Nick Bryan

Jukepop Serials

SERIAL KILLER – Hobson & Choi webserial conclusion contemplation

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As you’ve hopefully struggled to miss if you follow my various web presences in the last few days, the last chapter of the Hobson & Choi webserial on JukePop debuted on the site, bringing the whole 1.75 years of its life to a close.

The story of Hobson and Choi themselves will continue in the self-published book editions, the second of which comes out in January. However, future cases will be written in longer chapters, entirely with the books in mind. I thought the loss of week-to-week serialisation from my life warranted a few words.

PREVIOUSLY ON

As I’ve said in various places, including the quick blurb at the end of the final serial chapter, I grew up on serialised books, TV shows and comics and they still form a majority of my cultural intake. So yeah, a weekly serial, with a breathing universe to slowly unpick and characters who unfold other time, is always something I’ve wanted to do.

The heavily serialised nature of the H&C web version, with characters coming and going, smaller story arcs unfolding within bigger ones and plot threads drifting around before finally exploding, is very much something I’ve taken from those. The way characters took on their own lives, combining in interesting ways and weaving together to form the wider tapestry of the Hobson & Choi universe was exactly like I hoped it would be.

DARK TURN

Unfortunately, it was kinda its own undoing in the end – the bitty nature of the text made it harder to translate into novel format, and since those are intended as the ‘final form’ of the whole story, the one that might make proper money from it, it seemed foolish to keep on with the weekly serial, generating more work and making little cash.

Honestly, what I’d love to do is start a Patreon or similar for an ongoing serial in the H&C format (about 1.5-2k word weekly chapters, not necessarily crime genre) fully intended for and owning that structure, justifying itself through the regular flow of backer money. And then I could probably do some kind of collected editions as well, but it would be less pivotal that they succeed.

Unfortunately, not sure I’m there yet in terms of fan following, but one day, my friends. Maybe once the H&C books sell a few thousand million copies.

TRIUMPHANT MOMENT

Anyway, just because the H&C serial is going away, I don’t want to shit on what I did achieve. As of now (29th Nov 2014), H&C is still the most voted serial ever on JukePop, along with the various monthly chart achievements and biannual award win. I’ve had loads of comments, received good reviews on various websites and met some excellent people through the webserial community, both on JukePop and beyond.

So yes, it was great to live my writing-a-serial dream, but the fact other people came on board and gave a damn was almost better. I knew Angelina was a decent character, but actual teenage girls getting in touch say they totally felt for her, rather than screaming at me for butchering their demographic, is definitely going on the list of achieved writing goals.

Not yet had any cynical detectives with dark pasts get in touch to compliment my portrayal of Hobson, but there’s still time, guys! Email me now!

TO BE CONTINUED

If you’re worried that this is the beginning of the slow death of the H&C franchise, I hope to prove you wrong. Already written the first 5000 words of Case Four, the first post-serial story, and Case Two is damn near ready to go in January. Will start whipping Case Three into book shape that same month.

In the meantime, if you want more H&C right now, as ever, Case One – The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf – is out now and features an exclusive bonus story digging into one aspect of the universe. That extra story is a decent length too, quite pleased with it. Another fun aspect of owning my own serial world. A similar book-only story will be bundled with Case Two in January.

There’s also a short exclusive H&C case available to mailing list subscribers, so if you go sign up now, the link to download that will be emailed over, and you’ll be told when important future H&C/Nick Bryan developments happen.

That really is it, guys. I think I’m done looking back wistfully over the weekly H&C serial, it’s time to march onto 2015 with our eye set firmly on future book-shaped developments. It’s been good, though. Hopefully I’ll get to do it again one day.

Hobson & Choi – Updates & End-dates

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Hobson & Choi, my ongoing webseries about two mismatched detectives and their weird adventures in a horribly corrupt modern London, has experienced a strong few months. We’ve done well on Jukepop Serials, the first collected book edition has come out and also put in a strong showing. So since we had a big positive announcement today, it seemed a good time to do a general H&C post, talk about stuff, make some declarations.

Hopefully it’s all ultimately going to be good news. But be warned: your emotions may vary. Let’s start with the really obvious flag-waving upbeat section.

VICTORY PARADE

So, not only have we been #1 in the monthly Jukepop Serials charts for the last couple of rounds – which would be pretty excellent in itself – but we recently crossed a pretty big boundary: Hobson & Choi now has the most votes of any serial in the history of the site.

Look, here’s a screen grab of that fact, taken on the evening of Oct 16th.

To be honest, that’s basically our biggest single achievement on that site – it’s amazing that the many and varied readers of Jukepop have embraced the story, and thanks to everyone and anyone who voted, commented, reviewed or recommended us anywhere and other such things. Hooray.

We also won the biannual prize, finally announced today, for getting the most votes in the six months between April and September. This win was helped by big boosts from the book launch and releasing twice-weekly chapters for ten weeks. All of which means we win $500, which is almost all going into promo/expenses for the H&C novels. Brilliant stuff, thanks again.

And now, to conclude this victory lap, here’s a short video by fellow JP author, recent successful Kickstarter organiser and friend-of-the-serial Virginia McClain.

Crossing The Finish Line

Here’s another announcement I’ve been sitting on: the Hobson & Choi webserial is finishing with the upcoming gala-sized H&C #100. That should be with you in late November, unless I injure myself.

It’s not the end of the Hobson & Choi story, that will continue in book form, but it is the end of Angelina Choi’s two-week work experience, the wrapping up of a few major subplots and, I’ve decided, a reasonable place to draw a line.

Basically, I’m doing this to focus on the book editions. That was always the plan, and since I’m approaching a clear breakpoint and am on a high in terms of Jukepop achievements (see above), this seems the right time to burn out rather than fade away.

The serialised nature of the original chapters is only causing more work when editing them into book form, not to mention I might sell more copies of later books if I stop giving all the material away for free (even if in a less polished form).

So this is it. Six chapters to go, four of which I’ve already written, and then we’re all done with the serial. Leaving us only with…

Hobson & Choi: The Glorious Book Editions

Since I’ve just announced I’m ditching the webserial for them, let’s have an update on the H&C novels. Book Two came back from the editor a couple of weeks ago, and I am hoping to enact the changes by the end of this month, just in time to consider whether I want to do NaNoWriMo after all.

The cover is also coming soonish, but to make sure I have enough time to deal with the actual technical self-publishing stuff, get the print and ebook editions out at the same time, plan some promotion and avoid competing with Santa, the actual publication date will most likely be in January.

Book Three to follow, probably in late spring/early summer, and then we’re into all-new book-only material.

Phew. So yeah, it’s a pretty busy time in the H&C section of my schedule. I also have a fantasy novel which I’m nursing through various latter-stage drafts, so I’m keeping occupied.

If you want to encourage me in my dreams, feel free to buy The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf (aka H&C Case One) from one of the many buy links on this page. If you’ve purchased your copy already, why not leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads? Or subscribe to the mailing list and get a free all-new H&C short story?

If you’ve done all that, you’re probably alright. Thanks for reading. Time for a nap, I think. Feel free to leave any heartfelt eulogies for the Hobson & Choi webserial in the comments, I’ll probably write my own once the end comes.

Anthologies, both JukePop and Comic Book (WriteBlog #10)

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Me and my thumb in the Jukepop anthology!

Those of you who see my updates on any form of social media are probably familiar with the photograph on the right of me (and my thumb) in the Jukepop Serials anthology, as I posted it more or less everywhere on Tuesday night.

Now, for anyone who fancies some context, here it is: Jukepop Serials, the publishers of Hobson & Choi, have produced a print collection of their ten “best” serials.

I have no idea what magical algorithms were used to reach this list, but nonetheless, I was on it, and the first five chapters of Hobson & Choi can now be found on pages 43-68 of the book. I stress, these are not improved or “director’s cut” versions, so if you’re not a H&C completist (do we have those yet?), you don’t have to rush out and buy it, but if you want a Christmas present for someone who enjoys serialised genre fiction, this could work.

Whatever the algorithm, they’ve ended up choosing some good stories. No, this isn’t a published novel, but at this early point in my writing career, part of my brain still spikes with joy whenever I see my own name in print, so good fun nonetheless.

Elsewhere in Nick In Anthologies news, the comic script I was working on last week had its first encounter with a genuine editor, and happily all went well. Got interesting notes, no spelling mistakes found. In short, I didn’t get an email back saying “What in the good fuck is this, have you even read a comic?”, so good result. Next, this afternoon in fact, I shall go sit in my cafe and attempt to enact said notes.

In short, it’s been a good few days on the writing, so you’re spared the stream of introspection that sometimes emerges in these posts. There may or may not be another WriteBlog next week, because my schedule of festive prep/booze is starting to squeeze the writing time. In fact, we’re reaching the calendar point where bloggers everywhere pad out their schedule with Best of [YEAR] lists, so might do that instead. Regardless, hope your own Christmas shopping and/or drinking is going well.

Hobson & Choi Podcast #4 – Dry Blood

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Fourth episode of the podcast! This is definitely happening now. The download figures have picked up this week, I’ve even had a complimentary tweet about the show, so thanks to all listening.

Now, this episode…Hobson takes over the narration, as he bullies the only available witness through some murderous backstory. Featuring dry blood and a sandwich. Meanwhile, backstage, this week I have a sore throat but still find some authorial insight to lay down.

You can click through to Mixcloud here, download the MP3 here or subscribe on iTunes to have it thrown at you every week. Or if you hate iTunes on principle, you can point your RSS reader at our Libsyn page to get every episode.

Interview with me about Hobson & Choi!

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Over here on the Online Novel Blog, an interview with me about Hobson & Choi, working with Jukepop Serials and various other bits. Includes half-decent Justin Timberlake joke.

So, yes, this is the exciting thing I was hinting at yesterday. Was published late yesterday night, but I was off watching the tennis. Still, people are interviewing me, I must be doing okay. Check it out.

Plugging Stuff On Twitter – ENTER THE VORTEX

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SPAM SPAM SPAMMITY SPAM

I’d already worried for a while about how much to plug my various writing endeavours on various social networks. Mostly Twitter, but others too. Recently, though, I started doing Hobson& Choi on Jukepop, and I’m telling you, I love doing it. Wanted to do something serialised ever since my comic-loving yoof.

But Jukepop operates on a competitive vote-up system, so to succeed, I need people to go vote for me. And I already felt I was pestering people to read my work quite a lot, so… is this too much? How much is too much? Is this much of a muchness?

Let’s blog about it.

The Life-Span Of The Lesser-Spotted Blog Post

There are a lot of aspiring/self-published writers on Twitter trying to get their work out there, and if you enter that community, follow a few people, you find yourself deluged with links and promo hyperbole. It’s hard to argue with the goal, but when everyone’s doing it, how do you stand out?

I tell myself at least I’m generally plugging new material – I don’t usually push work for longer than a day or two, and TV reviews I only mention once – rather than flogging the same thing repeatedly, but ultimately, it’s still a lot of links. I can’t pretend I’m on that much higher a plane here.

Ultimately, I gotta cross my fingers and pray my followers care – maybe dial it down if the audience figures slide toiletward. But by the same token, there’s only so much I can push things to the same few people, thus why I just mention things a few times to account for time zones, then drop them.

Don’t Miss The Toilet!

After all, I also have idle life updates and toilet jokes, and I’d hate people to miss out due to unfollowing. Yes, it’s my work which I’m genuinely passionate about, but for the same reason, I don’t want it to become background noise either. And there must be places online actually intended as locations to push your flash fiction/serial fiction/TV reviews, rather than just chucking them out into the general Twitter vortex and hoping they “go viral”.

Especially if I’m looking for people to not just idly click the links, but actually invest enough to vote, maybe it’s time for a little targeted marketing. What I really need is some kind of Social Media Marketing Guru to tell me about this – anyone know where I could find one?

(Or, indeed, any thoughts on the issues raised above, shout out in the comments. How much plugging is too much? Is there such a thing? Has anyone had a relative disown them due to excessive flogging of their writing?)

(Creative Commmons spam photo by Arnold Gatilao on Flickr, by the by. Okay, enough bracketed epilogues.)