Justin Monroe's Blog

In case you’ve missed one of my many posts on social media, Zee Knocked Down, book 2 of OVR World Online went live yesterday! The text has been locked and waiting for about two weeks, I’ve just been waiting on the cover art. The e-book is available on Kindle and for free with Kindle Unlimited. The paperback is also live and ready to be ordered. Because of the wait for cover art, Gary got a head start on the audiobook and started recording last week.

So, if you’re here, you’re probably interested in this book. Go get it please! http://mybook.to/ZeeKnockedDown

What is hopefully my penultimate draft has been distributed to Beta Readers and my Developmental Editor! It’s exciting and nerve racking at the same time. At the advice of my wife, I’m trying to take a little bit of time off before diving into Book 3, so that’s what I’m trying to do right now. It feels weird, but good I guess.

I’ve hired a new cover artist for this book, and can’t wait to see what she comes up with.

Alright, I’m off to watch Hawkeye while the toddler refuses to nap.

Hailing frequencies open…

Well, it’s my birthday this week, and it’s nearly the one-year mark since Zee Locked In went live on Amazon. Despite many of the struggles in the larger world, it’s been an amazing year for me. To be honest, I was built for a global pandemic, because all I really want to do is stay home anyways.

Zee is still out there moving copies and doing well enough for the first book from a new indie author. I’m not making enough to say that I’m “making a living” but it’s a decent little side hustle, and I can see that it might be possible. We were at a kid’s birthday party over the weekend, and inevitably while talking to the adults the question came up of “what do you do?” And while my first response was to say, “I’m a stay-at-home dad” it was very encouraging to have my wife chime in to add, “and an author.” Which raised some eyebrows and lead to some further conversation.

Our son just had his 2 1/2 year well-baby check-up today and walked away with a clean bill. That said, the last couple of months have been a struggle with him. Naps have become a hit-or-miss thing, and even as I write this, he’s back in his room resisting his nap by walking around his room in circles. Until recently, most of my writing has been getting done while he naps, and there was a stretch of several months where I could get an hour or two of mostly uninterrupted work in. Lately, that’s dwindled down to 15-minute chunks for maybe a total of 45 minutes while I try to coax the kid into sleeping. It’s impossible to get any momentum like that, and I guess that’s why I’m working on this blog post at the moment instead of trying to bang out a couple of hundred words.

Book 2 is nearing completion, but as described above my time to work on it has been running away from me. I’d say it’s like 85% done on the second draft. Most of my first draft ended up getting split into two separate books, which means when I finally do finish Book 2, I’ll have a large portion of the first draft work done on Book 3 already. The hope is that I should have Book 3 out within less than a year, versus Book 2 which is going to take over a year (shooting for December at this point). While I think the series will be longer, I think books 1-3 will make a nice little trilogy within the series. You can see a good chunk of what I’ve got on Book 2 so far over on Royal Road if you’re curious.

Well, I guess that’s about it. I’m gonna go try to wrestle this kid to sleep, then maybe try to squeeze out a couple of hundred words on Book 2 before nap time is over (plus eat and shower). I’m planning on doing a little Top 10 blog post of books I’ve enjoyed over the last year. I’ve been doing a ton of audiobooks, mostly all indie authors, and it would be nice to promote them instead of myself.

Hailing frequencies closed.

I’ve been working on a little short story for a little contest I came across online. The prompt was that it just be inspired by an experience I’ve had as a Table Top RPG player. This was based off a recent session I had with my weekly D&D group (played over Roll20 and Discord). It’s just barely under the 1,500 word limit, but I’m pretty happy with it.

“Everyone ready?” Charcandrick asked as the party of nine gathered before the closed final doors to the lich’s tomb. The handsome half-elf had his glowing star-blade out and a cocky grin on his face. 

In her shapeshifted form as a giant spider, Starling chittered and bobbed her head in the affirmative. The druid was anxious to fulfill her clan’s obligation to keep the tomb sealed and the lich imprisoned. The stone walls had started bleeding almost an hour ago, meaning the ritual was nearly complete. 

“Just open the doors already,” Bradley grumbled. The gray-bearded wizard leaned heavily on his staff and rubbed at his perpetually sore back. “I ain’t gettin any younger.”

“Whatever we find on the other side, these servants of evil must be stopped,” pronounced Yurt, the party’s kind-hearted tortoisekin cleric. “Na Tutair’s great shell will protect us and give us strength.”

In response, Grizzick, their lizardkin friend, threw back his head in a crocodilian battle-roar. The other four lizardkin, Arg, Blarg, Clarg, and Dan - who had all unexpectedly joined the party minutes ago after Grizzick had defeated their chief in single combat - answered Grizzick with hissing roars of their own. 

“Whatever’s on the other side, we’ll face it together.” Pierre fitted an arrow to his bowstring and his animal companion, Dodger the ram, bleated his agreement. 

“Let’s do this.” Charcandrick lifted one booted foot and kicked in the doors. 

The stench of fresh blood and viscera rolled out the doors like a tidal wave. Beyond the doors was a short shadow-filled hallway opening into a large chamber with a high vaulted ceiling. A massive stone sarcophagus sat at the center of the chamber. Surrounding the sarcophagus and lighting the chamber in a putrid green light was an intricate magic circle that projected layers of magical force from floor to ceiling. 

On the far side of the circle stood a black-robed and hooded wizard, the lich’s fanatical disciple, his hands raised and head bowed as he chanted. Charcandrick’s star-blade glowed brighter, pushing back the shadows, then he and Grizzick charged together. 

The necromancer paused his chant just long enough to shriek, “Fools! You’re too late! Soon my master will be free!”

Moving in unison, nearly a dozen zombies shambled into view from the right and left to block the corridor. Each animated corpse wore the same leather armor and tattered cloak as the cultists they’d been fighting for days. For undead, they also all looked very fresh. Each had identical slashes across its throat. They were sacrificed to fuel the ritual. 

Charcandrick and Grizzick crashed into the front rank of zombies and began hacking and slashing. Starling, still a giant spider, skittered across the ceiling, bypassing the zombies altogether. That’s when the remaining living cultists showed themselves. Four hooded cultists melted out of the shadows and fired a hail of well-aimed darts from small hand-crossbows. The spider hissed in pain and swung her spinner around to hurl a strand of rope-like webbing at one of the cultists, sticking him to the floor. 

Meanwhile, Bradley and Pierre aimed at the chanting necromancer. Bradley barked a spell word and hurled a howling column of frost while Pierre loosed a storm of arrows. Both attacks bounced off the walls of the magical circle surrounding the lich’s tomb and between them and the necromancer. 

Dodger lowered his head charged forward; curved horns battered zombies to the ground. Arg, Blarg, Clarg, and Dan rushed in behind the ram, bashing with clubs and spiked shields. Then Yurt stepped up and called out a divine prayer. A swirling maelstrom of radiant energy rushed out from the cleric and shattered the zombie ranks. 

The necromancer shouted a spell, and a pulse of green energy burst from the glowing circle. The cold wave of energy knocked the heroes back and seemed to bolster the undead. They bought a few more seconds of resistance. While the zombies managed to get a few hits in, and in some cases, stubbornly refused to fall, within seconds, the bulk of them fell under the party’s combined assault. That just left the still-living cultists. 

Charcandrick and Grizzick were the first to cross blades with the cultists. Steel rang on steel, and it was clear that the cultists were no match for either hero. These fanatics knew their leader only needed seconds to complete the ritual, and they were willing to buy that time with their wretched lives. 

While most of the party cut their way through cultists, Starling launched herself off the wall over the battle. She had multifaceted eyes only for the necromancer that had invaded her sacred lands. The necromancer cried out and fled before the giant spider leaping at him. Then his voice raised to cast a spell. 

A green lightning bolt crackled from the necromancer’s hands. Starling managed to dodge the worst of the spell, only getting singed. However, Grizzick, Arg, and Dan weren’t so fortunate. They fell to the ground, sections of their scaled bodies charred. 

That disruption to the party’s battle line was enough to let the cultists hold on for another handful of seconds. Starling leaped at the necromancer, her mandibles clacking down on his black-robed arm but finding the robes as tough as steel in her jaws. 

The necromancer was already casting another spell. A volley of arrows from Pierre narrowly missed as the evil wizard completed his incantation. Another green pulse of cold energy radiated out from the magic circle. The ground shook and knocked nearly everyone to the ground. Dodger, Blarg, and Clarg never got back up. However, the blast had killed the last of the cultists as well. 

The necromancer seemed unphased by their loss. “You will all bow before the might of my Lord when he is free!”

The mad wizard began casting again, and the circle surrounding the sarcophagus began to hum and glow brighter. A flurry of attacks flew at the necromancer from every hero still standing. His spell unfinished, the necromancer crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut under the combined assault. 

Silence broken only by the ragged heavy breathing of the battle strained adventurers filled the chamber. Yurt, ever mindful of his oaths to use the gifts of Nu Tutair to heal, began casting spells of healing to try and save Grizzick. Pierre rushed over to Dodger, his stalwart companion, where the ram had fallen. Starling shifted back to her natural blue-skinned djinnkin body and hurried to see if she could help Dodger. Leaning heavily on his staff, Bradley turned his weary gaze towards the circle that still surrounded the sarcophagus. 

Better put an end to this nasty ritual, the self-taught wizard thought. Summoning the last of his power, Bradley cast an unraveling incantation on the circle. 

The moment froze. As if some divine presence had stopped time just so it could ask Bradley, “Are you sure you want to do that?”

To which Bradley curtly answered, “Yup.”

Bradley felt the circle resist his dispelling. Magic circles are typically simple workings, and this one should have unraveled easily. However, Bradley found he had to force his will into the unraveling spell. For just an instant, Bradley silently struggled to overwhelm the arcane construct with his own willpower. Bradley wasn’t the most gifted of wizards, but he battered down the circle’s resistance out of sheer stubbornness. 

The circle blinked out of existence, and darkness flooded the tomb. 

“What the hell did you -?” A deafening rumble drowned out Charcandrick as the entire chamber quaked violently. Choking dust filled the air as everyone stumbled and shouted. Bradley sprawled on his chest, where he groaned, “I’m too old for this shit.”

The shaking stopped, and silence returned to the subterranean chamber. The dull scrape of stone against stone shattered the silence as the sarcophagus lid slid aside then crashed to the floor. Bright green light blazed up from the sarcophagus’s interior. A withered figure sat up, the movement accompanied by the dry crackling of bones. 

“Finally!” rasped the long-imprisoned lich, Uchagaz the Undying. “I am returned!”

***

The Discord channel was quiet for a long moment. 

“Bradley, what did you do?” Cameron, Yurt’s player, was alarmed. 

“Uhhh, guys, I think I fucked up,” Older Chris answered, still using Bradley’s gruff character voice. 

“We’re all dead,” declared Younger Chris, Charcandrick’s player. 

“Can’t believe you killed Dodger,” Cassandra, Starling’s player, griped. Pierre’s player, Ken, was absent.

Jake and Phil, who had just joined the group and had been controlling the lizardkin, were noticeably silent.

“I think I just snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.” Older Chris facepalmed. 

“Well, I think that’s a good place to end things this week,” Michael, the DM for their 5e D&D campaign, declared with a wide grin to cover his panic. That hadn’t been his plan for the session or the campaign! The group’s level 6 characters could not handle a CR 21 lich! 

“Good game, everyone!” Michael declared before signing off.

Another month down and I’ve decided to share my results at least one more time.

Off the top, I should explain that my September results had to be adjusted (for now) while KDP support continues to research my support ticket. On October 9th, I was updating my spreadsheet, which includes pulling my total KENP page read count for the lifetime of the book. I noticed that the number had gone down, dramatically. When I dug a little deeper, I found that my KENP page reads for September had been adjusted down from 225,693 to 109,459. A dramatic adjustment! I immediately opened KENP support, and have been going round and round with them for the last 3 weeks. They’ve “escalated” my case for further research, but at this point, I’m proceeding as though my September results will never be fixed.

So, my adjusted September numbers are…

109,459 Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP)* reads = $425.94 (an adjustment of 116,234 pages deducted from the original total)

Total Estimated Royalties for September 2020 = $893.75 (loss of $460.66 due to the mysterious adjustment)

It’s a pretty disheartening adjustment to make, and I hope it gets correct, but I’m not counting on it. To be very clear, I did not game the KENP system, and KDP Support hasn’t even suggested that I have. I also feel like if they thought I’d gamed the system that hard, they would have at the very least issued me a warning, if not have kicked me off the platform all together. They wouldn’t have been going round and round with me in this stupid email dance of non-explanations for 3 weeks. I won’t go into the bull shit explanations that they originally tried to offer, they didn’t make any logical sense and they immediately changed their tune when I pushed back and pointed out the inconsistencies in their statements.

So, let’s get into October’s results.

215 e-books sold = $322.29

1 paperbacks sold = $5.09

296,839 Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP)* reads = $1,310.04

Total Estimated Royalties for October 2020 = $1,637.41

Since my case regarding September’s results is still ongoing, and KDP support hasn’t been able to assure me it won’t happen again, I might be revising the KENP and total numbers in a future post. For the moment, let’s assume they won’t get substantially adjusted.

E-book sales dropped off slightly in both volume and royalty per unit. I ran my first Kindle Countdown Deal in October and it moved quite a few units, but at a dramatically reduced price. Most units moved at the $0.99 price point, standard price is $2.99. The number of units sold during the promotion did not offset the total decrease in royalties, so I wouldn’t exactly consider the promotion a success. But it was a worthwhile experiment. I’ll probably try to run one again in conjuncture with the audiobook’s release, once that’s figured out. I’ll also plan on running it again ahead of Book 2’s release, if only to build buzz around Book 2.

There was no dramatic changes to my expenses this month. At my wife’s suggestion, I did order some business cards from VistaPrint so that I have something tangible to hand people in the future when talking about the book. That was just $41.43 spent. So, at the moment, all in I have $2,380.58 in expenses. Obviously, I’m not “paying” myself a salary, counting up living expenses, or anything else at this stage. I spent 3 years off and on working on Book 1, but during that time it’s always been something I’m doing on the side. My primary job was either as a hotel manager or as a full time stay at home dad.

However, with September’s results added to October’s I have total estimated revenue of $2,531.17 at the moment. So after deducting my current expenses, I’m currently in the black with a profit of $150.59. It’s not much, but it’s a start. That’s also without worrying about taxes at all. I could also be back in the red very quickly if KDP adjusts my October totals like they did for September. If September gets fixed, then I’ll also be a lot further in the black then I am now.

Advertising

I didn’t do anything dramatic this month. I pimped the Kindle Countdown Deal on social media when it was happening, but I didn’t run any ads for it. I tried to do at least a post a day on Instagram and/or Twitter, but even that wasn’t consistent. I did find a couple of Facebook groups where I posted promotionally, which I didn’t do in September. Other than that, I just tried to be “active” on Reddit and other socials under my author specific accounts. On Reddit I have my profile pic set as my cover art, which I figure might garner some attention, even when I’m not specifically posting about the book.

I did pretty well on Amazon and GoodReads reviews keeping about a 4.2 to 4.3 average score on both platforms, while increasing my total count of reviews. Again, not really doing anything to encourage that. I did make a change to the very last page of my e-book. I have my Twitter and Insta handles there, but I also added a message encouraging people to leave a review. I’d generally figure anyone that got that far enjoyed themselves more than not. Obviously, there’s some exceptions to that rule, but oh well. Everyone gets shit reviews occasionally, and I figure having a few 1-star reviews just adds credibility to my 5 and 4 star reviews.

I did announce and run a Free Book Giveaway on my socials. Anyone who wanted to enter just had to sign up for my Newsletter. Simple right? Well I got like 3 new signups from the effort. I’m picking the winner later today. I might do it again, but probably not until I have substantially more social followers.

I have reached out to several book bloggers and a podcast offering up Book 1 for review, but none have taken me up on the offer.

Other News

No big announcements regarding the audiobook yet. I sent Podium some additional documentation (pronunciation guide and my initial casting notes on narrators), however, I’m still somewhere in their pipeline. I’m trying to keep my head down and focus on Book 2 while they focus on the audiobook, because that’s what they do best.

A friend from back home self published her first book, Aerials (Rifts Book 1). It’s a fantasy monster romance book. I’ve picked up a copy, but haven’t dug in yet. I’m super excited for her, and to have someone that I actually know to talk self publishing stuff with (not that you all over at r/selfpublish don’t keep me entertained).

If you ended up here and haven’t gotten a copy of my debut book yet, Zee Locked-In, I’d welcome your support.

If you’re curious, my WIP for Book 2 is being posted in raw first draft form over on Royal Road a chapter each week.

If you haven’t signed up for my Newsletter yet please do so.

Use the Social Media links above or below to follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

*KENP = is the total of pages read by Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. The royalties for this vary from month to month based on how much is in the KDP Global Fund and what percentage of total activity your page reads represented.

The image for this post is an IDIC from Star Trek because I’m a gigantic nerd. And If you’ve gone through life thinking Star Trek isn’t political or that it isn’t progressive, then you missed the message. IDIC stands for a Vulcan symbol and stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. 

“The triangle and the circle - different shapes, materials, and textures - represent any two diverse things which come together to create truth or beauty - represented by the jewel.” ~ Spock

The US Election is just right around the corner. This year, I signed up to be a poll worker in my little New England town for the first time, and even though I already voted weeks ago, I’m very excited to be working election day.

That said, in several recent reviews, I received some flak for the “SJW” politics that are the underlying foundation of the dystopian view of the future. And that’s fair and, in my book, a compliment. I’ll gladly take that one-star review. If you don’t enjoy what I have to say, then live long and prosper, and there’s the door. 

So, if there’s any doubt, I thought I’d be very clear about what I believe. Because while I don’t think my politics consume my work, they inform my work. 

I believe…

Science is Real

Love is Love

No Human is Illegal

Black Lives Matter

America is Stollen Land

Woman’s Rights are Human Rights

Health Care is a Right

Diversity Makes Us Stronger

Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere

Water & Air Is Life

Corporations Aren’t People

Dissent is Patriotic

In addition to all of that, I believe that the United States has never fully lived up to its ideals for all its people. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. To continue to be clear, I’m a CIS white man on the journey of allyship. I’m confident that I’ve done wrong in the past and will make mistakes in the future. I just promise to keep trying to listen, to learn, and to do my best. 

And seriously, I don’t care if any of that offends a reader. You’re free not to support me. 

So, I just have a brief rant in response to a couple of recent reviews that hit the same note. The gist of them was “Rangers don’t fight melee, they use bows!

NOT ALL RANGERS ARE ARCHERS.

And if your primary exposure to Rangers is from WoW or other MMOs, then I can see how that might surprise you. However, for much of their history in TTRPGs, Rangers have been known for two-weapon fighting as much as archery. In some editions, two-weapon fighting was a defining feature of the class. So much so that perhaps the most iconic literary Ranger, Drizzt Do’Urden, is famous for his duel scimitars and almost never lifts a bow. Try googling an image of Drizzt using a bow. I’ll wait.

You back?

You probably only found images of Catti Brie. Congrats.

Then there’s Aragorn! Perhaps the proto-typical Ranger of literature. He’s predominantly a swordsman, and rarely touches a bow throughout the books or movies.

One of my favorite classes to play in TTRPGs is the Ranger class, almost always in a melee focus. And there’s a reason I named the first world in OVR World Online that Zee visits is Gygax. Sure he’s in a VRMMO, but it has definite TTRPG roots for me. I’ve played MMOs, most specifically City of Heroes/Villains. I tried EverQuest and WoW at various points. They never sunk their hooks into me.

So, yeah, Zee gets into quite a bit of melee, even when he’s trying to focus on being an archer. Cause shit goes wrong sometimes, and more importantly, Zee makes mistakes. He’s not a perfect player. And his character build is, intentionally on my part as an author, is less that optimal. That’ll come up in Book 2. But for all the complaining I see on r/litrpg about over powered main characters, it just makes me chuckle how many people complain when a character makes mistakes and doesn’t min/max perfectly.

OK…rant over. #notallrangers

I’m running my first ever Free Book Giveaway! It’s really easy, you’re already on my site after all. Just sign up for my Newsletter and be entered to win a signed copy of Zee Locked-In!

Come on. You know you wanna…

(US Only)

So, I’m going to publicly share my September Sales Results. I’m a little nervous about doing this to be honest, but I haven’t talked myself out of it yet. Though I won’t promise to continue doing this.

You see, as a “Self Published Author” it’s really hard to know how you’re doing. And to be fair, it’s very hard to compare apples to apples when looking at the performance of these books. There’s so many factors that go into success besides just the words on the page. I’m no Shakespeare, and I basically had zero Social Media presence as a writer prior to hitting the publish button on KDP. And not everyone travels the road of a self published author for the financial results, it’s just one barometer by which you can measure a book’s performance.

From talking to other authors over at r/selfpublish, I did fairly to very well for my debut novel’s first month. More importantly, I’m very pleased with the results. They’re enough to make me feel like I’m on the right path and that there’s an audience out there for me.

So, the results…(all dollar values are estimates because of exchange rates and other factors).

223 e-books sold = $417.84

9 paperbacks sold = $49.97

225,693 Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP)* reads = $886.61

Total Estimated Royalties for September 2020 = $1,354.41

And to some authors, those wouldn’t be impressive results, but for me? They blew me out of the water. I will say that, while I’m happy to have the $49.97 from paperbacks, I realize that those were entirely friends and family. And I sold about 31 e-books in the first 2 days after I launched, a good chunk (but not all) of those were likely friends and family as well.

However, after the first 48 hours, I think the majority of the sales were strangers. The KENP reads I’m especially proud of. Those only add up if people are actually reading pages, and 225k is a great number for a no-name’s first month in my opinion.

I’ve done some light social media marketing, on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram. I don’t think those efforts yielded huge dividends, because my follower numbers haven’t really gone up, but I did notice a difference when I took a week off from blasting posts out. So, there’s that. And social media is free.

That said, all in my total investment to get the book to this point was $2,405.50. I won’t be giving a line-by-line breakdown of how much I paid for what, because that wouldn’t be fair to some of my partners. It included, my cover art, my editing and proof reading pass, website, domain names, and a round of Google Ads. So, one month in and I haven’t broken even yet, but so far results are improving 5 days into October. I’m expecting to break even in a few weeks based on the current pace (about $50/day).

It’s not a livable amount of money for most people. However, writing isn’t my fulltime job, being a dad is. That said, I have high hopes for my audiobook when it comes out (still no details about that, but hopefully soon). However, it’s a start, and maybe it could be a living down the road. That’s the sincere hope.

Anyways, your mileage will vary. Hell, my mileage will vary. But there it is. Gonna keep pushing and see what happens.

If you haven’t yet, please sign up for my Newsletter, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Instagram and/or Facebook. I’m trying to make it more then just book pimping and post some fun/funny memes and the occasional political rant (because it’s 2020 and my work has political tones to it**) .

Wish me luck.

*KENP = is the total of pages read by Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. The royalties for this vary from month to month based on how much is in the KDP Global Fund and what percentage of total activity your page reads represented.

**Vote Often. Vote Early. Vote Blue. Black Lives Matter. Healthcare is a Human Right. Science is Real. Love is Love. Opinions Are Not Facts. 45 is a Racist, Liar, and a Fascist.

Well, the ink is still drying on the contract, but I’ve been cleared to share the news!

Last week, Podium Audio, reached out to me about licensing the rights to Zee Locked-In and the entire OVR World Online series! I’m incredibly excited to say that we’ve finalized a deal!

I literally have zero details to announce, but Podium is a legit publisher that produces amazing Audiobook productions. I just so happened to have been listening to one of their Audiobooks when they contacted me.

I’m an avid audiobook consumer and have been for years. I dreamed of my work being turned into an audiobook eventually, but just assumed that would mean financing an independent production. That was going to be a huge gamble for me as an indie author and I couldn’t be happier to be working with seasoned pros like Podium Audio. Meanwhile, this lets me continue to focus on what I do, write. I’m about to start Chapter 5 on Book Two.

I went into Hospitality as a young adult because it was in my family and it was all I’d ever known. Among the other professions I considered was being an astronaut, a lawyer, and a novelist. I even wrote an entire book for my senior project. Still have the printed draft in a huge binder in my basement. I moved that sucker across the country folks, cause I just couldn’t let go of the dream. Well that book will likely never see the light of day, but the dream of being a professional author hasn’t died and in fact looks more realistic than ever before.

Thank you to everyone that has supported me along this journey.

Thank you to Podium for investing me and taking a risk on an indie author.

And most of all thank you to my wife for supporting me and pushing me to be better, even when you didn’t always understand what I was pounding away on my keyboard for.

I’m incredibly fortunate.