Category: Writing

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Your 12 Best 2019 Links Part 2 – Laugh Again!

In Your 12 Best 2019 Links Part 2 – Laugh Again! I continue what I started in part one. Read Part 1 here.

So where did I finish off? Six months, six links, makes it through June. 

Your 12 Best 2019 Links Part 2 – July 2019

I could hardly decide this month. I had a lot of great videos in July. Check them out here. But I think this one takes the cake.

In light of the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, this video won the race.

Next, on to August’s best link/video/image. Which will it be? I haven’t decided yet.

This also showed up in July:

5 Best SciFi Best Story Ideas
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Just email me and ask for codes to my free audiobooks. Also, I have a drawing for two free books, one paperback, one ebook each month. That’s coming up next week!

Click to get a free audiobook sample

The Best of August 2019

First, you can gander at all my posts from August.

Then, cast your eyes upon this wonderful item:

Not only did we celebrate the Moon landing, but also the development of a real hoverboard–rather like in my book, Paranormal Privateers.

Your 12 Best 2019 Links
Fron Paranormal Privateers

What’s the Best Thing From September 2019?

Good question! Your can read all my posts from September 2019 right here. I chose this one. Why?

I love when science catches up with science fiction. Here I just wrote Paranormal Privateers in 2018 including mind control through skull implants. Then I read an article heading in the same direction with current technology!

Can anything top this in October 2019? Find out in the next section.

Your 12 Best 2019 Links – Next, October

In one blog post, I discussed where I got my ideas for Paranormal Privateers, my third novel. I had to surpass my previous books. I added a surprise twist and I gave two hints. Here’s your first hint:

Your first hint about Paranormal Privateers

Then you got this second hint:

Excerpt from Forbidden Planet

I love these two movies, so, naturally, I included elements of them in my book.

If you haven’t read Paranormal Privateers, let me know your guesses about the plot twist. The best response gets a free ebook of your choice!

Next, 2019 November’s Best

My best in November was my worst mistakes in publishing. These were fresh in my mind, since I just published Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse.

However, my first short story book released in November and THAT’s the best thing about November.

Oops! Cover – Get it here.

And here you have the back cover and blurb:

Your 12 Best 2019
Oops! Back cover and blurb

Oops! I almost forgot! I got a review for Oops! Here it is:

The First Review of Oops!

Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse by Andy Zach is a collection of short stories and as the clue is in the title, the theme is zombies. And boy do they come in a variety of different shapes and sizes.

The book starts with three stories that are a starter and not in the zombie genre. Firstly, you are introduced to a world where nothing is heard. Then we move on to finding an elusive phoenix and trying to use its DNA for breeding. Lastly, we have a story about a time-travelling wheelchair.

Then we jump straight into zombies. From zombie pickles, to zombie service dog corgis, to zombie models and even zombies in a nursing home. There is a timeline thread running through the stories where characters that create something or meet someone bring them into a later story. And all of this in a world where becoming a zombie is as easy as ordering blood online!

After each story, the author explains where he got his ideas from, and since in his bio he claims both his parents were zombies, he must be an expert on all things undead. The author has a very quick mind and some of the quips and plays on words were very clever. In some of the stories, however, I would have preferred a definite ending—one where the story doesn’t just finish and you think there is more coming. It was almost as though they were ideas taken from diary extracts with sporadic glimpses into a world of zombies.

From Reedsy

Oops! Review Part 2

After the zombie stories came tales from some of his other books about teenage superheroes. I think the one I enjoyed the most was of the hamster that one of the kids had experimented on and had developed some superpowers. He taught himself to read and was eventually able to communicate with others by typing on a computer. The author very cleverly integrated himself into that story by being the author in the story and the one that the hamster contacted. And of course, we had to have a story about aliens to end it off.

The editing of the book was very good, and I only caught a couple of minor errors. I enjoyed the writing style of the main author and very often you had to reread something because the clever nuances were so subtle you only got them a few lines later. The different styles of writing by the different authors was a bit offputting as you get into a tempo with one and then get thrown off your rhythm by another.

While I enjoyed the book overall, I would still put it in my average category as I wouldn’t go back and reread it. I would, however, recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read where you can turn your brain off from reality and just jump into a world of crazy.

From Reedsy

Finally, of Your 12 Best 2019 Links, the Best of December 2019

What could be the best thing about December? Maybe, Christmas?

The Official Video of ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’

What a great way to close a year by a parody author! I hope your year was wonderfully fulfilling and joyful and 2020 is even better.

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How Do You Keep Writing and Where Do You Get Ideas?

How Do You Keep Writing and Where Do You Get Ideas? I’m glad you asked because that’s what I’ll tell you.

The first rule is to desire to write. I love writing crazy ideas into books, surprising and entertaining people. I truly would do it for nothing. In fact, my net profits so far are nothing.

I loved writing Zombie Turkeys. That way I got to write ridiculous chapters with weddings and zombie turkeys.

How Do You Keep Writing
Zombie Turkey dressed for a wedding. Chapter icon

Then, I sought to top myself with My Undead Mother-in-law. I had to make a new villain, one so evil you would feel sorry for the zombies. I made a sociopath who used cyborg animals to commit crime, like capuchin monkeys, rats, and black mambas.

How Do You Keep Writing
Rat, capuchin monkey, and black mamba cyborgs chapter icon from My Undead Mother-in-law

Now, how would I top myself again for my third book? I hated repeating myself. I needed something related, but totally beyond a mere undead mother-in-law. How about if I put the zombie family on a luxury yacht, give them a letter of marque from the President, and send them around the world fighting American enemies, public and private? That’s a start!

My undead family would be zombie pirates. But that phrase is too common. Paranormal Privateers became the title of my third book.

How Do You Keep Writing
Paranormal Privateers Andy’s third book

Next, a disaster happened.

Ruh Roh! Writer’s Block

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEffUAATOY8

I got stuck writing this book. How could I keep topping myself? My paranormal privateers fought pirates, slavers, terrorists, and prevented a nuclear holocaust. What could come next?

I needed a change, a total surprise. But how do I get there? What did I want to write? I loved 1950s science fiction movies. So I wrote what I loved. That is how you break writer’s block. Return to your passion.

I can’t tell you what I did without spoiling the book, but I’ll give you some hints.

Your first hint:

Your first hint

Now, your second hint.

Your second hint.

That is your second rule to keep writing year after year: write what you love.

I finished Paranormal Privateers two months after NaNoWriMo, in January 2018. It appeared in ebook and print on Amazon and later Audible.

(By the way, you can get all my books at Audible. They’re free if you’re a member. Zombie Turkeys, My Undead Mother-in-law, and Paranormal Privateers. Or, if you want a free copy, just write me and I’ll send you one in exchange for an honest review.)

But what would I write next? I burned myself out on zombies. This leads to your third rule.

How Do You Keep Writing: Write Something New

Where could I go next? What else did I love writing? What did I love reading? Young adult science fiction. Everyone wants a superhero origin story. I wanted to do one of those for my fourth book.

But this had to be different, unusual. Superman got his power from birth on another planet. Batman got his power through intelligence and training. How about an ordinary hero? How about an unlikely hero? What was the least likely hero?

Now I get personal. My daughter’s been disabled with cerebral palsy since her birth. What if my hero had cerebral palsy–and his superpower didn’t take it away?

Then superheroes often come in teams. What if they were all disabled, each with a different disability and a different superpower?

I had my next book: Secret Supers.

How Do You Keep Writing
Secret Supers cover

Finally: Your Free Books

These offers are just good until October 31st.

First, you get Zombie Turkeys for free. Click here.

Free Zombie Turkeys
Free Zombie Turkeys ebook

Now you get your BIG GIFT: 31 Free books follow and end this blog post.

31 free books for you
Click for 31 free books. Only until October 31, 2019
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How You Can Publish 4 Books in 3 Years Like Andy Zach

How You Can Publish 4 Books in 3 Years – stop reading! Go to the first part of this blog now, How I Published 4 Books in 3 Years.

If you just came here for the first time, welcome! I’ve been a self-published author for three years and I’ve blogged the whole time.

But you want to know how I did it. My first post covered publishing Zombie Turkeys, my first book. (Psst! If you want a free copy, go here. This link is only good for a limited time.)

You Can Publish 4 Books
Zombie Turkeys

I left off that post mentioning my second book, My Undead Mother-in-law. Here’s the story of that publication.

You Can Publish 4 Books
My Undead Mother-in-law

First, I didn’t take time off after Zombie Turkeys came out October, 2016. I entered November NaNoWriMo and wrote 50,000 words of MUM (as I like to abbreviate it.)

I finished up the book in January and sent the book to my editor, Dori Harrell, as with Zombie Turkeys. Then I contacted my illustrator Sean ‘Fuzzy’ Flanagan. He stressed the covers should look similar, so people can see this is a series. He created another fantastic cover.

Like before, the back cover is a scene from within the book. In this case, the first chapter family meal with the zombie family, the Newby’s and the normal inlaws. Did you notice the back cover is a parody? Compare it to this famous Norman Rockwell painting.

Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell

Fuzzy also created unique chapter icons, like this next one:

MUM Chapter 1 Icon

You Can Publish 4 Books in 3 Years – The Process

At this point, I’m getting a rhythm to working with my editors and illustrator and Amazon. I used over a hundred step project plan for Zombie Turkeys. For you, I’ve boil it down to:

  1. Write as much as you can every day until you’re done with the first draft.
  2. Then edit your first draft. Remove all grammar and spelling errors. (I use the free version of Grammarly).
  3. Next, hire an editor. I hired Dori Harrell.
  4. Also get an illustrator, like Fuzzy Flanagan.
  5. Then you’ll need a book format editor like Rik Hall. He puts your final manuscript into a professional format for print and ebook publishing.
  6. Now you can upload your manuscript and cover to Kindle.
  7. Consider this optional step: print out an author copy to check. I did that with Zombie Turkeys, but not the other books.
  8. Finally, you can publish it. Plan a date two to four weeks in the future for time to generate buzz and interest.
  9. Don’t forget to hold a launch party on the day of your book’s availability. Choose a library or bookstore and advertise it. I also advertise online by creating a Facebook event for each book launch.
  10. You can now buy posters and promotional material for selling at book conventions.
  11. Finally, sell your book at conventions. I’ve gone to Chabanacon, PennedCon, Archon, and Quadcon.
  12. Start writing your next book

What’s Next? Last Notes

My goal is to publish a book every nine months. A successful author said he writes four per year in a series and releases them every month for four months. I may try that in the future.

Would you like that? How about if I wrote four volumes of my Secret Supers series and release them monthly? Would you like that? Let me know. I’ll send you a free short story for your response.

You Can Publish 4 Books
Secret Supers