I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before or not, but I actually dabbled in self-publishing an ebook for grown-ups a year or so back. I decided I was going to produce a serialised horror story about a new type of insect which burrows into the flesh of human hosts, then drives them to commit unspeakable acts of violence.
The Bug cover
Because it contained swearing, sex and lots of extremely graphic violence, I decided to keep my own name as far from it as possible, so as to avoid fans of, say, this book accidentally mistaking it for another comical adventure romp for kids. I released it under the pseudonym, Jack Standing, and although it got a few early reviews, because it wasn’t under my own name I didn’t feel any urge to promote it. Or, indeed, to write the second part.
I eventually pulled it from Kindle, and it’s been sitting around doing nothing ever since. I’ve decided, though, that the time has come to bring back The Bug, and this time to do it under my own name. And, you know, to write the rest of the six-part series.
Each “episode” of the series is around 10,000-12,000 words long, and will combine to form one longer story of around 70,000 words. Each episode will (I think) be priced at 99c/99p, with the collected edition of all six episodes being $2.99/£2.99 or so. That’s the plan at the moment, at least. I want to get a few episodes ahead of the publishing schedule, so right now I’m looking at publication day for Episode 1 being somewhere near the end of March, with further episodes coming out every two weeks until mid-June.
Subscribers to my newsletter will be able to get sneak previews of each episode before they’re published, so sign up below if that sounds up your street. You’ll also get your hands on a free copy of my short horror story, The Bone House, to help keep your busy between now and the end of March.
