Authors Could Write So Much More If We Weren't Always Promoting

One of the most common things people say when they look at my body of work is, "Wow... you write a lot of stuff!" And they're not wrong. I run two blogs, I have an archive on vocal.media that I'm regularly expanding, I write between 1 and 2 TTRPG supplements every month, I put out 1 video per week for the Azukail Games YouTube channel, I've got half a dozen novels to my name, and in between those things I write short stories that wind up on channels like Altered State Adventures or A Vox in The Void.

However, do you know what I spend the majority of my day doing so I can put a roof over my head, and keep food on my table? Promotion.

And I hate it. But this is the reality that so many people don't realize about being a writer... a majority of what you do in a day isn't actually writing.

It's the part of the job no one wants to talk about...

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!

Getting Back Up On The Soap Box

This topic has been on my mind recently because for some reason I was having trouble sharing anything of mine on Facebook for the past week. I could post just fine to my personal and author pages, but anything else the site was basically blocking me from sharing, claiming that I was posting too often. So I basically haven't been doing much on Facebook for a week or so... and I was doing nothing on at least a few of those days.

Now, on an average day, I'll post in between 30 and 50 Facebook groups. Sometimes it's more, and sometimes it's less, but that's an average spread. Not only that, but in addition to FB I need to make posts on Reddit, Blue Sky. Tumblr, and several other places... and this takes hours of my day. By having FB no longer something I could use, I freed up probably 1-2 hours... especially because the site requires you to stagger out your posts throughout the day.

And what did I lose in visibility? It's hard to say, but generally speaking FB isn't worth much to me. A few dozen blog reads here, maybe 15 views on a video there... I can't remember the last time I actually sold something based on a FB post.

And what did I do with the time I got back? Well, it allowed me to focus on other tasks that I could then clear off my desk. The total amount of time I spend using that site was probably the equivalent energy and time it takes me to write a blog post just like this.

So what if I spent an entire day just writing instead of posting on half a dozen social media sites to promote my work... what could I get done then?

Glad you asked. Because on days where the Internet has gone down and I can't post, I basically finish all of my usual writing tasks by lunchtime. At that point I'll often record some scripts to get ahead on my audio dramas, I'll start a short story I didn't otherwise have time for, or push ahead into the next RPG supplement that I didn't have the energy for with a day full of promotional posts.

Because it's not just the time that promoting your work takes. It also sucks up energy, focus, and creative juice that you then don't have to work on other things. Just like how going to a day job can suck out your desire to write, promoting the things all day can leave your battery empty, and your soul exhausted.

So Why The Hell Do I Do It?

I probably made promotion sound like a constant uphill grind with little to no chance of reward that leaves you feeling empty and exhausted, wondering why you even bother. Unfortunately, that's just how promotion works when you don't have a fat stack of cash to buy ads, or a slick PR team to handle the job for you.

However, I write things professionally... which means I have to at least try to reach my customers. And though my way is often barred by the capriciousness of search terms and shadow banning, and every social media platform is decaying at an accelerated rate, I have to do what I can to try to reach folks.

Because like I've said before, it does not matter how much stuff I write. I have over a hundred videos on YouTube, over 300 articles in my Vocal archive, nearly 200 TTRPG supplements available on DTRPG, half a dozen books for sale... but if no one reads them, watches, them, or buys them, I don't make any money.

Authors don't get paid for what we produce. We get paid for what we sell... period.

Let's say that I kept writing novels, TTRPG supplements, and making audio dramas for the rest of my life. If no one actually reads them, listens to them, or buys them, then I make no money. No ad revenue from online traffic, and no royalties from sales. Conversely, say that I stopped writing tomorrow, but for some reason my hardboiled cat novels Marked Territory and Painted Cats became a huge phenomenon. They sell tens of thousands of copies a year, and two seasons of a smash animated TV show are commissioned based on these books. If that happened, I could kick my feet up, cash my checks, and do whatever the hell I wanted.

That's why I (and so many other creators) have to spend so much time promoting, and why you see us making post after post about our work... because we don't have enough readers, subscribers, and supporters for us to not do that.

Trust me, we would love to not spend half our work day trying to tell everyone out there about the things we've made... but that's not an option.

Unless, of course, you help us spread the word! Because while I've said this before if I had 1,000 fans (or, hell, even 500 of them) who actively spread the word every time a new release of mine dropped, I could basically just make a post or two on my professional pages, or send out a newsletter, and just let my audience spread the word on my behalf.

So please... if you want the writers you follow to be able to create more and promote less, take a few moments to subscribe, comment, and share the things we make... it really is a massive help, and it weights the odds of finally making the algorithm work in our favor for once.

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.

Character Background: Lore Drops, Rather Than Lore Dumps

"Where the hell did you learn how to ride a motorcycle, D?" Sheila asked.

"Picked it up back when I was a stripper in New Mexico," he said, revving the throttle. "I gave it up after I went through the badlands running from the cops, though."

"D... what the fuck?" Sheila asked.

"I'll tell you more about it some other time."

As writers, we've been conditioned for years to avoid lore dumps. And I've said it on this very blog; there are few things you can do that are worse for your book than throwing on the brakes just so you can relate a character's entire tragic backstory. However, sometimes it really does help the narrative to sprinkle in a little bit of lore here and there... just to keep your audience engaged.

That is the difference between a lore drop, and a lore dump.

This? Oh, don't worry about it, I know what I'm doing.

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!

What's The Difference?

Putting a pinch of salt in the meat while you're cooking is often a good way to season it, enhance the flavor, and make the finished dish stick out. Upending the shaker and pouring until you can hear the granules crunch, on the other hand, is the surest way to ruin whatever it is you're cooking.

That's the difference between a lore drop, and a lore dump.

Numbers really do matter, end of the day.

In addition to the sheer size difference between a drop and a dump, though, lore drops are typically connected to an event or an action. Take the original animated version of the movie Lilo and Stitch, and examine the character of Mr. Bubbles. Seeing a massive, dangerous-looking man in a black suit who works for family and child services is, on its face, a humorous juxtaposition. As we see Mr. Bubbles in more and more scenes, though, we get little glimpses into his character... not enough to really tell us who he is, but enough to keep us interested. The knuckle tatto that says Cobra, the fact that he has unique knowledge and training, and then we end with the fact that he has met the leader of an alien federation, and was present during their landing in Roswell, New Mexico.

These lore drops are big swings, but that's because they're played for laughs... it also makes them easier to actually see and analyze.

If you're writing something more subtle, though, consider some of the following examples of a lore drop:

- The big bruiser is revealed to speak an unexpected language. This helps them negotiate in a tight spot, but the character doesn't explain why they know that language when asked, or they give a short answer like, "I picked it up while I was stationed in Tokyo," which leaves another breadcrumb.

- The tech geek shows up at an important formal event dressed to kill, and showing off a recent makeover. With a grin, she mentions it's been a while since she walked a runway, but she still remembers how to make an entrance.

- The family man who everyone thinks is the most milktoast guy ever has a tattoo half-hidden on his wrist that makes the hardcases go white. An elite soldier? A gang enforcer? Or just a mark that belongs to an ancient order of assassins?

The idea is that a lore drop is small, short-lived, and that it immediately catches your audience's attention. And by leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, you'll eventually lead your audience to more of that character's backstory. And while not all lore drops should be peeks through a door that will one day be thrown wide open, some of them will be... and it's a lot easier to get your audience to eat up a bite-sized trail than it is to try and feed them a three-course meal of one character's backstory, and then expect them to get back to the plot you were originally feeding them.

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!

The Hardboiled Cat is Back! (Now With Fresh Covers)

It's been several years since Leo's books first debuted, and overall readers seemed to really enjoy the longhaired heavy as he navigated the treacherous underblly of New York's meaner streets. Both Marked Territory, and the second book Painted Cats have been my most popular sellers whenever I go to a convention, and I've had people ask when I'm going to write more stories for Leo.

And while other stuff has been a higher priority for me of late, I wanted to make an announcement this week... because my publisher got my books some fresh covers and I feel they really capture the feeling of what these books are actually supposed to feel like!

Seriously... LOOK at this art!

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!

A Fresh Journey To The Mean Streets of Leo's Books

Generally speaking the idea of gritty, gangland noir mysteries starring a big bruiser of a tomcat, and with all of the traditional character archetypes being replaced by other street beasts (the local ganglord is a huge, bloated rat, Leo's best friend Doc is a former pit fighting dog who got adopted out, the powerless client with no one left to turn to is a literal church mouse, and so on, and so forth) is a concept that's novel enough to get folks interested. I've had a lot of ways to describe it, ranging from the love child of The Maltese Falcon and Watership Down, to a far more hardcore story that might have been going on in a reimagined version of An American Tail, but the idea has always been the juxtaposition of a book series where we have all the noir beats, style, and feeling, but all of our characters are animals.

At the same time all the humans in NYC are referred to the way animals normally get talked about in mystery stories. They're present, but generally not an important part of the unfolding narrative.

Now, I have half a dozen other books I'd love to write for Leo, but I just haven't had the time to dedicate to them. However, seeing the new covers that came out does make me really wish I could start laying the foundation for some of these books.

Again, LOOK at how this turned out!

The reason I stopped working on novels in general was that it's just so damn hard to get people to buy them, or read them. They can take a year or more to create, and if there's no demand/earnings, I have to focus on other projects. I will be honest, though, part of the reason I feel like it was hard to make sales was the old covers just did not hit.

But while art is subjective, something that always bothered me was the covers showed the wrong kind of cat. Leo is a hefty Maine Coon, and his bottle brush tail and thick coat are mentioned repeatedly throughout the story (along with his size, as Leo is somewhere between 24 and 26 pounds on average). The original covers, though, showed a tabby who appeared to be relatively average size... and while you can't judge a book by its cover, that image is often what we have in our heads regardless of what the text tells us.

So, yeah... if you haven't picked up the books with their shiny fresh covers yet, consider doing so! And if you want to get more of Leo's stories then tell your family, tell your friends, and leave reviews to spread the word. Because if I get my royalty report at the end of the year, and I find out that each book sold a few thousand copies, you can guess what I'm suddenly going to find time and energy to start working on!

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 Wait Till You Feel Like Writing (Or You Never Will)

For a lot of people out there, writing is something they do when the stars are right, the muse whispers, or the spirit takes them. Writing is an exercise done for fun, or when their imagination runs hot, and they go until they run out of fuel in the tank before they set it down, walk away, and wait for yet another creative cosmic alignment to occur.

And for some people, that's all well and good. However, if you want to be a writer professionally (or even if you want to improve yourself as someone who does this for a hobby) then you're going to have to learn to write all the time rather than just when you feel like it.

This is one of those hills to die on. I've got a tent staked out, and s'mores ready.

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!

A Return to My Favorite Metaphor

Folks who've been to this blog before are aware that my favorite metaphor is to compare writing to exercise. Because both of these activities take discipline and commitment to succeed, and more often than not folks tend to think that natural talent and inborn ability is responsible for way more than it actually is.

6-month novel on average. Why you ask?

If you've ever been to the gym at the beginning of the year, then you've likely seen it completely full of people who are trying to make good on their resolutions. But after a week, two weeks, and certainly by mid-February, most of them have peeled off and stopped coming. And sometimes you'll see a few of those beginning-of-the-year folks come back a time or two throughout the year to try to start again, but it's very rare for them to actually maintain their routine and get closer to the goals they want.

However, if you've ever been a weightlifter, then you know that dedication, nutrition, and proper form makes a lot more difference in the long run than someone who was naturally blessed with a strong physique and a big frame who didn't properly utilize them. If you took two people, one of whom was naturally strong and hefty, and one who was on the smaller end, but the former works out a few times a year and the latter has a dedicated fitness routine they hit every day, then at the end of the year you're going to see exactly how much of a difference this kind of dedication makes.

Now, compare this to two writers.

The first writer might be naturally gifted. Maybe they have a particular flair for a certain genre, or they have really interesting characters, concepts, ideas, etc. But the second writer puts something out every day. Maybe it's just a little addition to their story. Maybe it's that they storyboard things. Maybe they work on their novel, and make progress or get it done. And at the end of that year, the person who has been working hard, studying, and practicing is going to show a lot more progress than the person who just did it whenever they felt like it, or when the spirit took them.

And that gap is just going to get wider the longer this goes on.

It's important to remember that this isn't just for professional authors, either. This isn't some kind of, "Professionals dedicate themselves to the craft, and amateurs just fuck about whenever they feel about it," kind of statement. Because whether you want to write bestselling novels, or you're just putting together short stories for your own enjoyment, the practice and routine are what matters. Just like it doesn't matter if you're lifting weights because you want to be an influencer or a competitor, or because you just want your body to be fit and strong in your day-to-day life, you're doing the same work.

So take a moment, and ask yourself if you want to truly dedicate your efforts to becoming a better writer. How much time, energy, and effort do you want to put in? Because the most important skill you can develop is being able to go to the gym when you're tired, when you're not motivated, when you'd rather be anywhere else, but you put in your reps anyway... because that's what it takes to get better.

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!