Outpost Report | July Monthly Roundup
Fifth Draft, Book Discounts, Live Events, and Spotlight on Indie Website
LUMICRON CAPTURE | EN ROUTE TO CAPE GYTHMEL
XENOMENE TO VOID WALKER SQUAD
“The Heir’s willing to risk all-out war and retaliation from Ralloc, so it must be important.”
We’ve got a shorter post regarding updates this month, but that doesn’t mean stuff’s not getting done. The hard part’s just getting started. We’re past the point of mercy, so let’s stay on target.
Town Herald:
Quality over Quantity:
I’ve been looking at the metrics, and we have several folks who haven’t visited the Substack or opened emails in months, so I’ll be doing some cleanup. If you’re opening emails or interacting with the Substack, you’re not on the list.
Ultimately, my goal is building a community of active participants and readers, not chasing total subscriber counts. If you know someone who might like to join our ranks, send them our way. And for those who’re already here, please share the posts, like the ones that resonate with you, and join the discussion down in the comments.
First Print Stock:
I’ve been thinking about the books I have sitting around the house. Most of my older work has been revised as of 2025. I’ve decided I’m going to donate these prints to prison libraries. I’m sure they could use a much-needed mental escape, and well, I’d have a…captive audience. That’s the plan, anyway.
Vol. IV Cover:
I’ve ordered with Ivan in Italy. When he gets back from vacation, his inbox is going to be full, but he’ll get to me. The wheels are turning. Stay tuned. Update: late August or early September is his tentative start date.
Smashwords Discount:
This was the first year I participated in the sale, and I’m glad I did. It seems I’ve picked up some new readers. You have a few more hours to swoop in and pick up discounted books. After July 31st, it goes back to full price. All my ebooks are 50% off, and if it was $0.99 before the sale, then it’s free now.
Live Events:
Due to holiday and other things, Live Events have taken a little bit of a backseat, but I plan to get back to it on a regular basis on Saturday, August 8th. Almost all Live Events are on Saturdays at 7:30 p.m CST, with a rare few occasions of them being during the week at the same time.
That said, not all Live Events are behind a paywall. Some are available to free subscribers, but you’ve got to catch them when they hit your inbox. Going forward, all Live Events available to free subscribers at the time of going live will be locked for review afterward, meaning: if you catch it live, you’re good; if you miss it, you’re out of luck, so pay attention to your inbox.
Spotlight on Indie (SOI):
Okay, I mentioned this in my Live Events, but it’s worth bringing it up again, especially for all you book lovers out there—and authors in my audience who might also be interested. It’s hard getting discovered as an indie author. It requires a lot of time, money, no small amount of luck and skill, and a crazy fandom. That said, in the sea of books being published by traditional institutions, or AI-generated content, it’s hard to weed out and find those people. That’s where SOI comes in.
And I’ve joined.
What is SOI? In short, and in their own words: “We showcase the incredible work of independent authors who care about telling good stories without an agenda and make it easy for readers to find exactly the right book, then buy it from their favorite retailer.”
What’s more, before you buy a book from an author, you can read how the actual author rates their books in important categories. Let’s say you don’t like a book with sex. Guess what? You can quickly filter out books you don’t want to read based solely on that. The categories are: language, violence, sex, and Biblical themes, the things most audiences care about.
Here are a few more reasons you might be interested:
Full author social media and web link availability in profile
Ability to link to every place online that the books/stories are available, including custom links
Book evaluation by admins and moderators to keep out modern ideological messaging that has alienated broad audiences
Interact with authors in the discussion forum
Leave reviews of books on the platform
Indie World - links to other independent creator support sites
Bottom line: you want a good story, and there are authors out there that want to give it to you. So, swing by and check out Spotlight, and I hope to see you there! Oh, and did I mention it’s free to join? Support your indie authors, and support the incredible team that put this website together.
Battle Formations:
Maro and the world of Atar:
Red Creek and Bloodbane have been given a second round with my new editor, and I just got it a few days ago. Maybe by the time you’re reading this, I might’ve gone through Red Creek, but we’ll see. It might be a weekend thing, just to break up the monotony without wrecking my momentum on the 5th draft of Vol. IV. I’m sure K.T. knocked it out of the park, and they’ll gleam like Maro’s polished steel.
Also, in case you missed it, and it got buried in the avalanche of Wanted Posters, Man of Fury, book 3 of the Maro Prakk Novella Series, is available for preorder. It’s coming in hot October 26, 2026, and you can’t be dealt your hand if you’re not sitting at the table.
Vol. IV: Draft 5.
The big one has started to slim down, and I’ve got to say, it’s looking good. I’m pleased with the progress, even if it’s taking me a little while. Here’s something I learned very early on: I’ve got to break up my chapters in my editing process, or I burn out really, really fast. I have an upcoming post about the 5th draft edit, where I explain in detail exactly what I do. Be on the lookout for that one!
Let’s take a look and see the precision:
Start Date: 6/8/26
Finish Date:
Editor Due Date: 10/1/26
Prologue: 1/1
Chapters: 24/56
Epilogues: 0/9
Starting Word Count: 265,407 (story only)
Target Word Count: 250,000
Current Word Count: 256,142
Mood: Steady.
So, it actually looks like I’m cutting a little heavy, as I’ve almost reached my goal, and I’m almost to the halfway point. Well, it’s a ballpark in my estimation. I want to be around the 250K mark, but that doesn’t mean I can’t drop lower. Here’s the thing—I’m scrutinizing this bastard and making sure everything that’s in there needs to be there, while also accounting for volumes V–VIII.
So, if I can trim a little bit of gluttony on the padded prose describing the color of some random object you don’t care about, I’m going to do it. And as I said earlier in a post, this helps guage how I will handle my longer books when it comes to the final draft. It’ll help keep me on track for the current timetable. If you missed that, you can find it here.
I used to be all about worldbuilding, back when I first started publishing, but that doesn’t move the needle for me anymore. I like character moments, good and bad, to sit in the elation or decay, and know exactly what they think and feel. That’s what I focus on, and in this 5th draft, we’ve got to make sure that sentiment echoes through all the chapters without being repetitive.
The war horn’s sounded. Let’s go hunt those bastards down. That’s all I have for this round—short, sharp, and sweet. I shall return…
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