CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

It's been a busy week, and only a fortnight since I left my day job. This has impacted me more than I thought it would, so bear with me as I work through it - by which I mean you will be seeing a lot more of me as a writer and YouTube creator, while I look for alternate work. However, since one major Life event is more than enough, and I'm already dealing with another two, let's get on with the real news. I've spent much of this month catching up on things I put to one side so I could work unpaid overtime in order to meet the demands of the day job. There was a lot of that, so in the last fortnight, I've done some catch-up. On the YouTube front, I finished processing, uploading and schedulng somewhere in the vicinity of 50 videos for the gaming channel, revamped my publishing schedule, and doubled down on catching up and getting ahead. I have also done more recording, as I work toward finishing some of my longer-running series, and moving into new ones, on both the ...

  Today, you'll find my books in 2 sales. The IASFA Space Opera Free & 99c sale ( https://iasfa.org/dec23/ ) is where you can find The Unwilling and download it in return for signing up to their newsletter - along with a myriad of other space odysseys and adventures.   And, if you like what you see there, you can find the rest of that series (and all my other books) discounted by 75% at the Smashwords End of Year Sale, where they are most easily found on my author page ( https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/C.M.Simpson ) - although you should check out the other books on their sale page , too; you never know what you'll find.

If you decide to go independent, don’t expect to get rich overnight. It takes on average 5-10 years to make a living and that is if you do everything right. Again, there is a lot of advice out there, but it boils down to this: Produce a professional, well-written, enjoyable, well-presented product. And therein lies the rub. You can control three of those four elements. You can produce a professional product; you can control the quality of writing within your ability, and your editor’s ability; and you can present it well. What you can’t control is if a reader finds it enjoyable, or not. Also, beyond your control, is if a reader picks up your book in the first place. Depressing, right? Those are just the facts you have to live with. You can do your best, but you cannot guarantee sales, or enjoyment, because you are not your readers. All you can do is tell a story you enjoy, and tell it well. The chances are good that someone else will enjoy it, too. There are als...