So, it's February the Oneth. It's BRR-F'ing-Cold outside where I live (and that stupid groundhog is in serious peril if he predicts this shit to keep going).
I have a couple of things to note.
One: There is a new chapter of Azkoval in the queue.
As with the last, it's probably not the best in terms of grammar and punctuation. I'm sure there are a few missing words and some I probably duplicated. Please accept my apologies and ignore the errors.
Two: I have decided to plunge into the world of "Writing for Profit." Writing has became a bit of a job for the past couple of years so I figured I might as well give it a shot.
As with most things, I've decided to be different. To that end, I will let you in on what I've decided.
I will never, under any circumstances, charge anybody to continue a series that I've started here for free. That means, in the event that I ever finish Andy and Regan or Phil and Hailey, they will go on SOL just like always. If I write a sequel to anything currently on this site, it will be posted here and nowhere else. Some familiar characters might crop up now and then but only in ancillary roles.
I have also decided that I will not charge anybody for something I plan to give away for free in a couple of months. At times, I might offer a preview chapter of a coming story that will go here but I won't offer paid "Early Access."
Well, I suppose that isn't quite true.
The story I have posted on my patronage account and on the site named after a long river (no, dumbass, it's not Nile.com) is exclusive in that it will not appear anywhere else for at least 36 months.
Again, that might be disingenuous.
I promise that I won't post it anywhere else for at least 36 months. That doesn't mean some thieving prick won't grab it and post it under his own name. But there ain't shit I can do about that so I generally don't worry too much about it.
So, yeah, I'm not really sure about the rules for shameless self-promotion so I'll try to be vague with the names but you should be able to find it pretty easily.
The story, called Contact Point, is almost 600 pages and totals 53 chapters and an epilogue. You'll find new characters and a few old friends stop by. There is no explicit content. It's more like Lifeline than Daze in the Valley.
I set the price at $5 at the patreon site. Because the site named after a river is all official and shit, I will increase the price there at $6.99. I hope that isn't too steep. I think it's worth that much but I'm a legend in my own mind.
The download from the patronage site comes in a variety of formats - .html that will look much like what you see here; pdf for reading in Adobe and Apple products; simple text for use in almost any word processing program; and a version for Kindle (that I hope I did correctly).
I think I figured out how to post it directly to the site, but just in case, you'll be given a link to a third-party site for the download. It comes in a zip file but you'll all four versions at the same time.
The river-themed site comes in Kindle because I wasn't paying for a paperback version.
The pain in the ass of producing all those formats almost made me jack the price up! Christ, what a fiasco.
So, where was I?
Oh, sure, I remember. I've gone full mercenary.
I actually enjoyed writing Contact Point. And it helped me produce a few chapters on Azkoval and do some work on the final part of Andy and Regan I promised.
So, if this proves to be worthwhile (financially and creatively), I plan to produce an "Exclusive" every year or so while I continue to be active on this site.
In time, I might go the G. Younger route and start my own website where I'll keep all the works I've finished (including a couple that never saw the light of day) and some unfinished projects. I've looked into it but have yet to decide. It seems like it might be a lot of work.
You should be able to find my stuff by using Jay Cantrell as a search term at either place.
I've complained enough to you fine folks about the home life so I won't belabor that situation other than to say it's better but still not the Cleaver family. Think the Bundys instead.
So, off we go!
Jay C.
Edit: It appears that PayPal forced a certain site to make all NSFW accounts unsearchable. Wish I'd have known that early. Anyway, just add /JayCantrell to the sites name and you should find me.