From the description:

Ana and Marisol are tasked with breaking up a weapons deal between the Continuum and a reclusive bioengineer.

Sounds like standard fare, but I assure you, this one is anything but standard. It is what some might consider my finest writing to date (at least I look at it that way).

Look at this quote that I would like someone to write about it:

Episode 4 is the best so far, with action that doesn’t stop and shocks and jolts that will make you jump like Kris Kross! Nels never lets up on the pace and I’m pretty sure I literally had a heart attack half way through!”

That would be pretty awesome if someone wrote that, right?

Episode Notes

Seriously, though, I really like this one. I went over and over the revisions and each time I reread something I’d revised I thought “Yeah, that really does make it even more awesomer [sic].”

I actually have some director-style commentary that I wrote while going through this episode, but I’m going to save that for some bonus material to add to the Amazon version that I will actually be charging people for. That version will be a collection of the first five episodes, and I’m going to make sure it gets distributed to not just Amazon, but the iTunes store as well. I had thought about making Episode 5 exclusive to that collection as a marketing ploy, but that just seems lame, or like I’m some sort of drug dealer (though a really bad one if I’m giving away the first four for free). So, instead I am thinking I’ll add the director’s commentary (and maybe some actor commentary, deleted scenes, or bloopers!) for the “pay” version.

Stat Updates

Seems like a good time to throw some numbers out there…

(All numbers represent free downloads)
Episode 1: 259
Episode 2: 270
Episode 3: 172
Episode 4: 31 (since 4/10/2011)

I did see another spike for the first three episodes when I put number 4 up there, but since it’s already dropped to the 33rd page of All Books on Smashwords, I’m not expecting a lot more indirect traffic until Smashwords decides to put up some “People who read this also read:” type widgets. Seeing as how they’re making money off every book that someone pays for on there, I’m not sure why they haven’t implemented that yet. They do at least list other books by the author when you look at a particular book page, and I’m sure that’s what accounts for the spikes in downloads for the other episodes when a new one goes up. But it would be nice to get some cross-author traffic going. I suppose I could review other people’s books (since I have read a couple), but when I see authors writing reviews it seems like they’re just trying to get more traffic back to their own page when people click on their name from the review. It just feel dirty, like a very transparent attempt to game the system… but I’m sure it does drive at least a bit of traffic back.

Other “charts”: Episode 4 is still on the 2nd page for most recently published General Sci Fi and #4 for MRP Free General Sci Fi, and I’m pretty sure that’s how anyone not following this blog will find it going forward.

Published to Smashwords 5 days ago and up to 74 downloads. Not as big a spike on the first day as the first two episodes… I’m thinking that might be because I put it up on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I think I’ll go back to Friday night next time to see what happens. I’m sure there’s also the series factor playing in… i.e., since this says Episode 3 on it, people are less likely to download knowing that they’re not starting at the beginning.

Probably due to the previous reason, I didn’t get as many “trickle downloads” either as I did for Episode 1 when I uploaded Episode 2. But I’m hoping just hoping that some people stick with it…

Episode Notes

This episode includes the first (yes, only the first) changes in POV. Don’t worry, it won’t happen often. It’s also the longest episode to date, bringing the total story word count to just over 33,000. Yes, that means by the time we get to the end of Season 1, it’ll clock in around 130,000. Not sure if I could make it if I wasn’t doing it piece by piece. (More on that is coming in a separate post) And don’t worry, I’m not going to keep making them longer and longer (at least I don’t plan to). So, go download Episode 3 right now!

This one involved some of what I consider to be clever writing. It also includes a flashback. Sue me.

Notice the subtle variations of the cover art… I’m so awesome at graphic design.

I guess it’s very similar to my getting the Completionist achievement (Complete the majority of the game) in Mass Effect by telling Conrad Verner to go back to his wife on Earth. Yup. It wasn’t fighting the Geth, or defeating Saren (for the first time, at least), or even doing anything that involved shooting or using biotic powers. Nope. I just talked to the guy enough to convince him to return to his wife. Thank Yeewwwwww!

And now, I have topped 10,000 words for a project/manuscript for the first time. My 10,000th word? Date. It probably won’t end up being the 10,000th word in the manuscript, though, since I’m writing a scene ahead of where that will probably actually be.

I won’t celebrate too much, since that only brings me about 10-11% of the way to completion, and I’m still 190 words behind on my average daily goal. But if I manage another 2,400 words (ha!), I’ll be all caught up.

Also, WordPress 2.0′s feature that allows you to dynamically add categories is a little dangerous. Granted, it’s still not as easy to do as on Blogger, but I can see myself ending up with about as many categories (aka labels) as the dude who writes Cousins of Ron Mexico. Of course, I suppose I could add a category every time I post and after 10 years I’ll only have 70 categories. So, not too bad.