One Small Step, One Giant Leap

Well, I did it, I bit the bullet and started up a Patreon.

It was a big decision, but it was also something I felt I had to do. Basically, I’ve been operating on a very minimal budget ever since I started self-publishing. I do my own cover design, much of the editing, layout, and a whole bunch more. The problem I’m facing is that the entire self-publishing ecosystem has been changing as it moves further into the mainstream.

That’s a good thing, but one of the repercussions of that move isn’t. Put simply, a lot of resources that used to be either free or low-cost are becoming more and more expensive as time goes on. Meanwhile, my sales aren’t going well at all. It’s a bad combination, in fact it’s getting close to a death spiral.

Patreon is my attempt to get off the ride before it goes over the cliff. It’s a cushion for the lean times, and hopefully a way to fund things like advertising to make more people aware of Doc Vandal and build more sales.

But enough about me: What about you?

For those of you who read this and decide to join my Patreon, I’ve already built up some content and set up a structure for the benefit tiers. My underlying philosophy here, is Access, Insight, and Input.

The first tier provides Access to the private channels on my Doc Vandal Discord, as well as a PDF of the completed first draft of The Skyscraper Thief–yes, you can read that today if you sign up on any tier.

The second tier is Insight, and it gives you a look into my writing process. I have started uploading full versions of the cover art, including one that’s never been published anywhere, and also some of my Scapple Boards so you can see how my mind works when writing a story–and even how the story evolves.

The third tier is Input. This tier gives you access to each chapter of a novel as it’s completed, as well as the option of naming a character. I’m also going to let this tier help me decide which story to do next once I finish the War Between Worlds.

I’ve already uploaded content for all three tiers and will be adding more soon.

Help me build Yesterday’s Tomorrow!

Updates, Updates…and a Rebuttal

Where to begin? Today is Monday, and so it’s a new week with a new update. First, The Skyscraper Thief is with my beta reader, so I should be hearing back with any updates in the not too distant future. With any luck it’s still on track for a late June/early July release but don’t hold me to that quite yet…

The War Between Worlds is advancing almost as fast as the Martian invaders themselves. I’m currently sitting at just short of 8500 words with a week of production in the can.

I recently read a comparative review of Ulysses and Scrivener, and I have problems. I have even more problems with the app the author said was better than either, but that’s a different thing entirely.

I’m going to start with the elephant in the room. Ulysses is subscription software. It costs $39.99 per year/$5.99 per month; each and every month. This is actually better than the price given in the review, which listed an annual cost of $49.99, but it’s still a subscription. Even so, the author of the review explicitly stated that it was a “good value.”

Scrivener costs $59.99, the review said $49.99, for a perpetual license. This, however is not described as a “good value.” Personally, I have been using Scrivener for twelve and a half years, and have spent approximately a hundred dollars in total. Yes, I’ve been able to take advantage of discounts, but I’ve also bought the MacOS, iOS, and Windows versions in that time.

Now while the person did admit that the one-time purchase option of Scrivener is better, the focus on the value of the subscription software is a clear sign of bias. Another level of bias comes in when they mention a feature both have as a benefit for Ulysses over Scrivener.

Next we come to Backup and Sync, and somehow the fact that Ulysses backs up on a fixed schedule–not saves, but backs up–of 12 hours, 7 days, and six months is much better than Scrivener because you have to close the program for Scrivener to run a backup. Somehow he fails to mention that Scrivener also supports running a backup with every manual save… so you don’t have to close Scrivener to run a backup.

Finally, the author talks about sharing and collaboration; saying that Scrivener doesn’t support third party apps and can only be used on one device. This is news to me, as I have been using Dropbox with Scrivener for many years, and have it installed on three computers. The limit is that any one project can only be open on one device at one time. If you try to open it on a second device, you have to create a second version of the project.

Needless to say, he awards the victory to Ulysses.

Now to be honest, it’s possible he is right. Ulysses may be a better writing app than Scrivener; though I think it’s more important to ask which writing app is better for you, than which is better overall.

Unfortunately, the clear bias in the review combines with the misstatements of fact to make it completely worthless for anyone aiming for an honest comparison of the two programs.

Movie View: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

No movie captures the tone I envisioned for Doc Vandal as well as Kerry Conran’s 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. From giant robots, to airships and flying battle stations, it’s all there. I don’t think any movie captures the underlying meaning of the term “Yesterday’s Tomorrow,” as well as this one.

In fact, it was as much a direct inspiration for Doc as Doc Savage himself. Doc Savage gave me the structure, but Sky Captain inspired the world. Doc Vandal’s alternate 1937 draws heavily on the kind of super-science pulp technology the movie features. It’s more than just pulp, it’s retro-pulp and the retro is just as important as the pulp.

The cinematography and CGI immediately tells us this is the past; a past that never was. It frames the story in the world of the pulps in the way other pulp recreations were never able to do. Quite literally, it provides a pulp lens for the viewer.

As to the story. It’s a classic pulp adventure with all the strengths and weaknesses of the genre. It’s by no means a perfect film, but it’s well acted and features a very strong cast.

If you want to see a world like Doc Vandal’s go watch this movie now.

About that Cover…

Last time, I showed off the comparison between the first cover I commissioned for Against the Eldest Flame, and the final cover I published. Today I’m going to talk about how the final cover came to be.

At the top of the page, you’ll see my original sketch that became the cover for Against the Eldest Flame, and really set the stage for my vision of the series’ visual identity. It’s not the same as the final cover by any means, but all the elements are there. Unlike the previous airship cover, this one really was my idea from the start.

The biggest design change was moving the Zeppelin above the volcano instead of right in front of it. That worked, but it was a matter of detail more than anything else.

On the whole though, I was happy with my original design. First, it had action; something was happening in the picture. Second, and more importantly for the overall vision, it was reminiscent of pulp magazine covers. They were paintings, they weren’t photorealistic. Artists like Alex Schomburg, Margaret Brundage, and H.W. Wesso had a very distinctive look, one that was completely different from modern self-published paperbacks.

Of course, it doesn’t help that many premade covers are assembled from photographic elements and the shadows don’t always match. It may be a personal thing, but I find it looks terrible.

As a creator, though, this cover was hugely important to me. While it’s not my art you see on the page, it is my design. As a self-published author, this matters a lot. By creating the original design I made sure that the cover reflected my vision, not someone else’s.

Take control of your vision: it’s worth it.

That Vision Thing

Or Why I didn’t Choose the Cover on the Left

Like all self-published authors, I went through multiple options before finally choosing my cover art. I thought about the public domain, and even tried a couple of public domain images on my first two novels.

When it came to Doc Vandal, that didn’t work. I wanted something better than I could get by slapping some new text over an old painting. You can see my first attempt to commission a cover for Against the Eldest Flame on the top left.

If you look at it, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it as an image. A photorealistic Zeppelin is coming out of the clouds; title and author are right there and it’s even identified as a Doc Vandal adventure. It’s also static and boring. It’s a generic cover and basically just sits there.

Perhaps more importantly, nothing about it says “Pulp Adventure!”

Now look at the second cover, the one on the right. What can only be described as a main battle Zeppelin is flying out from an exploding volcano. It has action, it has bright primary colors. Most importantly, it’s done in a retro art style that calls back to the pulps.

There’s nothing photorealistic about it, and that’s deliberate.

I have a vision for my Doc Vandal adventures. You can see it in the covers, and it goes beyond the art style. There’s a consistent trade dress, with a logo and the volume number on every cover. You don’t have to be able to read the words to know a Doc Vandal cover when you see one.

There’s a consistent vision here, and that’s important. It shows potential readers that I know what I’m trying to do; that I have a goal in mind. It’s not enough to make sure your books are where readers can see them; you have to make sure they can recognize them.

You need a vision, and even more importantly you need to articulate that vision.