Tag: Amazon

A Self-Publisher’s Progress, or Lack Of It: Why I’m Going to Go the Self-Publishing Route

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Writing Journal 27 July 2022: Great writing week and progress on other fronts

[PHOTO NOTE: This was the first thing that popped up when I did an image search for “progress.” You’re welcome.]

Last week just goes to show that you never know.

I was expecting to have a bad writing week since I was going off on vacation last weekend. You might remember that it prompted me to do a blog about writing on vacation. I figured, “well, it will be a wash.” But then, I think that idea of a fall-off gave me the motivation to not fall off… and as a result, I had the best writing week since early April of this year.

I feel myself getting to be a stronger writer. I have so much to learn still, but I’m believing that I’m only going to get better at this.

One quick note as well – I finally got myself signed up for an account on Kindle Direct Publishing. I’m going to be reading a lot of material and advice before moving forward and publishing my first self-publishing project. However, that process is finally moving forward. I think with a bit of research and the assistance of my writing group, I have every confidence that I should be able to make this thing work.

Well, I’m getting back to it, then. Hope you have a great week, and all of you writers keep writing.

Writing statistics for the week ending 23 July 2022:
+6,305 words written.
Days writing: 6 of 7.
Days revising/planning: 1 of 7 for 30 total minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.

Searching… For A Plan?

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The Holy Fool And Other Publishing/Project News: Update 1.27.2019

All right, I just wanted to let you know a couple of things about what’s going on, project-wise.

  • The My Work section of the site has been fully updated with new links, etc. Check it all out.
  • I’m anticipating my first small shipment of books any day now, although the weirdness with the shutdown might have led to a delay or two. As soon as I get them in my hands, I’ll spread the word and I’ll probably sponsor a giveaway or two.
  • A lot of this I am anticipating is going to heat up (pun not intended) during late spring/summer. I’m hoping to make some book signings/appearances in my local area during that time to get the word out about what I’ve written.
  • I’m also probably going to be busy looking for publishers and/or agents to take on the other projects I have been working on behind the scenes. I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy working with Biblio Publishing, but they are not accepting new fiction projects at this time. So I will be checking in with other possibilities for publication. However, I am optimistic. I’ve been published before, so I think I can be published again.
  • With that in mind, I have been separating my works in progress into two different categories. The first category is Ready To Go – projects that I would be able to present to publishers and agents within four months or less with the intention of publishing next year. For right now, I’m calling them Projects A, B, and C.
    • Project A is the novel about a soccer player that I’ve talked about on and off. I’ve already had it beta-read and have made revisions to it with those comments in mind. I’m giving it another little shave to get the manuscript under 85,000 words, just to keep the story moving.
    • Project B is a long-dormant crime drama centered around a young man suffering from mental illness who kills two boys who had been tormenting him at his high school. The story picks up when he is released after five years in jail and how he struggles to be part of society again. I think the book has a few flaws, but it’s a quick read – currently under 50,000 words – and I’ve been feeling good about what I’ve been revising.
    • Project C would be a collection of some of the poems I have written in recent years. A couple of the ones I want to include have appeared in this blog, while others I have yet to write or am in the process of writing. I think that would be relatively easy to put together.
  • The second category is going to be Future Projects – stuff that is somewhere from planning stages to incomplete rough drafts. This includes 2-3 potential sequels to Project A, a series about a fictional indie rock band from the 1980’s-90’s, and probably two science fiction projects. In short, I am not lacking stuff to write about for some time to come.

So, that’s where I’m at with all of my projects at the moment. I’m feeling excited going forward with them, and I hope they can find an even bigger audience.

A Message To Anyone Who Reads My Book…

…Glad you picked it up.

If you bought it, that’s great. Glad to get a few extra bucks into my pocket while telling you a story that, I think, is pretty cool. Trust me, I wouldn’t have spent years writing it if I hadn’t.

There’s also the chance, however, that you might have read it in the library. I’m in the process of getting some a copy dropped off at my library and maybe a couple of others around the area. Some of them also do ebook loaning, so I’m interested to see if they could do that, as well.

The point being, I appreciate anyone who reads my stuff, no matter whether you pay for it or borrow it from the library. If you are wondering how you can help me out, even if you can’t pay for my books, I have a way for you to do it.

Tell people what you thought about it.

Yeah, you can do that on your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, but there’s a couple of other places it can be even more useful.

On Amazon, they give you space on the product page to leave a review of the book or product. Let me put out a personal plea for you to write a review there. Let people know what you thought of it honestly. Tell them what you dug about it and if anything could be improved, and leave it up there. In case you got it from the library and don’t know where to leave a review, here is the link for my author’s page on Amazon. Just go to one of the book links there and do a review. Yeah, you’ll have to sign up for an account, but you probably already have one and it’s free anyway, right?

Also, feel free to leave it on other sites. For example, this is the site for my ebook on Barnes and Noble. If you sign up for Goodreads, you can do that same thing – here is my author’s page there. You can even leave a review for my book on my publisher’s site and you don’t have to sign in for anything.

And don’t feel like you have to write three or four different reviews, either. Cutting and pasting is perfectly acceptable. 🙂

The point is, I would truly appreciate it if people would start reviewing my book, even if they don’t have 100 percent positive things to say about it. The more people start talking about my book, the more people start noticing my book, and the more likely it is that people start buying it.

Anything you can do, I thank you for it.