Volume 2 Word count:  7168

News:  When we encounter shortcomings we have 3 choices:  1.  Give up  2.  Endure (usually by adopting a positive thinking cliche to use as a mantra)  3.  Grow from it  (Take a brutally honest look at what happened, and readjust)  Bear with me here, I’m going to apply this to myself as a writer.  Recently, I’ve made a shift.  Sensing that I might be able to be a professional writer (one who can live off their craft) I’ve decided to go for it.  Push the daily word count.  I could do 250 comfortably-now it’s time for 600.  Next 1k, then 2.5k, then 5k…you get the picture.

Before, I was content with being capable of putting out publishable length material.  Now, my new goal is to become good enough to live off it (that’s not the ultimate goal…I’ll address the ultimate goal below in the 6th paragraph).  So I open up sales report for Volume 1 yesterday, and I see…1 sale.  I had grown complacent, thinking that because my writing had passed the test of garnering compliments that it would pass the test of being able to garner sales.  As they say:  Upon each failure or success, take 5 minutes to accordingly pat yourself on the back or mope, then reexamine and charge again (With me it was more like 24 hours because I was in a whiny mood).

Now I blame nobody but myself.  Why?  Because I can only control my own actions.  It’s not like I’m the boss of any of my readers; I serve them, not the other way around.  So.  Here are possible reasons for not selling more than one copy:

1.  My writing needs to be better.  (This is always, always the case.  IMHO writers can always strive for a new height, which is why editing is so important:  It shows a writer their own faults)
2. I need more exposure.  Fairly straightforward ways to do this.  Because of the internet, you can market from the comfort of your own home.
3. My writing needs to be better.

So I’ll play it safe and say all reasons together.  Yes, luck and chance play factors, which keep me from bearing sole responsibility, but I’m going to look at what I CAN adjust.  Now, issue B is easy:  Just keep marketing, stay open for things that work and things that don’t; keep charging and putting material out there.  Issue A becomes easy too.  Write write write.  Edit edit edit.  600 words a day is good for now, but have an eye on the next goal:  1000/day.  Edit two chapters a day, more when the writing smooths out.  Write write write.  Edit edit edit.

The ultimate goal:  Not to make millions.  You see bad writers making good money all the time.  Making money is only a very rough benchmark of how good a writer you are.  The ultimate goal is to become a good enough writer that with no recognition, no exposure, I can drop words onto a page that cause people to cringe, cry, cheer, or just be struck dumb by how well I’ve described something.  Writing essays and constructing arguments is nice, but to me I want that argument to be packing the emotional punch of a nuclear warhead (Some of them do, esp. civil rights stuff).  That’s what I’m working towards.  If I get there, or I sense that writing has nothing left to offer me, I’ll move on to something else.  Never, ever stop improving.  Every activity has core skills that is transferable from one thing to the next:  Attention to detail.  APPLICABLE creativity.  SPEED of applicable creativity.  Focus.  Ability to articulate mechanics…It all relates at the deepest level (If you’re curious, I’d be interested in standup comedy if I was to currently give up writing).

Anyways, without the slightest trace of sarcasm (I know that words on a page don’t translate the tone of a statement very well) I apologize.  My writing was not good enough to be purchase-worthy upon release ( I know it’s only been a couple days, but them’s the standards I put to myself).  I will strive to do better.  I will strive to be a better writer and more ruthless with myself and my shortcomings.  I owe you readers and myself nothing but the best.

Contrary to how this may appear, this isn’t self-flagellation either.  Being from the military, I prefer it when somebody calls it like it is.  So for whatever reason, I didn’t hit the target.  Time to address it and take another shot.  I realize there’s a fine balance of ruthlessness for oneself that wavers between self-pity and arrogance and that it is different for everybody, but this is balanced for me.

On a logistical note, I realize that some potential buyers may be put off by the length of Volume 1.  Roughly 47k words of actual story-I believe according to the Scifi/Fantasy Writer’s Association of America 40k words is minimum for a novel, so mine just barely scrapes by.  My solution is this:  When each volume comes out I will release it separately.  I will also release it combined w/ previous volumes for a minimal price increase.  Ex:  Volume 2 will be 2.99 by itself but volumes 1 and 2 together (an omnibus) will be 3.49.  So while the omnibus will be more expensive (still cheap in the grand scheme of things) it will drastically lower the individual price of volumes.  Each volume added onto the omnibus will be only .50 more.  I think the prices are good as they are (less than a comic book issue for each volume) but maybe I’m wrong.  Let me know, I’m open to anything that makes me sharper and more aware.

Whoa, kind of heavy for what I usually put out.  Sorry if that put you off.  Posts on my fb are to allow any readers to take the journey with me as a beginning writer if they are so interested.  And I hope this one contributes to that.

As always, back to work!  I wish all you other writers inspired drafting and insightful editing!

Synopsis:  Echo is a sci-fi dystopian novel.  In the late 21st century, humanity left Earth due to multiple resource shortcomings aggravated by an acceleration in climate change.  They settled Echo, a planet that was nearly a carbon copy of Earth except for being devoid of life-with the exception of basic bacteria and plants.  Fast forward 1200 years later.  Echo has endured over a thousand years of dark age.  Corporations and government merged early on, becoming the oppressive authority known as the Regime.  Military and police merged into the Department of Enforcement, their only mission to crush the huge network of rebels known as the Dissidents.  Over half the planet is covered by decaying cityscapes and the elite live high above; removed and remote from the greater populace on the moon-city of Ascension.  Hope lies in one man, a bitter and crippled former Enforcer named Atriya.  But before he can break the cycle of darkness and ignorance on Echo, he has to do it within himself.