing would be better off lining the inside of a septic tank, but I’ve hard some fairly dark periods (specifically around the time when I published my second (now-retired) novel, Bloodcrest.) I received a less-than-stellar review from another writer, but, because she was a writer, she could also act as a beta reader. She talked me through some of the things that needed improvement and really helped me to figure out some of the things I was doing wrong. Not that there is necessarily a “wrong” way to write. But some ways work better than others, of course.

It’s things like what she did that make the writing community so great. She didn’t have to give me as intensive feedback as she did. She didn’t have to help me and answer my questions. But because she knows exactly what it’s like to be in that position she was able too, and I feel the exact same way. I know what it’s like to struggle to write. I’m still struggling to make this self-publishing work. Marketing isn’t my strong point, but I know that there are other writers (and even those who don’t write) who will be there to support me and to share my work, provided that I produce quality work, and that I return the favor. And really, how hard is it to share a link to a blog post or to rate/review a book on Amazon/Goodreads? Not hard at all.

So I leave you with a heartfelt thank you, and hope that my followers have enjoyed the 200 posts that have acted as a timeline of becoming a published and someday full-time writer. And I hope that I will be able to continue this timeline with new and interesting material–which seems to get harder and harder–for more posts to come.

The Creative Cesspool

The writing community is one of the best out there, really. It’s amazing how–even though we’re all each other’s competition–we’re still willing to help each other out. We’re willing to share links and give feedback to make other writers better, even though we’re potentially helping them get sales that we could have been working toward. Now, I suppose that’s not the most positive outlook on it, and while it is the truth, I’m sure many of us don’t feel that way. We’re glad to help when we can, because we all know what it’s like to need feedback and beta readers. We know what it’s like to post an excerpt and sit on the edge of our chairs, staring at our screen and pressing the refresh button as quickly as we can, wondering how many people will love or hate our work. But, despite how much positive or negative feedback we receive, we’re all writers at the end of the day, and we’ve all been there. Even after the self-loathing and the red pen of death holding its scythe to our throats, we press on with the encouragement and feedback of others.

With that being said, a writer friend of mine has finally started up blogging after waiting way too long. Of course, I’m sure if you ask her “but why? Why in the 46 levels of hell in that fantasy world I created 17 years ago that never actually made it into a full manuscript because the plot bunnies kidnapped me and locked me in their rabbit hole of doom (<- that’s a lie!) did you wait so long?” She might reply with “I was way too busy!” And, well, I don’t buy it, lady!

Anyway! My friend Carly at The Creative Cesspool is an excellent, excellent writer. I met her on Twitter some months ago, and I then discovered that we were in the same Fiction Workshop class last semester. So, I got to see some of her work, and it is excellent. She’s a solid, descriptive writer, and (despite what she says) she writes well. So go on over and give her blog a read and a follow!

Black Powder Brigade — 2013

John grabbed Victoria by her jacket and pulled her close. His jacket conformed to the shape of his flexing muscles. His eyes were aflame with rage and hatred. “Find those responsible and bring them to me,” he growled. “Alive.”

Black Powder Brigade

Coming 2013

Black Powder Brigade: 40,000 Word Update

Well, Black Powder Brigade has finally reached 40,000 words. Woo! The 20,000 word update was March 25th, and I hit 40,000 words yesterday. So it took me 19 days to write 20,000 words, which is about 1,052 words per day. Not too shabby! However, I’ll attribute part of that daily word count average to the fact that I wrote a little over 4,500 words Saturday; my second-largest daily word count ever. So, yeah, I’m pretty pumped about that! Now, onto the book:

Firstly, I’ve dropped the total word count from 120,000 words to 100,000 words. Then I dropped it down to 70,000 words. I know, I know, what a wuss, right? Well I’ve discovered that I’m not a “long-distance” writer.  I guess I just run out of steam after a while (usually I start to feel it around the mid 30,000 word point, but I press on). But, at the current point of Black Powder Brigade, I’m fairly certain I’ll be able to get it to 70,000. Plus, I’m almost positive the second draft will be longer. I’m still essentially telling myself the story (perhaps a topic for another blog post), so I’m sure I’m leaving out all kinds of extra details that really suck the reader into the world. I’m estimating the second draft to be closer to 80,000 words, maybe 85,000. But, we’ll see.

Secondly, the cover art for this book should be awesome. I found an artist who does darker comic-book/graphic novel art, and he said he can draw me something in black and white for $50. If what I have envisioned is anything close to what the cover actually ends up looking like, I’m sure you’ll all love it. He’s going to draw up some thumbnails for me to take a look at, which will help even more.

And, thirdly, I don’t have an excerpt for you this time. However, this book is coming along really well. I really can’t wait to get this draft finished and polished for the beta readers. I think it’ll be an enjoyable and thrilling read.

In other news: I was taken on by a website/magazine/publisher called Eat Your Serial! I’ll be a columnist and  contributing writer! I’ll have a monthly column in which I compare various aspects of writing to other parts of life/interests. For example, Self-Publishing: The Punk Rock of the Publishing Industry, and then I’ll contribute to some of the daily posts. So I can’t wait to get started.

My next Black Powder Brigade update will hopefully be either a character interview or another word update at my target, 70,000 words. So be ready for those!

Black Powder Brigade: Back Cover

I did some toying with the back-cover description of Black Powder Brigade, and I would love some feedback. I’m not entirely pleased with it yet, but I think I definitely have a solid base to work with. I think I need to work on the flow of it. It feels a bit choppy to me.

Let me know what you think!

 

THE HUNT FOR A MADMAN BEGINS…

The New World, 1773 – A group of elite soldiers known as the Black Powder Brigade patrol the world in secret, searching for strange and deadly creatures to ensure the natural order is safe. Some of these creatures evolved naturally, while others are created and bred.

Victoria Sorrel, operating under the lie that she is a boy, joins these men in their hunt for unusual creatures in hopes that it will satisfy her hunger for adventure. But, when a new creature referred to as the Bruta begins terrorizing the New World, things take a dark turn for Victoria and the Black Powder Brigade. Colonists come up missing, an unusual number of trade ships start to arrive at Boston Harbor, and the madman Isaac Carter is freed from prison.

The colonies become overwhelmed with monsters, murder, and betrayal.

The New World hangs in the balance, and it’s up to Victoria, the Black Powder Brigade, and some newly made friends to pry it from the clutches of evil.