|
Post by bill on Apr 18, 2023 22:23:39 GMT
I know I disappear for stints sometimes so I just figured you were busy.
Yes, I leave a week from tomorrow for PPWC. I received my moderator assignments yesterday so I'm getting excited.
Grim Mansion - I finished my revision and sent to my dad for proofreading. He sent back proofreading notes from my blurb, query letter, and synopsis. I made those changes. All I need to do is print off the copies I need to take with me. I plan to pitch this on Saturday. Fingers crossed.
GRIT - This is the series of flash fiction I've been posting for the blog hops. It's the series of stories about the same character who made it into the PPW's anthology Journeys into Possibility. I'm putting the stories together and am putting the finishing touches on them. I'll send to beta readers for feedback. I'm thinking I'll print them as an e-book after time is up on the exclusive agreement I made with the anthology. I think it's six months, which means i can publish my grim reaper in training stories mid October, heading into Halloween.
|
|
|
Post by bill on Apr 23, 2023 22:17:42 GMT
Grim Mansion - did some touch up after my editor read my additions to the story. I sent it to my dad to proofread in case I get a request for manuscript. I have everything ready for PPWC.
GRIT - I finished and have sent to a couple of beta readers.
Leave for Colorado Tuesday afternoon if everything works out. They needed volunteers on Wednesday to help out so I found a way to make it happen. I figured I could get to know some of the other volunteers better plus I have a scholarship so it's one way to help pay it back a little.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 1, 2023 13:06:57 GMT
I don't know where my post went. I want to hear about PPWC. On my end, I'm working on, and finishing, projects. I'm starting to get some ideas on where to sell it. I'd like to hit a show in the spring, summer, and fall. I have a lot of stuff I can sell. Just need to venues to set up at. Also may get to put a piece at Prairie Pastimes where we have our art.
I'm also trying to find a way to serialize and monetize my writing. I need a way to offer subscriptions to gain access to the work. I have enough written that I can post enough work to cover six to eight months. If I take one hour a day to edit each chapter, I can have something going live at least weekly, and possibly bi-weekly. I was thinking of a cheap subscription. Like $1 dollar a month. One thousand followers would give me 1000. a month. and if I can get enough followers, it can be better than that. I'm thinking of doing a podcast about two weeks after the work goes live which would give me another stream of income. Once a book was complete, then I could put it in book form and have another stream of income.
I can use my newspaper articles as free content. and write more articles. I can use facebook, tik tok, and twitter to make the work visible. I'm hoping to get info from Abbey and Chalino about sites to use. They know where the kids hang out. My problem is finding the right way to create a subscription site. I'm not thrilled with Patreon. I don't know if I can use an app or plug-in on proboards. Just a lot to think about but at least, I'm thinking and getting ideas. and ready to work at writing again. just need more immediate returns than the books give me.
|
|
|
Post by bill on May 2, 2023 1:18:45 GMT
As far as serialization, the only platforms I'm aware of are Patreon and Amazon. It's great to see you thinking forward again!
PPWC was incredible, it's hard to know where to start. I'll try to touch on the highlights.
The first session during the prequel I realized two things about myself. I don't believe my books are good enough or that I can successfully run my own business. I have procrastinated marketing for years and walked into PPWC with the mentality I would continue putting off that aspect of my writing career. Yes, marketing is not my strength or in my comfort zone or an interest of mine, and those are all true reasons why I have avoided it. But also, at the core, I don't believe my writing and business skills are good enough to put in the effort. So one of my challenges now is to figure out how to begin to believe in myself in those areas.
Kind of on the flip side, it amazed me how often I found myself thinking that I already knew what the workshop instructor was teaching. It excited me because it showed me how much (this was my seventh year at PPWC) I have learned and grown as a writer.
My pitch went awesome! I found out ten minutes prior that we weren't handing query letters but only doing verbal pitches. I planned to read mine, but instead when I sat down just started talking about it and the agent was genuinely impressed by my pitch and the story. I've never had that happen in a pitch, not like that. She said she isn't looking for middle grade (mine was a MG horror) but that my story was so compelling she couldn't pass it by without looking at it. She said not to get my hopes up but asked me to query her.
The book signing was a lot of fun. I got to meet several of the other authors and trade signatures, and it was super humbling to have the likes of Mark Lefebvre and Siera London asking for my autograph. I bought more books than I ever have at one of these and got signatures.
This year they let me pick three persons and meals to sit by and reserved a spot. So when they set the seating map out front for people to study before opening the doors to the meals, my name was alongside the person I had chosen to sit with. I really felt like I connected with many of the presenters and known authors more than before, instead of only those on my own level.
It's a long story of how, but on Saturday evening during the auction I won a bid to spend Sunday morning watching the sun rise at Garden of the Gods with Dave Chesson and two others. He's the creator of Kindlepreneur and I got to pick his brain on items I needed to know to start taking my Amazon advertising seriously. I wasn't bidding but it was about to end at $75 so I bid $80 and got it. It seemed stupid to pass up the opportunity (even though I had to get up at 4 a.m.) and also felt like a sign to jump start my journey into believing my books are worth advertising for.
I could go on but I'll stop. In short, it was my best PPWC so far and I'm super excited about the potential for my MG horror, even if Roma Panganiban decides to pass on it.
Time to get back to work!
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 2, 2023 12:56:15 GMT
It sounds wonderful. I love the energy coming from you. And figuring out our own inner motivations is a big step toward success. I can't wait to sit down and just listen to you. I kind of wish I'd gone this year but I've hit that spot you have. There aren't a lot of workshops offered that I don't already know what they are going to say. I'm on the next level. I really do want to branch off on my own just to see what happens.
|
|
|
Post by bill on May 4, 2023 14:50:15 GMT
I still learned a lot at the conference. It's just that some of the workshops didn't go as deep as I expected and targeted more of the beginning author. I may volunteer more next year if I'm not selected to present. We'll see. It's worth going just for the relationships and I want to continue to build those. I'm so slow at that. I definitely have a lot to talk about from this conference. I'll try to find a time to come over. I'm so busy right now it's hard to think past each week but I do miss you and Josh and it seems like it's been forever now! Looks like you're making a lot of new furniture, which is cool.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 4, 2023 20:45:10 GMT
I signed up with Ko-fi. Trying to learn how to navigate through it. I'm going to serialize my writing and see if I can begin to generate streams of income. If you don't make it over here, I'm thinking about heading your way. Would probably be sometime in the last half of the month.
|
|
|
Post by bill on May 7, 2023 22:04:20 GMT
You are welcome any time! What are you doing May 27? I have Yates Center Days that day and am setting up as a vendor. I usually leave around 4. I thought I could come for a visit afterward, maybe even spend the night and go to church in the morning if that works for you.
Grim Mansion - I sent to the agent who requested. My goal next week is to make a plan to start querying it.
Halstead Mysteries - I spent a lot of time working on my outline for book 5 and a little for book 6. Since I know what books 5, 6, and 7 are and I have a story arc running through them, I'm thinking about plotting and then writing them all back-to-back-to-back. We'll see if I can stay on one project long enough to do all that.
PPWC - I read through my notes, listed action items, and then sorted through and prioritized. My earliest focus is of course marketing so I've started doing some research and made a marketing plan for the next few weeks. That was my big goal this week.
It's a Mixed Up Christmas - I have a short story that I love and contacted an editor from the conference to see if she would edit it. I want to see if there's a place I sell it to.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 7, 2023 22:48:42 GMT
I was going to an open house in the morning but I'll be home in the afternoon on. I'd love to have you stop by and spend the night. So much to talk about and I miss you. The only thing that would change that is Bill's health. He's having some heart issues. I think he's getting better but they still aren't sure what is causing the trouble. I think he'll be fine so I don't anticipate going up there until later in the summer.
I got signed up with Ko-fi. I went ahead and bought the gold option. It gives me more options for marketing. I have the first half of chapter one edited and I'll upload it to ko-fi when I get the second half of the chapter edited. I have a lot of ideas on how to serialize my work. It will allow me more immediate feedback on my work and the potential for getting paid while I develop stories. I'll post a chapter a week, bi-weekly if I can figure out how to date work so it goes live automatically. I'm not good at maintaining focus for structured posting. It would be much easier for me to put a go-live date and have it automatically go live.
I hope you have a wonderful time at Yates Center and I'd absolutely love to have you spend the night here. I need a good visit.
|
|
|
Post by bill on May 8, 2023 23:12:05 GMT
Let's plan on May 27 and if something comes up we'll adjust.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 10, 2023 19:13:11 GMT
Sounds good. I'll try to think up something good to eat. If you're missing a home-cooked favorite just mention it and I'll do my best to make it.
|
|
|
Post by bill on May 14, 2023 21:59:01 GMT
The truth is I almost never eat a home cooked meal so anything would be nice. Meatloaf is always a favorite but whatever is fine.
Mystery 6 - I have book 5 so I'm ready to start writing so worked on book 6's outline, figuring out who my killer/victim/suspects are and some basic outlining ideas. I'll keep working on it and then move to book 7. I hope to have a good idea for all three before starting to writing book 5 in June. I have a story arc that goes through all three books and want to understand it before I get going. Right now I plan to write all three back-to-back-to-back but we'll see if I don't get sidetracked with another book. I have so many I want to write!
It's a Mixed up Christmas - I hired an editor I met at PPWC to edit this 7,000 word short story. As soon as she's done (June 8) then I want to shop it around and see if I can find a good landing place for it.
Marketing - I read a lot on Amazon categories this week and am in the process of setting/changing mine for the mystery series. Next week I'll start learning how to better use keywords so I can get those updated.
Grim Mansion - I decided to wait until I get my feet under me with the marketing before tackling the query process with this one. I'll get started on it sometime this summer. In the meantime, it's with the agent who requested it from PPWC so at least there's a nugget of hope for it.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 15, 2023 19:02:42 GMT
I'm still working on kofi.com. I need to figure out the ins and outs of it. I want to start putting stuff up as soon as possible. I thought I'd start with my plans for serializing the books. Talk about some of the structure issues I had to figure out. I'm going to offer some of the beginning chapters as free content. sort of like the free samples on Amazon. There are too many people talking this morning. I can't concentrate.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 21, 2023 21:19:54 GMT
Still trying to get posts ready for kofi.com. I'm really anxious to figure out how the site works.
|
|
|
Post by bill on May 23, 2023 20:54:56 GMT
I went to Colorado last weekend and saw Sound of Music at the Boulder Dinner Theater with Rhonda and Jacob. Had a great time!
Halstead Mysteries - made some good progress on HM 6 outline and started on HM 7. This week I plan to start writing on book 5.
I plan to do YC Days on Saturday. It means an early morning but I usually do well in sale and I always see people I haven't for a long time. I still plan to head that way after it's over, probably around 4.
|
|