Author:
Wes
[ Edit | View ]
|
Date Posted: 09:07:30 02/12/12 Sun
>Wes, your willingness to keep them online free is
>precisely why I have been buying everything you make
>available on Amazon.
>
>I enjoyed the free versions, and because I have a
>Kindle and can afford to pay the Amazon download price
>I feel that putting some money in your pocket is the
>least I can do to thank you.
>
>There is a *lot* of low priced content out there to
>download, but it was your willingness to take a chance
>and put up a free version that got me started reading.
Most current readers have now forgotten the early days, or never knew about them. At the time I started Spearfish Lake Tales, it was just going to be a free site, a hobby. I've written a lot over the years, and I thought it would be nice to share some of my work, and maybe get a little feedback. I put up a donation box only as an afterthought, with the idea of getting some help with server expenses and other such odd stuff.
Then I got started posting Dawnwalker, which, of course, is huge and took something like five months to post. Part way through I started getting e-mails asking, "What would you charge to send me the whole thing?" I don't remember now but I think I said something like twenty or twenty-five bucks. I don't think I expected more than half a dozen responses, if that. Over the period of a couple months, I got ten times that!
That's still pretty much how I operate today, and intend to operate for a while. I'm not getting rich off Spearfish Lake Tales and don't really intend to; it's mostly intended to sweeten my retirement a little, when I can finally retire, which probably won't be for a few years yet. Right now, it means my wife can drive to work in a decent car, rather than an old clunker that was getting dangerous. That's considerably more than I intended when I started posting my stories.
I still like writing, and am, let's face it, compulsive about it. Every now and then a story comes on me that demands to be told. I've started and finished one new book since the first of the year, and am deep in a second. I haven't done the math, but it probably means that there will be new stories posted at least up into 2016, and with any kind of luck at all I should be a ways ahead by the time we get there.
It's really fun and exciting to see the ghost of an idea turn into a story. Often what happens surprises me, and that's part of what makes it fun!
I really appreciate all the support I've gotten from everyone. If I hadn't had that support I probably wouldn't have worked at developing new stories anywhere near as hard as I have.
The next new story will be starting in a month. It takes off in a little different direction than things I have done in the past, but it's been one of my favorites. I try to do something a little different in every story, but this one will be a little more different than most.
You mentioned my stories going on Amazon. That only started in December. Since my volunteer editors and I want to go through them and try to clean up the little fluffs and mistakes as much as we can, it's a relatively slow process. Canyon Fires should be going up in the next few days, and probably eight more in the next six months or so.
By the way, you can order mobi files for the Kindle of all stories, not just the ones on Amazon, directly from Spearfish Lake Tales. See the store page on the website for details.
Again, thanks for your support!
-- Wes
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
|
