Simon Mortimer's Blog: Echoes of V

The Holy Grail - the joy of life - only to be found in the unending act of searching.

That's one interpretation of what sits behind the Grail Quest of Arthurian legend. Sir Galahad - the purest hearted of all the Round Table knights - he finds the Grail in the end, and is forthwith enraptured and whisked away to heaven. And so the grail is never truly possessed.

Back in the 2026 brutalist world of independent publishing - I'm searching for my audience, and I reckon I will feel like I have died and gone to heaven should I find them this time.

I know you are out there - somewhere - so close I can almost touch - and yet...

Without a famous name (tick) or publisher (tick) or (heaven forbid), a large social media following (double tick), the beginning of an independently written novel has to be close to perfection for a given target audience, for the thing to have any chance of avoiding Dodo status - no matter how good it may be overall.

So here is the thing.

I have taken a few bugs out, re-written the front end, tweeked a few other elements and issued a second edition, which is now available on Amazon to reboot this thing.

Openly... 'I'm feeling pretty good about the changes'. I'm thinking 'maybe I have finally cracked it this time...'

What do you think?

Consistently editors I have hired, B-readers, and friends / family alike give great feedback - but they worry that folks won't get far enough into the novel to 'get there' as the opening is sticky to get through.

I have set up a free copy promotion on Amazon for the 8th and 9th of Feb (USA LA time of course!!), to see if this upgraded version gets traction.

If not - well I will go again - and again - and again.

Michelangelo labelled some of his work as 'unfinished' as an artistic choice - as did others.
You don't see 'David' the same way twice. The light will catch the sculpture slightly differently each time, and so will your mood.

I can't claim such high ground. V-One is as yet unfinished... because I found a few errors in there. It's like discovering a massive spot on your face on prom night when you just spent a thousand bucks on a fancy suit.

Far out!

The good thing is, as a genuinely 100% independently published work, I can fix such things pretty quick, and change other aspects too should I please, I don't need to ask permission of anyone. A second edition will be coming out soon - it will remain 'unfinished' - but hopefully for the right reasons this time.

And so, the initial marketing is done. Like casting butterflies into the wind, I await to see if one or two of them land anywhere, then go again.

Thank you to all those participating in the V-ONE book giveaway.

I am respectful of and grateful to all those willing to give a debut author a go. It is your valuable time after all. Time is precious, so in the world of V-ONE, I convert it directly into a new form of money - time money - as part of the V-ONE world.

Back in the 'real' world - as I hack a path through a publishing jungle, my next move will be a podcast in the coming weeks, where I will explore where the world of V-ONE came from, how I came to write it, and the mechanics of a genuinely thoughtful and truly independent publishing pathway.

Spoiler alert: It takes a great deal of time, a significant financial investment while avoiding anything vaguely resembling vanity publishing, keeping a safe distance from the vanilla temptations of AI, and, perhaps most of all, the ability to absorb critical feedback over an extended period of time without freaking out.

If you can manage all of that emotional and financial payload with a 0.001% statistical chance of any kind of notable success - then being a genuinely independent author in the modern age is definitely for you!

Simon M

To be a techno-optimist in 2026, or not to be a techno-optimist - that is the question.

Techno-optimism (or pessimism), are talked of in existential terms - as if it were a thing that will happen to us, not shaped by us.

That being the case 'alea iacta est' - the die is cast - no?

Such a ridiculous thing - expecting anyone to read something an unknown has written. Why would they?

Yet after investing years tempering V-One in a furnace of discipline and imagination - what choice does one have but to engage in the ridiculous, lest all my efforts be for naught?

I was not sure what to expect after years of writing, re-writing, researching, engaging with editors, mentors, and beta readers to get this done. A huge amount of effort and methodical thinking goes into a novel designed to inspire, entertain, and translate to the big screen, while holding a gem of intentioned gravitas within. It is not an impossible task to achieve such a thing, but I could certainly see it from where I stood, and some days close enough to be overwhelmed.

Then came the finishing of it.

At first, there was joy and relief, but it felt superficial, like an echo of expectation rather than the emotion itself. The truth soon emerged from where it had been skulking in the depths where I had placed it. Finishing it, is not the end.