Misty Zaugg's Blog - Posts Tagged "patron"

Hi friends,

I got some fun ideas back from you about how to include cinnamon in a daily diet, including from Lynne who combines it with chocolate and pumpkin pie spices in her coffee machine.

I don't drink coffee, but chocolate with cinnamon and pie spices sounds delicious all on it's own or with a fruity herbal tea. Thanks for the suggestions!

In writing news, I have to say I'm pretty excited by how well this latest venture is going. Not only is it continuing to grow, but I hit two milestones on the same day this week.

Here are a couple of recent comments over on Royal Road about Awakening Horde:

"I like this story. It's got a great mix of ideas and is both fresh and familiar to me." - PumaDErik

"This is the best story on RR I've read in a while." - Nonalith

"Very excited to see what is next." - Winzzy

Cool, right?

My Royal Road experiment is chugging right along and gaining momentum!

And what are the two very encouraging milestones that both happened on Wednesday?

I reached 100 Patreons who have subscribed to support the new book!

Check out my Patreon Page

And the same day, my total income for the book since starting this experiment in early September reached $1500!

This is pretty amazing and quite the confidence booster to know that so many readers are willing to chip in a little toward keeping me writing.

I've been doing this writing gig for just over four years now and while it has brought in a bit of money here and there, it hasn't been super encouraging once I divide it out by how many hours I've put in.

So, more a labor of love, rather than a possible living wage.

But with this latest book going so well, it might just turn into something that could support full time writing.

So, for any of you who have taken the time to buy a book, write a review, or even just click a rating to boost visibility of one of my books, thanks!

May you enjoy a good book this week and support an author!

— Misty :)
Misty Zaugg Website

Hi friends,

I love fall, but winter . . . not so much.

I recently decided that the amazing colors of fall are like a last party before the cold and grey skies of winter settle in.

Check out these trees - one near my church parking lot and the second in a nearby neighborhood. Just gorgeous!





I hope you find time to enjoy nature regardless of the season in your neck of the woods!

Also, with the holidays coming soon and my writing time getting more and more scarce, I've decided to scale my newsletter back to the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month instead of every Friday.

Please let me know your favorite types of articles and tips, and I'll make sure to do more of those.

Today's excerpt is from Deadly Lockdown, the first book in the completed Escaping the Virus trilogy:

"Kate's gaze moved to the bank of screens that had the crowd's attention. She wasn't close enough to see or hear details, but the grim-faced news anchors and numbers scrolling past on the bottom of the screen didn't bode well. She felt her pulse quicken."



Deadly Lockdown by Misty and Steph

Check out how Kate and Alyssa survive the fast-paced disease sweeping the US and find their way back to each other.

And finally, if you're curious about how much I've made in the first 6 weeks that Awakening Horde has been on Royal Road, read on!

Show me the Money:

Unlike someone like Brandon Sanderson or JK Rowling, most authors don't make a ton of money.

Plus, the new breed of independent authors wears a lot of hats. Their first goal (after finishing a book) is usually to earn enough to cover costs like editing, paying an illustrator for a cover, newsletter service fees, etc. The obvious final goal would be for writing to bring in a living wage and do it full time.

I'm somewhere in the middle of that. :)

My latest venture on Royal Road is still doing well, but the initial burst of interest has slowed by quite a lot. Now, I need to put on my marketing hat and work to get the word out more.

But is it worth it?

I'm happy to say that the 142 generous supporters over on Patreon have donated just over $1,800 so far, which has covered the expenses and made a big dent in the future $3k - $5k needed to produce an audiobook.

It's a pretty decent start, especially considering the book will still go up on for Amazon readers to purchase in the future.

If you're one of my fans who went over and commented, left a 5-star review or plunked down $10 on Patreon to help out - you're amazing! Every little bit helps!

I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of the inside life of an author. Let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy a good book this week!

— Misty :)
Misty Zaugg Website

Hi friends,

Thanks for the brilliant responses to the mental health tip last week. I got some great ideas from your emails to add to my list for future newsletters. Keep them coming!

Also, I'm a bit sad to report that the amazing growth of my new story on Royal Road has slowed down considerably, now that it isn't new enough to be on the popular Rising Stars list anymore.

My next step for marketing is to learn how to use Discord. Some of you are going to laugh at me while others might be asking, "What's Discord?"

It's another way to communicate with people online, in a fashion similar to the old AOL chatrooms (for those of you old enough to remember - lol)

In any case, other Royal Roal authors hang out in Discord chats. So, if I can network with some of them, we can do a shout-out to each other's stories.

Just another day in learning the business of online marketing for authors. :)

In more exciting news, did you know about the amazing writing event that happens every November? Read all the details below:
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But first, for today's excerpt - a taste of Awakening Horde, currently up to chapter 53 and free to read on Royal Road


Awakening Horde: Free to read on Royal Road!

"The sudden darkness felt better and worse at the same time. Without being able to see, Pax could imagine he was in a small room, safe and enclosed. Only he knew better, and his mind began imagining a variety of encroaching horrors sneaking toward them unseen from the vast cavern. The growing noises of a battle below them only made it worse."
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And here’s a run down on NaNoWriMo:

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

I know some of you are authors or may have always wanted to write a book.

Well, November is the time to do it!

This month, every year, aspiring authors across the world get together with a goal to write a 50k word novel in 30 days.

That's just under 2k words a day, which is my goal, since I don't write on Sundays. Not to mention that Thanksgiving is in November, so . . . :)

The fun part is, this event takes the often solitary process of writing and finds you a bunch of friends and tools to do it with. By signing up for free on the website, you can track your words, see your progress, read helpful forum posts, make friends to write with, get discounts and a lot more.

It's a great, supportive environment for a new author to push themselves. Also, a common hindrance for new authors is they get stuck rewriting that first chapter over and over, or spend hours tweaking the perfect plot or world. All of that keeps them from the most important part of being an author: writing more words.

NaNoWriMo helps with that.

So, jump in and give it a shot! Plus, feel free to add me as a writing "buddy". I'm listed under docmisty. I'd love to see some new friends write a book this month!

To more fun stories in the world!

— Misty :)
See all my books on Amazon here: Misty Zaugg Amazon Page

Misty Zaugg Website