Category Archives: “His Robot Girlfriend”

The Value of Free

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Mark Coker at Smashwords gave his yearly presentation about ebooks.  You can see it here.  One of the facts in the presentation was that free ebooks are downloaded about 91 times as often as ebooks that people have to pay for.  Therefore, free ebooks can be a great promotional tool for authors.  I can tell you from experience that this is the case.  So far, I have sold about 7,548 copies of His Robot Wife.  To date, His Robot Girlfriend has been downloaded 457,259 times.  I think that the downloads of His Robot Girlfriend help the sales of His Robot Wife, but I can’t be sure about that.  What I am sure of is that His Robot Girlfriend has pushed my name out there as a science-fiction author.  How else can I explain it when I see His Robot Girlfriend (undeserved as it may be) on lists of sci-fi books that include Fahrenheit 451, Hospital Station, I Robot, and other greats.

I have four books that are free downloads.  His Robot Girlfriend was written to be a free download.  I has between writing and editing the book that became Senta and the Steel Dragon books 1, 3, and 5.  I thought it would be a good idea to get my name out there and help drive interest in my writing.  That succeeded in spades.  Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess was just written for myself.  I decided to post it later.  When the reception was positive, I wrote Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress.  I didn’t think about writing any more of his story for a few years.  Those three books are so widely available that they’ve kind of taken on a life of their own.  I wrote Brechalon as an introduction to Senta and the Steel Dragon, and though I’ve played with selling it for 99 cents, I’ve finally decided that it’s more valuable if it drives any sales of The Voyage of the Minotaur.

Over the years, I’ve offered other books free for limited times, just after publication or as part of the Smashwords biannual promotion.  I’ve been thinking about writing another free sic-fi book– a good possibility might be Nova Dancer– either free or free for a while.  Six months maybe or a year.  I have a while to think about that possibility, since Nova Dancer isn’t on my schedule yet.  The whole idea for me though is to make money in 8 to 10 years.  I certainly don’t mind making enough money to pay a bill or buy a new iPad now, but I’ve got a paycheck now.  Ten years from now I’ll be a retired teacher and a full time writer.  If giving away a book now, built up my reputation enough to ensure book sales in 10 years, that would be a really good thing.

Update: Patience is a Virtue

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PatienceThur 6-27: I’ve been writing all morning, finishing chapter 13 and working my way through chapter 14.  Just two more after that.  Sometimes the number of chapters changes between the outline and the rough draft, but in this case, I think they will stay the same.  I’ve still got almost a week until my self-imposed deadline for the draft, and I’m feeling pretty confident about finishing.

I also just updated the Previews page with a better description of the book.  Of course, I’ll still have to work on that later, but the blurb is the last thing to worry about.

Sat 6-29: All right.  I’ve just finished chapter 14 and am already working on chapter 15.  It’s feeling pretty good.  Now I have to write “the big thing” that I have both been looking forward to writing and dreading at the same time.  It was supposed to be the end of chapter 14, but instead, it’s going to be near the front of 15.  Once I get that done, the rest will just fall together.

Mon 7-1: I’m already into the last chapter.  I finished 15 this afternoon and I expect to finish this chapter by the end of the day Tuesday.  Then it’s time for the first revision.

Update: Patience is a Virtue

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PatienceI finished writing chapter 12, and just like the last chapter, it took me five days.  That is it took me five days, if you consider writing away at 2:30 in the morning of the sixth day, to still be in the fifth day.

Unlike the last chapter, everything that was supposed to happen in this chapter did.  Well, almost.  A little dialog planned for chapter 12 has gotten pushed back to chapter 13.

I was also lying in bed last night and came up with a different way to do a particular plot point.  I had originally envisioned something happening a certain way, and now I’ve decided to change that.   Looking back on it, I think the original idea was kind of stupid– even though I was basing it on real events.  I think I would have been ‘jumping the shark’ for Patience and Mike, and I don’t want to do that, because lately I’ve been coming up with some other story ideas for them.

Anyway, three to four more chapters to go, depending on how they play out.  I’ll keep you updated.

Update: Patience is a Virtue

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PatienceOkay, so at the pace I’m writing now, it’s five days to finish a chapter.  I just finished chapter twelve.

The funny thing (maybe) is that after I finished chapter 11, I looked at my outline and found that I hadn’t included anything that was supposed to happen in chapter 11.  So that means they happen in chapter 12, along with what was already going to happen in chapter twelve.  This is actually a good thing for me.  I sometimes feel that I don’t have enough going on in the story.  So, this next part should be good.

I’ll post an update when I finish chapter 12– hopefully in 5 days or less.

You can also see that I’ve tweaked the cover a bit, with a new font and by increasing the size of my Patience model.

Update: Patience is a Virtue

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Patience is a VirtueI finished chapter ten of His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue today.  It’s plotted out at 17 chapters, so I’m well past the halfway mark of the draft.  I mentioned the other day that if I continue working at the present pace, I’d have it done near the end of August.  I certainly don’t expect to take that long.  I really want to kick it into gear.

I’m getting up each morning and getting some writing done.  Then during the day, I’m trying to get something else done each day– like work on cleaning my garage  or exercising.  Then at night, I do a bit more writing.  It seems to be working pretty good so far.  I’ll update again when I get to the end of chapter eleven and we can all see how long it took.

Of course, after I finish the draft, there is the inevitable editing, revision, and rewrite.  Still, it’s all good.

The Ungodly Pace of Technological Change

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Patience is a VirtueIt may seem odd for a science-fiction author to complain about technological change (though I remember Ray Bradbury before he died, complaining about ebooks), but that’s what I’m thinking about today.  Sometimes I love technological change, like when I want a new iPad and I need an improved model to convince my wife that I need to upgrade.  Other times it’s a pain, like when I’m trying to write.

Somewhere I have a sheet of German Postage Stamps printed in the early thirties.  They were 1 Mark stamps, but as soon as they came off the presses, they had to be sent back in to be printed over with 100 Marks, because of the horrible inflation that Germany was experiencing at the time.  It was changing so fast that they literally couldn’t print stamps or money fast enough to keep up with it.

I kind of have that feeling today.  Some of the technology I describe in His Robot Girlfriend and His Robot Wife seems quaint now, and some of the stuff in the new book is already sounding antiquated.  I’m going back and making some changes, particularly to how processes are processes.  I already know I’m not going to get too far in front of the change, but I at least want my story to be up-to-date with present technology.

Specifically in this case, Mike pays with a cash card.  Credit cards and debit cards are already facing extinction.  It won’t be long before apps on telephones replace making a purchase at a cash register or a store counter.  Think of it– scan your item, press pay, authenticate (probably with a thumbprint) and walk out of the store.  No more standing in line, no more waiting, no more identity theft.  It’s a lot closer than you think– much closer than 2037, when my story takes place.

 

What Needs to Get Done

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Patience is a VirtueOne of my main goals is to be at least partially supported by my writing by the time I retire from teaching.  Last year, my wrinting was responsible for about 5% of my net income.  In some ways that’s more than I ever could have hoped for, and I can’t help but be very happy.  But I’m going to have to drastically grow that amount within the next six to seven years.

I’m going to do that by building my name as my brand,  following simple but effective marketing, and most of all by getting some writing done.  When people read a book and they like it, they need to be able to find another book by that author.  They also need to find one that they like as much as the first.  For that reason, I have to get writing.  I’ve gotten really good at getting caught up on the extra stuff that comes with writing– researching, edition, designing, promotion, this blog.  Now that I have some real time, I need to get writing.

So what are the dates I’m shooting for?  If I follow my current speed:

His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue — August 5, 2013

82 Eridani: Voyage — November 25, 2013

The Sorceress and her Lovers — April 14, 2014

That’s not good enough.  Not only was I expecting to finish The Sorceress and her Lovers in 2013, I was expecting to finish Blood Moon too.  I got to kick it into gear.  The writing is the thing.

His Robot Girlfriend at Smashwords

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His Robot GirlfriendMike Smith’s life was crap, living all alone, years after his wife had died and his children had grown up and moved away. Then he saw the commercial for the Daffodil. Far more than other robots, the Daffodil could become anything and everything he wanted it to be. Mike’s life is about to change.

His Robot Girlfriend is a science-fiction love story.  It has been downloaded more than 450,000 times.  You can get your ebook (in a variety of ebook formats) free by following the link below to Smashwords.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1864

The Rewritten Chapter

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Patience is a VirtueI told you the other day how I lost (or wrote over) a chapter of my book in progress The Sorceress and her Lovers.  I felt like I had to rewrite that piece before I could go on to anything else, so I sat down and over the past three days, I’ve finished it.

The problem is, it’s not as good as it was.  I don’t have the original with which to compare, but I remember it as being better.  The new version is longer and has more characters.  It did what I wanted the scene to do.  But I just can’t help feeling it was much better before.

Well, I’m not going to work on it more now.  It’s set aside at least until I finish the His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue, and possibly until 82: Eridani– Voyage is done.  By then I’ll have enough perspective hopefully to rewrite it and make it as good as the original.

Update: Patience is a Virtue

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Patience is a Virtue

Well, I read chapter three to the Shared Word Writers Group last night, and as usual, they were very helpful. I’m pretty happy with the story as far as I’ve gotten.  However, I find myself going back again and again to tweak certain parts.  Sometimes by the time I finish a “first draft” of a story, I’ve actually revised the earlier portions at least a dozen times.

I’m almost done with Chapter Ten.  As plotted now, there are 17 chapters total, but there are a couple of spots which might be expanded. This is a character driven story, so the characters have to be just right.  It also probably has more dialog than any book I’ve written before.  I think this is probably because I know these characters so well at this point.

Nine more days of school left for me, and my exams and lesson plans are written.  I’m going to see how much I can get done before the end of the year, and then I’ll really take off.