Zane Emerson's Blog
July 16, 2022
Failure
When is a project more trouble than it's worth?
It's something that has been plaguing me all week and I couldn't quite figure out what the answer was.
As a writer, it's easy to fall for the Sunk Cost Fallacy, the idea that you've put a ton of time into something and thus you need to see it through to the end.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve stumbled into this trap MULTIPLE times. The first was with one of my earliest projects. It took me nearly a decade to finish and while I DID finish it, the project had evolved and changed so much over the years it was a mess of narrative styles and plot lines that made the story a confused jumble. Even to this day, I’ve tried to rewrite and rework the story because of Sunk Cost, which is even worse because I know what I’m trying to overcome with the project.
But more recently than that, I’ve had to come to terms with the Fallacy as I have dropped deep into writing a web serial. I have thoroughly enjoyed working on Star Launch Academy, and I truly do believe the story has something there, but I think that once again I’ve fallen into a trap.
Successful serials find their footing by about three months after they’ve been released. If they haven’t quite gotten there by that point, it’s a hard road to come back from. Readers on the various sites will see high chapter numbers, but low followers and wonder why. Sure, you might get a spurt of views when you release a new chapter, but there’s no engagement, no community curiosity because many readers that you started with have no longer stuck around.
So it is with a slightly heavy heart that I admit that I am currently putting Star Launch on a hiatus in terms of its serial status. I believe the story is workable and I intend to do some serious overhauls to it, but the weekly releases will come to an end while I decide on it’s future. For those of you wondering what I am already thinking for the eventual overhaul. I’m considering a complete change to the narrative style as the multi-POVs, while interesting, didn’t work as well as I had intended.
Book 3 of The Cadinari Stream is currently in progress as well as several short stories set in the Taldora world that are in various stages of completion (these ones are definitely projects that get worked on as the inspiration hits.)
But for those of you who do like to follow my work on a consistent basis fret not. I am not leaving the serial world completely, instead I am refocusing to a new serial that I plan on starting to release in the next month. Instead of jumping in half assed, which I admittedly did with SLA, I have done far more research and planning around this particular project. From the sites to post on, to the frequency and expectations of the genre.
Having something fail doesn’t make you a failure, it’s just A failure. Not learning something from that failure though? Now that can make you a failure. And I don’t intend on letting that happen.
Just a matter of putting in the work.
It's something that has been plaguing me all week and I couldn't quite figure out what the answer was.
As a writer, it's easy to fall for the Sunk Cost Fallacy, the idea that you've put a ton of time into something and thus you need to see it through to the end.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve stumbled into this trap MULTIPLE times. The first was with one of my earliest projects. It took me nearly a decade to finish and while I DID finish it, the project had evolved and changed so much over the years it was a mess of narrative styles and plot lines that made the story a confused jumble. Even to this day, I’ve tried to rewrite and rework the story because of Sunk Cost, which is even worse because I know what I’m trying to overcome with the project.
But more recently than that, I’ve had to come to terms with the Fallacy as I have dropped deep into writing a web serial. I have thoroughly enjoyed working on Star Launch Academy, and I truly do believe the story has something there, but I think that once again I’ve fallen into a trap.
Successful serials find their footing by about three months after they’ve been released. If they haven’t quite gotten there by that point, it’s a hard road to come back from. Readers on the various sites will see high chapter numbers, but low followers and wonder why. Sure, you might get a spurt of views when you release a new chapter, but there’s no engagement, no community curiosity because many readers that you started with have no longer stuck around.
So it is with a slightly heavy heart that I admit that I am currently putting Star Launch on a hiatus in terms of its serial status. I believe the story is workable and I intend to do some serious overhauls to it, but the weekly releases will come to an end while I decide on it’s future. For those of you wondering what I am already thinking for the eventual overhaul. I’m considering a complete change to the narrative style as the multi-POVs, while interesting, didn’t work as well as I had intended.
Book 3 of The Cadinari Stream is currently in progress as well as several short stories set in the Taldora world that are in various stages of completion (these ones are definitely projects that get worked on as the inspiration hits.)
But for those of you who do like to follow my work on a consistent basis fret not. I am not leaving the serial world completely, instead I am refocusing to a new serial that I plan on starting to release in the next month. Instead of jumping in half assed, which I admittedly did with SLA, I have done far more research and planning around this particular project. From the sites to post on, to the frequency and expectations of the genre.
Having something fail doesn’t make you a failure, it’s just A failure. Not learning something from that failure though? Now that can make you a failure. And I don’t intend on letting that happen.
Just a matter of putting in the work.
April 7, 2022
Writing a Sequel is hard...
I'm not a blogger, if that wasn't obvious.
I post here only ever so often and don't use any of those standard bait and switch techniques (is that a blogging technique? Like I said, not a blogger, wouldn't know.)
What I am however, is a writer. Or at least that's what I tell people at least. I did publish a book after all which is a lot more than a lot of people can say they've done (regardless of how many people think the process is easier than it is).
And as a writer, I have the obligation to my readers to not leave them hanging, especially when I labeled the first book I put out as Book One in a series!
So I put it out, gave myself a few months and then sat down to start working on the sequel. Shoulda been pretty easy, after all, I knew this was a series right?
Well... about that. I'm a pantser. For those of you who don't write, that has a specific meaning that I am more or less writing this entire post about.
For writers, we tend to fall into two camps (there's obviously levels and others of course, but I'm generalizing here so work with me.)
Outliners: Are writers who obsess over every little detail. They have notebooks and carefully organized files that can range from giving them chapter by chapter synopsis, to just part outlines. They can range vastly but the idea behind an outliner is that they know, more or less, all of the big action points in their books.
It's actually really impressive and I admire the hell out of Outliners for their ability to write their books in such a paraphrased way. But I've tried it, and it just doesn't work for me. At least not on a major scale.
The most outlining I do is knowing the beginning and the ending of a book. Maybe a few small scenes here or there, but that's all I do. The one time I ever tried outlining, I ended up getting so bored with the world I tossed it onto the backburner and haven't even relooked at the file since, and that was like, seven years ago.
Which brings us to:
Pantsers: Ever hear the phrase doing something by "the seat of your pants"? Well that's the bread and butter of a pantser. I sit down, I start writing and I see where the story takes me.
Sometimes, this brings some twists and turns that I might not have been able to come up with through a traditional outlining process, sometimes it gets me stuck as I rewrite a single scene a half dozen times as I replay it in my head and look for the right way to let the chapter end in the best possible way.
Remember, I work by knowing what the ending is going to be, if a scene doesn't end in a way that's going to work toward that goal, I end up rewriting it. Sometimes I get a chapter in one try, sometimes it takes a lot more. But I have found my style and it works for me.
Or at least I thought I did until I sat down to write Overflow.
See, like I said, I always knew Cascade was the start of a larger series, and I know some people might ask how I knew the series was meant to be a four book series when I'm not an outliner.
Well, that's because of the minor bits of outlining that I do do. Like I said, I know how the stories begin and end, but that's it. And when I came up with Cascade, I had four very distinct endings in mind that advanced a plot steadily along and I planned the books in this series accordingly.
Yet knowing just how a book is going to end doesn't do you a lot of good when suddenly, you don't have just what you're writing to worry about, but making sure you don't break the continuity of your last book. Suddenly that need for an outline seems a lot more pressing, especially if it's just making a retroactive one for your last book? Sounds like a good idea right?
Is that what I did though?
NOOOOOOPE!
That would have been the easy route. Instead I just sat down, and forgot the last one. Well... okay I didn't forget the last book, I just, didn't worry so much. I knew my book, inside and out. And I also knew my characters. My wife says I treat my characters like friends when I talk about the stupid things they get up to after all, so why should it matter if they already had the start of their story written "in stone" it didn't mean that their stories were over and I sure as hell knew what storylines still needed to be resolved.
And did I go on to resolve those story lines?....
Okay, so maybe not all of them! With a hydra like approach to the lines that came out of Cascade, Overflow is practically... Overflowing with a fun, crazy new continuation of The Cadinari Stream.
Oh, did I forget to mention that outright even though I heavily, heavily, implied it? (seriously guys I never write in this blog, if I'm making a post it's probably an announcement of some sort, like, a solid 9 out of 10 times.)
Yeah, writing a sequel IS hard. But I sure as hell did it and I am so excited for everyone to get a chance to read it! As a sneak peek for getting through my mad, incoherent rambling that went absolutely nowhere (seriously why did I make this post?) here's a look at the full cover of Overflow, book two of The Cadinari Stream!
Things are about to get crazy, so I sure hope y'all are ready for the ride!
Also there's mystery and intrigue.
I post here only ever so often and don't use any of those standard bait and switch techniques (is that a blogging technique? Like I said, not a blogger, wouldn't know.)
What I am however, is a writer. Or at least that's what I tell people at least. I did publish a book after all which is a lot more than a lot of people can say they've done (regardless of how many people think the process is easier than it is).
And as a writer, I have the obligation to my readers to not leave them hanging, especially when I labeled the first book I put out as Book One in a series!
So I put it out, gave myself a few months and then sat down to start working on the sequel. Shoulda been pretty easy, after all, I knew this was a series right?
Well... about that. I'm a pantser. For those of you who don't write, that has a specific meaning that I am more or less writing this entire post about.
For writers, we tend to fall into two camps (there's obviously levels and others of course, but I'm generalizing here so work with me.)
Outliners: Are writers who obsess over every little detail. They have notebooks and carefully organized files that can range from giving them chapter by chapter synopsis, to just part outlines. They can range vastly but the idea behind an outliner is that they know, more or less, all of the big action points in their books.
It's actually really impressive and I admire the hell out of Outliners for their ability to write their books in such a paraphrased way. But I've tried it, and it just doesn't work for me. At least not on a major scale.
The most outlining I do is knowing the beginning and the ending of a book. Maybe a few small scenes here or there, but that's all I do. The one time I ever tried outlining, I ended up getting so bored with the world I tossed it onto the backburner and haven't even relooked at the file since, and that was like, seven years ago.
Which brings us to:
Pantsers: Ever hear the phrase doing something by "the seat of your pants"? Well that's the bread and butter of a pantser. I sit down, I start writing and I see where the story takes me.
Sometimes, this brings some twists and turns that I might not have been able to come up with through a traditional outlining process, sometimes it gets me stuck as I rewrite a single scene a half dozen times as I replay it in my head and look for the right way to let the chapter end in the best possible way.
Remember, I work by knowing what the ending is going to be, if a scene doesn't end in a way that's going to work toward that goal, I end up rewriting it. Sometimes I get a chapter in one try, sometimes it takes a lot more. But I have found my style and it works for me.
Or at least I thought I did until I sat down to write Overflow.
See, like I said, I always knew Cascade was the start of a larger series, and I know some people might ask how I knew the series was meant to be a four book series when I'm not an outliner.
Well, that's because of the minor bits of outlining that I do do. Like I said, I know how the stories begin and end, but that's it. And when I came up with Cascade, I had four very distinct endings in mind that advanced a plot steadily along and I planned the books in this series accordingly.
Yet knowing just how a book is going to end doesn't do you a lot of good when suddenly, you don't have just what you're writing to worry about, but making sure you don't break the continuity of your last book. Suddenly that need for an outline seems a lot more pressing, especially if it's just making a retroactive one for your last book? Sounds like a good idea right?
Is that what I did though?
NOOOOOOPE!
That would have been the easy route. Instead I just sat down, and forgot the last one. Well... okay I didn't forget the last book, I just, didn't worry so much. I knew my book, inside and out. And I also knew my characters. My wife says I treat my characters like friends when I talk about the stupid things they get up to after all, so why should it matter if they already had the start of their story written "in stone" it didn't mean that their stories were over and I sure as hell knew what storylines still needed to be resolved.
And did I go on to resolve those story lines?....
Okay, so maybe not all of them! With a hydra like approach to the lines that came out of Cascade, Overflow is practically... Overflowing with a fun, crazy new continuation of The Cadinari Stream.
Oh, did I forget to mention that outright even though I heavily, heavily, implied it? (seriously guys I never write in this blog, if I'm making a post it's probably an announcement of some sort, like, a solid 9 out of 10 times.)
Yeah, writing a sequel IS hard. But I sure as hell did it and I am so excited for everyone to get a chance to read it! As a sneak peek for getting through my mad, incoherent rambling that went absolutely nowhere (seriously why did I make this post?) here's a look at the full cover of Overflow, book two of The Cadinari Stream!
Things are about to get crazy, so I sure hope y'all are ready for the ride!
Also there's mystery and intrigue.
January 11, 2022
1 Novarod
Star Launch Academy, home to just under one hundred and fifty students. And I was one of them.
The trip here sucked, I mean, who knew after nearly three hundred years of space travel that we still wouldn’t know how to escape the gravitational prison that is Earth without a bumpy, vomit inducing ride. But it was all worth it to see the majesty of Star Launch.
It should have been impossible, an academy floating in space? Yeah, it seemed ridiculous. But still, the wonderful silver spires that made up the main building shot toward a large, clear dome looking back at the speckled blue marble of a planet. Several side buildings bordered the towering structure and courtyard that shot out ahead of it, leading directly to the landing pad I was now standing at.
The twenty others that were on the shuttle with me were already grabbing their packs and scattering, and I suddenly realized the only sound I could hear was ringing. My hand reached to my ear, was this something to worry about? No, they had warned us that decompression could have some side effects.
A hand fell on my shoulder, my eyes meeting a dark skinned man holding out a black pack with C. NOVAROD stitched into it.
I took it, saying “thank you,” but unsure if he heard it or if I actually said it.
Three men in sleek, burgundy and silver uniforms, black and bronze stars pinned to their lapels, stepped onto the landing platform, hands clapping and raised, a signal for attention. Without word, because everybody here was already well aware of what was expected, fell into line. With my pack over my shoulder, I followed the dark skinned man, J. CURTIS XVI if the stitching on his pack was to be believed and fell into place near the middle of the pack.
“Seven… We….” A voice was starting to break through the ringing, and I wanted to shake my head out. That might be perceived as disobedience though, and having just got here, I wasn’t going to stick my nose in that kind of shit just by trying to hear. It was better to just look like I could hear.
“Now then,” another voice said, this much clearer, “The Decom Ring should be about finished.” This was coming from the man standing at in the middle of the uniformed officers.
“Sound off if you can hear!” The man on the left shouted.
“SIR!” A chorus in which I joined in came out. We weren’t in time, we weren’t at the same volume, but I could tell that nearly every single one of us in the line sounded off.
“Excellent,” the officer in the center said, “I hate repeating myself. I am Captain Elliot Reed, senior instructor for Flight Commands Xi, Omicron, and Zeta of Gregorian Year 2430, sound off, Flight Xi.”
Several voices sounded off.
“Over here Xi,” the man to the right of Captain Reed instructed, as he stepped further away, indicating for the flight to follow. “I am Commander Trey Goodwin and I will be your Training Admiral.”
So they were splitting us now, no wonder they had color coded the bags. The seven students, what looked like three guys and four girls each with a purple backpack, hustled over to Commander Goodwin with another chorus of “Sir!”
“Flight Omicron, to me, you all get me as your Training Admiral,” Captain Reed instructed and immediately the seven students with green bags sounded off and ran over to stand at attention behind him.
The last of the three officers, an older gentleman with a salt and pepper goatee now that I had the chance to look at him took several steps further to the side, “well Flight Zeta, process of elimination means that I will be your Training Admiral.”
He hadn’t introduced himself, but we all sounded off anyway and hustled toward the unnamed officer.
“Commander Allen, protocol,” Captain Reed said, annoyance obvious on his voice.
“Right, my apologies Captain,” the commander, Allen apparently, replied, “Flight Zeta I am Commander Sylvester Allen, do remember protocol and follow me.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I definitely wasn’t sure if Captain Reed was about to chew out the flippant Commander. But, given that he was my assigned Training Admiral, I fell into line behind Curtis and followed. We were led from the platform, down a flight of stairs and into the courtyard. A quick glance back revealed the other flights were following their own Admirals.
“Now, do keep up, no need to march in line, there will be time for that later,” Commander Allen called back as he walked at an almost leisurely pace through the courtyard.
There was actual grass on the ground, at least where there wasn’t sidewalk. If I couldn’t look up and literally see the Earth, I’d never have even guessed I wasn’t just walking up to my prep school’s entrance. Better than that even, as the air felt crisp yet refreshing. Not too hot, not too cold. It was perfect, all thanks to the artificial environment that Launch Point’s Engineers maintained.
“We will be taking up residence in Designation K104, the Kirk Building on the Eastern barrier,” Allen said, “Orientation is at 1300 tomorrow following Lunch, not that I’ve ever met a Spacefly that was actually hungry the first week they got here.”
“Spacefly?” a melodic voice closer to Allen asked timidly.
“Newbie, fresh meat, rookie, greenling,” Allen responded, “And you’ll proceed all questions to someone higher ranking than you with ‘Sir’, Spacefly.”
“Yes, Sir,” the voice responded, clearly embarrassed.
“Good,” Allen said, stopping his march now that we had crossed a portion of the courtyard. The rest of us halted, nearly bumping into each other from the abrupt stop. “Now then, by Dinner Mess I expect the lot of you to have three choices made,” he started, his hand pulled up and a single finger shooting up, “First, you will name your Ship. A flight is nothing without their vessel, and any ship worth her salt, even a simulated one for training purposes, deserves a name fitting of her.”
“Yes sir!” We chanted and another finger shot up on his hand.
“Secondly, you will each have chosen your room in the Kirk building. Men you four will take the rooms on the first floor of the habitation wing of the building, women, you three will take the rooms on the second floor. My room, clearly marked, just outside of the common area, is off limits under all circumstances, do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir!” We chanted once more and a third and final finger raised on Commander Allen’s hand.
“Finally, you will talk among yourselves, learn who your Bridge team is, because they are going to become your family, and once you have talked, you will figure out who your Flight Captain is,” he said, “This is your first order of business, do not disappoint me.”
“Yes sir!” We sounded off, even louder this time.
“Then flight dismissed, head down this path to Kirk building and I will be there thirty minutes to dinner mess tonight, you will all be in uniform and ready to go,” Commander Allen instructed before turning on his heel and walking off toward the main Academy building.
There was a bit of confusion, the other six exchanging looks before looking to the pathway our commander had directed us toward, but none of us had gotten here without being able to take orders. It was simply apart of who we were, and without another moment of discussion we all started to walk down the tree lined path.
We were all eager, all ready to start our training, and all, now that there wasn’t a senior officer staring down at us, actually just a little bit disoriented. Just a bit further to go, just a bit further… and then maybe I could vomit.
Home Base Next Chapter
November 17, 2021
So... What now?
I DID IT!
I published a novel.
This big, massive goal I've had for a literal DECADE has finally been realized and it is an absolutely incredible feeling. Full stop.
Even realizing I left a ton of errors in there (thank the gods for the ability to upload revisions to my KDP account), even after not having the thousands of sales I would hope for. I did it.
But... what now? What's my next goal or next step?
Well, I actually haven't had to think too hard about that at all. Even though it took me a decade to finally publish something, surprisingly now that I've done it, my normal inability to figure things out didn't crop up. It's honestly kind of amazing knowing that, even with the shortcomings that I see in my writing, my book is out there. That I have people reading it and messaging me saying "this is awesome" or bringing up a theory about where the story is going (and I swear never stop folks, I LOVE hearing your theories even if I am squirming in my chair trying not to reveal anything!)
For those of you who are afraid to put yourself or your work out there, I have one message. Don't be. There will always be critics, always be ways to improve your work. But you can only learn, only grow as a writer by putting yourself out there and putting your work out there. Believe in yourself. Because writing a book is no small feat.
So, I'm excited to announce I have several new projects all in varying stages of work!
First, for those of you not following me on Twitter yet somehow following me here Cascade is being made into an audiobook! The incredibly talented Mitchell Cochran is lending his wide range of voices to bringing the story to life for Audible coming next month! Mitchell is a voice actor with an incredible range and the absolute perfect sound for the story and I can't wait for you all to hear it. If you want to hear more from him, you can follow Mitchell on Twitter or you can check out his Fiverr where he can lend you his voice for your own variety of needs!
Beyond that, I am currently working on Cascades sequel which I am already happy to announce is currently named Overflow. It's going to be a really fun expansion on the story and I am excited to get it out to you all early next year. Check out the teaser for the cover here below!
I'm also working on a short story collection from The Cadinari Stream called Tales from Taldora, the contents of which I'm going to obfuscate to make it seem like a mystery (but what's really just me still making plans for it shhhhh).
And lastly, I'm sure some of you have seen the link on my page here for Star Launch Academy.
Well I am pleased to finally announce that my serialized story is expected to begin the first week of December! This is a project I have been eager to start but had put on hold while I focused my efforts on getting Cascade ready to publish, but I am getting close to my prepared backlog of chapters before I start posting and I'm currently planning what my release schedule will be for this story.
That's all I have for you all now, but be on the lookout for the start of a new story that I hope you all enjoy!
Let's take to the skies.Follow @ZEmersonWrites
October 5, 2021
Coming up with a cover
What makes a good cover? What draws the eyes and makes a potential reader stop and pickup the book?
Should it be flashy? Do I need to give away the story on the cover, or leave it simple and mysterious? The book is a series so is it presumptuous to say the book is “Book One” in a series? Should you design it yourself? Should I spend some of my possible funds that I’m investing in this project on hiring someone else to design it?
As I’ve spent my recent time researching and preparing for the release of Cascade, I finally got past just the words inside the cover and started asking myself these very questions. Sure, I needed to keep polishing, keep editing, and all together just keep working on the manuscript itself. But it was getting to the point that I needed to focus on aspects other than the story itself, especially since at the time I had just sent out the draft to my beta readers.
With my manuscript in my beta readers very capable hands, I decided to tackle the next step to preparing my cover. Now, since I am going the self publishing route, the fact of the matter is everything is going to be an investment I’m choosing to make in myself, but because I’m doing it that way, I have to decide where and when the funds I’m giving myself for this project are allocated. Knowing that, and knowing that I did have some artistic talent of my own, I decided I would tackle designing the cover on my own. After all, I’d read a lot of books, seen a lot of covers, and again, had done a bit of digital design.
So where to start? Well I started by just giving myself a rough sketch of what I wanted.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
But no, it didn’t have to be complex, not for my initial design. But what went into it? What were the elements?
I knew I wanted the dice. Cascade is a story largely about and inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. I knew I wanted mountains, they just felt so integral to my pictured idea of fantasy stories, and one of the major locations in my book, Lumenoak, was nestled right into the base of towering mountains. And then there was the symbol, well that’s there because [REDACTED]
So, now that I had my basic design, I set out to actually, well, design it. And after hours and hours of work, not even joking I hand pulled the lines into position on Illustrator even though I’m sure there was an easier way, I was left with a design I was actually proud of… it just wasn’t good as a book cover.
It’s not terrible. Not really, and in fact I think it does do a good job at catching the eye thanks to the myriad of colors and all of that but…
Well, the but is it doesn’t look professional. At the end of the day, this cover, while I spent time on it and was proud of the results, just looked like something someone had done at home, which it was but not the point.
So I had to go back to the drawing board. Not literally though, I did have the right elements there, I just needed to refine them, to polish them to perfection and make them look like something I would instinctively pick up and at least check out the back cover. And for that, I needed to do one very, very important task, maybe the hardest, most intimidating task of my non-existent writing career. I had to admit I didn’t know everything about books and ask my wife for a second opinion.
After a solid hour of looking at my ideas and designs, and taking note of the elements I knew I wanted to include, she grabbed a handful of books from our little home library and got to work. While she did that, I did what I should have done in the first place, I actually went to YouTube and watched some photoshop tutorials on cover designs (really they do some wonders for teaching you the actual benefits of layering), and we came together to make what I think is a hell of a cover.
I could of course reveal it here and now, but I did already decide I was doing the full cover reveal this a Friday so you'll just need to check back then to see the full cover. But with each step I make toward the publish date, the more and more confident I get in how this project is coming together. With all that, here is just a tiny sneak peek at the updated cover.
See yah on the stream.
Should it be flashy? Do I need to give away the story on the cover, or leave it simple and mysterious? The book is a series so is it presumptuous to say the book is “Book One” in a series? Should you design it yourself? Should I spend some of my possible funds that I’m investing in this project on hiring someone else to design it?
As I’ve spent my recent time researching and preparing for the release of Cascade, I finally got past just the words inside the cover and started asking myself these very questions. Sure, I needed to keep polishing, keep editing, and all together just keep working on the manuscript itself. But it was getting to the point that I needed to focus on aspects other than the story itself, especially since at the time I had just sent out the draft to my beta readers.
With my manuscript in my beta readers very capable hands, I decided to tackle the next step to preparing my cover. Now, since I am going the self publishing route, the fact of the matter is everything is going to be an investment I’m choosing to make in myself, but because I’m doing it that way, I have to decide where and when the funds I’m giving myself for this project are allocated. Knowing that, and knowing that I did have some artistic talent of my own, I decided I would tackle designing the cover on my own. After all, I’d read a lot of books, seen a lot of covers, and again, had done a bit of digital design.
So where to start? Well I started by just giving myself a rough sketch of what I wanted.
Beautiful, isn’t it?But no, it didn’t have to be complex, not for my initial design. But what went into it? What were the elements?
I knew I wanted the dice. Cascade is a story largely about and inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. I knew I wanted mountains, they just felt so integral to my pictured idea of fantasy stories, and one of the major locations in my book, Lumenoak, was nestled right into the base of towering mountains. And then there was the symbol, well that’s there because [REDACTED]
So, now that I had my basic design, I set out to actually, well, design it. And after hours and hours of work, not even joking I hand pulled the lines into position on Illustrator even though I’m sure there was an easier way, I was left with a design I was actually proud of… it just wasn’t good as a book cover.
It’s not terrible. Not really, and in fact I think it does do a good job at catching the eye thanks to the myriad of colors and all of that but…Well, the but is it doesn’t look professional. At the end of the day, this cover, while I spent time on it and was proud of the results, just looked like something someone had done at home, which it was but not the point.
So I had to go back to the drawing board. Not literally though, I did have the right elements there, I just needed to refine them, to polish them to perfection and make them look like something I would instinctively pick up and at least check out the back cover. And for that, I needed to do one very, very important task, maybe the hardest, most intimidating task of my non-existent writing career. I had to admit I didn’t know everything about books and ask my wife for a second opinion.
After a solid hour of looking at my ideas and designs, and taking note of the elements I knew I wanted to include, she grabbed a handful of books from our little home library and got to work. While she did that, I did what I should have done in the first place, I actually went to YouTube and watched some photoshop tutorials on cover designs (really they do some wonders for teaching you the actual benefits of layering), and we came together to make what I think is a hell of a cover.
I could of course reveal it here and now, but I did already decide I was doing the full cover reveal this a Friday so you'll just need to check back then to see the full cover. But with each step I make toward the publish date, the more and more confident I get in how this project is coming together. With all that, here is just a tiny sneak peek at the updated cover.
See yah on the stream.
October 1, 2021
COMING SOON! And why I decided to Self Publish
Ooh Boy.
I've sat for a while puzzling, wondering if I was making the right decision. As you can tell by the title of this post, my decision was obviously that of Traditional vs. Self Publishing.
It's a big decision, and yes, it is a decision. The choice to Self Publish isn't about failing to be picked up by an agent for Traditional Publishing, and this is something I've honestly just really come to the realization of myself.
At the beginning of this year, I promised myself I was going to be published, in some form or fashion by the end of the year. It was a dream, a major goal that I yearned to reach, but always found some excuse not to actually accomplish. It wasn't that I hadn't ever finished writing a project (I had actually finished one just last year... after eight years of working on it), it was that I had never written a project I felt truly confident and proud to put out there for others to read.
Sure, I let my close friends read that first completed project, and in some ways I do love and plan to revisit it at one point, but for this goal I had in mind, I needed something new, something fresh that I wasn't going to obsess over just because I had been working on it for years at that point.
And that's where CASCADE comes in!
When I decided to finally accomplish my goal, I started a new project, one that was largely inspired by the idea of "What if Jumanji met Dungeons and Dragons and Galaxy Quest". Sure, that's not what it truly ended up being, in truth, it became the launching point for what I believe is going to be an immensely fun series The Cadinari Stream.
But this post isn't about spoiling my new series **COUGH** coming November 1st **COUGH** it's about why I came to the decision to Self Publish.
I sent out one query for Cascade, one I haven't heard anything back from so it really isn't affecting this decision at all. What really made me come to this choice was the simple factor that I realized I'm not really all that special.
That's not being a downer, it's really not. It's being realistic.
In today's day and age, I'm a cisgender white guy in his early thirties. There's nothing wrong with it of course, it's just that in truth, we are a dime a dozen in the world, especially in the writing world, not 100% sure why that is, I'm not a psychologist (I'm barely a writer), but it's the truth.
So as I went through page after page of agents MSWLs (Manuscript Wishlist for those of you who didn't know what that stands for like I didn't at first) I discovered the truth of the matter. Agents want uniqueness, agents want "bright, diverse, new voices". On top of that, a lot of what they were looking for wasn't what I was writing. And I liked what I was writing, I wanted to write what I was writing.
So what do I do? Well, to me I decided to research the differences between Self and Traditional and was surprised by a lot of the differences, because if the chances of being Traditionally published was low in the category I was writing in, I needed to know what really was the difference.
Of course the Trad Pub route had those benefits of bookstore placement, of marketing help, and probably a ton more I'm not remembering and am too lazy to steal from someone else's blog (seriously if you want a good breakdown of the differences there are other posts about that out there, this isn't that.)
But what drew me to Self Publishing?
It was the timeframe, it was the freedom, it was the... breath of fresh air.
Instead of going through the motions and waiting now for the next few months to send queries and hope I got lucky (which in truth is really what it would take), I decided I wanted to do it myself, to be able to hold the reigns of my own destiny in my hands.
Which means I had to research. I had to learn marketing techniques, I had to learn cover design (because I needed to save money on that to pay for those marketing ideas) and several other fun things.
I've got a lot to share in the coming weeks as we race toward November 1st, and I can't wait to share it.
So keep any eye here on my blog and keep an eye on my Twitter page, because Cascade is coming soon, and according to the "Marketing Specialists" I need to, let me check my notes here, "create a sense of mystery and intrigue."
.....
There's mystery and intrigue!
See yah on the Stream folks. Follow @ZEmersonWrites
I've sat for a while puzzling, wondering if I was making the right decision. As you can tell by the title of this post, my decision was obviously that of Traditional vs. Self Publishing.
It's a big decision, and yes, it is a decision. The choice to Self Publish isn't about failing to be picked up by an agent for Traditional Publishing, and this is something I've honestly just really come to the realization of myself.
At the beginning of this year, I promised myself I was going to be published, in some form or fashion by the end of the year. It was a dream, a major goal that I yearned to reach, but always found some excuse not to actually accomplish. It wasn't that I hadn't ever finished writing a project (I had actually finished one just last year... after eight years of working on it), it was that I had never written a project I felt truly confident and proud to put out there for others to read.
Sure, I let my close friends read that first completed project, and in some ways I do love and plan to revisit it at one point, but for this goal I had in mind, I needed something new, something fresh that I wasn't going to obsess over just because I had been working on it for years at that point.
And that's where CASCADE comes in!
When I decided to finally accomplish my goal, I started a new project, one that was largely inspired by the idea of "What if Jumanji met Dungeons and Dragons and Galaxy Quest". Sure, that's not what it truly ended up being, in truth, it became the launching point for what I believe is going to be an immensely fun series The Cadinari Stream.
But this post isn't about spoiling my new series **COUGH** coming November 1st **COUGH** it's about why I came to the decision to Self Publish.
I sent out one query for Cascade, one I haven't heard anything back from so it really isn't affecting this decision at all. What really made me come to this choice was the simple factor that I realized I'm not really all that special.
That's not being a downer, it's really not. It's being realistic.
In today's day and age, I'm a cisgender white guy in his early thirties. There's nothing wrong with it of course, it's just that in truth, we are a dime a dozen in the world, especially in the writing world, not 100% sure why that is, I'm not a psychologist (I'm barely a writer), but it's the truth.
So as I went through page after page of agents MSWLs (Manuscript Wishlist for those of you who didn't know what that stands for like I didn't at first) I discovered the truth of the matter. Agents want uniqueness, agents want "bright, diverse, new voices". On top of that, a lot of what they were looking for wasn't what I was writing. And I liked what I was writing, I wanted to write what I was writing.
So what do I do? Well, to me I decided to research the differences between Self and Traditional and was surprised by a lot of the differences, because if the chances of being Traditionally published was low in the category I was writing in, I needed to know what really was the difference.
Of course the Trad Pub route had those benefits of bookstore placement, of marketing help, and probably a ton more I'm not remembering and am too lazy to steal from someone else's blog (seriously if you want a good breakdown of the differences there are other posts about that out there, this isn't that.)
But what drew me to Self Publishing?
It was the timeframe, it was the freedom, it was the... breath of fresh air.
Instead of going through the motions and waiting now for the next few months to send queries and hope I got lucky (which in truth is really what it would take), I decided I wanted to do it myself, to be able to hold the reigns of my own destiny in my hands.
Which means I had to research. I had to learn marketing techniques, I had to learn cover design (because I needed to save money on that to pay for those marketing ideas) and several other fun things.
I've got a lot to share in the coming weeks as we race toward November 1st, and I can't wait to share it.
So keep any eye here on my blog and keep an eye on my Twitter page, because Cascade is coming soon, and according to the "Marketing Specialists" I need to, let me check my notes here, "create a sense of mystery and intrigue."
.....
There's mystery and intrigue!
See yah on the Stream folks. Follow @ZEmersonWrites
