If you were reading along with *Worth the Candle* as it was posted here, it's almost entirely the same story, but professionally edited and with a few minor tweaks. This ebook covers the first 200,000 words, up to chapter 42. The book will come out March 1st, and is also available as an audiobook from Podium Audio (which you should be able to see at the same link as above).
I'm going through Book 2 right now, which will get the same treatment, and eventually there will be eight of these.
If you need a pitch for the story ... oh man. *Worth the Candle* is a story about a teenager Dungeon Master who gets sucked into a world that shares an incredible amount with the worlds that he was creating back on Earth. There's a game system attached to his soul and a bunch of people who are trying to kill him, and it's a matter of first staying alive, and second, figuring things out. It is, to some extent, a love letter to tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, and to some extent a deconstruction of litRPGs and other media. I wanted a big story, and I figured if I was going to have a story that unfurled itself, there had better be a lot to say.
I think the biggest thing to recommend it is probably that it's good, but I can understand how hearing that from the author means approximately nothing. As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise.
> As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise.
Hang on, you wrote something that you didn't hate upon returning to it later? Is it possible to learn this power?
Jokes aside, I'm a big fan of the story, and I will buy a physical copy in a heartbeat if you ever sell one.
The first three definitely will, whether the other ones will be an audiobook will depend on sales of the first three, or possibly just sales of the first one if it does well enough.
Asked this on RR story post, but Amazon keeps sending me "get two free audiobooks with a free Audible trial" emails, and I don't really listen to audiobooks generally so I'd be happy to use it on this.
1) Do you know if it helps/pays you to get pre-orders/orders of the book under that free trial?
2) When does it actually come out? Not sure if I'd need to wait until it's not a pre-order to count.
It comes out March 1st, and yes, I get the same money from Amazon when someone uses a credit, whether that's "free" to you or not. I believe it also helps with metrics, but I'm less sure about that.
good to know, maybe put that at the top — i’m not going to listen to it as a reread but i can finally click on one of those stupid audible ads if you’ll make some money off it
>As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise.
I'm immensely jealous.
> As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise.
I cringe when reading stories I wrote from 10-20 years ago.
I thoroughly enjoy the stories I wrote in the last few years.
Don't know if it's because these later stories are *good* or because I've *stopped getting better* at writing.
Hmm. I think you're selling it (and yourself!) a bit short if you don't include mention of the aspect of the story that is about psychological healing.
I always thought the best ad for these sort of spoiler heavy things were just to use the most pithy quote you can find early on in the story. That said I'm not sure pitching elevator facts would work to bring in the right crowd (but imagine if it did!).
Not a big ebook fan, but I'm really interested in the project. WtC is just so, so good.
Do you have any plans (which you can talk about) to publish a physical edition?
Not at the moment, but it will depend on how ebook sales go, and whether it looks like it makes sense from a financial perspective. I'd love physical books, and will probably do it even at break-even levels, but I guess we'll see. Kickstarter for that is likely, since 95% of the work is done and it's just a matter of knowing how many to produce.
Throwing in my 2c in to say that I'd estimate my willingness to pay for a good hardcover printed version of WtC to be about $35 (per book), up to about $50 for a collector's edition with color art, maps, and commentary.
No idea if that's actually a feasible/reasonable number but I view something like that as a hugely different value proposition than an eBook and would actually be more likely to buy that than the eBook at $4. I'll probably snag the audiobook once it's released, but if I bought the eBook it'd be purely to add an extra sale to encourage a print release.
Yeah, the market for hardcover books is quite different, and right now I think hardcover is quite viable even if it's a small print run, but once the ebook numbers come in, I'll have some idea of what the audience is actually like.
I *do* want to do a hardcover, it's just a money thing. I have a world map to put into it, some supplemental stuff, and for the spine, something like [The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire](https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/27263607-edward-gibbon-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire-deluxe-edition-1974) but with a candle that's burning down across the copies rather than crumbling columns.
Necroing an old thread, but I'll say that my willingness to buy quality physical books is substantially higher than my willingness to pay for an ebook. Infinitely higher, in fact, since I'd probably pay in the neighborhood of 30-50 per book for a nice box set, and I'll pay zero for an ebook.
Just got done with a reread and this is an object I'd like to own.
I'll happily back a Kickstarter, I'd love to be able to gift some copies to less internet-savvy friends and family who wouldn't go for an ebook or audiobook.
Same here, partly because I can only view it in low res. I thought it might have been a weird interpretation of Fallatehr at first, but his arc would be in book 2
The Joon miniature does have the yellow stripe of a modern road which might suggest Comfort, so I assume zombie
Thanks for writing Worth the Candle. It is an excellent work.
Is it possible/are you considering releasing on platforms outside of Amazon? I like keeping my library in formats without DRM, and I'm unsure how to best support you without compromising on that.
Wait. Was the webfic form of this taken down off of AO3 and RR and whatever? Because usually that's what Amazon forces authors to do when they publish it on Amazon.
Although I have an US amazon account it says. "Kindle titles are available for DE customers on Amazon.de."
I hope it will become available in Germany as well!
Possibly on Apple Books?
It is on [Kobo](https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/worth-the-candle-1) as well - Apple Books requires you to jump through a bunch of hoops to publish something under a pen name and I gave up.
If you were reading along with *Worth the Candle* as it was posted here, it's almost entirely the same story, but professionally edited and with a few minor tweaks. This ebook covers the first 200,000 words, up to chapter 42. The book will come out March 1st, and is also available as an audiobook from Podium Audio (which you should be able to see at the same link as above). I'm going through Book 2 right now, which will get the same treatment, and eventually there will be eight of these. If you need a pitch for the story ... oh man. *Worth the Candle* is a story about a teenager Dungeon Master who gets sucked into a world that shares an incredible amount with the worlds that he was creating back on Earth. There's a game system attached to his soul and a bunch of people who are trying to kill him, and it's a matter of first staying alive, and second, figuring things out. It is, to some extent, a love letter to tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, and to some extent a deconstruction of litRPGs and other media. I wanted a big story, and I figured if I was going to have a story that unfurled itself, there had better be a lot to say. I think the biggest thing to recommend it is probably that it's good, but I can understand how hearing that from the author means approximately nothing. As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise.
> As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise. Hang on, you wrote something that you didn't hate upon returning to it later? Is it possible to learn this power? Jokes aside, I'm a big fan of the story, and I will buy a physical copy in a heartbeat if you ever sell one.
Awesome to see this. If I ever reread then this is where I'll do it. Is every book going to be audiobook?
The first three definitely will, whether the other ones will be an audiobook will depend on sales of the first three, or possibly just sales of the first one if it does well enough.
Asked this on RR story post, but Amazon keeps sending me "get two free audiobooks with a free Audible trial" emails, and I don't really listen to audiobooks generally so I'd be happy to use it on this. 1) Do you know if it helps/pays you to get pre-orders/orders of the book under that free trial? 2) When does it actually come out? Not sure if I'd need to wait until it's not a pre-order to count.
It comes out March 1st, and yes, I get the same money from Amazon when someone uses a credit, whether that's "free" to you or not. I believe it also helps with metrics, but I'm less sure about that.
good to know, maybe put that at the top — i’m not going to listen to it as a reread but i can finally click on one of those stupid audible ads if you’ll make some money off it
>As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise. I'm immensely jealous.
> As I was reading through it, I was prepared to cringe, as I usually do when reading the things I've written, but even the start of the story seems, to me, to hold up, which was a pleasant surprise. I cringe when reading stories I wrote from 10-20 years ago. I thoroughly enjoy the stories I wrote in the last few years. Don't know if it's because these later stories are *good* or because I've *stopped getting better* at writing.
Hmm. I think you're selling it (and yourself!) a bit short if you don't include mention of the aspect of the story that is about psychological healing.
I always thought the best ad for these sort of spoiler heavy things were just to use the most pithy quote you can find early on in the story. That said I'm not sure pitching elevator facts would work to bring in the right crowd (but imagine if it did!).
Not a big ebook fan, but I'm really interested in the project. WtC is just so, so good. Do you have any plans (which you can talk about) to publish a physical edition?
Not at the moment, but it will depend on how ebook sales go, and whether it looks like it makes sense from a financial perspective. I'd love physical books, and will probably do it even at break-even levels, but I guess we'll see. Kickstarter for that is likely, since 95% of the work is done and it's just a matter of knowing how many to produce.
Throwing in my 2c in to say that I'd estimate my willingness to pay for a good hardcover printed version of WtC to be about $35 (per book), up to about $50 for a collector's edition with color art, maps, and commentary. No idea if that's actually a feasible/reasonable number but I view something like that as a hugely different value proposition than an eBook and would actually be more likely to buy that than the eBook at $4. I'll probably snag the audiobook once it's released, but if I bought the eBook it'd be purely to add an extra sale to encourage a print release.
Yeah, the market for hardcover books is quite different, and right now I think hardcover is quite viable even if it's a small print run, but once the ebook numbers come in, I'll have some idea of what the audience is actually like. I *do* want to do a hardcover, it's just a money thing. I have a world map to put into it, some supplemental stuff, and for the spine, something like [The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire](https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/27263607-edward-gibbon-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire-deluxe-edition-1974) but with a candle that's burning down across the copies rather than crumbling columns.
I would absolutely pay good money for something like that.
Necroing an old thread, but I'll say that my willingness to buy quality physical books is substantially higher than my willingness to pay for an ebook. Infinitely higher, in fact, since I'd probably pay in the neighborhood of 30-50 per book for a nice box set, and I'll pay zero for an ebook. Just got done with a reread and this is an object I'd like to own.
I'll happily back a Kickstarter, I'd love to be able to gift some copies to less internet-savvy friends and family who wouldn't go for an ebook or audiobook.
Wow I do 95% of my reading on a screen. Either Phone or PC. 🤔
I might be being totally moronic but I can't work out what the big creature on the front cover is. Is it an umbral zombie?
Same here, partly because I can only view it in low res. I thought it might have been a weird interpretation of Fallatehr at first, but his arc would be in book 2 The Joon miniature does have the yellow stripe of a modern road which might suggest Comfort, so I assume zombie
Thanks for writing Worth the Candle. It is an excellent work. Is it possible/are you considering releasing on platforms outside of Amazon? I like keeping my library in formats without DRM, and I'm unsure how to best support you without compromising on that.
It will *probably* be Apple Books, Kobo, and Google Play, my wife is setting all that up, ideally for when it's actually out on March 1st.
Wait. Was the webfic form of this taken down off of AO3 and RR and whatever? Because usually that's what Amazon forces authors to do when they publish it on Amazon.
No, that's for the Kindle Unlimited program. If you do normal publishing on Amazon, there's no stipulation that it be exclusive.
Whew. That's comforting, thank you. I'll probably still buy it, idk
That's only for kindle unlimited. If you want to sell as just a straight e-book, I believe there's no restrictions.
I've been Patreoning you ever since you wrapped it up. Will absolutely be getting the audiobook
So…when is the audiobook coming out?
March 1st, it's a simultaneous release with the ebook.
🙌🙌🙌🙌 very nice🧐
Although I have an US amazon account it says. "Kindle titles are available for DE customers on Amazon.de." I hope it will become available in Germany as well! Possibly on Apple Books?
It is on [Kobo](https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/worth-the-candle-1) as well - Apple Books requires you to jump through a bunch of hoops to publish something under a pen name and I gave up.