The Horsemen Has Inflated My Ambition

The Horsemen was released a couple weeks ago with solid impact on my publishing.

Two weeks later the momentum seems to be sustaining and gathering. It's sales continues and even grows. Compounded with the  books that came before it is building something that only a few years ago I could only dream of.

The key as always is to create good work. Maybe not Shakespeare, but good, workmanlike stories. Tales that are not only within the realm of credibility but stories that people can identify with and have meaning within their own space on this lil' blue marble.

That maybe is the best part of being a writer. That somehow, through your stories you can somehow give folks the energy, the belief to convince them that, yes, they can! and No, they are not alone in the way they see this world.

A consequence is that it seems to have triggered a surge of creativity in myself. I've been surging ahead on two new projects. One each for the Taylor and Jensen series.

One titled "Kincaid" will be #4 in the Jeb Taylor series... and the other that I am especially excited about is currently titled "Hold Back the Wind" and will be # 3 of the Ben Jensen series. The way it's coming along, Ben is revealing a bit more of his troubled and scarred soul.

 I made a deliberate attempt to work on both series in tandem more than a year ago... and failed miserably.

Now, with no idea what the catalyst was... at the present moment, quite unintentionally, both stories are vying for supremacy. Each is calling to be recorded. What I tried to do with deliberation and failed is now sailing along at 3-4000 words a day split between the two stories... all driven by its own internal motivation.... it's a weird deal...

It's kind of an odd sensation to have characters calling to me to "get over here" and listen to them and ignore "that other guy".

Dang... if the wrong person hears the three way arguments going on around me... when I'm the only soul visible I believe they'll commit me!

I Vow... I've got Jeb pullin' me one way and Ben demanding I listen to him and pullin' the other... Sometimes I wish I could write stories like a normal feller and just outline 'em! ... rather than this third dimension thing where I've got voices and movie reels running in my head.

Ah well... it keeps things interesting... As always, the stories are revealing themselves to me as they do to you... as the words hit the page.

The next few months promise to be an exciting time for me. I hope they are rewarding for my readers!

-BK Gore

THE HORSEMEN is Published in Pre-Release

For the first time I've chosen to publish a book in a Pre-Order realease.  THE HORSEMEN is now available to order for the Official Release on the 23rd January 2015. I'm hopeful it will provide a "kick" to the ranking the book earns on the electronic bookshelf.

If you're not familiar with that way of doing things... you order the book today... and then as soon as the clock ticks past midnight and the 23rd starts, it automatically is available or downloads to your chosen device.

What it does for authors is it combines any Preorder sales so they come in on the Official Release day and can give that author a nice "Kick" in his sales rate for that day. It helps raise him/her to "visibility" on the search lists.

If you haven't read the preceding volumes you can check those out as well as my other series on my author page at Amazon.

If you'd prefer a different format you can go to my Smashwords page and pick from several available formats! 

 Many Thanks to ALL of my readers.
- BK Gore

Publishng THE HORSEMEN is Coming Ever More Close

The final edit of THE HORSEMEN was completed an hour ago.

The prohibitive cost, for a small indie author, has forced me to conjure up a method of producing a decent edit to publish my work.

The problem of course with editing your own words is familiarity. So it takes a combination of discipline and mechanical/psychological tricks to get the work done.

The first thing I've found to do is basically, perform the first edit as I go. As each "scene" in the story is completed I take a quick break then go back and re-read and edit that section.

The second thing I do in the editing process is done each morning before I start in on that day's writing. I re-read and edit the last chapter or two written the day before. Two things are accomplished with that. First I get my head firmly back into the story for that day and second, when the -THE END- is written on the last page I have effectively already completed two solid editing passes of the manuscript.

With a completed manuscript I then read through aloud - line - by line - hunting for awkward wording, misspelled words, doubled words, punctuation etc. If something "sounds" odd in the outloud reading I work it over until it flows well to my ear. Only then do I move on.

The last and final edit is what I call my Kindle Audio edit. The manuscript is emailed to my Kindle. That lil' gizmo has a sweet lil' ability to convert text to speech. I use the ear buds off my Ipod and follow along on the lap top as it reads it back to me.

The computer generated voice sounds a bit strange I suppose, but, it tries to ready just how you put it down. So... if you have doubled words that you missed or badly misspelled text or commas in the wrong place, that JUMPS out at you as the Kindle reads it back to you.

It also shines a pretty bright light on awkward sounding phrases or too long sentences that you might miss. It's an idea I've not heard anyone else use... so unless someone else can claim an earlier inspiration I claim to be the Inventor of the KINDLE EDITING TECHNIQUE! :)

All that remains is building a table of contents and some final formatting and my fifth novel will be prepared for publishing. Mid to late next week seems a very reasonable release time at this moment.

I'd thought of trying a pre-order release but I think it more likely I'll just announce when it will be available and try to get as many to secure their copy on the same day as possible. Doesn't change the price for those who will be buying a copy and gives a great boost to the author's ranking in the lists.

So... it's back to work for me!

- BK Gore

Better Late than Never... THE HORSEMEN ... is COMING SOON

I'm in the final stages of preparation to Publish my fifth Novel. The Third in the Jebediah Taylor series - THE HORSEMEN -

With no major snafus Publishing should happen in the next two weeks. I'm thinking of setting this one up for Pre-Order sales...

Though as impatient as I generally get this late in the game I'll more than likely simply load it and cut 'er loose.

The best though is if a guy can get as many possible that plan on buying a copy to do that on the same day. Get a nice number of sales in a single day and it lifts a writers efforts up into the "visible" rankings... so all those folks he's not been able to talk to... have a chance of seeing it if they're simply browsing the ee-lek-trawnic shelves at Amazon...

So... IF ... ya'll be one of those... keep watching... I'll let you know what day would be a SWEET day for me for ya'll to pick up your copy! :)

- BK Gore

Once Again Life Changes

Over the recent years this Old Buster has learned a lot.

I've learned that though I like to wander without end, there are other things which I walked away from... that I cannot.

I have discovered a growing hunger, an ache even, for some of the things from my past that constant wandering just ain't compatible with... most of those shall remain confidential for the present.

But the bottom line is I continue in pursuit of that fleeting balance in life... 

At this moment I'm squatted on the far eastern edge of Montana, working a beet harvest. The pay is fine and so, for that reason, I am here. It is to stack up dollars that will provide me the means to overhaul the way I live... and return the things to my days that should never have been left behind.

One of those things that I plan to gain as I modify the coming future... and that I can reveal now, is a dedicated "Writing Shed". Tickling my brain pan is also a simple but well appointed audio recording studio where I can develop the ability to self record my own books for Audio release.

The consequence of having a formal "Writing Shed" - I Hope - is improved discipline and reduced diversion and distraction... so that I publish better work on a much faster and more regular schedule.

Big Plans... We shall see what becomes of 'em together. :)

BK Gore

Should a Writer Listen to Suggestion?

I'm not talking about criticism, constructive or otherwise. THAT should Always be listened to. No one is perfect so refusing to listen to what other sets of eyes see is simply foolish. Maybe you'll disagree, but you HAVE to listen.

No, what I'm talking about here is Subject. Should a writer turn the path their characters follow to feed what the reader market wants to hear? Or should he rigidly adhere to the story in his head?

Some might think pushing a story along more marketable trails is "selling out". They only want to write what they want to write. Honestly, that's fine, you have to do what you have to do. But I wonder, how fulfilling is that going to be if a person is only writing for themselves? Writing a diary is just fine and fulfilling in its own way...

... but... if you fancy yourself a writer... If no one wants to read what you've put down because you've chosen a subject that draws no interest, that seems like an ego bruiser to me.

This is one place where Artistry and Business collide. You have to work on the vision that touches your imagination and create the message you want to promote... yet... if you fail to find an audience, it's all for naught.

I expect somewhere in there is a balance point... I think... I wonder... and I just keep on writing.

- BK Gore

A Winter of Ambitious Writing

I've set an ambitious plan for the winter of 2013-14. I came about this idea with the completion and publishing of my fourth novel and the second of the Ben Jensen series.

The hardest thing for a writer to do, is successfully promote his work. It's hard because for the most part, there's no fun in it. It is simply work. The same as mucking out a stall when you own horses. No One runs out to buy a horse so that they can shovel road apples! How-some-ever it is a necessary task that goes with the joy of Horses.

Now, writing itself is not an easy piece of work but it is an indescribable joy. If you've done it correctly. At the end of the day you are as exhausted as you are when you buck twenty tons of hay into the barn. The joy is that it's that Good sort of exhaustion. That sort where you look at the barn and it's full of hay. That rewarding sort of feeling that you've accomplished something good.

When you look at the page at the end of the day, and your imagination has strung together 5,000 words of a story, and Good words too, it lights up a feeling inside that puts a smile on your face.

So there's those two competing hard jobs in writing. The writing itself that fulfills something your soul requires, and then the stall mucking labor of marketing.

What I realized when I'd finished Shadow on the Mountain is that I dropped the ball, badly, after the last book. In doing so, I lost the momentum that had begun building.

With an author competing against something over 50,000 new titles being published ever year, in just the United States... lost momentum is something a word whittler can't afford.

I allowed myself to be distracted by life and small things and took waaaaay to long to create the next story. When you've captured reader's imaginations and succeeded in leading them to gain a true liking for a character... leaving them hanging... waiting on the continuation of the story... is just wrong, and a publishing mistake!

When good people choose to risk their money and time in a writers story, that writer has accepted a duty to provide that story. When it comes in the form of a Series... that means he must roll out the next installment of the story in a reasonable time... No Excuses!

Soooo... my Ambitious Plan for this winter is to create the next two installments of the Jeb Taylor Series AND the Ben Jensen Series and have them ready to publish by April.

That means... no distractions permitted. Disciplined placement of my behind in front of the keyboard for goodly periods of time at least five days a week... and a near total immersion in the stories I have outlined.

This winter, the Arizona Desert is going to echo with the sound of tap tap tap tap tap tap tap ... as I wear out the buttons on this new toshiba laptop!

~ BK Gore