indie publishing | CW Hawes

Kickstarter for Fiction

We’ve all heard the numbers. Over 7 1/2 million books on Amazon. Over 3,500 new titles added every day.

The gurus tell us we can beat the odds and become a bestselling author. All you have to do is pay them hundreds or thousands of dollars. And they will make it happen.

Hundreds or thousands of dollars? For one book? But, hey, it’s only money and they guarantee that your book will hit some bestseller chart (usually obscure) on Amazon.

The questions I ask are:

- - A bestseller for how long?
  - Will I earn back my investment?
  - Can I duplicate the results on my own?

The odds are you won’t earn back your investment any time soon. Nor will you be able to duplicate the results on your own. Because if you did, the guru just lost a potential future customer and maybe created a rival. And that’s bad for business.

As for how long your book will be on the bestseller list — does it matter?

No, I don’t think it does. Because a bestselling book that ends up losing you money is simply a loss. No matter how many copies you sell.

Think about this: aside from Patterson, Rowling, or King, name me a bestselling author from 20 or 30 years ago. Fame is indeed fleeting.

And if you can name one, that’s only one writer among many, many tens of thousands. That’s something to think about.

Bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson blew the lid off Kickstarter setting an all time record of over $41 million in pledges for his latest campaign. All I can say is that it got my attention. (If being a bestselling author was so great, why was he doing a Kickstarter?)

I took Dean Wesley Smith’s free Kickstarter workshop and took a long look at whether or not Kickstarter was a viable platform for me.

And that’s a valid question to ask about any platform. Is it valid for me?

Let’s face facts. Amazon is glutted. The odds of anyone finding your book are pretty doggone remote.

Most people don’t look beyond page 1 or 2 of the search results. If your book isn’t showing up there, for all intents and purposes — it doesn’t exist.

Couple the above with the fact that a search returns more sponsored ads and Amazon promos than search results — so there’s even less chance for someone finding your book on a search. Even if your keywords are perfect.

To put all of our auctorial eggs in the Amazon basket is, in my opinion, just plain stupid. I didn’t always think so. But years of minuscule sales have convinced me otherwise. There’s just too much competition, no matter what category you put your book in.

Practically speaking we independent authors are also independent publishing houses. Which means, whether we like it or not, we are businesses. Our job is to sell our books. Does it make sense to try to sell your wares in an overcrowded marketplace?

If you were selling apples, would it make sense for you to go to the same place where everyone else was selling apples?

Might you not get better results adopting a different sales plan?

Why do you think these gurus are teaching courses and selling their services? It’s easy money compared to selling books.

Remember: the people who got rich in the California Gold Rush weren’t the prospectors. It was the people selling stuff to the prospectors.

In my tooling around on the Kickstarter site, I was surprised at the number of authors who are in fact funding their projects. Sure there are a lot that don’t fund — but there are a lot that do.

I’ve supported a half-dozen projects and gotten loads of goodies in addition to the items I pledged for. Plus I found myself a couple new authors I want to follow. I’d say that was a win-win situation. Win for the author and a win for me, the reader.

I just finished writing the 9th Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigation. I’m going to use it to test the Kickstarter waters.

If I’m successful, I plan on doing more Kickstarters and will hopefully build an audience there, plus earn some cash along the way to fund my business. Others are doing so. Why can’t I?

And remember: Dean Wesley Smith has a FREE workshop to help you get started on developing a successful Kickstarter campaign. He’s run many successful campaigns.

Get the workshop here: https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/p/kickstarter

If you are a fiction writer and haven’t gotten any traction on Amazon, perhaps Kickstarter is a place you need to consider as an option.

My thought is this: if there are too many cooks in the kitchen — find another kitchen.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, keep thinking outside the Amazon box.

CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

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The Underground Authors

“Many hands make light the work.”
—Unknown

We all know that it is easier for a group tackle a project than it is for us to tackle it by ourselves. With rare exceptions, of course.

The Publishing Business

That’s why publishers have an army of people putting out a book: purchase editors, copy editors, proofreaders, book designers, cover artists, marketing committees, formatters, printers, distributors, sales people, and, of course, the company executives.

Is it any wonder the big corporate publishers charge $10 or $15, or even more, for an ebook that probably cost them less than $5 to actually produce?

Independent Author-Publishers have learned, over the years, it’s best not to try and do everything. Mostly because if they did, they wouldn’t have much time left to write.

One reason Brandon Sanderson and James Patterson are so prolific is because they have an army of people doing all of the non-writing stuff. Which leaves them all the time in the world to write. (Yes, I know, they do participate in marketing efforts.)

The Underground Authors

One afternoon back in June of 2020 I got an email from Caleb Pirtle III inviting me to join an author co-op he was organizing. The purpose of the group would be to promote each other’s books. And thus The Underground Authors were born.

In those early days, we supported each other by buying and reviewing books; and talking each other up on social media, our blogs, and to our mailing lists.

Beyond the Sea

Last year, we decided to put out a short story anthology to highlight our work in one place. And thus Beyond the Sea was born.

Twelve stories by twelve writers, all inspired by the picture that became the book’s cover.

It’s a phenomenal collection, if I do say so myself. Twelve imaginative, touching, thoughtful, and exciting stories — all created from looking at one picture.

Author and reviewer Lisette Brodey wrote:

I chose this book because I’m someone who always looks for stories in photographs and paintings. So, seeing this anthology, where each author was inspired by the same photograph, immediately grabbed my attention.

All of the stories, greatly ranging in genres, were well written. Of course, I have some favorites, but to mention them here, for me, would be to discount the other stories, which I don’t want to do.

What really stood out for me was the collective talent, the beauty of the imagination, and the endless possibilities of an abandoned / lone boat. And who knows, while you’re reading, you may end up writing your own story.

Pick up a copy on Amazon. And see for yourself. All profit goes to charity. Good stories for you and cash for Team Rubicon.

Who Are The Underground Authors?

There are 12 authors at present in the group. Below are the names, which you can click or tap, and go to their Amazon US pages.

CJ Peterson left the group last year to focus her efforts on her own publishing company. We miss her enthusiasm and contributions, but wish her much success.

Working together. Sharing thoughts and advice. Getting help when needed. Just having someone to talk to. Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary venture.

The Underground Authors. I’m glad I’m a part.

Next week, I am going to talk about the newest project to come from the pens of The Underground Authors: The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles. Stay tuned!

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer; as well as an armchair philosopher, political theorist, and social commentator. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

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The Business Of Being Indie—Part 1

Indie authors are actually independent author/publishers. And quite frankly, while many, if not most of us, are decent writers — nearly all of us are poor businessmen. In other words, we suck at the publishing part of our business.

McDonald’s

We think of the restaurant with the Golden Arches as a fast food eatery. But McDonald’s primary concern isn’t burgers and fries — it’s location. Their primary concern is real estate: buying the best location in an area. Because the best location will bring in the most traffic — and traffic translates into burgers and fries sold.

Success Stories

I like reading indie success stories. I find them to be a source of inspiration and encouragement. If they can do it, why can’t I?

And there are some very significant indie success stories. Mark Dawson, Michael Anderle, Nick Stephenson, Joanna Penn, Craig Martelle, Diane Capri, to name a few.

But there are also success stories we don’t hear about very often, such as PF Ford, Patty Jansen, and Lindsay Buroker.

If the above mentioned authors can make significant money from their pens, why can’t I?

Roadblocks

There are, though, significant roadblocks on the road to making a living from telling stories. Let me point out two.

Ignorance. Yep, lack of knowledge. Specifically mail-order business knowledge.

Because, whether we realize it or not, whether we like it or not, we indie authors are, at the heart of it all, mail-order businesses.

How do your readers get your books? By snail mail or email. Very few of us are in bookstores. So if your readers and mine get our books by mail, we are mail-order business persons.

To succeed, we need to get rid of our business ignorance and learn the ins and outs of mail-order business.

Belief in the Magic Wand. Most of us think that our business model goes something like this:

Write book —>Wave Magic Wand —>Thousands of Sales

However, we soon find out that there is no magic wand. We write our books, publish them, and ask ourselves why isn’t anyone reading my Great American Novel?

Generally speaking, people don’t read our books because they don’t know they exist. With millions of indie books published on Amazon, how are readers going to find my book? Because Amazon is a business too. They are going to drive traffic to the books that sell and will therefore make them money. The infamous Amazon algorithms see to that.

There is no Magic Wand. We have to go to work and drive traffic to where our books are. Which means we have to find the traffic, our potential readers, and get our book in front of their eyes. This takes work. There are no Magic Wands. There is just work or excuses for not working.

These two roadblocks kill off most indie authors. Because writing for a living has always been difficult, with few being successful at it. And nothing changed with the advent of ebooks.

Tune in next week to find out what work we have to do in the hope of getting eyeballs looking at our books.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading and writing!

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I’m Editing

I’ve gotten Van Dyne’s Zuvembies back from the beta readers, and made corrections based on their suggestions. Now I am beginning the final editing process.

Rather than pay $450 or more for a professional (whatever that means) editor, I bought ProWritingAid for a lifetime fee of $300. I made the purchase to up my game, so to speak.

We writers fall into habits. And those habits are what often result in sloppy writing.

Using the best editing software I can buy, I get all of the services a professional editor can provide at a tiny fraction of the cost. Technology is a sound business investment, because any businessman will tell you that the single most expensive part of doing business is personnel.

That is why people are constantly being replaced by technology. That is why raising the minimum wage is a fallacy: those workers, who would benefit, will be replaced by machines — because in the long run machines are cheaper.

Today, even though I buy a First Class airline ticket, I no longer get First Class service and have to check-in my own luggage. Why? It’s because the airline can then employ less personnel.

So, rather than pay a human editor to edit each book I write, I paid a one time fee — and I get all the same advice and recommendations. And probably more, because the human eye is fallible. The machine is not.

I have a list of editors that I will never use because the books they supposedly edited are rife with errors. Humans are fallible.

I can read a text three or four times. Yet when I have the computer read it to me, I still find errors. The human brain will try to make sense of the sentence, and so I read things that aren’t there. On the other hand, the computer reads exactly what’s there. It misses nothing.

ProWritingAid is a very useful tool. Is it the best? I don’t know. Several authors I know like it and recommended it. I tried the software, saw the potential to improve my books, and bought it. And that’s a simple unsolicited observation.

Because May was a personally tumultuous month, I’m behind on my publishing schedule. But I’m catching up. Van Dyne’s Zuvembies will come out next month and after that I have a Justinia Wright novel and novelette to follow.

Now it is back to editing for me.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy editing!

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#IndieApril

April on Twitter is #IndieApril month. All month long we celebrate independent authors/publishers — indies. It is a self-publishing extravaganza.

I regularly read self-published books. In fact, the majority of my reading is of self-published authors. In this day and age democracy reigns in the publishing world. The artificial gatekeepers of editors and agents and publishing house rules are dinosaurs on the evolutionary path to extinction.

Two thousand and many more years ago there were no agents, no editors, no publishers. If Sophocles wanted to write a play, he wrote one. The audience was the only arbiter. If Seneca, wanted to write a book on moral philosophy, he wrote one. Only the audience mattered.

When the printing press was invented, self-publishing — which was the only kind of publishing there was — could reach much larger audiences with the new printed books than it ever could with the old handwritten manuscripts of previous generations. A win for publishing democracy.

Today, with ebooks, there are no limits. Not selling enough on Amazon? BookFunnel can create a code for your ebook that allows you to give it away or sell it. The reader then redeems the code on the BookFunnel site and gets the book.

You can literally stand on a street corner and give away or sell your ebook to any number of takers. All you do is give them a card with your book code on it.

You’re on the bus or an airplane. The person next to you is interested in your book — you can make a sale right then and there.

I haven’t used BookFunnel’s new program yet (it’s not offered on my current plan), but I’ve been thinking of ways I could use it. Because it sure beats the heck out of hauling around cartons of paperbacks.

Democracy has returned to writers and readers in a way, Aeschylus, Plato, Seneca, Plotinus, and other ancients never dreamed of. And I, for one, love it.

Each #IndieApril I try to read several brand new authors. So far this month I’ve read two new to me authors: Caleb Pirtle III and Lex Allen.

Lonely Night To Die by Caleb Pirtle III is a collection of three noir thrillers. I prefer to see them as three episodes in the life of the Quiet Assassin, Roland Sand. Lonely Night To Die is a thrilling, suspenseful read by international bestselling and award winning author Caleb Pirtle III. Do add it to your reading list.

Lovably Dead is a collection of tales of terror by Lex Allen. Awesomely scary reads by a superb writer. If you love being scared to death, get Lovably Dead. Just make sure your life insurance is paid up.

I also like to revisit favorite authors during #IndieApril. So far I’ve revisited Ray Zacek and Andy Graham.

Cosecha by Ray Zacek is a novella of terror you won’t soon forget. A monster is prowling the US-Mexico border. A monster that only catches — never releases. If Zacek writes it, you need to buy it.

Andy Graham is a writer who is quite literary in his style. However, that doesn’t mean he won’t scare the bejesus out of you. Because he will. I’m currently reading A Crow’s Game. And, yes, all the lights are on. And I do mean all.

Indie writers are turning out fabulous books and stories. There are so many talented people out there that the gatekeepers would have denied an audience. And that ain’t right.

April isn’t over. I urge you to buy, read, and review a self-published book. Let me know in the comments if you need suggestions.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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#IndieApril

Today’s the last day of April. A third of the year is over. Wasn’t yesterday New Year’s? At least while time’s flying, I’m having fun! Hope you are too!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I’m a reader. I prefer reading to TV, movies, video games, boardgames, you name it. Reading takes you to a million different worlds without leaving the comfort of your own home. Reading’s my favorite way to travel. Reading also stimulates the imagination like nothing else. And that’s a good thing.

Earlier this month, on Twitter, someone started the hashtag #IndieApril. The goal was to get people to buy, read, and review books written by independent author/publishers.

Being an independent author/publisher and reader, I was excited to jump on the bandwagon. After all, reading is a good wagon to jump on.

I ended up buying 7 books. Here they are:

The Tainted Dollar by Chris Derrick

Hotel Obscure by Lisette Brodey

Voyager by Carl Rackman

The Monkey Idol by KD McNiven

A Brother’s Secret by Andy Graham

Connor’s Gambit by Z Gottlieb

Into Armageddon by Jeff DeMarco

As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is a good book in the eye of the reader. And just as there is a lot of beauty out there, there are a heck of a lot of good books that just don’t get the press.

The editors who work for publishers are mere mortals. They put their shoes on the same way you and I do. They are biased and opinionated individuals whose job is to make money for the publisher, the businessman, they work for.

The stories are legion of editors who passed on the eventual bestseller. The stories are legion of editors who thought book X was the next Gone With the Wind — and it didn’t even sell 10 copies.

Why is this? It’s because publishers aren’t interested in art. They’re interested in money. How many bucks will they make on Book X versus Book Y? This makes sense if we understand that publishing is a business. The publishing house’s sole purpose is to make money for the owners.

Businesses exist to make money. It’s why Jeff Bezos started Amazon — to make money. To get rich if possible. It’s why Random House exists — to make money for their German and British owners. Publishers only see books as dollar signs.

For the last 50 plus years I’ve read in writing magazines and now on the internet, that bestsellers keep publishers afloat. On virtually all of their other books they lose money. The likes of Patterson and Rowling and King, enable publishers to publish the likes of you and me — if we can get past the gatekeepers (editors). And there were other bestsellers who allowed the publishers to gamble on Patterson, Rowling, and King.

As much as I don’t like the monopolistic mindset of Amazon, I’m forced to say that it was the Kindle that changed publishing forever.

Suddenly, overnight, not a single writer needed an agent or a publisher. Writers were free at last. There were no more gatekeepers to prevent our voices from being heard.

Publishing had suddenly become a true democracy. Publishing became as easy as buttering a slice of toast.

Of course, people have this proclivity to make easy things difficult. And so now we see indies themselves setting up all manner of roadblocks to prevent the newbies from entering the ranks of the august.

I hear constantly that one has to have an editor, maybe several! I was told by one nobody author that if I didn’t have money to hire an editor, I should hold a garage sale to raise the money to hire one. What idiocy! As if I have enough stuff I don’t want to make even $10.

Here are more must haves. One has to have a professionally made book cover. That one has to pay a formatter for a professionally formatted book. And one has to pay for lots of marketing.

What’s going on is simple. In the first place, all those editors that publishers have let go in the last 30 years are seeking to feed off of the indie revolution. Quite honestly, indies don’t need professional editors. We are our own publishing house of our own books. We don’t need someone who doesn’t know us to tell us what our books should or shouldn’t be.

In the second place, indies themselves — to eliminate competition — set up barriers to new writers. Of course there are no barriers to publishing today, so these people play the traditional publishing mind game and make gullible newbies think they need all the above mentioned crap.

The indie publishing waters are filled with sharks and piranha — let the newbie beware. I say ignore those naysayers and shysters. Just write and publish your book. Then learn how to market it.

Every day I’m amazed at the good indie writers I discover. Writers who’s books languish at the 500,000 or one million rank in the paid Kindle Store. Writers who are usually better than the indie bestsellers — most of whom are of no better quality than the traditionally published crowd.

On this last day of #IndieApril, I encourage you to pick up a book or two written by an independent author/publisher. Here are 10 suggestions:

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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A Bump In The Night

Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of – Part 9

A Bump in the Night by Crispian Thurlborn
https://amzn.to/2KBx666

We think life can be difficult. But being dead has its own problems.

Mr Snaggle and Mr Snuffle, those Arbitrators of the Quick and the Dead, have a new problem on their hands: their good friend, Mr Bump (that fellow who ferries folks across the river to the realm of the dead), is fading. Fading from being a ghost to being truly dead. And if Mr Bump goes, who’s going to do the ferrying?

This is a ginormous problem and Mr Snaggle and Mr Snuffle are doing their darnedest to help their friend. Seemingly, though, without success. That is, until little Penny shows up.

Crispian Thurlborn’s A Bump in the Night is a ghost story. It’s an urban fantasy tale. It’s a literary think about the meaning of life — and death. It’s a book that is at once humorous and serious.

In a style that would make Dickens envious, Thurlborn tells us a story we won’t soon forget. The tale lingers there on the edge of your mind, just like… Well, just like a ghost.

And while A Bump in the Night isn’t a Christmas story, it does have ghosts and the themes in the book go very well with “peace on earth, goodwill towards men”.

Crispian Thurlborn is one of my favorite authors. If you haven’t read anything by him, let me say his writing is on par with that of the best writers writing today.

Do yourself a favor and get a copy of A Bump in the Night. You won’t be sorry, and you may just find yourself putting the book in your pile to read again.

Comments are always welcome; and, until next time, happy reading!

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Four Years

November marks my four year anniversary as an independent author-publisher. And they’ve been four super wonderful years. I’m very much looking forward to year 5.

I’ve published 28 books, with number 29 coming out by year’s end. If I’d gone the traditional publishing route, I might still be looking for an agent. Screw traditional publishing. It’s the indie life for me!

Now I’d love to write that I just bought that Rolls Royce I’ve always dreamed of owning with my royalties from this year. Unfortunately, my desire has greatly outpaced my earnings.

Am I disappointed? I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t. But I’m only disappointed a teeny-weeny bit. Why? Because I have 28 books, soon to be 29, available for people to enjoy. I’m making some money. And people, at least some people, like my stories. Plus I’m doing what I always wanted to do and loving it. What more can one ask for?

I’ve learned a lot these past four years and I’m hoping the next four years will at least allow me to buy a Ford Focus. 🙂

While all that sounds optimistic, fundamentally I’m a pragmatist. In the end, what works is what counts. I’ve read dozens of books, articles, and blogposts by writers as to what works and what doesn’t. I don’t focus on the fads or the gimmicks or the golden parachutes. I look at what truly works.

For indie writers, there is one refrain that has been constantly sounded by virtually all the successful writers — and it’s simple: write fast, write in series, publish often, and build a mailing list. Those 4 things are what virtually all successful indie authors have done and are doing. Sure there are exceptions. But they are the exceptions.

If you are an indie writer and aren’t writing fast, aren’t writing one or more series, if you aren’t publishing often, and you aren’t building a mailing list — then you will almost certainly fail. It doesn’t matter how good your writing is. Indie readers want lots of books, because they tend to be voracious readers, and they want them in series. It’s that simple.

Self-publishing today is easy and gaining in respectability. And I’m glad. For anyone who wants to write and publish a book, now that person can. There are no longer any gatekeepers stopping people. We can tell the world whatever is on our hearts and minds. We can tell the world all the stories we want to. And that is a good thing.

Marketing, however, remains the bugaboo — for both indies and the big corporate publishers.

Finding one’s audience is the real challenge for any artist or entertainer who hopes to make a living producing art. And fiction writers are both artist and entertainer. And this is where a mailing list can help the writer. Because a mailing list is really a list of those who like your work, or are at least interested. You won’t get that from Amazon or Apple or Barnes and Noble. They keep the email addresses to themselves.

Marketing in some form is essential to getting our name and our work out in front of potential readers and buyers. A mailing list is simply a voluntarily captive audience, as it were. There are other forms of marketing, and they should be used. But you writers, don’t neglect the mailing list.

For the curious, I’ve earned the following royalties for my efforts:

2014 (2 months) $113.48

2015 $233.87

2016 $231.04

2017 $212.53

2018 (through October) $280.53

Those earnings came from the sale of 513 books, 35 borrows, and 23,202 page reads.

As you can see, I’m no mega-star. No bestseller. No award winner. But I’m not ashamed of those numbers. Thus far I’ve achieved all that with but 4 weeks of paid advertising done at the beginning of this year. The bulk of my sales and page reads came from free advertising venues.

My fan base is tiny. And I do mean tiny. But it’s a start and I continue to be excited and encouraged with every sale and page read.

For the coming year I’m going to focus on the indie formula for success. I plan on writing lots, at least 1,000 finished words a day and hopefully I can push that to 2,000 or 2,500 on a consistent basis.

The old pulp formula, which is now the indie formula, is alive and well. Publishing 3 books in 3 months proved it to me. It’s what has given me my best year ever. I had sustained sales for 4 months after the third book was published. If I’d had more ready to go… Who knows, I might have been a bestseller.

I’m also going to work on building my mailing list. I’m a believer in the 1,000 fan theory. Which is this: all an artist needs is 1,000 super fans (those folks who will buy whatever you put out — books, recordings, cups, sweatshirts, etc.) to make a living from his art.

To find those fans, I’ll be using such avenues as Prolific Works and BookFunnel: giving away a free copy of a story in exchange for an email. The process is slow and tedious. Many unsubscribe right away. Many drop off in the first few months, and many never open an email. I’ll cull from the list those who are unresponsive. Leaving the folks who are hopefully interested in my books.

I love writing. I love being retired so I have the freedom to write all day if I choose. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Life is grand.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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Steve Bargdill

Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of – Part 6

Okay, Steve Bargdill is not a book. He’s a writer. A doggone good one, too. To date, he’s self-published four books and they are all winners. He’s also shopping a novel around to agents. I read a draft and it’s dynamite. I wish him much success.

I’ve read all of his books and I’m waiting for more. His only fault, as far as I’m concerned, is that he doesn’t write fast enough.

Banana Sandwich

Banana Sandwich was my first foray into the fictional world of Steve Bargdill. I noticed his tweet that his book was more popular than Moon Pies. And that got us talking and got me reading his book. I’m glad I saw that tweet.

The book is a dark and gritty rollercoaster ride of mental illness and emotions. There is enough comic relief so that the book isn’t oppressively dark. Bargdill knows pacing. And the ending… Well, it will blow you away.

As an aside, I’ve seen people rip the cover. Personally, I love the cover. It says everything about the story. And being lit fic, what else can the cover say? It’s perfect.

Banana Sandwich is a fabulous book. Don’t pass it by. You’ll regret it. Truly, you will.

Wasteland: The Complete Series

Wasteland is a compilation of 6 separately published novellas. Here’s the review I posted on Amazon:

Six novellas. One novel. People bound, chained, imprisoned by the warden of their minds to views of what is and isn’t possible.

Steve Bargdill takes us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, delirium, sanity, and insanity. People who are trapped and feel they have no other choice but to do what they are doing. People who feel hopeless and helpless. Crushed by life.

And yet because the only constant is change, new people and new dynamics intersect with the lives of the main characters. What seems to be a life without purpose and without hope, very often isn’t. It all depends on what we think is possible.

Dark. Gritty. Surreal. Absurd. Wasteland by Steve Bargdill is the 21st century Our Town and Winesburg, Ohio. This book is a must read.

I can’t add anything more. Get Wasteland. It could be life changing.

Color of Hope

Color of Hope is a very short collection of poetry and flash fiction. Every single poem and story is good, with some being truly superb. Definitely the kind of collection to keep handy for when you have five minutes to spare and want something far more enjoyable then that old magazine in the mechanic’s waiting room, or the dentist’s office. Or while you’re waiting for the rain to pass.

It’s a wonderful little book and it’s only a buck. You can’t go wrong.

Neighborhood Mums

Neighborhood Mums is a short story — and an excellent one. Because it stays with you long after you’ve finished the story — and that’s the mark of an excellent writer.

The narrator and his dog, Sebastian, are on a neighborhood search for a couple of mum plants that were stolen from his yard.

What we are treated to in this simple story, is picture after picture of people. People going about their business. It’s a look into ourselves, and those around us.

Neighborhood Mums is a short story you will definitely remember.

Please do yourself a favor and read Steve Bargdill. His work is entertaining and thought provoking. He’ll make you cry and laugh. And you’ll remember his books long after you’ve read the last word.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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Independence

Tomorrow, we in the US, celebrate our independence from Britain. The casting aside of our colonial status to take the first steps as a union of 13 sovereign states.

Almost no one thinks of the 50 states today as sovereign, nor do we think of the US as a union of sovereign states. That is, though, in theory, what the United States of America really is.

President Lincoln and the War Between the States went a long way towards setting us on the road to nationalism, where we now think of ourselves as Americans, and not Virginians, Ohioans, or Minnesotans.

In effect, the states have been reduced to quasi-province status. One of the reasons, for example, why many people want to do away with the Electoral College. These people do not see us as a union of states, merely one country.

Ironically, Canada is far more a “federal” union than is the US. Although even there the drive towards a strong central government is alive and well.

I stumbled on to writing post-apocalyptic fiction by accident. An intriguing first line (“Today I killed a man and a woman.”) popped into my head one day and 2000+ pages later I had a “novel”.

The Rocheport Saga, currently at seven volumes, is basically one long novel I’ve broken up into convenient reads.

With the seventh book, Take to the Sky, the series is at a convenient pause point and on hiatus while I work on other things. Oh, to have a novel factory like Alexandre Dumas!

The narrator of The Rocheport Saga, Bill Arthur, is an intellectual prepper, an armchair philosopher, and a reluctant leader. As one reviewer put it (whose review Amazon has taken down for some reason — boy, oh boy, Amazon is not in my good books): Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

In the story, America (and the world) is a lawless ruin in the wake of the apocalyptic event. Bill’s dream is to build a new America — preserving the best of the old, and getting rid of the worst.

So what does that mean? For Bill, who is politically a libertarian, that means the promotion of the values that made America a great country: love of freedom, respect for the individual, determined self-reliance, and pride in being frugal.

What Bill Arthur sees as the great cancer that was rotting out the old America is: a sense of entitlement, the desire for security over freedom, lack of respect for the individual, the quest for money and a lavish and extravagant lifestyle, and a complete disregard for the Golden Rule.

The wonderful thing about fiction is that the author constructs his own world, and then invites the reader to share that world with him.

The world of The Rocheport Saga is a hard world, a difficult world. It is also a world of hope. Hope in those positive values that made the United States a great country. Values that have nothing to do with big government and the growing nanny state, which eviscerates freedom, self-reliance, respect for self and others, and gives in return a stultifying uniformity, constant surveillance for our “protection”, and a sense of hopelessness.

George Orwell in 1984 captured the horror that is all-powerful government. We must remember the Soviet Union regularly conducted elections in their sham democracy. And the 1936 constitution provided equal rights to all regardless of sex, race, or ethnicity. Too bad the interpretation and practice of said rights was lacking. Stalin killed far more citizens of the USSR, than Hitler killed of all countries in his concentration camps.

Big government is no guarantor of rights. Big government is only concerned about the submission of the people to the will of the state, irrespective of any promised rights.

That is what the Patriots were fighting against. The King’s trampling of the people’s rights in favor of submission to the will of the state.

All of my books, to one degree or another, promote love of freedom, respect for the individual, a determined self-reliance, and a pride in not being wasteful.

I don’t sell many books, readership is tiny (to the extent I can determine that), I don’t get many reviews, and virtually no one writes to me who has read my books.

For many writers that would be discouraging, and an indication that perhaps they should quit, and sometimes I feel that way myself. When I do, I remind myself that today I have the freedom to self-publish my work and not be thought a loser for doing so. That wasn’t the case in the publishing world for most of my life. Today I can live my dream, and no editor can say otherwise.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to make my living writing fiction. I’m not there. Yet. And I might never get there. But I do have the freedom to give it a shot. And as long as I am breathing I will.

Grandma Moses achieved fame in her twilight years for her art. Helen Hooven Santmyer was 88 when “…And Ladies of the Club” hit it big.

I don’t want to wait that long, but, as the saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait”.

The United States of America is a fabulous land. Fifty fabulous lands in actuality. I’m glad I live here and I’m glad I’m able to self-publish my books and set off on the quest to find my readers. They may not be legion, but I know they’re out there.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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