Dear Reader, Issue 2, Volume 2

A guest post and the winds of change.

Dear Reader:

The book launch was a success! Maybe not a bestseller success, but I received some wonderful feedback and a number of unexpected purchases. You’ve made an up-and-coming (notice I didn’t say young) author very happy. I have a simple request, and I’m only going to ask this once, I promise. Would you be so kind as to leave a review on Amazon? It doesn’t need to be full of glowing praise. A sentence or two letting readers know why you enjoyed it would suffice. Amazon allows you to choose the name you want to post under right on the review page, so you can even do so anonymously.

Many of my fellow writers who read Future Thief have asked questions about the self-publication process on Amazon KDP. I want to share my experience, an act of gratitude for your support and a way to help you take the first step. I’ve partnered with

The Storyletter

as a result, which is run by

Winston Malone

. In a few weeks a guest post will go out that you don’t want to miss. It demystifies self-publication on KDP and should serve as the perfect primer. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.

The Winds of Change

If you’ve been a subscriber for any length of time, then you know I’m not afraid of change and experimentation with Future Thief. It’s an intentional progression toward reaching the widest possible audience with the highest quality stories I know how to tell. Last year that approach meant a hyper focus on writing fiction short stories weekly for Substack and submitting to speculative outlets. One outlet that I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on is Elegant Literature, which uses monthly prompts.

I finally realized this is too much and it doesn’t allow stories to breathe as much as I would like. I wrote a story for the January prompt and decided it couldn’t even hold my own interest. I self-rejected. Another conclusion I’ve come to over the last few months is that I don’t enjoy prompts at all. They can help with idea generation, but if I must write within boundaries, then I’ll resurrect those walls myself. As a result, I will no longer be submitting to Elegant Literature.

The last change I’m making is to post on Substack with no intended frequency. I do recognize there’s a purpose and a weight to deadlines, which can be very useful, especially under contract. In my particular case, I’m writing regardless, and don’t need them. Instead, what I need to focus on is setting a higher quality standard for my submissions and improving my craft overall. That includes having time to write longer stories and outlining a novel for this year.

Dear Reader will still go out semi-regularly, documenting my acceptances and rejections and it will also serve as a place to journal my thoughts on creating a novel. In some sense it’s the adventure behind the adventure that I get to share with you, the end result being a piece of literature you can own and say you understand on another level — a scary prospect to get so deep into my head.

I’m very thankful that you’re subscribed, liking and commenting. Your support means the world and I can’t wait to share more stories with you over the coming year. 

Happy Reading,

Brian Reindel