New Solar Echoes Review!

This weekend I received an email from a gaming review website that had expressed interest last spring in Solar Echoes. I'd sent them the tutorial, Operation: Flash Strike, and a digital copy of the Player's Guide. They just let me know that their review is online, and I think it's a well-written and fair review of the game. Special thanks go out to everyone over at ChristCenteredGamer.com for spending time to learn and play Solar Echoes, and for writing such a nice review! Here's the link to the review:

https://www.christcenteredgamer.com/index.php/reviews/card-paper-rpg/6573-solar-echoes

Final Quiz Questions

Wednesday's question: Name the three biggest crime organizations in the Solar Echoes universe and what they specialize in.

Thursday: It's just about time to wrap up the quiz for the miniatures. The last question is easy: which miniature would you most like to have? Below is a link for you to take a look at each one. Please message me your answers. I'm excited to pick a winner tomorrow!

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/corefun-studios

Today's question:

Which two races were the original founders of the Interstellar Union (ISU) and what was done to get the other races to join? Which was the last race to join the ISU, and why were they last?

Solar Echoes Lore Quiz (win a miniature prize!)

This week, I'm going to be asking what you know about the Solar Echoes universe. There will a prize for the winner: a Solar Echoes 3D printed alien miniature (Strong and Flexible material) in the color of your choice, which will be mailed to your doorstep from Shapeways.com. The way this will work is as follows: I'll ask a question, and then you can send me a message with your answer, with as much detail as you'd like to include. The correct (and best) answer for the day will put your name on the list of finalists. If you should have the best answer for multiple days in a row, you increase your chances of winning by having your name included in the final draw that many times.

So, here is Monday's question:

Which alien race claims to have created the deadly extra-dimensional tear in space known as the Voidsea, and why?

Should You Self-Publish? (part 5)

So I've written a novel, the first part of a trilogy, that takes place in the Solar Echoes universe. I'm standing on the edge of decision, considering self-publishing but hoping for a publisher. I've been querying agents and some publishers that are open to direct submissions. So far, I have not had success. The more time I put into query letters and other submission requirements, the more I wonder if I should take the path of self-publishing, again. I'm holding off on self-publishing the novel, though, because I've already had years of experience with self-publishing and I'd like to see what a publisher could do differently than I can. Would a publisher increase my visibility and sales? Would a publisher connect me with more opportunities? Most likely, yes, so I am trying to land one. But, this process can take years, and one has to ask after going through the process for a while if it will ever result in anything. There is one last, important tip I'd like to give on this topic of self-publishing, though. Once you decide to self-publish your book, you can't go back—at least, not for that book. Publishers do not want to publish anything that has already been published before, especially something you've self-published. So, don't pursue the route of self-publishing unless you are absolutely convinced that traditional publishing is not going to work for you. That may be the case for me, but we'll see. Solar Echoes as a game addresses a very niche audience—the sci-fi role-playing crowd. Solar Echoes as a story, though, will hopefully attract a much bigger audience. A lot of us must really love space operas, because if we didn't, Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn't be such big hits. I'll keep you posted on how the process goes for my search, and let you know if I decide to give up on getting a publisher and instead decide to self-publish. From the many people I've talked with at conventions, though, a lot of people seem to be interested in a Solar Echoes novel—would you?

Should You Self-Publish (part 4)

So what can a self-published author do? Be aggressive and talk up your book in as many places as you can online, at conventions, among friends and colleagues, and any other social situation you can think of. Paying for a vendor table at a convention is sometimes expensive, and you'll have the added travel and hotel costs to deal with if the convention isn't local, but a presence at a convention goes a long way towards keeping your name viable in the community. Personal contact with an author is much more memorable than a picture of your book cover on twitter with a short advertising blurb. I'm not naturally a social person—and I'd guess a lot of authors are similarly reclusive introvert types that prefer to write all day without human interaction—but I've learned how to be outgoing, because it's an important part of sharing what you're passionate about. There's a reason that a lot of publishers want to know that you, the author, will be willing to attend book-signings: people are much more likely to consider reading your book when they can talk with you and sense your genuine passion and enthusiasm for the story you've written. Simply put, as a self-published author, you'll need to do a lot of the same things the publishers would do for you--or require of you--in their marketing strategies, but you'll have to foot the bill and the time for it all.

Should You Self-Publish (part 3)

I'm talking about marketing. My naïve, 2012-self figured that putting up a website, putting my product on sale through a reputable digital storefront (RPGnow.com), and talking about it on social media would be what I needed to get the word out. Five years later, I have only 100 followers on my product's Facebook page, around 630 followers on Twitter, and my product is buried among the thousands of other sci-fi RPG's on sale at RPGnow.com. That's not to say that I'm not making sales—the last time I sent out an email notification of a new product, I had over 700 emails on my list of people that have purchased my products on RPGnow. Don't just take my example, though, there are plenty of self-published authors selling their books online, often through Amazon, and I typically see around 4 or 5 reviews total on a book that is ranked somewhere in the millions in the Amazon best-seller rankings. This can be true of books online sold through a reputable publisher, too. The difference, though, is that the self-published author is doing all of the marketing himself. On Twitter, I've followed a lot of authors, and I'm constantly seeing announcements and ads for their books. These authors are working hard, using social media to spread the word. Although I don't have actual statistical numbers on this, my guess is that a lot of these authors aren't investing much money, if any, into paid advertising. There is a line we all must face where you ask yourself how much more money are you willing to pump into a project that is seeing a limited return?