CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

I started this year with the decision I would make this writing and publishing thing a full-time effort to see what it looked like. I'm still not sure I've got the hang of it, but I'm closer than I was to understanding what I need to do. It's the end of the third quarter, and I'm not making a fortune... more like enough to buy a coffee a week, but early days, right? Here's a very quick look back at what I've published in the last three months: January: February: March:

Over the last, few days, I’ve been reviewing my pricing, and I decided to make a few changes: In preparation for bundling my existing chapter books into collections, I have repriced all individual chapter book titles from $3.99 to $2.99 U.S. This will allow existing readers to choose whether or not they want to buy individual titles, or wait the two years for the first bundle of any series to come out. It will also give new readers a way to catch up, more easily, on an existing series. Collections will be priced at $4.99, and will contain a minimum of 4 individual chapter book titles. I also repriced all my novels to $5.99 U.S., and all collections and anthologies to $4.99. And, finally, all pre-orders will be priced at $2.99 until the day of their release, when they will be repriced to their usual sales price, whatever it may be. This means that A Planet’s Ransom is currently priced at $2.99, but will go back up to $4.99 on, or shortly after January 13th (U.S. EST). And th...

Last year was the final year of my Bachelor of Asia Pacific Security Studies. I completed it with a Distinction average, two majors (in Asia-Pacific Security Studies and Middle East and Central Asia) and a minor (Chinese – Mandarin). When I started the year, I had already come to the conclusion that I wouldn’t go on to Honours due to the ANU requirement to sign over my IP for the Honours question (and all derivatives), or seek to do a PhD for the same reason. This was disappointing, but just the way things go. Without giving away my IP for a piece of paper that says I can do the research I know I’m capable of, I am now free to write and publish on the things that interest me, albeit without the approval or endorsement of academic gatekeepers, so I might think about that for further down the publishing track.   Last year, was also the final year of planned study. Everything I started this degree to do was achieved, bar one thing—I could no longer use what I had learned to have a ...

I think I’ve written about this before, but I’ll write about it again, seeing as many people still ask why I publish independently. So, here you go: Control What can I say? I’m a control freak. When something matters, I like to be in control of as many of the things that are going to make it work as I can. I like being able to decide what goes on my book covers, when my stories and books are published, what formats they are published in, and where they are released. I like it a lot. Responsibility With great control… or was that power? Anyway, with great control, comes great responsibility. This means that I get to control when my book is released, how its formatted, and all the rest, BUT it also means that I’m responsible for how all that turns out. I can’t blame anyone, if the editing isn’t up to scratch, if my cover sucks, or if the book doesn’t release on time. I can’t pass the task of promoting my work to anyone else, and I can’t blame anyone for my sales figu...

So, back in June, I got to thinking about this whole writing-as-a-possible-career thing… I decided I’d need to step up my game if I was to be a successful indie writer, so I looked at what I had achieved, and what I hadn’t, and knew I needed to revamp my publishing schedule. Since regular releases are important, I decided I wouldn’t do a mass release of everything I’d finished, but work to do a fortnightly release during the semester while I was studying. I also discovered I was supposed to upload a copy of each published work to the National Library of Australia in order remain in line with the Copyright Act of 1968. That was a lot of work. To this end, I prioritised my release schedule set-up over my writing, and my legal obligations. I spent the second week of my university break uploading ninety per cent of my C.M. Simpson Publishing titles to the National Library of Australia, and then started on preparing a fortnightly release schedule for my short stories. By the en...