The Time Capsule

  Now that 2011 has come and gone, I can look back and smile at what I have accomplished. Go ahead, smile with me. During the course of the year, I went from planning on finishing the first book for Miscorrection to doing so much more. I also wrote five short stories and a novel under a pen name. In total, I wrote about 185,000 words this year and learned more than I ever thought I would. I've also met some great online writer friends like Jeff Ambrose and Steve Umstead . Jeff's been integral in helping me learn more about writing, offering tips and tricks and books to read to help my craft. Steve, through writing his Gabriel Trilogy , has shown me that you can write three novels in a year. Plus, I've watched his marketing and see that it has paid off for him. As I look to 2012, I need to top what I did this year. So here is my goal. I plan to write and self-publish four novels in 2012. Two of the novels will finish up the Miscorrection  trilogy. The other two novels will

Hey all! Just a quick note to let you know you should head over to Jeff Ambrose's blog and read a guest post I wrote. It's all about my reading history, which could be boring. So I made sure to add a little surprise at the end ... one that will benefit your reading history! So check it out! "My Reading History" by B.C. Young

Well, another month has passed. That means it is time for me to report my eBook sales. Let's just say that compared to the past three months, these sales are not as good. I'm not worried though. I'll just keep writing and putting out more books. It will get better with time. I released two books during November. The first is Don't Blink . This is a collection of 40 flash fiction stories I wrote. Unfortunately, I didn't see any sales of the book. On a high note, Fram Gage and The Infinite Ability released before December. While it was technically available starting November 23, 2011, I didn't promote it until November 25, 2011. From that point until now the book has sold faster than anything previously published by me (me being B.C. Young and Desmond Shepherd). So I'm happy about that. Don't forget, between now and December 7, 2011 you can pick up the book for only $0.99. That's 75% off the regular price of $3.99! Without further delay, here are my N

October was a steady month for books sales at Forever Young Publishing. Below are the numbers, and I couldn't be happier. While I would have liked to see an increase in sales as I have the previous months, remaining steady was good. There is a positive sign to this months numbers. Last month, Copy Bird  made up most of my 37 sales. This month, while it did have the largest amount of sales at 13, the numbers are a lot more diverse. I think I know why, too. In September I released Miscorrection: Book 1 (Sunrise to Sundown) . It's the complete collection of all the stories that make up Book 1 in the series. If you were to download the sample of the eBook for your Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook , you could actually read the first story in the series, Sunrise , free. Since that was the case, I thought it would only be fair that I offer the standalone of Sunrise  for free, too! This has resulted in sales of the other stories, which is great to see. I'm hoping it co

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Photo From http://dc.wikia.com"] [/caption] Superheroes have been quite the rage over the past 10 years. This mostly is because of movies. The entertainment industry has been able to adapt these comics  that go back 40, 50, 60, or more years, and turn them into fun entertainment. I enjoy them, and I'm sure you do, too. I like pretty much every superhero, including Spider-Man and Batman. I even like Superman, despite some issues I have with him as a superhero. You see, there's a problem with Superman. He is ... well ... Super. Nothing defines the superhero category better than a Super Man. In fact, he's so super that he's indestructible. Guess what? He can see through things, too. But wait, there's more! Superman can fly! He can run super fast! He can shoot hot laser beams through his eyes and blow bone-chilling, freezing air from his mouth! He's strong , too! He can l

Another month of sales passes. While September, in some respects appeared slow, it was steady. I can attribute part of this to finally getting sales reports in from Apple, Diesel, and Kobo. While Apple & Diesel contributed one sale each for The Present , Kobo accounted for eight free sales of Copy Bird . Speaking of Copy Bird , all is not as bad as it seems . On September 19th, Amazon bumped the price of the eBook back up to $0.99 US. I thought that was the end of watching the fun, as in one and a half months Copy Bird sold 4,800 copies. But I was wrong. Now that it got into Amazon's system and filtered through their algorithms, Copy Bird has consistently sold around two copies every day. This is good news because they are paying consumers, which means, if they like my work, they might search out more. Let's hope so! I also released a new book, although the content isn't new besides its introduction. In eBook and print format you can now get all the stories that make up

UPDATE: I contacted Amazon about this rumor, and their response was that they have not announced anything about a subscription based service at this time. There is a rumor going around that Amazon is in talks with publishers to create a subscription based service for the Kindle. This would most likely mean that for a monthly fee, you could download and read an unlimited number of books. Here's the article if you're interested: Amazon In Talks To Launch Digital Book Library: WSJ . Of course,  the big publishers are probably going to scoff at this. They will probably see it as a money loser and something that could devalue books. This is rubbish thinking though. Look at Netflix, Zune, and Spotify. They have subscriptions for movies and music, yet I don't see it hurting their value. DVDs, MP3s, and CDs still have the same value. That's why self-published authors need to jump on this bandwagon now. Better to be on in the beginning of a major change than the end. This is a g

Another month has passed, and another month of book sales has happened. This month looked bleak, especially when compared with last month. But, in the last week of the month, things picked up. I sold more in the last week this month than any week before. Needless to say, this made me very happy. During the month, I had three releases. They were Unspoken Stories - Volume 1 (eBook Edition), Unspoken Stories - Volume 1 (Print Edition), and the last story in Book 1 of the Miscorrection series, Sundown , which I published during Hurricane Irene (pretty impressive, right?). Another signficant number not listed below is the sales for Copy Bird . For about a month, I attempted to get Amazon to put the short story up for free, and they finally did! Current sales stand at almost 4,500. That number makes me very happy because it means I got some of the exposure I wanted from the sale. Had it gone free and I only sold say 400, I would have considered the marketing attempt a dud. If you haven

Here's the first post with monthly sales numbers. I plan to post these once every month. I'll list all the eBooks I have for sale and the amounts they sold during the month, even if the number is zero. I've also updated the   Sales Numbers page with the total current sales numbers as of July 31, 2011. Paid  Sales for the month of July 2011 are: 7 -   All My Fiction 3 -  The Present 1 -  Running To Keep Her 0 -  Sunrise (Miscorrection) 0 -  Copy Bird 0 -  Arrogation (Miscorrection) 0 -  Going Home 0 -  Felix Culpa (Miscorrection) 0 -  Awry (Miscorrection) 0 -  Panacea (Miscorrection) 0 -  Josie Dorri And The Coffee Ban I have also changed the pricing scheme for my eBooks. I did this based off of this post: The Real Problem With $.99 Ebooks . The structure sounded good, and I like that the price can help identify the length of the work. While I know it's impossible, I hope other indie authors adopt this same structure. I feel if they do, it can stab

There's a lot I'd like to say in my first post on The Time Capsule, but unfortunately, I just can't. So, I'll write what I can and see where it gets me. First, I'd like to thank B.C. Young for allowing me to be a contributor to this site. It's great to find fellow writers who are willing to help each other find an audience for their works. Second, I'd like to thank Forever Young Publishing for being willing to publish my first novel. This is a major step for me, and to have their help is fantastic! So what is this novel I'm writing. I'll start by giving you the tentative title. Well, not the real tentative title. I'm only going to give you the acronym for the tentative title. Yeah, I know I'm a pain. Considering that I don't plan to release this novel until December, I gotta make sure that information trickles out and keeps your interest in the coming months. All right, since you've twisted my arm, I'll throw a word into the titl

The Time Capsule is about to go through a slight change. Up until now, I have been the only one to post on the site. But now I'm adding another contributor to the site. I'd like to introduce Desmond Shepherd. Desmond is an unpublished writer in the process of writing his first novel. The novel has a fourth quarter release date. Instead of starting his own site, Desmond thought it would be a good idea to contribute to mine. This gave me the benefit of having another person to post entertaining articles and to do some cross-promotion between his works and mine. In the coming weeks, you'll see the first posts from Desmond. Most of them will probably revolve around the novel he is writing, which I must add sounds like it will be really good. So good in fact, that Forever Young Publishing is publishing it. I hope you enjoy Desmond's posts, and hope you give him a warm welcome. There's nothing a new writer appreciates more than words of encouragement as he sets out on his

——————————————————————————- Pay Once—Read Forever. Check out  All My Fiction  for more details!

A lot has happened recently on my eBook publishing front. Maybe I should say not a lot has happened. I planned to release the sixth and final story in Book 1 of Miscorrection  on July 3rd. After I sent it off to Jeff Ambrose , an indie author who agreed to help me proofread and edit the last three stories, he suggested I hold off on the release. He felt the story needed more polish and a change in perspective. Of course, this was only his opinion, but before I sent it to him, I thought the same thing about it. While I really  liked the story, I was afraid it might be somewhat bland and even confusing. Right now, I'm not sure when the next one will release, but I know this change will be for the better. Good news though, as I plan to release another 7,000 word short story this week called Josie Dorri And The Coffee Ban . I had a lot of fun writing it. You can look for an excerpt to go live within 48 hours of this post. I also have planned to write two other short stories during the

I have a really bad habit. Every day, I have to check my eBook sales numbers. In fact, sometimes I get downright compulsive about it. A lot of Indie Authors have this issue, because even when the number jumps by one sale, we get excited. Frankly, checking the sales number is a waste of time. At least at the frequency that I check them. So, I've decided to only check my numbers the first of each month, starting now. The only exception to this will be when I check my sales on Barnes & Noble because I extended Taco Week for the release of Awry  and B&N got it up four days late. Once I check my sales numbers, I will post them around the beginning of each month. Don't expect huge numbers though. Currently, my sell through is very low. But I hope that changes as time passes.

Just wanted to drop a quick note that a guest post I write for soveryclever.com is up on their blog. Here's the direct link:  http://lidestrigriffin.com/2011/06/guest-post-by-bc-young-encouraging-words-for-writers/ Enjoy!        

Good news on the Taco Challenge. Awry sales have jumped from 1 to 4. Things are starting to get very interesting. I'll tell you this, 4 tacos is still not much of a challenge. Also, Barnes & Noble finally has Awry available for purchase. Since the availability on the store is late to Taco Week, I'm extending the challenge for the B&N store. Purchases made by June 13, 2001 at 11:59 P.M. qualify for the Taco Challenge. Keep the tacos coming everyone! Awry (Miscorrection)  is available for 1 Taco for your favorite e-reader at any of the links below! Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle UK Amazon Kindle DE Barnes & Noble Nook Smashwords   (Purchase here to get  Awry  in any format you may need. Even without an ereader, you can read from your browser or download and print out the ebook yourself!)

Below is the latest Taco Broadcast. This one was short and to the point. Also, the sales of Awry  still stand at 1. Remember, for every sale this week, I will be eating a taco. Right now, you guys are making this challenge extremely easy! Awry (Miscorrection)  is available for 1 Taco for your favorite e-reader at any of the links below! Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle UK Amazon Kindle DE Barnes & Noble Nook Smashwords   (Purchase here to get  Awry  in any format you may need. Even without an ereader, you can read from your browser or download and print out the ebook yourself!)

The numbers are in for the first Taco Update. After the first official day of release, Awry has sold 1 copy. That's good news, because broadcasting the Taco Challenge live would be very boring if there I had no tacos to eat! On the down side of all of this, Barnes & Noble still doesn't have Awry available. Since this is the case, I'm going to extend Taco Week for Barnes & Noble purchases. The week will begin as soon as they have the ebook available. Look for another Taco Update tomorrow. Who knows, maybe your purchase will push the taco count up to 2. Awry (Miscorrection) is available for 1 Taco for your favorite e-reader at any of the links below! Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle UK Amazon Kindle DE Barnes & Noble Nook Smashwords (Purchase here to get Awry in any format you may need. Even without an ereader, you can read from your browser or download and print out the ebook yourself!)

Below is the first Taco Broadcast. Rather than ramble on about why I am doing this, just watch the video, and that should give you the information you need. Enjoy!

Here we go! Today, Miscorrection: Panacea, the fourth novelette for book one of the series, has been released. I’ve put a lot of hard work into this story and I am very happy with the it. It’s important that I thank a couple of people who helped me out with this story: I need to thank Jeff Ambrose as he not only proofread the story, but also helped me edit it. He gave me some great suggestions on how to improve the story, and I think they came through real well. I need to thank Isabela Morales of The Scattering blog. She lives in the Alabama area that was effected by the tornadoes and storms last week. Despite going through this, she still managed to write a pre-release review of Panacea! Now, here’s your chance to get Panacea free or at a discounted rate: If you buy Panacea on Smashwords and use coupon code DY48B, you can get Panacea free! This offer is available for the day of release only, May 3, 2011. For the first week of release, Panacea will be only $0.99. After May

I'm happy to announce that The Scattering has written a pre-release review of Miscorrection: Panacea. There isn't much for me to say here. I just wanted to let all my readers know that they should go check it out! More Miscorrection! (Panacea final verdict)

I'm pleased to announce the name of the next story in the Miscorrection series. (Although, if you follow the Miscorrection Facebook Page or my Author Facebook Page you already know this). The name for this story came about a long time ago, before I even wrote it. 

For a couple of months, I have posted a weekly writing wrap-up that summarizes the posts I've made on the site for the week. I've decided to not do these any more to save more time for writing. I hope you have enjoyed the wrap-ups in the past! Remember, you can make sure you do not miss anything on the site by subscribing to the blog through the RSS feed link to the right or at the bottom of the page!

Quick post to let everyone know about an interview I recently did. I was happy to hear from the writer of the hugmamma's MIND, BODY and SOUL blog and their interest in having me answer a few questions. In the year or so I have been self-publishing, I've learned a lot. The answers I gave are based purely on my opinion and experience. I hope they can give inspiration to anyone out there with a dream to write and be published. So head on over and check out the post! The link is below. published guest author: B.C. Young

I'm short on time this week, so the writing wrap-up is short and sweet. And, sadly, there's no yummy wrap picture. See below for what you missed. It was a very busy week on the site! Spring New Ebook Release: Going Home Twitterview Transcript Spring (Alternative by Peter Cressman) Spring (Alternative by Daniel Hanawalt) Weekly Poll V - Flash Fiction Scattered Stars by Hiba Abdelqader Book Review: Gabriel's Redemption Sunrise (Miscorrection)

This week's poll comes a day late because I posted on the release of Copy Bird yesterday. But here it is! There are a lot of sports out there and I began to wonder what sports people like to play.

Below is a listing of some stats for the past month on The Time Capsule. Statistics include hits on posts, links, and search queries that led to a post.  In order not to make the Blog Stats annoying to read,

In order to promote the expanded availability of the Miscorrection series, I have issued a press release. Below is a link to the official release.

The availability of the Miscorrection series continues to expand. Not only can you purchase the stories on Amazon or Barnes & Noble , but also you can now get them on Smashwords .

Part of the fun in writing the Miscorrection series is creating a believable universe. In the beginning of my writing the series, it was in its infancy. But now I find myself writing the fourth novelette, and the universe has become very much alive. As the writer, I have thought out this universe. I’ve created characters, locations, organizations, and more. And this is crucial to any story. It doesn’t need to be science fiction. All fiction requires that the worlds the characters live in are real and believable. This is why movies and books like Star Wars , Star Trek , Lost , Foundation , and more have found success. The creators of a story develop the story so well that the audience believes it is real. Not only that, many times they imagine they are a part of it. This was a difficult task to accomplish with Miscorrection , and I feel it is going well. After release of the first three stories, readers should be getting a clear understanding of the universe I’ve made, the characters a

What is your ereader of preference? The Kindle ? The Nook ? Something else? Most people who have an ereader love it, defend, and swear by it. And that’s great! Everyone should have their opinion of the best product and to tell others how they feel about it. For a self-published writer however, bias in where they release their written works is not an option. My works had been available exclusively on the Kindle, but now, thanks to Barnes & Noble starting their own self-publishing format for Nook, you can purchase the Miscorrection series on your Nook. The name of the service is PubIt! This is a clever title, even if you could make jokes about it sounding very similar to something more offensive. Regardless of the name, this is another way for indie authors to get their books out there. And I am very glad this is the case. It’s very important for an indie author to take advantage of whatever options they can to get there books in front of people. If you stick all your eggs in one b

I have decided that it would be fun to post some statistics from my blog. While this post is getting closer to the middle of the month, future Blog Stats posts will be posted the first of each month and will show the last thirty days of activity. Posts will include hits on posts, links, and search queries that led to a post.  In order not to make the Blog Stats annoying to read, I will only be posting the top five in each category. Enjoy! LAST 30 DAY BLOG POSTS HITS "Lost" Series Finale Explained 367 hits Home page 89 hits Get Miscorrection: Sunrise for Free!!! 78 hits Felix Culpa Cover Art 46 hits Starting Book Reviews 40 hits LAST 30 DAYS MOST CLICKED LINKS (Please note that some links may no longer be active.) cid-f48244167a38bf3b.office.live.com/self.aspx/Free eBooks/Sunrise ^5Miscorrection^6.prc 16 clicks amzn.to/NtyFL 13 clicks public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pqPgY46kUs1HrdWwO6LLj8bYH3jABIIFyBsJ3_um4gkqQQpMunvhASoJNUfecI29oCHNS1NHLC6E9DmFqevvbjg/

Amazon announced today a forthcoming update for the latest generation of the Kindle. To me, the most exciting thing about this announcement is what you can do after you read a book. So what is it? Well, you will now be able to seamlessly rate the book, share your thoughts about it on your social network, see recommendations, and view other books by the author. This may seem like it is not too big of a deal. But, once you go to the Kindle Social Page , you can begin to see why this is going to be very nice. They haven’t dubbed it that name, but for all intents and purposes, that’s what I am calling it. Here they have taken the concept of Twitter and Facebook and merged it into a social network for books. What makes this so great is that it is seamless . Now, I don’t have to go through a manual process like on Shelfari or Goodreads that requires me to enter in all the books I am reading, have read, or plan to read. Do you have Kindle books on your Amazon wishlist? Have you purchased bo

It might be asked why I choose to read and write science fiction. After all, I enjoy other genres. But all of my life, I have found I most enjoy science fiction. This is the case whether it is a book, movie, or television show. My interest in science fiction stems from the amazing possibilities that are before us. When I watch the Enterprise on Star Trek flying through space, a lightsaber being wielded in Star Wars, or a DeLorean time traveling once hitting a speed of 88 m.p.h., I imagine what it would be like to experience those things. It’s the idea of those possibilities being a reality that makes science fiction so much fun! Think about it. Today we do many things that people twenty years ago would have considered science fiction. Talking via video chat is a great example. We are experiencing what the creators of The Jetsons envisioned. And this isn’t just done within the confines of our home. We are able to do this on the go, while using our phones. So when I write or when I am en

After much deliberation, well maybe not much, I’ve decided that I will begin posting reviews of books that I read. At first, I was going to limit this only to books written by independent authors. But I decided that I really shouldn’t limit what I review. After all, I’m of the opinion that anyone can write if they put their mind to it. Why should I differentiate with authors? Also, the genre of the book will vary, but only slightly. I tend to lean towards science fiction for my reading. But here and there, I will read other genres. As for my review layout, it will go something like this: I will have an intro paragraph that briefly states the basic story. I will then break down the review into three sections: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. (Somewhat cliché, but I felt I could cover everything in the book this way.) My overall feeling on the book. I do not intend to have any star ratings or point systems. My thought was I should be able to convey my opini

The Bing dictionary defines solitary as ‘done without the company of other people’. As I thought about this, I realized that is exactly what someone experiences when he or she writes. Writing is a lonely hobby. For me, the story bounces around in my head. I formulate the story's plot points and characters just by being alone and thinking. Sometimes I do this while I’m driving to work. Other times, I do it as I’m falling asleep. Sometimes I’m making an outline of specifics of the story on paper or the computer. But never am I conversing about what I want to write, unless I’m in the editing stages, and I’m getting suggestions for improvement from a third party. So overall, I write my stories in solitary. This aspect of writing is intriguing to say the least. Because through the loneliness of writing, I find myself enjoying the company of the characters and story I am writing. They start to become very real. Writing can be a lonely hobby or career, but your mind keeps you occupied n

What defines a person? Is it their career? Their hobbies? Their personality? Many things tell people who we are, but often, we use our career to define ourselves. I’m an engineer, I’m a mechanic, and I’m a pizza delivery person . But is a career so important that it makes us who we are? In my full time employment, I am a customer service representative for a printing company. It’s my job. It helps me pay the bills. But by no means do I believe that having that job defines who I am as a person. I believe many things define a person and trying to pinpoint all of them would be near impossible. When I look at myself, I see many different aspects. Essentially, when it comes to this blog, I’m a writer. That is what I define myself as here. At home, I’m a dad with a family. When I’m with friends, I’m something else. And it just keeps on going. We are who we are when we need to be it. No person should limit himself or herself to being one thing. It takes away from who you are as a person, and

If Amazon did not allow self-publishing on the Kindle format, part of me believes I may not have begun writing the Miscorrection series. Once I saw that they allowed for it, I had my first motivation to write. More importantly, Amazon made it easy to self-publish. If a person was compelled to write something, they can use Kindle Direct Publishing to get that work out there for others to see and purchase. You can upload your printed work to the service in a number of formats, but I find that saving it in an HTML format works the best. If you upload from Microsoft Word, the files have a tendency to get a little messed up. The great thing is you can save your written works to HTML from within Word. So, you don’t need to know all kinds of coding just to make it work. After your HTML file is made, put it and any linked graphics into a folder. After that, compress it and save it as a ZIP file. Then it is ready to be uploaded through the Kindle Direct Publishing web site. Fortunately, you

Writing the Miscorrection series has been a lot of fun. While I enjoy writing it, my goal is for other people to enjoy reading it. This means that I have to somehow put the stories out there and make people aware they exist. This is a very difficult task, mainly for the reason that I am a self-published author and writing is a hobby for me. Since that is the case, I have no marketing dollars to advertise the series. So how can I get my writings noticed by other people? Phase One: I attempted to use Facebook ads to promote the book. Facebook had given me a $50 credit for advertising. I put it to use and do you know what happened? Nothing. Sure, I got some impressions and a few clicks on the ad. But the result was that my Miscorrection Facebook page saw no additional fans and no additional sales of the series. Phase two: Twitter . I began using Twitter to advertise. Since the Miscorrection series is mainly available for the Kindle, I searched Kindle related posts on Twitter. Whenever s

When I set out to write my stories in the Miscorrection series, I decided to write them as short stories. At least that is what I decided to term them. My reasoning was that a short story is short. I concluded that if you could read the whole story in thirty to forty-five minutes, then that was a short story. But an interesting thing happened as I began diving into writing even further to get a better understanding of things. And then yesterday, via Twitter , someone sent me a short story that he wrote. Its title is Epoch’s End . It really is a good short story and takes a span of about three to four minutes. I suggest you read it, if you have the time. This is a true short story. And really, it testifies to how challenging it can be to write a short story. Epoch’s End is a little over 900 words, and yet it is able to tell you so much as you read it. This led me to question what I am calling the stories in Miscorrection series. Can I label them as short stories? or are they something

Recently, Amazon opened up the Kindle to allow for book lending. It's about time that they allowed for this, since one of their direct competitors, the Barnes & Noble Nook , has had this feature for a long time. There are a few things that you need to know when it comes to book lending. A book can only be loaned if the publisher allows for it. (Don't worry, all books in the Miscorrection series will always be lendable!) You have seven days to accept a loan from the time you receive the notification that it is available. Once you have accepted a loan, you have fourteen days to read it. After this time, the book will be "returned" to the lender. If you loan out a book, you cannot read it during the loan period. You can only loan a book out once. Loans can be read on your Kindle device or on the Kindle apps that are available for various platforms. This is all well and good, but you may be asking yourself what good is it for you. Perhaps you don't h

How do you write a story with an ending that surprises? That question is what I am asking myself as I begin writing story four in the Miscorrection series. The direction my story is going to take is known. However, it is not known how it will unravel. My goal is to write the story to make the reader think that they know what is happening. They need to believe they understand what the ultimate goal is going to be. But at the end, while what happens will be in line with their thoughts, the ending will be more than they expect. This is my dilemma. Slowly, hints of information will need to reveal themselves. Some misdirection will no doubt need to take place. All of this to reach the finish line that leaves the reader satisfied and not frustrated. Perhaps it’s happened to you. You’re watching a movie, TV show, or reading a book. You don’t know how it is going to end, or you think you do. But when that ending comes, it pulls the rug underneath your feet. Rather than being impressed by the