Benjamin Medrano's Blog, page 29

November 1st 2020 Update

Queen’s Journey is up to about 52,500 words, and is going strong! I will warn that due to where things ended it might be a bit… emotional in the first parts, but hopefully it’ll calm down as things go.

That said, it’s national novel-writing month, and normally I’d ignore it because I write 50,000 words per month most months. However, as my wife decided to participate, I decided I’d do some writing for it in solidarity, so this month is going to be busy for me. I’m going to be picking up Broke...

Dusk Gate Released

Dusk Gate is now out! I really hope those of you who read it enjoy it, and I’m hoping to have the audiobook out soon! You can find the links to the Amazon page for it and the paperback below.

Dusk Gate ebookDusk Gate paperback

Also, if you read it, I’d deeply appreciate a review as well. Reviews are incredibly important for self-published authors like myself.

October 25th 2020 Update

Dusk Gate comes out tomorrow, which has me very excited! I hope that everyone enjoys Xandra as much as I do, even if I wonder where she came from in my imagination. You can find the links to the Amazon page for it and the paperback below.

Dusk Gate ebookDusk Gate paperback

In other news, I also spent two days this past week dealing with some backlogged tasks I kept putting off, including putting out a call for auditions for Dusk Gate‘s audiobook. I got far more submissions for the project ...

October 18th 2020 Update

Queen’s Journey is up to ~32,500 words, which has me very pleased with how the book is coming along. I’m not entirely sure on how long it’ll be at this point, but with how much ground it has to cover before the end, I’d be startled if it isn’t over 100,000 words.

I also have gotten back the edited version of Dusk Gate, and at this point I’ve uploaded it to Amazon. I’ve also moved the release date up to October 26th, since I’m sure that it’s ready! I’m really looking forward to it being out, s...

How I Self Publish

Just the other day, I was asked how the publishing process works. It’s an excellent question, but not one that’s suited to a simple reply in a comment. There’s a lot that goes on with publishing, even ignoring editing and the writing of a book! I’m going to go over how I do it below.

Traditional vs. Self-Publishing

This is one of the things I want to address first. I’m self-published. That means that I come up with an idea, write the book, pay for editing, pay for cover art, and otherwise ...

October 11th 2020 Update

Dusk Gate is off with the editor, and Amazon figured things out so the pre-order is actually available on all of their stores! Too bad it took most of a week, but I’ll take victories where I can.

On the other hand, Queen’s Journey has come along well, and in the three days I was writing, I took it from ~12,500 words to ~20,250 words, so I’m excited to see if the momentum keeps up! Some aspects of the story already have surprised me, and I’m curious to see how things work out. I’m really excit...

October 4th 2020 Update

I’m in the final stages of editing Dusk Gate at this point, then I’m going to be sending it to my editor. I’m really hoping to have it out before the end of the month, but at present, the pre-order is set for November 2nd. The link to the Amazon pre-order is below!

Dusk Gate Pre-Order

Dusk Gate somewhat fascinates me due to the nature of Xandra, who is if not the main character, she’s one of the main characters. She’s sarcastic, short-tempered, and generally doesn’t filter her responses by...

September 27th 2020 Update

This past week was a little surprising. I not only started Queen’s Journey, but I wrote about 12,500 words on it, which was far more than I expected. It just flowed a lot more easily than I thought it would, which makes me hopeful that once I get going on it primarily, it’ll be easy to finish.

That said, the upcoming week, and possibly part of the next, will be dedicated to editing Dusk Gate. I’ve set up the pre-order on my end, but it’s taking an unusually long time to publish on Amazon, so ...

September 20th 2020 Update

I completed Dusk Gate this past week, with about 99,000 words! It could grow or shrink in editing (usually books grow a little, as I clarify things), but the book is finished and with my Alpha Readers for feedback. Thus far their responses have been favorable, which I take as a good sign!

With that done, I’m going to go ahead and get started on the next book of Lilith’s Shadow, titled Queen’s Journey. I don’t expect to get a whole ton done before I need to do the next stage of editing on Dusk...

September 13th 2020 Update

Dusk Gate is only up to ~95,000 words. I’m pretty sure I’d have done better, but… Mother Nature had her say in things. My area of northern Utah got hammered by a wind storm this past Monday night, and it knocked out power for over 180,000 people. While we had a generator, it made it very difficult to concentrate on writing, and we only got power back late on Friday. Fortunately, we didn’t take much damage (unlike the many uprooted trees, smashed fences, and the like that I’ve seen), but it defin...