Leon Stevens's Blog, page 68
September 13, 2023
Weird Wednesday Sept. 13th:
Easy answer: If you are asking that question, then, that much.
There are things I always put too much stuff in.
Burritos: See all that filling falling out the end? That’s what you shouldn’t have put in.
Tacos: Everything above the shell means you started with too much meat.
Oatmeal: Turn the water off 1/2 second before you did, or that last extra shot.
Gasoline: Tried to hit an even number of dollars, did ya?
Garbage: When you can’t tie the bag and you have to reach in and … yuck.
Suitcases: Sitting on it to zip it up?
What do you put too much in?
I always keep this one in case I need one. It’s your turn to fill in the blanks.
One month left!
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 12, 2023
Tuesday Tidbits: Book Ads
I don’t know what this style of book ad is called but I do see them quite often. So, when I decided to create one myself, true to form, I had to have some fun with it.
Speaking of ads, I’ve tried Amazon ads with little success, unless you consider me giving money to Mr. Bezos as a success. I was going to try Twitter ads (I’m not saying X ads, that sounds like a weird disease), but I block all ads on that platform because they are sooo annoying.
Facebook? I did something wrong when I set up my account and I got banned from advertising. Good luck trying to reach someone to get that straightened out.
The only real advertising I do is when I put my book on sale, then the end result is usually spending more money to advertise than I make. Earlier this year I put a book on sale and didn’t pay to advertise at all, using my social media, newsletter, and free swaps with other authors. I didn’t sell many, but I made money*.
Reaching new readers is a full time job for indie authors, and it does take time away from writing, like it’s doing right now, so …
Later.
-Leon
*I know, you want to know how much. Not much, but I didn’t lose money.
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 11, 2023
Music Monday Sept 11: Me (Repost)
From January 9, 2023
There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.
Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it.
Maybe you will find a new favorite.
CBC MUSIC, Central · Mornings with CBC Music
Why don’t you post more of your own music here?
Well, it takes me a long time to write a piece, even longer to be able to play it properly—
Without mistakes.
Pfft. I wish I could play without mistakes. There’s always a few, well, more than a few. But to continue my thought, it takes me even longer to record the piece.
Because of all the mistakes.
Yes. Because of all the mistakes.
When I finished the last chapter and epilogue to the final book in my sci-fi trilogy, I was a bit saddened and teary eyed (yes, they’re that good), and nothing bring out a piece of music than emotion. So, I sat with my guitar and began to compose.
It took a few months, but the piece became an homage to the characters and the story. I then decided to make a video with it as a way to wrap everything up for the readers of the trilogy.
I can’t share the video because:
1. It’s not done
2. If you haven’t read the series, it won’t make sense
3. If you are going to read it, there are spoilers in the video
But, I will share the piece, Time and Again.
If you haven’t heard my earlier work:
My Music (and more)
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 9, 2023
Weekend Wrap-up Sept 9: Is #SciFiSeptember a thing?
I’m always looking for new hashtags that readers follow and so far this year it’s been #IndieApril and #IndieAugust. #sciFiSeptember seems right up my alley.
Do hashtags really work? Who knows. But I’ll try it.
On my blog this week:
Free Book Friday Sept 8: Poetry
Thursday Thoughts: Ne’erB&B
Weird Wednesday Sept. 6th: Heat related Cartoons and News tickers
Tuesday Tirade: Let’s do the math.
Music Monday Sept. 4: Maren Morris
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 8, 2023
Free Book Friday Sept 8: Poetry
I can go a long time without writing a poem then, to quote Emeril Legasse …
“Bam!”
Here’s a couple I penned this week.
I have never submitted my work to a publisher, but I suspect if I had sent in my poetry book, it might result in something like this.
This makes sense to me, but if you are unfamiliar with my body of work, it might not, so here is a recap:
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
The story behind Free Book Friday: I’ve met many authors and readers during my time marketing, cross-promoting, and blogging. I think writers have a responsibility to inform readers about all the indie authors out there in the very crowded world of book publishing. You can’t do it alone, and why would you when you have a supportive group available?
Readers don’t just read one author – they stick with their favorite genres. Therein lies the power in cross-promotion. If one of my readers buys a book from an author I promote, then chances are there will be a reciprocal effect, or so is the hope. Do I want to boost sales? Of course I do. Do I want to boost other’s sales? Why not. It’s called karma.
Some free book offers require a newsletter sign-up, which is a small non-monetary price to pay to try out a new indie author.
Reads From StoryOrigin and BookFunnelStoryOrigin and BookFunnel allows authors to advertise their books to each other’s audience. I hope you have been able to discover a new favorite!
Purchase Links
Sept 1-30
Sept 6-20Current promos: Discover New Authors
Review Copies (These are free!)Review copies: Like reviewing books? Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book (poetry or science fiction or both): Leon’s Newsletter
Buy all three for less than $7: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BZFMXQYY
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 7, 2023
Thursday Thoughts: Ne’erB&B
What’s that average cost of a hotel room? $100, $150, $200?
If you only need to stay one night, that’s one expensive bed. I once took a break from driving at midnight, took a hotel for $120, slept for 6 hours, and was off the next morning. Yikes. At least they had a free breakfast, except it opened at 6:30.
So, why not stay at a B & B? It used to be that people rented out a bedroom (hence the “bedroom” in B&B) in their house and served you breakfast (hence the “breakfast” in B&B) at an affordable price. The old stereotype of a B&B was a quaint old house, often in a rural setting or a unique urban area.
Then along comes AirB&B, which basically started as an online booking platform for people who wanted to rent out a room in their house and serve breakfast at a reasonable cost. There was a reason why AirB&B called their hosts, well, hosts.
It quickly became a platform for property owners to advertise short-term rentals. Not just a bed, but a whole suite/apartment/house, and no breakfast (your on your own if you want to eat). Oh, there were still wonderful “hosts” who offered the real B&B experience (at a slightly less affordable price), but the B&B moniker in AirB&B became diluted.
What about VRBO (Vacation Homes By Owner)? Their selling point was that the property owner didn’t stay with you, making it more of a vacation. That’s short-term rentals.
Many illegal listings have surfaced, one of the more recent being in Montreal, where a fire killed 7 people in an apartment block; 6 were in such listings.
New York has proposed that owners need to be present in their rental for stays less that 30 days. Many AirB&B owners oppose this, because they operate more than one of these short term rentals.
One of the concerns with short term rentals is that landlords/owner can make more money renting for a fraction of the time than if it was rented out on a yearly basis. That’s where the housing crisis comes into play. Many of these units could be used to house the houseless, but money rules, doesn’t it.
What’s my point? AirB&B, should be called AirShortTermRental, but that doesn’t have the quaint ring to it, does it? And VRBO is kinda taken.
Final (kinda related) thought:
Remember when Uber was a real “ride-share”?
“I’m going that way, you’re going that way, so let’s go together?”
Once drivers went out of their way to drive someone someplace … yeah, you’re a taxi, dude.
I’ll leave you with a sketch from “Portlandia”:
Final month:
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 6, 2023
Weird Wednesday Sept. 6th: Heat related Cartoons and News tickers
Here in Canada the hottest days of the summer have come in September. Now I do realize that we still are in summer since autumn doesn’t technically begin until the…
19th? 20th? 21st? I never know. Just the same way I never know when Easter is. But I digress.
The ticker on the news channel said that this year so far has been the hottest on record. I can believe that. Speaking of the news ticker…
You ever notice that some of the news stories that scroll along the bottom are vague and are never talked about in the newscast?
“Experts say these common items are accidents waiting to happen.”
“Home buyers beware of scam. Here’s what you need to know.”
And how about the typos? Do you celebrate when you spot one and then relieved when later on you see it has been corrected?
Anyway, Here are some depressing cartoons…
One month left!
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 5, 2023
Tuesday Tirade: Let’s do the math.
I took the second and third book of my trilogy out of Kindle Unlimited. Why? KU page royalties have decreased over the last year, despite Amazon raising the subscription fee from $9.99 to $11.99. That’s my Amazon aggravation for the week.
I wondered if KU readers would read the rest of my trilogy if it was not included in their subscription. I did a few email and social media surveys and the results showed that about 50-75% of KU subscribers purchase Kindle books. So, is it worth the risk to deter readers from buying my other books if I take them out of KU?
If a reader reads all 3 books in KU I make approx. $1.92If one reader reads book one in KU and and buys the next two I make $4.84I make $0.64 with a complete read-through of The View from Here.OK. So, what is the math? $4.84 / $0.64 = 7.56
Analysis? I make the same amount of money on one read-through as I do if 7 1/2 readers only read book one. Is my thinking correct? do I only need 14% of readers to finish the trilogy to make it worth it?
My other experiment was to drop the price of book one to $0.99 to encourage readers, and even though I have sold 47 books in this 3-month period, I have only sold 6 copies of book two. Maybe it is still to early to tell.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
September 4, 2023
Music Monday Sept. 4: Maren Morris
There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.
CBC MUSIC, Central · Mornings with CBC Music
Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it. Maybe you will find a new favorite.
I am often asked how I choose which artist or band to share on Mondays. It’s simple:
Kickbacks.
Ha! I wish, but no. Usually its a a song that I have liked for a long time or a new one I have recently heard.
I heard this song, then when I looked up her other hits, I realized I knew more of them than I thought I did.
I think this next song was the first I heard from her. Not very country, but is shows she’s versatile.
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!
Oh, pick me!
C’mon, space stuff!
