A funny thing happened on Wattpad

Posted on by K. M. Herkes

I woke up to a ton of Wattpad notifications yesterday.  This was a puzzler, because I hadn’t posted there since last fall, and follow stats there plummet when nothing new goes up.

This caught my eye as soon as I logged into my profile:

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21? My big, ungainly mega-book about the past of my Restoration novels is at #21 on a Top 100 list? Sweet! But…it didn’t answer my main question: why now?

That’s where the message in my Wattpad inbox came in. Congrats! it declared, and went on to explain that Downrigger has been chosen as a Featured Book in a new Wattpad program called (wait for it) Featured Books.

For 21 days, Downrigger will be showcased to the Wattpad community at large. And I’m pleased to report a bunch of people are adding it to their lists–some are diving right into reading it.

Well, then. Color me happy, eh?

Edited to add: I’m told I need to provide a link to the book. No problem! Here:

Click here to open Downrigger on Wattpad.

I still don’t know why the book was chosen, but the whole “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth: thing comes into play. I’m delighted it’s getting attention. That’s the reason I put Downrigger out for public consumption after all.  I adore its main characters, and its weird twisty, sprawly plot is a thrill ride.

You might wonder why didn’t I buff it up and sell it, if it’s so good…well. Several answers:

  1. it is not professionally edited, and I’m reluctant to spend the necessary time & money on doing that for books in this series at this time.
  2. it’s much too big for one book but not big enough for two, and that would be another formatting headache I wouldn’t need on top of editing.
  3.  some of its concepts & continuity are outdated and would be hard to fix without rewriting from scratch. Which I’m definitely not interested in doing right now.

Despite all those obstacles, I have a deep-seated need to complete projects. Downrigger’s presence in my unfinished-books queue was a constant distraction and source of creative guilt. It needed a better home than my hard drive, a final destination  I could send it without feeling I should apologize for its unpolished, ungroomed condition.

Thanks to Wattpad, it now has a home. I was happy for that alone. Now it’s being featured?!   I’m grateful, entertained, and all around chuffed that it’s getting some reading love.

And in a total aside, I’m learning that Wattpad community members have the AWESOMEST names for their reading lists.

Thanks, Wattpad. Thank you, readers. May you enjoy reading about Hook, Doug & Misha’s adventures as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Summer Reading Adventure on Wattpad!

Posted on by K. M. Herkes

Update 9/12/2017 This book is COMPLETE. You can read the whole story from beginning to The End without interruption if you like. Enjoy!

I am posting a serial novel on the Wattpad website this summer. The book title is Downrigger, it’s a cyberpunky, dystopian-ish science-fiction thriller, and you can read it for free as I post and polish it chapter by chapter. More details on that at the bottom of this post, quick link right here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/110555072-downrigger

Why am I doing a Wattpad book? That’s a story by itself and the reason for this post.

It starts with the quotation Art is never finished, only abandoned. That pithy remark is attributed to everyone from Leonardo Da Vinci and Picasso to W. H. Auden. I can’t source it definitively, but I do like it.  In this case this book that will never be finished, but it’s done enough to share.

Downrigger has been around long enough to legally buy and drink alcohol. Heck, it’s old enough that it wouldn’t get charged an exorbitant premium for auto insurance.  It’s been revised and re-written and updated, and it’s more than ready to meet readers.

Why offer it on Wattpad? Why not sell it?  Welp, to be blunt it’s a worthy and wonderful read, but it isn’t the right shape, size, or type of book I can sell.

Sure, I could make it commercially viable. I could force its adorable, sprawly epic mass through a formal editing and proofing process and turn out a heck of a thrilling novel…or two…or most likely three…but that would take a lot of time and creative energy I want need to devote to newer, shinier projects that excite me more. Not to mention money. Editing etc would cost money, and money is a thing.

Why not let it sit in a drawer until the time is right? Because if it stays on my hard drive, it will tug at my attention and demand I play with it, and I cannot afford that distraction. (see above, re: newer, exciting projects)

Also, I think now is the time.  Wattpad is a good open forum for free reading (you do NOT need to be a member to read as long as you bookmark the link to the book. Here’s that link again:  https://www.wattpad.com/story/110555072-downrigger

Book blurb & cover:

A soldier without a memory.  A secret government project pushing the frontiers of neurology and psychiatry. A nation rebuilding from the ashes of revolution, still torn by social and political strife, in a future where the boundaries between technology and society are blurring.

Doug Berman is a murderer, or so everyone tells him. He paid for his crime by forfeiting his past and starting over. Now he’s a file clerk for an isolated scientific community dedicated to psychiatric research and treatment, and he makes installments on his debt to society one dull, drudgery-filled day at a time.

When he’s offered the chance to play tour guide to the community’s newest group of clients and volunteer test subjects, he jumps at the chance for a little extra pay and a big break in routine.
But within seconds of meeting his first volunteer he suspects he’s made the second biggest mistake of his life.

Michael “Hook” Martinez doesn’t know his own full name, where he is, or how he got there, but he’s certain of one thing: his enemies want him to fail in his mission. Now, if only he can figure out what that mission is before someone gets killed…

This story takes place shortly after the Restoration of the United States, after the fiery violence of the Revision Years died down but before the chip rot plagues began.

downrigger6.png

 

Happy summer reading, all.

Not tired of my words yet? My published works are available on Amazon and all the other usual online retailers.

Science-fiction thrillers, science-fiction romance, and science fantasy, full length novels and shorter works. So many choices!