Plans for 2020

A new year, and a new decade is coming up right quick, and it would be a shame if I let the momentum I've built up this year die down. For my fans though, fear not, because I have plans to continue pumping out stuff in 2020. Now, of course, as much as I wish otherwise, my writing is on the back burner to the day job and life, so I'll add the caveat that everything here is subject to change. Stuff may get pushed back by months or years, or get canceled entirely. These are the things I'm currently working on though, with an eye to finishing sooner rather than later. 

Cryptids

Cenote was always meant to be the first of a series based around cryptids. Creatures like Bigfoot, the Kraken, and other monsters reported to be true but always just out of sight. I'm writing this blog while taking a break from a piece tentatively titled "Burrows", which will be my second Cryptid novelette/novella. I'm working towards getting the first draft done before the new year, with editing and cover art finished in the first couple months. If everything lines up, "Burrows" should be out by March.

Audiobooks

PATHS does alright, but Cenote continues to do well, with the audiobook version of my first Cryptid work now up to 22 ratings and holding an average of 4 out of 5 stars. What I'm working on next is turning my most popular novel, Class 5 into an audiobook. This is a much more daunting task, since it'll be a 4 - 5 hour piece, and covers multiple characters. Right now I'm trying to pull out adequate parts to make an audition that will give narrators an idea of what they're in for, while letting me hear how they approach different situations and characters. I'm also expecting this to be available by the end of the first quarter of the year, so hopefully by April.

Likewise, if "Burrows" lines up and gets release in the timeline I'm hoping, expect the audiobook version to be available a month or two after the ebook. 

Short Stories

Short story collections are generally not a big seller, especially shorter collections. PATHS was always meant to only be a sampler, to introduce people to my writing style and approaches. It's also always been the weakest of my published works. So, while I'm not expecting it to be a big seller, I'm working on compiling a lot of the short stories I've released over the years into another collection. Most of them you can find here on my blog, but there's just something nice about having all of them, and possibly new stories, in one place. This isn't a priority though, despite how little work it would actually take, so if it comes to fruition, expect it probably around the summer. 

Novels

This is the one that's the most unlikely for the year. I'm working on a couple different pieces, but with everything else going on, getting them finished, edited, cover art, beta'd, and re-edited will probably take more time than I'll be able to allocate this year. Still, things change, and for those who are interested, I want to give you a little idea of everything I'm working on. The first will be another story set in the Class 5 world, titled Class 5: Hybrid. Expect to see a few characters return, and a deeper look into what's going on in the background of this world.

The other work is another Cryptid-based piece titled "Shivers". As you can probably guess, expect something cold. This may work out to be another novella-sized piece eventually, but right now with its plot written out, I think it'll be a full-sized novel. We'll see as work continues on it though.

As you can see, I have more than a couple irons in the fire, and here's hoping 2020 turns out to be as great a year as 2019 turned out to be. That's the thing about being a writer, it's about the long-haul and constantly expanding the backlist. A $100,000 advance would certainly be nice, but the odds of that have more zero's than the check would have, so it's best to keep plugging away at it, which is exactly what I plan on doing.

With that, have a happy and safe holiday season, and we'll see you next decade!

~ Shaun

2019 Wrap-up

Whew. It's been a bit of a tumultuous year for my writing. A few downs, but quite a few more ups. So, let's get into the review of 2019.

After a long time coming (around a year and a half between submission and publication), my first real short story sale saw print in the voluminous book TRANSCENDENT by Transmundane Press. Now, to be sure, this wasn't a big payout, and turnout for it has been muted. But this is a good collection of short stories by a quality publisher. I am happy to report that I did see a brief, uptick in sales of my other works after it's release. So that was a good way to start the year, even if technically the book was released in 2018. (December 26th, to be precise.)

After that, I also got a bit busier here on the blog. I managed three posts in all of 2018, and this year I managed quite a few more. While it wasn't up to the level of once a week like I did several years ago, it's been nice to get somewhat back into the swing of things and let my thoughts out a bit. Whether the blog helps with sales or not has been up for debate since I started it, but it's not a bad idea regardless.

So, after the year started off well, and then slowly rolled into more of the same, I decided it was time to try something different. An author friend of mine had seen some success turning his stories into audiobooks, so I thought I would give it a try. First up was PATHS: Three Short Horror Stories. The expense wasn't too much, and the returns were decent, if not significant. Enough so that I decided to do the same for my other short work, Cenote.

Cenote blew up. While I honestly wasn't expecting much from it when I made the decision of who to narrate the story, I chose someone that was a Youtube book blogger with a following of over 50,000 people. And she told people when the book was available. In the months since its release, Cenote went from 9 ratings on Goodreads.com to 78! With all the accompanying sales that you would expect from that. Cenote is currently the only one of my works to come close to paying for itself. It's recouped the editing costs, and is over halfway to recouping audiobook costs. Things have slowed down, but sales still continue, and I'm hopeful that it'll be in the black next year.

There was one big let-down this year, which I wrote about last week so I won't go into too much here. But to put it simply, I didn't do my research on a publisher that accepted a short story I wrote for their anthology, and I lost first edition rights to a story I'm honestly pretty proud of, to an anthology I'm not excited to tell people about. 

Not a major year, by any means, one short story, and audiobook editions of older works. But that doesn't mean I've been idle. I've posted several new short stories here on the blog this year, and I've got a few different works in progress heading into 2020. I'll delve more into that next week though.

I was planning to put the 2019 wrap-up and plans for 2020 in one post, but this is getting a little long, so check back next time when I go over what I'm planning for next year and what you all have to look forward to from me.

In the meantime, thanks for reading and I'll catch you all later.

~ Shaun

Due Diligence

As a writer, it's very important to pay attention to who you approach and who approaches you in your business dealings. So, while I'm going to spend a fair bit of this post complaining, I want it clear right up front that the only one to blame in this situation is myself.

When you're shopping around for a literary agent, a publisher, or a submission call, the single most important thing to do is to research a person or company before you submit. If you don't do it then, at least do it before you sign a contract. I forgot.

I have a 2019 wrap-up post in the pipe where I'll discuss everything else I've done this year, but to put it simply, after coming off a successful and exciting acceptance of a short story early this year, I got a second acceptance, and I jumped into it without looking. I regret that now.

That's not to say I didn't see the red flags. I did look up the publisher that posted the call I submitted to. I looked through their catalog and while a few things didn't quite set right, I continued. I got the contract in my email, and a lot of that didn't sit or sound right (or actually legally binding), but I continued. There were delays and communication issues, but I continued. (Granted, at this point I had signed a legally dubious contract, so I felt somewhat obligated.) The book missed the target date for release (Halloween) by almost two weeks, and all I could do was shrug and wait.

And now the book is out, although it's only available on the publishers website in a physical form, and it's not available on Amazon or anywhere as an ebook.

As I said, I really have only myself to blame for missing all the red flags.

I spent most of the year excited and looking forward to announcing the second anthology to have one of my works in it this year. Now, even though there is a physical copy of the book available, I can't even take enough pride in it to tell people about it, or where to find it. It's disheartening.

I want to be clear though, that in no way do I think the publisher meant to short the writers who's work was included in the anthology. There was never anything purposefully vindictive or under-handed in any of our correspondence. At worst, I feel like this is a publisher that just doesn't really understand what it takes to run a business, or how to approach being a serious publisher. It feels like someone had a bit of success with what started as a hobby, and they're trying to run with it.

I just want to put this out there and emphasize that as an author, you are your own best advocate. That means being informed and doing your due diligence and research on any person or company you may enter into a business deal with. Don't be afraid to say "You know, this really isn't working for me." at any point during negotiations if you're not comfortable with the red flags you see popping up. Even after a contract has been signed, don't be afraid to make contact and see if things can be cleared up, or prodded in a different direction.

PAY ATTENTION! If something doesn't jive, go with your gut. It's usually right.