The first quarter
of 2016 has been a busy one for me. I’ve been working hard on writing projects
like I’ve been working at a 9-5 job.
Unfortunately, the
SJS DIRECT 2016 Cover Kickstarter didn’t get funded. But with the help of
people on YouTube, eBay and a payment from Google, I was able to raise enough
money to pay Bill Walko for the Isis: Bride of Dracula cover.
And it is a masterpiece.
It’s one of Bill’s BEST pieces, and it’s gotten a positive response from
everyone who has seen it. People have shared the cover on their Tumblrs, and
Facebooks, and it got dozens of Facebook likes on the day I debuted it.
Thanks to Bill’s
cover and my writing, the launch of Isis:Bride of Dracula has been a successful one. Isis: Bride of Dracula has
gotten the best reception an SJS DIRECT book has ever received. People are
giving the story a look and it’s getting some sales.
I’d love to work
with Bill again on another Isis series project, and I’m hoping to get the money
together to pay for a cover for Isis: Imitation of Life. That’s a book I really
want to put a GREAT cover on because the subject matter of Black heroes in the
Golden Age of comics and Pulp fiction is a story I want readers to take a
serious look at. That’s why the book will be delayed. I want to pay respect to
all those brothers and Sistas by presenting a great book telling a story of
what happened in that Pre-Civil Rights Jim Crow era.
I’d also love to
put a Bill Walko cover on Isis Samurai
Goddess. That story was inspired by Quentin Tarentino’s Kill Bill and has a cool grindhouse vibe
I think readers will enjoy. I’ve got a cool concept I’d love to see him draw
out. (Imagine Isis facing off against Three Go-Gos wearing Catholic school
uniforms, wielding Meteor Hammers, Nunchcks, and fans!)
Both Isis: Imitation of Life and Isis: Samurai Goddess are edited, have their
pages laid out and have their PDFs uploaded to CreateSpace and Kindle. Just
trying to get the money together for the covers.
The SJS DIRECT 2016
fantasy catalog is gonna wrap with E’steem: The Witches of Eastland. I wanted
to publish Isis: Samurai Goddess, but I’m gonna put it on the shelf until I can
raise the funds to pay for a quality cover. I want to keep the standard for
Isis series consistent so readers can see that I’m making efforts to continue
to raise the bar in terms of quality.
Spinsterella has
been getting an incredibly positive response since it debuted on Smashwords. On
that platform the book has gotten over 500 downloads in two months! That’s the
fastest I’ve ever seen one of my books get downloaded on that platform.
I was really happy
to see Black Goths and Nonblack Goths sharing the eBook with each other and
getting the word out about it, and I’m more happy to see regular people pick up
the book and enjoy it. Spinsterella is a book I really enjoyed writing and it makes
me happy to see the positive response it’s gotten from readers.
With the success of
Spinsterella, I’ve been really busy on writing its prequel Spellbound, which details Matilda’s entry into the Goth subculture. I’m practically working on 3-5 five
chapters a day on this novel and having fun while writing them. My goal with Spellbound is to create a story where
kids and adults can learn about Goths and the Goth subculture. A lot of Goths
focus on literary classics like Edgar Allen Poe, Frankenstein, and Dracula, but
there really needs to be a Goth YA fiction story out there so that parents and
kids (BabyBats) can see a positive portrayal of the Goth Subculture and the
people who participate in it.
I’m doing my best to keep Spellbound a PG, PG-13 novel so that
tweens and teens can read it and their parents can read it too. I’m writing
Spellbound to dispel many of the negative ideas and generalizations people have
about Goths and the Goth subculture, and so people can see the girl behind the
ghoul who is Mad Matilda.
Hoping to have
Spellbound’s first draft finished by the end of 2016 and ready for publication
by 2017. But I make no promises. I’d love to do a Kickstarter to put a Bill Walko cover on
Spellbound, but we’ll see.
On the Nonfiction
front I’ve been working on another installment on the Stop Simpin Series. After
the positive response I got on the Why You Should Never Hire a Mangina series I
decided to put together an eBook on Workplace Simpin & Trickin so men could
understand why this paradigm could cost them their jobs and careers. I’m
halfway through the book and I should have it out by the end of the year.
I’ve been writing a
lot of Comic blogs lately, most roasting DC Comics. But I’m looking to work on
Men’s issues pieces. Lately most of the content I do with men’s issues has been
going to YouTube and that’s because the bigger audience is there. A Men’s
issues blog will take years to get as many reads as a YouTube Video.
Plus with YouTube
Partnership I make money on those videos discussing men’s issues. It’s more
profitable to me to make a video than write a blog, so that’s why I make
videos. But I’m gonna try to write a couple more men’s issues blogs.
The first quarter of
2016 had its challenges. While I had a setback with the Kickstarter failing, I
managed to adapt and keep moving forward. I’m trying to build on momentum, and
hoping it’ll turn into a big break…
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