Category Archives: Writing / Publishing

Business at Hand

World Book and Copyright Day

Today (April 23, 2022) is yet another day to celebrate books and storytelling. 

“Books have long embodied the human capacity to conjure up worlds, both real and imagined, giving voice to the diversity of human experience. They help us share ideas, obtain information, and inspire admiration for different cultures, enabling far-reaching forms of dialogue between people across space and time.”

– unesco.org (https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldbookday)

This is an amazing time to be a writer. While there remain limitations in the industry, today, almost anyone can write and be heard. You can blog about your passion for food. You can write, publish short stories or books, and pick from multiple methods for reimbursement. Newsletters, memes, skits, jokes…the world is listening and closer than ever before. 

Copyright

Literary works are “protected” as soon as they exist, but such protection does not guarantee smooth sailing. There may be unscrupulous people stealing your work and claiming you are the thief. Distributors, such as Amazon.com, require proof against such claims. While tedious and frustrating, this helps protect everyone involved. 

To help arm myself, in case I ever face such dastardly knaves, I submitted my work to the copyright office for registration. I now have proof of registration to provide to distributors or others should it become necessary. There is a cost involved in registering, but it is minimal compared to the complications one could face in a dispute without it. Based on all I have heard through various writer groups, I recommend official registration for all writers. 

Other News

I have decided to move my books over to Kindle Unlimited this year! As I am already limiting my distribution through Amazon.com only, the shift has only a few additional drawbacks. Being in KU will allow me more flexibility with pricing and the ability to reach a wider Amazon audience. 

My plan is to shift Hidden Memory over about a month after Hidden Sanctuary releases, then give Hidden Sanctuary a few additional months before moving it to KU. This plan allows me to distribute my digital ARCs without violating any agreements. It also gives those purchasing the book directly a slight advantage for their support.

In another nod to my preorder supporters, I will be starting Hidden Promise, book 3 in the series, at a lower price during the preorder period and raising it to my standard eBook price after release. Thanks for all your support as I kick off my writing career!

What a Week

Last weekend, I polished three more chapters of book three to send to my alpha readers. It kicked off a busy bunch of days for me, most of which subsequently had little to do with my writing. Work has been long hours packed with deliverables and meetings. 

If you don’t know much about working in finance, the first two weeks of the month are usually busy. In the first week, accounting is closing out the books with all the final transactions coming in. This week, week two, is when the data makes its way to us finance analysts for performance analysis.

I spent much of the week working through variances and presenting performance to various people in the organization. The rest of the week, and my long workdays, were driven by some capstone project presentations. These are fun because I get a chance to work with new company leaders kicking off a new role, but they are also draining.

Each one lasts one and a half to two hours, and I attended four this week. 

That all adds up to a lot of people. I am exhausted, and it is shaping up to be another busy weekend. Tonight is a Sounders game, and tomorrow a Reign game. I will be having fun watching soccer this Easter, and I will have to take my mom out later for missing lunch. 

The Sounders won their game on Wednesday evening, which means they are heading to the CONCACAF Champions League Final. The second of the two-game series will be played in Seattle, and I’m excited to attend with some friends in early May. It should be a great game. 

With all of this going on, I have two updates for you before I sign off for the weekend:  

  1. The book cover for Hidden Sanctuary is done! I will be sharing it with my newsletter first (probably tomorrow or Monday), so sign up on my homepage today if you don’t want to wait a month to see it on the rest of my accounts!
  2. The Hidden Sanctuary manuscript is with my beta readers, and my editor is lined up. If my current progress holds, I will release the paperback around the same time as the ebook. Fingers crossed!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Encourage a Young Writer

Tomorrow, April 10, 2022, is National Encourage a Young Writer Day. To contribute to this day, I will share one of the creative inspirations from my childhood.

I am often asked, “where do your story ideas come from?” The truth is that it usually begins with one small spark of an idea and grows from there. This spark might be a world, a character, or even a character trait, and then I build it out by asking questions.

“That is a cool world idea. Who might live there?”

“I would love to have such a superpower. What might someone do with it?”

Early Storytelling

Blueberry was super shy.

Some of my earliest stories were told with my sister as we played with our pony town growing up. Though I struggle to remember all of them now, each pony had a name, personality, job, and family. They lived in a world of our creation and interacted with each other through a make-believe daily life.

The regal, royal family. I think the big ones were called Fashion Star Fillies.

We had a royal family and a dashing fireman. Strawberry loved to bake crumpets to go with Mrs. Pots’s tea. Tic Tac Toe was the bad boy of the children, while his father, Parrot, was the smooth talker with the adult ladies. Butterfly had an attitude, often butting heads with Boat, but all the children helped out with the babies.

All the kids. Heartstrings and Lollypop were the sweetest.

These are still some of my favorite memories, and I’m certain their lives have influenced my work. To all the writers out there, what is one of your childhood inspirations? For all the young writers out there, don’t be afraid to tell the story.

The “fuzzy-fliers” were our favorites. Rabbit could fly super fast.

Generating Interest

Advertising

Recently, my sales have slowed to a trickle, along with my Amazon ad impressions, so I decided to give Facebook ads a try. The opinions of Facebook ads in the indie-book business group I joined are pretty mixed. Some other authors have had success with Amazon ads and none with Facebook ads, while others experience the opposite. 

I searched through the group’s previous posts and responses on the topic, but there were no conclusive or overwhelming answers or experience in either direction. It is a very mixed bag, even within the same genres. So, I decided to do some research through trial and error.

Dusting off my Canva skills, I created two images (main post image and the one below) and ran with a few different headlines and a link taking folks to the Amazon page where they could buy the book. 

I Made a Sale!

I still celebrate every sale and preorder, but the conversions are nowhere near enough to cover advertising costs. It means my advertising is not doing its job and I need to make some changes. 

  1. I need dynamic ads…which means researching dynamic ads. This one will have to wait until I send Hidden Sanctuary to my betas.
  2. I need more reviews. The best I can do here is remind and provide easy links whenever possible. If you haven’t left a review yet, log into Amazon now and do so today!
  3. I need to finish the series. I’m working on it!
  4. I may need to change the description or title. 
    • The description part is easy enough. Understanding how to change it to entice readers to buy will be the challenge. I’m also considering going into KU, but more research is required before clicking that button.
    • Title changes are a can of worms. 
      • Sub-titles will be the first thing I work with because those are modifiable on KDP. 
      • Changing full titles means new covers and a complicated mess of publication drama. I do not see myself doing this. My time is most valuable in writing more books. 

Onward!

Eventually, I will get to a reader magnet short story. If you have read Hidden Memory, do you have a favorite character? Is there someone or something about whom you want to know more? Do you have a favorite scene or quote I should feature?

On another topic: Should I do a launch party for Hidden Sanctuary this August? A virtual launch party? 

Let me know answers to these questions here or on my social media accounts. In the meantime, thank you for your support, and don’t forget to leave that review!

March Updates

Wedding Bells

This week marked my fourth wedding anniversary. I married my husband on St. Patrick’s Day in 2018, which happened to be a Saturday that year. We had already moved in together a few years earlier, so the day itself did not change anything about our relationship. It was, however, a fantastic reason to throw a party with friends and family together.

Our dragon cake toppers and a couple of the dice!

In keeping with our personalities, the event was super nerdy. Our guest gifts were d10s with our initials and d20-shaped coasters. We topped our cake with two dragons in the colors we wore, and instead of a photo booth, we hired a caricature artist for the evening. 

Our caricature was placed on the welcome table. Artist: Zach Bagley

Hidden Series Progress

I currently estimate myself behind on editing Hidden Sanctuary by about a week. This is based on my schedule of trying to release the paperback simultaneously with the ebook. The paperback versions require more up-front work with formatting and test prints. While the ebook schedule is well on-track, the paperback might be out a week or two later. I would rather push the release out than rush the editing process. This is a primary reason only the ebook is available for preorder. 

My beta readers should receive it in early- to mid-April and then my editor in June. I’m starting to line up their time for those slots, pinning the schedule down as I progress through the alpha feedback. Once I post this blog, working through those revisions and edits will be the remainder of my day. 

This week I sent the rough sketch and description of the cover to my artist for the series. He is doing research, and I hope to share the cover reveal with my newsletter subscribers early in the April newsletter (so don’t forget to sign up!). The rest of the world will see it sometime after, as I update it on Amazon and social media. 

For today’s final note, I’m celebrating Hidden Memory receiving the tenth rating on Amazon! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a rating or review. Your support means so much to me. 

If you have not yet purchased the first book in the series, you can find it in digital and paperback formats on Amazon. For those who have already read Hidden Memory, you can still go into your orders in your account to leave a review. I hope everyone enjoys these characters and this world as much as I do!

*I also got to wear green!*