World Building for the Steam Empire Chronicles – Blog Tour Posting!


Hi all!

The Steam Empire Chronicles features a complex world where the Roman Empire never fell. Now in its second millennia, the culture, religions, and backgrounds of many of the characters directly connect to this extension of the empire. Check out more about this over at Phoebe Darqueling’s Blog today!

Record Month: Thanks for a Great April


Thanks to you, readers and fellow writers, for making this month one of my best ever. The blog’s viewership/readership is expanding massively, and I am so excited to share the Last Gladiator with all of you this Saturday!

Act now to preorder your copy of my latest novella – The Last Gladiator!

Available on Kindle, Nook, and for all other e-readers through Smashwords!

Continue reading “Record Month: Thanks for a Great April”

Check out my Blog Tour! – Now on Deleyna Marr’s Blog!


Hi all,

I’m encouraging you to go and read my blog post over on Deleyna Marr’s Blog! It’s a great interview about The Last Gladiator, writing, and winning awards (and does that actually help you!?)

https://deleyna.com/daniel-ottalini-has-a-new-novella/

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From the last time I was able to go to a book event!

Author Blog Record Month & A Free Book!


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Here’s a picture of our temporary companion enjoying his belly rubs.

Thanks to you, I’ve hit nearly 900 views this month alone! You guys are the best!

As usual, my slightly humorous, now very useful, 50 Ways to Kill a Character and his partner, 50 Ways to Kill a Character Part II drive a lot of traffic to the blog, but I’m pleasantly surprised and happy to see more people visiting for Dungeon and Dragons and the Steam Empire Chronicles resources that I’ve been creating and writing about.

But really, thanks so much! If you want to thank me more, go and download my first novel – Brass Legionnaire – for FREE from Smashwords during the Give Back Sale! Also remember, if you like it, rate it and leave a review! It means the world to authors when you share what you like!

Is Having a Blog Worth It?


Salve! Welcome to all my new readers! Glad to have you here! Today I want to talk about my thoughts on whether having a blog is ‘worth it.’ Continue reading “Is Having a Blog Worth It?”

New Poem – Belief

We’ve hit 5000 views for the year! It’s a record! Celebrate with a new poem!


Salve! Congratulations to the blog, and major thanks to you, the readers of this blog, for your inspiration! To celebrate, here’s a poem called Belief. I wrote it and planned to share it later, but now seems an apt choice for this to be shared. Remember to subscribe and follow along on my writing journey! C&C always welcome!

Continue reading “New Poem – Belief”

How to Trim Costs for a Self-Published Author


Hi everyone,

Finally, back into the swing of things. I promised myself I’d get going by March. Well, it’s March! My post today isn’t too long, but it focuses on one of the biggest challenges facing a new author – one without prior book sales or a person who (like me) sees bumps from new books but not earth shattering sales numbers.

So how do you budget for a new book? If you’ve published books previously, you’ll already have your guidelines. For me, an average ‘budget’ for a new book looks something like this…

Editing ~$2000

Formatting/Cover Art/Illustrations ~$750*

Publishing/Proofreading/Copyright Fees, etc ~$100

Advertisements, Giveaways, Shipping ~$150

So as you can see, nearly $3,000. Definitely a long term haul. Obviously, your experiences may vary based on editor, cover art/illustrators (or lack thereof), and how much advertisements/giveaways, etc that you do.

Editing – Your costs for editing can vary based on how much of a book you have, and how good of a writer you are. Most editors will be nice, and lower their price slightly (in my experience) the better the initial writing is. The less work they have to do, the faster they can do it in, and the more jobs they can complete, so they’re happy too.

I wouldn’t suggest skimping on editing, but you could easily save yourself some money through extensive use of beta-readers and friends/family who have skills (Also, it helps to bake brownies).

Formatting/Cover Art/Illustrations – All this can easily be trimmed in most aspects. Formatting – you can learn this, especially considering that most of the big companies use only a handful of formats – The catch is if you get it wrong, your work will look super unprofessional.

Cover Art – Shop around! You can check out a variety of people and places – look up some books whose covers your like and email the authors to ask where they got theirs done. Unless you’re a really good artist, I recommend you not do them yourself – Online, people really DO judge a book by it’s cover.

Illustrations/Maps – Perhaps the easiest one – If you don’t need them, you don’t have to pay for them!

Advertisements – Here, your own readers and social media accounts can really help you. Although, it can be hard to cut through the chaff and find the perfect groove. Networking, like this recent Facebook group I’ve joined, can really help here. You don’t have to pay for readers/likes, etc. I’ve already shared how I felt Facebook advertising, but both Amazon, Google, Goodreads, and others have more targeted (and, personally speaking, more useful) advertisement abilities).

Publishing Fees – Especially if you’re publishing a print book, you can’t really get around theses. But be smart – make sure to check the physical proof copies before buying a big order, otherwise you could be out some serious money for books with errors that are glaring! Also, there’s something to be said for getting that sweet, sweet Copyright letter from the Library of Congress!

Hope that helps everyone! Whew – this post turned out to be longer than I thought! Let me know – what other ways do you have to trim costs?

Brass Legionnaire Ship Diagrams
Tactical Layout of the H.M.A.S. Scioparto

 

My Month-Long Blogging Experiment

How/Why I blogged for an entire month and some of what I learned.


Or – How to double your readership in 30 days.

Salve! As I sit here, basking in the computer-screen glow of Steel Praetorian finally being out and available for you all to read in a single day, I’m reflecting on the month long journey that brought us here. One of my personal promises to myself this month was two fold- write every day for Laurel Emperor, and blog every day for Modern Papyrus (also called this blog – ha!)

Continue reading “My Month-Long Blogging Experiment”

Day 14 – Almost Halfway There

What other things would you like me to blog about? Provide your input after the article!


Salve!

For today’s post, I’m going to actually ask a question of my readers. What would be something you’d like to read an article about? As I’ve discussed before, my two most popular articles are those written about how to kill characters in novels. Gruesome (and highly entertaining) to write about – especially since I don’t take myself seriously in this regard. But what would be some articles you’d like to see? I can’t profess to being an expert at the craft of writing, but I do have experience and some thoughts/opinions about certain things.

Read more beyond the break

Continue reading “Day 14 – Almost Halfway There”

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