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Cayneian A man From Blood By Aaron Dennis

A man stands resolved. Dysart, clan Bloodhammer, has returned to the island of Volgunther to purge it of the evil called Salamandrus. He has given his tongue, so that he may speak no contracts. He has given his manhood, so that he may not know his power as a man. He has given his mind, so that no God may take pity upon him.
Wielding the forbidden power of Sang Daemanus, Dysart imbibes the blood of Daemons to cast his spells, to grow his strength, to fuel his powers, but will he be able to stave off the bloodlust before the evils upon the island claim him?

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Audiobook available on Audible and everywhere else!

Prologue- The expedition

There was a time when man was powerful, and hungering for more power, he set his wizard’s gaze to search for the unknown. A forgotten king learned of an island. It was said no one had ever been there, but that was not the truth.

Before man was powerful, Daemons ruled by flame. Whether it was divine providence from above, the steely determination of heroes, or the Daemons’ hubris, they were defeated, driven deep, deep underground.

Time passed. Man flourished. It was forgotten that a Daemon cannot die, and so the residents of an island grew reckless as all those with an insatiable thirst for power do. They stole deep beneath their proliferous kingdom. There, they found flame. The flame beckoned, and the flame promised, but fire devours all.

When the haughty king sent his men on an expedition to that island, his men discovered evidence that it had been very much inhabited. Though no sign of battle was evident, whole forests were cut down, homes sat in disrepair, and ominous clouds covered the skies, but still the expedition trekked forth in search of power for their king.

Every turn held great trepidations for both the soldiers and those brave men whose purpose it was to find the unknown source of power. Starting with an errant bolt of lightning destroying their only vessel, evil quickly reared its head, matters grew out of hand.

The sun set never to rise again. Vile monsters came forth from shadow and feasted on human flesh. The very air poisoned the voyagers’ souls, and when they pressed beyond the domain of the sealed, they, too, found Daemons.

It is unclear whether or not any of the king’s men survived, but what is known, is that a great wizard begot of great wizards sealed the Daemons away as had been done ages prior. For a time, immense destruction was averted. On the island, the worst of dangers subsided, yet disasters lurked behind darkened recesses.

Like men who hunger for power, Daemons hunger, but theirs is a fierce hunger. From a sealed tomb, one Daemon continued to beckon. It continued to prod at the souls of good men. Good will alone does not stay evil, and even good men fall to bad judgment.

A progression of tribulations accosted those left upon the island. Some settled in as there was no alternative, no escape. It was an awful life, but any attempt at sailing away was met with an untimely demise.

The horrid living conditions broke the spirits of men and even twisted some into monstrous creatures. Thirsting for more power, the Daemon sought out and away from the island by ways of hellish rituals. Upon satiating its hunger, it beckoned once more.

Long before the expedition, one good man was promised a power from blood. Seeking vengeance on those whom had done him ill will, he accepted. The practice of Sang Daemanus came to be.

While only men may undergo this ritual, and the power is nearly without limit, most falter at the very mention. Men brave enough to attempt the ritual normally go mad within days. The indomitable are the sole successors to Sang Daemanus, but they are twisted creatures. Often, they do not return alone.

Only now has it come pass that it was this abominable power which the Council of Five had discovered. It was unfortunate that these wizards, advisors to the king who sent the expedition—though cunning—lacked the practical knowledge required to assuage the soul from evil provocation.

Now, deep beneath the island of despair, the wizards seek only reprisal. A broken kingdom is ruled by fear and hatred. The Daemon calls, and the Daemon burns.

Chapter One- Dark shores

Dysart coughed uncontrollably as he attempted to spew salty water from his lungs. The tide forced him into the rocky shore. Having had no choice but to strip himself of armor after his sloop shattered, he incurred several scrapes. His fresh wounds ravaged by the sea had turned sore before even setting foot on the forsaken island. On hands and knees he looked back at the floating debris, but remnants of his escape vessel. What a beginning.

He rolled onto his back—legs still lapped by waves—and with a push of errant, gray braids from his face, he saw the glittering of stars. Was it not day a moment prior? His thoughts gave way to anxiety. Flopping onto his side, he heaved the remaining water from his lungs. Then, he heard something in the darkness.

The sound was rapid, repetitive, like hooves. With eyes darting, he glossed over the surroundings for movement. There were freshly cut tree trunks, a cabin in the distance, a worn path through rocky hills. A twitch of the ears accompanied realization. Bare feet!

Forcing himself to a knee, he whipped his head to the left. A glimpse of a figure clad in raggedy, dark clothing demanded attention. The rabid attacker hissed and delivered a rising kick into Dysart’s flank. A snap followed by the vacuum of wind from lungs ensued. Gasps escaped his mouth while the assailant—frothing at the lips—latched gnarled fingers round his throat.

The two tussled—Dysart coming to his knees, and the rabid man thrashing all about. He brought both forearms from his lap into the attacker’s elbows. The man did not buckle, so Dysart struck both palms into his opponent’s emaciated chest, and the two fell into water. In the sea, they rolled over sharp rocks. The man came to hold Dysart’s face beneath the waves. He scrambled for a stone as salt water rushed into his sinuses.

Once fingers grasped a rough stone, a powerful swing of the rude weapon connected against the wild man’s skull. He fell into the water. Dysart burst forth, secured the man’s throat with his right arm and beat him in the head until there was nothing left. The sea washed away most of the blood, but a glance at his hands revealed not all of it departed.

Taking a breath, he dropped the rock in the water then sniffed his hands. This one was corrupted…that sulfuric scent, pungent. What a waste. He stumbled onto the rocky shore—the restless sea crashing waves behind him—and scanned the dark horizon for the cabin, and then he moved on; bare feet trudging over cold stones. A chill on the night wind brushed over his wet form.

Breathing from his mouth, he was forced to stumble onwards. Adrenaline wore off quickly, and the pain in his flank mounted with each step. He wrapped arms round his torso. Before long, he was shivering uncontrollably.

Roughly hewn logs barely illuminated in the moonless night were close. Another hiss erupted. A man rose from behind an old stump. With arms spread out to the sides, the wild man crashed over the damp soil. Dysart steadied himself for another fight.

Within seconds, the twisted man set upon him. Dysart gripped the wiry creature’s jaw and tossed the assailant through the air. Wasting no time, he pounced; repeated blows unleashed a flat, hacking sound. The scrambling man writhed beneath Dysart’s weight. Then, he bit him, drawing blood from torn flesh. Dysart howled from the separation of his meat from bone. Falling onto his rear, he glared at the man with widened eyes. The grotesque enemy stood quickly before thrusting a knee into Dysart’s chin.

Three sounds swiftly cut through the wind. Each one stopped abruptly with a reverberating thwang. Both Dysart and the wild man held firm. Three arrows protruded from the creature’s chest. He slumped to his knees, so Dysart broke off an arrow, stretched the man’s neck then stuck the splintered shaft into his throat. A gurgle escaped. A trickle of blood spilled from the wound. Death rattled. Dysart sighed. A rough beginning.

Hunting by Aaron Dennis

Mr. Gray has been hunting zombies for a long time. Hiding, scavenging, killing-this is surviving now. As Gray moves from town to city, and city to prairie, he leaves a few notes for others in his travels, but who is looking out for him?

In the year 2017 a worldwide calamity befalls the population. Poison clouds cause strange afflictions relegating major portions of the populace as a sort of walking dead. Among them Mr. Gray is not affected and decides to go off hunting. Hiding, scavenging, and killing his way across the States Gray keeps sane by writing in his journal. After food and other supplies run low he moves from town to town before coming across a farmhouse.

Read or download for free at Smashwords

Mr. Gray is asleep in a storage unit. Before giving in to exhaustion, he checked it for rats and roaches. He hates roaches. They have a symbiotic relationship with some kind of worm, like the worm is piloting some biological machine; freaky.

In this day, in this age, traveling is survival. Mr. Gray has been traveling for some time. He abandoned the last town soon as supplies ran out. Supplies always run out quick. It’s a tough decision to leave when zombies are dead and there is clean water. There was no more food, though, and Mr. Gray can’t farm or hunt, but not because he is incapable.

The soil in town looked good, but there were no seeds. Even if there were seeds, they are useless. Today’s seeds are genetically modified. They can’t be replanted for harvest, so the food supply is not sustainable. Hunting is futile, too, unless one hunts zombies. Zombies don’t qualify as food. They make people get sick and die. It’s always time to move.

Many hills line the area between town, and the storage units. It’s been cold lately, and Mr. Gray stumbled across a unit with blankets. The plan was to get some rest and then check each unit for food and other supplies. He has to keep clean or run the risk of illness.

With a quiet groan, he does a full-bodied stretch. He wakes fully, turns on his LED camping lantern, and immediately starts a stretch routine to loosen his tightness. The soft, blue light illuminates the tiny room. Once the stretches are over, he wraps up his blankets and stacks them neatly in the corner. There wasn’t anything useful in the storage unit other than blankets.

With the folding done, he turns to his black backpack. From it, he pulls out extra clothing. Because of the lowering temperature, he knows it is unwise to wear all of his clothes when going to sleep, especially if it’s getting colder. The body acclimates. Sleeping while wearing everything to keep warm keeps the body from warming up by its own accord after waking. It’s best to sleep a little cold and then don the remaining clothing when getting up.

Mr. Gray Pulls out three, additional pairs of long, black socks and puts them on his feet. He pulls out his black beanie with the eye holes. He has a pair of black, leather gloves, too. Instead of slipping them on, he slips a black, wool sweater on over his black, long sleeve tee, and leaves his protective gear lying next to him.

There are a few storage bins in there, the colored plastic ones. He opens one. It’s full of pots and pans. He pees in it and closes it then goes back to his gear, rubber backed rugs sliced and diced to contour his body.

There are a few small pieces for his thighs, calves, forearms, upper arms, and one that slides over his torso. He uses a piece of wetsuit as padding in his trousers. The rubber pieces are cinched with belts through slots he cut with his knife. Like a ritual, he straps on all his gear. Next, he takes out a can of dog food.

Bon apatite. He pulls the lid and scoops the food into his mouth with his fingers and licks them clean. Now, it’s time for the gloves. Gloves are annoying. Every time you put them on you gotta’ rub something out of your eyes.

After more stretches to loosen his knees—a good hunter keeps his body in good shape—he slides on the gloves. One can’t afford injury. Health supplies are hard to find and an injury, no matter how small, can give a zombie the leg up.

Eudora by Aaron Dennis

Are we not all taught who we are supposed to be? What if who we are conflicts with who we want to be? She was taught to be Eudora, but she must be something quite different.

Read on or download for free at Smashwords

Things have a funny way of working out. The irony is that no matter what one does, how hard someone tries to become something, to make something of oneself, those forces at large have a way of putting things back the way they were, the way they were meant to be. Eudora was no exception.

It was a balmy day. The sun was setting. Eudora, with her abnormally large teeth, thick rimmed black glasses, pasty white skin, stringy, black hair pulled back tightly—save the bangs; they hung loosely to either side of her face—she was not the image of beauty. Her big, blue braces moved up and down as she spoke. Maybe it was the braces, or the big, fake teeth in the front, but she spoke like her tongue was too big for her mouth.

They sat on the hood of the old, gray Cadillac, Eudora and her friends. They weren’t her friends of course, but she didn’t understand the difference. They were Charlie’s friends. He was her younger brother. They were quite a few years apart.

“You should just go ask him, Eudora”, Patty said. She was a tall, strawberry blonde with a light tan. “He’s been giving you the eye all day.”

“I can’t do that. I never even said hello to him before. He’ll just laugh at me.”

Eudora’s response was more out of knowledge and certainty than sadness. Sadness held no real meaning for her.

“Well, whatever, it’s not like he’s got anyone anyway. Larry ain’t exactly prince charmin’, is he?” Joe sniped.

He was Patty’s boyfriend, but not in the traditional way of family values. This time it was the 70’s, but before it was the 70’s it was just a dark basement with nothing to do, but scratch at the walls. People in the 70’s were a concept Eudora was unable to grasp—Eudora isn’t from this time; she isn’t from anytime, really….

Charlie was coming home from work. He was trying to make enough money over the summer to apply at the local, community college come winter. His grandfather helped him get a job at the mill, and Charlie was learning all sorts of things; how to work the lathe, the planer; he smoothed boards like it was no one’s business, but these things didn’t interest him. He, like his sister, was born in one life, but was learning to become someone else.

College was his ticket. He’d turn from a sweet, country boy to a calculating businessman, or that was the goal anyway. Unlike his sister, he was dark and fair haired. Most people never guessed they were family, except they shared their grandfather’s features; slim nose, big eyes, blue, all three of them.

Charlie pulled up in his Ford pick-up alongside the Cadillac. Dust kicked up. Joe and Patty covered their eyes and patted themselves off. Not Eudora, maybe it was her glasses, maybe it was something else; she never made an effort to dust herself off either. She just looked at her brother. Her oversized pearly whites and blue braces showed as she grinned.

“Hello Charlie,” she spoke with that chunky tongue.

“Heya’, Dora,” he replied and smiled back. “I saw Larry leaving. Did you say hello?”

“No, Charlie, maybe I see him tomorrow.”

“Well,” he was pensive. “Maybe we should have him over for dinner tomorrow. You and Gramps can whip up something nice.”

A Moment with Scott Kinkade

God School by Scott Kinkade

God School by Scott Kinkade

Scott and I connected on LinkedIn after a discussion about the professed death of LinkedIn groups. To that effect, I made an offer to anyone who would like to guest post on my blog, and Scott was the first to take me up on that offer. Since I told him to post about anything, he decided to let everyone know that God School will be free on Amazon for a limited time.

18-year-old Ev Bannen was just hoping to get admitted to college. He never expected to be recruited to a school for gods, where he’ll be spending his days building up his strength, learning to answer prayers and getting an education in religion alongside aspiring god of money Jaysin Marx, the lovely but troubled Maya Brünhart and anger-prone ginger Daryn Anders. But the organization of evil gods, Zero Grade, has plans to unleash hell on earth, and Ev and his friends soon become targets. What’s more, someone close to Ev is not who they claim to be, and their betrayal may doom mankind forever. Ev steps up to save the day, but does he even stand a chance in hell of defeating a legendary deity?

Second edition published June 2018. It fixes the errors in the original.

Download God School from Amazon

You may have noticed the snippet at the end of the blurb about fixing errors….

The truth is that every writer’s every project is prone to innumerable errors, and as I have written copiously myself about this very subject, I’m happy to reiterate; your spelling and grammar software can not replace a human editor. Here’s what Scott has to say on that same topic.

Imagine going to the Amazon page for your books and seeing reviews about how your work needs to be edited before release. How would it make you feel? Would it make you question your writing skills? Well, it certainly didn’t make me feel so good. But it did kick my butt into gear and set me on the path to being a great proofreader.

But let’s rewind a bit. More specifically, let’s go back to 2010 when I self-published my first novel, Mirai: A Promise to Tomorrow. I was so proud of that book. And you know what? It sucked. Nobody liked it. I don’t even like it.

However, it was a necessary learning experience. It taught me valuable lessons I would need for my next novel, The Game Called Revolution. That one ended up being much better received. I would go on to publish seven more novels… and on none of them would I use SpellCheck. I was so confident of my proofreading ability, I thought I didn’t need them. Well, you saw the above reviews. Obviously, my skill wasn’t up to snuff.

Then, last year, I left a stable job and couldn’t find a new one. I was burning through my savings at an alarming rate, and something needed to be done. It was around May 2018 that I found Caitlin Pyle’s online “Proofread Anywhere” course, and I realized I could become a proofreader and live the self-employed dream.

Caitlin’s course taught me the in’s and out’s of proofreading, and it came with numerous exercises to hone my skills with. Now I have real confidence in my abilities and am ready to put them to work for clients. I founded Proofread Excelsior LLC last year, primed to tackle the challenge of growing my own company.

But you may be asking yourself, “Why do I need a proofreader? I’ll just use SpellCheck.” Take a look at the following picture of my current WIP.

 

proof

I proofread that after I ran multiple spelling and grammar programs. It’s proof positive that you can’t rely on them. You need a trained human eye on your work.

Now, I’ve seen people make the argument that “I’m an indie author and so my work doesn’t need to be held to the same standard as mainstream books. That’s not what it’s about.” Let’s say your book is poorly edited but you publish it anyway. You’ll surely get fans that don’t care about the shoddy work. But your book won’t go on to become a classic. It won’t achieve the success it could have had. It will die in obscurity.

It’s all about respect. You need your writing to be as polished as possible so people take it seriously. And, really, you’ve got to be able to take pride in what you do.

I agree with Scott on the fact that all work needs to be properly polished before release, but I have also found that many people who call themselves “editors” can’t read or write their way out of a paper bag, so for all of you out there who want to know how to find a good editor, I have one piece of advice: Go through my editing and free resources tab.

I also want to stress that proofreading and editing are two different animals. Proofreading is the means by which another reader finds technical errors in a written work. Editing is the artful ability to transform a sequential account of events into a story worth reading.

Nevertheless, proofreading is paramount because your mind will see what it expects to see, and your software just won’t do the job right, so be sure to drop by proofreadexcelsior.com

Thanks, everyone for reading this guest post by Scott Kinkade. Don’t forget to check out his books on Amazon!

 

 

Selling ebooks as an affiliate marketer for Smashwords

Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgivings, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and whatever else. What you celebrate is none of my business. My business is writing, and my business is selling, and I want you to be a part of my business.

 

I’ve talked before about how you can sell ebooks as a Smashwords affiliate without the requirement of any kind of 3rd party software. I’ve talked about how easy it is, how it’s all free, and how I set up my ebook sales in order to ensure that you, the readers, the reviewers, the sellers, are getting the biggest cut.

 

I normally give out 25% of my profits, and sometimes I juice it up to 35%, even 50%, but since the holidays are coming up, I want to do even more for you.

 

It’s no secret that with holidays comes a great deal of spending; the kids want new toys, the wife wants a vacation, the hubby wants new tools; there’s always something. Every year you end up spending more and more money, so I want to make sure that for the entire month of November, you can earn more money.

 

If you haven’t been selling books, my books, I implore you to read this article. How to earn money from reading.

 

If you have been selling books then you already know how easy it is to earn money as an affiliate. Regardless, now is the time to get a jump on selling my ebooks. For the entire month of November, I will be giving you, the sellers of my books, 75% of the profit.

smashwords affiliate ebooks sales

smashwords affiliate ebooks sales

 

If you sell just one book per day, you can still earn nearly 100$ for the month of November. That’s a few gift cards you can buy for the in-laws, or whatever. Of course, if you’ve been selling my ebooks, you’re probably selling two or three a day, maybe even more, and that means that for the month of November you can bring in 500$ by exerting just a little bit of extra effort.

 

Now’s the perfect time to send your friends and family on over to your blog, vlog, or website, and tell them to buy some ebooks as gifts directly from you!

 

Go earn some extra holiday money by selling my books through Smashwords. Your Smashwords account is free; all you need is an email address to get started, so be sure to check out this article, which explains, step-by-step, just how easy it is to start selling ebooks. How to earn money from reading.

 

Thanks for reading. Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. God Bless, and buy your family some nice gifts with the money you earn from my hard work.

 

To help out, here is the link to my profile on Smashwords so that you have easy access to the list of my ebooks.

Niki Nyan’s Book Blog is the place for honest, indie reviews!

Black cat

Niki Nyan’s Book Blog is a new book blog site. There, you can read reviews and excerpts of great books, or perhaps, not so great books.

Niki specializes in indie books, mostly from Smashwords, and so far, her book reviews have varied somewhat from genre to genre, though she prefers speculative fiction–scifi and fantasy–she’ll read anything that tickles her fancy.

Her love of reading, and her love of reading real books, books written by people who enjoy reading and writing over companies who have published books for a broad audience in order to earn a buck, has led her not only to Smashwords, but Goodreads, too.

She has been kind enough to review some of my books, not from my suggest or submission, and in turn, I showed her how to make money via Smashwords and book review blogs.

You can check that out here.

I hope that you all treat her as kindly as you’ve treated me. Please, do go peek at her site, Niki Nyan’s Book Blog. Be her friend on Goodreads, and follow her on Twitter.

I believe she’ll keep up the great work and run a very successful book review blog, so be sure to share this post and her site!

 

How to write a novel or series, a Quora Question

Since Quora likes to collapse my answers in an effort to keep me quiet, I’m copying and pasting some of the Quora Q and A’s in which I’ve participated. Here’s a question from Quora.

Question: How do you write a novel or series?

 

Addendum: I’ve been reading the writer’s journey and I’m curious as to how some of the authors on quora go about their writing projects – I’m not looking for their writing advice insomuch as I’m interested in looking at what they actually do.

 

Answer: I think about the story. I envision a scene, a character, his perspective, his goal, the problem, the solution. I mull it over. I obsess over it. It consumes me. I see it all. I hear it all. I smell it all. I am the character, or I am his friend, or I am the unseen sojourner beside him.

 

Then, one day, I have to commit it to paper. By the time I’m four pages in, everything changes. I stop. I reassess and re-obsess. Before long, I have to write again.

 

A chapter, two chapters in, I see a twist, or a character comes to life and takes itself in a new direction. I follow, wondering where it all goes.

 

I just write; I just get the story down. That’s all anyone should do. There is nothing else that can really be said until the story has been written to completion. Completion doesn’t mean perfection; it doesn’t mean the story is ready to be published. It just means the first draft is done, and all the basics are down.

 

Occasionally, while writing, I go back and re-read former chapters to make sure there are no inconsistencies, but mostly, I try to just keep going forwards. By the time I get to the end, it’s never what I had envisioned. Because of this, I never use writing software, I never use outlines; all that crap is a creativity killer.

 

It is my belief that stringent outlines, which don’t allow for deviation, destroy inspiration. You can’t plan a garden. You can just plant flowers, and watch them grow. You can’t predict or control how they grow. After they start to grow, you can guide them. Once they’re fully grown, you can maintain them, but you can’t possibly plan on how flowers will grow.

 

You can plan for life with a newborn, but until you’re married, and your child is born, and growing, and learning, and adapting, there is no way to know how to live your life. You can’t plan for every contingency. Maybe, your boy won’t like baseball. Maybe, your girl will be too shy for dancing. Until you’re married with children, there is no way to know what will happen. The same goes for stories; there is no way to accurately outline what will happen, when, and how; you just write, and once it’s down, you can edit.

 

The story should be alive within the writer, and should come to life during the writing process. The writer should be as surprised as the audience.

 

I can’t tell you guys and gals how many characters I thought were good guys suddenly planned, and plotted, and derailed the story, but that’s what readers love, and they think I planned it that way, but no. Sometimes, events simply occur. Other times, something new comes to mind during the re-reading/editing process.

 

This happens after I get the story down. I read it, you know, like I’m reading it for the first time as a reader, and I find nuances, which I explore.

 

Oh, look, John wants to be with Carol even though she’s with Mike. Maybe John can try to woo her, and maybe that’ll make for some cool character growth!

 

Thoughts like that jump out at me after I’ve written the first draft. I explore those thoughts. Sometimes they work out. Sometimes they don’t. The first draft of the story is not the end product and should never be taken as such. The story isn’t finished until there’s nothing else that can be added, and then it’s time to cut everything superfluous, even if I like it because I have to think about what the audience will want, and if I force them to read every single little tiny thought I have, they’ll feel as though the story is pulling every which way; it feels jumbled, disorganized, confusing.

 

I know different methods work for different people, but fierce structure and routine destroys imagination, and at the end of the story, there is an editing process during which all the mess gets cleaned up and tied into everything else, which keeps my work from becoming convoluted. An outline should be only a limited tool, a guide, a loose idea, which is there only to bloom, to be modified as the occasion arises.

 

For, say, a single novel, there should only be a single plot twist if any at all, but I mostly write series, so things can get messy, which is why I do keep a notepad handy, and in it, I jot down a sentence or two in the event that I want to add a certain event during the editing process.

 

For instance, in the newly released Dragon Slayer

The Dragon of Time Two, Dragon Slayer By Aaron Dennis

The Dragon of Time Two, Dragon Slayer
By Aaron Dennis

I had intended for Scar, the protagonist, to kill a support character, but by the time I reached that portion of the story, that action no longer made sense, so I adapted, and it will seem as though what does happen was planned that way from the beginning.

 

I promise, you’ll never who I wanted him to kill or why. You’ll never know where it was supposed to happen.

 

So, as the question was asked: How do I write a novel or series?

 

I begin with an idea, no matter how undeveloped. I think about the idea, and jot down little notes. Inevitably, more and more scenes, actions, thoughts, and emotions come to mind, and when I have enough, I begin to write.

 

Maybe, my beginning is under developed. No big deal. Maybe, my middle is shaky. That’s okay. Maybe, I planned for one ending, but it no longer makes sense. That’s fine.

 

I just write, and as I write, more and more comes to mind. Eventually, I find myself wrapping up all the events, and the story has ended. Sometimes, I have some ideas for an aftermath, in which case, I’ll hold on to it for the sequel.

 

If there’s no after math, it’s time to get away from the novel. I need to forget it because the people reading it won’t be in my head.

 

Once I’ve forgotten the tale, I read it as a reader. I correct little mistakes. I fluff out the portions, which are lacking in description, dialogue, action, whatever, and I go through it over and over, probably more than 20 times by the time I’m ready to publish.

 

While re-reading, I cut whatever’s superfluous. I make notes for the sequel. I scan for inconsistencies. I search for better ways to show versus tell. I make sure to keep from repetitious retelling. I make certain that the main characters, the support crew, they’re all different. No stock characters–they cannot all sound like me when I talk or think. I give them choice words, mannerisms; I make them living people.

 

It’s a daunting undertaking, but this is why there are whole institutions devoted to writing; publishers don’t just accept a written body of work, and print it. They normally only take a look at vetted stories.

 

A literary agent accepts a finished product. They hand it off to a publisher. The acquisitions editor reads the story. If it looks good, they send it to editors and people who function as test readers. If the story can be edited for a large audience, and it appears to be attractive enough to reach a broad audience, that story gets picked up, and then the actual editing process occurs, and I promise you that it takes a long time to rewrite the entire story from that stage.

 

There’s a lot of people out there, readers, new writers, aspiring novelists, who think that writers just sit down and write out a perfect manuscript from word one to the end. Far from it; it’s a long, arduous process fraught with editing and re-writing. Many eyes have to look over the manuscript before it can be safely published, and for independent writers, this can be a most intimidating task.

 

Fortunately, there are writing groups, reading groups, beta-readers, and freelance editors. There are also numerous writers out there who blog, who answer questions, who give advice, who show the process, and so anyone who takes the time to learn, can start their career off properly.

 

Thanks for reading. Share with your friends! Come back anytime, and make sure to check out my resources, and download my free stories.

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Get a professional reading of your story from Tall Tale Tv

Get a professional reading of your story from Tall Tale Tv

 

Playing off Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing, but seriously, folks….

 

I’ve been repeating myself ad nauseam; you can read books to earn some sweet cash if you do a little extra work. If you’re a book blogger, vlogger, or voice over talent, though, it’s no extra work at all.

 

Let me begin by sending you to this up and coming site called Tall Tale TV where Chris Herron reads excerpts and even whole short stories to YouTube. In this video, he reads a short excerpt from my Voodoo novella, Otherside.

 

 

By accumulating views, likes, and subscribers, Chris earns money through Google AdSense; he links his YouTube account and monetizes through Google AdSense, but that’s not all.

 

Smashwords, an indie publication platform for e-books, provides you with a special referral link. You can see it in this screen shot; by sending people to this special link, Chris earns a percentage of the book’s sale.

 

smashwords affiliate marketing aaron dennis

smashwords affiliate marketing aaron dennis

 

Obviously there’s no percentage of sale earned from free e-books, but there are numerous priced e-book on Smashwords amidst the countless, free, short stories. Besides, free e-books performed to his YouTube channel, Tall Tale TV, are still monetized via Google AdSense, so he still makes money from free stories.

 

Now, I’ve explained over and over again in numerous articles how you all can make money by reading books, books downloaded from Smashwords; all you have to do is discuss those books and add your special, referral link, and if you choose to simply download a free sample of a book, you don’t even have to purchase the book, so everything’s free.

 

Here’s the link to an article I wrote for Journal, which explains absolutely everything required to earn free money from reading books. It’s exactly what Chris does with Tall Tale TV!

 

Read books for a living

 

I’m providing more information now, because more and more people are following my advice, and you should, too. There’s no reason you can’t start earning 1, 2, 3, 10 dollars a day for very little work, and at no cost, and just for reading books.

 

By spending 5, 10, 30 minutes a week, you can add numerous YouTube performances, book reviews, and discussions to a vlog, blog, or review site, add your specialized, referral link, and earn real money, not Bitcoin, Satoshis, or some, other, BS, faux currency.

 

This is not a joke. There’s a serious potential to earn real money, and quite a bit of it if you follow the advice from my Journal article. Just think about it; $10 a day is $300 a month, and if you’re serious about discussing books, you can easily earn much more, especially with the nearly inexhaustible supply of e-books available from Smashwords.

 

No, you cannot sell books from Barnes and Noble, not to my knowledge. Yes, you can sell books from Amazon if you wish to download third-party software, and go through Click Bank, and earn something like 4% off a title. 4% isn’t nothing, but Click Bank is a convoluted pain in the ass, where as my instructions for utilizing Smashwords is immediate and pain free. Furthermore, the minimum earned through Smashwords is usually 11% from a sale, and in the case of my titles, the minimum I pay out is 25%, but often times, I give out more; I’m giving out 30% of my profits for the month of April.

 

Here’s the deal; millions of people read everyday. Millions of people discuss the books they read. Discussing books, either through conversation or posting reviews to a book blog or vlog, creates buzz for that book, for that author, for that publisher, and it’s because of reader testimony that others buy books, so why shouldn’t you earn money for marketing?

 

Yes. You are marketing books. You are selling books every time you discuss your latest read. Many of you already belong to reader groups, either on Goodreads, or Google+, FaceBook, or LinkedIn. You read and talk. You review and discuss. You entice new readers to purchase books, so you might as well nab a simple URL from Smashwords, add it to your vlog, blog, or review site, and provide people a simple way to buy the book, and thus earn money directly from the sale. This also secures more likes and subscribers for YouTube. You need likes and subscribers in order to get the most out of monetizing YouTube content!

 

This is certainly affiliate marketing, but this is simplified affiliate marketing. There’s no cost to you. You are not selling a class or program. You do not have to e-mail people or track down leads. There is nothing to buy, not really, and you don’t have to try to sell anything; you just be yourself and talk about the books you read. The books sell themselves through your discussion to anyone who happens by your vlog, blog, review site, or YouTube channel.

 

While it’s true that people who are familiar with affiliate marketing can earn exceedingly well, even people who have no notion of affiliate marketing can earn a lot of money through my method. Certainly, people passionate about reading and discussing books will excel, but even people who don’t particularly enjoy reading can still earn decent cash by utilizing my method—it’s all explained in the article, and I’ll add the link again at the bottom of this post.

 

What I really want to get across is that anyone can earn money today by optimizing their time and internet usage. This is an internet age, an indie age, where anyone with just a bit of daring and creativity can earn a great deal of income through some very simple acts, passive income. This is income that accrues without you having to do any overt work—post once and let the post generate your income.

 

Do you know that there are people out there, on YouTube, flipping water bottles and earning hundreds of dollars because people look at those videos? People are flipping freaking water bottles for a living. Isn’t that nuts? You can make a living reading. That’s not so nuts!

 

Naturally, the more posts—reviews, discussions, readings—you provide, the more exposure you’ll obtain, and thus increase your earnings over time. Understand that I’m not trying to sell you on a get rich quick scheme, far from it, this will take some time for you to begin earning a steady stream of income, and at the outset, you will probably only earn a few dollars, but if you have the passion, the connections, the fan base, you can blow up overnight, and easily earn upwards of $1,000 per month, but even $50 a month is nice, right?

 

On top of all this, if you’re an aspiring voice actor, you can build a really neat portfolio by reading excerpts from a variety of books, and earn cash every time a book sells. Then, when you break into the voiceover world, you’ll already have mad experience and financial success. If you’re an aspiring actor, you can partner with friends and perform skits from the books. If you’re just a reader, you can simply blog, vlog, or review on your website, and add the URL in order to profit from sales. If you’re an internet marketer, an affiliate marketer, this is the simplest kind of selling you will ever do, and while the payoff from a single e-book priced at $5.99 won’t net you the earnings from selling a dishwasher through Amazon’s third-party software mess, you can certainly sell more books per day than dishwashers.

 

This kind of affiliate marketing is perfect for college students, part-time workers, stay at home parents, retirees, and young people who simply can’t find the kind of employment they enjoy. (Ahem, 4:20 enthusiasts) This is also perfect for readers. It’s also perfect for aspiring writers because you can learn how to sell books. Plus, you’ll expand your fan base by showing readers what kind of books you enjoy. Then, when you publish your own book, your fans will already know where to buy!

 

I cannot stress this enough: I am providing everyone in the world a way to earn free money. Do yourself a favor. Change your life. Read this article from Journal. Sell books. Read for a living. You can succeed outside the strict bonds of a “job”.

Read books for a living

Writers get exposure with a free reading from Tall Tale TV

Get a professional reading of your story from Tall Tale Tv

Get a professional reading of your story from Tall Tale Tv

You are an author. You have been writing for years. You have a blog. You post nearly everyday. You have published numerous, short stories and given them away for free in order to build a fan base. You have published fanfiction to innumerable venues including Wattpad, Quotev, and Fanfiction.net. You belong to writing groups on LinkedIn, Google+, Goodreads. You post to Medium, Quora, and you even write articles through platforms such as Journal and Omni.

How are your sales?

Do you sell 100 books a day? 100 a month? 100 a year?

There was a time when I didn’t sell more than 5 or 6 per year. My publisher certainly didn’t do anything to help me sell, but they sure bugged the Hell out of me, trying to coerce me into buying print copies of my books, so that I could got out and sell them; that’s the way they earned their money, but where were my earnings? In the toilet.

Maybe, you’ve been at the game for a long time. Maybe, you have a hundred publications, and you sell quite well. Maybe, you do purchase print copies and sell them locally or even go on tour, but can you ever sell too many books?

Peep this reading of my Voodoo novella, Otherside, not because I want to sell it to you, far from it; I don’t need your money….

Chris Herron, the up and coming voiceover talent of Tall Tale TV can certainly help you boost sales.

His amazing style and range can enrapture any listener, and many times, people, potential readers, enjoy hearing the tones of mystery, anger, and sorrow rather than imagining them. Having a reading of your short story, or an excerpt of your novel, will absolutely boost sales, and as a fellow author, I want you to succeed.

Why, you may ask?

There’s enough mainstream crap floating around the literary world right now, and I believe readers will appreciate some new talent, some new material, but they’ll never buy your sweet stories if they don’t know you exist. Besides, Tall Tale TV charges no fee. Chris’s services are absolutely free; he makes money from monetizing his YouTube channel, so there’s no cost to you; it’s free promotion. What’s the worst that could happen? You sell an extra 10 copies of your books? Would that be so bad…?

I know there are other voiceover artists out there who will read your stories to their YouTube channels. Go use their services! There’s no reason to avoid Tall Tale TV, though; the more places your stories appear, the wider an audience you’ll reach.

This is a great way for any author, at any stage of their career, to achieve increased exposure, and increased exposure means more sales, and more sales means more money, and more money means, well, whatever you want, right?

I know, I know, Tall Tale TV doesn’t have many videos  on YouTube right now. I know, I know, the videos don’t have a ton of views, but relax; the more authors approach him, the more videos he’ll add to his YouTube channel. The more videos he adds, the more views he’ll collect. People love marathon watching YouTube videos, so in time, and as more and more of you utilize his services, the more views your videos will accrue, which means that every time an author has their book or short story performed on Tall Tale TV, the more we all benefit. Furthermore, you know Chris wants to earn a living from his talents, so you know he’ll promote his channel, which means you don’t have to do didly, but you’ll still get more fans. Won’t that be a blast?

I suggest you jump on Chris’s services today because the more authors hound him for a reading, the longer it’ll take him to get your reading up on his YouTube channel. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Myeh! I already sells tons o’ books, an’ I don’t need no stinkin’ readin’ ta’ get me more sells!”

Well, that’s fine, but don’t be shocked when Mary Sue, an up and coming writer of Steam Punk with only one publication, suddenly goes viral and earns a million bucks thanks only to Chris and Tall Tale TV. When it happens, remember I told you to jump on his services….

Click here to learn how to submit!

How college students can earn money

How College Students Can Earn Money

earn money with affiliate marketing

earn money with affiliate marketing

Hello, college students. Summer is just around the corner. Well, maybe around the next few corners, but you should definitely consider the following information now because I want you to be earning easy money by the time Summer is actually upon us.

 

It’s no secret that tuition costs have been rising steadily, and it’s become practically impossible to go to college full time without working at least part time, but that means giving up valuable study time, or at the very least, it means giving up your spare time, and that means you can’t enjoy your favorite hobbies, but what if there was a way to earn money without having to go to work?

 

What if there was a way to combine your hobbies with earning money?

 

Just about everyone today reads. Whether for pleasure or information, most people read, and sometimes people who read also blog, vlog, and discuss what they read on book review sites, but if you’re going to school full time, and you’re working part time, or maybe even working full time, too, you can’t possibly sit down and read, rate, review, and discuss the books you enjoy, right?

 

Wrong….

bookstore

Recently, I’ve been showing everyone in the world just how easy it is to earn three, four, five hundred dollars a month by simply reading and discussing books. You can learn the most basic way to earn money by reading from checking out this article.

 

How to Earn Money from Reading

 

In it, I lay out a very simple way to earn money reading, but I’ll go over everything again in this post.

 

For starters, I want to let you all know that for the month of April, 2017, I’ll be giving everyone a 30% cut of my profits, which is far beyond anything you’ll earn anywhere else, for selling my books, but allow me to backtrack real quick.

 

Affiliate marketing is the process through which you, the person not directly affiliated with a product, sell that product and instead of being paid by a company, you earn a direct cut of the sale.

 

Reading is, well, you know, reading books….

 

Here’s the deal-

 

Instead of going out to work for 10, 15, 20 hours a week and earning peanuts, or even though you’re working 10, 15, 20 hours a week and earning peanuts, you can blog about books, and when people learn about how great these books are, they buy them from your blog, vlog, or review site, and you earn a part of the sale, 30% of the sale for the month of April! Maybe more for June, July, and August, stay tuned for that.

 

The important thing is that once you establish a blog, vlog, or book review website, people will keep coming by your site to check your content, and then they can buy books directly from your site, and you earn a direct cut of the sales without having to do any extra work. In other words, you post once about a specific book, and then you don’t ever have to talk about that book ever again, but as long as people buy that book from you, you constantly earn a cut of the profit.

 

Now, imagine if you didn’t even have to buy the book or pay for web hosting.

 

You can start today by visiting WordPress or Blogger and making a free website. This works great on YouTube, too, because you can physically talk about the book you read.

 

Next, you make a Smashwords account, which is free, and you link your Paypal account to your Smashwords account, all still free, and on Smashwords, you can peruse all kinds of books.

 

Here is the link to all of my books on Smashwords

 

There are free books and there are priced books, and in the post I mentioned above, I also explain how to earn an income from the free books, but for now, I just want to deal with the priced books.

 

Every priced book has a referral link at the bottom of the buy page. You can see the referral URL at the bottom of the buy page for this book in the picture below.

 

smashwords affiliate marketing aaron dennis

smashwords affiliate marketing aaron dennis

 

That URL is automatically specialized for you based on your Smashwords account, so there’s no third party software, not pay per click, nothing. You just copy that URL, place it on your blog, book review site, or YouTube channel, and when people buy that book because of your review, you earn a cut of the sale, and in the case of my books, you will earn 30% of the sale for the month of April—I normally give out 25%.

 

Since my books are generally priced at $4.99, 30% of the sale nets you over a dollar per sale. That means that if you sell just 10 books a day, you earn more than $300.00 per month, and all for just reading and then discussing a book on your blog, vlog, or review site.

 

Hold on to your hats, though, ‘cause it gets even better.

 

You don’t really even need to read the book. You don’t really even need to purchase the book. You don’t really need to do much of anything. As previously mentioned, everything is laid out in the article from above, but I’ll delineate again.

 

You make your book blog, vlog, or review site for free. You make your Smashwords account for free, and link your free Paypal account to your Smashwords account. Then, you check out some books, which are priced for sale, and generally, you can download a free sample to peruse the book, and see if you like it or not, but that doesn’t really matter because most books will have a picture of the cover, a neat blurb, and some reviews, which is all you need. That means you can just copy and paste everything to your blog, or review website—you can simply read blurbs and reviews out loud as well as an excerpt from free samples for a vlog or YouTube book channel—and after five minutes of work, you post your specific referral URL on your blog, vlog, or book review website, and people can purchase the book right from you instead of the author’s page.

 

When people buy the books, you automatically earn that dollar—sometimes it’s more if the referral percentage or the book price are higher—and you don’t have to do anything else!

 

This is real money we’re talking about, too, not Satoshis, or Bitcoin, or some other strange non-currency. This is free money for about 5 minutes worth of work.

 

Now here’s the thing; anybody can do this, but people who enjoy reading and discussing books, or people who enjoy affiliate marketing, will perform exceedingly well, and that’s great, but even if you don’t know what you’re doing, and have no expectations, you can still earn some pretty good money through half-assing the process.

 

Consider that by taking 5 minutes out of every week, you can throw up a new book cover, blurb, and review—and maybe even a short excerpt—onto your blog, vlog, or book review site. If you start today (March of 2017) then by the time Summer is here, you can have 10, 11, 12 books up, and if you’re selling just one of each of the books per day, you’re earning 10, 11, 12 dollars per day, every day. If you want to add more books, you can add more books, and if you really want to make this your part time—or even full time—occupation, you can easily make one or two thousand dollars a month by adding two or three books per week, and then attacking social media, book discussion groups, and just telling everyone on campus to check out your site!

 

Now, again, I’m really just giving you an outline with this post because I know many college students out there are struggling to work, pay bills, pay for tuition, books, and whatever else, and on top of the costs, there just isn’t much time left to do anything, but I suggest you also take another five minutes to read the article, which provides a more thorough explanation of how all this works.

 

The reason I’m reaching out to you college students specifically is because you all already have an in depth connection with numerous people, people on campus, and I know that many of you are readers, which means you can either work together to sell, and earn some real decent cash by having different people discuss different genres of books, or you can simply work alone, unhindered by the set—and usually annoying—hours of a traditional employer.

 

You get to be in charge of everything from your schedule to which books you wish to discuss and sell to how you go about generating buzz for your new book review site.

 

You may certainly want to keep your part time job, or cut back to part time hours, while you get this book reading, affiliate marketing, self employed, wage earning act rolling, but I promise you that with just a little bit of effort, and no cost whatsoever, you can earn some easy money in no time, at least enough to help with rising tuition costs.

 

Look at this cover, blurb, and review.

 

The Dragon of Time Two, Dragon Slayer By Aaron Dennis

The Dragon of Time Two, Dragon Slayer
By Aaron Dennis

Blurb- With the death of Kulshedra, Dragon of Truth, it has been revealed that Scar, the mercenary, is in fact Sarkany, the Dragon Slayer, a creature fashioned for the sole purpose of purging the Dragons from the world of Tiamhaal, yet such a thing is not so simple. Kings and queens yet war amongst one another. They, too, lie, connive, and coerce, and so, Scar and his friends must find a way to persuade those few, benevolent rulers to band together. In the midst of peace talks and dead Dragons, those still in the worship of the beasts grow more powerful. Some of them even doubly praise their oppressor in an effort to wield more magic. Now, united with his friends, Scar sets his gaze upon a hopeful horizon, but is strength in numbers sufficient to keep the Dragons from completing their machinations?

Review- Best book ever written ever.
Dragon Slayer picks up right after Gods and Dragons. If you havent read Gods and Dragons just take my word for it. It’s awesome. Go read it. Now, I’m going to talk about Dragon Slayer, so if you don’t want me to spoil Gods and Dragons stop reading this review.

Scar, who now knows he is Sarkany, the Dragon Slayer, has just killed the dragon Kulshedra, so Artimis flies him back to Usaj where he fights and kills Zoltek. Since Scar is on a quest for Eternus, the Dragon of Time, to gather the souls of the dragons, he has to kill the kings of every country in orrder to take their dragon gems. Well, after he kills Zoltek, he kills Zmaj, and of course the Zmajans lose their powers, but as it turns out, when the dragons die, and poeple lose their powers, the other living dragons get stronger, and their worshipers do too, so now the paladins of Inhogupta the Perseverants help Scar to try and bring the world to order, but there’s all kind of chaos because Scar is a good guy and he wants the kings and queens to hand over the gems without bloodshed, but some of them are bad, and they’re conspiring with each other.
There’s so much more intrigue and espionage in this story than I ever expected, and it is a bit difficult to keep up with the states of the nations, but in the end, it’s like background information that really brings the world to life without requiring you to memorize whatever is going on.
The short version is that Scar is on his mission to gather all the souls of each dragon, but since the dragons get stronger as the others die, it’s harder for him to kill them, but then he learns how to use their powers.
It’s so freakin amazing. How is this story not on the tip of everyone’s tongue?
I don’t know. This guy is like the best writer ever and everyone’s off reading Harry Potter.

I just hope the next Dragon of Time comes out soon. In the meantime, I’ll be reading whatever else Dennis releases.

 

All you have to do is paste these to your book blog or review site, or as I mentioned, you can simply read the information out loud on your YouTube channel. You can even read excerpts from the book, and then monetize your YouTube channel and link your Google AdSense account to earn aggregate income. There will be no copyright infringement because reviewers are allowed to quote excerpts for reviews and discussions.

 

It isn’t hard. There’s no cost. It takes between 5 and 30 minutes per book—depending on how much work you want to do, and then the sales just keep coming in without you ever having to discuss that one book ever again.

 

This is an indie world you’re entering. This is an internet based world, and you should use the internet to make your life easier. There are free financial opportunities on the internet if you can find them, and I’m showing you one of the simplest and safest ones. As a wage earning writer, I have gone through everything you’re going through now, so I want to make everything simple for you, which, of course, generates more buzz for my books.

 

Remember: no cost, no third party software, no pay per click BS, and you earn real money by just sharing my—or anyone’s—books from Smashwords. Make sure you read the original article—if you haven’t read it from above—because it will explain absolutely everything you need to do to start earning money today.

 

How to Earn Money from Reading

 

Then, when you’ve got it going, and people are buying books from your site while you’re in class, studying, or hanging with friends, you can bail on that part time job, or at least cut back to part time from your full time job, or maybe, you’re so good that you can earn a living off this neat little hack….

 

Thank you, college students, for reading How College Students Can Earn Money. Reading makes the whole world a better place. You do not have to graduate under the burden of thousands of dollars of debt. You can start earning passive income today at no cost to you.

 

If you enjoyed reading How College Students Can Earn Money, please check out some of my other posts.

 

Oh, and if you’re in a business or econ program, show this post to your friends! This is also great for those of you enrolled in a literary arts, drama, or production program—lot’s of stuff to read or even perform on YouTube!