I’m nearly done with the 4th draft of chapter eleven. Back in the 3rd draft, Mean had a bit of an easy time beating an enemy. Kim read this and said ‘SO BORING! Brad, you can do better! Give her a worthy challenge! A true struggle!’

So I stepped up! I slammed Mean down into an unwinnable situation. Pain! Danger! I nearly wrote myself into a corner! NEARLY. I can’t say what happens here, but I came up something. YEAH. SOMETHING. No one told me how much spoilers they want so I guess we’re doing weird poems again.

Shadowed eyes follow the woman that flies.

A still rain falls upon them both.

To escape the storm would spell death.

The heat is unbearable. Why not steal it?

In other news I met with my friend David at church. He usually runs the technical side of the presentation in his free time. Once a month, after the sermon, he comes to find me. This Sunday he told me that he was almost done reading Abandonment Party.

There is something you need to know about David: he has the most logical mind I’ve ever experienced. He is an engineer that has NOT worked on flying drones for Walt Disney World presentations, (That was his friend.) but he has a great understanding of aerodynamics and physics. Also, as far as I can tell, he has NEVER lied to me.

So I was quite excited to hear that he was reading the book. If he noticed any errors about physics, I KNOW he would tell me. So what did I find out so far? Let’s look: Continue reading →

I’m nearly done with the 4th draft of chapter 10. Not much action; it’s a bit of a breather chapter that introduces a new location and revisits an old one. I could say more, but….

Man, it’s getting tough to talk about this book without spoiling the plot. 😒

I mean, I COULD just spoil it. It’s the kind of thing that would be included in the Amazon summary anyway. So what should I do? How much should I reveal? I suppose I’ll ask any readers to voice their wishes in the comments below. And if I receive no comments then I’ll just keep doing whatever I want!

So until then I’ll just have to talk about the chapters in coded and annoying verse. Prepare yourself. Continue reading →

I’m nearly done with the 4th draft’s chapter nine. One last check through Kim’s margin notes and it should be good to go.

Did I mention there are way more characters in the second book? Double or triple the amount that were present in the first! Just keep in mind I’m terrible at math. OH! And minus Tyle, Dring, and Kates. I’m not saying those characters are done for good; just that they don’t have much of a purpose in this next story.

The rest of the main cast (Mean, Vornis, Dark, Darrow, Tome, Trisk) DOES return, and the new characters are designed to challenge the original group. Reveal new facets of their personalities. That sort of thing.

These new characters also tie in to what I mentioned in an earlier update: the cultural lore! Yes, the ‘new guys’ will have knowledge of the planet’s history! For instance, in chapter nine, a character with the initials ‘D.V.’ shows up. This character alone will:

1. Introduce a new nation that existed.
2. Reveal the mores and stigmas of this nation, which affected people like Parlay.
3. Bring new technology into the story with weapons and items tied to the history of their home nation.
4. Teach Vornis a valuable lesson about himself.

Exciting, right? And again, this cultural stuff WILL have a purpose to the story. The story of how the entire world was destroyed.

Well, I think that’s enough updating for now. So long!

The first six chapters and prologue have been rewritten! Kim’s editing suggestions required MASSIVE restructuring, but the payoffs are definitely worth it.

For instance, there were previously no explosions or thrill-packed battles in the beginning chapters at ALL. What was I thinking, right? Then Kim suggested that I move up an event from the end of the book all the way to the beginning. I was a risky change, but adding an action-oriented event gave me a chance to remind returning readers who everyone is and what their abilities are. And yes, almost every main character from the first book takes part—even Tome! His non-verbal powers are finally unleashed.

There have also been adjustments to the story structure. In the first book, the protagonists were carried along by smaller events and antagonists until they eventually found out that there was one BIG event/antagonist in the works.

THIS time there will be a clear goal from the start. I recall the words of Javier, the first person to leave a review on Amazon: “In the beginning, I was confused with the plot, but I decided to keep reading to see what was going on. I am glad I did.”

So next time you’ll know what the plot is, Javier. I suppose telling you right now would be spoilers, so let’s just say the goal will be related to the erasure of the planet’s population, and the mystery to find out exactly what happened. Thank you again for your feedback. 😁

I have also been working on adding far more amounts of ‘lore’ about the nations and peoples that existed on Overland before the disaster. The first six chapters of Abandonment Party 2 are just full of juicy details now. And new characters that make good use of this information, I might add. After all, I wouldn’t put in details unless they furthered the story or character development.

I believe that’s enough updating for now. If you want to suggest something for the next book, you know where to comment! Otherwise, I’ll just assume there are no problems or complaints! Farewell! 😉

30 chapters of Abandonment Party 2 have been critiqued by Kim! She has revealed flaws, exposed my laziest plot devices, and DEMANDED that I push this sequel to a level of excellence unheard of in the history of literature! We’ve had many conversations in person, over Zoom, and that antiquated device known as ‘the telephone.’ But now I am ready! Ready to perfect my next novel! Just like it says at the top of this web site. Continue reading →

In case you missed the memo, I made Abandonment Party free to download from July 31st to August 4th. And if you are one of the people that downloaded the book let me start out by saying THANK YOU. I didn’t write this story so that I could keep it to myself. I want to reach out to individuals. I want to give you something fun to read as a temporary escape from society. (I’m a recluse, but I’ve heard society is quite annoying lately.) And yes, more books in the series are coming. Kim is reading over the sequel as I type this.

If you liked the book, don’t forget to leave reviews on Amazon. People can’t make an informed choice with only two reviews! I mean, YOU did, but the book was free, ha,ha.

Or even better, come here and use the comments to tell me what I can do to make the next book EVEN MORE AMAZING. What do you want to see more of? What did I do wrong? I can improve on my own, but if you criticize me, I can improve faster! Or heck, if you spot a typo I can just go and fix the ebook right now! Isn’t technology grand?

But I digress! Let’s get back to how I set up this free promotion. As I said in the previous post, I cranked up the ad money so that more people on Amazon would see the book. And yet I wondered if there was more I could do to spread the word. That’s when I found this blog post:

https://carminemastropierro.com/how-to-promote-a-kindle-book-for-free/

Turns out this guy had the same idea I did! Zounds, we must be geniuses. I’ll sum up the article: there are places called “Facebook” and “Reddit.” (Yes I’ve heard of them, I’m just saying that for the people coming here 100 years in the future. Gotta think of them.) There are groups on those sites where people go to look for free books. Fascinating, right? I’m normally an internet recluse as well, but I made an account and dropped some posts. And here are the results: Continue reading →

I’ve been messing around with Amazon’s advertising systems this week. It is, indeed, interesting stuff! You can create a ‘campaign’ and then have it target certain keywords that users search for. Such as ‘science fiction,’ ‘cosmic horror,’ or ‘BEST BOOKS EVER.’

Then, when a customer searches using those terms and finds a product, your ad can just plop right onto that page! Provided you can win the bid, of course. Every popular keyword has a bidding range. But you’re not charged unless someone actually clicks on the ad.

So I created a campaign and plugged in 195 keywords and phrases. Every time someone clicked an ad those keywords popped up on a chart along with the COMPLETE phrase that the customer typed in. At the end of the week I had a long list of keywords:

Continue reading →

Just some quick updates:

Abandonment Party 2: I’ve finished revising the first ten chapters; they are all caught up to my current skill level. I have also given a few things proper names so that they stand out more. I’m sending these chapters to Kim as I finish, so she can begin to fill up the document margins with her wonderful notes.

Advertising: I decided to play around with Amazon’s advertising options today. I can pay for ads to pop in under other books that customers are searching for. I’m only charged when people actually click on the ads, though. Interesting stuff. I probably shouldn’t spend too much money on this and just go right for the publishing companies, ha,ha.

Sales: There was a spike in sales on the 16th of July for some reason. I’m not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with that Bookviralreview site?

Ah, yes, that’s the one!

Remember, leave reviews for me; they really help. I mean, unless they’re bad reviews. 😅

Have a good weekend everyone!