Final ROW80 Round 2 Post

So, I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to write about for my final post in A Round Of Words In 80 Days, Round 2 (ROW80) for a couple days now and I can’t say I have a lot of certainty about it even as I begin putting words in the WordPress frame here.

Certainly, I’ve accomplished a lot in the last 80 days. I’ve completed MOST LIKELY and brought it to market. And as of Thursday, June 23, I’ve completed the first month of MOST LIKELY being in retail release on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Here are my sales results so far.

On Amazon’s US site, I sold five copies in May, and another six copies in June so far. That’s 11 copies in the Amazon US store.

Additionally, I’ve sold 2 copies (both in June) on Amazon UK, and 1 copy on Barnes and Noble (in May).

That brings me to a 30-day sales window total of 14 copies, which isn’t too bad. The blog tour I’m on this week is increasing my visibility so hopefully the numbers will improve from there.

Outside of MOST LIKELY, which was my major accomplishment, I’m about 7,500 words into the EMBER prequel short novel I’m working on. I’m expecting it to be on the long side of things, closer to 30,000 words than 20,000, so I’m not quite one-third of the way done. But it’s really starting to take shape and my goal is to get the story finished and out to my beta-reader team in July. Whether the book can make it to market in July remains to be seen, but I can tell you it’ll go up for sale sometime during ROW80 Round 3.

After the EMBER prequel, which I may or may not give the title SHADA, I think I’ll focus my attention on finishing EMBER, as well as on my Messianic theology project, DATING THE MESSIAH. I haven’t forgotten about IDEA WAREHOUSE, but if SHADA takes off, I want to get EMBER out on the market as soon as possible, to take advantage of any momentum it may generate, before veering off into non-EMBER-related projects.

So things are going well, and I’m making great progress. I owe a lot to ROW80 for instilling in me the good work habits necessary to make a go of things as a full-time writer. So you can bet I’ll be back for Round 3 on July 4.

Again, I’m not going to be inactive in the meantime. I can’t afford to be. So come visit me often. I’ll be here. And I’ll still be here on July 4, when Round 3 gets underway, too.

One note: there will be a two or three week period of relative inactivity in August, because I’ll be moving my family to Oregon from about mid-August through early September. We hope to settle in as quickly as we can and re-establish our routines, but since we’re leaving a lot of our possessions behind, let’s be honest… there will be an adjustment period.

So I hope to get the CreateSpace paperback version of MOST LIKELY, and both the eBook and paperback versions of SHADA out before the big move. But I doubt I’ll finish anything more than that, until after the move. So EMBER itself is now looking like a fall release. Maybe October? We’ll see.

Anyway, in the meantime, dear readers… enjoy the summer, keep reader, keep buying indie authors, and if you have a chance, make sure my books are among those you choose. I’d certainly appreciate it.

All best. ROW 80, out, till July 4.

But I’ll still be posting to my blog in between now and then…

Special discount on MOST LIKELY at Smashwords

Hello, all.

To celebrate my MOST LIKELY blog tour this week, I’m announcing a special coupon discount available at Smashwords, redeemable now through June 30, 2011.

If you’ve been on the fence about buying MOST LIKELY, now’s your time to act because this is just a short-term, Smashwords-only sale. All you need to do is go here to find my book on Smashwords.

Put it in your shopping cart. At checkout, enter this coupon code: DU75B

That will discount your copy of MOST LIKELY to only $0.99, a 67% savings off its normal price! But don’t delay! Once June’s over, so is this limited-time special price.

Smashwords is a great outlet because they’ll give you your choice of file format, so it’ll work for you no matter what kind of eReader you use!

And if you have strong feelings on MOST LIKELY, one way or another, feel free to give it a rating and a review at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Shelfari, LibraryThing, Goodreads or wherever you tend to hang out.

Thanks, and enjoy your change to save big on your copy of MOST LIKELY!

Picking up steam on EMBER prequel

Despite the impending blog tour I have beginning Monday, June 20, I am pleased to say that I have been spending more time on my EMBER prequel short novel. While not all this time has been spent adding words to the manuscript, I have been mentally working out things that I want to put into words soon.

That counts. At least in my book. The mental figuring out part is an essential aspect of writing, and makes the actual adding of words go much, much easier. That part is going to be part of the mix here yet tonight, and moreso in the coming week.

The thing I’m pleased with right now is that I’ve found unique voices for four different female characters in the same story; as a male author, that’s not always the easiest trick to pull off. But it’s working.

I’d love to share some details of how I identified each voice and made it unique, but that gets too close to telling the story before I write it, and that tends to trip me up. So excuse me for offering only a tease. But progress is indeed being made.

Remember to join me this week for my blog tour, which is a fitting way, I think, to call to a close my part in the second session of ROW 80. While I plan to participate in ROW 80, Round 3, there will be about three weeks where my participation will be sketchy at best, due to my move west to Oregon in August. About a week leading up to the move, the week of the move, and perhaps even the week after the move, I expect to be rather busy with move-related stuff.

But I’ll be posting stuff as I can, and taking bunches of pictures once the actual moving across the US is underway. We’re planning stops at Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park along the way, and we’ll be going through the northern mountainous area of the US to get into Oregon, so I’ll be seeing stuff I’ve never seen before.

Only a couple months away now, before the move begins. Excited? Yes. Scared? That, too. Will I be relieved once it’s over? Definitely.

Finalized Blog Tour Schedule for MOST LIKELY, starting Monday!

Here’s my finalized schedule, with a better idea of the content of each stop, on my MOST LIKELY blog tour, which starts Monday, June 20! Be sure to visit me at each stop along the way, as there’s quite different content every day of the tour!

June 20, 2011: Guest Blog Post, “How I Wrote MOST LIKELY… the First Time,” on T.L. Haddix’s blog.

June 21, 2011: Ten Random Facts at Bards and Sages.

June 22, 2011: Book excerpt at Speak Without Interruption.

June 23, 2011: Guest Blog Post, “Ember Cole Interviews Becky Howard,” at Prissy Fit.

June 24, 2011: Author interview at Jerry’s Writing Corner.

June 25, 2011: Guest Blog Post, “Can Writing Be Taught,” on Sybil Nelson’s Writer’s Lounge blog.

June 26, 2011: Author interview at BlogCritics.org’s Books blog courtesy interviewer Nadine Earnshaw. It has also appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer! Yay!

A big thanks goes out to Positively Publishing Perspectives’ Julie Anne Dawson, who set up the stops between June 20-25, and to Nadine Earnshow for setting up the extra stop on June 26!

Progress on short novel

Well, aside from soliciting reviews, contacting book bloggers and such, I think the urge to get the next thing written and out is settling in again. I’ve made it about 4,000 words into my prequel short novel to EMBER, which I still haven’t decided on a title for, but the story structure is solid and the prose is flowing and that matters a lot.

Sure, it’s only maybe a day or a day-plus of progress so far, but new projects are always a bit sluggish at first and then pick up the pace once they start clicking. I’m pretty sure this story will start clicking soon.

The fun bit is that this isn’t going to be just a character sketch or an unsatisfying little side-story. There are unique characters and events being covered here, and while it will provide some background, context and subtext for EMBER, it feels like it’s going to stand on its own as a satisfying read, with a complete story arc: beginning, middle, and end.

I’m not always satisfied by some prequels; that’s why I’m working hard to write mine in a way that would leave the reader side of me satisfied. Hopefully, others will think so, too.

Coasting to the end

Well, I will admit a couple things.

First, when I set my goals for the second round of ROW80, I was extremely ambitious. And, not having ePublished before, I was probably a bit too ambitious. After all, I had, what, 12 goals? Yeah, that’s was probably overreaching. Naivete on my part.

Still, I’m feeling really good about what I’ve pulled off in the second round of ROW80. I’ve brought a manuscript to market! I’ve gone from “aspiring writer” to “Author of…” and that’s no small task.

Let’s check back in with my (scaled down to 10) goals:

DONE 01) Complete revisions of MOST LIKELY….

DONE 02) Send MOST LIKELY… to my group of beta-readers and request a one-week turnaround.

DONE 03) Revise MOST LIKELY… based on beta-readers’ feedback.

DONE 04) Send MOST LIKELY… to editor.

DONE 05) Final preparations on MOST LIKELY…

DONE 06) Publish MOST LIKELY… to Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Smashwords.

The rest of my goals, I’ll probably not finish before ROW80 is over, but they were good goals nevertheless.

IN PROGRESS 07) Write next project … a short novel.

This has become the prequel to EMBER that will run 20,000 to 30,000 words and sell at $0.99, as an introduction to the series. It’s also a fun adventure that will be a great, complete story all by itself. I’m not as far along as I’d like to be, but you know what? With all the publicity I’m doing, I’m OK with how I’ve been spending my time. So far.

WON’T COMPLETE THIS SESSION 08) Revise short novel and send to betas.

WON’T COMPLETE THIS SESSION 09) Write second short novel or my theological book project.

The above goals I just won’t have time to accomplish this round. Similar goals will be part of my participation in Round 3, though.

IN PROGRESS 10) On writing days (as opposed to revision days) average 4,000 new words per day.

I’ve actually revised this down to 3,000 words a day, a more realistic goal. But I haven’t had many writing days lately. That should improve soon, though.

Lots of publicity coming up…

Hey all.

I’m finding out that a big part of being published is the publicity you have to generate to get sales off the ground. As much as I want to focus on writing, the demands of PR are equally important and must be done.

For example, I have a blog tour set up for mid-to-late June that I announced earlier today, thanks to Positive Publishing Perspectives. I am also exploring the possibility of a longer, second tour through another venue, though nothing is official just yet, so I can’t talk about it.

All of this is great fun, but a lot of work. And work takes time.

I have the EMBER PREQUEL in the works, though, and I’m liking how it’s developing. But I’m not that deep in yet, maybe a couple thousand words.

But be sure to check out my MOST LIKELY page here on the site, because I’m going to start tracking all the publicity for MOST LIKELY there, so that people who want to check it out, can.

New interview with me at 1st Author Interviews!

There is a brand new, very nice interview with me up at the new author blog, 1st Author Interviews. It’s a terrific interview site and features chats with plenty of other terrific indie authors, as well.

Show them your support by dropping by and browsing all their fascinating interviews. Then show some indie love by snapping up a few books from indie authors … and if one of those is MOST LIKELY, that’d be terrific, too!

MOST LIKELY Summer 2011 Blog Tour!

Thanks to Julie Ann Dawson of Positive Publishing Perspectives, I’m pleased to announce that later this month, I will be taking part in a five-stop book tour in support of MOST LIKELY, my recently-released young adult novel available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Here is the tentative schedule, which begins June 20 and runs through June 24. Be sure to join me for the entire week of MOST LIKELY fun!

June 20, 2011: I’ll be doing a guest-post on T.L. Haddix’s blog.

June 21, 2011: Ten Random Facts feature at Bards and Sages.

June 22, 2011: Book excerpt at Speak Without Interruption.

June 23, 2011: Guest post on indie publishing at Prissy Fit.

June 24, 2011: Author interview at Jerry’s Writing Corner.

June 26, 2011: Author interview at BlogCritics.org’s Books blog courtesy interviewer Nadine Earnshaw.

It’s going to be a fun tour, and be sure to check back here for any last-minute changes. Join us for the entire week!

Progress on many fronts

Well, folks, for this mid-week check in, I’ve been making progress on many fronts.

As May closed out, I sold my fifth copy of MOST LIKELY on Amazon… just enough to get paid for May. Not bad for a book that was released only eight days and with very little PR. I also sold one copy on Nook and gave away five copies on Smashwords.

So I’m hoping June will be even better. Naturally. And to that end, I’ve been generating some PR that is going to slowly build over the next couple months. I’ve already had a couple opportunities pop up, in fact. The Aussie book blog Indie eBooks featured an interview and excerpt with me on Wednesday, and has been generating a lot of traffic. The site owner, Nadine, is peachy; a very pleasant host and easy to work with. I sponsored her site for June 1.

A day earlier, I was featured on the exciting new book blog, Indie Snippets as well. And the host of that site, Bryan Dennis, is a helpful and enthusiastic sort, as well. Check him out!

I am also working a little every day on lining up book bloggers, who are the lifeblood of us indie authors, in terms of connecting us with readers. Those opps will unfold over the next couple months, so hopefully the momentum will be going up from here as things roll out.

In the meantime, on the writing front, I finally have a handle on my Ember prequel and have begun writing it. Not a ton of progress in terms of words yet, but I have my characters figured out. I’m writing it from a different perspective than the novel, to give it its own voice and character. Hopefully people will like it; it’ll run between 20K to 30K words and be a nice $0.99 intro to the series!

Nice interview of me up at Aussie site Indie eBooks!

Hey all!

Just wanted those who are following me to know that there’s a pleasant interview with me, featuring an excerpt from MOST LIKELY, up at the Australian book blog site, Indie eBooks.

The site host also invited me to be the site’s sponsor for today, an opportunity I gladly accepted. So surf on over and take a look; and don’t be afraid to check out the rest of this pleasant book lover’s site.

And of course, if you haven’t yet, be sure to pick up your own copy of MOST LIKELY at the eTailer of your choice, whether that’s Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords. Thanks!

MOST LIKELY giveaway winners!

Well, we had a few copies go unclaimed, but we’ve brought out first Book Giveaway to an end. Below is a list of winners.

If anyone believes their name belongs here as a winner and I’ve overlooked you, please let me know. I’ll make sure to get you a copy. But as far as my records go, this is the list I have.

Thanks to all who entered and enjoy your copy of MOST LIKELY, which will be coming to you via email shortly!

Krissie
Kayla Smith
Denise
Suzanne
Debbie Griffith