Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Writing a full-length novel can be so rewarding, but it can also be a lot of work, leaving one with a feeling of satisfaction laced with a healthy dose of self-doubt. (healthy self-doubt? really?) But sometimes, it’s not enough. I offer the case of my recent announcements that I am going to rewrite my debut novel, Phoenix Flower, so that it will fit seamlessly with and form the finale of the saga started in Utopia’s Edge.

This might be best filed under: Are You Freekin Nuts? Maybe I am, and maybe not. Let me explain briefly - no boring details, I promise, only a healthy bit of humility and a dose of honesty. It had to be done for a number of reasons.

Reason 1: Although it is a great story, it flat out doesn’t continue or even sync with the first novel of the saga: Utopia’s Edge. And that prequel is, IMO, much more exciting and better written that the one in question. Phoenix Flower has received much praise, but it’s just not enough for me to say “they liked it, so I should too.” I need to have more Proud Papa feelings here.

Reason 2: Our recent history here in the US has actually caught up with and somewhat surpassed many of the speculations I made in creating the dystopia of the first edition. In other words, what was fresh and exciting when I first wrote it has become sadly real in our world today. Okay - I’m about to change that - mostly all of that.

Where it stands today: I have restructured the story arc so it now fits seamlessly as a continuation of Utopia’s Edge. The new story will be faster paced and has become more focused. Some of my readers alerted me that the first edition was a difficult read in spots - due to number of characters and complexity of detail. Okay, I get it. My writing today is more direct, less overdone in terms of complexity. I’m pretty sure you are going to like it. Timeframe: I expect to have this edition finished and edited by March, 2024, and I’m looking forward to a release date of May 1. Stay tuned right here as I will provide updates as well as some anecdotal feedback on the process I’m going through every step of the way.

Now for some really good news: I promise my readers an experience in each of my books that they can count on to satisfy. To keep that promise, I will replace anyone’s copy of Edition 1 of Phoenix Flower with a brand new Edition 2 at no charge. You mail me the original, I will replace it with the new version as soon as it is available.

And more. . . Anyone who signs up for my newsletter (link at the top of this web page) I will add your name to my “Best Readers” list and you will be able to purchase Phoenix Flower, Edition 2 at a significant discount.

Author/Editor/Business Manager/Marketer/Office Cleaner

“When I grow up, I wanna be an Author.” I actually said this many times when I was a little guy, after reading some of the masterpieces of Jack London, Mark Twain, George Steinbeck, and more. (Yeah, I am that old. Scary, huh). But, as an adult, I soon learned that what I thought was an author was just the image of someone who writes stories. It didn’t include all of the “business” side of the industry that varies whether one is a traditionally published Author or what we refer to as an Independent Author , or Indie.

The reality that I’ve come to know too well is that an Author either has to be prepared to spend days, weeks, months and sometimes years querying professional agents in the hope they will see fit to represent our book to a publisher, and then working hand in foot with the publishing house staff rewriting and editing until they feel the product is worthy of publication. In many cases this can take more than a few years, especially if one is a new author.

Then, the publisher might own certain specific rights of the book in return for what is called an advance on royalties. For new authors, this is usually a small amount of money. Once the sales for the book reach anough to pay back the advance, the author might see some ongloing royalties. Sometimes not.

Unlike decades ago, publishers will do some monir promotion in the form of sending lists of booke under their brand, to select lists of sellers, libraries, bookstores, then promotional book clubs and print sources like the New York Times. It falls on the author to do whatever promotion that they can do to incease sales.

In the case of an Indie, There is usually no agent, no publisher, and no staff editors. All of this must be performed by the writer and any third-party support they can afford to hire on a job basis. The Indie usually will have their work made available for sale through any number of online Print On Demand (POD) sources like Amazon or Ingram Sparks.

Once the book is available via POD services, it falls on the Author to promote the book. There are many ways to go about this process: Online Ads, Social Media marketing, Email marketing, Book Clubs, Book Signings, Trade Shows (direct sales) and more.

But it’s for certain that the Indie Path is factors more difficult than and often less financially rewarding that the traditional publishing path. So, you might ask, why be an Indie Author? The answer for me, at least, is as follows: I write to tell stories. I have many stories to tell. Would I love a traditional publishing deal? Probably, yes. Am I willing and able to wait five years for some publisher to finally say “yes” and put my books out on the market? Nope. Age, tolerance, and my stubbornness make that path the wrong one for me. So, I am an Author, Editor, Business Manager, Marketer, and the guy who has to clean up my office every once in a while. And I love what I do.

“Modern Book Publishing”

What follows is a highly simplified explanation, meant to introduce a complex subject.

Traditional Publishing: Contracting with a publishing company so that they will take a book manuscript(s) from an author or their agent, assign their people to work with the author to make the book the best it can be for the market, pay the author an advance fee for the rights to sell the product in the marketplace, and pay a future royalty to the author after (and only after) the advances are repaid via sales of books.

Independent Publishing typically consists of an author and their book files, some form of printing those books, and making them available to mass markets, usually online. Independent (Indie) Publishing has snowballed in the past five years, due, in large part, to the wide acceptance of Print On Demand (POD) sources like Amazon’s KDP. In an article on Publisher’s Weekly, “According to Bookstats, which collects online sales data in real time from Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble across the print book, e-book, and digital audiobook formats, self-published authors captured 51% of overall e-book unit sales last year and more than 34% of e-book retail revenue, compared to 31% in 2021. Those numbers translate into e-book sales of $874 million in 2022 for self-published authors.”

This is not to say that the business of Indie Publishing is simply a matter of sending a file to Amazon, having them publish the book then orders roll in, and the author collects royalty checks every month - far from it. There is much to learn and do well if the author s to have a successful book launch and life-cycle.

The heavy lifting falls into the category of marketing. What was once the largest benefit of traditional publishing, now falls to the author to perform - and to fund—typically today in both traditional and indie publishing. Marketing can be an expensive project. The good news is that today’s Social Media platforms have become a viable way for authors to “get the word out” and to build their own followings.

If you haven’t already tried it, maybe your next book, or e-book is waiting for you on Amazon, or Barnes and Noble online, or other online sources. You might just find your new favorite author there, ready to tell you their stories.

“Future Thinking”

Internet, Social Media, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics (I’m not a Bot). . . Not sure about you, but I’m running out of energy trying to keep up with the incredible speed and volume of change we humans seem to be inundated with almost daily. But as dizzying as this change is, I must admit to being somewhat attracted to the endless possibilities posed by these changes. For a speculative writer, like myself, these possibilities offer a wealth of fuel for the imagination, and I find the story ideas pouring down like a waterfall.

But what are some of these changes? Let’s start with the latest in hologram technology. Light Field Lab, a Silicon Valley startup, has created a technology called “Solid Light” that makes very lifelike holograms that seem to just be there, in the air and not on a screen, possible. Solid light holograms are. sol lielike, they make the now ancient hologram of Princess Leia in Star Wars look like a cartoon of the past. Reports are that you expect to touch one and feel it, but your hand goes right through the image. Here is a link to see this in action: www.lightfieldlab.com .

Add to the mix the current state of robotics driven by artificial intelligence processing that enable them to actually learn—possibly more and faster than we can learn. The most widely known example of a hybrid AI/Robotics is the Hanson Labs hybrid named Sophia. Seen here on their website, Sophia tells us “My designers and I dream of that future, wherein AI and humans live and work together in friendship and symbiosis to make the world a better place. Human-AI collaboration: That’s what I’m all about.”

Now, think back one hundred years ago. Try to imagine someone telling you that we would have actual humanoid robots that could make such claims as Sophia made. You would just laugh. Now look ahead a mere hundred years, and try to think how much this technology will advance. The possibilities are limitless.

“Where Do Your Stories Come From?

A few days ago, my wife was on the phone with a good friend of ours from the East Coast. It seems at one point the subject of my upcoming book release for Utopia’s Edge came up in their chat. At one point, her friend asked, “Where do his ideas for stories come from?”

Well, often my answer would depend on the type of story she was asking about. But since much of my recent work is what might be called Speculative Fiction (Spec-Fic), I knew exactly where it comes from. It starts with something out of the ordinary in the current news - maybe some catastrophe, or pandemic, or maybe the ongoing nightmare of politics and the like.

Often, these days, there are too many ideas that come rushing at me out of the current news. As an example, the ongoing national argument about climate change. Is it real? Did humans cause it? Can we stop it? Should we accept it as a cyclical event and just hang on for the ride? The fact is, for the writer in me, none of these questions matter. The only question I ask myself to get the magic of Speculative Possibility thinking rolling is this: What if. . .?

Take the recent example of the summer of 2023. Most of the United States experienced deadly heat conditions and droughts. Phoenix had more than a month of temperatures over 110 degrees F. During this period, lakes, major rivers and reservoirs nearly dried up. So, I might ask “What if this is the new “normal” weather pattern? What if we have to learn to thrive in a world where water, an already precious commodity, becomes the new “gold” standard? Then the work begins.

First, I need to understand what such a climate change might cause for humans. That sounds easy, but to do it right requires a bunch of research. How long would you be able to last on a severely restricted supply of water, for instance? Throughout this process, ideas will start to gel, giving me a pretty good idea of where the story might take us.

Finally, the magic of Imagination usually takes hold, and one or two central themes come together that form the basis for the story. I don’t mean to minimize the actual process - which takes an incredible amount of research, trial and error, and false starts. But once Imagination (capitalized intentionally) kicks in, the energy follows and the story takes control. Not simple, but always exciting.

“I Call Do-Overs”

Every once in a while something you do turns out different from what you imagined, and it’s time for what we used to call out when I was a kid: I Call Do-Overs,” meaning you want to take a second shot at the target, another chance to make things the best they can be.

Such a situation has become necessary in my writing. My debut fiction novel, Phoenix Flower, is in need of a rewrite; not because it isn’t as good as it should be—because it is that good. Phoenix Flower was so inspiring, for me the author, it has opened my thinking to a greater purpose. Phoenix Flower will be rewritten to become one piece of a trilogy, working title The Barcan/Nomás Divergence. Of course, any rewrite opens the opportunity to enhance the original story in addition to making it fit cleanly into the complexities of a multiple-novel trilogy.

After Phoenix Flower was released, I received several notes and messages asking me for more information about the origin story of the Nomás tribe, and how the Barcans came to absolute power. At the time, I was also thinking that I might want to expand the story, to include the early days and the beginnings of Barca Corporation and how it grew to become an evil technocracy. It was a story that called to me, so much that I made the decision to answer, and Utopia’s Edge was born.

So, this might be a message to those of us who create - writers, artists, musicians, even entrepreneurs. Just because you created it, and declared it to be complete and finished, doesn’t mean there is no room for change - even significant change, as long as it’s for the better, or for a necessary purpose. Go for it.