Recent content by Jason

One character in my debut, a soldier, swears all the time and my (freelance) editor recommended I cut it down and only use occasional swearing for effect. But then there would have been no distinction from other characters, so in the end, I took it all out and explained early on that he swears...

Someone, is doing it on my Kindle Unlimited KENP read.

Thanks for putting up the War at Sea articles, Aldarion. It was interesting to read them (and the Fantasy Avoids Gunpowder article) having written about Renaissance-era sailing ships and galleys in my debut. I'm pleased to say that many of my intuitions seem to fit with the facts as you present...

Awkward matters of translation are usually brushed over in fantasy and sci-fi. In my debut, I took a contrary approach and put two bands of soldiers in a spot where they have to communicate through individuals who speak a common second tongue. Later, they develop a limited new vocabulary.

Thanks, ThinkerX for the prompt - set up my Goodreads author profile. Any tips for the next steps?

Yes, that's what I was asking thanks. They take an eye-watering cut from your KDP 70% profit. My advice: run away and DIY.

Back to promo funnies - UK query. I've taken a $40 punt to promote a Kindle UK £0.99 countdown deal with ebookdealstoday.co.uk - starting 07/28. I found them here - List of Promotional Sites for KDP Deals | Indies Today

I read MZB's Stormqueen as a kid too, and I recently debuted with a science fantasy - perhaps more of a fantasy science. So, good luck to you and let me know when you find that small room.

Thanks I meant a pleasant surprise rather than a complete one - 3 to 6 reviews are part of the deal so it's fair to say they are paid separately. I suspect the reviewers are told not to post anything if they can't bring themselves to give 4 or more stars. BookBub, Hello Books and the small...

OK, I admit it. I paid their gold moron premium recently. I timed a $0.99 Kindle countdown deal to coincide with my summer holiday so that at the very least I'd get a sunlounger fool's paradise watching the sales figures. I was hoping to push up the sales ranks and generate 'natural' sales but...

If you can afford the fees, I hope you get a pleasing Christmas gift for family and friends. Before going with KDP, I checked out a vanity press mostly because it offered a free review (i.e. praise it to the skies) before they followed up with a professional hard sell. From a business POV, they...

One of my main characters is a skaldier, a soldier trained with a skalda. The skalda is an arquebus-like weapon charged with blastsalt, a crystalline explosive. A skalda cartridge holds two portions of blastsalt, each just above half the critical mass, separated by a paper disc - and a lead...

My approach was to shatter MC normality in a prologue and then jump back during the opening chapters. This gave room to world-build with a hook in place.

I averaged 2000 words in my debut. It worked out that way though I worried the chapters were too short. Now I think that's the right size for an entertaining, easy-reading episode.

The next member to post be cursed with writer's block! (Trailing evil laugh...)