Creators Need Your Help (Even When It Looks Like They Don't)

I want to take a moment to talk about the YouTube channel Innuendo Studios. This channel, by all measures, is a pretty big success on the platform. It's been around for a decade and a half, most of its videos have view counts in the hundreds of thousands, it has half a million subscribers, and a relatively robust Patreon and Ko-Fi audience. It's also the channel where the very popular series of video essays titled The Alt-Right Playbook is posted, and it broke down a lot of rhetorical devices and arguments used by those on the right side of the political spectrum.

To all appearances, the channel and its host should be doing well. However, as a recent video he put up states in the title, Being A YouTuber Bankrupted Me.

And this is something I wanted to talk about today. Not just to try and push a little support toward a creator and video essayist whose work I enjoy and admire (though seriously, help out if you can even if that's just subscribing to his channel and watching some videos in his archive), but to try to drive home something to everyone out there.

None of us are doing well. Even if it looks like we are, we are literally 1-2 months away from everything crashing down without meaningful support from people like you.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

We Can Never Have Too Much Support

There is a common misconception among the general public that creators are either wealthy, or we're making ends meet without too much difficulty. And part of this is likely because when you think of the richest people out there, chances are artists of one stripe or another come to mind first. Whether it's YouTube creators like Mr. Beast, authors like Stephen King, movie stars, pop sensations, and so on, the assumption is that if a few of us are rich beyond an average person's wildest dreams, then surely the rest of us are doing all right? In addition to that there are fictional portrayals of creators such as on the TV show Castle where the successful novelist has a level of wealth that can solve an episode's entire plot, or even on shows like Two and a Half Men where a washed up songwriter wrote a single jingle years ago whose royalties can pay for an obscenely indulgent lifestyle.

However, I've met a lot of authors in my life. I've also met my share of podcasters, YouTubers, RPG designers, as well as a handful of marginally well-known singers and musicians... and do you know what all of them had in common? No matter how much money you thought they were making, I could guarantee that you weren't even remotely in the ballpark. Nearly all of us are broke. Period.

Seriously... it's depressing how broke we are.

And why are we so broke? Well, there's the fact that a lot of our rates for stories haven't actually gone up since the early 1900s for a lot of publications. There's the fact that platform decay across social media has made it nearly impossible for us to reach an audience like we could even a decade or so ago. There's the fact that if someone buys a $15 book that only $1-$3 of that makes it into our pockets, so we have to move tens of thousands of books a year just to keep our heads above water. There's the fact that Covid killed a lot of conventions (and seriously harmed those that survived), where a lot of us could make sales in-person. There's the fact that creators are given bare crumbs by platforms like YouTube, Spotify, etc., so that we need to rack up literal millions of views/listens in order to get even a $100 check at the end of the month...

But that's mostly the modern problems we're dealing with as creators. The truth is that being a professional creative has basically never paid well except for a handful of us that get plucked up by the zeitgeist, who make smart business decisions, or who are supremely lucky.

I cannot count the number of times I've met someone who I consider a more successful author, game creator, etc., and they always ask me the question, "So what do you do?" not because they're being dismissive of my work, but because it never occurs to them that this is my full-time job... because even at their level, their creative work isn't enough to cover their needs. Most other creators I know, even the really successful ones, typically have a retirement (quite common among the hard sci-fi crowd who had a military career before they started writing), they have a well-paying day job (I can think of one union welder and one regional sales manager I've shared con space with over the years), their spouse is actually the house breadwinner (which you wouldn't think was the case for someone who designed one of the major games in the World of Darkness, and who has a bestselling fantasy series under his belt), or in some cases they have an inheritance or trust fund that just lets them write without worrying about keeping the bills paid.

If you remove all of those folks from the general pool of creators out there, and only count those of us who are doing this full-time to support ourselves, there aren't a lot of us out there. And a majority of us (myself included) live in poverty, dependent on the whims and support of our readers to help us keep the lights on and the words coming.

And I don't mean that as hyperbole. I mean real-life, qualifies for Medicaid, uses food pantries, barely-makes-enough-to-pay-taxes poverty.

To Be Clear, "Support" Comes in Many Forms

When most people hear the word support they immediately close themselves off because it's become synonymous with money. However, while beoming a Patreon patron or throwing a tip into my digital jar (via my Patreon page or my Ko-Fi respectively) is always nice, I completely get that's not something a lot of folks can do. However, as I've pointed out several times in this blog, as well as in other places, support comes in a lot of shapes and sizes. In addition to giving creators money directly, or buying our books and other merch, support also looks like:

- Following our social media pages (bigger subscriber counts makes the algorithm friendly)

- Interacting with our posts (comments, upvotes, shares, etc. all make a difference)

- Consuming our content (watching videos, reading articles, etc., as that can get us paid)

- Sharing things we make to reach a wider audience (we literally can't do this on our own)

Even if you cannot personally pay a creator's bills by handing us money, you can do your part to boost our signal, and get our view counts up... the hard part is that we need a lot of people all working toward the same goal. And like I said a while back in episode 16 of Tabletop Mercenary, Audience Support is a Reverse Iceberg, we're lucky if 10% of our audience actually participates at all. And of that 10%, less than 10% of that number actively supports us by upvoting posts, sharing on social media, watching/reading any time something new comes out, talking us up to their friends, etc.

I want to end this off on a note of real talk for anyone who got this far. This isn't just unique to me, as a creator. This is a situation all of us are facing. We aren't just out here shaking a tip jar because we want a little extra money from you... we are literally funded by what you choose to do or not do as members of our audience.

So if there are creators out there that you like (whether it's me, or someone else), please, actively support them in any way you can. If you have money, support their crowdfunding endeavors, or buy some of their merch to show there are people out there who want more of it (hell, a single tee shirt gives them more revenue than an entire month of streaming a podcast on your mobile device). Leave ratings and reviews to help them get noticed more, follow their socials, tell your friends and family... and if you really want to make a creator's day, leave them some nice comments.

Seriously, we get so much hate on a daily basis. Sometimes it really helps us stop the candle from going out for someone to just tell us they really liked a story we wrote, and they can't wait for the next installment.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

Don't Let AI Rot Your Brain (Why You Should Never Use ChatGPT As A Writing Tool)

When you first start a workout regimen, it can be equal parts hard but invigorating. You're moving your muscles in new ways, you're getting used to new poses, new lifts, new everything. You might even be changing your diet, if you're going really hard. But pretty soon, you'll feel that shiny new exterior start to wear thin. You'll start dragging yourself to the gym, and grumbling under your breath between sets that you wish you didn't have to do this. You wished there was some other way... some magic shortcut you could take to just get trim, strong, and firm without all this sweating and straining.

And there are a thousand and one scams promising to give you that. A special diet that will melt away pounds of fat without any extra work. A little device that will shock your stomach into a six pack. A simple routine found only among a secret sect of monks who are all absolutely ripped. A little pill that will give you the get-up-and-go you need to make your gains.

This isn't about crash diets and exercise scams. This is about ChatGPT.

It's like fake diet pills, but for your writing.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

The Only Person You're Cheating Is Yourself

We've all seen companies and individuals jamming generative AI programs into everything. They've infected our search engines, they're all over social media, and they're infesting the marketplace as scammers offer entire novels "written" by these programs in hopes of making a quick buck. And if you're the sort of writer who wants to skip the hard work and fast-forward to the story being done, these plagiarism programs offer you the siren's song you want to hear. They promise you complete stories, unique stories, and then you'll be done in a record amount of time. They swear they're just going to take the work out of writing, handling the grunt work that's dragging you down.

They're promising that you'll get rippling, six-pack abs while laying on the couch and pounding chips by the family-sized bag. All the results, and none of the fuss.

Don't you want those gains already, bruh?

If you've ever been on a crash diet, or used a fitness gimmick, then you already know what the problem is. Because sure, it might get you some short-term losses around your waist, or give you some temporary feelings of health, but if you use these things long-term they're going to do serious harm to your body.

And that's what ChatGPT does to your brain.

Because for all the hype around this program and what it can supposedly do to mimic human thought and speech, there are stories out there of people who used it as a mental crutch until their academic legs atrophied under them. There are stories of high school and college students who had it write their papers, but then found that when it came time to take their final exams they have no actual knowledge or learned skill to call upon. There have been people who tried to use it to write legal briefs, and found that it was quoting cases that never happened, attempting to sound smart when the machine is just guessing. There are people who've used it to try to get ahead at work, and people who've used it for regular socialization who suddenly flounder when they no longer have a program telling them what to say or do.

It's the equivalent of sending a robot to the gym to lift weights and run on the treadmill for you. Yeah, the work is technically being done, but you aren't getting any stronger from doing it. In fact, if all you do is sit at home on the couch, you're getting weaker while letting the robot go through your routine for you.

That's what generative AI is doing to you. Because it's hard putting words on the page day after day, honing your skills, and finding just the right turns of phrase. But if the Internet goes down and someone hands you a pen, you can still write a story... and probably a pretty good story, if you've been putting in the work to really build your skills. But if you've been letting the computer do all the heavy lifting for you, and someone asks you to pick up the 250 lbs. you keep saying you're capable of bench pressing, it's going to crush you.

Git Gud... You Won't Regret It!

Writing is not just about putting together a short story, a novella, or a novel. It's also about honing the craft, finding your voice, and becoming more accomplished as a creator. For this reason, it's important to remember that even failed attempts are worthwhile. There is something to be learned with every assignment, every story, and every experiment... but you have to do it yourself. Otherwise you're never going to make any progress as a writer.

So yes, it's going to suck. You're going to tear out notebook paper, wad it up, and toss it in the garbage. You're going to reread something, sigh, and hold down the Delete key until it's all gone. And you're going to have those moments where you know something is wrong with your narrative, but you just can't quite put your finger on it.

Stick with it. It's going to be valuable when you realize you can shred your way through stories that once would have given you serious trouble, or that even on days where you're phoning it in you turn in Grade A work by most people's standards.

Don't take the easy way out... it's a lie. It's always been a lie.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Beware Book Marketing Frauds (They're Everywhere These Days)

So, you've finally done it. You managed to get your book published, and it's available for sale! Your chest is swollen with pride, and you take to social media to inform anyone who might listen about your achievement, and to make your sales pitch to folks who might want a copy. And at first, it feels like you're getting a lot of positive attention. You're getting comment sections full of congratulations, and you're even seeing some upvotes come your ways... but that's when you start to notice a pattern. People you don't know, and whom you've never interacted with before, who are giving you empty praise that makes it seem like they didn't even look at your sales pitch, much less at your book. They start asking you to contact them, or worse, turning up in your inbox trying to talk to you about your book.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, friends, but your work is not so brilliant and captivating that people are fighting over the ability to help you make more sales. Unfortunately these people saw that you published a book, and they're swarming you like sharks smelling blood, hoping to pry open your wallet before you know any better. This week I'm here to help you avoid being victimized by any of these scams... because they are legion online.

Yeah, I can get you more sales. Sure. Absolutely...

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

Read Between The Lines (And Stay Suspicious)

You can't believe everything you see online. However, a lot of authors are primed for scams, precisely because we want to believe we are the ones who are going to beat the odds. That our stories are so great and so special that all it takes is a glance, or reading a sample, for complete strangers to be totally mesmerized and excited by what we made.

However, when you're interacting online, I want you to treat any interaction as if you're on a dating site, and you just received an unsolicited email from an extremely attractive person who seems really into you.

Which is to say that you should be asking who they are, what they want, and what game they're playing.

You've just been waiting to meet someone like me, hmmm? Pressing X to Doubt...

Whether you have someone trying to start up a conversation with you in your comments, or you're getting a message in your inbox, consider asking yourself the following questions:

- Have They Given You Any Details?: A lot of the time these messages are filled with empty praise. They tell you how creative "your book," is, or they say your cover is, "so eye-catching," but it very much feels like a script. If there aren't any specifics mentioned, even something as basic as the title of your book when you ask them, "Which one are you talking about?" you should be suspicious.

- How Fast Did They Respond?: If you put up a post talking about your book, and you get a reply within a few minutes, that's not a good sign. Ask yourself how long it would have taken for someone to see your post, and to read the sample or actually check out your book. Because if it feels like they were ready to shoot you an answer sight unseen, that should make you question what's happening... doubly so if the message/comment also feels like boilerplate from the above point.

- Do Their Messages Make Sense?: Now, this is not intended to be a grammar snob point. If someone tries to talk you in a comment or message, and it feels like English is their third or fourth language, this isn't inherently suspicious. But it can be a yellow flag you should keep in mind for the direction this conversation eventually goes.

Now, once you've gone through all of these flags, you may still want to continue the conversation. Maybe you even feel like things might be going well, and you actually want to private message this person. This is usually when this mysterious new admirer tells you that they want to help you sell more copies of your book! Isn't that kind of them?

Don't get your hopes up. Because sure, it's possible that this person has legitimately been following your career for a while, they love your work, and they just want to show you they appreciate you. It's even possible they want to help you out by inviting you onto their podcast or YouTube channel, maybe even giving you a long-form review on their blog. But once your new friend makes that offer, much like that suspiciously attractive person on a dating website, that's when they start talking about money.

I could get that done for you... for a SMALL fee...

Just like how your prospective date tries to get you to subscribe to their Only Fans, so too will authors find that these admirers and well-wishers are just trying to sell them on a service. For a fee they insist they will get reviews of your book on Amazon, or sometimes on sites like Goodreads. They'll often make you all kinds of promises, as well... however, it's important not to get caught up in the sales pitch. Are there marketing specialists who can help you reach hundreds (or thousands) of new readers, and help you get huge sales? Sure, they're out there.

But they don't try to hit you up on Facebook chat for a fee of $80.

There are a lot of services out there which authors can hire to help them boost the signal on their books. There are bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters who review books, there are book review companies who have a stable of authors, and there are publicists who will build entire campaigns for you to make sure you're reaching the right audience. All of these services have their own websites and official business contact information, plans you can purchase, and reviews you can read from other authors who have used them.

That person who randomly messaged you on social media? Yeah... if you're really lucky, they're someone who is just starting out in their career, and they haven't realized how woefully unprofessional that approach looks. They might try to do their best for you, but if that's their opener, you're already in a rough spot. What's more likely, though, is they're just a scammer looking to take your money and peace out with it.

Don't let them do that. Only go through verified services, and only hire them if it's something within your budget that you think will actually help get your books into people's hands. When people like this reach out, your best bet is to report them, block them, and move on with your day.

Lastly, while we're on the subject, check out Alice The Author over on YouTube. She's worked with several services like this, has reviews of them, as well as other ways for you to avoid getting scammed!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

When Writing A Mystery, Start At The Middle of The Onion

I will fully admit, I am not a famous mystery writer. However, between my sci fi thriller Old Soldiers, and my hardboiled cat novels Marked Territory and Painted Cats, I've done my share of plotting and planning when it comes to webs of red string. And one thing that I've learned throughout my career as a writer is that while the audience (and your protagonist) starts from the outer layers of a mystery and works their way in, what you need to do as the creator is start in the heart of the thing, and build your way out.

It makes everything significantly easier, trust me!

And you do a lot less crying, overall.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

The Seed of Your Mystery

So, you want to write a mystery. Maybe you're writing a traditional private detective novel, a police procedural, or even a spy thriller, but you want the plot to take its share of twists and turns before the reader gets to the end of the story. The problem you're facing is that when you think about your mystery, you end up getting bogged down in misdirections, until you're chasing your own tail.

Here's what you do. Take a deep breath, clear your mind, and go all the way back to the beginning. What is the central event of your plot? What is at the heart of the mystery you're writing that your protagonist is going to uncover? Once you know that, you've found the center of your onion.

And from there, we spiral outward.

For example, did a missing person end up getting killed in a back alley scuffle behind a bar? Is a highly-placed official in the intelligence service actually a double agent for the enemy? Is the client's husband cheating on her?

The answers to these questions might seem simple, but the center of most mysteries usually are. And once you know where the center of your onion is, you can then start adding the extra layers around it.

So let's take the classic story of a private detective whose client wants him to find out if her husband is cheating on her. As such, the central part of the mystery that you know, as the author, is yes, the husband is actually cheating on his wife. But that isn't all that interesting, as far as plots go, nor is it much of a mystery. So we start building layers around it.

Return to the affair. The husband has, of course, been trying to hide the fact that he's cheating on his wife (hence why she had to hire a private eye to follow him around). But is there something unique about the husband, or the person he's cheating with? For example, does the husband have an important government position where he deals with sensitive intelligence? Or does the person he's cheating on his wife with have such a position? Or was there another complication entirely?

For the second layer, let's say the husband had a relatively normal life and a normal job as a business manager. He started cheating on his wife with a new intern at his office. It seems like a perfectly normal affair, as such things go. But the intern was actually a plant by the FBI under a false identity who was there to examine the business's money laundering for organized crime.

Now when our detective starts looking into the husband, and into the intern, suddenly he becomes a person-of-interest to both parties. The mob wants to know why he's keeping tabs on a guy who helps run one of their fronts, and the FBI is wondering who this guy is that's trying to run down specifics on their agent, worrying that he could compromise her position. Especially if it turns out the affair is part of her cover story, and the agent is trying to use that to get more sensitive information for her own investigation?

The plots go deep.

Every layer you add from initial seed of the mystery builds your onion up that much more. And once you have added what you think are an appropriate number of layers, you can then start mapping your protagonist's (and your audience's) path through them.

For example, does your detective start with the husband, gathering information on him? Does he dig into the business, and talk with some of the other people who work there? Or does he just start tailing the husband, hoping to catch him in the act, and that's how he catches sight of the "intern" he's seeing off-the-clock, while also getting noticed by the mafia goons who act as the husband's personal security? After refusing to be warned off, does he deal with harder pushback, resulting in alley brawls, or even a shoot out? And if that happens, do the feds step in to do their part to warn him off, explaining that he needs to tell his client nothing, or to lie and say her husband isn't having an affair (as that kind of chaos could jeopardize the current case they're building)? And if he ignores the warnings of both the cops and the criminals, does he keep pushing until he gets kidnapped or black bagged? And in the end, does the detective's friction cause the mob to slip up, tipping their hand, and getting them caught?

A complicated scenario, absolutely... but at the core of the mystery the answer to the question is, yes, the client's husband was absolutely having an affair. That turned out, though, to be the smallest part of the mystery.

But if you started at the outside and tried to work in, it would be a lot harder to construct the onion as things might not match up so neatly. So begin in the center, and work your way out organically... it will make your job a great deal easier at the end of the day.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!