Roland Hughes on Downloading #eBooks for #Free and Discoverability - #AmWriting #SelfPub

Despite what you have heard, that question is foremost in the mind of every writer who hasn’t become fabulously wealthy.  I have heard many deny it, yet they go out and promote their books.  You will hear many claim they “need to write and don’t care if anybody buys it.”  Well, the first part was probably true, but if they didn’t care about people buying it they wouldn’t keep putting it up for temporary free download.  Not just a chapter or two mind you, the entire book. The on-line world has put in place systems to feed this need for recognition and/or discovery.

The on-line world has answered with hundreds of places to download books for free.  Even Amazon has various “free download” promotional programs.  Many of the “free” eBook sites allow authors to post just a few chapters so readers can decide if they like the work before purchasing it.  There was a time when that actually worked for all involved.  Most of the services handing out an author’s work for free allow them access to some kind of dashboard or report which shows them the number of downloads to feed the fantasy of having been discovered.  It really is just a fantasy for 99.99%.  True, when eBooks and eReaders were first entering the market such free downloads generated buzz and sold additional units.  Today the only buzz they seem to generate is in the file hoarder community and they are only looking for free stuff.

Currently there are a growing number of people with the addiction.  There has been a slogan attached to drug dealers, at least in the writing world if not real life, “first hit is free.”  Now anyone can upload an unedited work to one or more of these on-line markets and watch the download counter climb.  The rush feeds the fantasy they will be “discovered” and offered a book contract with a rich and famous sized advance.  When the rush wears off they either begin spending their own money promoting or quickly create another work to post for free so they can feel the rush again.

You’ve all seen the news of formerly famous people and their downward spiral out of this world.  Addiction is a brutal thing.  Many of you have heard or seen news reports where some member of law enforcement comes on the screen and states “the new form of drug Y isn’t the same as it was in the 60s and 70s, it is N times deadlier.”  The same has become true of the free book market.  There has been a culture shift on a global scale.  A growing percentage of the world population now believe they should be able to download anything they want without having to pay for it.  The people making the money from this new addiction are the people selling the paraphernalia which would be the devices required to consume and or obtain the free stuff.  Many vendors of such devices pitch the size of the free library you will have access to with their device.

On the other side of that ether from whence the free stuff comes is a writer who is driven to write asking “Do you know me?”

“John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars” is one big interview. It is a transcript of a dialogue between “John Smith” (who, as the title of the book implies is the last known survivor of the Microsoft wars) and the interviewer for a prominent news organization.

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Genre – Dystopian Fiction

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Website http://johnsmith-book.com/

Mikey D. B. Shares a Day in His Life @mikeydbii #Dystopian #AmWriting #Authors

It all begins at five in the morning.  I wake up, make a protein packed breakfast and watch parts of documentaries while I eat.  I’ve watched documentaries on Hitler, Bigfoot, social media conspiracies, economics, magic, and basically anything I can find on Netflix that interests me at the time.  Anyway, after I eat/watch I finish getting ready for my day and then make the drive to work.

Sometimes these drives to work are the best part of my day.  Anytime before six in the morning, the roads are desolate, the mornings are cool, sun is usually rising, and it is just a good time to ponder about things.  There’s something about seeing a fresh new day begin that I love.  Maybe it’s because all the angry, muckiness of the world is still asleep.  I don’t know, but early mornings, as hard as they are to get up for, are some of the best things to experience.

So, after my morning drive, I head into my day job which consists of a lot of heavy lifting and calculations of length.  I work at a labeling manufacturing business where I coat and die cut the various labels for our clients.  You’d be amazed at how heavy paper is.  In rolls of 10,000 feet and sometimes more, these things can be up to two hundred pounds.  For the most part, I like my job.  It’s a keep-to-yourself kind of job and me being the anti-social one I can be, it gives me the opportunities to listen to music and podcasts.  In fact, a lot of my research for books happens in my eight hour shifts at work.  I download a set of podcasts I think will be relevant to what I’m trying to write, and then I listen to them.  I really can’t ask for a better time because after I get off work, my day doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room.

After my shift, which ends at about two in the afternoon, I bust my way on over to the gym.  My workouts are pretty intense, two mile runs at least, three to four mile bike rides and then a half hour of heavy weights.  I’m really trying to get ready to compete in a triathlon, so my workouts have to be pretty frequent or I’ll never train my body the way it needs to be.

Now this is where it gets kind of crazy.  I’m a high school football coach as well and practice starts at 4:30.  So I have just enough time to work out, rinse off, and get a quick bite before heading over to the school to yell at kids.  I love it!  The sport, the atmosphere, the kids, the other coaches I work with.  It’s one of the best opportunities that I’ve had come across my way.  I was hesitant to take on the responsibility at first, with the craziness of my writing and work as it is, but it’s seasonal and I couldn’t pass up the chance to get back into the sport.

Practice lasts until about seven, I get home at about eight, eat, and maybe get some writing in.  Mostly though, I’ll wind down and watch an episode of the office with my wife or we’ll just talk and read together.  The evenings, like my mornings, are a chance for me to think, process what’s happened in the day.  Maybe write them in my journal if I have enough to say.  After or before the hustle and craziness of the day, it’s in these times when I’ll turn to my scriptures to get guidance, peace, and reassurance (or chastisement—it all depends on what my attitude has been that day).

After having wrote this, I realize how packed my day is.  I think the important thing, no matter how busy we are, is we need to make sure we have our priorities in the right place.  For me, it’s: God, Family, Country.  I know if I put God first, that’ll only strengthen my resolve to take care of my family, and if I know my family is taken care of, I know I can then make decisions to take care of my country and community.

Change affects everyone and it is no different for Jackson. Living in Area 38 for as long as he can remember, he knows of no better way to exist than under the tyrannical rule of Christopher Stone, son of Stewart Stone from The Nine of The United Governmental Areas, aka The UGA. This all takes a dramatic turn when Jackson finds a red, metal box buried in his yard, filled with illegal artifacts—journals, a Bible, CDs, etc.—that are from a man of whom he has no recollection of: Mica Rouge.

 The year is 2036 and Mica, unlike Jackson, does know of a better way of life but is torn apart as he sees his country, The United States of America, crumbling from within by group known as The Political Mafia. The Mafia has infiltrated levels upon levels of governmental resources and it is up to Mica and a vigilante group known as The USA Division to stop them and their dark Utopian vision. To their demise, and at the country's expense, The Division fails and has no choice but to watch The Constitution dissolve and transform into The UGA.

In a final stand, having not given up hope, Mica and what is left of The Division, give one final fight in Colorado, or better known as Area 38. However, all is lost as The Division is betrayed by one of their own, Stewart Stone. Mica is left with no choice but to hide in exile, leaving what little history he can of himself and the great United States of America, with his wife, long time friends, and newly born son in hopes that they will one day finish what he could not.

Jackson, having found this legacy twenty-seven years later, decides to start the war that will end The Nine, and he with an outcast group known as The Raiders, begins his fight with Christopher Stone in Area 38. Filled with betrayal, unity, despair, hope, hate and love Area 38 follows both Mica and Jackson in their attempts to restore what they believe to be true freedom, and where one fails, the other rises to the seemingly impossible challenge.

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Genre – Dystopian Thriller

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Connect with Mikey D. B. on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.mikeydb.com

The Grower’s Gift (Progeny of Time #1) by Vanna Smythe @Vanna_Smythe #YA #Dystopian

“How is this possible?” her father demanded, pulling Maya back from collecting the wheat, his voice hoarse, almost threatening. “These were no more than shoots this morning.”

Maya looked into his eyes defiantly. “I did this with my gift. I let the life giving warmth water them, and make them grow. I also made sure the shoots survived after the floods.”

Maya cowered when her father grabbed her arms, his strong fingers digging into her flesh painfully. “You will stop this silly talk. You can’t heal with your touch!”

Spittle hit her face, and his blue eyes bulged the way they did every time he got angry. Maya wasn’t about to back down, not with the proof of her powers brushing against her legs in the breeze.

“How can you say that?” she yelled, pulling herself free from his grasp. “This wheat is ready for picking.”

Giles and her mother had followed them outside. Her mother was staring from one to the other, opening and closing her mouth. Giles shook his head slightly behind her mother’s shoulder.

What was he saying? That she should calm down?

He was right, probably. Yet she had to make them understand, had to make them believe.

Her father pushed her aside and started trampling the wheat viciously.

“No!” Maya yelled and threw herself at him. He pushed her back and continued to destroy the crop.

Giles wrapped his arm around her chest and pulled her back.

“Let me go!” Maya yelled, fighting against Giles’ arm. “Dad! Stop it! What’s wrong with you?”

“Be quiet! No one must see this.” Her father started kicking soil over the destroyed crop.

“Why? Imagine all the food we could grow! Why can’t I practice my magic?”

Her father moved to her side so quickly that Giles pulled her back out of his reach. “Magic? I see no magic, just a silly girl with crazy ideas who will get hurt because of them. I will not hear you speak of gifts again. And if you ever do such a thing as this again, we are leaving this town.”

Maya could count on one hand the number of times her father had truly lost his temper. His anger tonight made all those times pale in comparison. Yet, he was being unreasonable.

“Why can’t you accept that I have a special gift?” Maya rounded on her father, Giles’ arm still tight around her chest.

“You do not have a gift!” her father hissed. “This is dangerous talk. You could be kicked out of town for saying it. And how would you survive then? Out in the Badlands all alone with no drinking water and no food, and who knows what prowling around?”

“I could make an oasis,” Maya retorted.

“Let’s go back inside,” her mother pleaded softly. Maya ignored her.

She finally succeeded in prying away Giles’ arm and took a step towards her father.

“I have the ability to feed this whole town and I plan to use it! I am of age now. You can no longer tell me what to do,” she said, keeping her voice low.

The muscles in his face tensed into a grimace, and Maya was sure he would strike her. Her mother stood between them and took hold of his arm.

“She is of age.”

She turned to Maya, such sadness in her eyes that had been so bright not half an hour ago. “I bought the grains from a strange merchant who came here for market day about a month ago. Who knows what kind of mutated gene strand they contained? Maya, please listen to your father. He only wants the best for you. Let’s not argue anymore. Let’s go inside.”

She tried to pull Maya’s father after her, but he stood his ground and looked around nervously. “At least no one else saw this.”

The future is bleak in the year 2102. The planet is in chaos and the weather patterns have completely shifted, turning most of the world into an uninhabited wasteland.

The rich and powerful of North America have pulled back into the six remaining megacities, erasing all trace of a central government and leaving millions displaced by the environmental crisis to fend for themselves in the dying world.

Sixteen-year-old Maya has a gift, a power she thinks can heal the earth and make it habitable again. A gift that she must learn to harness. The school for the gifted in Neo York is the only place where she can learn to control her power and reach her potential.

Yet the school is not what it seems. Ran by the ruthless head of the city of Neo York, the school’s only objective is to extract the powers of the gifted and then discard them. Only Ty, heir to the city, can keep Maya from being destroyed there. But Ty has a secret, and his loyalty to his family has never wavered.

Will his growing love for Maya be strong enough to save them both?

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Genre - YA Dystopian

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with Vanna Smythe through Facebook & Twitter

Website www.vannasmythe.com

S.M. McEachern's #WriteTip for How to Write by the Seat of Your Pants @smmceachern #YA #SciFi

I knew absolutely nothing about being an author until after I published.  Yes, I realize that’s a bit like tying my shoes before I put them on, but that’s the point. If I have hard time putting on my shoes, odds are I’ll go looking for a different pair, which will probably put a different spin on what I’m wearing.

For me, writing by the seat of my pants gives me flexibility.  Don’t get me wrong. I’m not sitting down at my computer banging out whatever pops into my head (okay, that’s not entirely true…). I do have a plot in mind. But it’s the journey from the beginning of the story to the end that holds twists and turns even for me. How is that possible, you ask? It’s the characters that lead me.

When I start to write my characters they almost jump up off the page and introduce themselves. Even the minor characters, like a guard who just needs to be in the hallway, has to have a story. I’m thinking of my character in Sunset Rising, Bron Llewellyn.  Honestly, she was just a guard in the first chapter. Why? Because the Pit is guarded and I had to have guards. I made her one of the “good” guards because even in a dystopic world, not every single guard is going to be mean, right? Then I asked myself, why is she a good guard?  Why is she sympathetic to the Pit?  By answering those questions, I hatched a subplot that wove seamlessly into the main plot and spilled into the second book of the series, Worlds Collide.

I’m a member of local writer’s group and I’ve talked to authors who create an outline first and then write to the outline. I’m amazed at this kind of organization. I wish I could apply it to my Tupperware drawer because I’d save myself at least 15 minutes every morning trying to find containers with lids that fit for my kids’ lunches. Then again, if I could readily match lids with containers, I’d probably make chocolate pudding more often for lunch.  Chocolate pudding isn’t really that good for them.  An apple is better.  And an apple doesn’t require a container.

You see the logic?

The point is, if the story is already laid out for me, I’ll write to the storyline. I’ll stop asking myself questions—and if I do that, I’ll stop coming up with answers I didn’t expect.  For me, writing by the seat of my pants gives me the freedom to be creative.

February 2024: Desperate to find refuge from the nuclear storm, a group of civilians discover a secret government bio-dome. Greeted by a hail of bullets and told to turn back, the frantic refugees stand their ground and are eventually permitted entry.  But the price of admission is high.

283 years later...  Sunny O'Donnell is a seventeen-year-old slave who has never seen the sun.  She was born in the Pit, a subterranean extension of the bio-dome. Though life had never been easy, the last couple of months had become a nightmare. Her mom was killed in the annual Cull, and her dad thought it was a good time to give up on life.  Reyes Crowe, her long-time boyfriend, was pressuring her to get married, even though it would mean abandoning her father.

She didn't think things could get any worse until she was forced upstairs to the Dome to be a servant-girl at a bachelor party.  That's when she met Leisel Holt, the president's daughter, and her fiancé, Jack Kenner.

Now Sunny is wanted for treason.  If they catch her, she'll be executed.

She thought Leisel's betrayal was the end.  But it was just the beginning.

"Sunset Rising" is Book One of a series.

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Genre - YA Science Fiction, Dystopian

Rating – PG-16

More details about the author

Connect with S.M. McEachern through Facebook & Twitter

Website http://smmceachern.wordpress.com