Shamon Harper's Blog
November 4, 2025
Full Edit Mode - Engaged!
How’re ya now?
I don’t know if you ever watched LetterKenny, but I loved that show. Admittedly, I am pretty sure that the ideal audience for it is thirteen-year-old boys. This probably shows you my level of maturity, I guess, but who cares.
So things have been moving along at a clip lately. I have finished the first and second drafts of the follow-up to DEAD STATION. I am working through some edits, and by the time this newsletter goes out, it should be in the hands of some advanced readers for comment and critique.
I will meet with those readers individually and gather feedback. If I need to make some adjustments to the story, then I will do that after. I would like to have a pre-order for the second book up on Amazon soon. I don’t want to tie myself down to a release date yet, but I am really close now. It will either be in November or December.
What has to happen before that?
I need to finalize the cover. I have been working on a ton of concepts and have not really settled on a top two or three as of yet. Once I do, I'll test the market on those covers by using Facebook ads to see which ones get the most engagement. That will be the deciding factor on what cover I use.
I have to incorporate any last-minute story adjustments and finalize the editing.
Set the book up in Amazon KDP.
Order a proof copy of the paperback for evaluation.
Prep and Launch the new release marketing plan… ugh…
Reach out to possible audiobook creators so I can get that process going.
This has been my world lately, along with my day job, and doing my best to spend time with my family.
I am pretty proud of the follow-up story. It picks up in the days after DEAD STATION and is quite a ride. It has a lot of the same intense feel as the first story. I am excited for you to read it.
Once it's ready, I will be sending out some notifications.
Shamon
P.S. The image is another concept cover for the next book.
October 1, 2025
This Year Is Moving By Too Fast
image: 
Good Grief, it’s October already.. Where has the year gone?
Am I the only one who feels this way?
So, things have been hectic lately. I started writing the sequel to Dead Station back in June. Then I put it down for a bit while I worked through getting the Audible version of Dead Station launched. Things have been flowing pretty well lately, so I have been back on the writing train. I am now sixty thousand words into the follow-up story. I hope to be done with it in a matter of weeks.
Productivity comes in spurts for me. I have super productive weekends, where I may write over five thousand words, and then I have weekends where I get nothing done. Lately, as the story has continued to develop, I have become more productive, and I plan to maintain this momentum until I complete it.
Then I will put it down for a couple of weeks and let it marinate a bit before I pick it back up for the editing process. I need a separation from the writing before I move into editing mode. The editing process last time around was the most challenging part for me. Now that I have a process and am not developing one for editing, I hope to move through it quickly.
All this means I plan to release the book by the end of the year. Hopefully. Once I enter the editing phase, I will issue a pre-order announcement, but I don’t want to do that until I feel like I have a solid grasp on the entire project. Oh, and somewhere in there, I will be sending it out for some advance reader feedback.
I have also begun compiling notes for the third book. Wait, did he say third book? Yes, I did. The story will continue after the second book. Do I know how many books will be in the entire series? Nope. Right now, I plan to write stories for this series as long as they feel interesting and there are things to explore. I don’t want to put it in a box. We are just getting started, and there is so much more to explore here.
There are a couple of tenets that I adhere to regarding the Humanity Shattered Universe. One, Things will only continue to degrade from here. Two, it’s a big universe, and there is space for a lot of stories that can be told there.
Oh, I also quietly did some updates to DEAD STATION and VEHO: A BACKSTORY. I had a running list of typos and editing problems that have been bugging me lately. I had largely ignored them, but eventually it was more than I could handle. If you were to go back and read VEHO now, it is a much leaner and more suspenseful story. I also updated the cover on Amazon Kindle for it. I wanted to cover to feel more like DEAD STATION’s cover.
DEAD STATION had a few errors that were just driving me nuts, so I fixed them. For some reason, in Chapter 33, Franks turned into a woman for a few paragraphs. Honestly, I have no clue how that even happened, or how I never saw it in all the editing passes. I also had a reference to an energy weapon near the end of the book that I missed removing. In my first draft of DEAD STATION, I had initially had the characters using phaser-type weapons, and the more I wrote it and read it, the more I hated it. It just didn’t feel like the gritty combat that I wanted. I wanted it to feel more like Aliens and a lot less like Star Trek. Given how often people say it reminds them of Aliens, I feel like I hit the mark with that change.
Shamon
P.S. The image is another concept image for the second book.
Good Grief, it’s October already.. Where has the year gone?
Am I the only one who feels this way?
So, things have been hectic lately. I started writing the sequel to Dead Station back in June. Then I put it down for a bit while I worked through getting the Audible version of Dead Station launched. Things have been flowing pretty well lately, so I have been back on the writing train. I am now sixty thousand words into the follow-up story. I hope to be done with it in a matter of weeks.
Productivity comes in spurts for me. I have super productive weekends, where I may write over five thousand words, and then I have weekends where I get nothing done. Lately, as the story has continued to develop, I have become more productive, and I plan to maintain this momentum until I complete it.
Then I will put it down for a couple of weeks and let it marinate a bit before I pick it back up for the editing process. I need a separation from the writing before I move into editing mode. The editing process last time around was the most challenging part for me. Now that I have a process and am not developing one for editing, I hope to move through it quickly.
All this means I plan to release the book by the end of the year. Hopefully. Once I enter the editing phase, I will issue a pre-order announcement, but I don’t want to do that until I feel like I have a solid grasp on the entire project. Oh, and somewhere in there, I will be sending it out for some advance reader feedback.
I have also begun compiling notes for the third book. Wait, did he say third book? Yes, I did. The story will continue after the second book. Do I know how many books will be in the entire series? Nope. Right now, I plan to write stories for this series as long as they feel interesting and there are things to explore. I don’t want to put it in a box. We are just getting started, and there is so much more to explore here.
There are a couple of tenets that I adhere to regarding the Humanity Shattered Universe. One, Things will only continue to degrade from here. Two, it’s a big universe, and there is space for a lot of stories that can be told there.
Oh, I also quietly did some updates to DEAD STATION and VEHO: A BACKSTORY. I had a running list of typos and editing problems that have been bugging me lately. I had largely ignored them, but eventually it was more than I could handle. If you were to go back and read VEHO now, it is a much leaner and more suspenseful story. I also updated the cover on Amazon Kindle for it. I wanted to cover to feel more like DEAD STATION’s cover.
DEAD STATION had a few errors that were just driving me nuts, so I fixed them. For some reason, in Chapter 33, Franks turned into a woman for a few paragraphs. Honestly, I have no clue how that even happened, or how I never saw it in all the editing passes. I also had a reference to an energy weapon near the end of the book that I missed removing. In my first draft of DEAD STATION, I had initially had the characters using phaser-type weapons, and the more I wrote it and read it, the more I hated it. It just didn’t feel like the gritty combat that I wanted. I wanted it to feel more like Aliens and a lot less like Star Trek. Given how often people say it reminds them of Aliens, I feel like I hit the mark with that change.
Shamon
P.S. The image is another concept image for the second book.
September 1, 2025
Adventures In Translation
Well, hello there,
It’s a new month and time for a new check-in. Where have things been lately? It’s been a busy month for sure.
In August, the audiobook launched for Dead Station on Amazon Audible. It has done well, giving a new level of access for people to enjoy the story. Getting all that set up and going took some effort.
Also, I took a deep dive into the world of translation. There were some mixed results in that front. Doing some translation work on Dead Station was something that I wanted to explore. I wanted to expand the story to a more international audience. Translation is a whole thing when it comes to writing. Of course, there are a ton of services that people use for this kind of thing. After conducting extensive research on the topic, I settled on a service named Shadow Scribe AI. The idea here is that Amazon lets you release your book in different Amazon marketplaces such as Amazon Germany, Amazon Spain, Amazon France, and so on.
Almost all of the services that I could find for translation had levels of service. The highest level of service was having a human translator. The middle level of service involved an AI language tool doing the translation and then having a human review it. The lower level of service used an AI language model to do the work and hoped for the best. I opted for the middle level of service, and so far, have received mixed results. Let me caveat this by saying that doing this work with human-only translation is very, very expensive. Of course it is… My author business is a pretty small operation, so I don’t have tons of money to blow on translation.
I did multiple translations of Dead Station and VEHO, the backstory. I had both stories translated into German, Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese. The book was released in each of the target markets. I went with these markets and translations because all available information indicated these were the best markets for the Amazon Kindle platform performance.
As far as translations go, my German translation is by far the most successful. After creating a marketing campaign on Facebook and focusing on Germany and Austria, the book is performing well and has received positive reviews. My Spanish translation has been met with mixed reviews and is doing just a little better than breaking even. The French translation has not been well reviewed (Gotta love the French), but it has held its own in sales and is positive in revenue. The Brazilian Portuguese translation is the newest one I have launched, but it is underperforming right now. We will see what the future holds for it.
I am glad I went through that experience; it was another learning experience that I got to work through, and as always, I enjoy that.
It did pull me away from working on the follow-up to Dead Station for almost a month. I am now 37,000 words into that story, and I am shooting for 80,000 words in the first draft. I am moving along pretty well so far, even with taking almost a month off from it. Right Now, the Working Title is Tressell 113: A Military Zombie Apocalypse Space Opera Humanity Shattered Book 2. I know, it's a long title, but necessary for Amazon search.
The story picks up just a matter of days after the Dead Station. It follows what happens when the team heads to the colony planet Tressell 113. Writing the opening sequence was such a blast. I am trying to be a little more intentional about following my outline this time around. So far, so good, there might be something to this planning thing… My goal is still to release this second novel before the end of the year, and I'm on track so far.
Shamon
P.S. The image is concept art for the second book’s cover.
August 4, 2025
Where The Hell Is The Audiobook?
Hey Everyone!
I was hoping to release the audiobook version of Dead Station at the beginning of July. Here we are at the beginning of August, and… It’s finally ready!
I am so excited about this. This ended up turning into a real mess, being stuck in the ether of Amazon approval land. The whole thing was supposed to take ten days and ended up taking a lot longer. I had to enlist the crack Amazon support team to move it forward. Fortunately, they got it back on track, and here we are.
Anthony Aliello and his wife Laurie are back! They worked together to produce and create the audiobook version of VEHO, and I reached out to them to do DEAD STATION as well. Anthony graciously agreed to take on the project, and I was so happy he did.
You can get it now on Amazon Audible! It is a whole different way to experience the story.
On another note…
I hope your summer is going well. I have been trying to balance spending time with my family and getting as much writing done on the follow-up to DEAD STATION as possible. I knock out as much as I can each week. Currently, I am at thirty thousand words, and my goal is eighty thousand. It has been flowing pretty well so far. I hope to complete writing it by the fall season, then edit and release it by the end of the year. It’s essentially reducing the time it took me to complete Dead Station, which previously took over a year and a half, down to six or seven months. I feel like that is progress. Let’s hope I make it.
So far, it has been fun writing it.
Life has gotten in the way a little bit over the last few weeks, but I hope to get back on track here as we move into the latter portion of the summer season.
On another note, I am always blown away by the response I get on my Facebook Page and Social Media in general for Shamon Writes. Seeing all the posts and responses asking when the Audible version is coming out or when the next book is due is awesome. I love interacting with people who have read it on Facebook. If you don’t already follow my author page there, please do. The Facebook page is
July 9, 2025
Things Are Cooking Here
Hidey Ho!
Summer is in full swing. As I write this, I am preparing to go camping in the North Georgia Mountains. I love it up there. We will spend the long holiday weekend in the woods in the middle of nowhere. It’s the kind of thing that recharges me. One of my favorite things to do is pack up the camper, grab the dogs, and go on a hiking adventure in the mountains.
I am currently reviewing the Amazon Audible version of Dead Station. It’s freaking cool to take in the story in a whole different way. Anthony has done a fantastic job. If you have listened to 'VEHO: A Backstory,' it was he and his wife, Lauri, who did that one as well. They are back again for Dead Station. I am thrilled about the release. I was hoping to include that release in this email, but I wanted to ensure I had the time to review it and confirm it was ready first. So, with that being said, you will be hearing from me very soon on that. I will pop out another email as soon as it is available.
I am well into book two now. The words have been flowing pretty well lately, and it’s exciting to see the story unfold. I have also spent some time exploring book cover concepts, but it's way too early for that right now. It's more of a creative distraction that I enjoy playing with when I need to step away from writing.
Something that seemed crazy to me was that, in the first book, I had an outline as I was writing. In my process, the outline serves as waypoints that I want to hit along the way in telling the story. What was so shocking was that even with that guidepost to follow, the story surprised even me as it moved from my mind to the manuscript. I was shocked when it was apparent that someone was about to die, and I was even a little emotional about it. Each time it happened, I was surprised by it.
Now, as I write this second installment of the story, I am experiencing much of that same surprise as the story unfolds. I have spent a lot of time thinking about this lately. Why is this so surprising to me as I write the story and it unfolds? My outline this time is tighter so far in the process than it was last time. I didn’t have much of a point of reference in my previous book, as it was my first time writing. This time, I focused on what major points I wanted to hit along the storyline. One would think that being a little tighter in the process and outline wouldn’t be so surprising as the story unfolds, but here we are. I'll literally write something and think to myself, 'No freaking way!' Followed by, How the hell did that just happen? It’s nuts.
I get so much joy out of writing. It’s so much fun to tell these stories and experience them as they come to life. Later, it's so much fun to talk to someone who has read it and listen to their thoughts on the same experience.
One thing that has come up recently when discussing the story with readers is the technology used in it. Some have asked why they don’t have “lasers” or “phasers” instead of the bullets they are using in Dead Station. To be honest, I never really wanted it to look like that. That doesn’t mean there won’t be something like that in future installments, but I wanted it to feel more real and relatable to people who have experienced combat. One of my major complaints about science fiction is when technology gets in the way of the story. I hated it when a Star Trek episode would end in some random technological solution that saved the day. It always felt like a letdown to me. Especially when it involved some space-time continuum crap. I also feel like as technology advances, so does counter technology. Right now, when we look at the battlefields of today, we see tons of drone use. This is a whole new era in warfighting right now. I also know it comes with an entire effort to reduce that advantage. How do we bring drones down before they can reach us is a significant initiative right now for the people who are shaping the battlefields of today.
What if we reached a point where we moved past many of the warfighting technology's initial advantages? What if we had entire civilizations that fought wars between drones and robots, and they all figured out how to render them inert or worthless? Then, they had to figure out how to get back in it, get their hands dirty, and fight again. They had to remember that war is brutal and scary. That may be what I'm aiming for in my work. It may be because I grew up on stuff like Aliens and Dune, and it's what I enjoy dreaming and writing about. I don’t know if I have those answers, but I am okay with that. I hope it doesn’t bother you that my work is not set in complex technologies and is more focused on the situation's intensity and how people are navigating it.
Anyway, I hope you are having a great summer!
Shamon
June 3, 2025
Summer Vibes!
Hey There, Campers!
I hope your unofficial start to summer is going well. I enjoyed some time away camping on a barrier island in the panhandle of Florida. It was a good weekend—much needed…
Anyway, here we are, almost two months out from the launch of Dead Station. The book has performed well, been well-received, and continues to sell. It is interesting how vulnerable that process feels when you release something creative into the world. I struggle with negative reviews. I know it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but those can feel so harsh at times. Almost without fail, every time I receive a not-so-warm review, I fixate on it and think the world will crumble to the ground. Then, I get a few good reviews and think the world is okay. It does not make logical sense, but it is what it is.
On another note, the Audible version of Dead Station is almost ready. Anthony Aiello and his wife, Laurie, are hard at work, and the goal is to have it out in a couple of weeks. Anthony and Laurie also did the Audible version of VEHO: A BACKSTORY, and it came out really well. I have listened to a few sneak peeks from it, and I am delighted with what I have heard.
Also, I have over twelve thousand words in the follow-up sequel to Dead Station. It picks up just days after the first book ends. So far, it has been flowing well. It's a bit slow, but I am not an everyday writer. I have a day job, and writing is something I enjoy doing on the side. My typical process is to lay down a few thousand words throughout a weekend and some evenings during the week. My goal is to release it later this year. I will keep you updated. With everything I learned from Dead Station, I can improve my process and become more efficient.
I hope as you get into your summer, you get some time to enjoy it. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller. Find a good book to read and try to relax a bit.
Shamon
I hope your unofficial start to summer is going well. I enjoyed some time away camping on a barrier island in the panhandle of Florida. It was a good weekend—much needed…
Anyway, here we are, almost two months out from the launch of Dead Station. The book has performed well, been well-received, and continues to sell. It is interesting how vulnerable that process feels when you release something creative into the world. I struggle with negative reviews. I know it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but those can feel so harsh at times. Almost without fail, every time I receive a not-so-warm review, I fixate on it and think the world will crumble to the ground. Then, I get a few good reviews and think the world is okay. It does not make logical sense, but it is what it is.
On another note, the Audible version of Dead Station is almost ready. Anthony Aiello and his wife, Laurie, are hard at work, and the goal is to have it out in a couple of weeks. Anthony and Laurie also did the Audible version of VEHO: A BACKSTORY, and it came out really well. I have listened to a few sneak peeks from it, and I am delighted with what I have heard.
Also, I have over twelve thousand words in the follow-up sequel to Dead Station. It picks up just days after the first book ends. So far, it has been flowing well. It's a bit slow, but I am not an everyday writer. I have a day job, and writing is something I enjoy doing on the side. My typical process is to lay down a few thousand words throughout a weekend and some evenings during the week. My goal is to release it later this year. I will keep you updated. With everything I learned from Dead Station, I can improve my process and become more efficient.
I hope as you get into your summer, you get some time to enjoy it. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller. Find a good book to read and try to relax a bit.
Shamon
June 1, 2025
Summer Vibes
Hey There, Campers!
I hope your unofficial start to summer is going well. I enjoyed some time away camping on a barrier island in the panhandle of Florida. It was a good weekend—much needed…
Anyway, here we are, almost two months out from the launch of Dead Station. The book has performed well, been well-received, and continues to sell. It is interesting how vulnerable that process feels when you release something creative into the world. I struggle with negative reviews. I know it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but those can feel so harsh at times. Almost without fail, every time I receive a not-so-warm review, I fixate on it and think the world will crumble to the ground. Then, I get a few good reviews and think the world is okay. It does not make logical sense, but it is what it is.
On another note, the Audible version of Dead Station is almost ready. Anthony Aiello and his wife, Laurie, are hard at work, and the goal is to have it out in a couple of weeks. Anthony and Laurie also did the Audible version of VEHO: A BACKSTORY, and it came out really well. I have listened to a few sneak peeks from it, and I am delighted with what I have heard.
Also, I have over twelve thousand words in the follow-up sequel to Dead Station. It picks up just days after the first book ends. So far, it has been flowing well. It's a bit slow, but I am not an everyday writer. I have a day job, and writing is something I enjoy doing on the side. My typical process is to lay down a few thousand words throughout a weekend and some evenings during the week. My goal is to release it later this year. I will keep you updated. With everything I learned from Dead Station, I can improve my process and become more efficient.
I hope as you get into your summer, you get some time to enjoy it. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller.
Find a good book to read and try to relax a bit.
Shamon
May 1, 2025
May Update Post Book Launch
DEAD STATION: A MILITARY ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SPACE OPERA
Hey!
Holy cow, this last month has been insane. I can’t believe we are staring down the barrel of another month already.
So what has been going on in my world?
Well, I launched the book!
I can’t believe that was less than a month ago. It has been doing well, at least it has been doing well in my opinion. As I sit here and write this newsletter entry, it has sold 140 copies as Kindle ebooks and physical books. It has also garnered more than 53,343 Kindle Unlimited Page Reads. Those Kindle Unlimited page reads are the equivalent of selling an additional 190 more copies of the book. The average independently published book sells about 250 copies, so I am well over average, and that makes me happy.
Furthermore, it is outpacing ad investments every day. So that means it is making money every day so far. It’s not a lot of money, but I am quickly recouping my startup investment, and I think within the month it will be a fully profitable venture. To me, that is good news. Part of this whole thing was figuring out how to sell books, and it seems to be a very scalable model as well.
So, thank you for making this such an amazing experience!
I have gotten a lot of great feedback on the book, and that feels good as well.
So now what?
I will keep tweaking the ads on Facebook and seeing how much I can fine-tune the sales funnel for the book.
I have also started on the next book!
Yes, I have started on the follow-up for Dead Station. Right now, the working Title is Dead Planet. We will see if it sticks. I am over 5000 words into the opening sequence of the book, and it picks up just a few days after Dead Station ends.
From a project perspective, I spent a year and a half learning and developing a process to do this and launch it. Now I need to see if I can fine-tune that process, make it more efficient, broaden my creativity, improve my craft ability a little bit, and repeat the whole process. My hope is to be releasing the next story before the end of the year. We will see if I get that done. I have not been great with my self-imposed deadlines so far. It might be that day job that gets in the way, but I dunno.
Anyway, it's such an amazing feeling having created this thing and launching it into the world. It blows my mind that it keeps taking on its own life and course. I keep waiting for it all to crash down, but so far it just keeps going further and further.
If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, I hope you do, and I hope you let me know if you liked it. Heck, you can even let me know if you hated it. It’s just nice to hear from people…
Shamon
Hey!
Holy cow, this last month has been insane. I can’t believe we are staring down the barrel of another month already.
So what has been going on in my world?
Well, I launched the book!
I can’t believe that was less than a month ago. It has been doing well, at least it has been doing well in my opinion. As I sit here and write this newsletter entry, it has sold 140 copies as Kindle ebooks and physical books. It has also garnered more than 53,343 Kindle Unlimited Page Reads. Those Kindle Unlimited page reads are the equivalent of selling an additional 190 more copies of the book. The average independently published book sells about 250 copies, so I am well over average, and that makes me happy.
Furthermore, it is outpacing ad investments every day. So that means it is making money every day so far. It’s not a lot of money, but I am quickly recouping my startup investment, and I think within the month it will be a fully profitable venture. To me, that is good news. Part of this whole thing was figuring out how to sell books, and it seems to be a very scalable model as well.
So, thank you for making this such an amazing experience!
I have gotten a lot of great feedback on the book, and that feels good as well.
So now what?
I will keep tweaking the ads on Facebook and seeing how much I can fine-tune the sales funnel for the book.
I have also started on the next book!
Yes, I have started on the follow-up for Dead Station. Right now, the working Title is Dead Planet. We will see if it sticks. I am over 5000 words into the opening sequence of the book, and it picks up just a few days after Dead Station ends.
From a project perspective, I spent a year and a half learning and developing a process to do this and launch it. Now I need to see if I can fine-tune that process, make it more efficient, broaden my creativity, improve my craft ability a little bit, and repeat the whole process. My hope is to be releasing the next story before the end of the year. We will see if I get that done. I have not been great with my self-imposed deadlines so far. It might be that day job that gets in the way, but I dunno.
Anyway, it's such an amazing feeling having created this thing and launching it into the world. It blows my mind that it keeps taking on its own life and course. I keep waiting for it all to crash down, but so far it just keeps going further and further.
If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, I hope you do, and I hope you let me know if you liked it. Heck, you can even let me know if you hated it. It’s just nice to hear from people…
Shamon
April 30, 2025
May Update Post Book Launch
Hey!
Holy cow, this last month has been insane. I can’t believe we are staring down the barrel of another month already.
So what has been going on in my world?
Well, I launched the book!
I can’t believe that was less than a month ago. It has been doing well, at least it has been doing well in my opinion. As I sit here and write this newsletter entry, it has sold 140 copies as Kindle ebooks and physical books. It has also garnered more than 53,343 Kindle Unlimited Page Reads. Those Kindle Unlimited page reads are the equivalent of selling an additional 190 more copies of the book. The average independently published book sells about 250 copies, so I am well over average, and that makes me happy.
Furthermore, it is outpacing ad investments every day. So that means it is making money every day so far. It’s not a lot of money, but I am quickly recouping my startup investment, and I think within the month it will be a fully profitable venture. To me, that is good news. Part of this whole thing was figuring out how to sell books, and it seems to be a very scalable model as well.
So, thank you for making this such an amazing experience!
I have gotten a lot of great feedback on the book, and that feels good as well.
So now what?
I will keep tweaking the ads on Facebook and seeing how much I can fine-tune the sales funnel for the book.
I have also started on the next book!
Yes, I have started on the follow-up for Dead Station. Right now, the working Title is Dead Planet. We will see if it sticks. I am over 5000 words into the opening sequence of the book, and it picks up just a few days after Dead Station ends.
From a project perspective, I spent a year and a half learning and developing a process to do this and launch it. Now I need to see if I can fine-tune that process, make it more efficient, broaden my creativity, improve my craft ability a little bit, and repeat the whole process. My hope is to be releasing the next story before the end of the year. We will see if I get that done. I have not been great with my self-imposed deadlines so far. It might be that day job that gets in the way, but I dunno.
Anyway, it's such an amazing feeling having created this thing and launching it into the world. It blows my mind that it keeps taking on its own life and course. I keep waiting for it all to crash down, but so far it just keeps going further and further.
If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, I hope you do, and I hope you let me know if you liked it. Heck, you can even let me know if you hated it. It’s just nice to hear from people…
Shamon
April 9, 2025
We Are Getting Close To Book Release
Howdy!
“Man, there is so much going on right now I feel like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.” Sgt. Mac circa 1995. One of my old sergeants in the Army way back in the day used to use that statement all the time. I feel it right now.
So what is going on?
Well, a lot!
Let’s see… Where do I start?
First, I have completed my beta reading phase. This was interesting, and I learned a lot about my work and myself. It’s a bit of a vulnerable process to put something like this out into the world and actively ask for feedback. You have to be willing to hear hard news at times. I got some fantastic feedback from my beta readers and was able to schedule a session with each of them to talk through the book and get their feedback. What I heard was pretty encouraging. Every one of them told me that this did not feel like someone who was writing his first novel. That felt good, for sure. We talked through some constructive things in the book as well. I have spent the last month in cleanup mode and doing a few rewrites of areas of the book. All that being accomplished I have started moving forward toward release.
Second, after readjusting some of my Facebook ads, with the idea of doing some testing on imaging and sales copy, I have decided to go a different direction on the cover. One of my testing images just really outperformed everything else I had put together. I am not above learning from this process; as a matter of fact, that has been the whole point of this process. If you follow my social media, you have seen the new cover posted. If you don’t, you can do so at the links below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShamonWrites/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shamonwrites/
X: https://x.com/ShamonWrites
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/shamonwrites...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Third, I am looking to build a “Street Team.” What does that mean? Well it means I am looking for a group of people who are interested in an Advanced Readers Copy of the book in return for a review on Amazon and possibly Goodreads when the book releases. This is a free way to read the book. Reviews are important when it comes to selling your work, and having some reviews early on is vital. If you are interested, just respond to this email saying, “Hey, add me to the Street Team.” I will assemble the team and then send out an advanced copy of the book for your review. You have to be able to leave Amazon reviews on products, this typically means you have spent more than $50 on Amazon.com.
Fourth, I have everything set up in Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, ready to go. The book is ready to publish at this time. I have ordered a proof copy of the paperback book so I can look it over before I release it. The picture above is the proof copy. It’s almost surreal to hold a tangible copy of something like this you have created. It was so cool
Fifth, getting the proof copy, of course, put me into a tail spin of finding things I want to fix with the book. Ugh… I have to make some fixes to last-minute typoes that have been found (Thankfully, my wife is awesome at grammar!). I have to make some adjustments to the margins of the physical copy of the book. It will take me a bit to make these corrections and line everything back up for release, but I can see the finish line on this thing.
Shamon
“Man, there is so much going on right now I feel like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.” Sgt. Mac circa 1995. One of my old sergeants in the Army way back in the day used to use that statement all the time. I feel it right now.
So what is going on?
Well, a lot!
Let’s see… Where do I start?
First, I have completed my beta reading phase. This was interesting, and I learned a lot about my work and myself. It’s a bit of a vulnerable process to put something like this out into the world and actively ask for feedback. You have to be willing to hear hard news at times. I got some fantastic feedback from my beta readers and was able to schedule a session with each of them to talk through the book and get their feedback. What I heard was pretty encouraging. Every one of them told me that this did not feel like someone who was writing his first novel. That felt good, for sure. We talked through some constructive things in the book as well. I have spent the last month in cleanup mode and doing a few rewrites of areas of the book. All that being accomplished I have started moving forward toward release.
Second, after readjusting some of my Facebook ads, with the idea of doing some testing on imaging and sales copy, I have decided to go a different direction on the cover. One of my testing images just really outperformed everything else I had put together. I am not above learning from this process; as a matter of fact, that has been the whole point of this process. If you follow my social media, you have seen the new cover posted. If you don’t, you can do so at the links below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShamonWrites/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shamonwrites/
X: https://x.com/ShamonWrites
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/shamonwrites...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Third, I am looking to build a “Street Team.” What does that mean? Well it means I am looking for a group of people who are interested in an Advanced Readers Copy of the book in return for a review on Amazon and possibly Goodreads when the book releases. This is a free way to read the book. Reviews are important when it comes to selling your work, and having some reviews early on is vital. If you are interested, just respond to this email saying, “Hey, add me to the Street Team.” I will assemble the team and then send out an advanced copy of the book for your review. You have to be able to leave Amazon reviews on products, this typically means you have spent more than $50 on Amazon.com.
Fourth, I have everything set up in Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, ready to go. The book is ready to publish at this time. I have ordered a proof copy of the paperback book so I can look it over before I release it. The picture above is the proof copy. It’s almost surreal to hold a tangible copy of something like this you have created. It was so cool
Fifth, getting the proof copy, of course, put me into a tail spin of finding things I want to fix with the book. Ugh… I have to make some fixes to last-minute typoes that have been found (Thankfully, my wife is awesome at grammar!). I have to make some adjustments to the margins of the physical copy of the book. It will take me a bit to make these corrections and line everything back up for release, but I can see the finish line on this thing.
Shamon
