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Tao Wong

Tao Wong

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Tao Wong posts

Business Post: Marketing Your Kickstarter

Steph here!

Last week, Jenn and I showed you how to set-up your Kickstarter. This week, we’re taking a look at the all-important step of marketing your Kickstarter. 

While you might get some traffic from Kickstarter itself, you’ll definitely need to market to your own readers and potential new re...

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The Third Cut - Chapter 9 preview

On horses a day later, Wu Ying and Yang Mu rode through the hinterlands on their way south, leading a pair of pack horses behind them. The pair of cultivators were not alone, the road they travelled often used by merchants and other travellers as one of the main arteries of commerce. Still, most of the other travellers gave the pair a wide distance, unconsciously grasping the difference in cult...

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The Third Cut - Chapter 8 preview

“This set of paired ge was purchased from a wandering cultivator two months ago from a branch department over a thousand li away,” the auctioneer was announcing, waving at the dagger-axe polearms that the two young and willowy female attendants displayed as they walked up and down the stage before him. “As you can tell, they are unenchanted and of the Saint-level of quality, with a maker ...

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Business Post: Setting up a Kickstarter and all that Jazz

Steph & Jenn here. Tao asked us to write up some business posts that focus on using Kickstarter.

Both Steph and I have survived two successful Kickstarter campaigns - System Finale audiobook that launched in May 2022 and the 2023-01-11 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

The Third Cut - Chapter 7 preview

Two weeks and one boat change later, the pair of cultivators landed in the riverside town beside a massive lake. The pair had a pleasant and quiet trip down south other than a single attack by a Core equivalent fish that Wu Ying had, accidentally, angered whilst practicing some blade strikes off the bow of the ship. In the end, they had been forced to slay the slumbering creature and the ship h...

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A Tense Meeting Audiobook

Hello Everyone,

I have a surprise for you! Nick has finished recording A Tense Meeting. This is the bonus epilogue after book 12 of the System Apocalypse, System Finale.

You can listen to the audiobook here: https://BookHip.com/BWFXRZV 

If you missed the link to download the e-book, you ...

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The Third Cut - Chapter 6 preview

A day and a night, the pair resided in that small town. There were no complications during their stay, even if the appearance of a pair of Core Formation cultivators had them both feted by the local magistrate at his residence. During the day, whilst Wu Ying bathed in the herbal bath that he required to progress and upkeep his Body Cultivation, Yang Mu enacted a minor favour for the city lord.<...

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The Third Cut - Chapter 5 preview

Cross-legged, Wu Ying cultivated on the slight mountain rise. Winds swirled around him, bringing with him notice of the environment around and those beasts that might be paying too close attention to the pair. Certainly, after the first massive strike by his companion, Wu Ying had to emplace a swirling defense around the entrance to deaden the noise of her attacks.

Even now, he could not ...

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A Thousand Li: the Third Realm - ebook!

Book 8 of A Thousand Li is now available. Read the fully edited ebook now!

Get your copy here: https://BookHip.com/RSBWAJG 

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Business Post: 2022 in Review

2022 has been interesting and overall, a very good year.

  • This was the first year I really made use of the company and we had a company / co-author retreat with the key individuals (assisants, authors, editors) who helped make us who we were in Barcelona. It was a great trip and something I'd love to make a regular thing.
  • I also had my first real writer's retreat too which w...

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Giving Back (Donating)

Alright, going to make this a somewhat short post. I've been incredibly lucky - and honoured - to have received a tremendous amount of support from you - the readers - over the last few years. 

Really, everything that has happened is because of you guys. Without the readers, there's no more publishing, no more excursions ot conventions, no more ramen and dim sum.

Okay, probably...

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The Third Cut - Chapter 4 preview

Crossing through the deep wilds, the pair moved more quietly. Wu Ying grew even more circumspect on his gathering, choosing only to take the items that he most required. Oftentimes, they would come to a stop, watching a location for hours at a time as the Gatherer ascertained that no traps lay in wait for them. Such traps came in a variety of manners, from plants that defended with poisonous sa...

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Business Post: Advertising Doesn't Work and Why Neurodivergents Should Use It

I get very, very tired of hearing people talking about how (paid) advertising doesn't work. Some of these are from successful authors who don't do it at all, and who then decry that advertising doesn't work, you don't need it and it's all garbage. 

I also get very tired of hearing from authors who talk about how we all need to be on social media all the time, pushing ourselves, etc.&...

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The Third Cut - Chapter 3 preview

The next morning, Wu Ying really began to stretch his legs. Whereas they had been moving at just over twice as fast as any unascended human could have moved the previous day, now secure in the knowledge that Yang Mu’s aura control was sufficient, he sped up gradually.

Wind Steps – the modified movement technique endemic to his Sect – allowed him to traverse the land in steps that co...

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Business Post: Audiobooks, Audible and Sanderson's Post

Alright, so a quick Business Post not on scheduled, because, well I wrote it as a reply to someone on Reddit and might as well repurpose it.

This is based off Brandon Sanderson's most recent post: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/state-of-the-sanderson-2022/

There's a lot, but he ta...

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The Third Cut - Chapter 2 preview

Wu Ying watched the battle below him with mild interest, standing on the swaying branch of the tallest tree nearby the fight. In most Core Formation battles, such a perch would have be vastly insufficient, as Core Formation cultivators had a tendency to wreck the nearby environment in large swathes of space. However, even though two of the four Spirit Beast stalking them had been at an equivale...

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Business Post: A Low Cost Launch Strategy

Let's do a quick example of a quick launch strategy in a hot genre to get an indie author who can write fast 


Assumptions

- You can write at least 2k a day.

- You can edit 4k a day.

- You have a budget of around $500 to start.

     * Or you have enough experience to write clearly without major editing.

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The Third Cut - Chapter 1 preview

What Happened Before

Long Wu Ying has come far since his first days at the Verdant Green Waters sect. Banished for the sect for defying the sect elders, Wu Ying journeyed through the kingdom of Shen at first before continual attacks by the dark sect drove him out.

Forced to continue his travels, Wu Ying made his way through numerous kingdoms, spending time with ...

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Business Post: Cover Art

What is required when creating cover art and how to evaluate covers


There are two main elements in a cover.

  • The Art
  • The Typography

Good covers are basically advertisements. Like good ads then, a cover can be art or typography dominated. And knowing which is most prominent in your cover before you provide details to your artist will save...

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New on Kickstarter: System Apocalypse Anthology Volume 2

You asked for it, I'm finally getting around to doing it…

A second short story anthology for the System Apocalypse universe!

The theme for t...

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Business Posts: Foreign Exchange Woes

Let's talk about something that doesn't affect some other authors as much but does horribly for others. specifically foreign exchange fluctuations.


Making the Most of Forex

One of the things that you can and should do to reduce forex fluctuations and forex costs is to use intermediary services like 2022-12-07 17:30:56 +0000 UTC View Post

Another random plot bunny poll

Ranged unit in production. I have a few choices (I went with a wood elemental as the basic unit type. More elemental types later).

Vote, vote, vote!

Yes, I might have gotten amused by this and distracted from writing ATL. I swear work is being done... just... ummm... not as fast?

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Writing Update - December 2022

Okay, in lieu of a business post which I still need to edit, you guys get a writing update. Sorry. 

This entire month is on-off in terms of productivity due to a lot of illness. I'm still recovering, every time it seems I get better I seem to catch another damn cold that wipes all my energy. So, here we are, with some updates.


A Thousand Li

A T...

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Quick Poll

If you had to pick a starting race to see evolve and fight with, which is most interesting to you?

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Business Post: Publishers, Marketing and Royalty Rates

As many of you might know, I tried my hand (briefly) as a publisher during the pandemic, in a bid to help some people put out work they could not (due to cost) in our tiny genre. I also have a few co-authors who I publish the work directly.  So, I wanted to talk about some observations about publishing, specifically from a business and marketing perspective.

Firstly, let's just make ...

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Business Post: Failing Promotional Platforms

Let's talk about the state of promotions for indie publishers, since there's a lot of talk about Twitter and the like. 

Here's the start..


Current Promotional Methods are Failing

This has been mentioned before, about how Facebook Advertising altered their algorothims in February. There's also a pretty constant drop in the number of people on Fa...

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Climbing the Ranks poll

Are you reading Climbing the Ranks?   

For the new year, the plan is to release the series Climbing the Ranks as a serial subscription and currently trying to determine if chapters should continued be shared on Patreon as well.

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Business Post: Translations (The Business Side - mostly Germany)

Recently talking to someone about translations and realised, that while the step-by-step guide on translations covered how to do it, it didn't cover how to make it profitable and the numbers side. So here's the discussion.

Let me start that for LitRPG, right now, it seem...

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Writing Update: November 2022

Time for my monthly update, that arrives whenever I actually remember to get to writing it for the month. Been a bit since late September that I did an update, so let's get down to it:


System Apocalypse

Nic confirmed he only has a few hours left to record, so we're hoping we can get everything done by the end of this month. Maybe a little earlier, will de...

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Business Post: Kickstarter Fulfilment (Costing and 3rd Parties)

So shipping, specifically international shipping is a problem. Now that a lot of people are getting into Kickstarter, I thought I'd write about it. Now, for those who don't know, I used to run an online game store that did Kickstarter Fulfilment (mostly Canada, some US) so I had a glimpse into the huge push that board game fulfilment went through and the varying changes. 

The thing a...

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