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Last night I was interviewed by the team over at SFFM, and I had an absolute blast. Linday Buroker, one of the three hosts, is a long time idol of mine so it was surreal getting to talk to her on air.
Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out, or you can watch the video below:
This morning on my bus ride into San Francisco I passed the half way mark in the first draft of Vampires Don’t Sparkle. That’s always the most challenging part to write, and the second half I always breeze through.
To celebrate my mini-milestone I’ve put the pre-order up on iTunes. The blurb is just a placeholder, but for those who read on iTunes feel free to place your order =D
I’ll be sending out the completed draft to beta readers on July 31st, so if you’re on the list keep an eye out for it!
A couple months back I embarked on the rather ambitious plan to write a non-fiction book (my first), which would launch with a companion iPhone app. The amount of work that went into creating software that would perfectly dovetail with a book was challenging, but very rewarding.
Today both are finally live! You can download the book on either iTunes or Amazon, and the app is available here. I know most people who read my blog are into my fiction, but if you’re a writer give the app and book a look.
They’ve both worked well for the people who’ve tried them so far, and I’m hoping they’ll 
work for you too! Either way I have to admit I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. =)
Thank you all so much for the feedback! Almost a hundred people weighed in, and this is the final product (minus the book’s blurb which I’m still working on). Hope you guys like it as much as I do!
Odds are good if you like my books you’re familiar with the Predator franchise. If you’re not, I highly recommend checking out Predator, Predator 2 and Predators. The first two movies are dated, but still a fun watch watch. Predators is more recent, and just as awesome in it’s own away.
I bring up Predator, because Predator Dark Ages was just released. This twenty-seven minute free movie has incredible production value, and some great characters. Those familiar with the franchise know that Predators have visited earth many times throughout history, and this movie examines what would have happened if they’d shown up during the middle ages. Check it out!
What do you guys think of the color? We’ve used red for NSTAW, green for NMZ and light blue for TFA. I figured purple might work, but I’m open to suggestions.
The Deathless series has done far better than I ever could have dreamed, to the tune of 10,000 books in the first seven months. That still makes me go =O
There are a lot of reasons I feel the books are selling well, but I suspect the biggest is the covers. I get compliments on them daily, and that’s not surprising. The artwork is phenomenal, and the typography is top notch.
Today I’d like to introduce you to the man who created, and continues to create, that phenomenal art. His name is Nikolai Ostertag, and he hails from Germany. He is also a god-damned GOD. Above is the very first piece of artwork I requested, the hauntingly foreboding cover to No Such Thing As Werewolves.
To the left you’ll find the next piece, the cover of The First Ark. It brings to life my favorite character, Isis- also known as The Mother. Nikolai captured her perfectly, and this image also displays the Primary Access Key. That’s huge, because until the moment I saw this piece both Isis and the key were simply artifacts that lived in my imagination. Now everyone can enjoy them.
Last month I released No Mere Zombie, the second book in the Deathless Saga. Once again Nikolai outdid himself, this time creating a piece that holds a very special significance. The zombified guy on the cover? He’s also my real life best friend, and thanks to Nikolai he’s been captured perfectly. That won me a 20 year bet, by the way.
The timing of this post isn’t accidental. Many of you know that I’m hard at work on Deathless Book 3- Vampires Don’t Sparkle. Nikolai just sent me the first draft of the cover art the other day, and I can confidently say it is his finest work (not that I am totally biased or anything). I can’t wait to get the final draft, and the second I do you’ll see it posted here.
In the meantime do me a favor and spend a few minutes checking out Nikolai’s Deviant Art page. The man is just amazing, and the artwork he’s done for me is only a small fraction of his portfolio,
If you’re a writer consider commissioning some work. His rates are reasonable, and the finished products speak for themselves.
Odds are good you use Facebook, Twitter or at the very least email, right? If so you’re familiar with the little red badges that signify notifications. If you’re like me your response is oooh, there’s something new to check! This happens most often on my smartphone, while standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for my soup in the microwave, or of course in the bathroom. I am compelled to check my phone all the damn time. Why is this? Each time you experience pleasure your brain places a marker which measures the circumstances leading up to that moment. If it detects these circumstances again it realizes ‘Hey, this felt good last time. It will probably feel good this time too’. It responds by flooding you with a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine doesn’t necessarily give you pleasure, but instead prompts you to engage in the behavior that led up to pleasure last time. In practical terms it works like this. You received an email from a girl or guy you were crushing hard on. That email told you they felt the same way, and in that moment you were on top of the world. Now whenever you think about email your brain fires off that dopamine and you’re compelled to check it. This is why you’ll constantly open your phone to see if there’s anything new on Facebook, Twitter or your social media drug of choice. Something good might happen, so here comes the dopamine.
Why Games Are Addictive 
Large game companies figured out how to trigger dopamine rushes and used these principles to create mass-multiplayer games like World of Warcraft. Players will spend 8-12 hours a day clicking away in a virtual world, because the game has been engineered to trigger dopamine rushes. At first your character gains levels frequently, which is a pleasurable experience. As time goes on it takes longer and longer to gain a level, but players keep grinding away because their brains continue to release dopamine in a vain effort to recapture the pleasure they experienced. This is why MMOs are so addictive, and they’re not the only type of games to harness this technique. Are you familiar with Candy Crush? 2048? Angry birds? Every last one is using dopamine to keep you playing.
How does knowing this help you?
Dopamine releases can be attached to positive behaviors. We’re now seeing apps like Fitbit gamify fitness, and they do it in two ways. First, they provide achievements for reaching milestones. Instead of getting that shiny new epic sword in World of Warcraft you get a badge for walking 10,000 steps in a single day. You get similar badges for losing weight or for climbing a certain amount of stairs, and before you know it your brain is rewarding you for positive behaviors. It certainly works on me. I haven’t played an MMO in years, but I log in to Fitbit every day to obsessively check my stats.
Social Proof and Competition
Game and social media companies figured out another huge behavioral marker in humans. We’re inherently tribal, and are driven by a subconscious need to be significant in our tribe. In MMOs this meant being really good at raiding or killing other players in arenas. It meant having the best epic loot, or the coolest new mount. You gain significance by excelling in whatever way is measured by the shared activity. In social media it can mean getting the most likes or comments on your posts. In Fitbit this means dominating the leaderboard among your friends or your local area. This competitive principle will often get people to do things they’d never even consider, like sitting in front of a computer for twenty straight hours to be the first to unlock some cool new gear. Nuts, right?
What does all this have to do with writing?
Using apps like Fitbit to encourage positive behavior made a lightbulb go on in my head. If it works for fitness, why wouldn’t it work for writing? Every writer I know wants to crank out more words daily. Most of us are highly competitive. What if you had an app that rewarded you for writing? What if hitting word goals or having a seven-day writing streak triggered the same rush of dopamine that checking Facebook does? I took a quick look around and found that no one had tapped into this. So I did it myself. That’s how I wrote the 5,000 Words Per Hour book, and why I developed the companion 5KWPH app.
The Book- 5,000 Words Per Hour
The 5,000 Words Per Hour book shows you how to conduct writing sprints. In essence it teaches you to eliminate distractions, so you can sit down and crank out massive word counts. It further explains gamification, flow and the neuroscience behind both. It’s designed to be a short read, a mere 15k words (about 120 pages). I took out all the fluff, all the personal anecdotes all the crap you often find in nonfiction books that’s either there for padding or to fluff the offers ego. What’s left is an actionable set of steps you can take to increase your daily and hourly word counts.
The iPhone / iPad App- 5KWPH The app uses the principles taught by the book. It conducts these writing sprints, awards you achievements just like Fitbit or WOW, and allows you to post your progress to social media. In 5KWPS you have a tool to measure and track your progress, and it uses dopamine to motivate you to write like a machine. I wrote the book for you, but the app was created for me. I’ve been using it for some time and have cranked out three novels in the last nine months. I also wrote the 5,000 Words Per Hour book using the app.
Uh-Oh here comes the sales pitch So this is the part where I ask you for money, right? Nah. Not yet anyway. The book doesn’t come out for another month. When it does I’d be happy to take your $2.99 to subsidize my daily coffee habit. The app is available to beta test right now. All you have to do is email me with your name and the email address you want the app sent to. You’ll get to download the app for free, and help me make it do all the things I promised in this article. Then, in a month or so when I charge for it, you can decide whether or not to give me a few bucks for it. Either way I hope you use it to transform your writing and up your word count. -Chris
