Patty Jansen

I've self-published for over ten years. I've seen the industry start, take off and mature. I've seen tactics, companies and people come and go. However, over that time, a few important principles have always held true, but in the morass of advice of varying quality it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. In 2017, I wrote the Unboxed books, a series of four books about how to publish sustainably, and by that I mean in a manner so that you can keep doing it long-term, and how to use your mailing list to set up a self-perpetuating sales vehicle. While the strategies haven't changed, many of the peripheral situations have. In short: we have far more and better tools, but far more competition, not only from other authors on the sales front, but also from services that entice us to spend ever more money before we publish. This book is my ultimate guide to what you need, what you can try, and what is likely to be a waste of your money and time. Over more than 500 pages I talk about the unvarnished experience of self-publishing and selling books while keeping control of my catalogue and not funding anyone's private jet in advertising costs. I wrote this book to pay it forward to the community. I don't sell courses. I don't do affiliate marketing. I have no vested interest in anyone's self-publishing journey. Except for this: I want you to enjoy it.

I've self-published for over ten years. I've seen the industry start, take off and mature. I've seen tactics, companies and people come and go. However, over that time, a few important principles have always held true, but in the morass of advice of varying quality it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. In 2017, I wrote the Unboxed books, a series of four books about how to publish sustainably, and by that I mean in a manner so that you can keep doing it long-term, and how to use your mailing list to set up a self-perpetuating sales vehicle. While the strategies haven't changed, many of the peripheral situations have. In short: we have far more and better tools, but far more competition, not only from other authors on the sales front, but also from services that entice us to spend ever more money before we publish. This book is my ultimate guide to what you need, what you can try, and what is likely to be a waste of your money and time. Over more than 500 pages I talk about the unvarnished experience of self-publishing and selling books while keeping control of my catalogue and not funding anyone's private jet in advertising costs. I wrote this book to pay it forward to the community. I don't sell courses. I don't do affiliate marketing. I have no vested interest in anyone's self-publishing journey. Except for this: I want you to enjoy it.

Picture this: you've somehow come into the possession of a dragon (long story--you can read the previous book if you really want to know, but it's kinda embarrassing, so you don't need to). And you need to return that dragon to the place it came from. You've tried putting it on a truck--but it destroyed the truck. You've tried putting it on the train--but it destroyed the carriage. Now you've put the dragon in a warehouse while you figure out what to do, but-- You guessed it: the dragon destroys the warehouse. Tell me, why wouldn't you trick some rich merchant into lending you the only thing you haven't yet tried: a boat. Trouble is, the merchant's price is that you return an old artefact to the whale kingdom along the way. Whales are not nice. They're very big. They're cranky. And, here is a secret: they hate dragons. They especially hate dragons.

One day when bullied Florian comes home from school, he finds a visitor in the caravan where he lives with his father. The woman, who looks older than time, tells him that his father is king of Celestia and has seven days to renew the spell of protection over the land. But his father has no interest in going back. So Florian finds himself with a crown on his head, having to complete a task he has no idea how to do, on the way across the sea-bridge to Celestia. He has some companions: his father three motorcycle-riding friends who insist they're elves, and his father's horse, which is a unicorn in disguise. The problem is that the elves haven't been to Celestia for a long time either, and the horse has always hated Florian. An extra problem is that the unofficial queen of Celestia, Florian's mother, doesn't want him back. She is under the control of powerful magical spirits. Did I say Florian knows nothing about Celestia or about magic? And he has only seven days?

One day when bullied Florian comes home from school, he finds a visitor in the caravan where he lives with his father. The woman, who looks older than time, tells him that his father is king of Celestia and has seven days to renew the spell of protection over the land. But his father has no interest in going back. So Florian finds himself with a crown on his head, having to complete a task he has no idea how to do, on the way across the sea-bridge to Celestia. He has some companions: his father three motorcycle-riding friends who insist they're elves, and his father's horse, which is a unicorn in disguise. The problem is that the elves haven't been to Celestia for a long time either, and the horse has always hated Florian. An extra problem is that the unofficial queen of Celestia, Florian's mother, doesn't want him back. She is under the control of powerful magical spirits. Did I say Florian knows nothing about Celestia or about magic? And he has only seven days?

Tina and her crew finally arrive on Olympus, the world that holds the Federacy Assembly. Her initial plan was to go there to present the data she left in a locker on Kelso Station fifteen years earlier, but many things have changed. For one, rather than wait for someone else to do it, she and the scientists they collected at Aurora Station have been working on a cure for the infection that turns people into grey-skinned mutant pirates. Secondly, they're bringing a stricken war ship and a few of its remaining crew members who were rescued from pirate captivity. Little has gone to plan. After a few attempts, they don't yet have a cure. And while the infection does horrendous things to people besides giving them a long, but miserable, life, it seems that the only way it spreads is through human intervention. Tina and her friends are about to make a few discoveries about power, who wields it, and how it is used in this conclusion to the Project Charon series. The betrayal runs much deeper than anyone has predicted. Those in power are not going to take their uncovering lying down.

Tina and her crew finally arrive on Olympus, the world that holds the Federacy Assembly. Her initial plan was to go there to present the data she left in a locker on Kelso Station fifteen years earlier, but many things have changed. For one, rather than wait for someone else to do it, she and the scientists they collected at Aurora Station have been working on a cure for the infection that turns people into grey-skinned mutant pirates. Secondly, they're bringing a stricken war ship and a few of its remaining crew members who were rescued from pirate captivity. Little has gone to plan. After a few attempts, they don't yet have a cure. And while the infection does horrendous things to people besides giving them a long, but miserable, life, it seems that the only way it spreads is through human intervention. Tina and her friends are about to make a few discoveries about power, who wields it, and how it is used in this conclusion to the Project Charon series. The betrayal runs much deeper than anyone has predicted. Those in power are not going to take their uncovering lying down.

Cory has made several commitments to members of the Asto inner circles. He needs to spend time with Thayu's son. He has also been asked to give a favour to a boy of the Azimi clan.What better to do with a couple of pre-teens than to visit the theme parks that are historic relics from the 21st century on Earth?Of course he has a hidden agenda. On a previous trip to the south of Barresh, Cory and his team found disturbing evidence that people from the former Southern California Air Corps made it to Ceren about fifty years ago. He needs to find out about them.Except this is 2125, and the former city of Los Angeles is in Mexico, and the interesting places are across the heavily guarded and impenetrable border in America Free State.While he's investigating, while he's being shadowed and occasionally threatened, while the kids are having old-fashioned fun going on rides and starting rebellions (oops), something is about to come to a spectacular crash.It's not that the highly armed rebels of America Free State want to take back land that they consider theirs, although they do.It's not the fact that Nations of Earth president Simon Dekker hates Cory and the fact that he's poking around in what Dekker considers his territory, although he does.It's that the Southern California Air Corps is about to pull a very large and nasty surprise.

Cory has made several commitments to members of the Asto inner circles. He needs to spend time with Thayu's son. He has also been asked to give a favour to a boy of the Azimi clan.What better to do with a couple of pre-teens than to visit the theme parks that are historic relics from the 21st century on Earth?Of course he has a hidden agenda. On a previous trip to the south of Barresh, Cory and his team found disturbing evidence that people from the former Southern California Air Corps made it to Ceren about fifty years ago. He needs to find out about them.Except this is 2125, and the former city of Los Angeles is in Mexico, and the interesting places are across the heavily guarded and impenetrable border in America Free State.While he's investigating, while he's being shadowed and occasionally threatened, while the kids are having old-fashioned fun going on rides and starting rebellions (oops), something is about to come to a spectacular crash.It's not that the highly armed rebels of America Free State want to take back land that they consider theirs, although they do.It's not the fact that Nations of Earth president Simon Dekker hates Cory and the fact that he's poking around in what Dekker considers his territory, although he does.It's that the Southern California Air Corps is about to pull a very large and nasty surprise.

On the backwater world of Cayelle, Tina Freeman runs a shop with her son Rex: fifteen years old, half-human, half-android with a massive chip on his shoulder about having been born without arms or legs. The shop makes a modest profit, but when a creditor turns up wanting his money back, everything goes pear-shaped. She needs money, and needs it fast. Another creditor is impossible to find. That leaves her one option: to return to the world she fled fifteen years ago and Kelso Space Station, where her spaceship has languished for over fifteen years, and finally sell the thing. Tina worked as scientific officer in the Federacy Force's top secret Project Charon, and was forced out when she rang alarm bells about particles that escaped out of a rift to another universe. As it turns out, the alien dust has been infecting people in her absence, causing profound changes in human behaviour. When Tina re-surfaces at Kelso, her presence is a threat to those who still defend the project, including her ex-husband, and they want to shut her up, but her continued silence may well mean the end of civilisation.

On the backwater world of Cayelle, Tina Freeman runs a shop with her son Rex: fifteen years old, half-human, half-android with a massive chip on his shoulder about having been born without arms or legs. The shop makes a modest profit, but when a creditor turns up wanting his money back, everything goes pear-shaped. She needs money, and needs it fast. Another creditor is impossible to find. That leaves her one option: to return to the world she fled fifteen years ago and Kelso Space Station, where her spaceship has languished for over fifteen years, and finally sell the thing. Tina worked as scientific officer in the Federacy Force's top secret Project Charon, and was forced out when she rang alarm bells about particles that escaped out of a rift to another universe. As it turns out, the alien dust has been infecting people in her absence, causing profound changes in human behaviour. When Tina re-surfaces at Kelso, her presence is a threat to those who still defend the project, including her ex-husband, and they want to shut her up, but her continued silence may well mean the end of civilisation.

"A blisteringly good collection." "Will read everything in this series I can get my hands on." "These stories are full of great, complex characters (not all of them human), twists and turns, and fantastic world-building."BEYOND THE STARS: Rocking Space includes these short stories: * One Last Gig (Cain V. Hopwood)* Camp Kids (Patrice Fitzgerald)* First Contract (Julia Huni)* Destroy Is My Favorite Part (David Bruns)* Chocolate (Andy McKell)* Unfair Advantage (Misty Zaugg)* The Switcheroo (Christopher J. Valin)* Juno Triumphant (Patty Jansen)* I Said Flamenco (J.M. Thomas)* Curiosity (R.J. Howell)* Imperatrix (Nemma Wollenfang)* The Original Sacrifice (A.K. DuBoff)* Wily and Tate (Patricia Gilliam)Thirteen brand new tales from fantastic writers--both bestselling and freshly discovered--in this seventh collection from the BEYOND THE STARS series of space opera anthologies. Join these authors who are deep into... Rocking Space Don't miss the earlier volumes: DARK BEYOND THE STARSBEYOND THE STARS: A Planet Too FarBEYOND THE STARS: At Galaxy's EdgeBEYOND THE STARS: New Worlds, New SunsBest of BEYOND THE STARSBEYOND THE STARS: Unimagined RealmsAnd now...BEYOND THE STARS: Rocking Space

CThe latest book in the long-running Ambassador series

The latest volume in the long-running Ambassador series.