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.

What's Coming Out for Relic Worlds

Since I've been talking about Relic Worlds recently, I figured I'd describe what products will be coming out for it, and what I'm working on for them.

First, what already exists are the following:

7 short stories
3 Pick Your Path books
2 novels
1 comic book

Here's what I'm coming out with this year:

12 short stories
1 Pick Your Path book
2 games
1 novel

There will actually be one more Pick Your Path book that will come out at Wondercon, but that's technically next year.  Some of the short stories might also come out next year as well, depending on how quickly the magazines publish them, (if they publish them,) and whether I am able to stick to my schedule.

www.relicworlds.com

Relic Worlds Promotions

I spoke before about the fact that I'll be pushing Relic Worlds over the next few months.  I thought it might be a good idea to explain the overall plan of how I will promote it.

August-September:
Get the word out about the series in general
Release past short stories to all mediums
Send out past short stories and novel to everyone who might review it or talk about it.

October-December:
Push the current short stories.
Release the current Pick Your Path book and games
Fix up and promote the upcoming book

January-March:
Release the new book
Promote the new book
Get as many reviews of the new book as possible

April:
Climax the whole thing at Wondercon

By "climax" what I mean is I'll have everything showing together.  That means all the books with the new one front and center, all the games, and all the ancillaries. I'll present it all at a booth, but I'll also have a presence at the game tables during the day, and the game room in the evening.  I'll also have models wandering the front getting their pictures taken and handing out cards.

This last will make it clear once and for all whether or not this series is going to work, or if it will become just a hobby for me.  We'll see.  In the meantime, check out Relic Worlds at:

www.relicworlds.com