Projects Take On Weight When You Have The Connections To Get Them Published

I remember when I was in my 20s that I could keep three dozen project ideas spinning in my head at any given time. From horror stories, to roleplaying games, to modern fantasy novels, they came out of my brain like cotton candy, and all I had to do to keep them in the air was lightly tap them every now and again to make sure they didn't fall out of place. It wasn't that they didn't have substance, or that it's somehow easier to create when you're young, either. Real talk, it was so easy to keep all those ideas in the air because there wasn't any immediacy to them. I'd work on them as I had time, polish them up, put them in a bottle, and toss it out into the world. They were a gamble that might pay off, but it was equally possible I'd just get another rejection letter to add to my growing pile.

Now that I have a publishing history, industry contacts, and the ability to skip the queue in a lot of circumstances, it's another story entirely. It's not that I don't generate fresh ideas with nearly every breath I take (it's a stress response, and 2020 has been nothing if not stressful). Rather, it's that those ideas are no longer maybe-one-day potentials; they are real seeds I have to make a decision on right now. Because now I can send a few emails, make a pitch, and get these things out of my head and into the hands of an editor as fast as I can commit them to a word document... and that immediately raises the stakes.

Brain to inbox is now a pipeline.

On the one hand, that is an amazingly freeing, powerful feeling. On the other hand it means all those ideas that were just so much fluff in the wind are now lead balls... and I have to throw them extra hard to keep them in the air.

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When It's Time To Put Up, Or Shut Up

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of writing, as a profession, is playing around in the imagination sandbox. It's freeing to make worlds, create characters, map story arcs, and just do whatever strikes your fancy. And when getting those ideas published is still theoretical instead of practical, there isn't really any weight to them. Because the supply chain from your mind to the hands of your readers hasn't been created, so there's no real pressure on your follow-through just yet.

When it does exist, though, suddenly those ideas aren't just whimsical musings; they're raw gemstones. And you have the responsibility of figuring out which ones are good quality before you cut, polish, and put them out for people to ooh and ah over as fast as you can get the tumbler to tumble.

Space opera with a wild West twist? Sure, people seem to like that. When can I have it?

To be clear, I'm not asking for sympathy here. I'm also not trying to pull the whole, "Woe unto the creative genius, for he has universes within his mind, but can only reveal them one galaxy at a time," nonsense. This is more of a tradesman's warning for folks out there who haven't experienced this shift in thinking/fortunes yet.

Because when you're just starting out, you're free to make basically whatever you want, as you want. And when you're wildly successful you can do basically the same thing, except now there's probably a big, fat check attached to it. It's when you're established enough that you can get your projects reliably green lit, but you don't yet have the audience, clout, or sheer volume of past work to coast on, that you find yourself deciding which seeds to plant now rather than later in order to get your garden growing.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

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!

Only You Can Prevent Passive Protagonists!

Protagonists are the engine that drives your story. They may not be the character the fans love the best, and they may not be the most interesting aspect of the story you're telling, but your protagonist (or protagonists if you prefer ensemble casts) are the vehicles that let your readers move through the story, explore the world, and they are often the lens that sets the tone for the tale you're telling.

However, when it comes to your protagonists, it's generally better to have them do than to be done unto.

 

Well, I'm here. May as well get this over with!

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Be A Subject, Not An Object

This is a mistake that a lot of writers (myself included) tend to fall into at some point in our careers. We focus more on the world, events, and characters around the protagonists, instead of on the protagonists themselves, and as a result the story kind of stops being about them. They're present for it, and they may even be necessary in some way, but they're not really doing anything. They're in the passenger seat, rather than behind the wheel.

And that can have a really negative effect on the overall narrative.

Einar... where the hell are we going?

This might seem sort of confusing, but it's a lot like the difference between active and passive language. In active language your subject is in control, taking the action, and doing things. Consider, "Einar slammed his fist into Valgard's face," versus, "Valgard was punched in the face by Einar." Even accounting for the slightly more explosive language of the first example, the second just lacks energy. It's disengaged from the action.

Passive protagonists have the same issue, and they can just suck the energy out of a story.

To be clear, this is not saying that your story has to be solely concerned with characters pursuing their own wants and goals. However, the characters do have to be active participants in the story you're telling, and their reactions, plans, and contributions should be the gas in the story's tank.

I didn't ask to be here... but I've got a job to do.

Consider a detective story. Your protagonist gets up in the morning, gets dressed, puts on their badge, and goes to work. The issues they deal with on the job may not be personal, and they may not even have a choice in the matter, as it's the superiors in the department who assigns the case load to detectives. But how the protagonist approaches the case, who they talk to, what risks they do or don't take, and what drives them on should all be elements of the story. The through line needs to be a product of their actions, rather than a path they're just walking down.

A detective merely going through the motions, walking along the trail of bread crumbs while tracking down a serial killer, ends up making the serial killer the most interesting character in the story. This is what I call the Hannibal Lecter problem, where the antagonist seems to be who the story is really about, and they are who commands the audience's attention and imagination even though they're not supposed to be the protagonist.

To prevent that, ask what your protagonist is doing in the narrative. What is their contribution, and how does it affect the actions they take, or the options they pursue? Do they walk that thin line where they get weird, gut feelings about the killer's motives and intentions, making them obsessed with catching the murderer so the detective can quiet the part of their mind that whispers they aren't all that different from the killers they catch? Are they dedicated to the job, facing down horrors, driven to seek justice, thinking of themselves as something akin to an old-fashioned knight? Do they take a cynical kind of pleasure in it, with killers like this representing the most dangerous beasts one can chase in the wilds of the concrete jungle? Do they do everything strictly by the book? Do they dip into the shady area of the law where their methods are questionable? Do they work until the case is done, or can they leave it at the office when the work day is over?

All of these things play into the struggle of the protagonist through the situation they're in.

The Lead Needs To Be More Than a Lamp

There's a test for several books regarding female characters and representation, asking if the story would be altered in a meaningful way if they were replaced with attractive lamps. The same thing can often be said of your protagonist. If they're nothing more than a lamp that gets carted around from scene to scene where other people ask questions, or make observations, then why is this our protagonist? What are they contributing to this narrative?

If everything in your story seems to be happening to someone, then you might need to step back and ask why. Because for every action there needs to be a reaction, and if the plot hits your protagonist, but they don't swing back at the plot when that happens, you might actually be carting around a lamp in a hat and jacket.

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 cat noir novel Marked Territory, 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!

Nobody Gets Audience Attention Like a Heel!

A lot of writers out there focus on being liked. Often this leads to them trying to keep their actual thoughts and opinions behind the curtain, always presenting a pleasant, positive face to the audience. Other times it means writers just ignore negative elements that come their way, hoping that the trolls will stay silent if they don't feed them, and just keep on walking.

This led to an interesting comparison from a friend with a good sense of marketing. Writers who focus on being the good guy, taking the high road, etc., are a lot like the Faces in professional wrestling. Short for "Babyface," the term refers to the obvious heroes that the audience is supposed to root for.

Then there's the heels... which are basically the opposite of that.

Oh shit... who just dropped the bass?

It's a rough gig being a heel. Your persona is often abrasive, or at the very least doesn't give much of a damn whether the audience likes them or not. A lot of hate gets thrown your way, because after all, you're a contrast to the good guys. But there's a weird phenomenon there, too. Because a lot of people actively support heels. And even the people who absolutely hate them often end up boosting their earnings and signal in unintended ways.

 

Also, before we go any further, remember to sign up for my weekly newsletter!

Rage Shares Still Put Money in Your Pocket

I had a recent incident involving this, so I thought I'd share it as an example.

About a month ago I wrote an article titled Captain America is Chaotic Good. It received the editor's pick when it first went up on Vocal, and as soon as I got some space in my promotions calendar I shared it around in all my usual groups for tabletop gaming and assorted geekery. I knew two things going in. First, that Cap is a very popular character thanks to the wide spread of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Second, I knew that discussions on pop culture characters through the lens of the alignment system used in tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons often leads to pretty divisive conversations... which makes them fertile ground for an article that pays me based on how many people read it.

Brace yourself... the flame wars are coming!

It definitely got noticed. It didn't go viral by any stretch of the imagination, but there were quite a lot of reactions and comments, and more than a handful of shares to help drive up engagement. While I generally try to avoid stirring the pot personally as long as other people are taking care of the interacting, there was one person in particular whose behavior basically sums up exactly the sort of energy you can capture as a heel.

To paraphrase his opinion, he felt that opinion articles from random nobodies on the Internet discussing pop culture characters through the lens of gaming are a huge waste of time. However, stating this opinion in the comments section just meant there was more attention on the post. And then, just to prove how much he didn't care, he shared the link to his own Facebook wall to rant about it to his friends list about how useless he felt this sort of content was.

 

This is sort of like when conservatives, so outraged that Nike had partnered with an outspoken critic of police violence, bought new shoes for the express purpose of burning them in protest. It sends the opposite message you're intending if your protest actually increases the company's bottom line... but they didn't seem to realize that.

And if you find yourself in a situation like this, where someone absolutely rages against a thing you've written? Perhaps the best thing you can do is to simply tell them that if they don't like this kind of content, then maybe they should just scroll on by so that someone who is actually interested in it can take a look. Or, if you really want to shine them on, drop them a heart react and tell them thanks for the comment/share, because every little bit of attention really helps!

There Are Risks, Of Course

Before you go out there and start strutting around, loudly telling people booing you that you can't hear them so they increase their negative reactions to boost your signal, I'd like to add some caveats to this marketing strategy.

Firstly, unlike an actual wrestling heel, you're probably going to do more damage to yourself if you're legitimately rude and confrontational. Group mods don't care for it, and you can find yourself losing favor relatively quickly. Hence my suggestion of thanking folks slinging hate your way, because that will only increase the amount of attention they're giving you while you haven't said anything rude or insulting to them in the process. Sort of lets you have your dessert, and eat it too.

Not sure what else you do with a dessert, but whatever.

The other concern is that this strategy works better in some circumstances than in others. With the article I used as an example, it's perfect because the site only cares how many reads/views it gets when calculating my pay. There's no down vote on it, no place to leave angry comments or a 1-star review. If this same reaction was being had to my novel Marked Territory, then it's entirely possible that a lot of people would just leave it poor reviews to try to tank my score. Ideally they'd at least have to buy a copy to do that, but there's plenty of ways around that requirement as well.

Put simply, the more options the angry readers have to retaliate, the bigger the chance there is this could blow up in your face.

Additionally, I feel I should mention the simple caveat that I am not in the categories of folks who are most at risk from online harassment. I'm a big, white dude, so I don't present the same target as female-identifying individuals, creators of color, etc., etc. This is the sort of risk-reward proposal that I stand pretty good odds of coming out ahead on. So, before following in my footsteps on this one, make sure you're not putting yourself at serious risk in the hopes of earning a few extra bucks.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

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!

Readers Are Going To Make Assumptions About Your Book (So Feel Free To Play With Them!)

We always say not to judge a book by its cover. If you've been in the game for a while, though, you know that readers are going to do just that. They make judgments based on you as the author, your name, your genre, your cover art, and a thousand other little details that get calculated in the first few seconds of exposure. The same thing happens as soon as someone hears your sales pitch. No matter how fine-tuned you've got it, they're going to have reached certain conclusions before you get even halfway through it.

It does you no good to ignore this, or to wish that it didn't happen. The human mind forms judgments and separates things into categories. However, with a little bit of strategy, you can actually hack this tendency in order to surprise your readers and catch them off guard.

 

Also, before I forget, make sure you sign up for my weekly newsletter to get updates on all my latest releases and new projects!

Speaking of My Latest Book...

My latest release is a perfect example of reader assumptions in action, and before I even typed the first word of the first chapter I could already hear readers dismissing it as a cozy mystery or a YA novel because my main character was a cat, and the cast was made up of street-level animals. As most folks who've read Marked Territory already know, however, this book does not pull punches when it comes time for the cast to throw down... and alley cats are nasty, vicious creatures when the claws come out.

Seriously, go get your copy today if you don't believe me!

For some readers (judging from the comments I got on social media) this was pretty jarring. They saw there was a cat on the cover, and read the blurb about him helping out a bunch of strays on the south side, and assumed this was gonna be a bloodless tale of a bruiser with a heart of gold. The book is far more similar to stuff you'd see from Dashiell Hammett or Robert B. Parker in terms of content, though, and tends to focus a lot more on underworld figures and solving the central mystery. When violence breaks out, though, it's short, nasty, and brutal.

Using Their Assumptions To Your Advantage

Some people will argue that if your book runs counter to what someone thought it would be, then it's your fault for not putting some sort of indicator on it. On the other hand, some people believe that it's the consumers job to check what they're purchasing, such as how parents who took their kids to see Watchmen in theaters had only themselves to blame for ignoring the R rating because it was, "just a superhero movie," and should have been safe for the little ones' eyes.

I tend to fall into the latter category, for those who are curious.

On the one hand, I can confirm that you're going to have to field questions from people who want to check their own assumptions. And if you answer honestly, you very well might lose a sale or two (I've run into this with people looking to buy a book for a particularly young reader, and that is definitely not my audience). You're also going to receive at least a few strident comments from people if they bought a book expecting it to be one thing, and it turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

With that said, anything that makes you stand out from the rest of the field (and which gets people talking) isn't something you should avoid!

I've had conversations with several authors, especially newer ones, who worry that stepping too far outside of genre conventions and reader expectations will mean their stories aren't as widely read or accepted. However, I'd venture that if everybody else is trying to fit in, and you're willing to stand out, then people are going to notice you a lot more often than they will your peers.

If you're worried about not fitting a formula or confounding expectations, don't worry. That might just be what you need to get people to sit up and take notice!

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 cat noir novel Marked Territory, 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!

There's Only So Much You Can Do To Sell Books (On Your Own)

The holiday gift-buying rush is upon us, and it's always the time of year when authors try to get a couple of last-minute sales under their belts. Heck, if you haven't checked out my noir mystery novel about a New York City alley cat titled Marked Territory or my sword and sorcery adventure Crier's Knife, they'd be ideal for some of the folks on your gift list!

The intro sort of illustrates my point, though. There's only so much you can do as an author to be successful... and there's no guarantee that even if you push all the right buttons that you're going to get the result you're shooting for.

Just a few more social media posts... surely that will do it...

Authors Depend on You

I'm going to start this off by saying that if you are an author, you have to tic all the boxes on the checklist that you can. You need to write a good book. You need an eye-catching cover. You need to cultivate your social media presence, and if possible build yourself a platform. Whether it's a blog, a YouTube channel, an Instagram page, you need some way to reach more people. You should probably have a mailing list as well (speaking of, sign up for The Literary Mercenary's newsletter to get weekly updates on all my releases), ensuring you can reach people without depending on the algorithms that run social media and search engines. You need to try to boost your own signal as best you can, and to do everything possible within your control.

But none of that will get us anywhere without a hand up from you.

 

With that said, though, at the end of the day we can shotgun blast our books all over every corner of the Internet. We can buy ads on the most popular social media platforms, hire companies to boost our signal, fill up forums with comments, spam our links into bookmarking sites, and shout from the highest rooftops... and when all is said and done not move a single copy of our books.

There are a lot of reasons for this. Part of it is that unless you're already famous, your voice gets drowned out pretty easily. Another part of it is that people basically discount anyone who is obviously trying to sell them something. Whether it's people who avoid looking at your table at a convention, or who down vote you for "spamming" your book on a group, no one wants to listen to your self-promotion. It's almost a conditioned response; like how you used to immediately get up to go to the bathroom as soon as a commercial came on TV, and you blocked out whatever product was being sold.

But do you know what happens as soon as you start talking about our books? People listen.

The human mind is both amazing, and dumb.

It sounds stupid, but it's true. I could deliver the most carefully crafted sales pitch in the world, but a majority of people who hear it are immediately going to ignore it because I'm, "just trying to sell copies of my book." But if you say to your friend, your co-worker, your siblings, or your spouse, "Hey, this was a really good book. You should read it!" they're going to weigh your opinions far more heavily than they do mine.

Why? Well, because they have a personal connection to you. Not only that, but because you stand nothing to gain by saying this book was great, so why wouldn't they trust you?

This is why having good reviews on websites matters (that, and if you have 50 reviews or more your book gets its signal boosted in places like Amazon). It's why you sharing a link on your Facebook wall or your Twitter feed matters. And if you have a platform of your own, whether it's a blog, a YouTube channel, or even a podcast, using that to big-up the signal of a writer you know is what we need to actually reach potential readers.

We could be the most brilliant campaign designers out there. We could ensure our books are visible, and that our ads show up everywhere. We can use all the keywords we want to make sure we get steady streams of eyeballs... but none of that is going to be as effective as you telling people in your friends group and/or your audience that we wrote something good.

Because they know you. They trust you. And the easiest way to get them to know and trust us as authors is to vouch for us. Get your friends to give us a chance, because they aren't going to take us on our own merits even if we do actually write exactly the sort of things they'd love to read.

Please. We're sort of depending on you.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

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!

You Really Can't Do Too Much Research For Your Book

One of the major appeals of writing fiction is the idea that if you don't know the answer to something that you can just make it up. Not sure how light is focused into a beam that fires from the tip of your futuristic private eye's laser pistol? Good news, you can just create the mystery element of the Forunex crystal that makes light-based weaponry practical and compact. Unsure of how spontaneous combustion would be possible from a physics and chemistry standpoint? Well, since the Devotees of Fire are granted power by their god, it's magic so you don't have to explain a damn thing!

It can really make your life as a creator easier in a lot of respects.

In other respects, though...

A problem that a lot of writers run into, though, is they get too drunk on their own creative abilities. Just because something is fictional, that doesn't mean you shouldn't at least do a Google search, or crack a book, to make sure you aren't going in the completely wrong direction.

 

Also, before we continue on, make sure you sign up for my weekly newsletter to be sure you don't miss any of my updates!

Let's Look at Werewolves For a Second

Oh yeah, we're going to fight about this.

If you've ever read a piece of werewolf fiction, or even played a game like Werewolf: The Apocalypse, you're likely very familiar with the idea of strong alpha leaders, the right hand of the beta, and the shifty omega no one likes. These are terms and ideas that are used to describe the structure of wolf packs, thereby allowing the reader to have one foot in reality, and one foot in a fantasy.

Unless they've read a science article since roughly 1980 or so.

As Knowledge Nuts points out, the idea of violent struggles for dominance is what you see in captive wolf packs. When wolves have no relation to one another, and no existing family structure, which means these wolves were basically in animal prison. In the wild wolves act nothing like this. They're tight-knit family groups that care for one another, and a wolf's age is a far more likely indicator of status than how violent or aggressive they are. So trying to map the social dynamic of a violent prison gang onto all werewolves actually undercuts your attempt to bridge reality with fiction if the reader is aware you're citing debunked, outdated ideas in the story.

This is just a small example of how you need to make sure your research impacts the fiction you're creating. And the more closely tied to reality your fantasy is, the more research you need to do. Because if your central conceit is, "I have giant robots in my story," then you can probably just ask your audience to buy that without going into too many details of the physics or how these huge machines function. But if your story is set in a near-future Moscow, then it would probably help to actually research the culture of the country, the function of the government, and the ranks of the armed forces to make sure you get those things correct. Especially if your robot's pilot would have to complete regular military training, and then meet the standards of that country before being allowed into the heavy armored division.

You Can Never Know Too Much

While it's possible to go overboard on description and detail, and to bog your book down with adverbs or purple prose, you can never do too much research as a creator. Because even if you find a bunch of details that aren't going to be relevant to your story, they're still going to inform your view and your process. Whether it's how many samurai were actually women, to what the code of chivalry actually demanded from knights, to what gender roles were actually held by the Vikings (with men being beautiful and perfumed, and women being the heads of the household's finances), these little factoids can take your book in unexpected directions.

Additionally, a little extra research can often stop you from including debunked facts, outdated worldviews, or offensive stereotypes in your stories... and that's worth a little extra time hitting the books, don't you think?

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 cat noir novel Marked Territory, 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 Best Gift You Can Give An Author This Holiday Season

It's almost that time of year again. Even in the age of Covid-19 people want to reach out to their friends and loved ones, and let them know they're thinking of them during the holidays. And if you have an author on your gift list, you might be scratching your brain more than usual to find an appropriate gift for them to let them know they're in your heart even if travel restrictions and safety precautions mean you'll likely be limited to face timing.

I mean, what do you get for writers? A novelty pen holder shaped like a knight? A set of Moleskine notebooks for all their ideas on the go? A bottle of their favorite spirit of choice so they have something to crack open either when they land their next big contract, or when they need a shot of something when their current manuscript turns into a slog?

Is it coffee? Is that the secret?

Well, the thing about writers is that each of us are different and unique individuals with our own wants, needs, and tastes. However, I will guarantee you that if you really want to make the writer in your life feel special, there are two things you can give them for the holidays that will make them smile.

Reviews, and sales.

 

Also, if you haven't done so yet, sign up for The Literary Mercenary's newsletter! As a preemptive gift for me, and for you.

A Gift For Every Budget

I want to drop a little knowledge on you. Most folks who are regular readers around here have likely come across these facts before, but if you're new, this single image lays it all out for you.

You can probably see where this is going.

Every single notice on this digital cork board is a reason that the holidays can be an ideal time to really make an author's month. If you have a friend or family member that you know would enjoy one of their books, buy them a copy, wrap it, and put it under the tree. You can get them a hard copy or buy them an ebook, the author doesn't care because they get royalties either way. Heck, if you've got several friends that you know would enjoy a particular book, make it a holiday book club!

I can personally attest to that fact in the upper left hand corner. There have been some years that I've barely cracked that $10k mark, and only a fraction of that income came from my book sales. Every little bit really does help when that royalty check comes in.

Also, your regular reminder I have a new novel out!

If you don't have a budget to buy a whole bunch of books, though, then you can make a big difference to your author friends by reading their books, leaving reviews, and boosting their signal on social media.

I'm not kidding about this, either. At time of writing, Marked Territory just picked up its 11th review. My novel Crier's Knife rounded 21 reviews a few weeks back. My short story collection The Rejects has only managed to snatch 3 reviews since it came out a little less than a year ago (not surprising, short stories are a tough sell, but it is disappointing). There's only so much you can do on your own (especially in a pandemic with no in-person events you can attend), and authors need all the help they can get right now. So if you can give an author you like a leg up, that is a big deal! It might not feel like it, but it is.

If you're wondering why, it's because you are seen as an unbiased source to all the shoppers on the Internet. Of course we think our books are great; we wrote the damn things! But when you leave a review or share a post on Twitter or Facebook, people who see that see a person who is giving their honest opinion about a book. And if a few dozen of you all have the same high opinion of something, well, then the onlookers are going to have to check it out for themselves to see what the fuss is all about, aren't they?

Need Some Authors To Help Out This Holiday?

While I will never say no to more sales, ratings, and reviews, I did want to take a moment to boost the signal on some of my fellow authors and their books this week. We're almost into the time of thanks, and then the season of giving, so consider checking out some of the following!

- Geisha Hands by Lauren A. R. Masterson: Written and illustrated by the author, this historical fiction novel is definitely worth your time.

- The Hole Behind Midnight by Clinton Boomer: If you need your modern fantasy hit, and other authors just aren't packing the punch you need, Clinton has you covered. When you turn the final page, you'll with you didn't have to leave the bizarre world of the 25th hour!

- Bitter by Ruth de Jauregui: For those mystery lovers who like a side of grit, this is one you shouldn't let pass you by. Ruth's been working on the Bitter series and setting for some time, and this is enough to give you a bit of a taste.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

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!