Does it feel like the world is in turmoil? I wrote a scifi novel about that, though not specifically this. That book, Firewatcher, is now an ebook. If you need an instant distraction, there it is. Firewatcher’s origin story has been covered over on my oldest blog (Firewatcher Launched). That was the paperback. The ebook is finally ready. The book and its timing are worth chronicling. Here we go.
Apologies to those who wanted the ebook immediately, two years ago. Thanks for waiting. It is available now, on Amazon.
Why wait? A book relies on its author, and this author had guesses about what might happen in the real world. I’ve learned to trust me. Pardon me as I copy from myself, the Foreward to the Revised Edition:
The future is happening fast.
Firewatcher started as an image and an idea in the mid-2010s.
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At the time, several trends were projected to reach critical levels in 2100. Artificial Intelligence, climate change, and political and societal shifts were projected to alter our world. Media reports frequently used the term ‘conservative estimates.’
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My read on the media was that 2100 was too far off. My suspicion for each of the affects could be more like 2040.
If the world was going to change that soon, I should write the book soon.
I’m glad I finished when I did. I wish I’d finished it earlier. 2030 looks like a better target, maybe even 2025.
Books that are more futuristic or books that are about fundamentally about human emotion can be written at the writer’s convenience. A story set in another time in another galaxy isn’t likely to be invalidated by current events. My story was tied to and inspired by life on Earth now, and a little after that. My writing didn’t have that luxury.
My non-writing life also imposed constraints. The ebook was going to wait. I felt that the sequel couldn’t. Fire Race is now available, just in time for elections and holidays. After a short vacation (ha!), I was able to create the Firewatcher ebook.
Creating an ebook has dramatically matured. My previous ebook was for Walking Thinking Drinking Across Scotland. That exercise was frustrating, tedious, and flawed. It took weeks. I didn’t want a similar experience to derail Fire Race and some of my other projects.
Creating the ebook for Firewatcher took less than ten minutes. That is ten minutes to fill out the forms and upload it. I spread out the task of reviewing it to a few days. It seemed too good to be true.
As with any book, I found a few errors, but they didn’t violate my measure of ‘good enough’. My apologies, but what was good enough for Terry Pratchett was good enough for me. As I was producing my ebook, I was reading the ebook version of Raising Steam. Errors exist, even for authors who have sold tens of millions of copies of their books. Terry Pratchett’s early death also reminded me that life is finite. Get it done. Get it out there. Get on to the next thing, even if that is retirement.
For writers who are curious about my process, I’ve already mentioned the timing of this ebook. Fire Race’s ebook should be out soon, too.
In my opinion, paperbacks and ebooks have different timelines. Paperbacks benefit from being available in time for the summer beach read season, and in time for early holiday shoppers, basically Spring and Autumn. I missed that deadline, but at least I got Fire Race out before Thanksgiving. Ebooks can benefit from the months of word-of-mouth advertising, but they can also benefit from their near-instantaneous delivery time. Paperbacks for the holidays need time to be delivered and wrapped and delivered again. Ebooks can benefit from gift cards, especially gift cards received on the same morning as all of the other wrapped presents. Get a card. Buy a book. Download it. Scamper away to some corner of the house and dive into another world.
Ebooks don’t have to wait for the holidays. As I type this, it is the day after Election Day in the US. No matter who wins, about half the country might want a distraction, particularly one about humans escaping an impending dystopia. Escaped! Yay! And, oops. And there’s the story…
As for my process, this is also the time for marketing. Marketing might be a dull chore after the creative experience of writing, but sales matter to some of us, as does sharing stories and perspectives in difficult times. Useful versus distraction is a reader’s judgment, not mine.
So, allow me to celebrate the ebook of Firewatcher. The ebook of Fire Race should be available soon. Next year, I intend to begin writing From Middle Class to Millionaire to Mostly Muddling By. After that, I plan to write the third book in the Exodus/Genesis series, of which Firewatcher and Fire Race are a part. In the meantime, I am going to try to advance my tall ship screenplay. (Screenplay Draft – Second Celebration – March 2024) And, with 19 books produced so far, photos, and merch, I can be busy enough with marketing many things. There’s a vacation in here somewhere, right? How about a distraction, at least?
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