I started writing back in 2012, when I had an idea for a story, Proteus, that I just wasn’t able to get out of my head until I wrote it down. I didn’t finish enough to publish it until 2013. At the time, I posted it to mcstories.com, a large archive of mind control themed fiction that’s been around forever.
At that point, a number of the authors from the site were beginning to explore possibly self-publishing our stuff. Amazon was really starting to push their KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) service, but there was also Nook publishing, Smashwords, etc. So I decided to try it out, and quickly found what I’d consider above average success. I wasn’t rolling in sales or anything, but it was enough for a nice little side hobby income, that was for sure.
However, things didn’t last long at all. Less than a year in, Amazon decided to get all sorts of awful (or at least a fresh round of awful? They’ve never been great). Suddenly, books would be randomly blocked from submission, without any reason, explanation, or detail. They also had a secret three strikes rule, have three books rejected for any reason (they wouldn’t tell you the reason) and your whole account was banned. There was no appeal process. There was no review, and no explanation. I have every reason to believe this is still their stance today.
So that was pretty demoralizing. I’d been having a lot of fun and really investing myself in it, and was basically told to go take a hike. So I did. But I didn’t just unpublish from Amazon, I also pulled from Smashwords, and all the other platforms. I briefly considered coming back a few years later, when people were saying things had lightened up a bit, but they hadn’t.
Then, in late 2023, generative AI hit the scene (it had been out for a while, but it wasn’t GOOD until then). Suddenly, there were new tools and technology, and I wanted to learn more about them. So I decided to write a small something, and it was fun, and easy. It reminded me of how much I liked writing. So I decided to give it another shot.
On Call, one of my first series ever, had never been properly completed. I used the various tools to finish it out, and then needed to share it, so I dusted off my Smashwords presence, and put it out there. I re-published the first two, as well as the third, and wouldn’t you know people still liked it. Over 2024, I worked on a couple ideas, but I was distracted with a side project that wrapped in November of 2024. After that, I started focusing my free time on writing much more concertedly, and have been working on getting both my old stories and new ones published.
I can’t commit to pushing things out on any sort of schedule, but I’m not planning to vanish again. We’ll see where things go.