Cleo Wodehouse's Blog
November 9, 2018
Mother-tongue estrangement
I'm German but have always written my stories in English. I just love crafting sentences with all the techniques and vocabulary this amazing language has to offer.
Lately, however, friends and family keep asking if I could publish in German as well. "Half-hearted" would be putting it mildly. I believe my motivation was somewhere in the per mill level. And then I discovered: I needed five entire minutes to translate a seven-sentece paragraph! And I still wasn't satisfied with the outcome!
While I love and am close to my mother, my mother TONGUE and I are seeing some estrangement...
Lately, however, friends and family keep asking if I could publish in German as well. "Half-hearted" would be putting it mildly. I believe my motivation was somewhere in the per mill level. And then I discovered: I needed five entire minutes to translate a seven-sentece paragraph! And I still wasn't satisfied with the outcome!
While I love and am close to my mother, my mother TONGUE and I are seeing some estrangement...
September 27, 2018
Writing for free
Hi there, struggling, starving authors,
I pay between 200 and 250 euros per book for betas and cover design, not to mention the countelss hours I pour into each book. Up until recently, however, I offered my brain children for free because my main goal was to reach like-minded people. "I will write for reviews", I thought naively. Since I'm not the type to promote books and prefer spending my time writing, I thought I'd let the non-price do the promoting, and to a certain extent it worked. The "sales" climbed steadily. However, the reviews did not.
A passionate reviewer myself, I fail to understand why such few people would set aside a measly three minutes of their time and share their opinion. However, since people are what they are and will not be changed, I thought I was going to be the one to make a change: I set the price to an outrageous 99 cents.
It's not that i'm sulking - OK, fine, a little - it's more the fact that I've come to the conclusion that my books have value. 99 cents does not even begin to reflect how much value they have to me but if I based my pricing on that kind of thinking, nobody would even click on it. OK, perhaps they would to see what kind of book is worth 1,000 euros. That's just a number, by the way; I don't think any author can express in a currency what their books mean to them.
At any rate I'm done catering to freeloaders. If people have to pay a little something, perhaps they are even more likely to leave a review. Hope dies last.
I pay between 200 and 250 euros per book for betas and cover design, not to mention the countelss hours I pour into each book. Up until recently, however, I offered my brain children for free because my main goal was to reach like-minded people. "I will write for reviews", I thought naively. Since I'm not the type to promote books and prefer spending my time writing, I thought I'd let the non-price do the promoting, and to a certain extent it worked. The "sales" climbed steadily. However, the reviews did not.
A passionate reviewer myself, I fail to understand why such few people would set aside a measly three minutes of their time and share their opinion. However, since people are what they are and will not be changed, I thought I was going to be the one to make a change: I set the price to an outrageous 99 cents.
It's not that i'm sulking - OK, fine, a little - it's more the fact that I've come to the conclusion that my books have value. 99 cents does not even begin to reflect how much value they have to me but if I based my pricing on that kind of thinking, nobody would even click on it. OK, perhaps they would to see what kind of book is worth 1,000 euros. That's just a number, by the way; I don't think any author can express in a currency what their books mean to them.
At any rate I'm done catering to freeloaders. If people have to pay a little something, perhaps they are even more likely to leave a review. Hope dies last.
September 13, 2018
Legacy
So,
After the delightful discovery that my first blog resulted in 20 views and 2 actual followers, I feel encouraged to open my mouth again and see what tumbles out.
Well, I have made no progress as to whether to use social media or not. As fate will have it, inspiration has struck again and I have started a new book, so I have decided to invest my time following that inspiration as long as there are fruits to be plucked from it.
Lately I have received such positive feedback for my writing - and not just from betas I PAID :D - that I'm inclined to think I'm making a difference, and be it only on 50 people or so on this planet. In fact, I find myself looking to my latest female protagonist lately when it comes to open communication. Isn't that something, teaking a leaf out of one's book in the truest sense of the word?
To sum up, for now I'm content to know I have left this world something that makes a small difference - although hidden on the obscure indie platform Smashwords. It might be small and inconspicuous but perhaps more long long-lasting and persistent than an ephemeral Twitter existence.
On that note, I wish you happy writing. Reading of course, too. Today I caught myself standing on one leg, wiggling into a sock while holding my Kindle with the other hand. It takes about 10 times longer than simply putting on your socks the non-bibliomanic way, but how boring is that?
After the delightful discovery that my first blog resulted in 20 views and 2 actual followers, I feel encouraged to open my mouth again and see what tumbles out.
Well, I have made no progress as to whether to use social media or not. As fate will have it, inspiration has struck again and I have started a new book, so I have decided to invest my time following that inspiration as long as there are fruits to be plucked from it.
Lately I have received such positive feedback for my writing - and not just from betas I PAID :D - that I'm inclined to think I'm making a difference, and be it only on 50 people or so on this planet. In fact, I find myself looking to my latest female protagonist lately when it comes to open communication. Isn't that something, teaking a leaf out of one's book in the truest sense of the word?
To sum up, for now I'm content to know I have left this world something that makes a small difference - although hidden on the obscure indie platform Smashwords. It might be small and inconspicuous but perhaps more long long-lasting and persistent than an ephemeral Twitter existence.
On that note, I wish you happy writing. Reading of course, too. Today I caught myself standing on one leg, wiggling into a sock while holding my Kindle with the other hand. It takes about 10 times longer than simply putting on your socks the non-bibliomanic way, but how boring is that?
August 17, 2018
Why should I blog?
To be honest, this is my first post in my first blog - ever. Authors are recommended to blog and be active on social media, something I so far haven't brought myself to approach.
Why? I prefer to invest my time into my books. I've briefly considered joining Twitter, but upon reading about the minimum of recommended posts, I pictured myself with my phone glued to my hand, drifting away from my loved ones, and that's a price I'm not willing to pay.
Today I thought I'd try my hand at blogging, though, because I've recently figured out that my main motive for writing is to connect with like-minded - nerdy - people and give them a book they will treasure and always return to when in need of some aloe vera for the soul.
Ever since I discovered that about myself as author, I uploaded my books on Smashwords for free. There will be another post about free versus paid downloads at some point.
For now, however, I'd like to know: do you blog? Why? What about? I'd love to read your thoughts.
Why? I prefer to invest my time into my books. I've briefly considered joining Twitter, but upon reading about the minimum of recommended posts, I pictured myself with my phone glued to my hand, drifting away from my loved ones, and that's a price I'm not willing to pay.
Today I thought I'd try my hand at blogging, though, because I've recently figured out that my main motive for writing is to connect with like-minded - nerdy - people and give them a book they will treasure and always return to when in need of some aloe vera for the soul.
Ever since I discovered that about myself as author, I uploaded my books on Smashwords for free. There will be another post about free versus paid downloads at some point.
For now, however, I'd like to know: do you blog? Why? What about? I'd love to read your thoughts.
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