Hack Novelry part 2 Errata – an addition to yesterday's winding path of whining.

So, I explored different avenues with getting my work published. Here, I had something that I made, a world that I slaved over and lived in for months at a time, and it was just sitting on my harddrive collecting sub-atomic dust. One day it occurred to me to see whether or not I could upload it to Amazon for the Kindle as an independent. The answer was yes. They required a steep 65% cut of the profit at the time.

E-Publishing of course has its pros and cons. Like about everything else on the planet. I like the phrase 'double-edged sword'. It cuts both ways. The positives and negatives are also heavily intermeshed, with reasons showing up on both sides of the list, depending on how one looks at these things.

Pro: No middlemen, you go directly to the public, there are no publishers or agents, thus you get a larger share of the profits. That seems to be me the highest Libertarian ideal of the free market in action – though I'm not a Libertarian. No editors, your story stays exactly as you envisioned it.

Con: No editing, no assistance with cleaning up your prose, and you only have one set of eyes (unless you have a horde of willing friends – most of my friends are busy, uninterested, or both), to catch mistakes and help add that layer of polish. Lack of resources or expertise – you're forced to market it yourself. Lack of reach, no inexpensive print books(I prefer print to electronic). There isn't anyone out there actively working to pimp or improve your story. You're alone in the world to fend for yourself. I find myself needing feedback, a seperate set of eyes. It is difficult to envelop the entire story in my mind. I cannot see the forest for the trees as they say.

Woohoo I just brought out another tired old adage!

There are, out there in the vast wilds of the internet, services that will create a physical copy of your book. I've tried it – and sold somewhere around 3 copies(I have a feeling that at least one of those was a friend of mine). I don't blame people for not being interested, the first version had a lot of formatting issues and I'm the sole editor, so you can safely bet that there were mistakes aplenty. In fact, I've myself purchased nearly as many copies(2) as proofs.

As it is, I am a one man show. I create my own blurbs – which I mentioned I lack skill in doing. I've slathered together my cover art, some of which I am proud of visually, though I'd rather a real graphic artist uses their skills.

I started out and my sales tactic was to upload and wait. In the mean time I'd Calculate how many sales I will need to quit my shitty job and take up the gauntlet full time. The mathematical principal worked out to the answer “Way more than you're getting fool!”

The independent ebook author's dream seems to involve a deep hope that eventually someone will find your work, and then rave about it on their blog – prompting others to buy and rave. A word of mouth campaign. I'm just waiting for the likes of Simon Pegg or Penny Arcade to magically show up out of the chaos. So far, the wait has been long, and I honestly don't expect it to ever end. Magical Thinking and all that.

Really, if wishing and Magical Thinking worked, I would be a billionaire Ninja-Wizard who lived in my underground compound with a cadre of brilliant and beautiful geek women of all different flavors. The so-called author of “The Secret” can cram it into all of their various orifices. And then pack it in with a chainsaw.

Really though, how does an independent get the word out? I want to be fair and honest, no hype or bullshit. I hate, HATE, advertising. I also hate approaching strangers and just talking about my work. How is the blog different? You're coming to me if at all. Once again, I'm just tossing this up in my little point on the web. I like to think of it as a recording of me talking to myself.

Amazon has offered a service where one can give their books away free. Wooh? Well, if it gets you some buzz, why not?

But once again, how do I go about capturing an audience to spin my tales? I've been told that the stories are great. The characters are interesting and enjoyable. Sure, all of that was from my mom, but a mother must be Objective when talking about her kids prospects right? Pfah. Actually, after a year of complaining that she didn't get a copy of zombie 1, and receiving one, the Mom still hasn't gotten around to reading it(she doesn't like zombies). - all relevant compliments have come from outside of my circle.

The high point of December was receiving a letter from a fan wondering if there was going to be a zombie 5. How simple it is to raise hopes and spirits. A few positive words from a stranger is all it takes. Yes, I have plans for zombie 5, but other stories have gotten in the way. Especially after my hopes flagged over the first four books not going anywhere.

I just need to keep pushing onward. To find the energy to finish the projects I'm working on. The time to write the ideas that I have bumping around in my head. This is slow going.

Fuck you Brain.

Aliens is my all time favorite movie. Still. Even after twenty years further cinematic adventures that lead to encounters with hundreds(maybe thousands) more films. My best friends and I used to 'play' Aliens. My weapon of choice was the nine-barrel mini-gun from Predator. I was specific about the number of barrels that the weapon had as I imagined myself fighting off the swarms of warrior bugs.

I still have nightmares about the Aliens movies.

You haven't seen Aliens? Watch it. First watch Alien and then the sequel. You might even enjoy Alien 3. Skip Resurrection and the Aliens Vrs Predator drek that Hollywood shat out. Do try the AvP computer games, especially AvP 2 for Mac and PC. Alien is one of the Top Horror movies. Aliens one of the finest Action Horror movies. Each was made by a master director with a talented cast of actors portraying believable characters.

In short, they are fine cinema.

Further - The stories are set in a universe not unlike our own. There is no Utopian society. Mega-corporations are extremely powerful and influential in both political and every day life. People are greedy and selfish, they are noble and brave, or cowardly. Just like they are now. It is implied that there is no global government, the world is broken up into alliances and nation states. These work with the Mega-corporations as humanity spreads out into the stars. Actually, no government, beyond the corporate government, is ever seen. The characters work with the corporation. Even the Marines seem to be an arm of the Company.

Space travel is slow. Humanity generally seems to believe that it is largely alone in the galaxy, as no other species are mentioned directly in the movies. At least nothing intelligent.

We do have a Colonial military force and military starships, so there must be some hostile force out there. Their weapons are a primitive high tech. No lasers or phasers, they use slug throwers and explosives and fire as their tools of death. They pack body armor and knives, feed on cornbread substitute, wear video cameras and ride around in armored vehicles of questionable value. The Marines, are bad hombres and masters of foul language.

I so wanted to be a Colonial Marine as a kid.

Now to the Aliens. Imagine an eight foot tall carnivorous insect with a black exoskeleton razor sharp claws and teeth. It can run down humans and tear them in half, climb walls and ceilings. The best part? They have sulfuric acid for blood. Slaying one just might kill you in return. They work as hive force and are utterly fearless, but are at the same time very intelligent and are able to change tactics to suit the needs of the battle. They can see in the dark, so there is no place to hide.

Frightened yet?

One last thing, the most terrifying of all: They use other animals to breed. The Aliens are insects, with one queen that lays eggs and the rest are drones. The life cycle is such: Queen lays egg → Egg hatches into parasites called facehuggers → the facehuggers scuttle about and find a host, attach, implant the egg and then falls off and dies → the egg hatches and the chest burster erupts into the world → the chest burster grows at amazing speed.

The aliens don't care what host they use. Human or animal. How they managed to get into space is unknown, they just have. The Corporation is interested in the species. But I won't give anymore spoilers away. Watch the movies.

So, I've had a reoccurring nightmare over the years. The cast and setting are always different, sure, it's like a rebooted film franchise that uses the same general story – I'm in a place that has been infested by Aliens. Either facehuggers, for the really bad dreams, or drones in the less intense ones. Usually it is at night and often in a strange building. One bad one involved a mansion that was infested with facehuggers. They were crawling everywhere.

This time, I was outside an enormous stone building(1/4 mile wide and long, 10 stories tall) at night. Captain Janeway from Voyager and I think my friend Ryan – both in full Colonial Marine gear. What did I have? An empty rifle. I swear, all of the firearms I laid my hands on (about 20 of them) were empty. Didn't have any full magazines, but I had a knife. Thank you brain for that, you gave me a knife to fight against aliens that bleed acid.

And that's the gist of it. There was a lot of running through dark corridors in the basement – which was a lot like a factory with metal grated floors, large machinery and tons of fog/mist/steam.

What does this say about me? I'm optimistic and pessimistic in the same breath. In the dreams I refuse to give up and keep running and fighting where I have to, even when it is hopeless. And I know that it is hopeless. But I push forward regardless of my chances. Because it beats stopping.