Here's the book: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/persistent_dawn_1st_draft_one_chapter_at_a_time

Hey GOGlodytes,

Way back in the day, whiile writing The Darkest Wand, I posted the book as I wrote it on the Neverwinter Nights Persistent World City of Arabel forums. Some folks really enjoyed it.

I was wondering if you all would like me to post as I write my current book, "Persistent Dawn." It's more fun that way for me b/c I love feedback and people predicting and talking about stuff. It tends to make my writing better and more enjoyable. <EDIT:> This would be posting it as I write it. So you wouldn't get the full thing right at first. You'd get a chapter at a time, either days or weeks or, should I go into writing stasis, months apart.

I won't be asking for grammar or spelling comments. Grammar and spelling can be rather poor compared to the final draft. I don't write my first draft like a final -- I just get the words and ideas on paper. Sometimes I'll retroactively change names, character's professions or entire events that make future events more meaningful. So it's like getting a late alpha game instead of the full release when you read it -- but you can interact with the developer.

If it's something you'd be interested in, let me know. If "enough" folks are for it, I'll start a thread up in a bit and start posting.

If you don't know my writing (I know a lot of folks here have read at least some of my stuff), I've got 3 books self-published right now:

The Darkest Wand -- a fantasy that if I give anything away spoils it.
Memoirs from Special Education -- A boy pretends to be handicapped throughout high school in order to better understand and communicate to others what it is like to be in the world of a handicapped person (this is my best-seller)
Father Pimp -- A priest saves a pimp from the streets but under one condition: the priest must promise to watch over the ladies of the night. Day by day, he loses his grip. (My least favorite book I've written, but a few folks have told me it's their favorite. I wrote it after being stunned by some light research on the topic, which then turned into a lot of research).

And my next book, Persistent Dawn -- A man's discovery alters his perception of his entire world and religious society. He understands science and truth better than any other in his society (so he supposes, anyway), and he intends to use it to make his people prosper. (that's the best I can do without any major spoilers)

I tend to write with relatively short chapters. I think that format appeals to modern readers better who find themselves snatching up bits of books in smaller morsels than just a few decades ago. And I love swirling up fantasy, science and religion -- especially of the type that challenges ones' presuppositions or conclusions.

If you want to read the first draft, let me know. If you don't think it has a place here, let me know that, too.

Happy gaming!

here it is: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/persistent_dawn_1st_draft_one_chapter_at_a_time

Cool. As a writer myself, I always enjoy reading what others do. I'd like to see it!

I'm not a writer, though I would love to write, but I don't have the time/energy. Still I wouldn't mind reading it :)

Yes, please.

And links to your published books!!

Books in Print: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/BenRyanBooks

Books for Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Archambault/e/B005QPOL1I/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;qid=1398441561&amp;sr=8-1&amp;tag=legeofleef-20

The Darkest Wand will likely be in a Groupees in the future. It was previously accepted, but I was contractually bound to one distributor at the time. That contract is over, so I'm hoping it'll show up there at some point.

this one made me laugh

but back on topic, i havent read anything you published yet but your short recap of persistent dawn sounds very interesting to me

Thanks, will take a look! Mandatory question - are they DRM-free on Amazon?

And since you're no longer bound by Amazon, have you considered publishing on other stores, like Smashwords maybe?

They do have DRM on Amazon. I've wanted to pull it off, but you can't pull off the DRM off after you agree to have it. But I've committed to making the rest of my books DRM-free. You GOGlodytes converted me. :)

I've been told to get it up on Smashwords before. I'll look into it.

As with many artists, I don't care much for the business side. I spend 99.9% of the time creating the art and .1% of the time trying to figure out where and how to sell it. So I think Smashwords would actually make life easier.

I have to admit, though, that the Amazon exclusive deal was rather nice for a while. 2 of my 3 books were top 10% on Amazon for a year or two and that 70% commission is very, very nice.


And with that, there's at least a few of you who want to read it and nobody's said "NO! It'll pollute the forum!" so I'll start a post right now and slap chapter 1 up there.

Arrg, do let me know if you get them up on Smashwords DRM-free.
And does that e-pub copy on Lulu also have DRM? A quick look around, didn't reveal anything besides unlimited # of devices.

Sadly for us DRM-free advocates, you're not the first or only writer to not particularly bother about DRM, I had to "educate" a good number of writers on Kickstarter about DRM, some of them didn't even know or understand what it is.
Out of curiosity - what made you go for DRM when you first published on Amazon?


And looking forward to the fresh reading material :-)

I only have printed copies on lulu (I do have a very short story that was used for a competition on there, but that's it -- perhaps DRM-free? The item itself is a free download)

As for DRM:

This is the blurb that Amazon gives authors when choosing DRM or not:
"DRM (Digital Rights Management) is intended to inhibit unauthorized distribution of the Kindle file of your book. Some authors want to encourage readers to share their work, and choose not to have DRM applied to their book. If you choose DRM, customers will still be able to lend the book to another user for a short period, and can also purchase the book as a gift for another user from the Kindle store.

Important: Once you publish your book, you cannot change its DRM setting."

I thought: "I'm putting it on a storefront, so I don't want free sharing. People can share with other customers for a short period, which seems reasonable -- like it was a book. Oh! I cannot change it. Hmmm. I'd better be safe and just put DRM on."

After it was on the first, it was just an automatic selection for the next two. I sort of intended Father Pimp to be DRM-free, but wasn't really thinking about it when I clicked the DRM radio button. I was just trying to get past the business stuff.

But then I started learning about all these other e-readers and if your book has DRM, it's screwing your paying customer who has a different preferred reader. And honestly, pirating a book isn't a huge deal to me. If someone reads it and likes it, they'll probably go and buy one later. And it's not like I got in this to get rich.

Not only that, but a year or two ago, I found that someone cracked the Amazon DRM on The Darkest Wand and was distributing it on a website (thought google said it was an iffy file, so it probably contained a virus -- maybe not even a cracked version).

Anyhoots, I'll put The Darkest Wand on Smashwords some time relatively soon and if sales pick up, I'll put the rest of the books on there too, DRM-free.

Sounds awesome, thanks for posting about it! Persistent Dawn sounds cool as well, looking forward to it.

Chapter 1

and btw pms to you are blocked :)

nah not yours, cmdr_flashhearts pms are blocked out its a profile setting if you get pissed by too many spam pms and such :P