Thank you for following me into 2020
on my new adventure of writing web novels and other published works. If you
would like to find out more about me and read my stories you can check out
https://illoria.wixsite.com/annamittower.
Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash
I’m launching my new serial web
novel adventure with “Anthology of Speculative Scribblings”, a collection of free
short stories ranging from fantasy to sci-fi and young adult to adult. There
will be one story released every month so check in on the 1st to see
what new story is being served up for your amusement.
My novels will be available to read
on Tapas, Wattpad and Webnovel as well as on my website. Paid novels are only
available through Patreon, though. I will keep a selection of both free and
paid novels releasing, however, so don't worry about having no new free content
to read! If you like my work, please consider becoming a patron to encourage my
effort (and you get a few bonuses outside of paid content access!).
After the writing, editing, layout and publishing in general is done, the sales begin. Hopefully, that is. But let's assume that you're selling a few here and there at least. But you're a self-published author without a sales or marketing department to keep track of your sales. What do you do so that you have a track record to show to literary agents, convincing them you're a best seller in the making? Why, you make best friends with that helpful tool known as Excel!
I’ve discovered that in general, authors are not numbers people. They
tend to have vague idea of sales and revenue earned. In fact, most
authors probably don’t scrutinize their royalty statements like they
should (with a few exceptions of course). And I get it. Authors are
creative folks. Math uses the other side of the brain. But if you are
digitally self-publishing, then you are your own publisher. And given
that, you should be generating your own royalty statements in an excel
spreadsheet. Here’s what you should track and why.
TO TRACK:
1) All Price Points – sales especially
2) All editions — including audio/shorter works
3) Copies given away for free
4) All distribution venues where editions are available
HUGE news today. If you're a YA or Sci-fi writer that is. And I've been quite excited because I fall squarely into one or both of those categories for my novels. Writer's Digest is currently running it's Lucky Agent contest and the focus this time is YA and Sci-fi. So, pop on over to read the rules and what to enter if you're interested. You've only got until the 31st to submit!
With links! And more links! And it's to the point where Firefox just doesn't want to load.I guess it just doesn't like having 40 or 50+ tabs open at one time.
Looks like a very interesting post will be appearing soon. I just got tagged in a game of 11 questions as part of the Platform Building Campaign. So, the main question is, will I post my answers today or Saturday? Hmm....I'm not sure yet.
And onto the links. (The fun links are at the bottom!)
Since I was lazy enough to forget to post on Sunday, I shall dump my writing update into this post instead. As you might have noticed, there's a shiny, new WIPs page *points up*. That should serve as an up to date list of all the projects I'm working on (even when I forget to post updates on Sundays).
I'm so close to the end on Novella #2 that I can smell it! Or rather smell the bad guy swooping in for one last attack.
The Story Within contest is still running and week 4's prompt is "Make a list of 10 things you know by heart and then write about the person who taught you those things". How vague can you get? In other words, I still haven't written my entry and it's due tomorrow.
Ok, ok. I know the schedule says that Saturdays are when I'd be posting in depth discussions on writing or some other topic related to writing. However, I don't have anything that comes to mind to discuss, so I'll link to you another blog which has an interesting discussion. And I've discovered so much juicy information these past few days that I had to share it. I've learned more about writers, writing and publishing in the past month on Twitter than I have in years previous. I think I made a good choice to dive in (even if Mom thinks I'm crazy [Yes, I do love you, Mom]).
Before the long discussion, another giveaway to report! Sophia Chang is giving away a book and a 25 page critique over at her blog to celebrate her blogaversary. Head on over to enter! (And tell her I sent you. ;) )
Another goodie. "The Story Within" (Penguin books) author Laura Oliver is judging a weekly contest based around writing prompts. Each week will have a different winner and the weekly winners will be entered in a drawing for the Grand Prize: a 2 hour consulting (critiquing?) session with Laura Oliver. So, put on your thinking caps and head over to Laura Oliver's site to read the prompt. Week one entries are due on the 18th! (It's only 250 words or less so I think it's perfectly possible.)
And now onto that writerly discussion post I mentioned in the first paragraph. I found it particularly enlightening. (Excerpt below.)
The Business Rusch: Why Not?
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
On TV’s most popular drama series, NCIS, the main character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, walks through the office, and if he hears a stupid statement, he slaps the speaker on the back of the head. Now, this is fiction, mind you. In any real office, military or not, he’d probably be fired, brought up on charges, or forced to have sensitivity training.
But that’s not my point.
My point is: I can relate.
I walk past writer after writer after writer, and as I hear what comes out of their mouths, I want to slap some sense into them. Because words don’t seem to be working.
Which is odd, considering that writers use words as their stock in trade.
The biggest problem writers have as a class isn’t that they work too cheaply, which I wrote about last week, or even that they don’t understand business, which I write about almost every week, but that they think too small.
Huh? you think to yourself as you read this. My last novel clocked in at 140,000 words. I invented an entire world. I don’t think small.
Oh, yes, you do. Every damn day. It’s the rare writer who actually has ambitions—real ambitions—and stands up for them. It’s the rare writer who not only dreams of glory (bestseller lists, millions of dollars, fame, lasting acclaim, or whatever) but actually works toward those dreams.
One last goodie. I must applaud these indie bookshop owners for all the time invested in creating this video and if I lived in Canada anywhere near them, I would be hopping in the car to visit. Enjoy!
