This week's episode is sponsored by the Moderation Online series!
Welcome to New Eaton, a video game metropolis where human-like vegetables and processed foods are at war, and humans are caught in the middle. This quirky Gamelit series has to be read to be believed. Start reading with Food City, the first novel in the series. For fans of Ready Player One and Final Fantasy.
Series Link: http://www.michaellaronn.com/moderationonline
Book 1 Link: http://www.michaellaronn.com/foodcity
SHOW NOTES
Quick overview of this week's show:
- How my Sound Mage Sonata urban fantasy series is progressing
- My marketing plans for the show and a recent promotion campaign that I participated in that had a noble cause
- Listener questions from a true fan
Sound/Music Credits for this week's episode
Intro/Outro Music: “Kick. Push” by Ryan Little.
Sound Effects/Miscellaneous Credits:
Coconut Robot2 by James Pants: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/James_Pants/Bonus_Beat_Blast_2011/35_james_pants-coconut_robot_2
Off to Osaka by Kevin Mcleod: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Jazz_Sampler/Off_to_Osaka_1502
In_Cafe_2 by martats: https://freesound.org/people/martats/sounds/156981/
Boo You Suck by RoivasUGO: https://freesound.org/people/RoivasUGO/sounds/233579/
Sound effects courtesy of Freesound.org.
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, and welcome to episode 4 of the podcast. I thought I would spend some time talking about what I’m working on writing-wise, marketing-wise, and then answer a few questions.
WRITING NEWS
In writing news, I’m working on my new series. It’s an urban fantasy with a male hero called The Sound Mage Sonata. Think urban fantasy meets the Arabian Nights and Prince of Persia. It takes place in a modern city inspired by Dubai. Listen to episode 3 for a run-down of what the series is about and what kind of research I am doing for it. That episode is called “Sound Mage Sonata Series and Middle East Research.”
Book 1 is called Prince of Nocturnes. I’m writing around 2000-3000 words a day, which is pretty good for a Book 1. My Book 1s tend to move slower because I’m still trying to figure out the world, but this one is going to be fun.
My hope is to be done with Book 1 by the middle or end of May.
MARKETING NEWS
In marketing news, this podcast is my big project right now. I’m spending a lot of time working on it and making sure that the quality is professional and the content is entertaining. I welcome your feedback, so please drop me a voice message and let me know how I’m doing.
I also participated in a promotion for GiveGrow.Net. They are a company whose sole focus is to help others grow and develop. This past month they are focused on authors.
This promotion was called the “Indie Author Superbundle” and 25% of their gross sales went to Pencils of Promise, which is a very noble cause. The audiobook version for Be a Writing Machine is in the bundle. There were some AMAZING books, courses and services, so I was honored to be invited to it. The value of all the services was around $5,000, and you could purchase them on a pay-what-you-want model. It was some good exposure for Be a Writing Machine, and I made some affiliate income from it, so that’s always a good thing.
***
LISTENER QUESTIONS
Let’s move on to some listener questions.
Confession: This is the first month of the show so as I record this, I haven’t actually published the show yet.
However, I have a true fan who sent in a ton of questions, and he couldn’t wait until the show was live. Seriously guys, he sent me a lot of questions, so many I can’t answer them all, so I’ll play his questions and answer a few.
[Cue weird robotic music]
I was once beaten up by a stranger in an alley one time because I smiled at him. Tell me, Michael: Have you ever smiled at a stranger and then wished you hadn’t? Why or why not?”
Thanks, Oswald, and I appreciate your question! Actually, yes, I have a habit of saying hello and smiling to strangers all the time. Once, I was in a gas station parking lot pumping gas, and I nodded to a gentleman at the car ahead of me. The guy then approached me and tried to get me involved in a pyramid scheme. True story.
And if you REALLY want to hear a funny story sometime, I’ll tell you about an experience I had first-hand with a pyramid scheme company. It’s really creepy, really hilarious, and really sad.
[Cue robotic music] Oswald has another question.
As a young robot, I was often afraid of socket wrenches. They scare me to this day. Tell me, Michael: What was your most irrational fear as a child?
Wow, you’re getting deep, Oswald. OK, so I was scared of some weird stuff as a kid. Sewer grates, for example. One time, when I was six or seven, I was at a house party—my aunt and some relatives were sitting on the front porch and I was playing my Gameboy in the grass. Every time my family laughed, I thought a monster would come out of the sewer grate to eat us. No idea why. Maybe because the sewer grate looked like teeth. Completely irrational.
One more question.
[Cue robotic music]
You have a lot of creative premises and ideas. Tell me Michael: have you ever come up with a book idea that didn't work out? If so, just how badly did it end for you?
Oh, Oswald. If you only knew. Anyone who knows me knows that I occasionally come up with some strange ideas, yet I always find a way to make them work. For example, my book Moderation Online is about a group of terrorist vegetables attempting to take down an empire of processed foods. I know, it sounds utterly ridiculous, but trust me…it works.
I had to browse through my sketchbook for some of my worst ideas. I happened to find some audio from a reader survey I did at a book reading once. I’ve never played this before, folks. Here we go.
[Cue jazz music, audience sounds]
“I have this idea for an urban fantasy…imagine Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meets Little Shop of Horrors…”
[Crowd boos]
“Oh, come on. How about this one—it’s an idea for a post-apocalyptic novel. Imagine a blender and a gang of household appliances trying to make their way in a post-nuclear world. It’s like The Brave Little Toaster meets The Last of Us. Huh? Huh?
[Crowd boos]
“What the hell is the matter with you people?? Haven’t you read quality fiction lately? Hey, what are you—get your hands off me…stop, please stop—”
[Screams]
That one brings back painful memories. Thanks Oswald, for your questions. Very much appreciated.
[Oswald] “You're welcome.”
***
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
