Editing Time
As planned, I started editing Next Time yesterday. This is the final edit before I put it into print. It’s not the last time I’ll read it, though, since I’ll go through it closely when I get the proofs. I know I’m biased when I say this, but dang, it’s a good book. As I’ve said before, I’m not exactly sure where the inspiration came from for this book. All I know is that I woke up in the early morning hours while recovering from jet lag after our trip to Ireland in October 2022. The concept for Miriam’s odd time travel popped into my head and a book was born. It certainly doesn’t happen that way with every book. It’ll probably take the better part of next week to finish my final pass and start getting the publishing process started. I’m excited for this one to get out into the world.
Library
Back in October I took a couple of copies of First to the local library. They have a form on their website for local authors to complete and donate books. We have two branches in our library system, so I took one for each. When I dropped them off, the lady at the reception desk didn’t seem overly enthused. Maybe “enthusiasm” isn’t a requirement in the job description. Well, lo and behold, I received an email last week that my books have been added to the local authors section and are available for check-out. I’ve loved going to the library since I was a wee lad and having one of my books actually in a library is amazingly cool. My plan is to stop by and get a picture to share on social media.
Almost
It’s almost that time. The time where I make one more pass through Next Time in final preparation for publishing. I've been thinking February 1st is the time to kick off that effort, which means putting on hold the current novel I’m writing. The timing kind of stinks since I’ve been getting into a rhythm with the story, but in order for the new book to come out this spring I need to get it in the pipeline. That means an 8-10 week lead time once I start the publishing process. So, if I set the wheels in motion by mid-February, that puts the release date in late April or early May, depending on how much back-and-forth there is with the proofs. One thing I’m curious about: the cover. With First I had a concept for the book cover and gave prompts to the publisher, and they came through with an awesome rendering. With Next Time I have no idea what the cover should look like. I guess I’ll know it when I see it.
Would Of
This is one of those posts lamenting the state of language usage, in this case English. I don’t know why this popped into my head the other night, but it bothered me enough to write about it. Look, I don’t claim to be perfect in grammar, word usage, or even spelling. I do, however, have plenty of pet peeves. Welcome to my world.
One that bothers me more than it should is when people use the phrase “would of.” This shows up in memes where the author maybe doesn’t know any better. For example, “If I would of known then what I know now…” No, what you meant to say was, “If I would’ve known then…” Would’ve is a contraction for “would have” and whoever uses the phrase “would of” is guilty of translating the spoken word incorrectly into the written form. People should know better, dammit.
Still Writing
How’s that new book going that I’ve been writing and hope to make into a series? Great question and I’m glad you asked. With vacation and book promotion for First it’s been somewhat slow going. I’m well over 20k words now, though, and that’s a good sign. I’m still hoping for that extra dash of seasoning to make it special, but at this point I’ve decided to write out the basic story of the book and see what happens in the end. I already know there are some things I’ll need to add in, such as arcs and hints of arcs, that’ll play out over the course of the series. I have some of those elements started but there’s more to be done. I have a feeling the book is still going to come to be in fits and starts, especially since I want to publish Next Time this spring and that will distract me from writing. Nevertheless, it’s coming along and I’ll keep you updated on progress.
Clicks to Sales
I wrote a couple of posts ago about CTR, or Click-through Rate. Since clicks don’t necessarily equate to sales, I’m now trying to figure out the reporting of sales and correlating that to the ads I’ve been running. The report I can view on the publisher’s web site shows ‘Reported Sales Date’, which I take to be the sales for a particular week on a particular platform. Makes sense. If that’s the case then the clicks to sales ratio over the last several weeks is pretty low. Not really a surprise, since the CTR itself is low. It does make me wonder, though, about whether I need to change some things on the descriptions that people see on the pages where they can purchase it (Amazon, Apple, etc.) or if it’s a price thing. Right now the eBook is $1.99 USD. Sometimes people don’t want to spend the extra dollar for an unknown book and author. Heck, I’ve done that before. In which case maybe next month I lower the price to 99 cents USD and see how things go.
Ad Changes
One of the nice things I’ve found about advertising through BookBub is the ability to change ads quickly. For example, I created an ad for First a couple of days ago about getting out of the cold and going to Proxima Centauri to warm up. Seems timely since most of North America is in a cold snap. The background was kind of white-ish, like snow or ice. After a couple of days I thought I’d try a variation, so I updated the background to a very light blue with a left-to-right gradient where it fades to white. Again, a nod toward cold and frost. I paused the previous ad and went live with the new one in about two minutes. This way I can see which ad is more effective at getting clicks. Sometimes technology is actually pretty cool.
CTR
CTR in the online advertising business means Click-Through Rate. That’s what I’ve been tracking with the ads I set up on BookBub and it’s also how they charge you. As an advertiser I set a daily budget and bid on how much I’m willing to pay for each click the ad receives. It’s interesting to track the life of an ad. I came up with a pretty good one that I’ve been running for a few weeks now. The impressions (or views) of the ad have gone down over time, but the CTR has trended higher. Compared to some days earlier in the campaign, I’m getting the same number of clicks on a quarter of the impressions. And as I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m getting hits from platforms and countries outside the US Amazon bubble, which is pretty cool to see. Canada seems to be enamored of clicking on the ad this week, so let’s see how much of that translates into sales.
EMD
One of the things I did intentionally in First was to focus on the characters and not the science. As I mentioned in the afterword to the book, I’m not a scientist. The electromagnetic drive, or EMD, used by SpaceFirst was purposefully crafted by me to get a person from one point to another almost instantaneously. This negated the need to rocket out of Earth’s gravity well, endure a journey of unknown duration, and supply the spaceship with the necessary fuel and supplies for said journey.
I realize that approach might rub some people the wrong way. One of the reviews I received knocked the story for using such a concept, likening it to the transporter from Star Trek. The EMD and how it functions in the book does seem a tad too easy. But I didn’t completely make it up…
I read an article before I wrote First that triggered my imagination. It’s titled, “Electromagentism is a property of spacetime itself, study finds.” To be fair, I don’t understand more than half of what the authors say. But I did catch enough to give me some ideas on how an EMD could fit its way into my story. Did I overly simplify things? You bet I did. Would the bits and pieces I took from that study cause a scientist to sneer at me in derision? More than likely.
That said, it’s called science fiction for a reason. I know there are purists who want everything to fit within the laws of physics and reality as we understand them. That’s fine. Those people probably won’t like my concept of the EMD and how I cherry-picked things out of that study. But if you’re okay with my approach then please enjoy.
Travel
Seems like the first few decades of my life I pretty much stayed in my little bubble of the American Southwest. We didn’t have much money for travel with my parents raising four kids on a schoolteacher’s salary. In my late teens we ventured further afield, all the way up to Colorado and across the Great Plains to Iowa, then down the Mississippi to Louisiana. I finally reached the East Coast a few years later for a college roommate’s wedding. I didn’t make it to the West Coast until I was in my mid-30s.
Why am I taking this trip down Travel Lane? Because traveling has affected my writing. In more recent times I’ve been able to venture further abroad, seeing the world from a different perspective. Having a vivid imagination always helped me understand there’s more to the world than my little part of it but seeing it in person made it real and not just theoretical. I’ve taken places I’ve been and incorporated them into my writing, such as Prague and Dublin in Assignment Day, and Boston in Next Time. I wonder if I tended toward writing science fiction because space is unknown and I could write whatever I wanted in whatever setting, whereas stories set on Earth are tougher to write if you haven’t been to the place you’re writing about. Tougher, but not impossible. Especially these days with Google Maps and a wealth of information. Beyond the benefits to writing, travel is fun. Five stars, would highly recommend.
Reading
So what have I been reading lately? Glad you asked. I just finished the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. It consisted of 11 books, one of which was unfinished. For those who’ve never heard of Hornblower, he’s a sailor in the British Navy during the early 1800s and the Napoleonic Wars. He starts as a very young midshipman and through the course of the books he advances to Admiral. I don’t think that last part is a spoiler, since after all, the title of the last book in the series is Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. Anyway, he rises in rank and renown due to his bravery in battle as well as sharp mind. The world of sailing, before steam power came along to propel ships, reliant on the wind and all the various terms for the sails and rigging is starkly different from modern times. And it’s fascinating. Forester draws a complex character who suffers from doubt, self-loathing, seasickness, and infidelity. Hornblower was more nuanced than I expected, but I shouldn’t have been surprised; after all, the series is popular and held my interest for almost a dozen volumes. Published from 1937 to 1962, I can see why the character would have influenced a young Gene Roddenberry when he created Captain James T. Kirk. I must have talked highly enough about the books since now The Wife is making her way through the series.
2024
Welcome to the new year! It’s all bright and shiny and still has that new year smell. We haven’t had a chance to smudge it or break something yet, but it’s an election year in the US. Things are going to get stupid.
Anyway, since I looked back on 2023 in my last post it seems appropriate to look ahead to my goals in 2024. Just like last year, I’ve already created a document to gather these together, and in no particular order, here they are:
Publish Next Time
Promote Next Time and First
Do a featured advertising deal with First
Do a new release advertising deal with Next Time
Finish writing the first book in the new series
Write the second book in the new series
Publish the first book in the new series
Set a publishing date for Assignment Day
Get a total of 500 reviews for all the published books across all sites where sold
Be a guest on at least three podcasts
Pretty ambitious, huh? At least that’s how it seems to me. Looks like 2024 is going to be busy. Better get started.
2023
It’s the end of the year and time to take a look back at what happened in 2023 versus what I’d planned. Believe it or not, I was actually smart enough to create a doc titled “2023 Goals” and that made it a bit easier to find. Here they are:
1. Publish two books
2. Edit two books and get in shape for publishing
3. Write one book
4. Market published books
a. Add content to author's website regularly
b. Add content to Amazon author's page
c. Update Twitter and Facebook as needed
5. Be a guest on at least one podcast
6. Get 100 reviews on Amazon and other sites where the books are sold
So how did I do? I only published one book in 2023 (#1), mainly because I decided doing two in quick succession was crazy. And it wouldn’t give the first book time to breathe, as it were. I did accomplish #2, with Next Time and Assignment Day ready to publish. I missed the mark on #3, having started writing several books but not completing any of them. That includes a couple of concepts for sequels to First as well as the first book of a new series. I should be able to get the latter done in short order. I totally did #4 and made it even better with content on LinkedIn, which I’m pretty sure got more reactions and sales than the other social media sites I tried. Also, glad to say I exceeded the goal in #5 by being on TWO podcasts. The last one in the list was one where I fell way short, with 12 reviews on Amazon as of this writing. It’s tough to get reviews, but I’ve been told 12 is actually a good number for a book that’s been out only a couple of months.
All in all, a very good year even if I missed a few of the goals. It was marked by the publication of First in October and I’m proud I got it out the door and into the hands of readers around the world. To those who bought my book, left reviews, told your friends, and generally supported me, I want to say thank you. Thank you for a great year and looking forward to what 2024 has to offer.
Interview
I did another podcast interview yesterday, this one for The Author’s Spot. Not sure yet if it’ll be out next week or in their new Season 4 lineup. I had a great conversation with Mr. Robinson and am looking forward to hearing it in its entirety. It was a nice way to round out the year and helps me realize there’s a lot more to do in the new one. Mr. Robinson asked me an interesting question about writing in a linear fashion, although that might not be the exact words he used. He picked up on my comments about writing a series of three related books, then First and following it up with two unrelated books, but still with the idea in the back of my mind of a sequel to First. His question revolved more around creating a universe or story and continuing to write in that realm. For the first three books I wrote, I had a story to tell that I knew would take longer than one book. Since then, I tend to write what piques my interest at any certain point. I have two sequels to First started, but I mainly did that to get thoughts down on paper. Will they become full-blown books? We’ll see.
Year
It’s crazy to think I’ve had this website and been writing this blog for about a year now. It’s also crazy to think about how I started out writing a blog post every weekday. That seems a little excessive now that I look back on it. I’m not ready to do a retrospective on the year yet, but it’s interesting to see how things developed over the course of twelve months. It makes me think about lessons learned and how I can take those learnings and do things better or differently in 2024. One thing I can think of already when it comes to writing is focusing on a particular book to write. I have thoughts (and several chapters written) for at least three books but I need to pick one and complete the draft. I’ve been distracted by publishing First and all the follow-up efforts. Not a bad thing, just something I need to figure out for the new year.
Ad Variety
I’m trying different ads and formats on BookBub to see what works. The site tracks impressions and CTR (click-through rate), showing what percentage of people who see the ad click on it. It’s interesting to see what’s going well and what doesn’t. For example, I have one version of the ad that has done fairly well and another I tried yesterday that has produced no clicks so far. Fortunately, they encourage you to experiment and see what produces results. Lord knows I’m not a marketing expert so this is somewhat of a painful process. At least they make it easy.
Promos
Upcoming promotions will be for last-minute gifts and post-Christmas to people who received gift cards. We’re in the home stretch for the holidays but as I’ve noted previously, a lot of book sales happen after the holidays. It makes sense as people look for ways to spend funds they unwrapped on Christmas day. What better way to spend money than on books?
Next Year
Hard to believe but it’s time to start planning next year’s activities. I know up front a few things I’d like to accomplish. I’m already in the queue for a podcast, I’m going to publish Next Time, and I want to finish and publish at least the first two books in a series I can roll out to Kindle Unlimited and keep going for several years. I’d also like to write the sequel to First, but that might be a bit of a stretch while publishing other books. I’d also like to figure out how to advertise more effectively, but wouldn’t we all? I have a few weeks still before the end of this year to accomplish some things and plan out 2024 in more detail. It’s been a good year and I have a lot do in the new one.
New Ad
The ad I used for BookBub started off decently, getting a few dozen clicks over several days, but seemed to lose momentum. I created a new version of the ad, using the free version of Canva so I could be a little more creative than the built-in ad generator of BookBub, and lo and behold! It went live yesterday and I’m already seeing a lot more clicks on it. Interestingly, it seems a good number of them are in the UK. By the way, it took me a day to come up with the ad copy that I thought worked, and looks like persistence paid off to some degree.
BookBub is an online bookstore for eBooks with quite a selection. For authors they do a lot of promotion with ads and featured deals. I’m pondering the featured deals option since they project how many downloads or purchases you can get based on the price of your book. For SF they predict ~22k downloads if you make your book free to download. If it’s 99 cents (USD) then the usual range of buyers is from 100-4200. I’m pondering this for after the first of the year, but I don’t know yet which option I’d do. Both cost money on my part, of course, and the low number of that range in the latter option wouldn’t be worth it. The possibility of 20 thousand people reading my book is pretty cool, even if it’s for free. I’ll ponder this some more.