Hieronymus Hawkes's Blog, page 13

Thumb in a Robe

Slicing potatoes for scalloped potatoes and I got my thumb…twice. We even had a glove to use to protect the fingers, but did I use it? Yes, but on the wrong hand. LOL. I’m definitely not as sharp as the slicer.

So this arrived in the Mail

It’s inspired from one of the characters in the novel Effacement. Kasia Foss wears a bunch of different T-shirts, but this one turned out so well I made it into a mug also. It’s up on the Merch page

Jan Duursema: Comic Artist Extraordinaire

Jan Duursema is the artist of my favor comic line ever: Star Wars: Legacy. It takes place 100 years after Return of the Jedi. We got to meet Jan at Celebrations III where she drew a quick sketch of Quinlan Vos on the edge of the matte we brought to get autographed. She was gracious and charming. We have a lot of Star Wars paraphernalia all over the house and these two prints below are on the wall. I did my best to limit the glare. They are some of her best original characters, Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura, and Darth Talon.

Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura

Darth Talon

Some of her comics on Amazon. Below is one of my favorites, the Imperial Jedi. Of course none of this is canon now.

Probably the coolest of them all, the Imperial Jedi

A Taste of Duursema

Just a couple of prints by Jan Duursema that hang on the wall in our downstairs area. She is a wonderful artist and did the artwork for my favorite comic of all time Star Wars Legacy. The second print is from that world. This is the tip of the iceberg as far as Star Wars paraphernalia in our house. I tried to take these so the glare wasn’t horrible and they didn’t turn very well.

Blue Ink – 3 Simple Ways to Satisfy Reader Expectation

Three Simple Ways to Satisfy Reader Expectation, an article by the amazing Paul Goat Allen just posted on Blue Ink Review. He gives Effacement some kinds words. I changed the cover at his suggestion, as he points out in the interview. Great article, Goat! And thanks for the advice!

Goodreads Giveaway starts Friday February 19th!

I’m giving away 10 print books of Effacement on Goodreads. You have to be in the US or Canada, sorry. I hope you sign up and tell your friends. I don’t have a lot of followers on Goodreads yet, so the number might end up being quite low unless you help me spread the word.

I have the countdown over on the right. It start on February 19th and goes through the 19th of March. It will overlap my discount promotion that runs from 8 to 15 March. I really appreciate your support!

So I finally got these in my hand last evening

The Store is Open!

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When you read Effacement you will encounter a certain gal who has some attitude and along with that a selection of T-shirts to show her feelings for the day. You can now buy an assortment of those shirt in lots of different sizes and colors at my Etsy store. There is also a new link at the top if you didn’t notice.

Shop Here!

Effacement release lessons learned

As hard as I worked for this book release I still wasn’t really ready. I think I rushed it a bit, simply because I was so excited to have a book out in the real world!

I should have developed a team to review the book out of the gate. I still don’t have a single review on Amazon yet. That was a mistake. I have broken the top 500 in one category, but gains are fleeting unless you keep selling. I did get one 5 star review on Goodreads from a professional reviewer, so that was incredible and affirming.

I am still recruiting people to do book reviews. I’ve opened an account on Bookfunnel and StoryOrigin. If you contact me on my Facebook page you could get a free book to review that way even. Reviews actually carry weight in the algorithms on Amazon, so it’s pretty important to grab those as quick as possible. I’ve read that 50 seems to be the magic number but that isn’t verified, if that is even possible.

I learned a lot about Facebook ads, and Amazon ads and Bookbub ads. I should’ve prepared sooner to do a build up on Bookbub prior to my book release. They have a decent book launch program, but it all costs money.

I learned about building a mailing list and how to grow it using list sharing and giveaways. I don’t have a lot to give away quite yet, but that will come as I write more books. I’m several thousand dollars in the hole at this point, with editing costs and ad costs, and ISBN costs, and distribution costs at Ingram, but these are all up front and the book is alive now and will be forever. I’m proud of what I put out and hopefully this will be something that will pay me back for a long time to come. But if not, it was certainly worth lessons in cover design, formatting, distribution, and marketing that I will take with me for the next book.

I am going to work on creating a how to self publish guide while it is all still fresh in my mind.

This part of the journey is almost over. Just pump the ads occasionally and do a couple of promos. Speaking of which, there will be one coming up next month where the book will go on sale for $0.99 on Amazon. It will run from March 8th to the 15th. Hopefully, I can arrange for a Bookbub promotion at the same time.

I am pursuing an audiobook version on ACX, which will be available on audible at some point. More on that as it develops. I did send out my first newsletter today, so that is a milestone. If you aren’t a subscriber there is a link on the top right. And here.

In the meantime I work on the next book, Vim Dicaré, Book One of the Mészárosa Trilogy. I would love to have you onboard as part of my street team for the next launch!

Interested in being a book reviewer for my new book?

If you are interesting in getting a review copy of Effacement you can do that here. All I ask is that you post an honest review of the book. This is on StoryOrigin. I will tell you that signing up is not a guarantee you will get a free book. I will look at your review history. I just want to be up front with you.

Reviews are the best thing you can do for an author you like. Buy their book and tell your friends would probably come first, but posting a review would be a very close second.