August 2025 Newsletter

Ok, folks! Another really busy month. First item to talk to you about is O-Con (Omaha Convention (not in Omaha, actually in Council Bluffs, IA, across the Missouri River from Omaha).

This was my first convention as a vendor (4th convention that I’ve ever been to, I believe), so I am a noob in several contexts. I got to meet a lot of great people, some of whom are kind enough to join us on this mailing list or view the newsletter on my site, however you wish to consume.

For those of you new to the mailing list, if you picked up a copy, I’m pretty sure you’re gonna enjoy it. Some people tell me the names are a stumbling block. —> hit me up about them. Reply to this email, use a contact form on my site, or hit my up on any of my socials, and I’ll post with the pronunciation on it.

If you took one of my hands outs, remember, the first three chapters of books 1 and 2 are free on the site.

I also got to meet a few aspiring authors that really remind me of my own situation a few years ago, when I was still working on the draft manuscript and had no clue how to publish. Had some really great conversations with folks and talk about their dreams.

I also had a chance to meet quite a few other authors. Within the first few hours, I realized that I was the littlest author at the con because they all had 3+ books out. You know what, though. They are an incredibly welcoming lot. The sense of community between writers borders on familial. They come over, chat, offer advice, say ‘hey, what’s your pitch,’ which turned into ‘ooh, you need some work on that. Try this.’ There was no sense of competition between us. As such, I walked away from the convention with a few book purchases of my own from there.

There’s also a ton of other stuff going on at these conventions.

These guys are from the West Texas chapter of the 501st Legion. I didn’t know there were chapters or why the West Texas chapter came all the way up to Omaha (Council Bluffs, I know, I know), but they were a pretty awesome set of folks and were kind enough to set up this benign pose. There was plenty PLENTY of cosplay of all types (except Babylon 5, I didn’t see any Babylon 5 cosplay).

There were all kinds of vendors there. As I mentioned, other writers, like myself, graphic novel artists, digital artists, acryllic painters, tons of 3d printers, lego minifigures, jewelry makers, children’s book writers/artists (these are fantasy/scifi-themed childrens books), you name it.

I’ll get to the business aspect at the end of this (for new folks, I try to peel back the curtain a bit and let you see the business aspect).

Last thing before I move on, I could really use your review.
On Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHZZQPFG
On Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218197964-the-witches-of-serna
Tell your friends.

Next up, Steve Rookard continues work on the characters and scenes around the Ministry of Magic’s covert location.

Sassy human for scale only, not included.

So, this is the main structure for the secluded manor house. It’ll likely get scaled down a bit and Steve will add some support buildings (Steve is actually waiting on me to get this feedback to him - I’ve told him and I’ve told you now, so I really better do it soon). But this main structure started from the this next one below.

As you can see, Steve scaled it down significantly, removing the wall and the tower. You might ask, ‘why not keep the wall and the tower? It’s awesome!’ Truly it is awesome. But, with the way this world is built, this site is located deep inside Yvel’s secure territory. There was never a need for this location to be fortified and so a wall and a tower would be a needless expense.

This site comes to significance in book 2, but Steven is drawing a scene in book 4. There’s a lot of developments that come out of this remote site and its inhabitants that I’m really excited to share with you and excited to have Steve along to help show you.

Touching back on the convention, of the various authors that I met there, some of them offer some of their own contacts. And so, I was introduced to another artist, Debora Pellicano. We are still figuring things out, but she’s going to work on another book 4 scene that takes place near the city of Soorin. The first step, of course, is nailing down the characters.

You might ask, ‘what’s that?’ That’s a goblin. But then you’d say, ‘but that doesn’t look like the goblin that Steve drew.’ You’re right. Deb and I are still necking this down, but she’s going to have her own interpretation of my words. I’ve drawn goblins, too and they’re still different from that. This is the thing with sharing your creative vision. You learn from other creators. Sometimes it changes your vision a bit. It very well may end up that there are a few different depictions of what a goblin looks like. Or elves, or orcs, or what have you. And that’s fine. Months ago, Jade Bohlsen drew some of the goblin characters with blue or green hair and that changed my conception. Before, I only had them with black hair, but, given how they came to be, I decided to agree with her idea and include that into their physiology.

So, a lot of art this month. Yep. And with that, I finally finished it:

I can’t tell you the title without it being a spoiler, but you’ll know this scene when you get to it in book 2. I promise. But to give just a bit, in the front with the long hair and bloodspray, is Muydiyet the Great. She is the leader of the Wiridil tribe of hobgoblins.

To transition to other activities and thoughts, here’s the music of the month:

Found a new channel on YT, Static Hearts. My first contact was Lonely Wavelength:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3-bSj9n7ec&t=1177s
Currently listening to, Midnight Echoes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jkMz1YGbVI from the same channel. Good chill and do work music. Great chill and do work music, in fact.

I’ve been listening to this one for a while, but it really doesn’t get old: Bass Monster Remix of 1,000,000 by NIN (been a fan since high school): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Fup72MNXU&list=RDMMJ6Fup72MNXU&start_radio=1 (best enjoyed with headphones on full volume or with the benefit of a cranked subwoofer).

I mentioned that I picked up a few books at O-Con. This is actually modified, here. There are a couple that I got at O-Con that are not pictured, and a couple that I picked up outside O-Con, namely the Burning Wheel Anthology and Newsletter Ninja. I’m currently reading Mercenary by Dennis Young (whom I met at O-Con), Loyal by Michael Terracciano (also met at O-Con (and yes, that’s right, it’s 18+ because of a scene in there, but this is a thing to be aware of. You can sell your 18+ wares at some conventions, but they all have to be appropriately marked and can only be displayed in certain ways), and Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque.

Burning Wheel is a tabletop RPG that I play. It changed gaming, storytelling, and the world-building process for me. The red book is the Burning Wheel Anthology and it has some rules elaborations. On this topic, I have been dragging my feet in getting another podcast episode out. I aim to get caught up with releases this month. I’ve only put out one episode in two months, despite several recordings.

Here’s the latest episode, #14, the Helpful Carpenter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVi4Ez0gteY

The books by Darby Harns, Mandi Oyster, Patrick Bartmess are all from O-Con and on my TBR list, along with a book by Christopher Schmitz (A Kiss of Daggers, which is actually loaned out right now).

So, then you might ask, ‘sure, O-Con was probably a lot of work, but that was at the beginning of the month. Did you do anything at all this month? Stop pointing at the drawing!’
Yes, this month has been another month of projects. I refinished two night stands, a dresser, and I’m currently working on refinishing a table. About the put the fourth coat of polyurethane on the table. I also finished editing book 2 and the appendices and they’re almost done with one last quality control test read.

And now…. the business part. In transparency, I had a bit of an anxiety attack leading up to O-Con, not because of the thought of being in front of real people without the internet as a safety screen. No. No, not that. nononononno. It was the cost of getting ready.

Between the posters, bookmarks, postcards, business cards, banners I spent ~$400. It was a hunt to find good prices and bargains, but they were found, mainly through ordering in bulk. If you’re thinking about doing something like this yourself, give it a week to two weeks. Unbeknownst to me, the bookmarks, post cards, and business cards were printed overseas in Portugal (went through 360onlineprint.com) and CVS for the posters and map printouts. Granted, I got about 2000 postcards, 2500 bookmarks, and 2000 business cards, but that was based on the anticipated 5000-9000 event goers to O-Con, assuming that 3 out of 10 people would stop and chat (30%), then I 2000-2500 is actually a bit of a low ball.

So, here’s the thing. Foot traffic at O-Con significantly underperformed. Since O-Con was planned, four other events in the same general area popped up and competed with O-Con on its peak day: Saturday. So, 5000-9000 was really 3311.

On the plus side, I sold 17 books and made contact with 80 other people (that took handouts, like postcards or bookmarks), met a ton of great people, both readers, other writers, artists, and such.

On the minus side, not even including the cost of the postcards and other handouts (since I didn’t go through nearly as many as I thought I would and will be able to use that stock at other conventions), the table cost $460 ($380+$80 for power - and I was grateful to have power). I don’t live near Omaha and it was a 3-day convention, so there’s 3 nights in the hotel. I sold 17 books at about $17 each, but after printing and shipping costs, if I sell direct, I am making $9.60. 17 x $9.60 = 163.20. Less than half the cost of the table and, with the hotel, I lost $550-600 to vend at this convention. You know what? That’s ok. Think of it like buying a piece of furniture. A decent piece will cost this much or more. I am trying to gather new readers. With O-Con, that brings the mailing list up to about 50 people, not counting the ones that read this directly on the site. Starting out, this is the way of it. Still a net gain, I got to meet you guys.

Looking on, into the future, I had applied to FanExpo in Denver, QuadCon in Omaha, Planet Anime Kansas City, and Planet Comicon. I’ve been turned down for FanExpo, accepted into QuadCon (27-28 September), waitlisted for Planet Anime, and still waiting to hear from Planet Comicon. The big shows (FanExpo and Planet Anime/Comicon, ~45k ticket holders), tend to mix returning and new vendors, so each year, there’s a chance to get in. I’ll be reapplying if I can’t this year. For reference, though, This past Planet Comicon, in March of 2025, had applications full by October 2024. The next Planet Comicon in March of 2026 is already giving acceptance letters to people now, in August of 2025. Some of these shows, you apply over a year out. For your awareness.

Stay classy.