Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 14

Updates on What I’m Doing

I created a MeWe “The Indie Author Experience” group.

I noticed that MeWe doesn’t have a writing group that focuses on indie writing, publishing, and promotion. (If they do, I haven’t been able to find it over the past two years.) About half of the authors on that site seem to still want a traditional publisher or are brand new to writing. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wanted a group dedicated specifically to indies and the issues indie authors face. I finally broke down and created the group myself.

Here is the link.

I’m still on Facebook and in those writing groups, but MeWe needs a group for experienced indie authors. I don’t know if anyone reading this is on MeWe, you’re welcome to join if you want. One thing is that I don’t want this group to end up being a bunch of “buy my book” posts, so no self-promotion is allowed. This group is dedicated to topics that indie authors face in writing, publishing, and promotion.

I’m still uploading AI Audiobooks to Kobo.

I’m finally in the Nebraska Series in my book list. This puts me at about 49 books to go. When you have a big backlist, it takes time to go through these things when you are uploading files one chapter at a time. I’m only putting up my romances, except for the Virginia Series. The Virginia Series has some serious flaws, and I’m not comfortable with it. I probably will never rewrite those books because there are always new stories to tell, and I’d rather focus on the future than the past.

I have gotten a couple of new paperbacks up through Draft2Digital.

Since I have some paperback interior files on my hard drive, I can get to some paperbacks up before next year. Last week, I worked on getting the complete Wyoming Series up in paperback. I don’t know if I’ll get any more done this week. There’s a lot going on around here, and I do want to focus on writing my next books.

Which brings me to where I’m at with writing.

Midnight Wedding is halfway done!

I’m hoping to get to 30,000 words by the end of this week. There are some humorous moments in here, but yes, it does have that darkness to it. I’m figuring by this point in the story, you will figure out what that darkness is. I gave a heavy hint to it, but another big hint comes a bit later. I’ve already written a future scene for this book where the characters find a secret room in the manor. I got the idea for a secret room from a Fantasy Island episode I watched on Tubi. (These are the 1970s series episodes.) I had been debating how I would get from point A to point C in this book. In one of the episodes where the lady is trying to solve a murder, she stumbles upon a secret room. That’s when I got my answer, and now there is a secret room in this story. Now I can go from where things are right now in the story to where they need to end up.

The Earl’s Jilted Bride is almost at the halfway point.

I’m hoping to get 22,000 words into this by the end of the week. Remember how I decided to kill off the duke in this series because I had no interest in writing that story? Well, that duke’s death will serve a good purpose in this book. The duke was supposed to marry the heroine of this story, but neither one wanted the marriage. At the beginning of this book, the heroine receives a suicide note from the duke. As a result, she marries the hero. So far, everything has been going great, but you know, things can’t get too great or else there’s no plot. Every story needs conflict. The conflict in this story will come from the fact that the heroine is going to be accused of murdering the duke. She doesn’t realize she’s been accused yet, but the detective in question has already talked to her and the hero without them realizing his identity. It’ll be interesting to see how things develop after they do realize it.

Worth the Risk is halfway done.

This one isn’t going to be as long as my usual books. I should get just shy of 20,000 words in this one by the end of the week. I figure this will be about 40,000 words when all is said and done. My usual book is 60,000, or just under that. I don’t believe in extending a story to make it longer. However long it’s going to be is what it’ll be. Sagging middles are not for me. So anyway, I reached the halfway point. The hero is sickly but not at death’s door. I will never write the whole “hero falls in love and then dies” kind of story. I want to be happy when I finish a book, not depressed. The main conflict of this story is more psychological than anything else. It’s about fear vs. hope. Corin will not be happy to learn that Reuben has gotten married. That’s the tension in this story. While Reuben’s brother means well by protecting him from illnesses (and potential death), he has also prevented Reuben from getting the most he can out of life. Life is more than just surviving; life is about the moments that bring you the most joy. That is the message in this book.

Building Relationships with Readers

Today’s topic is not about making money. It’s about building relationships with readers. Building relationships with readers can lead to sales, but it’s not the focus of what you’re doing. So I wouldn’t go into this with the idea that you’ll make more money. The best way to make sales is to publish a new book, make the first book in a series free (especially if you’re in romance), or run ads. When you’re building relationships with readers, you’re building friendships. The friendships don’t have to be super close. They can be casual. But these relationships go beyond the “you’re an author and they’re a reader” stage. You’ll recognize them as soon as you see their name.

Here are some ideas on how you can find and build relationships with readers:

1. Be yourself.

I know this sounds simple, but this is the first step. You need to be who you really are. There’s no sense in trying to imitate someone else. I realize that some personality types have an easier time attracting people. There’s just something about them that makes you want to comment on their posts or email them. They have a strong appeal.

It’s not so easy for people who tend to be shy and awkward in personal situations to put ourselves out there. I am a huge introvert. It’s hard for me to communicate with people I don’t know that well. That’s why I take days (sometimes even weeks) to respond to blog posts and emails. I have to think about what I’m going to say. While writing a story comes easy, corresponding to people in real life doesn’t. I’m the person who will sit in the corner of a room and check the watch to see when I can go home. I’m not outgoing. Unless someone approaches me, I won’t talk to anyone. Over the years, I’ve learned how to be a great listener, but for the most part, I consider myself to be “boring”. There’s no real highs or lows in my life. It’s all pretty level, and “level” is not exciting to talk about. If you see yourself in this paragraph, you’re in the same boat I’m in. We need to be who we are, but we also need time to plan out what we’ll do. This makes going out and finding readers harder than it is for extrovert authors who can entertain people with their fun (and often humorous) posts.

If you’re the life the of the party in real life, finding readers probably comes easily to you. It’s a gift. Appreciate it because not all of us have it. Whether you are an extrovert or an introvert, you still should be who you are. In order to build real relationships with people, you have to be authentic.

As a final note: I realize authors are busy people, and some use assistants to communicate with readers. I, personally, do not like this. If you are looking to build a sincere relationship with your readers, you need to be the one communicating with them. Even if you take longer to get back to them, it’s better if you are the one who is doing it. Anyone who takes time out of their day to say good things about your book deserves your full attention.

2. Offer a book for free and add links to where people can find you.

To me, this is the easiest way to find readers. You are letting readers take the initiative. Remember what I said about being the person in the corner of the room? Well, in this online simulation of being in the corner of the room, having those links on where people can find you is an invitation for people to come over and talk to you. The free book in this case is not about selling your paid books. This free book is there in hopes that someone will love your work and contact you. That contact allows you the opportunity to build a relationship with them.

So add links at the beginning or end (or both) of the book for your email list, your social media account(s), and your blog/website. I would put in all the places where I’m available so that they can pick the method of contact that is most comfortable for them. Some people prefer emailing directly, but others prefer to leave a comment in social media or your blog.

3. Have a contact form on your blog and/or website.

The reason I prefer a form to writing out your email address is because there are a lot of spammers out there who will put you on a list without your permission. This contact form is a good way for people to reach out to you in private. Be warned, though, that not all emails will be pleasant. Most will be. But there will be those few from people who want to complain about your books. I just want you to be aware of that in case you haven’t dealt with this yet. You can ignore reviews on a retailer. You have to see whatever comes into your inbox. You should respond to all of the good comments, even if it’s just to thank the person because I feel it’s important to let the person who took the time to contact you that you appreciate them. Words of praise are the lifeblood of every author and should be acknowledged. Also, I would answer any question that comes in. However, if someone is rude, you are under no obligation to answer that person. You might even want to block them, depending on how rude that person is.

4. Be active on social media.

In another post, I said that if you want to maximize your money-making potential, then social media is a waste of time. But if your goal is to build relationships with readers, then social media is ideal. Social media is like a party where everyone is going from person to person to chat. Now, as a general rule of thumb, I don’t like to get political on social media because you might turn off a reader (or potential reader) who has a different point of view that you do. You don’t want to alienate people who are reading your books, especially when we’re in an atmosphere that is highly charged when it comes to politics. I know a lot of authors will disagree with me, but when you’re an author in the social media sphere, you are representing your books. Unless you write political books or fiction with a high level of political leanings in them, I don’t see how this will help your author brand.

That aside, I have some suggestions that I have found helpful in building relationships with readers in the past. First, I hate to say it, but MeWe still doesn’t hold a candle to Facebook. Facebook is like Amazon. It has the majority of readers. I don’t know if MeWe will ever catch on, but I have heard authors having success on Instagram and TikTok. I’m not on either of those. I’m not on Twitter, either, but when I was, I really didn’t see any use for it with fiction. Twitter seemed to work better for nonfiction authors. Maybe it’s because Twitter was a good way of sharing articles, and posting articles typically work better for nonfiction. I did do very well with building relationships when I was on Facebook as Ruth.

The one thing that worked really well was asking questions to people in my timeline. The key is to get people talking about themselves. Since this is social media, you don’t need to stick with a certain topic. Even though I wrote romance, I could ask other things like, “What is the strangest repair you ever had to do to your house?” or “If you could live in any time period, what would it be and why?” Then I would take the time to answer every single comment, and if that person mentioned something that sparked my interest, I would ask that person more questions. I ended up recognizing a lot of people by name, and better yet, I knew something about them afterwards. Sometimes these people and I would end up chatting on Facebook messenger. Other fun things was asking people to share a picture of something they loved or to share a gif that Facebook will let you post on how their day is going. There are many things you can do to get a conversation going, and a lot of these were fun.

Also, comment on other people’s timelines. You don’t have to reply to every post they make. Just comment on the ones that interest you. This way, you can reach out to them in a comfortable environment. You’re also returning a favor. They took the time to comment on your timeline. You can show your appreciation by commenting on theirs. Relationships work best when it’s give-and-take.

Another good thing were giveaways. Giveaways are horrible for making money, but they are wonderful ways to meet new people and to say “thank you” to your readers. I found that personal gifts meant more to people than a book or a gift card. These personal gifts took more time and effort, but they were worth it because I still remember the people who won those gifts. If I were to see their names, I’d know who they were, something about them, and what gift they won.

5. Your email list.

There are different ways you can do this one. I am so overwhelmed with all the things I have to do as a wife and mother while trying to take care of the writing and the publishing side of things. So I have opted to only send out an email when I have a new release out. But authors who see the most success from their email list usually do automated emails. I have no idea how to create these things. All of my emails have been manually done. That said, authors who say they see the most engagement with their readers say they will share stories from their personal lives, and they’ll share pictures of it. These don’t have to even relate to their books, but they can if you find the angle to it. One author who writes contemporary western romances said she runs a farm, and she’ll make an email about milking a cow or branding a cow, and she’ll share pictures. Another author I used to talk to said she would share recipes from what her characters made. Another author would just share funny stories about things that happened with her husband and kids. Some authors will share a story and ask if someone has anything similar to share. Some authors like to ask questions (like what I mentioned in the social media part of this post).

The key is to answer everyone who replies to the email. Authors who do more than email when a new book comes out do have a lot more engagement and a lot more subscribers. So I would say the more effort you put into this, the better your results will be. And that makes sense since that’s the way it is with everything.

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That’s all the ideas I have on this subject. If anyone has more ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Some Things an Author Does Will be a Waste of Time

There are a couple of problems that every author faces.

1. There are a lot of marketing strategies out there.

2. An author can’t predict which marketing strategy will pay off.

3. What works for one author might not work for another author.

4. While marketing, an author needs to devote time to writing the next book. The book is the best marketing strategy any author has because authors are in the business of selling books.

An assistant who knows what they’re doing will charge between $15-$20 an hour, and since they do know what they’re doing, they’re worth that price. The learning curve is steep in this business, regardless of whether you need someone to upload books for you, maintain ads, or work on your blog/website. Authors who can afford assistants are often more productive than those who can’t because they can focus their time on things they know will pay off.

But alas, we are in the real world, and a lot of us can’t afford an assistant to do the things that might not pay off. As a result, a lot of us will end up wasting our time at some point in our writing career. The only things we can do is hedge our bets and do those things which have the best chance of success.

So what do we do in a sea of uncertainty?

This is why it’s best to be as wide as you can with your books. You never know what will take off, and you never know when it’ll take off. You might be doing well on one retailer one month but do better on another retailer another month. One month, you’ll see a nice boost in sales on one book then another boost in sales on another book. One month, you won’t sell anything in paperbacks, and suddenly, you’ll see some sales in paperbacks. I had given up on paperback sales until I saw some money coming in at D2D on the paperbacks I put up over there a couple of months ago. People said AI audiobooks would never sell because people will only listen to human-narrated books, but I made a few bucks on those AI audiobooks on Google Play. Granted, paperbacks and audiobooks do not sell as well as ebooks, but they do sell. Every little bit you make will add up. At least when you already have the book done and out there, it stays there. Once in a while, I’ll get a comment from someone who just now found the books that I published in 2009 and 2010. The world is a big place, and there are a lot of people who have never seen your books, no matter how long they’ve been available.

I’ve been publishing since 2009, and it’s a roller coaster. If you think this business is going to be steady, you’re wrong. Anyone who tells you that you can expect your income to always go up either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or is lying. Sometimes income even goes down. You can do things to give you an advantage, but you aren’t guaranteed that those things will work.

That’s why some things you do will be a waste of time. It’s like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what will stick. If you can get something to stick, then you want to do it again to see if it’ll pay off. If it does, then you have something worth devoting more time into. If, however, it doesn’t stick, maybe you want to try it again, just to make sure. Sometimes what looks like a failure is just a delayed reward. It can be hard to know in this business. But if it’s still not sticking after a few tries, then it’s best to try something else. For example, I took a couple of weeks out of my schedule to make a Payhip store so I could sell ebooks directly to people. This has turned into a huge flop for me, even though it’s worked out great for other authors. I tried running different coupons, but nothing worked. Over the past two years, I saw one sale. That was it. Doing all of that work on Payhip was a waste of time. I keep the site up, though. I went through the trouble and work to put everything there. Maybe someday it will pay off. For now, it hasn’t. Another example, so far I have received 0 sales from the AI audiobooks I’m putting on Kobo. I’m only continuing to do it because I can upload the files while writing, but if I couldn’t write while uploading the files, I’d stop and move onto something else. I’m all for exploring your options because until you try something, you don’t know how things will pan out, but there has to be a time when you decide enough is enough.

Choose the things that interest you.

There are a ton of things you could be doing to get your books out into the world. It seems like every time you turn around, there’s a brand new marketing trend that sparks through the writing community like wildfire. Since you are limited on time, you need to pick which strategies you’re going to go with. I suggest you go with the ones that most interest you.

For example, I have no interest in podcasting. I’d rather share what I learned as an author through a blog. Writing is a lot easier for me than speaking. When I speak, the ideas just don’t come out as easily. I communicate faster and more effectively when I type things out. But other authors do very well by speaking their thoughts out. For them, speaking makes more sense than blogging. I’ll throw in another example. Some authors love running Amazon ads. Their favorite part of the day is checking on keywords and seeing how those keywords are doing on getting clicks. To me, this is a form of torture. But these authors would rather be checking on their ads than blogging like I am now.

Just because someone else has huge success in one area, it doesn’t mean you have to do it if it’s something you’re not interested in. If you can afford to hire out for stuff you don’t like, do it. If, however, you can’t afford it, there’s no sense in doing it. You have plenty of things out there that you can do. And let’s say what you pick does end up being a waste of time. At least you enjoyed what you were doing. Granted, you probably will want to quit that once you realize it’s not paying off. Just choose something else that interests you. Also, you don’t have to be tied into the same thing year after year. Let’s say you did enjoy doing something for a while but then lost interest in it. Let’s say you want to try something else. You can. The beauty of this business is that you can be flexible.

Moving Paperback Files to Draft2Digital

I don’t know how many authors read my blog posts, but a discussion came up yesterday in a writing group where the question was posed, “Which is the best place to publish paperbacks?” Hands down, I’d say Draft2Digital (D2D). The process is easy, the author copies are reasonably priced, the dashboard is nicely set up, and the paperbacks are good quality.

I started out publishing paperbacks before I got into ebooks. This was back in 2008 when CreateSpace was around in the US. Back then, CreateSpace was what D2D is now. Sadly, Amazon decided to drop CreateSpace, and now authors have to use the KDP dashboard in order to make paperbacks. I know they recently added a hardback option, but they can’t even get a paperback cover right, so what makes me believe they’ll make the hardback look good?

In the comments of the writing group I mentioned above, an author friend, who is more marketing savvy than I am, made a comment that convinced me it was time to get serious about moving my paperbacks from KDP to D2D. In a nutshell, she said she lost money in paperbacks using KDP’s Expanded Distribution option. I had noticed that since Amazon switched from CreateSpace to KDP that my paperback income plummeted. I was getting about $100/mo in CreateSpace, but once KDP got put into place, I’ve been lucky to make $20/mo. Considering I have more books out, that’s not good. I knew KDP had done something to put the nail in the coffin on my paperback sales, but I didn’t know what that nail was. Could KDP’s Expanded Distribution be the nail? I don’t have any proof to say it is, but considering how smart my author friend is, I have to consider it a real possibility.

All I know is that I am not happy with the quality of the paperbacks, and I am definitely not happy with the way Amazon bullies authors around. I understand there is no perfect retailer, but I’d rather put my time and attention into places that don’t jump on authors for the littlest thing. (If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you know I’ve been hassled by Amazon quite a bit to prove my copyright after I’ve done minor things like making a price change on my book.)

I like D2D a lot. The people running it are nice to authors. So I’m taking all of my paperbacks off of KDP and moving them to D2D. I did have an author ask me yesterday about making more money per sale on Amazon if the files were in KDP. Yes, it’s like anywhere else you choose not to go direct. If you use a distributor for your books, that distributor will take a percentage. That’s how the distributor makes money. Every retailer you upload directly to will take a percentage of the sale, too. I understand when you use a distributor, that distributor AND the retailer takes a cut from the sale. But sometimes it’s worth using the distributor to eliminate the hassle of being direct everywhere AND to have a good quality product. To me, the crappy quality of the paperbacks KDP produces just isn’t worth it. KDP is like a flip of the coin. Sometimes their printer does a good job, and sometimes it doesn’t. You don’t know what you’re going to get until the book is at your door. With D2D, I’ve never had a bad experience. With KDP, about 70% of the books were “off” in some way. If a reader buys one paperback that is poor in quality, chances are, they’ll decide not to buy any more paperbacks from the same author. They’ll assume all of the author’s books will look terrible. Considering how expensive paperbacks are, who can blame them for not wanting any more paperbacks?

Anyway, this morning I went into my KDP dashboard and unpublished over half of my paperbacks. (I plan to get to the others later.) It took a surprising amount of time to create my list, so I don’t forget which books to work on. I am going to start uploading files to D2D soon. This is going to take me a while to do. I have a few paperbacks already on D2D. But I have over 100 books out in all (when you count my Ruth books and my Barbara books). I believe I have about 80ish books to upload to D2D. I’m just going to take my time. When this project gets done, it gets done.

In the meantime, I’m still working through my catalogue to put my AI audiobooks up on Kobo, and I’m still writing the Marriage by Obligation Series. The writing is the priority, so my word count goals for the day gets done before anything else does. On some days, I’m unable to get around to anything but the writing.

The Books I’m Writing at the Moment

I’m happy to say my current works in progress are coming along better than I had expected. I thought I’d share what is going on with them.

First, I wanted to say this is the definitive order of the Marriage by Obligation Series:

I decided to drop The Duke’s Return, which was originally supposed to be Book 5 in this series, because I don’t have an interest in writing it. I realize some people will want a certain character in Secret Admirer to get his story, but there’s no plot idea that sparks my interest with him. I’ve had to say “no” to a few projects in the past because I didn’t find anything exciting enough to write about for a particular character. It just is what it is. I can’t force a story that isn’t there.

So anyway, this is the complete list of books for the Marriage by Obligation Series.

Now onto the stories themselves…

Midnight Wedding

I am 16,000 words in, and there’s already been an old bloody settee found in the attic. (This becomes important later in the story.) This story takes place at the heroine’s family estate, so the main characters are in a secluded environment. The main characters are the heroine, her two brothers, and the hero. There is only one servant available due to the heroine’s family’s financial ruin. Lord Quinton is the answer to their prayers. I thought he would be upset with being kidnapped and whisked off to marry the heroine, but he developed affections for her in Secret Admirer and is quite agreeable to the match, though he’s not all that excited they didn’t think to take any of his clothes with him when they kidnapped him.

I originally introduced Lord Quinton in The Cursed Earl. He’s the character who is obsessed with good and bad luck. I brought him back in Secret Admirer, which is due out March 2023, and he’s still convinced that he needs to tip the balance of luck in his favor. He is the right character for the gothic story I’ve been wanting to tell since 2020. So far, the humor is strong. But I already know what these characters are going to find in a remote area on the property, and the subject matter will turn dark. Something terrible did happen at this estate back in the 1600s, and these characters are about to uncover it.

I originally thought I should tone it down since this is a romance, and I know a lot of romance readers don’t like dark elements in their books. But then I decided this is my story, and if I want it done right, I need to do it this way. I have to write this for myself. If people don’t like the direction it goes, then they don’t have to read it. I’d say it’s going to be close to The Duke’s Secluded Bride. So if you are fine with that book, you’ll be okay with this one. But if that disturbed you, skip this one. That all said, there is still the humor that will help to lighten the mood. Lord Quinton’s reaction to things and the fact that the heroine’s older brother thinks Lord Quinton is the oddest person he’s ever met will help balance the darker elements.

The Earl’s Jilted Bride

I don’t know if anyone remembers that duke I was planning to get rid of who was supposed to come back. I wrote that post a while back. Anyway, my original idea for this series was to introduce the duke in Secret Admirer. He was betrothed to Lady Carol, but he resented being fixed up to marry her so he was supposed to run off. She was supposed to end up with someone else instead, who then would die, and when the duke returned, he was supposed to make things right. But honestly, I wasn’t feeling it. The plot felt stale and boring. So after taking time to figure things out, I went a different route. I decided to have news of the duke’s suicide come out at the end of Secret Admirer, thereby setting up the events for The Earl’s Jilted Bride.

In the suicide note, the duke makes it clear he is killing himself so he doesn’t have to marry Lady Carol. Lord Wright, who desperately needs a mother for his two-year-old daughter, jumps at the chance to marry her. Since she can’t imagine anyone else taking her, and since her guardian is threatening to run her to a convent, she accepts the marriage proposal. I introduce Lord Wright and Lady Carol in Secret Admirer, though they don’t meet each other until this book.

I’m only in Chapter 5, so there hasn’t been much build up to this story yet. What I know are two things: 1) Lord Wright is not the girl’s biological father, but to save the family from scandal, he hides this fact. 2) Carol is going to be accused of murdering the duke. The fact that she’s going to be accused of murder can go in many directions. I won’t know how the others in this story will respond until I write those scenes. The fun part of writing is not knowing what will happen until you’re writing it out. This drives plotters nuts, but it works for me. I want to be surprised. I don’t want to know how things will play out in advance. This is why when I read how predictable my books are, I’m thinking, “They weren’t predictable to me.” Except, perhaps, the predictable aspect stems from the fact that these are romances, and in romance, you are guaranteed the hero and heroine will work things out and have a happy ending. If that’s the case, then yes, my books are predictable, because even I know this element of the story going into it. But how I get from the beginning to the end is always up in the air to me.

Worth the Risk

Anyone remember Reuben St. George from It It Takes a Scandal? He was the kid brother of Corin St. George (Lord Durrant). In the story, he ran out to his estate because he thought Reuben was seriously ill. Anyway, Reuben is now an adult and ready for his own romance. I bring Reuben and Corin back in Secret Admirer, but the emphasis leans more heavily in Reuben’s direction since he is the hero of Book 4 in this series. In Secret Admirer, he meets Miss Amelia Carnel. Amelia is Lord Wright’s sister. Since Lord Wright’s book is The Earl’s Jilted Bride, I am able to bring Reuben and Amelia in for quite a few scenes that will set things up for the events that take place in Worth the Risk.

Worth the Risk starts with Reuben coming down with another illness that scared Corin enough where he demands that Reuben leave London and return to the estate. Reuben, used to taking orders from a brother 15 years his senior and reasoning that Amelia should have a husband who is healthier, heeds his brother’s wishes. He writes a missive to Amelia explaining why he’s leaving, adding that he wishes things could have been different between them. Well, Amelia is not the kind of lady who is just going to let true love walk out of her life, and so she and her brother follow him out to the estate.

This story is going to have a happy ending because it is a romance. My husband thought I was going to kill Reuben off because he’s sickly, but I’m not going to use that all-too-familiar trope because, quite frankly, that trope sucks. The reason I love romance is that it’s all about hope. Even thought Reuben is sickly, the lesson is that we can’t stop living out of fear that we might die. We have to enjoy life. It does no good to hole yourself up from other people. A meaningful relationship is worth the risk (hence the title of the story). Meaningful relationships are what makes living worth it.

Naturally, this will create some conflict between Reuben and Corin, but I’m not the far into the story yet. I’m only in Chapter 4. There’s still plenty of things that need to happen before Corin finds out that Amelia’s with Reuben. Of the three stories, this one will probably have the lightest tone, though it will not be a comedy. Midnight Wedding will have the comedic moments that will border on comedy. Worth the Risk is more of a tender and sweet romance.

Realistic Expectations For Publishing

I came across this video from Wide for the Win, and I thought it contained many good points, so I’m passing it along. In this blog post, I’m going to give my reaction to it.

First of all, I’m very happy that the focus is on being wide. There are so many videos that cater specifically to Amazon. While I think Amazon is an important place to be, I don’t like the idea of it being the only place I’m on. I’m a huge proponent of putting your eggs in multiple baskets because you never know when one of those baskets will come through for you. I’ve been publishing since 2009, and sometimes I’ll see an unexpected spike in sales on a retailer that wasn’t doing much for months, or even years. My guess is that a reader on that retailer liked my book and passed the information on to their friends who happen to buy from the same retailer, and this led to a domino effect. I mean, I run ads from time to time, but these spikes came when I wasn’t promoting anything. But who knows what caused those spikes? I have no idea. All I know is that it’s nice when those surprise spikes occur, and it’s why I like to look at videos that feature a wide mindset.

With that aside, let’s discuss the actual video:

Income

I learned that only up to 14% of authors make $35,000 or more a year from book sales. I was shocked by this. I knew that a majority of authors aren’t making a living with their book sales. Most have to supplement their income another way. But I thought 30% of authors were making a living from their writing. I didn’t expect that number to be as low as 14%. Also, I was surprised to learn that most books will make less than $500.

This just shows how much of a bubble the writing community is. We are surrounded with stories of authors making a living wherever we go. We rarely ever hear about authors who are struggling to get by. When I browse books, videos, and articles catered to the indie author, I mostly see stuff like, “How to Make a Six-Figure Income”, or the people mention making a living with their work. So I guess it’s no wonder we think most authors are making a living with their books.

Book sales aren’t stable

I know I’ve pointed this out over the years on this blog, but I think it’s worth repeating since they brought it up in the video. My book sales have pretty much been a roller coaster ride over the 13 years I’ve been doing this. I’m glad the people in the video pointed out that sometimes it’s the market that is responsible for the shift. The example they pointed to was 2020. Book sales spiked in that time because a lot of people were staying home. Now, in 2022, it’s dropped off, probably because people are going out more. Stuff that happens in the world can impact our sales. It’s a relief to know we can only do so much. I think we tend to blame ourselves too much when we don’t see sales. Sometimes it really isn’t our fault. (And for the record, my sales have dipped this year, too. So I noticed the downward trend.)

Also, they mentioned that book sales can spike due to a genre’s burst of popularity (like with the vampire craze when Twilight came out). Personally, this is why I think it’s important to write what you love. If you developed started writing books that focused on what is currently popular, you might build up a readership for that. And all is well and good until the overall excitement for that genre fizzles. What if you didn’t like that genre? What if you only wrote it to make money? There will still be readers for that genre, but the number of readers will be less than before. So you’re making less money. Will you still want to keep writing in that genre? It’s hard to write something you don’t enjoy for the long term. I know of authors who’ve cried because they felt trapped. So they were stuck with two options: either they had to keep pressing on with that genre (and be miserable), or they had to develop another genre and hope it took off.

Know the expectations of your genre

The “Book 1 in a series at free” is a great strategy for some genres (esp. romance), but it sucks for other genres. That is something I’ve noticed from talking with other authors. I’m glad they mentioned it in this video because it’s important for authors to know that just because a certain marketing strategy worked for someone else, it doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. When pricing, I’d look at what the books in my genre are priced at. Readers of certain genres expect certain prices, and some don’t trust free books.

Also, they point out that different covers appeal to different genre readers. That’s a simple marketing strategy you have full control over. Look at the covers in your genre and see which ones resonate most with the readers. I think the cover is the most important part of the book’s product page because we pick up on images faster than we do words. If we can grab someone with the cover, we can get them to read the description.

A third thing I got from this video is that you do need to meet the “story expectation” of readers in your genre. This is a harder one for those of us who write for passion to agree with, but it’s just the reality of the business. I’ll give an example from my life. Once upon a time, I joined a multi-author boxed set with other Regency authors. Those authors knew exactly what most Regency readers want, and they wrote books specifically for those readers. I, however, have gone my own way from what most Regency readers enjoy. I realize this, but I managed to get some readers who were happy with my books over the years, so I thought nothing of joining the other authors in this boxed set. These authors all sold way more than I ever did. I only got into this boxed set because the person organizing it was a personal friend. Anyway, I did read the reviews on this boxed set, and every time someone mentioned my book, they 1-starred it. The other books in the boxed set might sometimes get a low rating, but most of the time, those other books got high ratings. I was the only author who was told (over and over in the reviews) that my book sucked. Why? Because I failed to make my book compatible with the other books in the set. I didn’t meet the expectations of the fans that these other authors had acquired over the years. I was relieved when the boxed set came to an end because my book was such a bad fit, and to this day, I feel bad for even joining. I knew I wrote “different” from the Regency norm, but I didn’t realize “how” different I was. So if you’re going to go with passion, it’s going to be harder to fit in because you probably won’t meet genre expectations.

Before I leave this topic, I want to point out something I especially liked in this video. It’s important to listen to your readers instead of other authors. Your readers are better equipped to tell you what works best for you. The example in the video had to do with covers, but I think you can listen to your readers about anything. Authors mean well, but they aren’t the ones who are reading your books. If authors are telling you one thing, but your readers are telling you another, it’s best to go with your readers’ advice.

Link to multiple retailers

This one is important if you’re wide, but so many authors don’t do it. I don’t know why. Okay. I understand why if the retailer is a small place that is not easy to find, like Thalia. (I’m in the US, and I don’t even know what country/countries that is based in.) But Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Google Play, and Scribd are big enough where you can do an internet search and easily find your book. If you upload through Draft2Digital, you can use their Books2Read link to send people to the retailer they prefer. I like listing the retailers out so that readers know I’m on different place. If they know one of my books is on Scribd, for example, they might search for other books I have other there. So why not make them aware you’re on more than Amazon if you’re wide? It could mean an unexpected spike in sales in the future.

To close

There were a lot of good tips in here. I couldn’t list them all. I think the video is worth watching. If anything, it should set your mind at ease that you’re actually doing things right.

What I’m Doing

I’m happy to say that I’m finally done uploading my stories to Radish!

That was a project I thought was never going to get done. I just finished last night. I did hold off on two stories because I have a plan to price one of those books differently come January, and I’d rather have that price change go into effect before I put it on Radish. Otherwise, I’d have to contact someone at Radish to get the price change done. That’s an unnecessary step.

Now I have to go into my Book Catalogue and put in the Radish links on the stories that need them. While I’m at it, I plan to put in links for Scribd, too. I’m not sure when I’ll put the links in, but I’ll try to get them done before the end of this month.

I’m still working on getting the AI audiobooks up on Kobo.

I’ve been going in the chronological order that is on my book list, though I did break that to get the entire series in Husbands for the Larson Sisters because of Daisy’s Prince Charming which came out in July. I usually upload the audio files during the day when everyone is at school or at work. That way I don’t have to fight for a good internet connection. The audio files will time out if someone else is using up the internet.

To be honest, the process bothered me at first, but now that I’ve got a routine down, it’s okay. I’m tied to the computer during these hours that it takes to upload each book. It takes about 4-5 hours to get everything uploaded for one book if I keep at it, but during that time, I’m also doing laundry, cleaning a room, cooking, or doing something else around the house. I have also been doing some writing, which brings me to my next item on this “What I’m Doing” list.

I’m working on the Marriage by Obligation Series.

     

I already have the first book done, but I’m just started working on the next three books. These books are all considered “on hold”. I won’t go into a political discussion on this blog, but I’m not very optimistic about how things are going in the country. Because of how uncertain things are, I’m hesitant to make too much out of writing these books. I am going to proceed as if the economy will hold up enough to get these out, but if things take a serious plunge, I’m not going to publish these books. We’ll see how things are in January. At that time, I’ll decide whether to put these out there or just tuck them away.

I haven’t done anything with paperbacks.

Paperbacks are probably the most time consuming of all tasks, and I don’t enjoy working on them. What I want to do is give my paperbacks an overhaul. Amazon used to own CreateSpace, and back then, the quality was excellent. But then Amazon got rid of CreateSpace and required authors to use the KDP dashboard to make paperbacks. Not only did they do that, but now when you order these paperbacks, the quality is not that great. The trim along the cover is “off”, and sometimes the pages aren’t straight like they’re supposed to be. (This is even for the books I made long ago in CreateSpace.) Draft2Digital is what CreateSpace used to be. Also, I have changed some covers since publishing the older books, and I wouldn’t mind updating that, too.

But all of this, like anything else, is going to take time. The downside to starting out in publishing back in 2009 is that you didn’t have all of the things to look professional like you do now. Back then, it was hard to get pictures that featured people in historically appropriate clothes, and it was hard to get books looking like the traditional publishing houses’ books. You also didn’t have the ability to create audiobooks, and your choice of retailers were limited. In 2009, it was just Amazon and Smashwords. (Can you believe that?)

I’ve been doing what I can to keep up with the times, but it has been slow going in some areas. Paperbacks is one of them. Today when I publish a book, I can take care of the ebook, the audiobook, serial format, and the paperback at one time. Today I can get a cover that fits the time period to a T so I’m not stuck changing covers later. Today I can get it on all of the retailers at one time, too. For anyone starting out in this business right now, I understand why you’re overwhelmed. There is a lot involved in all of this. I would rather be catching up on this stuff with my older books than having to learn all of this with the first book.

I’m officially caught up on registering all of my books with the US Copyright Office.

This one was a full-long summer project. I hadn’t realized how many books I didn’t register. 2020’s restrictions and lockdowns put a hold on this task, so there was a list I had to do. I had 13 books I hadn’t submitted yet. Also, when I went through all of my US Copyright Registration forms, I realized I was missing three books from the pre-2020 era. I’m glad I found them so I could take care of them. You never know when a copyright issue is going to come up, and you never know what book is going to be targeted.

Worst and Best Strategies for Selling Books

Today I’m going to make a marketing blog post. We only have a finite amount of time to spend in a day, so if you’re looking at ways to use it productively to maximize your chance of making money, here are the tips I’ve learned over the years.

Waste of time #1: Social Media

Social media sites are about communicating with people. Ideally, these forms of communication don’t result in arguments, but a lot of people argue on these platforms. Personally, I feel like a lot of social media is toxic. As a general rule, I stay away from it as much as possible. I have seen no difference in my income after leaving Facebook or leaving Twitter. Joining MeWe hasn’t made any difference, nor has it made any difference when I stopped posting on my author page over there, either.

Now, keep in mind I’m talking about “sales” when I say social media is a waste of time. I’m not talking about spending time chatting with your friends, family, or readers. Social media can also be a good place to learn from others in your field. I use FB (under my pen name these days) and MeWe (under my real name) to keep in touch with friends and family. I don’t use these to sell books. Sadly, MeWe is lacking with a solid good writing community. I don’t know why, but it is. Most of the authors seem to be back in the 2010 mindset with publishing and marketing. If that’s where you’re at, then you’ll do fine over there, but if you’ve been at this for a few years, it’s not a good place to learn about stuff that is relevant for today’s market. FB is still the best place if you want to keep up-to-date on the current writing, publishing, and marketing trends.

I guess some authors run ads on these sites to boost visibility, but there are a couple of reasons I don’t think buying these ads is worth it. One, I’ve heard of authors getting their accounts hacked into at FB, leaving them vulnerable to thieves who can find their credit card information. Two, FB will turn down ads for whatever reason, and usually, they don’t explain why. Three, it’s dangerous to be dependent on a platform that can censor or send you to “jail” at any time for whatever reason. I realize that authors are vulnerable anyway since we can’t control retailers, but if you need to run those ads on FB in order to make most of your money, I highly encourage you to spread your marketing net wider to buffer yourself.

Waste of time #2: Wattpad

Wattpad readers aren’t buyers. They are there for free books. If all you want to do is share your work, then Wattpad is great. It’s an easy way to reach readers. But if you are thinking that a lot of people on Wattpad will read your free book and go on to buy your other books, think again. That’s not the way it plays out. While the people there are nice, they will message you about posting your other books, and they will message you a lot about this. They want all of your books, and they want it for free. That’s why this platform is a huge waste of time for anyone who is looking to make money from their work. I’m all for giving away a free book, but that strategy should result in you selling paid books.

Waste of time #3: Trying to convince someone who doesn’t read your genre to buy your book anyway

I don’t see this much, but sometimes I’ll see an author who decides to pitch their book to people who aren’t interested in the genre they’re writing in. I don’t care what the book is; it will not appeal to everyone. But some authors will pitch their books as if there’s a little of everything for everyone. For example, if someone is asking for a romance, they are looking for a story where the romance is the main plot, and they are looking for the happy ending. They are not looking for a story where two people meet, fall in love, and go their separate ways (or die). If the two people don’t end up together, it is a “love story”, not a “romance”. I can’t believe how many authors who’ve written love stories will try to convince romance readers to buy their book. Mentioning your book to someone when the story doesn’t fit what they’re looking for is a waste of time. You’d be better off mentioning a book that actually fits what that person is looking for. Also, it would be nice if you helped out another author by pitching their book if it fits what a person wants.

Waste of time #4: Giveaways to strangers

I think most people enter giveaways to get something for free. I realize the goal of giveaways is to reach new readers by giving them a risk-free chance on you, but after doing giveaways to random strangers, I don’t recall hearing from the winners ever again. One author I know gave away signed paperbacks of her entire series, and she later found that this person was selling these paperbacks on Ebay. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to run your giveaways to people who already like your books. These are the people who will appreciate the gift. If you want to give away books to strangers, make your ebook free on the retailers. Regarding the gift card or physical gift giveaway, I still think it’s best to offer that to your current readership. The people who should be your focus are those who already like your work.

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Best use of time #1: Write the next book

The best way to make money is with a new book. You can’t sell something you don’t have. Writing the next book is the priority, so long as your head is in the game and you can get words on paper. You do need to be in the right mindset to write a book. The words don’t automatically come to you, and while people say it’s better to have a crappy first draft than no draft at all, I disagree. I think it’s best to have a good first draft. The better your first draft is, the less pain and aggravation you’ll have to go through in cleaning it up. So don’t force something if it’s not coming. You want your book to please your readers. (No book will please everyone, but those people who already enjoy your work should like the next book you publish.) If you need to take a step back and do something else, that’s fine. But if you have the creative spark flowing, and you have the time to write, the best use of your time is writing the next book.

Best use of time #2: Get your book into a new format or on a new retailer

I think it’s always good to expand your reach if you can. When you’re exclusive, you’re cutting off potential sources of income. Granted, all sources of income are not created equally. You’ll probably make more selling books on one retailer rather than another. You’ll probably also sell more in one format (ebook, paperback, audio, serial) than you will in another format. But the thing is, you never know what venue a potential reader will prefer. I’ll give an example from something that just happened to me as a reader. Now that my eyes are struggling, I am not a paperback, ebook, or serial app reader. I need to listen to books. I have switched from listening to books on my Kindle to listening to books on my Google Play app that’s on my iPhone because my iPhone is small enough to slip into my pocket while I go out for a walk. There are readers like me who have a narrow option for consuming books. If you’re not in audio on Google Play, I probably won’t read your books. Who knows what someone else is going through out there? When you take the time to get your books in multiple formats and on different retailers, you are giving more readers out there a chance to read your books.

Depending on how many books you have, this can be a long process. Not everyone can afford an assistant to do this stuff for them. But let’s say you’re having a dry spell with your writing, or let’s say you just finished a book and need a break. Why not take this time to work on getting your book into a new format or up on another retailer? It’s still a productive use of your time.

Best use of time #3: Answer your blog comments

I’m surprised by how many authors don’t do this. I realize we’re busy people, but I think it’s good to comment when someone takes time to say something nice. I don’t believe in responding to nasty comments. Nasty comments should get trashed. Then the commenter should be blocked. You wouldn’t let someone into your home who wants to tell you how terrible you are. So there’s no reason to do that on your blog. If people want to complain about your books, they can do that in a review or on their own social media timeline or on their own blog/website. You are under no obligation to entertain these people on your home turf.

But if someone has a supportive comment or even a genuine question, it’s always best to answer them. Even if it takes you a week or two to get to them, do it. I understand what it’s like to be unable to get to the computer every day. Not everyone is tied to the internet. So don’t feel like if you were unable to answer the comment within a day or two that it’s not worth answering at all. It is worth answering because those people took the time to communicate to you. If the same people comment, after a while, you’ll get to know them, and when you get to know them, you might end up befriending them. There are a lot of nice people out there.

Best use of time #4: Ads

I’m all for ads as long as you can afford them. My favorite ad site is Freebooksy. They reach out to multiple retailers, and for someone who is wide, that is important. I’ve never been approved for a Bookbub, but I hear that one is pretty good, though some authors are reporting less success than they had in the past. Fussy Librarian and Booksends have a good reputation, too, though their reach is less than Freebooksy or Bookbub. I’ve also done some promos on LitRing. Also, LitRing is a way you can get promoted on social media without spending time there.

I haven’t done the pay-per-click ads. It sounds like you have to continually monitor keywords to view the effectiveness of these on Amazon and Bookbub. From what I’ve heard, the most successful ones are at Amazon. One author ran them on her KU and non-KU books and noticed that the clicks were better on the KU books. Do KU books do better with an Amazon ad? I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon gave KU books an extra boost.

Ads are a good way to reach strangers to your work. If you’re in a genre that moves a lot of free books on a regular basis (like romance does), then running ads on a free book (esp. if it’s the first book in a series) will give you the greatest bang for your buck.

Best use of time #5: Email list

I don’t believe you have to constantly email people on your list with tidbits about your book or your day like some authors do. If you’re an extrovert and love talking to people, you’ll probably want to set up an email list where you send something out every week or so. But I’m an introvert, and it takes a lot of energy for me to communicate with people, even if I know them. I prefer to only email when I have a new book out. I didn’t think this email list was beneficial to me until I got rid of it. I had a reader or two who didn’t read my blog or followed me on a retailer, so the only way they knew I had a book out was when I sent out the email. Lesson learned. I got the email list back. I don’t have a huge email list. My list is under 200 people. It’s not the amount of people you have on your list that matter; what matters is if those people are buying your books.

I don’t do much with the email I send out. It’s pretty much the book cover, the description, and links where people can find it. I used to offer a special epilogue, but I don’t have time to do those anymore. It really depends on your time. If you have the time to add something extra, I think that’s great. But the primary purpose is to let people know when you have a new book out, and this can be put together and sent out in under half an hour, which is great when you’re limited on time.

What I’ll Be Working On

First, I’ve decided to move the release month for Heiress of Misfortune.

It’ll now be out in January. I’d rather not publish anything so close to an election that is making a lot of people crazy here in the US. Books tend not to do well when published during a hectic time. December has always been a black hole month for me, so there’s no point it in doing it then, either. Probably because people need to focus on buying gifts for others. January has historically been better. I guess people are more relaxed and ready to read. Who knows? Anyway, that’s why I’m going with January as my new release month for this book.

I put Secret Admirer on hold.

I’m not convinced this is my “best” work, so I am tucking it away for now. I’ll be putting the other books in this series on hold, too. I haven’t written these other books yet.

I need time away from writing so I can focus on the other projects I’ve been behind on for the past year. This is why authors resort to ghostwriters or letting AI do the writing for them. The duties of an indie author can pile up to the point where an author feels like they’ll never get these other things done. If you get an author assistant, you need one who knows what they’re doing, and those will be pretty expensive. I don’t make enough to pay out for one who is qualified. I also don’t feel like training someone. So I’m just going to take the rest of the year to get to the non-writing related tasks that have been hanging over my head for a long time.

So here is what I’ll be doing:

1. I will finish putting my stories up on Radish. Believe it or not, separating books out into episodes takes up a decent amount of time. Sometimes I have to adjust the thumbnail images, too, or search for a new picture to fit the requirements over there.

2. I will finish putting AI audiobooks up on Kobo. This is the most time-consuming of all the tasks, and about 25% of the time, the file doesn’t “save”, so I have to log out of Kobo and then log back in to re-upload it. I have to upload this chapter by chapter for every book. It’s worth it when it’s done. I’m sure as other retailers open up to AI, I’ll have to upload books there, too. It would be nice if Findaway World would open this up, but so far they won’t. This is just like how ebooks were back before Smashwords came along. Of course, back then, the only option an author had was publishing the book on their site or with Amazon. I figure it’s a matter of time before Findaway, or a suitable alternative, will open the door to distributing AI audiobooks to multiple retailers. This ends up saving authors a lot of time.

3. I need to take inventory of what paperbacks I have and making new ones. I plan to start unpublishing paperbacks I have in my KDP (Amazon) dashboard. KDP’s quality has gone way down after they merged CreateSpace into their system. Draft2Digital (D2D) is way better. But it will take me a significant amount of time to create the full wraparound paperback covers for some books that need them. I’ll use the D2D templates for the others. Considering I have almost 100 books, this will be quite the project to go through. I’ll have to decide if some books are not worth redoing. It depends on how well each book has historically sold in paperback. It’ll take me some time to figure out that, too.

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So that’s the stuff I’ll be doing, and I’ll be surprised if I can finish these projects by December 31. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you have as many books as I do, it is. I think at last count, I have 96 romances done. I just went to my list to check. Yes, it’s 96. With Heiress of Misfortune, it’s 97. Fortunately, I’m mostly done with Radish. The other two projects are overwhelming, but I’ll just take it one day at a time. Eventually, I’ll get there.

What I’ve Been Up To

Mothering doesn’t stop just because kids are growing up

I haven’t been able to do much with edits on the books I already finished. I can only hope that now school has started that things will settle down, but who knows? I have two still in high school, one in college who works part-time, and another who works full-time. I honestly don’t know how anyone can afford to get a place of their own right out of high school with prices being the way they are. So I told my kids they can stay here and save up money so they don’t have to go into debt to be on their own. Anyway, this means I’m still busy with the kids. Even if they are in the 16-20 year range, they like to talk to me about their day and stuff that’s bothering them. I want to be available for that, so I will set aside things I’m doing to sit or walk with them.

Years ago, I was hoping to be close to my nieces and nephews and for my kids’ grandparents to be close to my kids. But life didn’t turn out that way. My parents died early on. My husband’s parents weren’t all that interested in spending time with my kids. As for nieces and nephews, that’s a whole other set of issues I don’t want to disclose in a public forum. But at least I can have a close relationship with my own children, and I’m taking advantage of it. I do what I can to encourage my kids to make decisions for themselves, so I see my role as a listener and a source of emotional support. As they get older, they’re not really “kids”. They’re kind of like friends but the dynamic is a bit different since I used to change their diapers. I’m not sure how to think of the relationship now that I’m not really in the role of doing things for them. I make an effort to encourage them to make their own decisions. This is why I let my youngest go to school instead of homeschooling him. I gave him the choice. I preferred homeschooling, but he’s old enough to choose what works best for him, and it’s my responsibility to honor that.

Haven’t got much editing done and haven’t written anything

My eyes are still giving me grief. That’s nothing new, but I can tell that my days of being able to sit at a computer and type or edit for hours is coming to a close. The more I’m on a computer (even with the Reticare screen), the worse things are for my eyes. My condition is dry eye, and all kinds of screens (computer, phone, iPad, etc) only makes things worse. I live on audio now. I listen to podcasts and AI audiobooks while doing household work or going out for walks. I have made it my goal to get into physical shape and eat better. I go for walks a lot these days. Sometimes I go with one of my kids. Sometimes I go alone. After struggling to lose weight for twenty years, I have finally managed to lose 38 pounds. That took a year to lose. Unlike some people, I lose weight slowly. I don’t miss carbs like I thought I would, though giving up chocolate candy and ice cream was hard. All the walking and diet change has made it so that my eyes aren’t all watery like they used to be, but I’m in no way able to do things at a computer like I used to. I think this is just an aging thing.

Dictation is out for me. I had thought about going back to it, but when I dictate, the program I speak into doesn’t get a lot of things right, such as spelling of words. It can take me about one hour to clean up a session of dictation, which is roughly half a chapter. And even then, I still have to edit the book when all is said and done before it’s ready for an editor to iron out consistency issues or typos. I gain no “off the computer” time from dictation. It only doubles my workload. What this means is that I have to slow down with editing and writing. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep going with this. But that’s okay. I’ve had a good run of this. I have completed over 100 books. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever be able to write that many books, nor did I think anyone would want to read them. I went into self-publishing thinking I’d write about 20 books and have those paperbacks sitting on my shelf. God has been very good to me. I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams.

Still creating AI audiobooks for Kobo but haven’t added anything new to Radish

Both Kobo and Radish are slow to upload to, and something about the Radish site really does a number on my eyes. I can’t afford an author assistant. Taxes are going up, and anything I make seems to go to taxes or to a repair that pops up. So it all falls on me to do these things with my books. In theory, it sounds so easy to get these things done, but it doesn’t play out that way in real life. This stuff takes way more time than one would think. I am planning to get all of my books up on these sites. It’s slow going. That is frustrating, but what else can I do? I’m only one person, and given the situation with my eyes, it’s just going to be slow.

I haven’t even been blogging as much as I want to. There’s been plenty on my mind. I always have something to say when it comes to writing, publishing, or marketing. Get into a room with me, and you’ll find I won’t shut up. But since I need my eyes to write the blog post, I will usually upload an audiobook, do my record keeping for the accountant, or edit instead. Speaking of which, I just finished getting the audio files ready for the Marriage by Bargain Series, so I can start uploading that series to Kobo now.