Matthew Wayne Selznick's Blog, page 9
October 23, 2013
My Free Fantasy Fiction Serial, One Month In
Last weekend, I released the fifth installment of my free fantasy fiction serial Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home to subscribers. That means many folks have been reading the debut offering from Selznick Serials for over a month now.
That’s exciting to me. It’s also a nice arbitrary moment to assess how things are going with that particular creative endeavor. So let’s see…
Numbers and Such
Before the official launch of Selznick Serials, I invited folks to sign up to a notification list. Happily, almost 70% of the folks on that list subscribed to Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home pretty much as soon as it was available. That was nice validation of the initial interest.
Nearly 40% of all subscribers to date (as I write this, anyway) signed up as a result of reading about Selznick Serials in my own free email newsletter. That newsletter, by the way, had a higher “open” rate than any single email blast I’ve sent in the last year… including those related to my latest novel! That’s a lovely confirmation that people are excited about this new content!
Similarly encouraging is that approximately 50% of subscribers actually open the weekly emails (and, I presume, read the serial installments).
A fifty percent open rate is pretty freakin’ amazing! I don’t have figures for other serial fiction by subscription projects delivered via email (are there any..?), but the two closest industries, entertainment and media, typically run around 8% or 9%.
Now, these are very early days indeed—we’re less than 10% through the first 52 installment arc of Walk Like A Stranger—so the sample pool (eighty subscribers as of this writing) is, shall we say, statistically unreliable. But I’m still heartened by what I’ve seen so far. Keep in mind that I haven’t yet done any dedicated promotion outside of my own community.
Speaking of that…
The Next Phase For My Free Fantasy Fiction Serial
Later this week, the sixth installment of Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home will drip into subscribers’ in-boxes. I hope I’ve established that this free fantasy fiction serial offering is An Actual Thing, and that I’m committed to Selznick Serials. It’s now time to start spreading the word in earnest.
In November, I’ll be reaching out to assorted promotional channels to do guest blog posts, podcast and blog interviews, and the like. If you have a venue and you’d like to have me as a guest or you’d like to feature a guest post from me, please let me know!
I’m also going to put together a little package for some select authors and other creative folks in the hopes of soliciting some blurbs and endorsements. This “social proof” should help potential subscribers see subscribing to Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home is something worth doing. If, by chance, you are an author with a sizable online community and you’re interested in providing a blurb / testimonial for a free fantasy fiction serial… let me know!
In true “lean start up” fashion, I’ll measure the results of those efforts, assess the lay of the land, and decide what I’m going to do at the turn of the year to continue growing this thing. Maybe that’ll mean paid advertising. Maybe it’s subscriber incentives. Maybe it’s adjusting or adding to the model. We’ll see!
And by we, I mean: you and me! If you haven’t already, please subscribe to Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home from Selznick Serials. It’s a free weekly fantasy fiction serial sent directly to your email inbox, and you’ll start from the beginning no matter when you subscribe. You can’t lose!
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October 9, 2013
Get 40 Books For 20 Bucks With The Read and Feed America 2013 Bundle!
I’m pleased to announce that you can get 40 books for 20 bucks—including my own Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era and works by Margaret Weis, Michael Stackpole, Douglas Smith, Mike Luoma, Chuck Wendig and many, many others—in the Read and Feed America 2013 bundle from DriveThruFiction.
Purchase the Read and Feed America 2013 bundle for $20.00 between Wednesday, October 9, 2013 and Monday, October 21, 2013 and every penny raised will go to Feeding America at the end of the month.
That’s just fifty cents per book!
If you tried to amass this collection of fantasy, horror, science fiction, graphic novels, short stories and essays individually, you’d shell out over $155.00. Spend just $20.00 instead… and help feed the hungry, too!
About Feeding America
Curious about where your money will go?
Feeding America (formerly known as America’s Second Harvest) is dedicated to feeding America’s hungry through a network of nationwide food banks. They are a non-religious charitable organization with a four (out of a possible four) star rating from Charity Navigator.
In 2012, Feeding America directed 97.9% of their budget to their mission. Just .02% (two one hundredths of a percent) of their income went to pay their president and CEO.
You can be confident that (not counting processing fees), nearly every penny of your $20.00 will go toward actually getting food to the hungry people who need it.
About DriveThruFiction
DriveThruFiction is part of the OneBookshelf family of online booksellers that includes the popular RPGNow. They’ve been delivering e-books and supporting independent creators since 2001.
I’ve been a customer for many years, and I’m proud to have many of my own books available on DriveThruFiction, DriveThruRPG, and RPGNow.
They’re a very creator-friendly company with a back catalog as deep as all get out… including pretty much every module and rulebook from TSR’s original Dungeons and Dragons, for those of you who played their first role playing game in the seventies (or, like me, in the eighties!)
Don’t Wait! Order the Read and Feed America 2013 Bundle Right Now!
Please purchase the Read and Feed America 2013 Bundle from DriveThruFiction, including works from Margaret Weis, Michael Stackpole, Chuck Wendig and a bunch of other authors (including me!) for just fifty cents per book—and do it by October 21, 2013!
Don’t wait!
If you buy the bundle, how about letting me know in the comments? Thanks—and please share this post!
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading Get 40 Books For 20 Bucks With The Read and Feed America 2013 Bundle! -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!






October 3, 2013
Tenth Blogging Anniversary
The date almost slipped without my noticing: October 3, 2013, marks the end of ten years since my first blog post. It’s my tenth blogging anniversary!
My first post was a few lines on my LiveJournal blog declaring, in a coy way, that I would no longer be posting through a persona / pseudonym. What’s funny is that I don’t recall why I was doing that in the first place… but on October 3, 2003, the mask came off.
Just under a year later, I moved the blog to my mattselznick.com domain. Shortly thereafter (not sure exactly when!) I named the blog “Scribtotum,” which is a sloppy neologism derived from mashing up scribere (to write) with “factotum” ((facere = to do) + (totum = the whole thing)).
The name is meant to serve as descriptor for the blog: this has never been a one-subject kind of thing, unless you count the subject of “whatever in the hell I feel like writing about.”
Of course, professional bloggers will tell you to focus on one subject if you want to build an audience. What they really mean is, “you’ll make more money if you promote one niche.”
Fine. My niche is me.
While I didn’t have the foresight to realize this when I came up with it, “scribtotum” is also a mission statement that fits my creative philosophy very nicely: write (make) stuff without arbitrary restrictions on genre, subject, or media. It’s not a mission I’ve entirely succeeded at, but it’s certainly my lantern.
Obligatory Tenth Blogging Anniversary Milestones and Stuff
Let’s do the numbers:
Blog Posts: 865, including about 172 currently in draft mode—mostly podcast episodes. Yeah, I’m working on bringing those public again; it’s a back-burner kind of project.
Podcast Episodes: Speaking of. I launched the first episode of my first podcast on October 15, 2004. Yep… another anniversary coming up! Since that time, I’ve produced around 170 episodes of The MWS Media Radio Show, The DIY Endeavors Podcast, Five Minute Memoir, Writers Talking, Brave Men Run, and Sonitotum. That’s an off-the-top-of-my-head tally; don’t hold me to it.
Audio Books Recorded: 1 of mine, three for others
Voice Acting Roles / Audio Promos Produced: Dang, I’ve lost count.
Novels: two (plus one aborted)
Short Stories: four written by me; eight edited by me
Anthologies: One edited, one contributed to
Non-Fiction Works: One
E-books Produced: Sixteen for me, four for others
Websites Created or Produced: From memory, and not very carefully counted: maybe a dozen for me and twice that for clients, give or take. I’m counting work for movie studios and agencies, too.
Serials: two (one aborted, one in progress right now!)
One webzine (Multiverse Magazine) (plus one stillborn, Storyworlds Magazine)
One EP (Anyman: The John Smith Project with J.C. Hutchins)
One house concert
58 videos
I’m not sure what any of that stuff (other than the first two) has to do with blogging, to be honest, except that I guess it’s all stuff that’s happened since October 3, 2003, and a lot of it never would have happened if not for my web presence. Some of the above wouldn’t have happened if not for blogging specifically.
So hurrah for blogs!
Some Of My Favorite Blog Posts From The Last Ten Years
Across the years, these posts stand out for me:
Fire Update
Observations
Force Of Nature
DIY Endeavors and the Internet Economy
It’s My Friend’s Birthday
Movies In Hickville
Brave Men Done
The Lights Down On Shield Street
Wiccan War Dead Discrimination
San Clemente
So, Yo, What About the Booksigning?
“Tower of Unfolding Effects,” or, “Adieu, Tower Records, and Thank You For My Life”
Reflections: Podcast and Portable Media Expo 2006
Podcamp West Report and Impressions
Changes, Shifts, New Horizons
Balticon 41 Retrospective
PNME 2007 Thoughts
The Author’s Responsibility
Appleseed Eyes
An Open Letter To Verizon CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg
Your Twitter Resume, or #Twesume
Entrepreneurs: What You Get When You Get Me
Twenty Years Ago…
“Free,” Neo-Patronage, My Creative Endeavors and What’s In Store For You (and Us)
Value, Worth, Merit and Intangible Goods
Lessons From 2009
The Night Before We Have That Talk
Keep Me Out Of The Great Podcast Fiction Kerfuffle of Early 2010
Dividing
Apartment Living
Eight-Nine-Ten
Twilight At Borders
Social Networking: You’re Doing It Wrong, Part The Nth
Five Lessons For Writers From Words With Friends
Star Wars Fan Linkbait
Six Essentials For Fiction Writers
Thank You, Ray
Keoki Selznick, A Good Dog
Personal Franchises, Storyworlds, George Lucas, and the Lucasfilm Sale
On The Made-Up International Don’t Pirate My Book Day
Indie Authors, Stop Trying To Build An Audience
How To Reinvent Brick and Mortar Bookstores And Finally Realize The Third Place
Pretty sure comments are still open on all of those posts (save one.) Feel free to provide your (in some cases long-) after the fact thoughts!
The Next Ten Years…
Going through the first ten years of blog posts, revisiting the person I’ve been and the things that have happened, good and bad, was a strange experience. While I’m certainly in a much more financially tenuous position than I was a decade ago, I’m absolutely more creatively productive and personally happy. Thank goodness for that.
The next ten years? Well, I wouldn’t mind an improvement with the money, that’s for sure. I get the feeling if I keep the other two things cooking, the dollars will take care of themselves.
Start the clock!
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading Tenth Blogging Anniversary -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!






September 26, 2013
The Pilgrimage Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign: A Final Reckoning
In August, 2012, I held a successful crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter to finance the creation of my third book and second novel, Pilgrimage — A Novel of the Sovereign Era. I asked for $5,000, raised $6,199 in pledges, and made the book! Now, with everything task involving money wrapped up, it’s time to provide a final reckoning.
How’d I do?
Well, while $6,199 was pledged, only $6,089 worth of those pledges were actually honored. From that, Amazon’s payment processing fees deducted to $233.27, and Kickstarter’s cut took another $304.48. Actual amount that ended up in my bank account: $5,551.80.
Kickstarter money is taxable income, so I socked away 25% for taxes, bringing the fund down to $4.029.41.
Expenses?
Developmental editing: $700.00
Copy editing: $300.00 (FAR under budget! It pays to turn in a clean manuscript, kiddies!)
Cover art: $600.00 (included covers for both Pilgrimage and, as part of a “stretch goal,” Brave Men Run.
Createspace fees (paperback book production): $25.00
Createspace paperback proof: $10.58
Paperback order: $889.43
Shipping of paperback and patron rewards: $757.15
Shipping supplies: $10.90
There are probably some incidental expenses I’m missing, but they wouldn’t be more than a few dollars here and there.
So, total expenses: $3,293.06
Putting the project $736.36 in the “black.” If the project hadn’t exceeded its goal by 20%, it would have actually lost money!
Let that be a lesson: never rest until the time runs out, even if you’ve met your goal. You’re probably going to need that money.
What, you might ask, did I do with that spare $736.36?
Well, there are a lot of things that didn’t go into the “billable” column, like the actual time and effort spent plotting, outlining, writing, and revising the manuscript. Or the time and effort spent on cover and interior layout of the paperback, epub, and mobi editions of the book. Or the work hours spent packaging shipments.
If I’d billed myself for the time spent processing shipments alone, the project would have been deeply in debt.
Oh, I also haven’t taken into account the hours I’ll spend recording and producing the free abridged podcast version of Pilgrimage, either.
So that $736.36 is earmarked for labor… at an hourly rate that would make the sixteen year old kid at the McDonald’s up the street laugh out loud.
So there you have it! In the interest of transparency, and disclosure, and, perhaps, for the benefit of authors and other folks planning their own crowdfunding campaigns, a final reckoning on the finances of mine. The book is closed, and I say, once again, thank you very much to the 177 generous patrons who helped make Pilgrimage — A Novel of the Sovereign Era happen!
PS: Based on these numbers, and the amount of work involved, if I ever do another one of these, I’m asking for ten grand…
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading The Pilgrimage Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign: A Final Reckoning -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!






September 22, 2013
Presenting Free Serial Fiction! Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home
Back in May, among other things, I asked readers to decide which of three stories I should offer as a free serial fiction series. Your choice, Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home, went live yesterday as the debut free serial fiction offering from Selznick Serials!
About the Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home
Free Serial Fiction Offering
Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home is set in the Shaper’s World, my original fantasy storyworld. I’ve written about the Shaper’s World recently, if you’re interested in some behind-the-curtain stuff.
Here’s the description of Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home from the free serial fiction project’s site:
Every young priest of the Shaper of the World must “walk like a stranger”—without involvement or interference—across the land for a period of time in order to earn the mental gifts bequeathed by their god.
When Tae Keb’s Walk unexpectedly takes him to the troubled town where he was raised, will he stay strong in his convictions and his faith… or will a dangerous mystery and unwanted obligations force him to risk breaking his growing connection with the Shaper of the World?
Want the elevator pitch? Here you go: It’s TV’s “Kung Fu” set in a realistic fantasy setting (think Lankhmar or Westeros).
And you can read it for free, a new installment every week, delivered directly to your email inbox, with no app to download or website to visit once you’re subscribed.
Which you should do, right now, by clicking here. It’s free!
Get A Free Teaser Before You Commit To
Weekly Free Serial Fiction
September 8, 2013
A Grammarly Review From A New User’s Perspective
I used Grammarly
to grammar check this post because they emailed me out of the blue and offered me a $100 Amazon gift card if started a blog post with the words “I used Grammarly to grammar check this post because…”
And hey, by the way, Grammarly says that previous sentence is 100 percent perfect.
I’m a writer, yo!
Seriously, gang, I was pleased to have the chance to do a Grammarly review. I’d heard about the service, but never got around to trying their seven day free trial. Happily, Nick and Liliya offered me a reviewer’s premium account for the next couple of months. In return, I promised to become an affiliate and not only write this blog post, but also record an in-depth video review.
Grammarly Review From A New User’s Perspective
For the video, I opted to not do any preparatory research or read any instructions. Beyond testing my login, I didn’t even look at the for-pay version of the site until I pressed “record” on the video. I wanted to have an experience as close as possible to that of a new user.
In the Grammarly review video, I tested a blog post and a fiction piece, since those are the two kinds of writing I’m most likely to do.
The results:
I won’t give away how it all went down… you should watch the video! If you want to skip ahead to my verdict, there’s a clue about three minutes in. If you’re interested in going through the process of using Grammarly step by step, I hope you’ll watch the whole thing. I think it’s the best way to really figure out if Grammarly is something you need. I think my Grammarly review gives the service a fair shake from my perspective.
Have You Used Proofreading Software?
I’m curious to know if any of you have used proofreading software like Grammarly (or some offline equivalent). Was it useful? Let me know in the comments!
And if you’re even a little interested in trying a proofreading suite after watching my Grammarly review video, click to sign up for a seven day free trial. Put Grammarly to the test… if you decide to sign up at the end of the free trial and your own Grammarly review, I’ll earn a small commission.
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading A Grammarly Review From A New User’s Perspective -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!






September 7, 2013
What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part Four) – My Relationship With Social Media
This is the fourth and final installment in my little blog series on the social media sabbatical I took in the month of August, 2013. I’ve already covered some of the things I accomplished in a month without online social distractions: I built an affiliate site marketing the best writing software programs, I ironed out many of the world building issues associated with my free fiction-by-subscription project Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home, and I edited and packaged a new Sovereign Era short story by P. G. Holyfield.
I was very busy and, I think, a tad more productive than usual. At the same time, I found myself thinking — a lot — about what my relationship with social media was before the sabbatical, and what I wanted it to be when the month was over.
My Relationship With Social Media Was A Drag
Seriously. It’s the whole reason I needed a break.
I kept being disappointed by the casual extremism, if that’s even a phrase (it should be) demonstrated by so many people on every side of every issue. I want the people I know and am associated with, however loosely, to be more reasonable than, it seems, many of them actually are.
Being exposed to that over an over again on so many issues was exhausting, and depressing.
Interestingly, the month I was away from social media, a study from researchers at the Universities of Michigan and Leuven made the news by concluding that “rather than enhancing well-being… Facebook may undermine it.”
Read the study… it’s fascinating. And it resonated, with me, at least.
I have enough going on to undermine my well-being, thanks very much. I’m a struggling creator and a struggling freelancer. I’m the only local family member available to help my elderly, ailing mother. I own a house I can’t afford to sell. I’m forty six years old and have no health insurance. And so on and so forth.
While I’m not one of those people who thinks we should deny or reject experiencing the bad things that happen in our lives, I certainly don’t think it makes any sense to keep doing things that add to the negative column of one’s personal scorecard, y’know?
My Time Away Was Grounding
My deal with myself in August was that I would avoid social media (which for me meant, mostly, Facebook, Twitter, and, to a much lesser degree, Google Plus) except for the purposes of business or promotion. No “liking” assorted statuses, no “me too” comments, no “this is the song that was in my head when I woke up” tweets… you know.
I won’t deny that it was weird, at first. My old routine had been to review email, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn after my morning coffee and before I started working through my to-do list for the day. Because it was a routine, breaking away from it was at first odd at best and disconcerting at worst.
Mostly, though… it was freeing. I was free to get to work more quickly, free to ignore (be unaware of, actually) various stupid things going on… and, perhaps because I wasn’t filling my brain and my time with distracting, artificially meaningful crap, I had more bandwidth to think about things that actually are meaningful.
I figured out that social media can be a time suck when the things I might otherwise be doing suck in a different way… but need to be done. Turns out that I came to one of the conclusions of that study all on my own: that social media engagement can serve much the same purpose as other repetitive, distracting, addictive activities, and that none of it is all that healthy.
My Relationship With Social Media Going Forward
Turns out I came to enjoy opening Facebook and HootSuite once a day, skimming quickly through stuff, and closing them again. Now that my social media sabbatical is over, I find I’m doing the mostly the same thing: opening the social media platforms two or three times a day. The difference is that I allow myself to comment / like / share / retweet / reply or whatever… but then I get out again.
It’s nice.
My Relationship With Social Media And My Relationships
Almost three years ago, I blogged the question, “does social media make you less social?”
I wonder about it still… and while I haven’t made any solid plans to act on my musing, I’m considering some kind of action that’s more deliberate… that requires contact that isn’t time-shifted and curated by a third party in Menlo Park, San Francisco, or Mountain View.
It’s easy to “keep up” with people and almost never actually spend time with them in the same space, even when you’re geographically close. I don’t think I like that… but I know I’m lazy, too, y’know? Like so many of us are, it seems.
How’s Your Relationship With Social Media?
How do you feel about your own relationship with social media? Have you ever taken a break like I did in August? Would you?
Share your thoughts and perspective on your relationship with social media… in the comments!
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part Four) – My Relationship With Social Media -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!






September 6, 2013
What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part Three) – A New Sovereign Era Short Story By P. G. Holyfield
Here’s part three of my four part series on what I was up to during my self-imposed social media sabbatical in the month of August, 2013! We’ve already talked about my first affiliate marketing website and a run of deep world building on the Shaper’s World of Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home. Another thing that kept me busy in August was bringing “Canary In A Coal Mine,” a new Sovereign Era short story by P. G. Holyfield, to fruition.
About “Canary In A Coal Mine” by P. G. Holyfield
When I ran my Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of Pilgrimage, my second novel, last year, one of the pledge rewards was a brand new Sovereign Era short story from Murder at Avedon Hill author P. G. Holyfield.
It was P. G.’s idea, actually… he wanted a reason to get back to regular writing and thought it would be cool to do a follow-up to his first Sovereign Era tale, “Every Breath You Take.” Naturally, as is clear, the new story continues P. G.’s trend of naming these things after songs by the Police.
P. G. turned in the first draft of the story back in June, and things were pretty well hammered out in July, but it was August when I built the cover around a contextually perfect image from Jim Orsini and laid out the e-book. And now… it’s almost ready for you!
Pre-Order “Canary In A Coal Mine” by P. G. Holyfield
“Canary In A Coal Mine” will be available in the Kindle and Nook stores (for starters) on Friday, September 13, 2013. The 15,000-word novelette will cost $3.99.
If you pledged to support my Kickstarter campaign, you have a coupon code you can use to get $2.00 off that price.
If you belong to my mailing list, I just sent a message out with a coupon code good for $1.50 off the price.
And if you Like my Facebook page, you’ll find a coupon code waiting for you there, too.
All the coupons expire at 11:59 PM Pacific Time on Thursday, September 12, 2013, so find a way to get your pre-order in before then!
Where do you go to pre-order “Canary In A Coal Mine” by P. G. Holyfield, with or without a coupon code? Glad you asked:
Pre-Order the EPUB Edition of “Canary In A Coal Mine”
Pre-Order the MOBI (Kindle) Edition of “Canary In A Coal Mine”
More Sovereign Era Stories?
So far a handful of authors have written some great stories set in my Sovereign Era storyworld. I’m certainly down with that happening again. There are even a few tales I feel other authors could, frankly, write better than I could.
So I’m open to it, under the right circumstances, with the right author and the right story.
Do you want to see more Sovereign Era short stories written by authors other than myself? Sound off about it… in the comments!
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part Three) – A New Sovereign Era Short Story By P. G. Holyfield -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!






September 3, 2013
What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part Two) – World Building The Shaper’s World
All through the month of August, 2013, I stayed almost entirely away from social networks. In part one of this little blog series, I revealed one of the things I did that month.
Here’s something else that kept me busy: world building essential details of the Shaper’s World storyworld, the setting for my upcoming serial fiction by subscription offering, “Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home.”
What Is The Shaper’s World?
This is:
Sunset over the central section of the continent of Kaebrith on Gundifai, the Shaper’s World
To be specific, that’s Gundifai, the Shaper’s World, from about 12,000 miles above the surface. The upper half of the hemisphere is dominated by the continent of Kaebrith. While I didn’t plan this when I took this screenshot, you can actually see the region where “Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home” takes place: it’s the dark, hilly blotch just below the inland sea near the top of globe.
While Gundifai is slightly smaller than Earth, here’s an equirectangular projection of both worlds with Gundifai overlaid on our world’s map:

A comparison of relative land mass size and placement between Gundifai (black) and Earth (gray).
The Shaper’s World is something I’m referring to as a “wholly original fantasy setting.”
Nothing is “wholly original,” of course… that’s just my shorthand for “no orcs, no elves, no Dungeons-and-Dragons-style wizards and whatnot, set on a world that is Earthlike… but not Earth, and populated by people who are human hominids… but not Homo sapiens, at a level of development roughly comparable to the postclassical era. And there’s something that seems very much like magic there, too.”
You can see why I’d use a shorthand phrase, yeah?
The Continent of Kaebrith
Nearly all the action in the Shaper’s World storyworld takes place on the central continent of Kaebrith, which is very roughly comparable to Africa in size, but is much more mountainous. The northernmost tip of Kaebrith touches the 55th parallel; the southern tip is ten degrees south of the Equator.
This map shows the dominant biomes on the continent, ignoring the impact of human settlement:

The major biomes on the continent of Kaebrith.
The following map gives you an idea of the wide range of climates on the continent.

A map of Kaebrith showing the regional major ocean currents and prevailing winds.
Kaebrith After Empire
“Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home” takes place about a generation after the fall of the empire that had controlled most of the central and western areas of Kaebrith.
Now, especially in the interior, territories are Balkanized, with zones of control ranging from full-fledged governments to lawless bandit kingdoms ruled by warlords. It’s a dangerous place to live if you don’t stay where you belong.
That’s a worrisome state of affairs if your mission is to deliberately go places you’ve never been before. Alone. On foot.
Which is precisely what Tae Keb, the hero of “Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home” must do if he is to strengthen his relationship with his god and advance in his order.
Vale and The Surrounding Region
Tae Keb is a member of the order of Caretakers, who worship the Shaper of the World. When the Caretakers washed their hands of the empire — one of the disruptive events that triggered continental war and the end of stability for Kaebrith — they chose Vale as their new seat of power.

Vale, the seat of authority of the Caretakers, and surrounding region
Vale sits on the peak of a steep in the highlands at the base of a range of rough, hilly, low mountainous terrain. The region is not unlike the higher elevations of Algeria on Earth, with temperate grasslands giving way to chaparral, deciduous forests and boreal forest as the topography ascends.

Topographic map of the Vale region.
While the Caretakers have absolute control over their own lands, their power and influence varies in the surrounding territories, which are largely loosely governed collections under the sway of former soldiers, merchant princes, and, mostly, warlords.
Why Bother With All Of This World Building Stuff?
You might wonder why I would spend tens of hours creating maps, working out climates, biomes, and all the rest of this stuff. Why not just say, “yeah, the story takes place in a region kind of like the highlands of Algeria — hilly, rough, with scrub and forests and stuff. There are bad guys in charge most everywhere,” and get on with the writing?
The answer is: I’m not just writing a single serial fiction arc of fifty two installments called “Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home.”
I’m adding canonical material to a storyworld called “The Shaper’s World.”
Not only might there by future arcs of “Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home,” I have (at least) six books roughly plotted in this universe. It’s all part of the same timeline, all connected… and while it almost all happens on the same continent, people will be doing their thing — and hailing from — all over the place. A consistent world is integral to a successful whole.
That’s not even taking into account the possibility that others might play in this particular sandbox, too. They’ll need a baseline to work from.
It all goes in the mix. It’s all work that will pay out dividends across tens of thousands of words to come.
Enjoy The Fruit Of My World Building Labors… For Free!
All this world building stuff will go into my upcoming free serial fiction-by-subscription project coming later this month from Selznick Serials, “Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home.” I talked about the serial in great depth in a blog post back in June, if you’d like to learn more.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to visit Selznick Serials and get on the wait list to be notified the moment you can subscribe to the serial. Remember, it’s free! Nothing to download, either.
What Do You Think?
So that’s the second thing I did during my social media sabbatical. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part Two) – World Building The Shaper’s World -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!






August 31, 2013
What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part One) – Best Writing Software Programs
As you know, Bob (or Madge), I stayed nearly entirely away from social networks in the month of August, 2013. I’ll have more to say about how that went when the sabbatical is officially over. Meanwhile, this is the first of four posts on what I did on my social media vacation. First up: Best Writing Software Programs dot com!
Best Writing Software Programs was born from my desire to solve a problem: there’s a lot of creative writing software out there from a lot of different sources, but to my knowledge there’s not a single site that makes it easy to see it all in one place… and buy the programs you want, quickly and easily, through trusted sources. There’s a nifty little “value add” feature on the site, too.
I created a little video (under five minutes) to explain it all:
Yes, that represents my first foray into making screen-capture videos. There will be more where that came from… I really hope I get faster at it, since that one took a ridiculous amount of time! It was fun, though.
Do Your Shopping At Best Writing Software Programs; Be A Patron!
Many of you will rightly assume that the Best Writing Software Programs is an exercise in affiliate marketing. I will earn a small (4% ~ 6% of the purchase price) commission from any sales generated at Amazon.com, e-Bay, and the other places as a result of clicks from Best Writing Software Programs.
If you click through from an Amazon.com link on the site, I’ll get a commission from anything you buy at Amazon… and not just writing software! So if you’re going to shop at Amazon.com anyway… I wouldn’t mind if you used Best Writing Software Programs to get there!
Affiliate Marketing and Me
I’ve participated in various affiliate programs for many years, and I’ve always been open about it. I think it’s a valid form of passive residual income if it’s done ethically and transparently.
And even though I’ve belonged to various affiliate arrangements for a long time, I’ve never really delved into serious affiliate marketing.
That’s changing.
Best Writing Software Programs represents a test case. I’ve created a second site (more on that when we get to Part Three of this series!), and I’ll be doing more work in the affiliate marketing space in the weeks and months to come.
Why?
Because, dear reader, the unfortunate but undeniable truth of the matter is that making up stories and selling them — the thing I want to do most of all and the thing I believe I’m best at — doesn’t bring me a living wage.
I’m a freelance creative services gun for hire, too… and as much as I enjoy working with 98% of the clients that have come my way, freelance work (and the pursuit of same) devours time that could be spent making up stories.
An affiliate marketing endeavor like Best Writing Software Programs requires a few days of intensive effort followed by about an hour of work every few days thereafter. If it, or efforts like it, brings in even a few hundred dollars every month, month after month, it’s a sensible and smart use of my time.
My ultimate goal is to have enough going on in the affiliate marketing space that I’ll be able to spend much more time and effort on my more authorpreneurial, personal, creative franchises.
And pay the rent!
I hope that something you all can get behind. Show me… by clicking through to Best Writing Software Programs and, if you’re of a mind, picking up some cool writing software.
Have opinions about this? Let’s hear ‘em… in the comments!
This is a post from Matthew Wayne Selznick. Thanks for reading What I Did On My Social Media Sabbatical (Part One) – Best Writing Software Programs -- please click through and comment, and share with everyone you know!





