R.Jacques / GoSpeed - The Saga Begins

Well, here I am. A self-published author. My story is not terribly unique. I had ideas, I had the tools, then I finally had the time. I am thankful I had exposure to a lot of well-known writers via podcasts and other social media. They provided the inspiration and also grounded me and told me what to expect. So far they've all been spot on. Same goes for you wonderful people here at Absolute Write. The wealth of knowledge and support has been a boon to me. Bless you, all!

My first novel, Rasere's War, went live only 3 weeks ago on Amazon and Smashwords. So far to date, I have sold 39 units. 28 eBooks and 11 paperbacks. I hadn't intended to offer a paperback, but interested parties insisted on it. A few readers have bought both versions! I priced the eBook at $0.99 because it's my introductory entry to my planned series.

Promotion was through various press outlets in the virtual world of Second Life and via my social media channels (FB, Twitter).

My follow up novel is well on track. Just need to make a few more revisions before I send it out to beta readers. With more material available I hope to make more of an impression on future readers.

Catherine said:

Hi! I love your avatar and the graphics used on your web site. Did you make them yourself?

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Thanks you! Yes I did. What you see are screenshots of my various Second Life avatars. SL has been a strong source of inspiration and source material for my writing.

AgathaChristieFan said:

Congratulations, GoSpeed! It looks like you have a well thought out plan regarding your publishing schedule. It’s cool that you’re in Martinsburg. So am I Good luck with everything

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Thank you ACF! Perhaps we could met up one day and talk about writing. I know there's an active NaNoWriMo group in town, but I never made it to any of the Saturday meetings in November. They were at a local coffee shop as I recall?

Polenth said:

I'm also around on Second Life, though it was never a good promotion venue for me. I hope you continue to get sales!

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I was able to promote myself via press releases and interviews on several media channels in Second Life to include private groups, blogs and news sites. SL residents account for most of my sales.

Look me up in world! My SL name is GoSpeed Rasere.

Novel #2 in the Rasere series, We Built This City, is now being sent to my beta readers for their input. I was much more meticulous with my grammar and spelling this time so they can hopefully focus more on story and character issues. I'll be gathering more imagery to send to my graphic artist who will do my cover artwork. I think we can get this out by May 1st!

Got my cover art for We Built This City! The people and skyline shot was provided by me while the artist on Fiverr.com mixed it all together to produce this:


http://www.rjacques.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Book_Cover-2048.jpg

I've uploaded my final drafts to Amazon and Smashwords! The release date is 12 May 2018.

It's been nearly a year, wow! I've penned the 3rd book in my series, The Bounding Main, and I've just finished making the corrections suggested by my line editor. I'll give the manuscript one more read and I'll upload it to Smashwords and Amazon. My release date is 30 March, 2019.

Sales of The Bounding Main have been good. In fact, I've sold just as much from the back catalog as I have this book! On launch day I gave a talk in Second Life about my book series and about my experiences writing.

I had a nice sized audience in attendance.


I also promoted my book via several Second Life media outlets. Here is me being interviewed by Bixyl Shuftan of the SL Newser.


Also, was interviewed for the SL Enquirer.

It's been a long six months since my last update. My mother died a few days after the last posting due to complications brought on by pneumonia. She was 83. My father who was fighting stomach cancer passed away in August at age 86. I found it difficult to write much les concentrate, but I have made some progress. I have two books in the works. One is an anthology of short stories and vignettes that take place in my Simvie Loko universe. The other is a follow on novel that takes place about a decade after the first trilogy. I'm about to go into editing mode for the anthology and I hope to publish by Christmas time.