So it’s time to formulate a plan.

A plan for what, you may well be wondering?

Well, for a start, turning out a better word count each month.  Stories don’t write themselves, after all, and I’ve got several to get through.

I made a start in the right direction by doing my writing before unwinding with games each day, and I can be quite productive when I do that.  But one day of intensive activity in a week isn’t enough to really crank through stories.

Then I’ve got to consider how to better promote my stories.  For example, doing a reading of one of my stories, adding a music soundtrack and releasing it on YouTube or a similar platform.  I’ve done this on a Let’s Play video so I’ve got a bit of experience to draw on there.

Then I need to consider whether it’s worth my while trying to sell any books on Amazon or B&N when the royalty rate is what it is.  I’ve yet to make a single sale on either store, which isn’t surprising since there’s a lot of competition and I haven’t done much promotion.

I also think that in the reader’s shoes, it doesn’t make much sense to pick up a story in the middle.  So again, I need some serious wordcount to finish the whole novel rather than just one part of it.

I think what I’ll do is check with my web host and see if there’s a simple storefront that I can add to my site.  While it’s true that distributing with the likes of Amazon might result in more sales, especially if the promotion works, I’m still going to be looking at a rather small share of the takings.

You see, I’m not looking to open a store with a huge number of books or directly compete with Amazon, so I can scale things according to my rather modest needs.  If it doesn’t work out, I can look at other options, like finding an agent to negotiate a better royalty rate.

Again, I really need to find employment.  Being in work will mean that potentially, I have money to spend on things like cover design and cost-effective promotion.  Working during the week will mean that I’ll have less time to write, but I’m patient – if I can make steady progress towards my goals, that’s what matters.

Regretfully, I’m going to stop giving away stories.  More specifically, I’m going to be a bit less generous with sharing any and all chapters here on the site and on Wattpad.

The reason for this is simple.  Wattpad stories get scraped and distributed elsewhere, from what I’ve seen.  I write to entertain readers, not so some asshole can steal my content and use it to sell ads or some bullshit like that.

So that’s it, the free ride is over.  When I choose to release something on Wattpad or here on the site, it’s not going to be as long as Servant of the Siphen, and you’re going to have to pay to read the rest.

I realise that by doing so, I’m potentially going to alienate the readers I do have, and that every story eventually gets pirated, even if DRM is employed.  What I’m saying is that if it doesn’t stop or if I don’t get some reasonable compensation for my efforts, the stream of content will dry up, just like that.  Just because I want to entertain readers, doesn’t mean I have to, not if this is what I have to put up with.

If you know a better way to gate the content so that only real readers get to see it, I’m listening.  If I don’t like what I hear, then maybe I’ll stop writing for a couple of decades.  I’m fairly sure I can find something else to do in the meantime.Have a nice day.