Why Give Away Free Short Stories?

At this point I've written far more short stories for Relic Worlds than I have books, and probably have more words invested in them as well.  But the books are what people pay for, and they're the meat of the story.  So why have short stories I give away for free?

The reason is simply because people have to be dragged kicking and screaming into something new, especially today.  Any more, if it wasn't a popular movie in the '80s that will feed someone's nerd cred, they won't give it a chance.  Ironically, these iconic movies became popular because we in the '80s gave them a chance; but that's another blog post that I've already written.

Asking someone to pay for something they're already not sure they want is all the more difficult.  So the best way to get them involved is to give them something for free.  The first book is of course a good way to do that, and most series do, including Relic Worlds.  However, once that's released, sending it out there into social media without being labeled as a spammer is difficult.  It's better to have something new to send out on a fairly regular basis.

It's also easier to get people to read something smaller that leads them into the broader scope; again, especially today.  I can send a short story to a group on Facebook and have a better chance of them looking at it.  I can even post the story in the message itself.  Additionally, social media works on quantity.  With one book you have a single list of tags and hashtags.  With multiple short stories, each one can have its own list of labels.

Ultimately, having the large list of short stories has built out the world and created an entire new view of the universe of Relic Worlds.

Wanted, Foul, & Worthy, a Relic Worlds Novella

I've fallen into a pattern with Relic Worlds where one year I'll release a book, and the next year I release a series of short stories.  Then the next year is a book, then short stories, etc.  This year, however, I decided that instead of writing a bunch of short stories, I would write a serialized story with one chapter releasing each month that in the end is a complete novella.

It's called Wanted, Foul, and Worthy and it's a sci fi version of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  I originally intended to do it as a short story; but as I started, I quickly realized that it needed to be longer.  I didn't want it to be one of the main books, so I decided to change this year up a little bit and just have this be one stretched out short story.  It was the perfect time to do it, too, as there were a few characters missing from book three, and they happen to be the perfect characters for this one.  I also had a criminal character from Jude and Little Jack's past that melded perfectly into this.

I will post chapters on this blog later this year, but for now, you can find the first chapter at: http://www.relicworlds.com/Wanted_Foul_and_Worthy_-_Part_1.pdf

The Three Villains in Every Relic Worlds Book

I'm usually not one for formulas.  I believe one can paint oneself into a corner that way, or make themselves stale with "good old fashioned storytelling."  I even bristle at the mention of act 1, act 2, act 3, even though that's the basic recipe in all storytelling.  However, some stories benefit from basic tropes; especially those that are supposed to be familiar and fun.  Relic Worlds has a lot of that flavor to it.

As such, in each book I purposely set out some basic formulaic outlines to follow.  One of these elements is the antagonists.  I became inspired when Red Letter Media was analyzing a film, and they brought up the basic villains in Indiana Jones movies.  There's the brains behind it, the muscle or fighter, and the one who represents the society in which they're living.  Beloq is the brains.  The Nazi commander is the muscle or fighter.  (He's sort of more of a leader, but he commands the soldiers who go after Indy.)  And then there's the guy wearing all black who represents what Nazis are all about.  Each of the Indy movies have this combination.

I may be copying a bit close by doing this, but I found that it works for my stories.  I try to keep the connection as widely varied in each book as possible, but having that familiar archetypes of the brains, the brawn, and the one who represents the world they're dealing with has been a great way to keep me focused on the familiar elements of this kind of story that make it work for the ones who want to see it.

Serializing All the Relic Worlds Books

Book three in the Relic Worlds series is the first one I'm doing that is truly serialized; meaning I'm releasing it in parts rather than as one full book.  There will be a completed book at the end that will be available both as an e-book and as a paperback.  But I'm first going to release it in three parts scattered throughout the year.

I was originally doing this mostly because I realized book three was going to take longer to do it right.  But then I realized that this is the best format for Relic Worlds.  First, the whole series is supposed to reflect the feeling of serials, where you follow your characters through multiple stories, each of which getting more severe, and often ending in cliffhangers.  When I watch Netflix series, I often feel like they are exemplifying the feeling I want to get across in Relic Worlds; catching their attention, then hooking them at the end to make them want to keep watching.

So I'm purposefully shifting Relic Worlds to have this style.  I already had some short stories like that, but now I'm going to bring it to the novels.  I'll also be giving them more of a sense of suspense between sections.  Up until now, and to an extent, even including book three, I've had a tendency to wrap up chapters and entire sections without any suspense or immediacy.  That's a habit of mine where I want to complete things.  But the model of hooking the audience that's been exemplified in "binge-worthy" television is to always end making the audience want more.

In addition to breaking up the stories from now on, I've also gone back to the first two books and broken them into three parts.  Each one is 99 cents, and the completed book is 2.99.  I just think this will be an exciting way to read it.  You can find the first one at Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2nYTStU  

This isn't entirely a business decision.  I genuinely feel the most enjoyable experience for an adventure story like Relic Worlds is to leave the audience on the edge of their seat wondering what will happen next.  And so that will be more of the format from now on.