Storytelling is my passion, and writing is my bane. I have been telling stories and writing them down since I was in the fourth grade. I've even been paid to be a storyteller and had an audience of over four hundred at one time. I've written in almost every fantasy genre, steampunk, supernatural, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, mystery and more that I can't remember at the moment. I've written fan fictions, short stories and even run-on novels (meaning that they never had an end). In my college days I was even forced to write poetry... though I won't subject you to those, I promise. They are truly awful.

But until a couple of years ago I considered myself a fantasy author. I'd written three fantasy novels, I even tried to publish one on my own and failed horribly. It's still floating out there in the dark corners of the internet. A failed story, that embarrasses me to no end. But then one day a Game Master I know and adore inspired me suddenly. And I sat down and wrote Aether Ones. From start to finish with two editorial passes, I wrote the entire book in five weeks. Then it sat on my shelf. After all, I'd never written anything more than a short science fiction story. So, it couldn't be all that good.

A couple of months later I sold an idea I had for a children's book to a publisher. They loved it and had me come in to talk about it. While I was there, the subject of my science fiction novel came up. This publisher didn't really specialize in sci-fi or any fictional works really. But it just so happened that they were trying to venture out into the new. So, I gave them my book to read.

They say getting a book published through a traditional publisher is like getting struck by lightning. Well, this really was more of a mild shock from rubbing your feet on the carpet. You see Brown Books isn't 100% a traditional publisher, but they aren't Indie or self-publishing either. They are a hybrid. They do require a traditional interview process; the work has to be good enough for them to put their names on because they come from the traditional publishing world. The difference lies in my intellectual property. You see, in traditional publishing, the publisher owns everything that comes out of your head and onto the paper. But I own everything. It's mine to keep, to reinvent and to destroy as I see fit. For me, that was the clincher.

I'm only telling this story because it is one of the most asked questions I get in interviews. It has been a painful, and almost crushing path along a rocky road of success and failure. I recommend keeping your intellectual property, but I don't recommend self-publishing. I also don't recommend traditional publishing houses, they are brutal. They seem to enjoy crushing writers. To be candid, I am not entirely sure I would recommend Brown Books either. I am sure they are great for their children's authors and non-fiction, but they really don't understand science fiction. Book one was great, book two was the worst experience I've ever had. Now, I give them a tiny bit of a pass because that fell to the publisher in 2020. And as we all know, that was a rough year. For everyone. But this was one massive screw up after another, and eventually they didn't even promote it. 

Which leaves me in a quandary. Do I publish book three with the same publisher? Well, let's clear something up. Book three was written in 2020... it is now 2024, and I can't bring myself to break up the team. So yes, book three will be published by Brown Books. Hopefully this round will be better than the last, because I have a whole new series already planned out (with at least 12 books already partially outlined). This though, I will try harder to make sure that they are NOT sequential. The goal is to make them books about the same character, but not the same story. And don't worry, I will start dropping more hints as we move forward.