He do indeed be done.
After about ten months of writing and work put in, I’m ready to publish my fourth book.
Very cool and nice.
I seem to be doing something generally right with the marketing of this one, as people are requesting ARC copies left right and center.
This book is the most violent and brutal piece I’ve ever put out. My rule was, that if a thought came to my head for a direction the story or a specific character could go, but it was disturbing enough to make me question myself, I had to write it.
And I’ve seen some shit in my life. You can only imagine where that took me.
Many many hours of true crime videos watched on YouTube suddenly came flooding out. Along with all the visceral and gory things I’ve seen in games and movies and things.
So yeah, be prepared for this one.
But every piece of disturbing content or violence was done with purpose. There’s never violence just for the sake of it. It’s either based in realism, or it carries some kind of metaphorical significance–especially in the way my monsters are designed. This novella is, in fact, a horror story about the anger and violence in the human mind, and how it might manifest if some guy with the ability to read your mind started playing around up there.
By far, this is my favorite piece of writing I’ve ever done.
New Ways to Publish
I’ve also changed over from KDP to IngramSpark, and I’m incredibly pleased with that decision.
KDP is like every other Amazon product or service, really. It’s designed specifically for Amazon, with an exclusivity that makes it nigh-on impossible to get your book sold anywhere else.
For Ceres, back when I published that with KDP, an ISBN number was generated for it–by Amazon. If I tried to upload the book anywhere else, the ISBN would be invalid, as it was an Amazon exclusive number.
Basically, Amazon claimed my book for themselves as long as that number was attached to it. It felt a bit violating, honestly.
So I got my own ISBN number for In River Cardinal from the government (whichever department it is, I don’t remember) and now I own my book fully and completely with the ability to put it wherever I want.
IngramSpark conveniently puts your book in multiple places.
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters/Indigo, and even Walmart. It also lets the stores order copies directly to stock their shelves with–provided your book is in demand.
So if you are looking to self-publish, absolutely go with IngramSpark. I’m awaiting my proof copy as of writing this, so we’ll have to see the quality of the print books, but I’m pretty confident in them.
What’s Next?
Well, another book obviously.
It’s going to be Cyberpunk, I think. Just as gritty as In River Cardinal, and probably horror-adjacent.
Cool and fun.
So I hope your interest is piqued by In River Cardinal.
ARC copies are still available, as of writing this. If you’re interested in getting a digital draft version to read for free, sign up with the form on the In River Cardinal page.