Hey Guys,
This May has been a month of hard work and sharpening my axe to the wheel. Progress is coming, but not quite there yet. So, without further ado, I’ll dive into what’s been happening in my neck of the woods.
Piracy PSA
This is one I wanted to touch on real quick, as I’ve seen it happen to a few indie authors recently. I won’t touch on specifics, but I will say that as authors, we work really hard on the stories that we write, spending tons of hours, money, pulled hair, and so on. You can imagine it’s really sad to see people bootlegging other’s work on the internet.
Please support the authors you read, especially the indie authors without a publishing house behind them. They’ve worked hard and really love their stories, and this bothers me. Like genuinely upsets me!
Furthermore, if you can’t afford the books, you can always ask. I’d be willing to bet that most would gift you a copy if you ask. They may request for a review, but that may be it. And the worst they can say is no.
So for the authors of the community, I hope I haven’t scared you too much, but I’d look into what you can do for if, and when, this happens. And as for the readers, I hope I haven’t bored you. Again, this bothers me to see happening to someone else, so I encourage you to support the authors of your books.
Okay, soapbox over.
What have I been writing?
I’ve had some VERY productive weeks. I finished another five or six chapters towards a first draft, tacking up twenty-six chapters out of thirty. All’s left is writing that pesky climax, and the heroes are home free.
In case you missed it, the story is about a secretary who’s charged with forming an elite heist team and most importantly about her rescuing “the muscle,” a mutant snow leopard inmate with ghost tattoos, from a wicked prison run by specters, mind control, and the supernatural. My working title is The Gathering of Misfits: The Muscle.
Also, The Hollow Death of Belladonna Bates received a surprise face-lift with an update to the first two chapters through vigorous peer revision. One segment of contention in its middle build eludes me how to fix, but I’m working on it.
Just a bit more elbow grease and it’s off to an editor. I really want this one to publish at its best.
How’s the novelette?
The line edit went swimmingly! Proofread edits finish in a week or so, and then it’s off to formatting and the fun part: covers. 🙂
Darla and Dylan’s story will release hopefully very soon!
What’s planned for next month?
I hope to polish the middle build of The Hollow Death of Belladonna Bates, keep plugging at a that aforementioned first draft, and start work on a cover for the novelette/short story.
Aside from those, two new projects blipped on my radar, but perhaps need more time than only this coming month.
- I still have all the building blocks for Lafonda and Leo to release on hardcover and wish to publish by its anniversary on August 17th.
- A sight I set on this year was to dive into social media. While I am glad the Mustache Cartel is booming, I want to carry this momentum and keep expanding. Again, I’m leaning towards TikTok or perhaps Instagram. Time will tell, but the former feels more favorable as an introvert, and Instagram has already rubbed me the wrong way.
Cutting Edge Studio
I believe I’ve talked about this company in my newsletter, but I wanted to share that I joined their online community recently. Cutting Edge Studio is a company that helps authors in services they may need with their books that I genuinely like. This is not sponsored, by the way. (These thoughts are my own.) They did my book trailer for Vestige Rise of the Pureblood a while back.
Their community functions similar to a Discord/Slack and has slowly been growing the past weeks. It’ll be interesting to see what becomes of it.
So for those authors of the Mustache Cartel, this could be worth a look-see.
Concluding Remarks
That wraps up the news this month. I’ll leave you all with a question. What’s one of your favorite characters of all of fiction?
Be sure to let me know in the comments.
Or if you’re in the Mustache Cartel, hit reply. It’ll be interesting to see what you all think.
Until next time,
Antonio