It's been awhile.
Wish all the news was good, most of the news is good, just...well, I've been sick on and off since Thanksgiving. Three times. First two weren't too bad but the last one sucked whole bunches.
But, RR, you haven't updated since before Halloween!
And the reason for that at first was very good news. November 1st I went into Mad Scientist mode and finally started working on FM6. Enter a glorious two weeks were I wrote 4 chapters and began what is going to be such an awesome book. Seriously, so excited for it, just the beginning and all this cool stuff is happening. Last book I had to write chapters of drunk and mopping King Henry at this point, but THIS time the Crazy is out in full force. I can't go into more detail without spoiling you, and harping on it probably just gives you pain, so I'll stop now. Point is: having fun writing it, it's everything I expected it to be, can't wait to go back into Mad Scientist mode.
Then Fallout 4 happened...my bad. About ten days later I finally pulled myself away from one-shotting deathclaws with my gauss rifle loving AGI-LUCK build and got around to productivity again. Still haven't finished the game, it's waiting there for me, eager to steal another week of my life, but so far I've been strong.
And sick.
But first I got in the final edit on King Henry Short Pack Two. Which I'm really happy with, especially the Eva novella. There's also a Plutarch-KH conversion in it that makes me bust up laughing every time I read it. It's great stuff. It's also kind of necessary stuff. Having started FM6 and suddenly realizing how much I bring up things that happen in King Henry Short Pack Two in the beginning chapters, King Henry Short Pack Two really has become FM5.5 more than I expected it to. Maybe that's a dick move on my part, since I've never made shorts, be they 20 pages or 80 pages, required reading, but this time...you'll feel lost if you don't pick it up.
It just kind of happened to grow in the making. Hey, you put all those stories into a short pack, why not write a second short pack? Why not make it three novellas that take place after FM5 on the same day? Oh look, I accidentally wrote a short bridge novel. Hope you all will enjoy it, it will be releasing on February 1st and it will be marked as FM5.5 when I publish it.
Then Thanksgiving with Mom's White Beans and Ham instead of turkey, yummy, then moderate sickness followed by barely deserves to be called sickness, followed by Lung Rattling, Maybe I'll Die in My Sleep sickness. I can write while sick up to a certain point. I don't ever like to, especially King Henry since he requires a certain amount of swagger, but I can and I did on and off. Never Mad Scientist mode, but here and there with the editing and writing to almost finish another chapter. But I'm also asthmatic, so if something really hits me, really goes into my lungs...it's not happening. I'm a very grumpy, wheezing blob covered by blankets and surrounded by about twenty empty Kleenex boxes. No writing in sight. Unless it's a plea for help written in snot.
I finally felt decent yesterday, so I got back to the most important thing in my life...
I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens!
What?
Priorities, people. I was sick and couldn't go opening weekend! It was horrible! Had to dodge spoilers for a whole week! I barely made it. Especially when the Visual Dictionary I ordered arrived. I almost spoiled myself with my own fandom prowess!
Movie was awesome. Not perfect, but awesome. Star Wars is awesome again! I don't have to feel the weight of disappointment and defend the indefensible! The relief! Go see it...like three or four times, I know I will.
Now, I'm talking to you to explain things and tomorrow I'll finally boot up the writing laptop. One month successful, one month wasted, this is life as a writer.
Feb 1st, FM5.5, get ready! I'll be posting some previews/samples leading up to it, probably a small scene from each novella. Don't expect a full on novel, but... relevant shit happens! Yay!
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Friday, October 23, 2015
Quick Notes #7
1. Following a huge burst of writing, I've finished the first draft on King Henry Short Pack Two. As has been the plan, I won't be stopping to edit it right away. One, because I like writing over edit hell. Two, the entire point of this short pack is to give me some breathing room with Amazon's algorithm punishments for not publishing for over a year.
2. King Henry Short Pack Two comes in at 60k words, or about 200 pages. Shit happens in them. It's all mainline stuff, it's all post FM5. You're going to want to read this set of stories. "Driving Miss Vicky" has T-Bone and Vicky at the Coyote Compound, or as they call it First Lie Ranch. "Shadow Running" flashes back and forth between the Lady and Evelyn Strange's attempts to save Eva Reti and the mistakes that got her into her coma. "Home is Where the Crazy Is" sees King Henry return to the Asylum, with the thought of asking Plutarch to help him with something, but ending up with lots of conversations with lots of people. No, it's not required reading, but...you'd hate yourself as a fan of the series if you skipped it. Again: shit happens. War. Peace. Death. Taxes.
3. So, I put FM6 up on the status updates. I outlined it today...the outline itself was three thousand words. I am not an in-depth outliner. This probably gives you some idea of how massive and epic this novel will be. It's going to take me awhile to write it. I've estimated it at 200k words and 32 chapters (8 of which are school story). I will probably start working on it within the next month. If I've underestimated this one then the Mancy help us.
4. Speaking of the school story...I'm really worried about the school story this time around. Epic, remember? I've always felt a need to really balance the action between the two timelines so the average reader (I'm sure there are outliers) doesn't become very annoyed by the change from one to the next. I've been a reader on occasion, I know what happens when you're reading a book, in a groove, then you get to the POV that's either not as interesting as the others or just plain dreadful. You stop fucking reading for awhile. "Guess I'll start with that crap tomorrow, shitty ass Elayne chapters!"
5. Being worried about the school story, I might have to play with it a bit more than I have in the past. Stack the school story so it ends quite a bit for the insane shit happening at the end of FM6 starts and the like. Guess we'll see what comes up when writing it all. I'm writing the mainline first this time around. So, could be months and months before I get to 18-year-old King Henry.
6. Gush is still a thing, I promise!
7. Going to try to get back to doing the editing and formatting for the print-on-demand editions early next year. I might just do FM1 first as a test and then have the others follow. One thing I'm waiting on is the "first female president will be a MILF joke" in FM2, cuz...we might have a first female president soon and ya know...the story takes place in 2018. Might have to change that joke. Or the Donald could save me...screw the rest of the country, but save me some work...so ya know...look on the bright side???
8. Time is catching up on me, I imagine as we near the end of the series the real world will pass it by and it will feel much more alt world than before. FM6 takes place six months after FM5 btw.
9. Star Wars Trailer...HOLY FUCKBALLS!!!
2. King Henry Short Pack Two comes in at 60k words, or about 200 pages. Shit happens in them. It's all mainline stuff, it's all post FM5. You're going to want to read this set of stories. "Driving Miss Vicky" has T-Bone and Vicky at the Coyote Compound, or as they call it First Lie Ranch. "Shadow Running" flashes back and forth between the Lady and Evelyn Strange's attempts to save Eva Reti and the mistakes that got her into her coma. "Home is Where the Crazy Is" sees King Henry return to the Asylum, with the thought of asking Plutarch to help him with something, but ending up with lots of conversations with lots of people. No, it's not required reading, but...you'd hate yourself as a fan of the series if you skipped it. Again: shit happens. War. Peace. Death. Taxes.
3. So, I put FM6 up on the status updates. I outlined it today...the outline itself was three thousand words. I am not an in-depth outliner. This probably gives you some idea of how massive and epic this novel will be. It's going to take me awhile to write it. I've estimated it at 200k words and 32 chapters (8 of which are school story). I will probably start working on it within the next month. If I've underestimated this one then the Mancy help us.
4. Speaking of the school story...I'm really worried about the school story this time around. Epic, remember? I've always felt a need to really balance the action between the two timelines so the average reader (I'm sure there are outliers) doesn't become very annoyed by the change from one to the next. I've been a reader on occasion, I know what happens when you're reading a book, in a groove, then you get to the POV that's either not as interesting as the others or just plain dreadful. You stop fucking reading for awhile. "Guess I'll start with that crap tomorrow, shitty ass Elayne chapters!"
5. Being worried about the school story, I might have to play with it a bit more than I have in the past. Stack the school story so it ends quite a bit for the insane shit happening at the end of FM6 starts and the like. Guess we'll see what comes up when writing it all. I'm writing the mainline first this time around. So, could be months and months before I get to 18-year-old King Henry.
6. Gush is still a thing, I promise!
7. Going to try to get back to doing the editing and formatting for the print-on-demand editions early next year. I might just do FM1 first as a test and then have the others follow. One thing I'm waiting on is the "first female president will be a MILF joke" in FM2, cuz...we might have a first female president soon and ya know...the story takes place in 2018. Might have to change that joke. Or the Donald could save me...screw the rest of the country, but save me some work...so ya know...look on the bright side???
8. Time is catching up on me, I imagine as we near the end of the series the real world will pass it by and it will feel much more alt world than before. FM6 takes place six months after FM5 btw.
9. Star Wars Trailer...HOLY FUCKBALLS!!!
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Quick Notes #6
1. FM2 and FM3 have returned to their usual price at $3.99. I only saw about a 20% increase in sales and when you consider I gave up $2.35 in profit for each one to drop it down to not only a lower price but a lower royalty percentage for me...well, we won't be doing that again. It is however nice to know that once readers get hooked on the series with FM1 that the price point of the next book has little impact on whether they pick all of them up.
2. Continuing with some interesting business side stats for those of you that might be Indie authors yourself one day, I gave away about 2k worth of books this month and saw a 5% pickup rate of those possible readers becoming "fans" (people who go through and buy the second latest book in the series; since the newest book has old fans returning even this late in release it usually isn't a good idea to use it as a measuring stick ever). This is very different from people who end up picking up FM1 during a new release period, where I see 40 to 50% of them carry on through the series, which shows to me that releases are far more valuable than the vast majority of internet advertising you can do (Bookbub probably being the exception).
3. That being said...The Betrothal will be free on Amazon from October 1st to October 5th. So if you're interested in checking out the first book I ever finished writing and about exploding cushions and how exactly a hippo takes a crap, grab it then.
4. Still working on King Henry Short Pack Two. I'm pretty excited by it. It's not a full Foul Mouth book, but it has quite a bit more weight to it than a normal short has in the past. I really hope that when it is released next year, that more fans try it than usually do with the short stories, because you'll be missing out if you don't. It's three interconnecting novellas on the same day, two weeks after FM5, so calling it FM5.5 isn't really wrong to do.
5. That being said, it's not as awesome as FM6 is going to be, cuz I mean...wow...FM6. Just you guys and gals wait until you read it 5 or so years from now. Dang, what an epic book.
6. Haven't worked much on Gush, which is bad of me. Me not working on Gush is kind of Gush's history though. Eventually...one day we'll get there Ullie and Merr.
7. Foul Mouth Survey of the Month: Which of King Henry's "villains" do you HATE/DESPISE/ICKY-POO the most?
2. Continuing with some interesting business side stats for those of you that might be Indie authors yourself one day, I gave away about 2k worth of books this month and saw a 5% pickup rate of those possible readers becoming "fans" (people who go through and buy the second latest book in the series; since the newest book has old fans returning even this late in release it usually isn't a good idea to use it as a measuring stick ever). This is very different from people who end up picking up FM1 during a new release period, where I see 40 to 50% of them carry on through the series, which shows to me that releases are far more valuable than the vast majority of internet advertising you can do (Bookbub probably being the exception).
3. That being said...The Betrothal will be free on Amazon from October 1st to October 5th. So if you're interested in checking out the first book I ever finished writing and about exploding cushions and how exactly a hippo takes a crap, grab it then.
4. Still working on King Henry Short Pack Two. I'm pretty excited by it. It's not a full Foul Mouth book, but it has quite a bit more weight to it than a normal short has in the past. I really hope that when it is released next year, that more fans try it than usually do with the short stories, because you'll be missing out if you don't. It's three interconnecting novellas on the same day, two weeks after FM5, so calling it FM5.5 isn't really wrong to do.
5. That being said, it's not as awesome as FM6 is going to be, cuz I mean...wow...FM6. Just you guys and gals wait until you read it 5 or so years from now. Dang, what an epic book.
6. Haven't worked much on Gush, which is bad of me. Me not working on Gush is kind of Gush's history though. Eventually...one day we'll get there Ullie and Merr.
7. Foul Mouth Survey of the Month: Which of King Henry's "villains" do you HATE/DESPISE/ICKY-POO the most?
Monday, September 14, 2015
Quick Notes #5
1. Fuck cockroaches and black widows. Yes, the drought in Fresno has just made everything lovely with every water-seeking pest on the planet. Please, El Nino, rain, floods, whatever, just don't go Noah on our parched asses.
2. I've given away over two thousands copies of FM1 this month thanks to advertising promos, let's hope this means more super fans for you lot to play and argue with.
3. King Henry Short Pack One is selling better than I thought it would for an anthology of already released short stories, nice to see people who have stayed away from the shorts finally join the club.
4. I've been focusing on writing King Henry Short Pack Two for the last three weeks. It's about a third done, all three novellas have been started and are partially complete. As usual with my shorts (even if they're way longer than the older ones) my goal is more slice-of-life and holiday special than an epic, twist-filled adventure like with the novels themselves. Lots of world-building, lots of POVs you don't get to see when everything is from King Henry's viewpoint, more flesh and less blood.
5. Even if I finish King Henry Short Pack Two in the next month, don't expect it before 2016. I will not be stopping to edit it, but will instead be continuing the hard work on Gush and will start in on FM6. After months of real life and my brain being mush I am finally into a decent (if not amazing) writing groove this month and don't plan on interrupting it with Edit Hell.
6. Watching Netflix's Narcos (amazing series btw) while T-Bone and Vicky are in the middle of the Coyote Compound is great mood synergy!
7. Foul Mouth Survey of the Month: Who is your favorite non-KH character in the King Henry Tapes? Bonus Points for saying why!
2. I've given away over two thousands copies of FM1 this month thanks to advertising promos, let's hope this means more super fans for you lot to play and argue with.
3. King Henry Short Pack One is selling better than I thought it would for an anthology of already released short stories, nice to see people who have stayed away from the shorts finally join the club.
4. I've been focusing on writing King Henry Short Pack Two for the last three weeks. It's about a third done, all three novellas have been started and are partially complete. As usual with my shorts (even if they're way longer than the older ones) my goal is more slice-of-life and holiday special than an epic, twist-filled adventure like with the novels themselves. Lots of world-building, lots of POVs you don't get to see when everything is from King Henry's viewpoint, more flesh and less blood.
5. Even if I finish King Henry Short Pack Two in the next month, don't expect it before 2016. I will not be stopping to edit it, but will instead be continuing the hard work on Gush and will start in on FM6. After months of real life and my brain being mush I am finally into a decent (if not amazing) writing groove this month and don't plan on interrupting it with Edit Hell.
6. Watching Netflix's Narcos (amazing series btw) while T-Bone and Vicky are in the middle of the Coyote Compound is great mood synergy!
7. Foul Mouth Survey of the Month: Who is your favorite non-KH character in the King Henry Tapes? Bonus Points for saying why!
Monday, August 31, 2015
King Henry Short Pack One Released + 4th Anniversary for the Tapes
King Henry Short Pack One, the occasionally asked for anthology version with all presently released King Henry Shorts is now out! I repeat again: it has no new material. It contains "Little King Henry", "Conquering Hero", "Friendship is Madness", "Second Take", "Griefing" and "Meet the Bonnies."
If you haven't read any of the short stories, it's a great deal! Six of them in one place for only 2.99, that's 50% off buying them separately. How much content is it? About 200 pages of stuff, some in the School Story, others in the Mainline, just sprinkled around all over the place. If you're at all interested in how King Henry met T-Bone, or Vicky Welf's introduction into the series, or need to know all the details about the Spy Van Incident, it's in there, plus more.
If you have read the short stories and are a complete super fan, then thank you, first of all! Second of all, all you're getting from this is the formatting of having the stories in one file on your Kindle. Or the joy of going the extra mile to support your favorite author with 2 whole dollars. Yippie!
Linkage:
King Henry Short Pack One by Richard Raley on Amazon Kindle
As for King Henry Short Pack Two, still working on that one! Have started two of the three novellas that are going to be inside of it, so far so good. Also still working on Gush, Ullie and Merr are currently trying to find a place where they won't get stabbed to death in their sleep. Plus Real Life has struck with family and dentists and doctors and room remodeling. Updated all the old files and blurbs and stuff last night too. Writing stuff so much more fun than real life stuff. Oh...I'm currently fighting with my cat to decide if my new comfy recliner-as-writing-chair is mine or if I'm merely renting it from her.
Also still chipping away at the Print-on-Demand versions of the series. Finished the copyedits for FM1, 1/3 of the way for FM2. After that you have formatting, then me messing with Createspace, so we're getting there slowly. Hey, at least I've started, right?
Quick! Distract them with King Henry Short Pack Two Teasage:
In honor of the anniversary, I'm putting FM2 and FM3 on sale at 99 FREAKIN' CENTS each for the month of September. That's two bucks for the first three books in the series. 1000 pages of Pulpanormal, Urban Fantasy goodness! If you have friends or family who haven't made the leap, tell them to get in on the action now. Cuz that's cheap even by my standards and probably won't be happening again for a long time. I've also set up advertising runs with Ereader News Today and Freebooksy, because I have new book money and new fans are awesome.
See? I've been busy. Just not...FM6 busy. Did have a couple really awesome ideas for it though...
Now if you're excuse me, I'm sick of this "Real Life" stuff and will be going hermit for the foreseeable future. Books to finish after all! Keep all you monsters from threatening me with whips and chains and calling me a lazy fat-ass.
If you haven't read any of the short stories, it's a great deal! Six of them in one place for only 2.99, that's 50% off buying them separately. How much content is it? About 200 pages of stuff, some in the School Story, others in the Mainline, just sprinkled around all over the place. If you're at all interested in how King Henry met T-Bone, or Vicky Welf's introduction into the series, or need to know all the details about the Spy Van Incident, it's in there, plus more.
If you have read the short stories and are a complete super fan, then thank you, first of all! Second of all, all you're getting from this is the formatting of having the stories in one file on your Kindle. Or the joy of going the extra mile to support your favorite author with 2 whole dollars. Yippie!
Linkage:
King Henry Short Pack One by Richard Raley on Amazon Kindle
As for King Henry Short Pack Two, still working on that one! Have started two of the three novellas that are going to be inside of it, so far so good. Also still working on Gush, Ullie and Merr are currently trying to find a place where they won't get stabbed to death in their sleep. Plus Real Life has struck with family and dentists and doctors and room remodeling. Updated all the old files and blurbs and stuff last night too. Writing stuff so much more fun than real life stuff. Oh...I'm currently fighting with my cat to decide if my new comfy recliner-as-writing-chair is mine or if I'm merely renting it from her.
Also still chipping away at the Print-on-Demand versions of the series. Finished the copyedits for FM1, 1/3 of the way for FM2. After that you have formatting, then me messing with Createspace, so we're getting there slowly. Hey, at least I've started, right?
Quick! Distract them with King Henry Short Pack Two Teasage:
"Mostly it’s just about the fact that you have a penis and that it’s been between my legs in my precious, Welf, baby-spewing womb.”Last, it is the 4th Anniversary for the release of FM1 on September 1st! Woohoo! In that time I've gone from no fans to thousands of them! King Henry has gone from a punk who doesn't know about extended pooling to a powerful mancer on the cusp of understanding and greatness! T-Bone even got laid, how about that?
In honor of the anniversary, I'm putting FM2 and FM3 on sale at 99 FREAKIN' CENTS each for the month of September. That's two bucks for the first three books in the series. 1000 pages of Pulpanormal, Urban Fantasy goodness! If you have friends or family who haven't made the leap, tell them to get in on the action now. Cuz that's cheap even by my standards and probably won't be happening again for a long time. I've also set up advertising runs with Ereader News Today and Freebooksy, because I have new book money and new fans are awesome.
See? I've been busy. Just not...FM6 busy. Did have a couple really awesome ideas for it though...
Now if you're excuse me, I'm sick of this "Real Life" stuff and will be going hermit for the foreseeable future. Books to finish after all! Keep all you monsters from threatening me with whips and chains and calling me a lazy fat-ass.
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