Today marks one year of my self-publishing experiment.
I made the decision to start publishing science fiction stories in late 2014, but had no idea what to expect. I spent a lot of time over on the writer’s cafe at kboards. It was very overwhelming, but I decided to go for it. I had been writing off and on for years, with dozens of stories at various levels of completion— even a few I had shopped around before (unsuccessfully). Thanks to the community there I learned about covers, and blurbs, and mailing lists and websites J and realized that my hobby was really just a small drop in the self-publishing sea. Oh, I also learned about plot, and dialogue, and tropes and outlines…
There are real authors writing real works and making a living at it. I never even thought of that at first. This began as just a side hobby- a way to flex the creative side of the brain, to escape the stresses of work and life. Well, one year later, I look back and am really happy with all that has been accomplished, and look forward to new challenges. I am still small, a nobody, but this has been so enjoyable to me. In this time I have published three short stories, and three novelette length works, two of which are part of a larger series. In all, just over 40,000 words are up— barely qualifying as a novel in most circles… But if you had asked me a year ago if even that would be possible…
So onto 2016! I look forward to finishing up Shattered Earth (episode 3 coming in a few weeks), and releasing my first honest-to-goodness novel… more to come on that, but it’s about 20% done today. I hope to triple or quadruple my writing speed, and have built a great and supportive team of beta-readers, artists and editors who are helping to make me a better and stronger writer.
Thanks everyone for your support!
-Ian
