Update 2022-07-26: Nope!

Hey, guys. So, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it on here before (though I did mention it on IB since I seem to get more traffic there), but Amazon has come out with a new writing service called “Vella”. Basically, I write and publish chapters individually rather than as a complete story, and people interested can get tokens to buy later chapters as time goes on. While I’m typically not crazy about the idea of episodic writing (it can tie my hands later if I realize there’s something I need to change earlier on to make the story work), one feature I’m really looking forward to is the ability to include a poll at the end of each chapter so I can solicit my readers’ feedback as we go along. That’s why the next Jack’s Blacks story, “The Pit”, will be released on Vella first, and then once all the chapters are complete, I’ll release the full thing in the usual way. There’s no obligation for you you guys to use Vella, but those who do will be able to provide input to the story as it goes along.

I’m doing this as an experiment. If I get good feedback on this story, I’ll plan to do others this way. And, if there’s enough interest in it, I might even make it a CYOA kind of thing where the story prompts you with which episode to go to next to follow a particular chain of events. While I’m excited about it and feel like there are some interesting applications, it is more work, so if there isn’t any interest, I’ll go back to just releasing stories the traditional way.

As always, if you’ve got ideas for a Jack’s Blacks story you’d like to see, feel free to send them to me via my Jack’s Blacks Request Form. Commission ideas can be submitted via the contact page or via social media.

I’ll update the Books and Links page to include information about the new story and where it can be found once it’s published.