November 2025 Newsletter

Hey, folks - It seems like it’s been a only a short bit.. because it has been. As I was about two weeks late in publishing the last monthly newsletter, right-sizing this one means I’ve got two weeks’ worth of work to show (and this month is rather heavy on the business side).

The main focus of this past month is the ARC (advance review copy) reader drive, which has brought a few more kind souls onto this distribution list (welcome). As it stands, we’ve got 22 reviewers from various interactions. The last day to signup is November 2nd (Sunday), and I’ll be sending a reminder, but just in case, here’s the link to the signup form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdXGipNkqRySrzvFxn6wBaCTNrH6Du_cSxje3ryE88-5EaOqw/viewform?usp=header

If you’ve already signed up or it’s not your thing, I’d really appreciate it if you pass the link around to other reader friends of yours or have them get in contact with me.

I mentioned ‘various interactions.’ A good chunk of that is me haranguing people at work, folks that I talk to around town, friends that I knew in the Army, met at O-Con, the list goes on. But, there are other people that join the community from other ‘various interactions.’ Those other interactions would be on social media. For those that keep tabs on that, I’ve dropped some snippets of book 1 into a few posts over Instagram and Facebook. For those that don’t, I’ll regale you with a few lines:
“The still, cold evening air was seared by a dozen arrows streaking like angry hornets,” (my thanks to Joe for pointing out this scene to me as an attention getter)
“Listen, you shining jar of hot piss,” (a favorite, one that made it onto the bookmarks that some of you remember from O-Con)
“I declare this inquisition void,” (actually a continuation of the same scene from the ‘shining jar of hot piss and addressing said same person owning the description of a receptacle of lustrous urine)
and “Because of you,”

Next week will have some more, I’ll probably pick some from book 2, but for those of you that’ve gotten through book 1, I’d be delighted to hear from you about what scenes grabbed your attention as you read through them. The kind where you got bumps on your skin reading them.

Aside from what I have been doing with Instagram, Facebook, X, the website and email newsletter, I’ve taken some advice and ventured into what I had previously thought to be no-man’s land: Reddit.

I am delightfully surprised that most of the subreddits are not as visceral as the AITA r/ and similar communities. On the one hand, I’ve enjoyed a lot more of the interaction. There’s more discourse and people are (generally) more constructive (there are still a few negative commenters, but I’m having an on-the-whole more positive experience on Reddit). At least three folks joined this list from various Reddit posts. Since I started writing this very newsletter, I have procrastinated by contributing to two different r/ communities.

This and a few other efforts (thanks to Sam, my marketing consultant), I have my first interview on Monday the 3rd with a newspaper, the Swampscott Tides, from the town where I grew up. Kinda nervous, honestly.

The physical copies of book 2 are almost here. I’ll be sure to post a video when they arrive. The new book 1 physical copies are just being printed now. When I updated the manuscript files, I ordered a couple of copies to check the formatting. Imagine my surprise when I received two copies of book 1 that were printed a year ago. So, I’ve been playing email tag with KDP staff (who have been very helpful - honestly, for anyone that’s chasing a dream of writing a publishing a book, I really do recommend KDP. They have their faults, but they have a more permissive process, are more accessible, and their staff is very responsive).

So, while you folks are reading book 1 and book 2, Unseen Wrath, this month, I will be going to school on keyword research to boost discoverability. Apparently, this is a whole thing and people spent 5-10+ hours on keyword research… I didn’t know any of that and apparently all my keywords are unhelpful to boosting discoverability.

If you remember the literal hole I dug last month, I am ashamed to inform you that I’ve made absolutely no progress in the last two weeks. I’ve been quite busy with the things I described above and otherwise barely managed to pick up a broom a couple times this month.

Song of the month:
Maimed (featuring Gurglesplat) by El Tigre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTmj6y5HKr4&list=RDSnygiPbKFas&index=4

She Swallowed Burning Coals by El Tigre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhclOjt7d2U&list=RDSnygiPbKFas&index=6
(guys, I tell ya, this stuff kills and is really great for knocking out work)

And a favorite, Run from the Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICjD3f-8SXE&list=RDSnygiPbKFas&index=8

Stay classy, folks.