Wow, it’s been more than a month since the last time I posted on this blog? This needs to be rectified, and by more than a solitary post.
It’s been a bumpy few weeks. Not rocky, but not smooth either. Between working unpredictable odd jobs and unexpectedly finding myself in a romantic relationship, it’s been difficult to get into a productive writing and publishing routine—hence, the less frequent posting on this blog.
That said, I’ve seen a marked increase in book sales recently, which is encouraging. Getting a couple of Bookbub featured deals definitely helps. By my calculations, I have about six months of expenses in my business savings, which includes things like Bookbub deals and convention costs. The goal, though, is still to build my email list, and that’s proceeding a lot slower than I would like. I need to find new and better ways to get my books in front of the readers who will love them.
Writing-wise, things are proceeding at a slow but steady pace. I’ve put Queen of the Falconstar on the back burner for the time being, to work on Gunslinger to Earth. If all goes well, I should be finished with that WIP by mid-January, and release it in April. That will complete the Gunslingers trilogy!
I think it might be cool to release a few excerpts in audio as well as on this blog. What do you guys think? Record a few MP3s of my own narration, release them as downloads. Or maybe put them up on YouTube. It’s a bit ironic, because Gunslinger to Earth is a first-person book from Jane Carter’s perspective, but still, I think I can pull it off. It will also be good practice for audiobook narration, which I hope to do more of in the following year.
In other news, I’ve decided to hold off on self-publishing any more of my short stories until I’ve sold the first publication rights. Up until now, I’ve been fitting them into my publishing schedule for the months when I don’t have a novel release. But I think that holding off to publish them traditionally, even with a market that pays semi-pro rates, is better than self-publishing them just for the sake of having something to release.
Don’t get me wrong: I still want to self-publish my short stories, I just want to sell them to a magazine first. In the short term, this means that I won’t have as many things to fill out my publishing schedule. In the long-term, it means that I need to write more short stories now in order to have more content to submit to the magazines, and ultimately to fill out my publishing schedule later.
So my goal from now on is to write at least one short story a month, on top of my regular WIP schedule. Some of these will be in the same universe as my novels, much like Starchild or Jane Carter of Earth. I’ll probably self-publish those first, to promote my new releases. But the other stories will stay on submission until they sell, preferably at professional rates.
I really need to up my short game. Speaking of which, Larry Correia just released the cover art for his second short story collection, and it is hilariously badass, much like Larry himself. I love the fact that his wife is in it too.
Looking ahead, I hope to get back into a semi-regular blogging routine, with more book reviews. I’ve read quite a few books recently, and it would be good to share a few reading recommendations. And I’m still writing regularly. Just because I’ve neglected the blog doesn’t mean I’m neglecting everything else.
That just about does it for now. Take care, and thanks for reading!
