Tagged: EMBER PREQUEL

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…

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.

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.

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!

On to the next!

It’s been a busy second half of the week. I’ve been contacting book bloggers to solicit reviews of MOST LIKELY, and I’ve been organizing a 12-book giveaway to spread the word (and maybe earn a few reviews). In fact, the giveaway is still going on until just before midnight tonight, Central Daylight Time.

I’m happy to say that I have three confirmed sales on Amazon, as well as one confirmed sale on Barnes and Noble, so far. That’s a total of four books, which isn’t bad. Unfortunately, the first 72 hours the book was up, I got emails and messages from an additional four or five people saying they’d just bought the book on Amazon, but those sales never showed up.

I have KDP looking into whether their system messed up since I was a new author and it was my first book published. Other authors, some with several books, said that KDP was having trouble tracking sales during that three-day period, so it’s possible I’ve sold a few more than four. But at most, it’s probably only like eight or nine. Time will tell.

Anyway, I’m about to jump into two projects at once.

My next fiction project will be my prequel to EMBER, a short novel that takes place during the summer before the novel picks up. It’s becoming a fun concept in my mind, because it’s like a female version of THE BODY in some ways. Also, I’m going to start work on my theological-inspirational Messianic book, DATING THE MESSIAH. It’s a different type of writing so I’m confident I can juggle both projects without too much hassle.

And that’s where I’m at as of today!

Lots of busy-work

I’ve been dealing with lots of busy work the first part of this week.

For example, I took on a couple of eBook cover jobs (yay!), plus I did some spot-editing that’ll bring in some extra income (yay!), and I worked on a subcontractor assignment (yay!) that’ll lead to even more paying gigs. It’s all fun, but have I written anything new lately?

Not yet.

And the truth is, I could have. The only thing really holding me back is selecting what assignment I want to tackle next.

Do I go with the non-YA thriller short novel, Idea Warehouse, just because it’s a change of pace and loads of fun to write? Yes, as a project it holds a lot of appeal.

Do I go with my Ember prequel, which tells the tale of Ember’s summer adventure that took place before the first novel begins? It’s a short novel, too, and so would be a 99-cent entry into the series.

Do I go with Ember since that’s already about half-done and I should just forge ahead? I’ve been itching to get back to it.

Do I go out of fiction for a while and work on my first theological book, Dating The Messiah? I need to get that out before the year is out, anyway.

I also have a sermon and a Torah commentary to write within the next week, too, and that’s a priority.

What a wonder it is to be a full-time writer! I thought I’d be hard-up for things to do, and I’m busier than ever… even though my bank account isn’t necessarily proving it just yet. That’ll come in time, though.

One bit of great news: my editor told me she’d have MOST LIKELY back to me either today or tomorrow, which is awesome news. If all goes well, MOST LIKELY will at least be up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble by this time next week, if I apply myself this weekend! CreateSpace will take more time.

Thrilling times!

Solo check-in

Well, ROW80 might be on hiatus, but as a full-time writer (if I don’t write, we starve) I have to keep rolling on, except on the Sabbath. So since ROW80 ceased for a nice little respite, I thought I’d still do a check-in of sorts for those who keep an eye on me. (And thanks for the accountability, folks. It helps!)

When last I checked in, it was late Thursday night and I’d reached 40,592 words on MOST LIKELY…, a work that remains my sole focus for now. I haven’t had a ton of writing time since then, but here’s what I’ve accomplished.

On Friday, I put in a good day right up until 6 PM, when I stopped for the Sabbath. On Saturday night, after the Sabbath was over and after a pleasant date night with my wife, I felt over-tired and didn’t do anything. Zip, nada, nothing.

Today (Sunday), I got up and corrected/reviewed a couple papers for my wife. After that, I worked on MOST LIKELY… for a bit, then succumbed to stomach cramps and a case of the drowsies, so I napped most of the afternoon away, though I got a little more writing done after my wife woke me up to remind me we’d be taking Dad out soon. We took my Dad to Don Pablo’s for supper. Then I came back, spent time with my wife, and came into the “office” here to catch up on things in Kindleboards and get set for an evening writing session.

I haven’t started that just yet; I’m posting before I begin.

At the moment, MOST LIKELY… stands at 44,936 for a total of 4,344 words since Friday morning. I’m nearly done entering chapter 5. I want to at least get that much done before I hit the sheets tonight, so that all I have left is the 40-some pages that make up chapter 6, the final chapter of MOST LIKELY…

On Monday, I have a meeting and a check-up scheduled, so I won’t be around from about 2:30 PM to 8 PM. But that only loses me a couple hours, because I typically take a break from 4 or 5 PM through about 10 PM, so that I don’t neglect my family in the evenings.

All the same, my goal is to complete entering Chapter 6 of MOST LIKELY… no later than Wednesday, and preferably by Tuesday night. It’s about 40 pages, or roughly 15,000 words, give or take. Wednesday is for sure, barring the unforeseen. Tuesday is a hoped-for achievement.

Once the re-entering is done, I’ll move MOST LIKELY… from FocusWriter into MS Word and begin the revision process. Here are some of my priorities for the first round of revisions:

1) Break the six chapters up into smaller, more manageable chapters. Modern readers don’t like chapters that are longer than many short novels.

2) Relocate the novel from fictional River Bend, MN (an allegory to Mankato, MN, where I spent my college years) to Hope, WI (an allegory to Burnett and Polk County, WI, where I spent five years as a journalist). The fictional setting of Hope, WI, is where EMBER will also take place, as well as many other novels I am planning. This relocation goes beyond changing the name of the town, but includes recasting some minor roles, as well as changing some descriptive passages. (River Bend is more of a town set in a river valley sort of area… Hope is more of a deep woods setting.)

3) Be alert for passive voice overuse and revise as necessary.

4) Keep an eye out for formatting changes. (I use italics to indicate characters’ inner thoughts, but I foolishly set FocusWriter to .txt instead of .rtf, so none of that is present in the manuscript as-is.)

5) Also make sure I maintain “third-person close” perspective and don’t head-jump willy-nilly.

Those five items are the major tasks for the first-pass revision. Which may take more than one pass to accomplish. Once that’s done, I’ll either develop a list of second-pass priorities, or perhaps determine it’s ready to send out to betas.

Once I get MOST LIKELY… off to my beta readers, I’m going to go back to first-draft concerns, but not immediately to EMBER. I have a couple short novels I want to get out there because they’ll come together quickly.

One is an EMBER prequel. I’m seeing it as something that will add to the EMBER experience, and that I can offer for $0.99 because it’ll be a shorter adventure, about 10,000 to 25,000 words, but a full, complete, and satisfying story.

The other short novel I want to work on, at around the same length range, is a project that for now, I’m going to code-name IDEA WAREHOUSE. It’s a nice thriller-chiller that should please folks who kinda liked the subtle touch I brought to my short story (free for reading on this site), SHALL ARISE FIRST, which originally appeared on Amanda Hocking’s Web site for her Zombiepalooza event.

So the priority list is now: MOST LIKELY… typing and revision, IDEA WAREHOUSE and EMBER PREQUEL, then back to EMBER. Somewhere in there, MOST LIKELY… will come back from my betas, and I’ll go through more revisions before sending it off to my editor. Then final revisions and uploading.

With some good fortune (and swift beta-readers and editor) I hope to release MOST LIKELY… in April, as well as perhaps one of my short novels. Another short novel will follow in May, and then, with some hard work, maybe I’ll get the first full-length EMBER novel out in July as I originally hoped for.