Happy Petriversary! (Plus, something really important.) · 12:46am Mar 6th, 2015
Three years ago today, I hit the little "submit" button on my first MLP fanfiction, Petriculture. I'd spent nearly an entire month working on this story, anxious to get it out as soon as possible. At the time, I just wanted some solid proof that I was the first one to come up with the notion that Pinkie Pie was Twilight's imaginary friend, because at that point in the show's run, it seemed plausible enough that I was sure someone else would alight upon the idea. Of course, I wanted it to do well, too. So I set my expectations high: 1,000 views... perhaps. If all the stars aligned. Surely this idea might be compelling enough to get that sort of attention, right?
As it turned out, my expectations could have been set considerably higher. For whatever reason, the "Feature Box" algorithm that was in place in 2012 absolutely loved that little story, and I've been reaping the benefits ever since. I can't really understate just how much the community's response meant to me. At the time, I was working in a boring, tedious job (granted, my employers were great, but there was only so much they could do to alleviate the inherent tedium), and I spent most of my days wallowing in self-pity, anguished over the fact that life hadn't turned out the way I planned it.
But after that response, suddenly, I felt like I was doing something worthwhile. My creativity was making people happy... thousands of people. It may not have been for a long time, but because of what I was doing, their lives were being enriched, even if only for a tiny bit. I know, because you guys told me so.
Suddenly, I was writing again. And thanks to those wonderful view counters, I could actually see that there was interest in my writing style. Quite a bit of interest, actually. It got me wondering...
You see, as a little boy, I wanted to write stories for a living. As a teenager, I talked myself out of it after doing some research and learning how cutthroat the publishing world could be. I wanted something with a bit more stability. Things started looking brighter at college, and my first year of grad school, but then... well, I won't go into all the details here, because some of them are painful to remember, but there were a lot of ups and downs, many of them due to the fact that my autism hadn't been diagnosed, and I couldn't seem to cope with the rapid changes life threw my way.
But then, as I said, I wrote Petriculture. And you guys read it, and a lot of you liked it. And you liked most of the other stuff I wrote, too. And when I briefly had a tip jar, far more people contributed than I ever expected. I thought, if this many people are willing to voluntarily give me money for writing fanfiction, maybe some of them would pay to read my original stories.
And that leads me to the announcement: I've got a short story for you, and it will only cost you $0.99* to read it. It's titled "The Empty Hand," and it's currently available in digital format on various Amazon sites worldwide. I hope you enjoy it.
Lawrence Butler has carved out a fairly lucrative niche in the Boston underworld: when someone creates a problem, he can "take care" of them—for a reasonable fee, of course. But when he's tasked with handling a strange man in a tailored suit with an uncanny knack for showing up and disappearing at the most inconvenient times, his profession might not be the only thing at risk.
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
(Other international site URLs available on request - Amazon gave me links to all of them)
* Or the equivalent international price according to Amazon's automatic price-adjusting tool, or in the case of the UK, the minimum price allowed.
Don't mind if I do.
Many thumbs up for the improved description/synopsis, by the way. Also congratulations seem to be in order, so congrats!
Corn-Granulations!
Glad there's a happy ending to your rocky start!
now that sound like my kind of story.
I'll gladly pick it up if I can get it into my physical hands. Any plans for that to happen?
2855692 - Not really. It's only 11 pages long, so physical copies aren't that cost-effective.