Christopher Stocking's Blog, page 13

“It’s More Fun to be a Pirate than to Join the Navy” — Steve Jobs

Image credit Lynn Kelly Author via WANACommons

I came across this quote while reading Kristen Lamb’s Steve Jobs and 5 Tips for Being a Successful Author, and it really got me thinking about self-publishing. But first, a thought about self-publishing:

Self-published authors aren’t always the most well-liked people. We’re viewed as sloppy because some self-published books contain typos and story flaws and, well, fewer say it better than the people on Goodreads. For example:

“Aren’t best sellers. N...

That’s Just What Writers Do (My 200th Post!)

My last post got me thinking about what a great community we have as writers. So much, in fact, that I had to cut myself off to actually get to the point of that post. But it was at that point I decided I might as well dedicate a whole other post to it. Also, this is my 200th post! So I’m pretty excited about that, too. It’s interesting to see how far my blog has come over those 200 posts. And honestly, it should be well past 200 by now. But, what am I going to do? I’m certainly no time lord...

The Creative Cesspool

The writing community is one of the best out there, really. It’s amazing how–even though we’re all each other’s competition–we’re still willing to help each other out. We’re willing to share links and give feedback to make other writers better, even though we’re potentially helping them get sales that we could have been working toward. Now, I suppose that’s not the most positive outlook on it, and while it is the truth, I’m sure many of us don’t feel that way. We’re glad to help when we can,...

Black Powder Brigade — 2013

John grabbed Victoria by her jacket and pulled her close. His jacket conformed to the shape of his flexing muscles. His eyes were aflame with rage and hatred. “Find those responsible and bring them to me,” he growled. “Alive.”

Black Powder Brigade

Coming 2013

Black Powder Brigade: 40,000 Word Update

Well, Black Powder Brigade has finally reached 40,000 words. Woo! The 20,000 word update was March 25th, and I hit 40,000 words yesterday. So it took me 19 days to write 20,000 words, which is about 1,052 words per day. Not too shabby! However, I’ll attribute part of that daily word count average to the fact that I wrote a little over 4,500 words Saturday; my second-largest daily word count ever. So, yeah, I’m pretty pumped about that! Now, onto the book:

Firstly, I’ve dropped the total word c...

Black Powder Brigade: Back Cover

I did some toying with the back-cover description of Black Powder Brigade, and I would love some feedback. I’m not entirely pleased with it yet, but I think I definitely have a solid base to work with. I think I need to work on the flow of it. It feels a bit choppy to me.

Let me know what you think!

THE HUNT FOR A MADMAN BEGINS…

The New World, 1773 – A group of elite soldiers known as the Black Powder Brigade patrol the world in secret, searching for strange and deadly creatures to ensure the na...

Black Powder Brigade: Excerpt #2

Here’s another short excerpt from my WIP, Black Powder Brigade. Enjoy!

“What have you done?” one of the British soldiers asked. He shoved past Victoria and looked at the wreckage. “You’re all under arrest.”

“We didn’t do this,” John said, shoving away one of the guards.

“Really? You’re all standing around here and you say you didn’t do it?”

Victoria looked at John and Samuel, who were looking at her. She nodded and grabbed the closest guard. Victoria jammed her foot into the back of the guard’s k...

Self-Publishing: The Punk Rock of the Publishing Industry

Image credit cellar_door_films via WANACommons

The beast known as self-publishing is both simple and complicated. It’s simple because, well, writing is simple… and complicated. Damn, this could get confusing. All right, so it’s like this:

When punk rock first began, it seemed to be (at least from my knowledge of it) about jumping around on stage, yelling and screaming, wailing on your guitar and drums to make a lot of noise and make everyone jump around. It seemed to be about not conforming, do...

Print Vs. Audio Books — Is Comprehension A Factor?

Photo Credit cellar_door_films via WANACommons

For some time now there has been debate about whether listening to an audio book is the same as physically reading a book. Personally, as long as the book is getting into your head I’m glad you’re doing it. There’s no time to fuss about it when aliteracy is becoming more common.

My question is does the average person comprehend a print book better than an audio book? Sure, some people may have a hard time comprehending what they physically read, so...

Picture a Picture of your Character — Does it Help?

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed some authors I follow on Facebook posting photos of people who look like characters from their novel(s). This is an interesting concept in that it can allow the readers to really visualize what the characters in a book looks like, especially a book that hasn’t been made into a movie, and may not be photographed on the cover. But does this really have a significant benefit? Will posting a photo of someone who looks like a character in your book boost sales?...