Waterstone Media

Stories Matter

Waterstone Update: May 25, 2018

by Leave a Comment

The end of the tunnel is finally in sight: After juggling a number of projects for some time, I’m finally getting down to the magic number of 2! (I always like drafting/writing one book while editing another).

As per usual, here’s a short, bullet-point update of where I am in a number of projects:

  • Code of Vengeance launched this week, and I’m excited to see how people like it. If you’re interested in learning more, I wrote a little about it in this week’s blog post.
  • I’ve started writing my new, completely stand-alone fantasy novel, and I have to admit, it’s been really, really fun.
  • I’ve also been copyediting the first Waterstone-produced book that isn’t written by me. I’ll be talking more about it in the future, but it will be releasing this summer and I couldn’t be happier about it.

I think that’s it for major news – I’m still working on the next few Code books, but they are nearly all wrapped up. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the month of May!

Ryan

Waterstone bi-weekly update!

by 1 Comment

There’s been an awful lot happening around Waterstone these days, so I wanted to give everyone a few quick bullet points about what’s coming up:

  • In May, I’m going to be releasing a sci-fi book set in a brand new world. I’ll be saying more about this soon, but it’s one I’m really excited about.
  • I continue to write the rough draft for the third Blades of the Fallen book. My goal is to have this done by the first week of May or so.
  • I’m also just finishing the planning stages for a brand new fantasy book. This book is going to be completely stand alone, but set in a brand new world. I’m really excited to get writing on this one.
  • Finally, I’m working on developmental edits for a book that isn’t my own! This is another project that I’ve been keeping under wraps for a while, but I’m terribly excited about it.

Each of the points above probably deserve a much longer blog post, and eventually that will come. Suffice to say, though, that there’s an awful lot happening, and this summer will be filled with new releases.

Enjoy the weekend!

Ryan

NaNoWriMo and Halloween!

by Leave a Comment

Happy Halloween!

Bryce here. I hope you all have a great Halloween. I will be spending my evening watching my baby and editing my first draft. Scary right?

I wanted to talk about NaNoWriMo a little bit. Officially starting tomorrow, National Novel Writing Month prep has been going on for weeks now. This will be my first NaNoWriMo since I decided to start writing seriously. It took me a long time to finish my first book, and the one I have planned for November is an entirely different genre. I’m a little nervous.

I find it funny (and awesome) that a self imposed event with no actual accountability can carry such weight. I think that speaks to the success and widespread adoption of NaNoWriMo.

I am also amazed and comforted by the support groups and events that have come about. It seems like every week there is some writing group or a Skype session to help people stay on track. Hopefully I can make it to some!

I will keep you updated on my progress throughout the month. Ryan is working like a mad man (like always), so November won’t be much different for him!

If you are also participating in NaNoWriMo, let us know! We would love to compare progress and share war stories.

Have a spooky evening!

Bryce

Why I Went Indie

by Leave a Comment

So, last week I wrote a short post expressing some gratitude to Amazon for creating a place where independent fiction can thrive. Today I figured I’d talk a little bit about why I went independent in the first place.

A little bit of history to start:
I’ve been writing for as long as I’ve known how to. Someday, I’ll share with you some of the first stories I wrote in second grade. They are of course, beyond horrible, but they’re pretty funny.
But even though I’ve always written, I’d never, ever considered a career as an author. In hindsight, maybe I should have, but I focused on education and youth work, and worked in those fields for over a decade. Through it all though, I kept writing, just for myself.

I’d have to go back and check my files, but Nightblade was either the second or third full-length novel I wrote. However, it was the first one I liked. But even after writing it (in 2012), I didn’t even consider publishing it. It was just a good story. I wrote another novel afterwords, which was also horrible.
To make a long story of discovery short, I came upon the Self-publishing podcast. I read their first non-fiction work, Write, Publish, Repeat, and for the first time I thought to myself that perhaps there was something to this idea of independent publishing.

After a substantial amount of debate with myself, I made the decision to go independent. There were a few reasons for this.

First, I hadn’t really expected to make a career out of it. I was dissatisfied with my other work in life and was looking to figure out how to work from home, but I was focused much more on consulting and freelance writing. I figured if I could make an extra $50-$100 a month through Amazon, why not? Being as I wasn’t looking at making a career out of it, I figured there was no point going through the traditional publishing cycle of rejection. I’d just make something as nice as I could and put it out there.

Second, I liked the idea of control over your work and your success. With independent publishing, there’s no one else to blame but yourself. I got to pick the cover and decide how the story ended. Anything good or bad about the book is entirely in my hands – and I liked that idea.

Finally, I liked the idea of connecting with fans directly. With independent publishing, there’s no one between me and readers, and I thought that was great.
To say the story took some twists and turns is an understatement, but I’m glad I went independent!

Cheers,

Ryan

Why Indie?

by 1 Comment

So, this October, Amazon is celebrating independent fiction, complete with its own hashtag: #poweredbyindie

As part of the celebration, Amazon is featuring independent works by a wide range of authors, and I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the featured independent authors.

For some reason, the emails from Amazon put me into a reflective mood, and I was thinking about how crazy the journey has been. I quit my full time job just a little over a year ago, in August of 2015. My wife, bless her, told me I had one year to generate enough income to replace my old one. After years of working on Nightblade, I finally took the leap, hit publish, and waited to see what would happen.

Since then, I’ve published four stories on Amazon, and I have more ideas than I have time to write (even though I’m writing full-time). Every week I get to hear from people who have enjoyed the stories.

Next week I’ll write about why I went indie, but for today, I just wanted to express gratitude. I think that often, technology is a two-edged sword. But the advent of the kindle and digital reading has shaken up the industry, and it has given me a chance to tell stories for a living, and for that I’ll always be grateful.

There’s another aspect to independent publishing that doesn’t often get mentioned: a closer connection between authors and readers. Because of the nature of independent publishing, there aren’t so many layers between authors and readers. For the first time, we live in a world where its easy to say “Hi” to the person who wrote our new favorite book. As both an author and an avid reader, this has been fantastic.

So, to all of you who have made this journey possible, thank you.

Ryan

Primal Dawn & Baby Kirk

by Leave a Comment

Hey Everybody!

First of all, a warm welcome to all the newcomers to this email list!  It’s been quite a while since I wrote (which I’ll explain below), and this list has grown substantially.  My sincere gratitude for allowing me into your email inboxes!

This email is going to be longer than most I send out, but it’s because I have both business and personal news to share.  I’ll do business first, so those of you who only want that can read it first and skip the rest of the email.

Primal Dawn!

I’ve hinted at this a little, but as of yesterday, my newest work, Primal Dawn, is available for pre-order on Amazon. Check it out here.  It officially releases on Sept. 26.  Primal Dawn is a shorter story, sitting somewhere between a novella and a short novel, depending on who you ask (about 50,000 words).  It’s a sci-fi story about first contact, with an advanced race coming into contact with a far more primitive one.  But, not everything is as it seems.

The cover and synopsis and link to the book are below:

Tev is a hunter, one of the best in his clan. Trained since birth in the art of tracking and killing, Tev has never met a challenge he couldn’t overcome. But when a mysterious fireball falls from the sky, Tev will question everything he has ever known. For the first time in his life, he isn’t the one doing the hunting.

He is the prey.

Primal Dawn is the first short novel of the Primal Series, spanning centuries of conflict following first contact. Each novel tells a complete story in the ongoing saga of two cultures learning to explore the vastness of space together.

Also, for those of you who are curious, I’m a little over halfway through the first draft of a new book set in the world of Nightblade.  I’ll have more on that later.

 

Welcoming the newest member of Waterstone!

The really big news in my life is that a few weeks ago, my wife and I welcomed our little baby girl into the world.  Baby Kirk came in at 7 lbs, 7 oz, and arrived exactly on her due date (I like to joke that my wife really is a rule-follower!).

There were some minor complications after she was born, but everyone is happy and healthy now, even if I’ve forgotten what a full night of sleep felt like.  But, because of her, I haven’t been as active writing and interacting as I’d like.  I expect that as I figure out this whole fatherhood thing, that will improve.

In any case, as always, I’m grateful for all of you.  Thank you for your support, and I hope you are all doing well as well!

 

With sincere gratitude,

Ryan