If Only They Could See My Middle Finger…
Alright, first thing’s first…I hate the hell out of Amazon. Let me explain:
I published an entire novella on there. A book that I’ve had on there since March 28th, of 2023. And the book is still on there — the rough draft at least. But the problem is…I can’t get ahold of the epub file for this book. Amazon doesn’t give you a way to do this (unlike other platforms I publish through). And you might be thinking — “Sakari, why do you need the epub file of your own book? Can’t you just go into your documents and get the draft” –
No I can’t. No…I really can’t. And that’s because my dumb ass never saved it into my flash drive — only a previous laptop that I had it on. Some may blame me, but I’m still blaming Amazon. Idc, I just am.
But anyhow, that’s an entire book gone. Lucky for me, it was a standalone book, so nothing was really hurt by this. In fact, I still have the actual cover, so I can easily just write a different version of that book. This leads me to my next point…
Standing On Its Own
Standalones. This is where I’m definitely going, moving forward. I’ve come to realize that I’m not a Series type of guy. I can do series, but I prefer them to be either loose tie-ins or stand on their own within that series. Sort of like my favorite video games: Resident Evil (series), Final Fantasy (series) and sad to say, but the Call Of Duty (series). I draw accidental inspiration from each of these series, as they each are standalones. No matter how many games come out in each of those series, you can pick up whichever one, in whichever order, and each one gives you a standalone experience. Actually, a lot of games are heading in that direction, and I’m all for it.
Even my other favorite video game series, Pokemon, has always done that as well.
I can tell a story in one book. I’ve done it so many times in the beginning of my career. I can make my books larger and finish an entire saga in that book alone. This breaks fatigue and allows me the freedom of advancing on to another book. And by me still being early in my career, my audience hasn’t quite expected too much from me, other than poetry, so this gives me that staple of being “that author with the standalone books.” You know, like Stephen King, or R.L Stine, or even Johnathan Rand. I’ll always choose choice/freedom, over duties and commitments (contracts).
The Music Model
Speaking of standalones and poetry, I’m currently working on two poetry books at the moment. I want to continue my “musician model” of releasing poetry — releasing smaller projects of poetry in preparations for the larger scaled projects. However, I’m digging deeper into a truer aspect of the “musician model.”
You see, musicians release one body of projects, that being an album or something of such. Then, they release this thing called a deluxe — an add on to that project with either the same cover or a small twist on the cover. Think of a video game and then an expansion. That’s exactly what I’m going to do, moving forward.
All of my poetry projects going forward will have two editions, separating the eBook style and the paperback style. I want to give readers a reason to grab both versions if they’d like, instead of the eBook being the same thing as the physical copy. So, moving forward, the eBook versions of each poetry book I release, will contain one hundred poems, while the physical copies, will lean more towards those who desire more poetry without having to wait for an entirely new project — these books being 200+.
I want my projects to start having “rollouts” when I release them, so I’m going to be releasing less books, but they will be bulkier. With so many books already out there by so many authors, I don’t want my catalog alone, to become expensive, the vaster it gets.
I’m currently working on two poetry projects, known as Sex & Other Addictions, and Born From A Wish. The way it’s looking, Born From A Wish will be releasing first.
My Recent Releases Of Poetry:
1) Inside My Hoodie:
(Which is an Amazon exclusive release — sigh. I’ll be changing that in the next set of hours)
2) Recoded:
Both of these books will be relaunched with the new formula in mind, as well as me going back and choosing select books from my catalog to do the same thing with. I’m not going anywhere as a poet and I hope as a reader, you aren’t either.
Finally Wrapping Things Up
Alright. Here’s the fun part:
(Sweats uncontrollably as I type this section)
Right now, I’m finally wrapping up the first arc of my vampire series How Long Is Forever. The book is already 5 books in, with the first four books being novellas, and the fifth one being an actual novel. Well, probably closer to a light novel, but the point is, it will definitely be 40–45k in words minimum.
As I said before, I want to get back into the “standalone” model, giving me breathing room to come back to any of these franchises whenever I please, with less of a sense of obligation behind it. “If it feels like work, I’m not doing it” — is a model that I often live by.
Life is too short for strings to be attached to every…single…thing. I’ve never lived that way and I’m not going to start now. The traditional thing for authors nowadays, is to launch a series — this, I don’t mind. But the series will definitely be STANDALONE books, so no one has to feel discouraged, when they look at my catalog of fiction. You won’t feel obligated to read six books before getting to the one that “everyone is talking about.” Just chill and pick up whatever one of my pieces of fiction and be your own judge of whatever book you liked the best.
My fiction will be no exception on how I’m doing things advancing. My fiction will pick up a more rapid paste, but it will still be bulkier projects, with an actual “rollout” behind them. I plan on releasing a fiction book every other month, giving me time in between those months to release a poetry book. So basically, you’ll still be getting a book a month from me.
My Purpose In Life
And finally…the good ole ‘I’m leaving Amazon’ rant. Because yes, Amazon can once again go to hell, with gasoline underwear on. I swear, I have a strong love-hate relationship with Amazon, because it’s Pay 2 Win model. It’s literally Pay To Win. The more money you put into their…you know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to complain, I’m just here to say that I’m leaving the exclusive part of Amazon. My books do better in the libraries and on Apple Books anyway. I haven’t missed a single month of being paid by Apple.
I’m also taking things a step further. I’ll still have my books on Apple and in online libraries, but I am also placing other projects on my Shopify store. Projects that won’t be on Apple. This is just to plant seeds for my future, with me going in a stronger direction of being truly independent. Next step after Shopify, is my own website.
My purpose in life is freedom. It’s been this way since I was a kid. I’ve endured so much for this method of life, and until it’s time to dig my own grave, this is the path I will always choose. I don’t do whips or no chains. I don’t do contracts or strings. Freedom…over everything.