Ben Galley

Official website of Dark Fantasy author Ben Galley

The Fiction Factory Blog

Fantasy Author Lounge #13 – Interview with Rob J. Hayes

by

Who’s in the Fantasy Author Lounge this month? It’s Rob J. Hayes! Aka The Hat, and fellow indie author of over a dozen fantasy books. Watch this latest Lounge interview to find out more about Rob and his books as we put the world to rights about:

  • stand-alone fantasy novels
  • rapid release and binge-reading
  • getting inspiration from lyrics
  • and the very best marketing method around.

You can find Rob and all his books (which I highly recommend you check out) at www.robjhayes.co.uk

If you want to know more about me, follow on on Twitter @BenGalley or on Facebook and Instagram @BenGalleyAuthor.

Ben’s Books

How NOT to Self-Publish – Self-Publishing Companies to Avoid

by

If you’re an indie author, here’s how to avoid being conned by so-called self-publishing companies.

Time to dive into the subject of self-publishing, and we’re going straight in at the deep-end with how NOT to self-publish. In this episode, I show you how to dodge a mistake a lot of authors have made: trusting in companies run by Author Solutions.

I believe these companies regularly prey on authors’ dreams and lack of knowledge to sell ridiculously, overpriced packages, deliver sub-standard services, and make it insanely difficult for an author to see success. Watch me prove it, see their tactics up close, and note down some red flags for avoiding companies like these.

Ben’s Books

How to Come Up with Fantasy Character Names

by

Time for another How To. This time, I’m sharing some tips for stimulating that imagination when it comes to fantasy character names. In this episode I go through a few methods for generating ideas for names, and a few rules I try to follow to get the right name for the right fantasy character.

Things such as:

– Originality
– Pronounceability
– Using maps
– Google Translate
– and the ultimate Keyboard Mashing Technique.

Enjoy.

Ben’s Books

August Update – Forever King Book Reveal

by Leave a Comment

How is it August already?! The calendar is almighty. Perhaps it was another whirlwind month of busyness and activity. I thought things would calm down after working 200 hours in June, but they ended up being just as busy. You know what, though? It means I’ve got a shit-tonne of things to tell you about. Prepare thyself. Here’s everything that went down in July.

The juicy news this month is all about The Forever King, so let’s jump into that so you’re not fidgeting with excitement. First thing you need to know…

The Forever King is Finished!

If you missed it, I decided to finish The Forever King out in the wilds of Vancouver Island by a lake and some mountains. You can watch my adventure in the last BenCast. I’m pleased to tell you that the first draft of The Forever King is now complete at 150,000ish words, and I’m currently neck-deep in the second drafts edits. Second thing you need to know…

The Forever King Book Cover

This week, I also revealed the book cover for The Forever King! Go on. Drink that fantasy goodness in:

Forever King Book Cover

DAYUM, am I proud of that artwork. I can only claim the concept and colours, and all credit goes to cover designer Pen Astridge for turning my fevered, chimpish scribbling into this cover. I think you’ll be glad to see I kept the same style as the Emaneska Series. Let me know what you think of the design and this badass new character, Mithrid!

I’m pleased to say The Forever King will be available to pre-order from September 1st (ish) and launching on December 1st 2020. That’s barely four months away now and not long to wait. You can add The Forever King to your Goodreads, too.

The Last BenCast

In the last update blog, I told you about bringing my vlog series – The BenCast – to an end. 10 years and almost 100 BenCasts later, the end has, alas, come. I decided it would be a fitting end to the BenCast to film my writing excursion to the wilds and finish the new book on camera. You can watch in on my ‘Tube, and look out for the new vlog series starting this month: Road to a Million.

Whaaat? A new short story?

Earlier this year, I got to grimdark it up with another short story, called Road to Hella. Even better, the illustrious Grimdark Magazine were kind enough to publish it! It’s a new story about a hunter, the goddess of death, daemons, and big ole magical guns, and I’m honoured to have it amongst such fellow authors. Get yourself an issue or two of this awesome mag: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/product/grimdark-magazine-23/

The Fantasy Fiends podcast

Andy Peloquin and Stevie Collier are hilarious and brilliant authors, and the scurrilous pair were kind enough to invite me onto their fantasy podcast. We had a chat about how great power can lead to great evil. Watch on YouTube or Facebook.

The co-writing has begun!

The co-writing project I announced last month has officially begun. David Estes and I have been shaping up our world and making it into something dark and delicious. I don’t think I’ve done this much world-building in years, and this week I’ve broken ground on the first chapter.

And that is pretty much all of this month’s exciting news. Hope you’re looking forward to the release of The Forever King as much as I am. I’ll be back at the start of September with the August update. In the meantime, I think I need a godsdamn day off…

Peace,

Ben

Ben’s Books

Fantasy Author Lounge #12 – Interview With T.L. Greylock

by

Who’s in this month’s Fantasy Author Lounge? It’s amazing epic and nordic fantasy author T.L. Greylock!

I’ve been a fan of Taya’s Song of The Ash Tree trilogy, so when I heard about her new book Shadows of Ivory, launching TOMORROW, I had to invite her to the Lounge.

We chatted about:

– a unique journey into self-publishing
– the brand new Godforged Chronicles
– the issue of sexism in SFF
– writing to music
– the benefits of writing every day

Thank you to Taya for stopping by, and go check out her books at www.tlgreylock.com!

Ben’s Books

The Last BenCast – #95

by

It’s time. The LAST episode of the BenCast is here. This final episode is all about The Forever King, the new Emaneska book, and this week’s excursion to Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island to finish it. (and possibly the best writing spot I’ve found yet. A fine excuse to fly my drone). Watch me and my wine power through the words in the wilds.

It’s a fitting end seeing as I started the BenCasts with The Written in 2010, 10 years ago now. To have started that journey with one Emaneska Series, and to be ending it with the beginning of another feels right.

As one chapter of my indie author adventure comes to a close and another one begins, there’s also more info on my new series of videos coming soon – Road To A Million. These will be starting in August.

I want to say a huge thank you to all who’ve watched my BenCast vlogs and my journey over the last 10 years. Your support has helped me to get where I am.

All the previous episodes will be staying up on my YouTube channel if you want to check them out and see where I came from, and how I got to here.

Ben’s Books

July Update

by Leave a Comment

What’s that in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It’s an inordinately tired author!

Damn, June was crazy for me. After averaging 50 hours a week last month, with at least half that time dedicated to writing, I managed to get a hell of a lot of things done. I worked like a machine sent back through time to sit at a laptop and work like a machine, and yet it was immensely gratifying. Work hard, play hard, right? Well, my take on it is work really hard now, play even harder later.

This is a rate of productivity I’ve been trying to reach since the start of the year. Now I’ve hit it, I would very much like to keep it up if I can. I’ve taken a well-deserved day off to sit down, write this month’s update, and tell you all the stuff that went down:

I’ve been racing towards the end of The Forever King like a greyhound on fire, and think I’ll be finished by end of July (excited flail).

I launched a new How To video series on how to write fantasy books, which I’ll be continuing for the foreseeable,

I managed to get some adventure in on the open seas, and I headed back to one of my favourite writing spots for the first time this year,

aaand the game I’ve been writing for, Veil of Ruin, launched and funded in less than 72 hours on Kickstarter. Now we’re headed for stretch goals. Boom!

But there’s more. Bigger changes are afoot in the realm of Galley. Here’s the lowdown.

Road To A Million

As many of you might know by now, I’m an avid vlogger. Video production is a little hobby of mine. Since 2010, I’ve done almost 100 of my “BenCasts”, chronicling my progression from publishing The Written, through to managing to go full-time in writing, and also my move to Canada. It’s been a rewarding and jovial record of the last 10 years, and as you regular readers will know, I couldn’t be happier with my job and my level of success so far.

But now I want to climb to the next level. What is the next level, you might ask? For me, my goal is to become more independent financially and also location-independent.

How? Call me mad, but to put it simply, I want to sell a million books. I also want to travel the world as I do it, vlogging every step of the way.

Why? Because I think I can do it. From childhood, it has been my dream to be a household name in fantasy. Selling a million books miiiiight just do that. I also work from a laptop 100% of the time, and I think my books will be better for my adventuring. I’ll get to pour every experience back into my fantasy worlds.

Since exploring a chunk of British Columbia the last three years, I’ve learnt that is the life I truly want, and have always wanted, to be honest. It’s time to carpe that diem. I’m scared, but excited. I’ll have to wait for the world to calm down and get back to a new normal, of course, but I’m ready.

This is why I’ve decided to bring the BenCast to a close, to better focus on this new push for success. Fear not, I’m actually going to be producing more episodic updates, just in a new format called Road to a Million. Road to a Million will consist of weekly updates all about my mad aim to sell a million books, plain and simple, while simultaneously seeking adventure and travel. I’ve upped my game in video production, bought some new equipment, and I’m ALL IN. (cue ferocious battle roar)

Forever King Cover Reveal

I’m going to go into more detail in the next and last BenCast, so keep your eyes peeled for that coming in the next week. You’ll especially want to look out for it because I’ll be revealing the Forever King cover…

For a spot of nostalgia, you can watch my old BenCasts at YouTube.com/bengalley. It feels great to put it in writing, as if it confirms the decisions I’ve made. No going back now, right? Hope you’re excited.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back this time next month with another update, but if you want to catch up daily, I can always be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Instagram. Or, if you want to get exclusive news and updates, get involved.
Peace,

Ben

Ben’s Books

How to Build a Fantasy World

by

Building an entire fantasy world? Is that crazy? Not at all. Every author builds a world for a book, no matter how small, and for fantasy authors, it’s a great excuse to dream big.

In this How To Write video, find out about my Funhouse Mirror approach, which makes fantasy worlds rich and detailed, and makes your fantasy worldbuilding structured, but most of all, FUN.

Ben’s Books

Fantasy Author Lounge #11 – Interview with Nicholas Eames

by

It’s that time again. A little late this month as I’ve had videos piling up, but we are back in the lounge, and this time, I got the chance to interview NICHOLAS EAMES, Gemmell Award-winning Canadian author of Kings of the Wyld and Bloody Rose. It was a true pleasure chatting to Nick, he was full of stories and practical advice.

In this Lounge, we chat about:

– How the Wyld was born
– Rage, Rush, Meatloaf and more musical influences
– Advice on seeking an agent or publisher
– Luck and its sneaky ways
– Book Three, and will we ever see Ganelon in Space? (Yes, you read that right)

You can find Kings of the Wyld and Bloody Rose on Amazon or through www.nicholaseames.com.

I’ll be back in July for another Lounge with another great author and chatting more about the finer points of fantasy.

Ben’s Books

How to Write a Fantasy Novel – Part Three

by

I’m back with some more tips for writing a fantasy novel. In the last vid we looked at what makes a great fantasy novel. This week, we’re all about that Unfinished Syndrome: dropping a book or running out of steam 3-4 chapters in, and then abandoning it.

Here’s how I defeat the dreaded unfinished nonsense and keep pushing through a fantasy novel.

Ben’s Books

June Update

by Leave a Comment

Greetings to all! I hope you’re doing well? Hows it all going? 

Firstly, suffice it to say that North America is full of hate and horror at the moment. Matters of race and discrimination are on everyone’s lips and streets. Personally, I stand with anyone who is being oppressed or treated unjustly in these so-called modern times. There is no excuse for barbaric and outdated thinking. We are all equals on this earth, and while this update is not and will never be a political message, that is where I stand. Inequality and racism are simply inexcusable. Remember, the most dangerous phrase in any language is, “We’ve always done it this way.” The time to make a change for the better is now. That’s how I stand.

Outside of this crisis, not a huge amount has changed here on Vancouver Island in the last few weeks. Although a lot of us are easing out of lockdown, I’ve chosen to stay a bit safer and stay indoors or away from people whenever possible. Antisocial? A little. Safer? Hopefully. More productive? YOU KNOW IT. The words have been flowing.

Writing Progress

The Forever King (Scalussen Chronicles Book 1) is rocketing along like a greyhound on cocaine. I’m pleased to say I’m on the final stretch and so very eager to finish. Hell, it’s been a blast being back in Emaneska. I think this book will clock in around 150,000 words, which is about 20k longer than the original The Written, published back in 2010. Just shy of the longest book in the Emaneska series: Pale Kings.

As such, focusing on that has shifted Dread Rising, my super secret book project onto the back burner for a week or two. It can be difficult switching between books, especially when you have to switch tense and perspective. It hasn’t caused me much trouble until now, when both books are getting more complicated and require more concentration to wrap up effectively.

My awesome web developers put together these cool progress wheels on my site. That way you can see exactly which stage I’m at in a book’s creation and you can stay up to date. CHECK IT: www.bengalley.com/progress/

Veil of Ruin launches DISCONCERTINGLY SOON

As you may have seen, I’ve been writing for a local tabletop game company called Project Dark Water. The guys behind it are amazing, and I’ve been writing adventure text, character backgrounds, creature descriptions, and worldbuilding the post-apocalyptic jungle world of Orman since the middle of 2019. What we’ve been working on is Veil of Ruin: primarily a tabletop game but it also has a standalone DnD 5e version, and the DnD part is launching on Kickstarter on June 19th! It’s a full DnD adventure setting and campaign, with 3D printed miniatures, maps, character options, a giant bestiary, and all sorts of stuff. The teams The art alone is just… DAMN. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/246051873/veil-of-ruin?ref=3zkuxy&token=cf0c79aa.

On that page you’ll find a trailer (that a certain somebody might have done the voiceover for) and all the info on our rewards, the game, and what Project Dark Water have built. The team and the DnD experts and co-creators Salt Games have done an epic job with this, and it’s been an honour to be involved and lend my writing skills. It’s been an extensive and busy road getting to this point, for all of us involved, but it feels unreal to have the 5e adventure less than two weeks away from crowdfunding launch. I know how many gamers there are amongst the Elite Circle, Guild, and my social circles, so I hope you’re excited!

Big News

The big piece of news for this update is my switch in distribution strategies. I have decided, for the first time in 10 years, to make The Emaneska Series exclusive with Amazon Kindle.

(Those of you who only reader paperback or audio can mosey on as this won’t affect you at all) 

Now, this wasn’t an easy decision, because I know I have a lot of readers across all sorts of stores and e-reader devices. The Emaneska Series has also been available on all ebook stores since its release. However, times are a-changing, as a Bob Dylan said once, and the benefits of being wide, both in terms of meeting new readers and financially, have shrunk for me. In order to get more security and stability, I have made almost all of my books exclusive to Amazon, Emaneska included, at least for the next 90 days.

What you may not know is that for books in the Kindle Unlimited program, authors get income from pages read, similar to Spotify listens. This additional revenue could really support me for months and years to come, without the uncertainty and fluctuation of other stores. It also allows me to focus on smarter marketing. Without trying it, I’ll never confirm it.

This all sounds very businessy, I know. But, as an indie author, entrepreneur, and a self-employed individual, I have to act like a business. That means keeping revenue and security in mind. Yes, I write out of passion for fantasy, love of entertaining, and for you, the reader, but a boy’s also got to make a living. In uncertain times as these, any certainty is helpful. Going all-in on Kindle could give me that, and so that’s why I’m giving it a shot.

What I’ve been worried about is disappointing you, my esteemed readers. That’s why you might have seen me do a survey on Twitter and Facebook last week. That really helped, and thank you if you commented or voted. Out of the 300+ responses I got, I was overwhelmed to see Kindle users accounted for over 85% of the responses. This eased my fears a bunch, but I know it’s not all of you, and that there are readers who my decision will effect.

Genuinely, my apologies if this decision has resulted in you not being able to read my books. Just know that if this all blows up in my silly face and doesn’t work, then this interruption will be for 90 days max. If it does work, well, it means a shitload more fantasy books for you to devour in the future. And, at very least, hopefully my books are worth transitioning – even briefly! – to Amazon Kindle. They make it hella easy with their free app. Massive thanks for understanding, and here’s to (fingers and claws crossed) a successful 90 days. Do get in touch if you want to share any thoughts: www.bengalley.com/contact

Thanks as always for your support and for reading. I’ll be back in a few weeks with another update, but if you want to catch up daily, I can always be found on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

In the meantime, let’s support each other out there. Care for each other and campaign for change. Above all, stay safe.

Ben

Ben’s Books

How To Write a Fantasy Novel – Part Two

by

Part Two of How to Write a Fantasy Novel is UP!

In this second episode, I dig into what I believe makes a great fantasy novel, how you can learn to write by reading, and that sometimes, the best way to start writing your novel is just to start bloody writing it!

Look out for Part Three coming this weekend.

Ben’s Books