Michael C. Bailey's Blog, page 85

Weekly Update – August 23, 2016

Another slow week. We have one more convention to get through this month, then I’ll be able to get back to writing. More specifically, I’ll get to work finalizing The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl for its September release.

On that note, remember that next month, I will be making the first book in the series, The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich available for free through Amazon for five days! You’ll be able to get the Kindle edition for free from Monday, September 19 until Friday, September 23, so grab a copy for yourself or gift one to a friend.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: No progress to report.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
Saturday, December 10: The OtherWhere Market at Mill No. 5 in Lowell. I will be there, sharing space with my wife.

MISC.

Arisia 2017 has begun putting itself together, and I’ve put in for my table alongside J.M. Aucoin once again. We’re not going to hear back from the organizers until November or so, so it’s waiting game time.

 

Weekly Update – August 16, 2016

 

Not too much to report this week, as I was busy as hell helping my wife prep for Boston ComicCon.

However, I do want to announce that as I ramp up for the release of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl next month, I will be making the first book in the series, The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich available for free through Amazon for five days! You’ll be able to get the Kindle edition for free from Monday, September 19 until Friday, September 23, so grab a copy for yourself or gift one to a friend.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release. Plus, draft cover art has begun to appear in my inbox! Tricia and I came up with a fun concept and I think you’ll love the end results.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: No progress to report. Alas.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
Saturday, December 10: The OtherWhere Market at Mill No. 5 in Lowell. I will be there, sharing space with my wife.

MISC.

Speaking of my wife Veronica, this week she made a major announcement regarding the future of her business, Storied Threads. You can read it here on her blog.

What does this mean for me? Hopefully it means I’ll have more writing time, but I’m not counting on that until we see if this new approach works overall. We might have to make some adjustments, so consider this a work in progress.

Weekly Update – August 9, 2016

Earlier this year I released Cheap Thrills Digest to sell exclusively at live events and through this website, and I’ve been debating whether to make it available through Amazon as well.

I’ve decided to go ahead and do it in the interest of enhancing my Amazon catalog and perhaps goosing my income a little.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: I got some work done on both books, which is good, because last weekend was my last writing weekend for the rest of the month. I’m busy helping my wife out with shows until September, when I’ll be diving back into Assassins Brawl to get that prepped for its release.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
Saturday, December 10: The OtherWhere Market at Mill No. 5 in Lowell. I will be there, sharing space with my wife.

MISC.

This week I officially dove back into the world of journalism after nearly three years away. I’ve started doing a little light freelancing for the Worcester Telegram, covering Auburn Board of Selectmen — nothing too glamorous, but it keeps me busy and brings a little extra money in.

 

Weekly Update – August 2, 2016

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Got some more done on this, and I’m building toward the mid-point scene, which will be a big one.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Did quite a bit on this over the weekend. I know, working concurrently on two books is odd, and putting more into the later book in the series seems counterproductive, but books seven and eight have some overlap, just like six and seven did, so jumping back and forth is really the best way to ensure that the stories mesh.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
NEW! Saturday, December 10: The OtherWhere Market at Mill No. 5 in Lowell has its date. I will be there in some capacity, but whether I’ll be selling books on my own, with my friend J.M. Aucoin, or attached to Storied Threads is yet to be determined.

MISC.

Lots of miscellaneous this week!

I received my DVD copy of my interview from Upton Community TV and watched it with a kind of morbid fascination. Seeing myself on TV was just plain weird and awkward, but it was a good interview. It hasn’t aired yet and I haven’t taken the time to try and upload the video myself, so be patient. I will subject myself to your scrutiny soon enough.

I had my show last week, and to cut a long story short, it was a mixed bag. I met some cool people, did some networking, and met Mike Girard, lead singer for one of my all-time favorite bands, The Fools. That alone made it great night, but from a pragmatic (read: monetary) standpoint, the day was a bust. The lesson I am learning is that I do better at shows that specifically cater to the geek crowd.

Finally, I’d like to give a shout-out to fellow author Patrick Hodges, creator of the James Madison series. Patrick came across Action Figures and loved book one so much he felt compelled to contact me. We talked shop a bit over the weekend, he introduced me to a YA writers’ group online, and he’s sending me a copy of his first book to check out. I recommend you all do the same!

New England Authors Expo is a go!

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to New England Authors Expo day!

I just finished my setup (at right) and I’m ready to go. I hope to see a lot of people coming through the doors today. I also hope the AC kicks in soon, because it’s hot as balls in here.

If you’re in the area of the Danversport Yacht Club, come in, say hello, and check out all the other great indie and small press authors. If you can’t make it, don’t worry, because I’ll be social media-ing the hell out of the day. You can follow along on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook.

Weekly Update – July 26, 2016

You may have noticed a new tab at the top of the page. Go to it and you’ll find links to my cover artist Tricia’s Redbubble store, where you can buy items featuring her cover art, along with her own original pieces. Go support an independent artist!

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Back in action, so to speak! I got  quite a bit done on this and on Action Figures – Issue Eight during my first full weekend of writing in a few weeks. My wife’s show schedule has kept us busy and August will pretty much a washout for me thanks to her having three conventions in a row, but I plan to get a lot done before then.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

TOMORROW! The New England Authors Expo in Danvers, MA. Workshops, forums, and a daylong book fair for librarians, book shop owners, and starting in the afternoon, for members of the general public. I’m excited the day is finally here and I’m looking forward to a great expo. I’ll try to post a lot from the show, so keep an eye on my social media outlets.
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.

MISC.

Last week I taped my segment for Be My Guest, an Upton Community TV show, and had a great time. Jan Lewis was a lovely host and did a great job of helping me keep the conversation rolling. The video should be available soon.

Weekly Update – July 19, 2016

Today’s the day! The Kindle edition of Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins is now on sale for 99 cents until midnight! Grab a copy for yourself, gift a copy to a friend, or just spread the word of this sale to fellow readers.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Managed to get a little work in, despite a busy weekend of socializing with friends visiting from California.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: I used my one full writing day to pound out ten pages of draft one. I know, I’m jumping WAY ahead, considering book six isn’t even edited yet, but I had the opening scenes down in my head and needed to get them onto the screen so I could refocus my energy on book seven when I get a full three days of writing this weekend.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Wednesday, July 27: The New England Authors Expo in Danvers, MA. Workshops, forums, and a daylong book fair for librarians, book shop owners, and starting in the afternoon, for members of the general public.
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.

MISC.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Upton to appear on Be My Guest, an Upton Community TV show, to talk about my writing. I’ll post a link to the video once it’s up.

 

Weekly Update – July 12, 2016

I’ll get the advertisement out of the way here. In celebration of the book reaching #1 best-seller status on Amazon, the Kindle edition of Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins will be going on sale for 99 cents next week. Grab a copy for yourself, gift a copy to a friend, or just spread the word to fellow readers.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Got a little bit more done here, but I’m in the middle of helping my wife with a busy show season, so my writing weekends are a little sparse right now.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: I don’t have a subtitle yet, but I do have a fleshed-out plot!

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins: Jennifer MacPherson is doing a read-through on the audiobook manuscript and should start formal recording sessions any day.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Wednesday, July 27: he New England Authors Expo in Danvers, MA. Workshops, forums, and a daylong book fair for librarians, book shop owners, and starting in the afternoon, for members of the general public.
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.

MISC.

I’d like to use this space to alert my fans of a case of art theft, and to encourage you to add your voice to the fight.

The original Chrononaut Mercantile Pirate Coat…

I learned this week that Chrononaut Mercantile, a small business, had one of its designs ripped off, and the knockoff version — shamelessly named “The Chrononaut Coat” — was being sold through By the Sword Inc. I contacted BTS and urged them to remove the item out of respect for Chrononaut Mercantile, and I posted a message on BTS’s Facebook page.

The company’s responses were, to put it mildly, disappointing. I won’t repeat them verbatim, but these were the rationalizations BTS offered for selling a coat that they never denied was a copy of the CM version:

…and the By the Sword Inc. knockoff version.

The BTS version is made of cheaper materials, so it’s not the same design, really
BTS doesn’t make it, only re-sells it from a manufacturer in India, so it’s not really supporting art theft
BTS is a small business too, so they should be able to sell the knockoff version
The Chrononaut model is too expensive for some people, so BTS is doing the consumer public a service by offering a cheap version
The fashion industry rips each other off all the time, so no big whoop

Not only were my comments on the BTS Facebook page deleted, I was blocked from posting. As word started to spread, several other people in the New England renaissance faire community also posted on the FB page, and similarly saw their comments deleted and their access blocked.

I do not take art theft lightly. I’ve had my books pirated, as have many other indie authors I know. It’s happened to my friend Tricia, who does my cover art, and my wife. Big companies do this to independent artists all the time and expect to get away with it — and even try to make their actions sound somehow benevolent by telling the aggrieved artist how flattered he or she should feel that their art was worth stealing.

Fuck that noise.

Now, in the interest of fairness, this knockoff is being sold through other retailers. BTS happened to be the one brought to my attention. If you’re of a mind, send By the Sword or any other retailer you find selling this item a firm but polite e-mail asking them to drop the Chrononaut Coat from their line, and spread the word to others letting them know about this incident. Help dissuade retailers from encouraging art theft. Don’t let yet another independent artist get screwed over.

 

Weekly Update – July 5, 2016

I’m going to open with a quick reminder that, in celebration of the book reaching #1 best-seller status on Amazon, the Kindle edition of Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins will be going on sale for 99 cents in two weeks. Grab a copy for yourself, gift a copy to a friend, or just spread the word to fellow readers.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: AF book 2 is off to my editor Julie! She expects to be done by the end of August, so barring the unforeseen — which is always a possibility in the indie author world — the second book should be out in late September.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Almost time to get back to work on this in earnest!

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins: Jennifer MacPherson is doing a read-through on the audiobook manuscript and should start formal recording sessions any day.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Wednesday, July 27: he New England Authors Expo in Danvers, MA. Workshops, forums, and a daylong book fair for librarians, book shop owners, and starting in the afternoon, for members of the general public.
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.

MISC.

There’s some behind-the-scenes stuff going on at home that have cleared the way for me to pick up some freelance work with the Worcester Telegram. It’ll just be a pick-up job here and there for the immediate future, but it’ll keep me active and bring some extra money in.

Finally, I have finally joined Instagram, so if you aren’t already sick of me on other social media outlets, check me out there at michaelbaileywriter.

Weekly Update – June 28, 2016

This week is jam-packed full of excellent announcements, starting with the big one:

 

That’s right: I can now legitimately claim that Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins is a two-time number one best seller!

To celebrate this achievement, I’m going to make the Kindle version of Secret Origins available for 99 cents for one day only: July 19. If you’re a current fan, please spread the word to family and friends who might enjoy the series, and feel free to share this special promotional image ——————>

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: The latest revisions are done! I still have a couple of test-readers as yet unheard from, but if/when they get back to me I may have to work any sound suggestions into the final draft — assuming they hit any points my other test-readers missed, that is, which would be surprising. My test-readers were seriously on the ball and pointed out a lot of issues, small and large, that I had to correct.

The result was unusual for this stage of development. Usually in the pre-editing phase, I’m mostly smoothing out the prose and trimming any fat; I expect word counts to do down, not up, but in this case the word count rose from approximately 77,000 in the third draft (which was up 1,000 words from draft two) to nearly 80,000 in the fourth draft.

The extra work was well worth it, though. What I have now is a LOT stronger than what I had a couple of months ago.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Almost time to get back to work on this in earnest!

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins: Wait, what? Why is this on the list? you might well ask. Because I have officially locked in the talented Jennifer MacPherson to record the audiobook version of Secret Origins! I’ve had Jenn in mind for this project for a long time and I finally decided to pull the trigger and make it happen. Our goal is to have the finished audiobook ready for your holiday shopping pleasure.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

Wednesday, June 29: the Shrewsbury Public Library’s summer reading kickoff event, featuring a Local Authors Showcase. That runs next week from 3:30 to 6 PM and I’ll be one of eight (so far) local writers selling and signing books.
NEW! I’ve been accepted to the New England Authors Expo in Danvers, MA on July 27. This is a huge day-long show that connects authors with readers, libraries, bookstores, and industry reps. I expect to be exhausted by the end of it, but in a good way.
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM. As it happens, I’m playing a more active hand in promoting the Meet the Author series this year (more on that below).
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.

MISC.

This last cool announcement is primarily for the benefit of Massachusetts residents, who can now read my first novel, Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins for free via Commonwealth eBooks Collections, part of the BiblioBoard system, which helps libraries across the country increase its access to e-books.

Action Figures was added to the Indie Massachusetts curation through (quoting from the website here) “the SELF-e program, a collaboration between Library Journal and BiblioLabs designed to cultivate robust local writing communities and keep libraries at the center of the indie book movement. SELF-e helps self-published authors and indie presses expand their readership while adding new and diverse indie eBooks to library catalogs across the country.”

You can find Secret Origins in the YA and Children’s Fiction section.

I’m going to close on a bit of a rant/lecture, but I think this is worth the space, so please give it a read.

My wife vended MASSive ComicCon here in Worcester over the weekend, and we learned of a display of blatant cruelty that had us both seething.

The artists’ alley area of the con was huge, which meant a lot of industry pros, independent professionals, and motivated amateurs had somewhere to display their work, which was great.

One attendee apparently disagreed. From what we learned through a few people who witnessed this, a kid asked his father about artists’ alley because, being a kid, he didn’t grasp the concept. In the course of explaining artists’ alley, the dad said many of the artists in this area weren’t very good.

Dad then transcended dickishness and achieved douchebag status by pointing out one particular artist, who was sitting right there, as exemplary of the terrible art on display.

The artist is question, a young woman attending only her second con and selling sketches for short money, managed to shrug it off at first. Later that morning, Dad unlocked his asshole achievement badge. As the artist was returning from the restroom, Dad pointed her out to his kid and remarked, loud enough for her to hear, “That’s that shitty artist we saw.”

Folks, trying to work as an artist, in any medium, whether amateur or pro, is incredibly fucking hard — not just because of the finances involved, not just because society too often dismisses the arts as a legitimate career field, not just because other professional fields try to pass off “experience” and “exposure” as legitimate forms of compensation for artists they(try to) hire, but because at some point, someone is going to be unnecessarily, excessively mean for no reason whatsoever.

Criticism is part of an artist’s life. Good criticism helps artists grow and improve. Bad criticism is inevitable. It won’t be constructive, it won’t be solicited, it won’t be welcome, but it’s something artists need to learn to deal with productively.

The things this man said do not qualify as criticism. He deliberately singled out one young artist to be the target of flat-out cruelty for the sake of it. He said these things to tear this young lady down, because it gave him some twisted form of satisfaction to do so.

Fortunately, every artist around her rallied to her side, talked her down, and were ready to protect her if Dad came around again. When word of this spread, other vendors (including my wife and I) were almost praying he’d show his face again. There would have been a line of people ready to read this prick the riot act. Veronica went over and commissioned a quick sketch of our dog Beatrix to show her support. That’s the happy outcome here: fellow artists did not for one second stand for this bullshit and stood by one of their own.

But Dad is still out there and probably will piss on some other poor unsuspecting artist for shits and giggles, and maybe the next time that person won’t have people standing by him or her to provide the support he or she needs to roll with it and move on. This despicable excuse for a human being might well snuff out someone’s creative spark, and perhaps has done so already.

I offered this story not in the hopes it would enrage you or motivate you to be more supportive to artists — I trust you all do that already — but to make some of you think twice before you decide you simply have to tell an artist how badly you think he/she sucks. If that impulse is there, regardless of the reason, stop and ask yourself exactly why you feel you need to say anything. Chances are, you don’t have to say it; you want to, at which point the question becomes: Why? What good is served by dumping on an artist whose work you don’t like?

You don’t have to praise artists if you sincerely feel they don’t deserve it, but you don’t have to go out of your way to criticize them, either.

In closing, I offer the wise words of Kevin Smith:

Remember: It costs nothing to encourage an artist, and the potential benefits are staggering. A pat on the back to an artist now could one day result in your favorite film, or the cartoon you love to get stoned watching, or the song that saves your life. Discourage an artist, you get absolutely nothing in return, ever.