Check out my chat with Introverted Indies

I had a great time chatting with Lucy from Introverted Indies. Check it out.

Beta Edits done!

 I've completed all the edits from my Beta readers! Just sent the manuscript to my editor. Everything is progressing on schedule for a Fall release of Volume III of the Prophecies of Zarune. I think I've settled on the title, but am going to hold that back a little longer. I'll probably reveal it once I get the cover art going, so stay tuned.

Sacramento Book Festival 2026

 I attended the 2026 Sacramento Book Festival and had a fabulous time. This is my second year as an author and this year's event was even better than last year. At the 2025 event I sold 19 books, which I thought was great since I only had Relentless Blades for sale.

This year blew me away! I sold 26 Paperbacks of Relentless Blades, and 5 Hardcover. I also sold 14 Ashbound Oaths Paperback and 3 Hardcover, so 48 in total!!! Additionally, I partnered with two fellow Indie Authors and sold 5 of their books. It was incredible.

The only downside is that I underestimated my sales and ran out of Relentless Blades Paperback books. I suspect if I had more, I would have sold at least 5 more. I left the event with an hour to go because of this.

I also sold 4 prints of my Ashbound Oaths cover and 1 of Relentless Blades. I couldn't have been more thrilled. I sold the paperbacks for $15 each or a bundle of the two for $25. I may up this slightly for the next event, not sure.

On a side note, book 3 of the trilogy is currently with Beta Readers. I've received feedback from one and am starting to make some slight changes as a result.

502 Sales!!!!

 

I'm so excited to announce I've crossed the 500-lifetime sales Milestone. I'm actually at 502 as I type this. I thought I had just hit 500 but must have miscounted somewhere along the way. This does not account for free book give aways or Kindle Page Reads. It does account for sales of paperbacks, hardcovers, eBooks and audio books, as well as in-person sales.

These are sales of both my books, Relentless Blades and Ashbound Oaths since 10/21/2024 when Relentless Blades was released. Here is how the sales break down for those who are curious.

The first draft of The Prophecies of Zarune, Volume III is Complete!

 I'm super excited to announce that the first draft of The Prophecies of Zarune, Volume III is complete as of today. It clocks in at 134,842 words. For reference, Ashbound Oaths was 118,600 and Relentless Blades was 116,400. I can proudly say that I've completed the trilogy and hope to have the book published by the end of 2026. Can't say for sure as there are so many factors outside my control, like Beta review timeframes, editing time, cover design, etc. That is my goal though.

I should also note that I edit as I go. It's not a deep-dive edit, but I do run spell-check and massage the prose so the finished product is something I could share and not be totally embarrassed. Of course, I need to do a full cover-to-cover edit next.

For now, I just want to savor this moment. 

I've been keeping a strict count of my word count progress since November 2025. You may get a kick out of it. I'm definitely not one who writes every single day, but I tried to be fairly consistent.

61,372   11/28/25

68,457   12/3/25

69,674   12/4/25

71,571   12/5/25

73,776   12/6/25

74,745   12/7/25

75,912   12/8/25

77,071   12/10/25

78,063   12/12/25

78,889   12/13/25

79,356   12/14/25

80,382   12/16/25

82,980   12/17/25

84,111   12/18/25

84,638     12/19/25

85,874     12/21/25

86,685     12/22/25

87,570     12/29/25

89,273     12/30/25

89,912     12/31/25

90,954     1/1/26

91,779     1/2/26

92,896     1/3/26

93,130     1/4/26

93,386     1/5/26

94,320     1/7/26

95,526     1/8/26

96,872     1/9/26

97,772     1/11/26

98,130     1/12/26

98,615     1/13/26

98,930     1/14/26

99,190     1/17/26

100,126   1/19/26

101,299   1/20/26

101,355   1/25/26

102,534   1/28/26

103,021   1/29/26

103,368   1/30/26

104,059   2/1/26

104,904   2/9/26

105,975   2/10/26

106,835   2/11/26

105,916   2/12/26

106,309   2/13/26

106,621   2/14/26

107 043   2/15/26

108,270   2/16/26

107,275   2/17/26

109,151   2/18/26

110,077   2/19/26

111,323   2/20/26

112,385   2/21/26

113,277   2/22/26

113,361   2/24/26

113,638   2/25/26

114,920   2/26/26

116,484   2/27/26

117,774   2/28/26

118,631   3/1/26

118,838   3/4/26

121,604   3/5/25

122,530   3/6/26

123,314   3/7/26

124,155   3/11/26

125,285   3/12/26

126,945   3/13/26

129,515   3/16/26

131,428   3/17/26

134,298   3/18/26

134,842   3/19/26

Relentless Blades video review by Richard Massie

My thanks to Richard Massie for reading, reviewing and creating this cool video review of Relentless Blades. Enjoy!

My Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stance

 Today I was attacked by a fellow Independent Author who has accused me of being hypocritical and nefarious around my position on the use of AI. They claim I tout no AI when in fact I am a pro-AI supporter. She basically called me a liar saying I do not have a 'nuanced' take on AI, even though I have consistently stated that,

What is her evidence? She says the cover of Relentless Blades is created by AI and that I don't disclose that and that I have AI narration for my audiobooks, so I am pro-AI and am only telling people I have a nuanced perspective.

I take great offense to this because I have never attempted to deceive anyone. I feel I've been very transparent about my feelings around AI and my usage of it, and resent anyone impugning my integrity.

Let's begin with the cover of Relentless Blades. You can see my blog post about it in the link at the top of the page. I very clearly point out who did the work and show all the steps of its creation. For full transparency again, here is the artist.  www.fiverr.com/kaleem1233?source=inbox. In his profile it states he is an AI artist among 20 other categories. 

I have been very upfront that when I hired Kaleem I told him I didn't want AI used and he said he would not. After he completed the cover and I published it, my belief was that it was AI-free. After that I had a couple people say they think it has AI in it and pointed out areas they believe support that. I was surprised and asked Kaleem again. Here is the conversation.

Is he lying to me? Perhaps. I acknowledge now and have in the past that I can see the definite possibility of AI usage in the cover. This is apparently not good enough for some people. In this case the person attacking me had an expectation that I would label my book cover as AI. I'm not doing that because even I do not know for sure, and was told no by the illustrator, But, I have acknowledged that likely it does contain AI usage. After this revelation I have made sure not to tout my book cover as AI-free. Call it coping or me justifying it, but I do have a nuanced take on AI. I chose to hire and support a human artist. I paid him (and the new artist for my Ashbound Oaths cover) good sums of money. I feel good about that. If one or both did use AI in the book cover(s) I can live with that. 

I was also attacked for using an AI audio narrator. I have been up front about that as well. I never tried to hide it or deceive anyone. You can find this video from August 2025 on my YouTube channel 

https://youtube.com/shorts/rwa08vLjZ8E?si=o7koBuPV0s50XS36

where I let everyone know that I used Amazon's AI narration. Again, I'm fine if you don't like this and choose not to buy my books because of it. That is your right and I am good with it. What I'm not good with is anyone claiming I'm misrepresenting myself as Anti-AI when in fact, I'm pro-AI.  

I have my boundaries and acknowledge that AI is changing so rapidly that my feelings on the subject tend to change. What I can say is that I did not use AI to write Relentless Blades or Ashbound Oaths.

I do see a lot of nuance and gray areas. On one extreme I do not believe someone can simply prompt AI to create their book and call themselves an author. On the other extreme, I have no issues with people who use AI for research, to make promotional videos or pay an artist who may use some form of AI. In between, I do see a lot of gray areas. I think more will emerge the more AI progresses. Agree or disagree, this is my truth.  

Some can say I'm a sell-out and am pro-AI for this feeling and they are entitled to this opinion. If you reading this choose not to buy my book because you feel it has an AI cover, you are entitled to this position. I'm fine with those who are completely against AI in any form, but what I will not abide is someone calling me a liar or implying that I am misrepresenting myself or my position.

Grimlock Interview

https://www.thewritingventure.com/post/grimlock-bonebreaker

Fantasy-Sci-Fi Podcast Interview

Relentless Blades and Ashbound Oaths Merchandise now available!

 You can now buy Relentless Blades and Ashbound Oaths themed merchandise. Link in the top task bar!

Here are some of the designs you can place on everything from shirts to stickers to mugs to hats.

Would I read this based on the cover? Ashbound Oaths by Russell Carroll

January 2026 update

 Hey Everyone. Been a busy start to the new year. I wanted to hop on and give an update for Volume III of the Prophecies of Zarune. I just crossed 100k words. I'm currently sitting at 100,126. It's hard to gauge how much longer it will be, but I'm guessing the finished first draft will come in between 130,000-140,000 words, which will make it significantly longer than either Relentless Blades or Ashbound Oaths.

I'm racing toward the grand finale and praying I can stick the landing. I'm feel like it's coming along well, but you never really know until you read the draft back in its entirety.

I'll try to hop on more frequently with updates. For now, it's back to the grindstone. 

November 2025 Transparency Post

 

First, let me give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported me this month by buying my books. 🙏 This is by far the best sales month I've ever had or expect to have at least until I release book 3 of the Prophecies of Zarune.

Background information – Relentless Blades (RB) has been out for a little over a year, and Ashbound Oaths (AO) released on 11/18/25. I had the AO cover reveal on 10/8/25. I had SFFinsiders.com assist with that. They are fantastic at collaborating with indie authors to present high quality cover reveals. That was also the day I began taking pre-orders and began my personal marketing campaign. When I say ‘personal’ it means that I did all promoting. No paid ads of any kind.

Prior to the 11/18/25 AO release here were my book sales and eBook pricing:

RB ($2.99) – 3 sales

AO ($1.49) – 35 pre-sales (again, all my own personal marketing)

I rarely use paid ads, but for this release month I decided to try a few. My strategy was to discount RB (eBook) to drive sales to that book in the hope people will like it and then buy AO later. I set a Kindle Countdown promotion, so RB was priced at $.99 from 11/18 – 11/24. I kept AO at $1.49 as I felt that was already a very low price for a 465 page book.

I chose the following paid, 1-day advertisements, with pricing and RB sales for each day.

Robin Reads – date 11/21 - $60 – 4 sales

Book Barbarian – date 11/22 - $40 – 20 sales

Fussy Librarian – date 11/23 - $18 – 10 sales

Results – I paid $118 for 34 “potential” sales. I say potential because I was also consistently marketing myself during that stretch, so some of the sales could have come from my marketing and not paid ads. At this point, I consider the ads a failure. I hoped for many more sales. Now, it’s possible it may still payoff down the road if all 34 people end of buying AO at anything close to regular price, but for now I’m not impressed. For context, a $.99 eBook sale only nets the author about $.65 in royalties when on a KDP countdown promotion.

However, I urge you to scrutinize the numbers. My results do not mean they will be the same for you for a variety of reasons. The first of course is different books. But there are many others: choice of promotional month, and choice of promotional days of the week being two major factors. In hindsight I would have had the sales coincide with Black Friday rather than ending right before Black Friday really begins. I’m also not sure November was the best month to have the sales, although I’m not really sure.

Final November numbers (Amazon):

AO – 65 (35 preorders, 30 after) sales which was 60 eBooks and 5 Print

RB – 50 sales which was 48 eBooks and 2 print

*I had 1 AO sale through Barnes and Noble and 2 through Ingram Spark as well in November.

It’s important to note that there was not a day in November where I did not promote one or both books personally through various social media platforms. I used X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Threads. Most days I promoted at least twice on many platforms. Advertisements consisted of messages with pictures of the book, pictures of me with the books and videos.

In summary, I was thrilled with the sales but already feel the momentum waning. As I type this, I have no sales or KDP Page reads to report today (11/30) and had no sales yesterday, although I had some KDP page reads. This will likely be my last transparency post for a while. I’m not saying I’ll never do another but will be cutting back on them.

During the discourse around transparency posts last week, many people pointed out that transparency posts can come off as unprofessional and as a form of bragging. The unprofessional point stuck with me. You don’t see the literary titans posting their monthly sales figures. It’s like the great Barry Sanders who just handed the ball to the ref when he scored a touchdown; act like you’ve been there. When (or if) I do make more transparency posts I will try to include metrics again.

Then why did I make this post? For three reasons. The first is that I am so thrilled with the sales that I had to share. The second is because I said I’d make this post last week, and the third is my hope that the details I presented may inspire other indie authors or at least provide them with some context and information they may find useful for their own marketing. I especially feel that context is important. Numbers without context are too easily manipulated and misinterpreted.

Thank you all again who have supported me, and I hope you found this interesting and valuable. Now, go buy RB and AO. 😀

 

 

Live Chat with Author Russell Carroll (Beast Friends Forever 119)

Ashbound Oaths is Live!

 I'm so excited to announce that Ashbound Oaths is now available in all formats. Purchase links are in the title bar above. I am hard at work on the sequel. I have currently written 55,000 words. Been a little slow lately as I've been focused on promoting Ashbound Oaths, but I plan to get more focused soon, I hope!

Ashbound Oaths Art

The Ashbound Oaths cover art has been revealed and it's beautiful. It turned out better than I hoped. Originally, I planned to use the same artist from Relentless Blades, but he took longer than I wanted in responding to me, so I went with a new artist: Jesh Art Studios https://www.fiverr.com/s/o8kNGRA

He did a fantastic job at a very reasonable price. Here you can see the progression of his work from the concept to the finished product. 

    This was the concept sketch I had my daughter develop. I sent this to Jesh, along with a lengthy           description, so he could see my vision for the cover.

    This was Jesh's first concept sketch. I could tell right away he got my vision.

This was his first colored version. I loved it right away, but I wanted a dragon peeking through the clouds and felt the background needed to be more visible.

This was the next version and came very close to what I envisioned but still needed a few tweaks. I felt the characters were too close together and I wasn't a fan of the dragon's arms.

And here we have the final image with no text. I love it!

The final cover with the title and my name. It perfectly captures what I was going for. Not only is it a scene directly from the book but also lets a perspective reader know exactly the kind of story they are in for if they read it.

Ashbound Oaths Cover reveal 10/7/25

 SFFinsiders.com will be doing my cover reveal for Ashbound Oaths on 10/7/25. Save the date! I can't wait for you all to see this cover. It is on fire!!!

Ashbound Oaths Release Date November 18, 2025!

I've been very busy and very active, but admit that I've neglected my blog. I can only keep up with so many different social media accounts and I've become much more active on X, TikTok and YouTube as of late. 

However, I have exciting news to announce. As the title suggests, Ashbound Oaths, the exciting sequel to Relentless Blades will be available for purchase through Amazon and Barnes and Noble on 11/18,2025. That's roughly a year and a month since Relentless Blades was published.

I'm very proud of this book and can't wait for you to read it. In some ways I'm more proud of this than Relentless Blades. I was felt much more pressure writing this book. I'm grateful that Relentless Blades has resonated with people. As I type this it's sitting at a 4.7/5.0 rating on Amazon and 4.6/5.0 on Goodreads with over 50 reviews each. That's fantastic, but it also means that I have to live up to the expectations I've now set for readers. 

I went in knowing I'd have to expand the scope of the story and the cast of characters. I wanted to explore writing from a female character's point of View and thus we have many chapters in Ashbound Oaths dedicated to both Everleigh and Alyndra. 

It was challenging lining up the timelines and following three distinct adventures that all relate to each other without getting confused. I believe it all worked out and that you will have a blast reading it.

Get excited because Ashbound Oaths is coming soon!

First Draft of Book 2 Complete

 I'm very late in making this post, but I finished the first draft of the Prophecies of Zarune, Volume 2. I actually finished it on February 28, 2025. I was in a funk and had only written 32,000 words as of December 17, 2024. That was over the course of several months. 

I finally sat my butt down and figured out the full plot for volume's 2 and 3. Once I knew what I wanted to say, the words came to me. Over the next 2.5 months, I wrote 82,000 (rounded) words and finished the first draft at 114,000 (rounded) words. 

After a week of editing it, I sent it to my sister and close friend, as well as my wife, for them to read and give me feedback. Once they read it, I'll edit it again, then find beta readers to send it to. 

The one issue I'm facing is the ending of Volume 2. This book has several storylines happening simultaneously and I know I've wrapped two of the three of very well for this book, while still teasing more to come in the final to the trilogy. 

My issue is with the third storyline. I'm not sure it's the most satisfying for a reader, but to change it means adding probably four to five chapters and another 6,000 - 10,000 words and I'm not sure I want to do that either. 

I've been mulling over what I'd write if I add to it and may do it because it's bothering me, then see what my readers say when deciding whether to leave it as is or add in the new material. 

I also need to come up with a title for the sequel. I have a working title, but I don't love it. I also need to think of cover art. That's a struggle because I want something eye-catching, but that doesn't spoil this book or Relentless Blades. So much to do, but it's fun! Stay tuned...

Sales and Profit of an Indie Author

 So, you dream of becoming an independent (Indie) author, writing books and getting rich? I hope it happens for you, but don't count on it. I wanted to write this blog as a companion to my post about marketing. As with that blog, this is only my perspective. I don't speak for the Indie writing community. There will be many Indie authors who are far more successful than me and there will be those who are not as successful. We can't compare ourselves to each other because it's never an apples-to-apples comparison. 

Some Indie authors have multiple books for sale. Some write in different genres. Some have more money up front to start with and more resources for marketing. What I will present is my current situation, so you may get a glimpse into this world.

I published Relentless Blades on October 21, 2024. As I type this, I have sold 131 copies and have 3,110 KDP Page reads. 

Here is the breakdown:

Ebook: 84

Paperback: 30

Hardcover: 17

Here are the prices and Royalties I make for each:

Ebook: $.99/$2.99/4.99 (I've had the ebook at three price points so far) Royalties: $105 (includes KDP page reads)

Paperback: $16.99 and $19.99 (2 price points)  Royalties: $59.13

Hardback: $20.99 and $24.99 (2 price points) Royalties: $47.40 

Net Royalties: $212

Now, let's look at costs:

I did a BookBongo, Awesome Gang and Robin Reads promotion (1 each) and spent $100 total.

I have tried Amazon ads and spent $194

So, just on advertising and marketing I spent $294.

Between Royalties and what I spent I'm in the hole by -$82

But we must now factor in my upfront costs, the three biggest things being: Hiring a Developmental Editor, Hiring a Copy Editor/Proofreader and my cover design, among a few other things: $2,000.

Of course, this does not factor in my time spent actually researching/writing/editing the book. At this stage, almost four months in, I'm at a deficit of -$2,082 with 131 books sold. 

One last thing to consider, social media marketing. I'm talking about posting to the various social media sites like X, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, etc. I have not included any cost for those, but there is absolutely a cost in your own time to conduct your promoting and marketing. Trust me, my sales would be about half if I didn't do social media outreach. 

What does all this mean? Well, it means you're in it for the LONG haul. There is no making a lot of money in the short term, particularly when you only have one published book. You've got to get several books published and continue to build your brand until you can start getting some organic sales (the kind that comes without you plugging it on social media constantly or paying for ads). Once you get several books out there and have a following, sales will increase (hopefully). I say that because I'm not there yet.

What do I want to tell other indie authors? I've seen some post that they have been harassed online by people saying they charge too much for their books. Hogwash! Send them to this blog.

You know how much I make on a $24.99 hardcover?  About $4.00

You know how much I make on the $4.99 ebook? About $3.50.

When my ebook was on sale for $.99 (when I made a good chunk of sales) I made $.35 per book.  :(

How many activities can you pay $4.99 for and get hours of entertainment outside of buying a book?  Not many.

So, anyway, don't feel bad about how much you charge. Between all the blood, sweat, tears and hours spent writing/editing/marketing/advertising, it's fair for you to make $4-$6 a book. 

Oh, and one last thing. When those dirty marketers come spamming your door, send them to this when you tell them you don't have any money to pay them.  LOL!