Red Ice is finished!

At least the first draft is done. . . .

I finished the first draft this afternoon. It's a little longer than I expected, and a couple of decisions will have to be made after I go through and rewrite it. I'm going to lay this off to the side for a couple of days, then dive back in and rewrite it and see what happens.

Red Ice took me 108 days to write -- a little more than three months. A bit longer than I expected or planned. But I pushed through (one of the reason why I haven't posted in three weeks) and it's done.

Right now, I want to rewrite this and get it into Rick Chesler's hands before the end of the month. If everything goes right (Murphy, he whose law rules supreme, is a writer), I hope to see Red Ice up on Amazon by mid-September.

And the snapshot of AF's current standings:


Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,430 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#479 in Kindle Store > eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Military
#1104 in Kindle Store > eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military
#1217 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Military

Again, watching the sales raking going up and down is like watching an insane roller coaster. The funny things is while sales are ahead of last month, the borrow rate is way off from July -- off by over 3,000 pages. There was a glitch on Amazon earlier in the week which did screw up the page count. We'll have to see if that comes back, or if it's a lingering problem in Amazon's system.

As for overseas.....Amazon.uk

#61,928 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#224 in Kindle Store > Books > Crime, Thriller & Mystery > Thrillers > Military
#1141 in Kindle Store > Books > Crime, Thriller & Mystery > Thrillers > Action & Adventure
#1216 in Kindle Store > Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

Remember, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, Outcast Ops: African Firestorm is on Kindle Direct! Use this link! African Firestorm on Amazon! For Amazon UK, click here! And check out the other two (soon to be three) novels in the series!

Red Ice Final Stats (First Draft):

Done: Prologue, Chapter 1-41, Epilogue
Words Written the last twenty-two days: 18,985
Total Word Count: 72,400 (111.38% of 65,000 words)
Average Words Written per day: 670/day (+49)

Later!

Craig

Writing Red Ice: Days Eighty Through Eighty-Six

Has it been almost three months since I started writing this? Wow, times flies when you're writing.....

Anyway, I'm in the final stages of the next to last action piece in the novel. I finally got through Chapters 27 and 28. After I'm done, it'll be a set up leading into the climax and the climax itself. Maybe three or more updates. After that, it'll be going back through and editing and rewriting. But the first step must always be, Get the First Draft done!

There have been a few changes from outline to the actual writing --- I need to go back and add a few foreshadowing bits to set of actions that happen later in the book, maybe switch around a few scenes, proofreading and some editing. It's about halfway done -- the easy part is the first draft.....

And a snapshot of AF's current standings:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,852 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#494 in Kindle Store >  eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Military

#1105 in Kindle Store >  eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

#1199 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Military

These are the lowest rankings since I started doing this --- but it only takes a couple of sales to boost it back up into the top 100,000. We'll see if the downtrend continues.

As for overseas.....Amazon.uk

#45,458 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#160 in Kindle Store > Books > Crime, Thriller & Mystery > Thrillers > Military
#886 in Kindle Store > Books > Crime, Thriller & Mystery > Thrillers > Action & Adventure
#949 in Kindle Store > Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

So they finally broke the sales down on Amazon.uk by category. While the sales look much better here than on Amazon, there is less competition here, where a couple of sales here have a greater effect on sales. Right now, one out of every four sales of African Firestorm come from the United Kingdom.

It still making money -- It's not a mega bestseller, but I'm not looking to write one. I'm looking to write books books that sell consistently, over a longer period of time. More books means more money. It isn't a sprint, but a marathon.....

Remember, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, Outcast Ops: African Firestorm is on Kindle Direct! Use this link! African Firestorm on Amazon! And check out the other two novels in the series!

Red Ice Progress:

Done: Prologue, Chapter 1-30, 40% of Chapter 31
Words Written the last six days: 4,070
Total Word Count: 53,415 (82.18% of 65,000 words)
Average Words Written per day: 621/day (-4)

Later!

Craig

Writing Red Ice: Days Seventy-Two Through Seventy-Nine

I took Sunday off, as it was my Birthday, but I still managed to add a nice chunk of words to Red Ice. I have noticed that there's a twist in the plot I hadn't considered, so when I'm done the first draft and go through it again, I need to add bits and pieces to strengthen this subplot.

Chapters 27 and 28 have needed some reworking, for several POVs, make sure plot threads stay current with each other, and to make the action scenes flow better. I have them just about worked out and they should be done before the next update.


And because I'm a sucker for punishment, Here are the latest sale rankings for Amazon :

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:  #37,208 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#189 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Military

#309 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

#376 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Military

It bounced up father than I expected. Under the new system, there is a surprisingly large number of pages being read. How that will translate to actually money at the end of the month is not known. We'll see. I have a target page count in mind by the end of the month, and we'll see how close it comes.

I welcome reviews, so if you have read it, please post a review!

Amazon UK Bestsellers Rank: #65,205 Paid in Kindle Store

If you are a member of Amazon Prime, Outcast Ops: African Firestorm is on Kindle Direct! Use this link! African Firestorm on Amazon! And check out the other novels in the series!

Red Ice Progress:

Done: Prologue, Chapter 1-26, 85% of Chapter 27, 65% of Chapter 28
Words Written the last seven days: 6,025
Total Word Count: 49,345 (75.92% of 65,000 words)
Average Words Written per day: 625/day (+15)

Later!

Craig

Outcast Ops: Red Ice Cover!

I'll post an update on the progress of the writing of Red Ice in another day or two, but I thought I'd post this; the novel's cover.

Rick Chesler and I went back and forth on it over a couple of days, and we came up with this concept, which he sent to the cover guy. A few tweaks later and we have the above image. The above image was not in the original outline, but it will be in the final novel.

Great, isn't it?

I'm going back to the writing end of things, but I thought you should see what the cover's going to be. It also gives me the push to press on and finish this story.

Later!!

Craig

Writing Red Ice: Days Sixty-Seven through Seventy-One

Well, it's been a good few days. I have a new Chapter Twenty-Five that wasn't in the original outline, but should help ratchet up the novel's tension by a few degrees and add menace to the main villains. It's been a detour, but one I think helps the story. I'm going to use that to expand on a few things for the second go-through. But I need to finish writing it first....

We have a cover for Red Ice! I need to talk to Rick about whether or not I can post it, but I think it's a great cover that fits in well with the rest of the series.

Now, the writing is coming along well, I have twenty-five chapters done and Chapter Twenty-Six should be done tomorrow. I had to finagle some of the original timeline, but I think I'll add some headers to hep keep things straight.

Now, in case you'er wondering, the latest sale rankings for Amazon :

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,431 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#276 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Military

#531 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

#625 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Military

Again, a few sales will have an effect on the sales ranking, but I think the reviews is just as important. So, if you read it, post a review!

Amazon UK Bestsellers Rank:  #61,434 Paid in Kindle Store

If you are a member of Amazon Prime, Outcast Ops: African Firestorm is on Kindle Direct! Use this link! African Firestorm on Amazon! And check out the other novels in the series!

Red Ice Progress:

Done: Prologue, Chapter 1-25, 50% of Chapter 26
Words Written the last four days: 3,670
Total Word Count: 43,320 (66.65% of 65,000 words)
Average Words Written per day: 610/day (+10)

Later!

Craig

Writing Red Ice: Days Fifty-Seven through Sixty-Six

A short update tonight -- it's late.

Managed to continue rolling forward, closing in on 40K, but I ran into a a timeline problem, and a discussion with my co-author means I need to add in a chapter that promises to up the stories tension a few points. So, that took some time, but I think the story is still on track, maybe a little longer than I had planned, but it should help the story a bit.

The latest sale rankings for Amazon :

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,393 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#337 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Military

#725 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

#789 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Military

A few sales (or lack of) will make this number jump up and down a lot. But Rick and I are watching the borrow stats for the Kindle unlimited and Amazon Prime programs. This is the first month Amazon is paying by the page for borrows, which means more pages read = more $$ at the end of the month. The last two months (May and June) we were looking at a 75/25 split and a 60/40 split between sales and barrows, but this month so far, it's more of a 50/50 split. We'll have to watch this some more.....

As for Amazon UK, the ranking is below:

Amazon UK Bestsellers Rank: #123,973 Paid in Kindle Store

If you and are a member of Amazon Prime, you can borrow Outcast Ops: African Firestorm though Kindle Direct! Use this link! African Firestorm on Amazon! And check out the other novels in the series!

Red Ice Progress:

Done: Prologue, Chapter 1-22, 75% of Chapter 23
Words Written the last nine days: 3,610
Total Word Count: 39,650 (61.0% of 65,000 words)
Average Words Written per day: 600/day (-44)

Later!

Craig

Writing Red Ice: Days Fifty-One through Fifty-Six

And Red Ice is past the halfway point!

It's going well, bouncing between this and a short story submission for an Anthology and both are proceeding smoothly. But as I said in my other blog, I'm expecting something to go wrong --- it's the way of Murphy!

So, what have I been looking up for Red Ice lately? More street level looks at San Francisco (Google Maps are a writer's best friend when they need to describe a place they have never been!), how to breech a door, 12-Gage breaching rounds, and several shotguns to find the right one. Make of that what you will.....

And African Firestorm has been bouncing up an down on the sale ranks. Starting today, Amazon  has changed the way authors get paid for Kindle select titles. Before, an author got paid if a reader read 10% of the book -- in African Firestorm's case, 24 pages. But if an author write a 20-page story, they would get paid the same rate as I would after a reader read 2 pages. Now, someone read African Firestorm entirely, Rick Chesler and myself will get paid more than some author who wrote a 20-page story. It's only fair.....

Now, the latest sale rankings for Amazon:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,229 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#252 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Military

#439 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > War & Military

#537 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Military

As you can see, it's popped up again. A few sales will do that, and if you brought it after visiting this blog, I thank you. Looking at where the sales are coming from, over 70% are in the US, over a quarter from the UK and 2% combined from Canada and Australia. Interesting......

As for Amazon UK, the ranking is below:

Amazon UK Bestsellers Rank: #45,253 Paid in Kindle Store

Apparently, Amazon UK hasn't gotten around to breaking down the rankings below 100 in individual categories like Amazon US has. Hopefully that will change in the future.

If you haven't gotten Outcast Ops: African Firestorm yet, and are a member of Amazon Prime, you can borrow it though Kindle Direct! Use this link! African Firestorm on Amazon! And check out the other novels in the series!

Red Ice Progress:

Done: Prologue, Chapter 1-20, 5% of Chapter 21
Words Written the last six days: 5,000
Total Word Count: 36,040 (55.44% of 65,000 words)
Average Words Written per day: 644/day

Later!

Craig