These chapters take place between Discarded and Abandoned. You can read the whole thing for free with the free tokens Amazon starts you out with.

These chapters are not from Marathon’s perspective and provide additional inside information to the global conspiracy. These chapters are not mandatory reading, but will help you dive into the next book. Hope you enjoy.

On tract for September 1st release. Preorder using the link below.

Spoiler Warning: If you haven’t read Discarded: A Marathon Torres Novel, you will spoil parts of the novel by reading these episodes. The following shorts take place between Discarded (released 10/1/20) and Abandoned (release date 9/1/21).

Ten Episodes are ready when Kindle Vella goes live in July. This series takes place between Discarded and the new book Abandoned. More episodes are in the works.

Think of Discarded and Abandoned as feature films and the Kindle Vella story as episodes of season 1. The Kindle Vella story is not required reading, but it will completely explain the time jump between books. While you can easily figure out what’s going on, the episodes provide an interesting take on what’s happening with other characters.

The Marathon Torres Shorts are not told from Marathon’s perspective. They are told from other character’s point of view, including the villains of the story. When it goes live, check it out!

Abandoned: A Marathon Torres Novel is set to release 9/1/21. The manuscript is still in draft and I would like to hear from you. Please fill out the poll below. Thank you in advance!

I publish through two main distributers, Amazon and Ingramspark. Ingramspark handles the hardcover book and distributes to major book stores around the world (their online book stores).

Amazon handles the paperback and epub through Kindle Unlimited. Initially I had a choice, publish completely independent and on my own or enroll the epub through Kindle Direct Publishing and get a free ISBN through Amazon. I sorta did the best of both worlds and purchased the ISBN through the United States government (Bowker). It wasn’t cheap, but it was a good investment.

Owning our own ISBN allows you to do whatever you want with your book. I have complete control, I can even update the manuscript if and when I find errors. It’s a really good feature to have through Amazon. However, the most important thing and this is the one that matters the most, Amazon is not my publisher and I do not self publish through Amazon.

Instead, Keitheburns.com is my publisher (yes that’s me). All my novels will have keitheburns.com listed as the publisher for my content (Unless a big name publisher wants to buy me out, hint hint). Essentially, I created my own publishing company. Cool right?

Now, Kindle Vella is coming out. You might be asking what is Kindle Vella. I did when I first saw it. It’s a Kindle App or Kindle Reader driven platform that allows authors to release short stories or full length novels as episodes; think of it as releasing a chapter at a time like a comic book series would.

The light bulbs starting going off in my head. What if I release episodes of content between novels? What if I use different perspectives instead of telling the story through Marathon? I had to consult a good friend, Jared Morgenstern, to see if there was something worthwhile with this idea.

When I pitched him the concept, he like it a lot and suggested some additional things that could be done with this format. So, I started writing. With Abandoned now in editing phase, I am able to write short narratives as episodes leading up to the release.

As you can see the short stories are in beta, meaning that they are not released to the public. I have four episodes completed with more on the way. Each episode gives a bit of narrative that bridges the gap between books.

With Kindle Vella, the first three episodes are free. The next episodes have tokens to unlock. My assumption is that the tokens go by the length of the short, longer the episode the more tokens. I am going to try and keep the shorts to be 800-1000 words. Something to read quickly, but drive a narrative forward.

Each episode will progress a narrative and the combined episodes will have its own little arc. Below you will find a sneak peak at the titles of each episode, when they go live, please check them out.

I do things a bit different. I like to type out a manuscript and get the plot figured out on MS Word. It’s not the best platform, but it gets the job done. Then I will read the manuscript on the computer, fix glaring typos or grammatical mistakes. Sounds standard right? Sure.

I then rigorously search for plot holes. I literally question every decision characters make and if there is a lack of motivation, that’s a problem. Yes, Marathon Torres is a badass, or at least so I have been told, but what makes her character a badass? She’s tough, she’s a fighter, and she can handle dangerous situations. But what makes her a badass?

Don’t get me wrong, I wrote the character that way because I want her to be a badass, but you’re not going to see that explicitly stated (unless it’s in dialogue, that’s my disclaimer). Marathon’s words, thoughts and actions make her a badass. So as I read this ARC or advanced reader copy, if her character deviates, there has to be motivation or a certain set of circumstances for that to happen.

Developing this character took years of work. Writing, rewriting, again and again. Even the name fits the character. Marathon. Did I name her that? If you know the character, you know why that’s her name.

So again, what makes this process different? Well… I use the ARC to edit the final draft. This is a mistake I made the first go around. I tried to edit it on the computer and neglected to take advantage of the advanced printing capabilities of Amazon and Ingramspark (my two printers and distributers). I corrected that this time around. The ARC is now going to be used as a way to edit to final draft.

I would like to now personally thank those select few that will read the ARC to provide feedback, editing tips, and discovery of any plot holes. Thank you!!!!!

Can’t wait to share the next installment… Something really cool is also in the works. Stay tuned.

Today I received my 2nd copyright certificate in the mail. My work with the Marathon Torres Series is now officially registered with the US Copyright Office in Washington D.C. Somewhere in some office, on some server, there is the original file I wrote for Discarded and now for Abandoned. That is pretty cool, I guess.

I wonder if the person issuing the Copyright registration actually reads the manuscript? I picture a massive server with millions of manuscripts all registered with the US Government in some Indiana Jones type warehouse where lost artifacts are stored. I might be exaggerating a bit, maybe putting a little too much thought into this.

Little known fact, any original written work has automatic copyright to the author. You don’t have to register it and you are awarded the same protections as any author with or without an official registration.

So why copyright your work? Good question. If there ever is a dispute on originality and lawyers get involved, you are going to have to apply for official copyrighting based on the date your work was completed. Officially registering your work with the US Copyright office is a step that has to be taken if someone challenges or steals your work.

Start the process sooner rather than later. Get it registered and keep the registration number close. I like to put the registration number inside on the copyright page. It just makes it seem more official.

Here it is, the official registration with the US Copyright office. Something I am extremely proud of. If you were to ask me about writing a book three years ago I would have told you I didn’t have the time to do it. I would have come up with any excuse in the book and blamed anything to avoid a monumental task that is writing a novel.

Now I am about to finish my 2nd and I am already in the planning stage for the 3rd. My goal is one book per year (for now). I have been told I have a great character in Marathon Torres. Let’s see how long her story goes and how many times the US Copyright office will have to issue out these certificates. Maybe they’ll be sick of seeing “A Marathon Torres Novel.”

More on my 3rd book to come. Stay tuned.