SmittyBS

After a very long time being placeholders, two new Silver Saint chapters are available!
          	
          	Acting as interludes, Chapter Eleven: "The Devil You Know" and Chapter Twenty-One: "Creature Comforts" are now available, replacing the previously empty chapters.
          	
          	Happy (almost) New Year, everyone!

JNightshade666

As an upstart writing of both original works as well as fanfiction, I am curious if you could share some advice on how you managed to your stories in physical book form?
          
          Did you propose to a publisher after a certain point of success was reached on Wattpad or did you self publish?

JNightshade666

@SmittyBS It definitely does help. Thank you for taking the time to reply
• Reply

SmittyBS

@JNightshade666 (Part 2) As for advice, it would be simply to check out the platform yourself! Look up KDP and explore how it works, do some reading on the process. I couldn't afford an editor, so I went through the process myself to format my book into the desired style for KDP. They even have a free cover creator service, but I chose to find an artist I liked and pay them properly for the cover of Iron Empire. For KDP you don't need a certain amount of "success", if you really believe in your work you can start developing it into a novel for KDP as soon as you're capable! I certainly want to get published traditionally someday, but until then Kindle has been a wonderful way to get my book to more people—I've had hundreds of buyers from ten different countries now, which sounds small but it blows my mind. Hopefully this helps in some way, and feel free to reply if you have any other questions!
• Reply

SmittyBS

@JNightshade666 Hey Nightshade, I appreciate the question! If you want to look into publishing you can go to routes, the traditional route of contacting publishers or via a self-publishing service. Both have their ups and downs, but because I'm still pretty much an "upstart" myself, I didn't want to sign over the rights to a publisher. 
            So the answer is "I self-published", I went with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) in order to put my novels up on Amazon. It isn't cheap, but it's far, far less expensive than doing it the traditional way.
• Reply

SmittyBS

After a very long time being placeholders, two new Silver Saint chapters are available!
          
          Acting as interludes, Chapter Eleven: "The Devil You Know" and Chapter Twenty-One: "Creature Comforts" are now available, replacing the previously empty chapters.
          
          Happy (almost) New Year, everyone!

SmittyBS

"City of Threads" has won an honourable mention in the L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future competition!
          
          As my very first entry and written in the span of only a week or so, I was hopeful but not optimistic, but this result excites me beyond belief!
          
          While it did not win any cash prize, the honourable mention is incredibly motivating for my future efforts!
          
          "City of Threads" is available to read on my profile in full, for free. Thanks, everyone!

PeterADixon

@SmittyBS Congratulations!
• Reply

PyroTank

Congratulations on receiving the mention.
            Getting recognition from such a competition is great.
            I am hopeful that it will bring more readers to this book and others.
• Reply

SmittyBS

Hello all! 
          
          The Iron Empire saga on Wattpad is, as you may have guessed, currently on temporary hiatus.
          
          I'm still working on the series off Wattpad, but some massive changes are being made so it's difficult to constantly update them on this app. Easier to wait until I've reached a stable state than to roll out changes that I'm unsure of.
          
          In other news, I've got a lot less time lately because I've started a career as a mechanical engineer in an official capacity! It means less time for writing but a lot more funding, and I'm glad to put my other skillset to use.
          
          The Iron Empire Saga continues, and being an author will always be my one true passion, but expect a bit of radio silence from me on Wattpad for the time being while I navigate my new status quo.
          
          Thanks, all!

PeterADixon

@SmittyBS Good luck :)
• Reply

SmittyBS

Pardon my dust. Currently splitting the books. Things on my profile will be messy for a lil bit.

PeterADixon

@SmittyBS I agree! I've had the best success with newsletters. If you want to share some contact details I can send you everything I've tried and my up coming plan. I don't think there is a DM feature on here, but you can find me on Reddit if you want to send something privately. Same username.
• Reply

SmittyBS

@PeterADixon I've tried a few times to run campaigns with the built-in Amazon advertisement services but they're just far too costly for me to maintain on a steady basis. I'm a new graduate and don't make that kind of money yet, and the Amazon marketing space is pretty byzantine to me.
• Reply

PeterADixon

@SmittyBS What do you do for marketing?
• Reply

SmittyBS

No updates this week - I've spent all my usual writing time working on edits to Silver Saint and Silver Ghost. Splitting this behemoth into two novels isn't impossible, just a tad tricky.
          
          (The new covers look AMAZING)
          
          I'm also just feeling a bit burnt out, 95% of the comments I get these days are from bots advertising their "Discord art accounts".
          
          If you're a real human and are actually reading this, know that I greatly, truly appreciate you. It's the rare human comment or follow I get that keeps me posting here at all.
          
          Expect big changes soon! Updates will resume.

SmittyBS

Scope creep is a real issue.
          
          As it stands, Silver Reign is at 140,000 words, and barely halfway through the plot. 
          
          Iron Empire was only 160,000 words.
          
          If I keep going like this, Silver Reign will be over 300,000 words and counting, and that's simply too much book.
          
          Something has to change.
          
          I'm proud of this series and want to keep it as much of a saga as I intend, and for that reason I'm proud to announce:
          
          Silver Reign is now a trilogy.
          
          Jackson and Taewon's stories will be broken into their own novels, before the third and final book ties the plot up.
          
          All three novels will be made available here on Wattpad, so nothing will be lost! 
          
          SILVER SAINT will cover Jackson Quinn's story as he continues the fight against Axion Industries, rising as a global hero.
          
          SILVER GHOST will cover Taewon's story, fighting in the shadows with the Partisans to hunt Gabriel down.
          
          SILVER REIGN will bring both tales together, culminating in the a final conflict between the two, and the truth behind the Iron War.
          
          Three novels. One story. The rework is coming soon.

SmittyBS

The end of the line!
          
          With the entire city on his tail and his window for escape closing, it's down to the wire for Taewon and Phoenix Squad! 
          
          But Taewon isn't the only one in danger—an entire city of innocent people is at risk!
          
          Silver Reign Chapter Forty, "Exfiltration", is out now!

SmittyBS

On the run and out of options!
          
          Taewon's journey up Olympus Tower is at an end, but his hosts aren't too eager to see him leave! To escape Axion's clutches, he'll have to risk it all!
          
          You know what they say about desperate times...
          
          Silver Reign, Chapter Thirty-Nine: "Evasion" is out now!