Looking Back and Moving Forward: Writing Goals for 2023

Looking Back and Moving Forward: Writing Goals for 2023

2022 was a busy year for me. For the first time in too long, I scored an amazing animation writing gig. Huzzah! I’m currently freelancing on “Scooby-Doo! and the Mystery Pups” for Warner Bros Animation and loving every minute of it. It’s a preschool show that doesn’t talk down to the little ones, so don’t worry, parents, guardians, and animation-loving adults, you won’t have to leave the room when it comes on. There’s a huge lead time in animation, so SDMP won’t start streaming until in 2024 (HBO Max/Cartoonito).

In other 2022 news, the editing on WW (Ghost Star Adventures Book 2), working title, is nearly complete—so close that I’ve taken the step of commissioning eBook and print covers for this fun, action-packed sequel to my YA space opera, Ghost Star. I received a preliminary/test cover yesterday that blew my mind thanks to cover coolness overload. WW will be published in early January of next year. General announcement and cover/title reveal to come.

Speaking of 2023, I have a few author/writer goals lined up…

1.      1) I solemnly swear I’ll finish the novel-length version of Undrastormur (A Viking Fantasy Adventure). As mentioned last year, I’m updating and combining the first two shorts with an all-new third adventure. The end result will be a stand-alone middle grade, fantasy adventure novel set in the fascinating world(s) of Norse mythology. I’m so close to being finished and just have to knuckle down and get it done.

2.      2) I’ve had a mockumentary-style spec screenplay percolating for a while. 2023 is the year to do it.

3.      3) A Dragonfriend omnibus.

4.      4) Lots and lots of novel and short story ideas (thinking about giving Vella a try) that I’ve made note of but won’t even begin to entertain starting until I complete goals 1-3.

That’s all for now. Happy 2023 reading, everyone!

**

 

Roger Eschbacher lives in Los Angeles with his awesome family, a hilarious Border Terrier, and a grumpy Russian tortoise.

In addition to writing fantasy and sci-fi adventure novels, he writes TV animation for Warner Bros., Netflix, Cartoon Network, Hasbro Studios and more. Roger’s YA space opera Ghost Star is a winner of the Kindle Scout competition and received a publishing contract from Amazon’s Kindle Press imprint.

Ghost Star and other books by Roger are listed on his Amazon Author Page which can be found HERE.

 

DRAGONFRIEND: The Reminder

Think it's all noble deeds and stuffy politeness over at Camelot? Wrong! Things are really bad right now. #Arthur's in jail, #Merlin's missing, and there's a demon in charge. Seriously! https://amzn.to/2MKNouI #YA #fantasy #dragons #wizard #monsters #swordandsorcery 🐲🧙‍♂️⚔️🛡️

Also available as an audiobook!

DRAGONFRIEND: The Audiobook

If you enjoy a good fantasy read, chances are you'll enjoy a good fantasy listen, too.

Allow me to suggest Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book One, read by gifted narrator Bobby Gaglini, is an excellent listen.

Now available as an audiobook on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes, Dragonfriend tells the action-packed story of a boy and his man-eating dragon.

A brief description...

If you think it's all good deeds and stuffy politeness over at Camelot, you're wrong! Most people don't know this, but things are pretty bad right now. King Arthur's in jail, Merlin's gone missing, and there's a cruel demon in charge. Seriously! Now it's up to young Leonard, a page to a poor but kind knight, to set things right - even if that means going on a dangerous quest, outsmarting hungry monsters, or risking his life to make friends with a bunch of grumpy dragons. Filled with magic, dragons, and irreverent humor, Dragonfriend is an epic YA Arthurian fantasy novel in the spirit of The Princess Bride, The Sword in the Stone, and Excalibur.

Praise for Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book One (Kindle Edition):

"A wonderfully written side story to the Arthurian legend with never-considered twists, fun details and tremendous heart. Leonard is a marvelous hero-in-the-making and Mantooth is the first dragon in along time who really deserves a hug." -- Carolyn Hennesy, Author of the Pandora series

"Dragonfriend starts with a chuckle then quickly develops into a brave quest, climaxing in a truly epic battle between knights, dragons and fiends from Hell. Honestly, what more could you want?" -- Keith Robinson, Author of the Island of Fog Series

"DRAGONFRIEND is a feisty, fresh take on turning a lowly page into a full-blown hero." -- Brian Clopper, Author, The Powers That Flee and Ghost Coast

Thank you! 

Amazon 

Audible 

iTunes.

**

Roger Eschbacher is an Animation Writer, SF/F Author, and Actor.

DRAGONFRIEND and the Kindle Countdown Deal

Good news for readers looking for a great deal on a super fun fantasy book for all ages!

Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book One is ON SALE for $0.99 from Friday, 4/9/21 until 11:59p on Thursday, 4/15/21 at which point it goes back up to its full price.

CLICK HERE to go to Dragonfriend's Amazon page  and grab the bargain while you can.

Here's a teaser of what you can expect from my Arthurian fantasy adventure: 

"If you think it's all good deeds and stuffy politeness over at Camelot, you're wrong! Most people don't know this, but things are pretty bad right now. King Arthur's in jail, Merlin's gone missing, and there's a cruel demon in charge. Seriously!

Now it's up to young Leonard, a page to a poor but kind knight, to set things right—even if that means going on a dangerous quest, outsmarting hungry monsters, or risking his life to make friends with a bunch of grumpy dragons.

Filled with magic, dragons, and irreverent humor, DRAGONFRIEND is an epic YA Arthurian fantasy novel in the spirit of The Princess Bride, The Sword in the Stone, and Excalibur."

Praise for Dragonfriend:

 "A wonderfully written side story to the Arthurian legend with never-considered twists, fun details and tremendous heart. Leonard is a marvelous hero-in-the-making and Mantooth is the first dragon in along time who really deserves a hug." -- Carolyn Hennesy, Author of the Pandora series

"Dragonfriend starts with a chuckle then quickly develops into a brave quest, climaxing in a truly epic battle between knights, dragons and fiends from Hell. Honestly, what more could you want?" -- Keith Robinson, Author of the Island of Fog Series

"DRAGONFRIEND is a feisty, fresh take on turning a lowly page into a full-blown hero." -- Brian Clopper, Author, The Powers That Flee and Ghost Coast

Please share this news with anyone who enjoys a good sword and sorcery fantasy read.

Thank you! 

Roger 

Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book One

COMING SOON: Dragonfriend Audiobook!

COMING SOON! I'm pleased to announce the audiobook edition of DRAGONFRIEND is almost complete! 

My talented narrator, Bobby Gaglini, is diligently working on the last few chapters, and everything is sounding great. 

This audiobook will be available via Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. I'll post the link when it goes live! 

#dragonfriend #amazon #acx #audiobooks #ya #fantasybooks #yay!

Completed "Leonard the Great" Book Series Now Available!

 

 

With the recent publication of Elvenking, my #YA #fantasy book series is complete! Join Leonard on his action-packed journey as he befriends #dragons, battles #monsters, and stands up to a sinister secret brotherhood bent on destroying his grandfather's kingdom!

 

#Arthurian #Norse #mythology #swordandsorcery 

 

You can order individual books or the entire series HERE.

Elvenking is Now Available!

The first recorded sighting of Elvenking in the wild!

#quincythedogapproves #elvenking #ya #fantasy 

You can purchase my book HERE.

Thanks!

DRAGONFRIEND Cover Reboot!

Check out the new cover for Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book One! 

Is it awesome? Yes, it is!

I thought my old cover was awesome, too, but felt it was time to freshen things up a bit. For me, this meant not only changing the look, but commissioning a new cover that looked like it belonged in the Arthurian fantasy category. A quick search on Amazon will show you what I'm talking about. The new cover fits in nicely with similar titles and is more in line with reader expectations for the sub-genre.

Thanks to cover designer Keith Robinson for doing such a great job!

Here's the description, btw:

"If you think it's all good deeds and stuffy politeness over at Camelot, you're wrong! Most people don't know this, but things are pretty bad right now. King Arthur's in jail, Merlin's gone missing, and there's a cruel demon in charge. Seriously!

Now it's up to young Leonard, a page to a poor but kind knight, to set things right—even if that means going on a dangerous quest, outsmarting hungry monsters, or risking his life to make friends with a bunch of grumpy dragons."

COMING VERY SOON: A cover redesign for Giantkiller: Leonard the Great, Book Two and the long delayed publication of Elvenking, the third book in the Leonard the Great series!

I love my new cover! What do you think?

You can purchase Dragonfriend (with its shiny new cover) and my other books by going HERE.

Busy Busy Busy!

Been super busy the past couple of weeks. I finished the “final” edit of the Elvenking: Leonard the Great, Book 3 manuscript ("final" is in quotes because, as my fellow authors know, you're never really finished). Now formatting/reformatting the interior of all three books in the series with a new design template from Book Design Templates - it's super easy to use and looks great.

New covers for Dragonfriend, Giantkiller AND Elvenking should be here by the end of the month. Exciting (for me, anyway)!

Waiting in the wings: Full novel version of Undrastormur and completion of the first draft of Ghost Star 2 (don't have a name for that one yet)!  Doing my best to stay positive and make this crazy year as productive as possible! #fantasy #scifi #author

 

indieBRAG 2017 Cover Contest: Please Vote for Dragonfriend's Cover

I think my cover for Dragonfriend is a fine cover. 

The good folks at indieBrag do too and nominated it as a finalist in their 2017 cover contest. 

If you agree with our assessment of Dragonfriend's cover, please go to the indieBrag site and vote for it in two categories: Middle Grade/Young Adult AND Overall Favorite. Just scroll through the genres and vote along the way in other categories like Sci-Fi and Historical Fiction. 

After you've voted for Dragonfriend (2X!) and reach the end of the genre nominees, press "Finish Submission." 

They'll ask you to sign up for their mailing list and I recommend that you do since their site's an excellent resource for finding quality indie books like Dragonfriend!

Here's the LINK.

Thank you for your support!

Roger

Bookmarks and Autographs

Sending out bookmarks and autograph labels to Gio, a young reader who's been enjoying the paperback editions of Dragonfriend and Giantkiller. Some very thoughtful grownups in his life made the request and I'm happy to oblige.

If you'd like your own "kit," send me a photo of you and/or your reader holding the book(s) and I'll send you one, too!

Dragonfriend: B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

This past week I was contacted by the fine folks at the "Book Readers Appreciation Group" and told that Dragonfriend had been selected as an honoree for their B.R.A.G. Medallion. I'd submitted the book for consideration back in July and then promptly forgotten about it (a mental health trick I try to employ as often as possible -- if I forget about these things, then I don't obsess about these things). Imagine my delight when they contacted me to let me know my book had been chosen for their list.

One of the nice things about this group is that it's made up of "a large group of readers, both individuals and members of book clubs, located throughout the United States, Canada, and the European Union" -- in other words, they're an organization of "real" readers. From their website:

"The single most important criterion that we ask our readers to use in judging a book is whether or not they would recommend it to their best friend."

 I very much like the idea that Dragonfriend is considered worthy of such a recommendation. Thanks, B.R.A.G.!

Dragonfriend Signed Copies Available -- In Canada!

For all of my Ottawa, Ontario friends there will be signed copies of Dragonfriend available NEXT Saturday (9/29) at the Gaia Java Company.

Author pal Scott Bury has graciously allowed me to piggyback onto his signing for "The Bones of the Earth" (I sent some signed copies to him). His epic fantasy is quite good so I recommend picking up a copy of that, too!

Check out this link for details.

Dragonfriend Book Giveaway 3: Electric Boogaloo

The book giveaways have been coming fast and furious here on The Novel Project, but the way I look at it there's nothing wrong with another chance to win a free book, eh?

As part of the Magic Appreciation Tour, author Daniel Marvello is hosting a Dragonfriend giveaway. Yes, in a daring twist on prior giveaways, this time another author has generously offered to help out.

Head on over to his blog before 3/24 and enter for a chance to win either a paperback copy or a Kindle gift code for Dragonfriend. Then, as long as you're there, stick around for a bit as he's got some great content. Good luck!

We Have a Winner!

Congrats to Eric Schwartz of Kentucky for winning a signed copy of Dragonfriend in my Goodreads giveaway. I'll be mailing out his copy later this week along with some bookmarks and postcards.

(Side note to authors: I highly recommend trying out this gratis Goodreads feature. It's an inexpensive way to generate some interest in your book (basically, your cost on a hardcopy and the necessary postage). I had 790 people sign up for the giveaway, many of whom also put the book on their "to read" list. Nice!)

Savor this sweet victory, Eric, for the gods of logarithmic randomness are not always so kind.

Special "Year of the Dragonfriend" Book Giveaway

I've decided that another Dragonfriend giveaway is in order since this is the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac. Yes, add "clever marketing genius" to my list of attributes. Yup, that's what you should do all right. Sigh. Anyhoo, feel free to click on the link if you'd like to win a free copy of the book. It'll take you over to Goodreads where you can sign up and enter.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Dragonfriend

by Roger Eschbacher

Giveaway ends March 03, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Dragonfriend Book Trailer

Trend slave that I am, I've decided to join in on the book trailer craze by asking my twelve year old to put one together. I think she did a wonderful job, especially considering she was working with a budget of $0 (some of the fancy ones I've seen must have cost many thousands with impressive graphics, animation, sfx, live action, etc.). She used Windows Movie Maker, public domain photos (except for the cover), and creative commons licensed music.

I'm not convinced that book trailers "work," nor, obviously, that it's a good idea to spend a lot of bucks producing one, but I do place them squarely in the "It couldn't hurt," column.

What do you think about book trailers? Help? Hindrance? Meh? Has a book trailer ever tipped the scales in favor of you buying the book? Let us know in the comments.

A Nice Gift from Amazon

For the time being, Amazon has decided to discount the Dragonfriend paperback by nearly 30%.

It surprised/alarmed me when I saw the price change on the book's page last night, but I was quickly assured by customer service that it doesn't affect author royalties which are calculated off the full list price. On the other hand, it does save you some decent bucks so if you're interested in owning an analog copy of my book, this may be the time to act.

Dragonfriend is Now on Smashwords

Set up a Smashwords account last night. It was pretty easy to do although they are sticklers for what they consider proper formatting. Not saying they shouldn't be, they just like things the way they like them. The good thing is that they lay everything out for you in their style guide and quickly bounce back an error report if their "autovetter" finds some formatting it doesn't like. All free, too.

So in addition to the Amazon and B&N accounts, thanks to Smashwords you can now read an ebook of Dragonfriend on these devices, too: Apple iPad/iBooks, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others.

And there was much rejoicing.

Win a Free Copy of Dragonfriend!

Well, as you might guess from this post's headline, I've just published my middle-grade fantasy novel, Dragonfriend. It's currently available at Amazon (print and Kindle formats), Amazon UK (Kindle format) and at B&N (Nook format). I'm working on setting up a Smashwords account, too, so check back later if you prefer to use them.

I've ordered a big ol' box of paperbacks to distribute to area libraries, beta & proof readers, reviewers, and Kickstarter supporters (I financed the setup of Dragonfriend through that excellent service) and should receive them sometime around Thanksgiving. This leads me to the paperback giveaway over on Goodreads (see the widget on the right). I thought it sounded like a fun thing to do (Hey, who doesn't like free books?!). Go ahead and enter if you think you might like to win a copy.

You might also notice that I've added a "My Books" tab in the navigation bar above. If you click on the tab you'll find a brief description of the book and links to the usual places. I'll try to keep it updated with reviews and reader feedback, too.

Here's a quick description of Dragonfriend:

If you think it was all good deeds and fancy ideals back in the days of Camelot, think again. Most people don't know this, but for a time things went seriously bad; Arthur was imprisoned, Merlin had vanished, and a vile demon had taken over the throne.

Young Leonard would have been shocked to learn any of this but right now all that concerned him was where his next meal was coming from. As page to Sir Ronald, a poor but kind knight, events at the castle took a back seat to a rumbling stomach. Oh sure, he held a secret dream that one day Sir Ronald would take a seat at the Round Table, but seriously, that was about as likely as Maid Glennys seeing him as anyone other than the dirty page of a low-ranking nobleman. Not gonna happen.

Everything changes when Leonard meets Mantooth, a seriously depressed dragon who's looking for a knight to end his misery with a swing of a broadsword. Wait a minute. If the dragon will allow Sir Ronald to slay him, his misery would be over, Sir Ronald would surely get a Round Table invite for such a brave deed, and Leonard might even climb a notch or two in the eyes of Glennys! Everybody wins, right?

Wrong. Leonard's plan backfires horribly when, on the day of the battle, Sir Ronald is arrested for "bravery without a license" and he and Mantooth are dragged off to Camelot's dungeons. Now Leonard must do whatever it takes to free his master even if that means doing battle with dangerous monsters, trying to outwit Camelot's dark overlord, or taking a bath!

As I mentioned on my other blog,  I couldn't be happier about the book finally being "out there." I started writing Dragonfriend back in 2007 and it's taken all of this time to get it to the point where I thought it was ready for primetime. Am I nervous? More than a little! I'm very pleased with how the book turned out and think it's a darned good read, but now it's up to the readers to tell me if they agree.

(note to readers: please agree)