A very important update

Here is a mirror of the update post so you don't have to visit Royal Road:

Before I get started, quick disclaimer: the story isn't ending or being dropped or anything like that. Don't worry. Everything is fine. For now. And that's kind of where this update comes in. I'll explain.

In just a little bit over a month from now, 1% Lifesteal is going to stub since it's finally going up on Amazon. That means that the content of book one will be taken down and will only be legally accessible through Kindle (and Kindle Unlimited). You don't have to worry, updates will still come regularly, and if you've read up to this point, you will never be locked out of continuing and finishing the story. You can keep reading ahead on Patreon, of course, but it will all eventually be up for free on Royal Road.

The reason I am making this update is since I always aim to be as transparent and honest with my audience as humanly possible. 

Currently, I am in a comfortable position financially. I live in a small town in a second-world country where cost of living is pretty low. I earn enough to support myself and my wife and even to assist my family members. That being said, authoring is many things, but it is not a stable career in regards to income.

Personally, I do not consider myself a commercial author. I try to write in an accessible way, but let's be honest, my writing is not what most have come to expect from this sphere. It also takes comparatively a lot of time. 

I'll admit it. I have tried to become a type of author who can shit out simpler plots faster so I could earn more money. But I can't do that. My creative drive is tied to my artistic tendencies, and try as I may, any attempt to avoid trying my best is met with burnout and a total loss of interest in what I'm writing. And perhaps most importantly, I DON'T WANT TO BE A COMMERCIAL AUTHOR. I don't want to be a sellout. I don't want to write for money. I don't care about money. I don't give a single fuck about wealth. I just want to keep writing crazy shit that both I and my audience enjoy. 

Unfortunately, no matter how hard I stomp my feet and stubbornly insist on sticking to my guns, at the end of the day, this is my job. I do this for a living. And if I don't earn enough money to survive, I can't keep writing. 

I wouldn't be making this sort of update if I hadn't learned a very nasty lesson with my previous book. 

No matter how well you think your story is doing, it really doesn't take much for everything to go to shit. 

I had self-published the ebook for my previous story, and so much went horribly, horribly wrong. I couldn't advertise because the amazon algorithm detected the daggers my character was holding as "lethal weaponry" which ??? like what the fuck even. Then, the categories updated days before my book went live, which FUCKED my initial momentum to oblivion. Reddit was also down because the subreddits were protesting something so I couldn't promote my release. AWS had some problems on the day of my release, which also messed with my momentum. 

It was a disaster. I had to literally beg my audience on my knees to buy the book, and even then, it only partially recovered, and because a lot of the performance was forced, the sequels didn't do so well. 

I was already on the brink of burnout, and this pushed me over the edge. Some people might consider Patreon to be a great source of stable income. It's not. I have personally experienced watching it reduce to almost a quarter, well below what I could live on. 

In fact, the only reason you guys have 1% Lifesteal today is because I had hit such a low I had no other option but to get started with a second story. 

Okay, now let's take a step back. This was all very scary and traumatic and consequential, but it's not very likely for things to go this poorly this time around. First, I have a publisher who can step in if something goes wrong. Second, this story has a bigger following. And third, I am simply more experienced. If something goes wrong, I am a lot more confident that I'll figure something out. 

And before anything even thinks of going wrong, I will do everything in my power to insure that the damage is minimal. 

This is where you guys come on. 

If you enjoy 1% Lifesteal, please, please, please support the release on Amazon. 

You can find the preorder by clicking on this link. 

But other than buying the preorder (which is fantastic, absolutely one of the best ways to directly support the release!), you can do so much more. 

Once the book is out, you can leave a review or rating. You might be tempted to think "Oh, how valuable could a single review be?" YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Reviews are super, super good for a book's performance. Dare I say, leaving a single review is probably like 5 times more impactful than just buying the book. Yes. It's that important. Any sort of engagement, reviews, ratings, following my author profile, it all boosts the algorithm, helping get the story out to more people. And this doesn't even mean glowing reviews. Just your honest opinion. Even if you hate the story. 

And if you've already left a review on Amazon, you can also leave a review on Goodreads!

Other than that, you can also just get the word out. Posts on social media, even just directly telling people, hey, there is this cool story you could check out, it all helps. 

Now, that aside, there is another, also very important reason I want the release to do as well as possible.

I fucking love 1% Lifesteal. I just enjoy writing it. I'd like to write it as long as humanly possible. 

So I will give it to you straight: The better the Amazon release does, the longer I'll be able to keep writing this story.

And this is not to suggest that I'll artificially stretch the plot out to make more money, no, no, I would actually have to CUT DOWN on a lot of what I have planned if it does poorly. You might have already noticed that the insinuated peak of power in this story is really damn high. And you might have also noticed that we're barely even tickling the balls of the greater picture. 

There is a lot left to explore in this story. 

At the end of the day, all this talk aside, if I'm being honest, I don't think anything short of severe disability or death will ever get me to stop writing. Even if I need to get a job on the side or if I can barely feed myself, I'll keep putting words out. Even if AI swoops in and makes me completely redundant, I'll keep writing simply because this is my calling in life.

I do not see myself being this happy and fulfilled doing anything else. 

To all of you who have read up to this point, thank you. To all of you who have supported me over the last two years, thank you. I owe everything to you guys. 

Cheers. 

Here's to many more years and crazy stories. 🍻

Love you guys.