Far and Wide

Since I plan on writing more than just the John Smith series, I've made a new, more comprehensive blog called Far and Wide.  Hopefully I'll be able to discuss other works there, and make it a sort of repository.

Review of Portal to Adventure, Part Eight

When I had initially conceived of writing the John Smith stories, I had planned to write them as a frequent and regular serial, with new installments every week or two on the outside. Having a full time job and family has made that a bit more problematic than I had expected, but now I have strong evidence that the month or three between parts is or most likely is effecting readership.

Mr. Stephen Fitzgerald of Canada had this to say in his review of part eight on Nov. 27, 2009: "Great story, but the episodes take way too long to come out. I wouldn't buy this until the story is finished."

I think that says it all. Thanks for the feedback Stephen and while I'm glad you liked the story, I will endeavor to get the chapters out more frequently. In any case, Book One should be wrapping up by chapter/part twelve or so, only four parts left. I'm going to make it my goal to get it out in a month, even before Christmas which is less than a month.

Thanks for the push!

Portal to Adventure on Barnes & Noble!

The compilation of parts 1-7 showed up finally at bn.com. I'm going to have to see if it downloads tomorrow.

Portal to Adventure, Part Eight

OK, after taking the summer, plus basically two extra months, I realized that it's probably hard to keep people interested in a serial story with that big of a gap. What should it be? A week to ten days I heard somewhere.

The other problem is that when I stop writing on a story, every once in a while it pops into my head as if on pause, right where I left of. It's almost as if it's telling me to get going, that the characters are kind of pissed off to be left in limbo. Strange?

Well, I've got two other stories in the same boat, more on that later.

I do PROMISE not be so late with the next installment. I still want to wrap up Portal to Adventure so that I can publish it as a complete book, then work on book two.

Thanks for reading.

Portal to Adventure Review

The part one through seven compilation of "Portal to Adventure" just received a really awesome comment by "Coyote Osborne." Just when I begin to think no one is paying attention to the story, this pops up.

Well, guess I'll have to dust off those old records and do some more transcribing, OOPS, I mean write the next part of the story.


"Review by: Coyote Osborne on Oct. 01, 2009 : I've always been a fan of the pulp adventure style of books, though preferably those with a fantasy or sci-fi bent. I downloaded a free copy of part one of this serial adventure, and within minutes I was hooked, and had to have the compilation.The series carries the spirit of such favorites as Wylie's "Gladiator", the "Doc Savage"stories, and Burrough's Barsoom novels, told with a modern and talented voice.The main character is good-hearted, practical, and more believable than the average superman, and the cliffhanger endings to each chapter left me panting for more."

Thanks Coyote! Just because of that review today traffic has really takn off, and also had a bunch of sample downloads.

Audio Version coming soon to Podiobooks

I just got directed to a site that posts and promotes serial audio stories. This is the next step I wanted to take for this series, and it seems like a good fit. Now all I have to do is practice reading aloud.

Not there yet, but www.podiobooks.com is where I'll be posting.

Things

No links today, because I haven't done anything. Life intrudes. On a positive note, Part One of Portal to Adventure continues to be the most downloaded story in Science Fiction and Adventure. It is close to the top in the overall category, topped only by two guides by Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords and several stories in the erotica category. Maybe a John Smith, Bone Jumper story should be in the works. OK, bad taste, I know it.. But dang, those erotica stories are being posted, and apparently downloaded like hotcakes.

The story also, surprisingly, continues to sell. Seems like some people are liking it enough to give it a try.

Still working on getting my reading up to the level where I feel comfortable posting a podcast or audio version of the story, but with the serial format, maybe that will alow more people to enjoy the story.