johnwilker.com

Writing

Calling all Super Fans!

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Patreon exclusive sticker

I’ve taken the plunge on creating a Patreon page. I toyed with Patreon, way back when as an experiment to support my community conferences. My most heartfelt thanks to those awesome folks that supported those efforts.

I closed those Patreon pages down after about a year because it was a lot of work to create content just for those few supporters. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough to warrant people’s support. It was an experiment and I learned a lot.

Now that writing is a much larger part of my life, and, I hope an ever-growing part of my income, I wanted to explore offering something a little extra for those folks that want it.

The biggest hurdle (for me) in creating something like this was committing to creating extra content. I worried that I’d have to dedicate time to creating Patreon content, vs. writing. I realized however that I have no shortage of content to share with those that want it, early and in some cases exclusive access to my words.

So, if you want to get access to scenes as I write them, or early access to digital releases, or even want to ensure that every book I release, there’s a signed copy with your name on it, then check out the options on the Patreon page.

If you’re happy to buy the books when they release and don’t need more than that, that is 100% fantastic.

I won’t be sharing less on the blog, or in the newsletter, and the Rogues Gallery will still get content. I don’t want to create a walled garden.

Patreon supporters will get access to things that I don’t normally share (Scenes, commentary on scenes, etc), things I share sporadically here (Cover reveals and such), as well as access to other stuff first (Ebook and audiobook releases). I’ve also created a special sticker (Image above) that is just for supporters. Sorry, I wanted to sweeten the deal. :)

If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, you know that making a full-time living as a writer is my goal. This is one more step toward that. Like any business, Rogue Publishing will have multiple revenue streams. I want to offer as many ways as possible for fans to support me.

Writing Update (Grand Human Empire)

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So, last week I talked about the Space Rogues series. This week I wanted to dig into my other space opera series.

The Grand Human Empire came about because I’ve always loved scifi that featured that mostly capable loner/small group, just getting by.

With Space Rogues, I always tried to keep the crew grounded so that every book wasn’t a “The Team saves the galaxy” type of story. I generally don’t love those.

The Grand Human Empire is even more grounded in everyday type adventures. Jackson, Naomi, and the droids are just trying to keep themselves fed and cover the rent. They’re not into getting sucked into galactic politics. After all, getting involved is what killed Jackson’s parents.

What’s it look like when there’s a rebellion trying to fight a mostly evil empire, and you’re just trying to deliver a bunch of parts to a starship repair depot? Sounds boring, but there’s a lot of fun to be had in the middle spaces.

Reception.

So how has the series done? Not bad. I was able to get three books out in pretty rapid(ish) release. I can’t keep up that pace, sorry readers, but I’ll release 1-2 a year like Space Rogues.

I looked at 2021 numbers, and while not unseating Scalzi or anything, not a bad start. Book 1 dropped with little fanfare, as did book 2. I really pushed the pre-orders for book 3 once I had a bit of an audience.

What’s Next?

I’m working on the next book now. Well, right now I’m doodling ideas and plot lining them to see what strikes me. I fully expect to have book 4 out sometime in the fall.

My goal is 1-2 GHE books and 1-2 Space Rogues Universe books. We’ll see how that goes.

Remember, you can buy all my books wherever you buy books, including directly from me (Cutting out the middle man)

Writing Update (For Space Rogues)

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Space Rogues 10 paperback

I’ve been hard at work on “What’s Next” for the Space Rogues universe for a while now.

Book 10: Rogue Enterprises (available for Pre-order!) will be out in a few months. It doesn’t wrap up the Space Rogues story but does provide a place for folks who don’t love long/ongoing series, to gracefully exit.

I have no intention of ending the adventures of Wil Calder and the crew of the Ghost. BUT. I do intend to change things up.

A New Beginning

Enter, ‘Rogue Enterprises 1: Long Days, Short Knights’ I’m almost done with this one. I have about 20k words left to write. This book (the title is a teaser) focuses mostly on our friend Bennie. The rest of the team is there, but the bulk of the story is Bennie learning what being a Knight of Plentallus is all about. It’s been an absolute blast to explore this character more deeply than normal.

The Rogue Enterprises series will start as a new entry point for readers. I’ll introduce the entire team and provide some back story so new readers won’t be lost.

Strategy!

This is largely a tactical decision. Not everyone likes long series. Maybe the blurb for Space Rogues 1 doesn’t wow them, but the blurb for Rogue Enterprises 1 does. Maybe then they decide to go back and read the first 10 to better know the characters.

The other benefit of this is that it gives me one more “book 1” to advertise. I can’t advertise the 8th book in a series. It just doesn’t work like that. I can, however, advertise book 1, over and over, forever.

From a business standpoint, that’s invaluable. To survive, an author either needs a lot of series, with book 1’s they can advertise or lot’s of entry points into fewer, longer series.

A Different Approach

With the Rogue Enterprises series, my goal is to focus on small subsets of the team (Mostly). Book 1 is bennie and (Spoiler). Book 2… I dunno. I’m thinking Maxim and Zephyr need a story. As I said above, everyone gets some time in every book, but each book is going to have a bit of a focus, at least to start.

Eggs, Baskets, Yada Yada

Much like being wide is a part of my business strategy, so is having more than one series. The Space Rogues series is written in present tense and I can’t tell you the number of people who just can’t wrap their heads around it. Rogue enterprises is more traditional, past tense.

Not only multiple series in that universe but adding entirely new universes. I’ve slacked more than I’d like to admit on my Thriller series, but it’s still on my mind. The Grand Human Empire series thankfully, I busted out 3 books in rapid succession so that series can start getting some legs.

Next week, I’ll talk about my plans for these other two series.

An iPad Only Life

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iPad Pro and Blackberry Smoke

I wrote about moving to more of an iPad only life last year. I wasn’t sure how that would go, overall, especially as things eventually would return to leaving the house. That post was when I still had a laptop.

Since then, I’ve moved to the M1-powered iPad Pro, sold my MacBook Air, and have zero regrets.

In addition to reading the news, watching videos on the planet, my two main professional uses are conferences and writing. So let’s dive into those.

Conferences.

My biggest concern was conferences. In 2020 events were online and I didn’t need to stand at a podium and present. Something that was easy peasy on a laptop. At the end of 2021 one of my conferences was hybrid, and I was gonna have to present from my iPad.

Big positive. Managing a hybrid event. One thing the iPad rocked at, was keeping my streamyard studio in my hand all day. I could open the browser, see the live stream, flip a banner on or off, push an announcement to the screens, etc. That was freeing. I could be on the move, and still managing the online portion of the event.

Big Negative. Presenting. Keynote for the iPad is …. Not awesome. It’s hard to use, the limitations of iPad OS make grabbing images and content and getting into Keynote an exercise in frustration. Sadly I don’t see Apple fixing this. Their ‘business’ suite of apps has slid more and more towards beginners (On the Mac and the iPad). Finding a better way to present is on my list for 2022 events. Thankfully I’m not on stage THAT often.

Also Bad. The projector/iPad relationship. I don’t know what the issue is here. During my closing remarks, the iPad would just lose connection to the projector and fall out of presenter mode. It was annoying, to say the least. I tried more than one dongle. No idea if it was THOSE projectors, that version of iPadOS, or some combo therein.

Writing.

Writing on the iPad hasn’t changed much in the last two years. Scrivener is still not very good on it, but is good enough (The dev team’s motto, I assume). I’ve been playing more and more with Dabble, but it’s…. so so, mostly around how iPadOS with a keyboard is wonky. Likely also some weirdness since it’s a web app vs. native swift.

I’ve written books on the decks of riverboats in Egypt, on trains, in tents in Tanzania, on beaches, in airplanes, and most importantly to me, breweries.

I’m trying out Logitech’s keyboard solution (I don’t know why, but I have a Super Strong anti Bluetooth vibe on accessories for the iPad), since I wanted a case for the iPad when not with a keyboard. It’s not perfect (review forthcoming).

Hopes for the future.

My hope is that with the addition of the M1 (likely some M1X or M2 in the near future), Apple will take a serious swing at making iPadOS not “iOS with split-screen”.

COSine 2022

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My first in-person thing of 2022 is this weekend! I’m equal parts excited and nervous, but mostly excited.

I’ve got a table in the dealers room all weekend so if you’re nearby come say hi, sit in on some awesome panels, meet cool folks.

Speaking of panels. I’m moderating my first panel this weekend. That’s the root of most of the nervousness. I’m looking at this entire weekend as a great opportunity to practice my stoicism.

Come again?

:) While I’m 100% certain I’ll never attain a mastery of stoicism, I like the calmness it can help impart. One of the tenets is that you accept what is in your absolute control, and let what isn’t in your direct control not bother you.

So what is in my direct control?

  • I’m going to try to be the best moderator I can
  • I’m going to try to be the best panelist I can
  • I’m going to try to be the best salesperson I can

That’s it. Everything else is beyond my control.

Will people buy my books? I can’t say.

Will people enjoy my moderation of the panel? No idea

Will people like my answers on the panels? Shrug.

All I can do is my best at those and accept that the rest is out of my control and not worth worrying about.

Welcome to 2022

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The survival gear is on aisle two. Bladed weapons, aisle five. We hope you are ready for the final entry in the 2020 trilogy.

Hopefully, you’ve read my 2021 write-ups. If not, feel free, or don’t :) The tl;dr; is that I scraped by on conferences, barely. Much thanks to my awesome communities. I had my best year as an author.

So. What do I have planned for 2022?

Well, more of the same, mostly.

Writing-wise. I want to get (at least) four books out.

  • Space Rogues 10: Rogue Enterprises
    • Written, going through revisions before heading to the editor
  • Space Rogues: Rogue Enterprises Book 1
    • Writing, about 1/3 done
  • Grand Human Empire Book 4
    • Not started
  • Expedition Inc. Book 2
    • Not started

I’m going to focus my efforts on balancing and my promotional efforts. I think with more GHE books, I’ll be able to spread things out a bit more and leverage that new backlist. Plus with launching a new entry point into the Space Rogues universe, I hope that brings in new readers.

I’m really excited about launching Rogue Enterprises!

I’ve got a few in-person things booked, and I think that’s it. Unless these already booked things kindle some new love, I don’t think in-person events are worth my time. I don’t care to be known as (Yet another) writer on panels, etc. Depending on the event and the audience, a table might still make sense, but yeah. The jury is out on in-person events.

Conferences.

  • 360|iDev is already on the books (Hotel contracts yo!). It’ll be in-person with a hybrid component.
  • 360|AnDev is almost certainly going to happen. We haven’t locked down the plan yet, but no reason to think it won’t take place in July per usual.
    • I haven’t synced up with Chiu-Ki yet, but 2021 went OK. I’d like to get back to in-person, maybe add a hybrid option.
  • Chicago Roboto is… Probably going to happen. My co-chair is awesome and I think we’ll rock it. I had initially hoped to put it late April, getting it back into it’s spring time frame, instead of late fall. That doesn’t seem realistic with omicron burning through the country.
    • I haven’t synced up with Victoria on this, but I have no reason to think we won’t do it.

One thing I’ve decided with conferences this year is to recognize the realities in the communities I serve. In both, conferences are valuable, but there just isn’t much brand loyalty.

I see much more loyalty in the iOS/Mac community, likely because 360|iDev has such long legs and has been such a big part of a lot of people’s lives and careers. But even so, that only goes so far. For the Android community, it’s much more pronounced.

None of that is said as a complaint, more an admission of something I didn’t want to acknowledge. Acknowledging this fact, I hope, will help me plan the conferences accordingly. I’ll evaluate pricing and what’s offered. Gone are the days (mostly) of attendees being scrappy one and two-man shops with the next awesome game or app idea.

So that’s the gist of my plans for 2022. After 2020 and 2021 I’m not thinking too big or expansive right now. Let’s hope us and our democracy survives the year and then we’ll see.

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