CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

So, earlier this week, someone asked me if independent publishing was “worth it”, and I had to sit back and take a good look. I’m not making anywhere near what I would call a living wage, so I thought about it: My first response was this: Well, it's not a get-rich-quick scheme. And it's a lot of work. Ask me in twelve months’ time when I haven't been neglecting the release schedule. Sales plummet when releases aren't regular, and short work doesn't sell well. If I had to weigh profit against effort right this minute, I'd say no. If I were to take into consideration the sales when I *was* putting things out or writing regularly, I would say I could work towards a living in the young adult and romance genres in the next five or so years. So, now, I'm working at maintaining a regular release of short work, getting the young adult back on-line first, and then following with a mix of novel-length dark fantasy and romance, but I also write under dif...

A busy week, this week. In between Christmas and family and other stuff, writing got done. This is the level of publishable words I want to be doing each week—including after university goes back. The level of formatting and editing will drop once I have the next twelve months’ worth of releases up and out, as will the level of cover creation… maybe. In the meantime, it’s going to be a very busy five weeks, and I am having a blast. Enjoy your writing, folks! Overview New words produced: 14,242 Old words revised: 0 Outlines and Notes: 1,178 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 0 Covers created: 1 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 1 Bloggery: 2,902 University Prep and Assignments: 0 Story-A-Week Challenge Update Completed: ShortStory473— The Sevarine Sidestep to be sent out for submission. Holiday Extension Challenge Update Completed: Chapbook14I— Legacy of Hope (Wheelchair Adventures #2) for an April 2...

This week, I received this cover for the short works I worked on in 2014. This is the first volume of that collection, and it will be released on January 2, 2016. Short Works 2014 - ebook cover Short Works 2014 - PoD large print cover Short Works 2014 - PoD mass market cover Last year’s anthology consisted only of the short stories and poems worked on, created re-written or published in 2013. This year’s anthology consists of all the short stories and poems that I created, or discovered in my files and rewrote in 2014, including the pieces from 365 Days of Flash Fiction and 365 Days of Poetry that have already been included in Volumes 1 and 2 of last year’s collections. The tales and poems are taken from completed anthologies, and anthologies to come, from my blog, and from my notebooks. Most are published, either individually or in a collection, but some are scheduled for release at some time in the future. I have also inc...