R. Shannon's Blog, page 13
May 14, 2024
How to do a Double-Opt-In Email and Giveaway at MailerLite
Above is a diagram of most of the moving parts involved in setting up a give away using a double opt-in email and automation at Mailerlite. Seeing it visually will help you understand all the bits and pieces I talk about in the video that goes along with this post.
The video below is a comprehensive tutorial about setting up a giveaway using a double-opt-in email, and sending an email containing a link to a download for an infographic.
For self-publishers, building a reader list, sometimes referred to as a newsletter list, it is important to find ways to build your readership. By offering occasional giveaways, you can build your list a little faster.
People love infographics that organize and simplify information, so that is what I decided to offer as a giveaway in the offer in the video.
WHAT IS A DOUBLE OPT IN EMAIL?A double-opt in email is one where the person signs up but then they must go and retrieve the email in order to confirm it is a live email. It presents you from gathering made up emails. It keeps your reader list clean of fake emails.
WHAT WILL BE COVERED IN THE VIDEO?Like the picture above, I will cover the entire process from uploading the giveaway to Google drive and getting the proper link for the ultimate email form.
Then we go to Mailerlight and I walk you through the system as I set up a give away using the double opt-in email.
At the end, I then show you how it works. I also give a secret tip at the end about what to do with all the links you have gathered in order to put something like this together.
VIDEO TIMELINE:00:01 – What we will cover in the video
Outlining all the components and links we will need
07:57 – Uploading the document at Google Drive
11:17 – MailerLite – First Form, the Sign up form and Success Message
15:20 – Email Settings (I leave them all unchecked)
16:00 – Creating the automation, the workflow
17:50 – Create the Email that is launched when the form is filled out
18:40 – Selecting a Mailerlite Template
20:00 – Creating an Email Template
20:50 – Adding the Google Drive link to the Email Form
22:00 – How to save the finished Email as a reuseable Template
23:00 – Set up the double Opt in
24:00 – How to find the direct link to the Mailerlink Form
27:00 – How the form works
Here is the video for your review:
If anyone is interested in getting a copy of the Infographic about How to Create a Character Arc in a 4-Part Story Structure, you can sign up below!
May 12, 2024
How to Plan and Execute a Character Arc
I write novels in series and like there to be a personal subplot that takes place over each book, but another longer arc that takes place over the entire book series. In order to pull this off, I need to be very organized and deliberate in how I let the character arc play out not only over time but over the book series as well.
This blog post is about my process in doing that. Now, I don’t claim this to be the only way to go about it, but it is the way I do it and it works for me. This process is not how I started out working on character arcs! I learned the hard way that it’s important to know in the very beginning how you will allow the book arc and the series arc plays out.
I know there are long multi-book series where the main character is more of an action hero and he/she doesn’t change much. Legal thrillers and the Jack Reacher book series comes to mind. This does work as Lee Childs and other successful authors can attest to. They have sold millions of copies with these stock hard-boiled characters who remain generally the same over the entire series.
I prefer there to be more character growth in each book, plus, I like there to be a series arc as well. My series are shorter than Mr. Child’s but each writer has to find their own place. I like shorter series with the main characters participating in more of a family drama and/or a romantic subplot.
THE FIRST STEP IN SETTING UP A CHARACTER ARC IS TO ESTABLISH THE FOLLOWING:
Sketch out on a mind map or even a piece of paper the answer to each of the above character development questions. MC stands for Main Character and ANT stands for Antagonist. By sketching them out at the same time in the beginning stages, it will give you a strong direction for your writing right from the get go. Of course, if you have more than one main character, you will want to repeat this process for every main character.
This also allows you to see and create a conflict between the main character and the antagonist. This is particularly helpful to new writers who lean towards making all characters “too nice”. Without some level of conflict, there won’t be enough conflict or drama to move forward in the story. It will simply be an “and-then-this-happened, and-then-this-happened” kind of story.
BREAK THE ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC INTO THREE OR FOUR PARTS:
I use a four-part plot structure, so I break my character arc into four sections. This allows me to keep up with the character development and also don’t resolve the inner conflict too early.
I find this technique also gives me solid writing boundaries and/or writing guideposts. When I’m in Part 2, I know my goal for this section is to make sure the planned character arc for Part 2 is completed before I move to part 3.
Now that I’ve written my third book series, I think in terms of multiple-book character acts. As I start out with new characters in a new series, I make sure that I have many options of where these characters can go over the entire series.
A special note to pantsers: This technique gives guideposts and boundaries, but every story or novel takes on a creative life of it’s own. I find by having the character arc written down and sectioned, it makes it easier to change the story as this creative process takes over. I simply look over the character arc and alter it with the new “better idea” that has come up.
I find it gives me the best of both worlds. I have a strong direction when I am writing, but flexibility and ease are built into the process itself. It’s super easy to change mid-stream by just tweaking the character arc a bit.
I hope this helps new writers!
May 10, 2024
How to Brainstorm A New Story
Mastering the art of writing captivating mysteries. Unleash your creativity and weave intricate tales of crime and suspense.
MYSTERY NOVEL BRAINSTORMING WORKSHEET
This worksheet is geared for those who want to write a mystery or crime novel. It helps with writer’s block too. It breaks down the process into small bite-sized pieces and it will get your motor going without any effort.
Just follow the suggestions, summed up easily below, and you will have at least the start of something within minutes. There is a link below to download the three-page instructional and checklist.
If you are an intermediate novel writer, here is a graphic of the overall process without the instructional questions:
THIS WORKSHEET HAS MULTIPLE PURPOSES:
If you are stumped for a main story, or if you are stumped for what happens now, or even if you have written yourself into a bit of a corner, this instructional will help, along with your own creativity and thinking, to bring about new possibilities.
Jump into the series of steps wherever you are in the writing process and it will help you restart your engine. Once you go through the process a time or two, I’m sure it will become your go-to procedure.
THE LISTS | CHOOSE FROM COLUMN A AND COLUMN B:
Below is a closer look at Page 3 of the Worksheet where it will give you a wide birth of choices for mysteries and/or crimes. It’s hard for one mind to think of all the possibilities without some kind of aid no matter how creative one is.
START THE WORKSHEET BY CHOOSING A CRIME OR MYSTERY:
Let’s talk about how to use this work sheet. Choose a crime or mystery from the list below and make up a potential perpetrator. Don’t waste time on what he or she looks like. Then start asking the following questions:
Why would this person want to commit this crime?
What could be going on in his/her life that would make him/her feel they needed to commit this crime?
How would he want to cover his tracks?
What specific knowledge would a character need to pull off a crime or swindle like this? In other words, is he/she an accountant and that makes it easier to commit a financial crime?
Then ask: Who would need to help him or give him/her cover? Add necessary characters and think about a connection. Is it a family connection? Is it a romantic connection?
THE NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS TO ASK:
Once you have a perpetrator and the cast of necessary characters, then it’s time to answer the following questions:
What could go wrong in the commission of this crime that would create tension or mystery? (He drops a glove or a drop of blood.)
How will these clues ultimately lead to his/her exposure? (How will this clue be found?)
How can this end in a way that would let justice prevail? (How and who will find the clue?)
How will the culprit ultimately be caught? (Is he cornered by an accuser? Is he arrested? Does he confess?)
What is one clue that can be minimized in the beginning of the story but will turn out to be the one who catches the bad guy?
NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS:
List the things that could go right for the perpetrator — like a second, more-likely suspect pops up and suddenly all eyes are not on the real culprit anymore?
Could there be other likely suspects that would also have motivation to commit the crime?
As the story grows, add whatever crucial characters are needed (witnesses, husbands, wives, bosses, helpers, etc.) who you will need to make the crime and solving of the story happen.
If you get this far, it means that you have a viable storyline.
THE SKELETON OF THE CRIME:
Before you exert too much energy fleshing out any character or story details, be sure to check to make sure you can design a three-prong storyline out of this budding storyline. One prong will be a red herring storyline, someone who may look guilty, but is exonerated in the middle or end of the story. The second prong is a second suspect or a wrong suspect who will look guilty for a large segment of the storyline. And the final prong will be for the real culprit. In order to have a story that works, you will need a believable crime that can meld these three prongs into one suspenseful story.
As you use this worksheet and these techniques, a crime skeleton will emerge. Some attempts at this will go flat in the early stages for any number of reasons. But some storylines will begin to almost shape themselves.
I always make four believable storylines and then choose the best one. Then I know I have the best of my ability at that time in my life. Once you know you have a storyline and a lineup of stick figures and character roles that can technically pull off the mystery, so to speak, then you can begin to build real characters and an actual story.
THE CHARACTERS BUILD THEMSELVES:
Once you know what will be needed for the three-pronged storyline and what traits the lead characters will need to play out their parts, the characters will start building themselves into two-dimensional characters. You can take the characters up to deeper, three-dimensional characters as you flesh out your main story and subplots.
LIST OF MYSTERIES, CRIMES & GENRES
I hope this is helpful. Once you know you have a workable storyline, then it’s time to take a look at my Ultimate Character Development Worksheet. This will help you bring the stick figures to three-dimensional with a full character arc.
Learning to Write from Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction become popular during the depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Publishers at the time used a very cheap “pulp” paper in order to produce these short stories and magazines that cost about a quarter. Yes, twenty-five cents!
Life was difficult and people didn’t want to struggle to make sense out of what authors meant by long run on sentences. They didn’t have the stomach for prose. During a depression, people are lucky they can concentrate at all. People wanted escape.
Pulp fiction is adventurous stories with hard-boiled detectives, larger-than-life heroes, and straight-talking dialogue. The plots were fantastical and melodramatic, but easy to follow and easy to read.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, classical literature was popular. I would even refer to it as high-brow fiction. Oscar Wilde, H G Wells, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner. These authors are known not only for their storytelling ability, but their prose, their wordsmithing. This is what I consider ‘high-brow’. Their books are not read-’em and toss-’em type books. They are written to read and contemplate.
Agatha Christie was also a part of this list, but she may have influenced the pulp fiction genre more than any of the other authors.
Pulp fiction’s prose was everyday tough talk. There was nothing to contemplate. The plots were sensational, violent and maybe strange, but they were easy to read; perfect for people who are distracted and worried.
WHAT MAKES PULP FICTION DIFFERENT?
Because most of the pulp fiction is short, it can help an author to easily see how the pulp fiction writer handled foreshadowing, passage of time, who much and how little back story to add to the story. There is much more for a new author to learn from reading pulp fiction.
May 8, 2024
What Eleven Extra Pages Are Needed in a Published book?
This book is for beginners who are publishing their first or second novel and they are still a little skittish about what else goes into a book. I’ll lay it out so you can easily follow the list and be confident that you’re not forgetting anything. These page suggestions are taken from the publishing industry. These are the pages that appear in a book published by a publishing house.
Often the pages before a book starts are referred to as “front matter”. Pages 1 to 6 would be considered Front Matter. The rest of the pages after the book is inserted are considered Back Matters.
PAGE 1: A Title page with only the name of the Book. The font is usually big enough for the title to stand alone. It is usually centered on the page horizontally and vertically.
Page 2: Either a blank page or a Books by Page. If you have other books that are published, you can list them on this page. The title should be something like “Other Books by AUTHOR NAME”.
Page 3: A second Title Page, but this one will have the name of the book, and below it the name of the author. Again, this is in larger font and it is centered vertically and horizontally on the page.
Page 4: Copyright page. I am not a lawyer so I can’t give you any information that is legally correct. However, I can tell you that I cobbled together different verbiage that I found in other author books. I made it long enough to cover my bases, but not too long. Below is the verbiage that I used.
COPYRIGHT:
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2024 by AUTHOR NAME
Forward copyright © 2024 by AUTHOR NAME
Preview of this book copyright © 2024 by AUTHOR NAME
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use the material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at AUTHOR’S EMAIL.
Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Then you can put the name of your publishing company, if you have one, otherwise, leave the rest of the page blank.
Page 5: Table of Contents. eBooks require links for chapter beginnings and Paperback and Hardcover require page numbers.
Page 6: (If applicable) Any maps that you may be including in your book.
Page 7: Next comes your book.
Page 8: Note to Readers.
Dear Reader:
Thanks for giving your time to read this story. I hope you enjoyed it.
As a new fiction author, reviews are very helpful to me. If you enjoyed this novel, I’d be so grateful if you would leave a review on Amazon.com. Here is a direct link: (Add link to the review for this book).
I love to hear any feedback about the book and enjoy interacting with my readers, so please feel free to email me at AUTHOR EMAIL
Thanks again!
AUTHOR NAME OR SIGNATURE
Page 9: What’s Next on your Reading List?
Verbiage: Below is a chapter or two of my next book (or the next book in a series) for you to sample. I hope you enjoy it.
Then insert up to 9% of the next book. I keep it under 10% in case you are in Kindle Select. They allow up to 10%, but I like to keep it on the lower side.
Page 10: About the Author: Add a biography of yourself. Be sure to add a contact email as well as a little personal information.
Page 11: Acknowledgements: This page can go here or in the beginning of the book. You can put it in lieu of “Other Books By Page.” If you do use the Acknowledgements in the beginning of the book, then you can add the Other Books By Page here at Page 11.
May 7, 2024
Book Launch – Links for Marketing Stacking – 2024
When I self-published my first novel, I finished it and uploaded it and waited. That’s when I learned how important marketing the book is. I also learned through the next several books how important it is to take advantage of each tiny phase of a book launch for marketing. That’s what this blog post is about.
I have made a checklist for beginners so you can print it out and have it with you when it’s time to launch your first book, or a subsequent book. I believe it will be very helpful to you.
THE VIDEO ABOUT THE BOOK LAUNCH CHECKLIST:Aside from the checklist, I have made a strategy video where I go over the checklist and give you an overview of how the launch happens, what is involved and how to set yourself up for the best outcome. I consider a good outcome to be a smooth and timely launch, and within a week to 10 days, you have at least four to ten nice reviews. It sounds easy, but for new authors, it’s not — But it is possible.
NEWSLETTER PROMOTIONS:The following websites are ones where you build a email list and your books will be featured on these websites. Bookfunnel and Siteorigin both offer “author swaps” where you can swap your featured book with another author who has a sizable list.
I’m not a seasoned marketer and don’t even consider myself that good at it, and even I was able to build an email list of 5,076 emails within a two year period. To me, this is amazing!
Bookfunnel.com
Siteoriginapp.com
Instafreebies.com
Amazon ads is a very complicated program to learn. I only touched on the ad strategy in this checklist video. There will be more Amazon ad videos coming in the future.
Below I have left a list of book marketing websites that as a beginner I used. Now that I have built a newsletter, have a website, and post regularly to social media. I rely mostly on purchased ads with FreeBooksy, BargainBooksy, FussyLibrarian and purchased Amazon Ads. But you may find the following links helpful so I’ll leave them for you to try out.
ADDITIONAL MARKETING WEBSITESFreebookyBargainBooksyBuyASeriesPostBuyADealOfTheDayReadersListBookbubBookSweepsDerek Murphy’s Page with Promotion RecommendationsGoodReads-List a GiveawayDraft2Digital – Sales tools/New ReleasesThe Fussy Librarian – Free and Paid PromotionsKindlepreneur – 127 Free and Paid Promotions ListBK Nights on Fiverr.com – Offers a different promotion for books that are marked down and free. For the free ebook, you don’t get to choose a date. They choose for you. (Permafree only?)BookAngel – This is for the Uk and your book must be listed on Amazon UKBargainBookAngel – This is for books that are listed for .99p on Amazon UKMicrosoft Fonts for Books and Book Covers
Which font should you use when self-publishing? The more choices we have, the harder it gets to choose.
I always chose Times New Roman as that was the font default in journalism, for books and newspapers for my entire life. However, since Microsoft added hundreds of fonts, I now see any number of fonts show up.
Below are the most common fonts in my opinion:
As you can see from the picture above, even fonts of the same size are heavier and lighter than each other and even the numbers are larger and smaller. My favorites are Times New Roman and Trebuchet MS.
BOOK COVER FONTS – Pretty Fonts:
When it comes to Book Cover fonts, that’s another story. You want something that is attention capturing. I have gone through all of the fonts in Microsoft Word and below I have created a large list of the ones that would be appropriate for book covers.
Often you may want to also have fonts that are heavy and bold. I again went through all the fonts and made a table with those fonts too. I also added some old fashioned and vampire-like fonts.
I remember being new and overwhelmed while planning my first book cover. There were too many choices and I was trying to find the best fonts to “fit in” with other authors. In the beginning, this was very important to me.
I hope this helps.
You can print out this page or you can screen shot and save on your computer. But if you want to download copies of these lists in one download, click below:
March 29, 2024
MYSTERY NOVEL BRAINSTORMING FOR BEGINNERS
Writing a novel is a huge undertaking. There are many things that go into the writing of a fiction story. The best tip I can pass on is this: Break everything down into little bite-sized pieces. By doing this, you can reduce a huge project down to do-able portions that can be done whether you have 2 hours a week to write or two full days! It only requires a little planning and organization.
ALL NOVELS REQUIRE SOME SUSPENSE:
Regardless of what type of novel you choose to write, all stories require at least a semblance of suspense. Suspense is what hooks the reader into the story, and it is what pulls the reader along the story and keeps them reading. Suspense creates a question the reader desires an answer to. The greater the suspense, the more hooked the reader will be.
READING OTHER AUTHORS:
It’s important to keep reading as your own journey as a writer continues. Each author has a different style and uses different storytelling techniques. The stories don’t even have to be great. You can learn from the good, the bad and the bland. Just analyzing what made a book bland is a great lesson in itself. Did the story need more action? Did the story get stuck somewhere?
When I read novels now, I can usually tell whether the author is a pantser or a plotter. If the story sags in the third section, I can tell the author got caught in part two of the three-act structure.
The books I read now are twice as enjoyable because I experience them as a reader but as an author too. I get to enjoy the story itself but also watch and learn the author’s storytelling techniques too.
WATCHING MOVIES FOR INSPIRATION:
When I am in the process of writing my own novels, I tend to read less because I’m reading and proofreading my own pages. During these times, I like to vegetate by getting lost in a movie. I watch movies specifically to learn from them. Believe me, you can learn a lot about the actual storytelling craft from watching movies. They can also be a source of inspiration for your own stories.
It took me almost a year to come up with my first story for a novel. One full year. I didn’t know where to start. I had ideas, but didn’t know how to brainstorm them into a potential story.
WHERE CAN DO YOU GET IDEAS FOR A FICTION STORY FROM?
Ideas for stories in the beginning will come from TV movies, Cinema movies 
or other books you read. Reading other authors is crucial no matter where you are on the writing spectrum. However, when you’re new, you can learn a lot from watching mystery or crime noir movies. I like movies from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The movies in these decades didn’t have CGI and the directors had to use the stage to tell the story. They used wider shots and props to assist the storytelling. By watching these older movies, you can learn a lot regarding writing.
The movies of today show the location scenes once and then do close up shots of one character talking and then follow it up with another close-up shot of a character talking. There’s not that much to learn about storytelling from these movies. It’s a shame because the sets are absolutely gorgeous, especially in the fantasy movies.
To the left (or above) is a screenshot of the Wikipedia page that comes up when you search “1940 in film”. This will give you all of the films and a tiny synopsis of what the films are about. You can pick whatever decade appeals to you.
READ THE SYNOPSIS FOR THE MOVIE FIRST:
It’s a good idea to read the synopsis before you view the movie. Knowing at least a basic outline of the story will allow you to absorb more as an author. If you go into the movie blindly, you will be “experiencing the movie” as a viewer only. By knowing ahead of time what story will be unfolding, it will allow you to watch specifically for certain scenes to unfold. You can watch what tools are used to move the story along.
For example: Notice in the scenes how much information is passing to the viewer by the setting. Besides the timeline of when the story is taking place, it often will give you shots of recognizable icons from certain cities. There are so many techniques you can learn from watching these older movies about all of the tools used to lay out the facts of the story and how suspense is created. Below is a list of things to watch for in stories:
How does the movie show the location of the story? Do they use icons, or text on the screen? Do they use snippets of dialogue? Each movie you will learn different tricks for showing time and location.
How does the story show either poverty or opulence?
How does the movie present the premise? There will be at least dialogue about what the main character wants or needs. Notice how this is done.
Notice where the suspense of the story starts. Even in non-mystery stories, there will be at least a thread of suspense. It might be suggested by a vision that one character and the viewer see and no one else does. Or it may be a little gossip that passes in a short conversation.
Notice how the passage of time is handled. Is the passage of a few years spoken in dialogue or is it projected in some other way?
Notice how the writers show the character’s weakness or fallen nature.
Notice the change in locations in the story. This is often how the story is kept moving forward.
Notice when the suspense gets stronger.
Watch for how the writers will use lies to create a sense of worry or dread.
For any twists in the story, notice how abrupt it happens. Also take the time to notice if this was foreshadowed in the beginning of the story. Readers love foreshadowing.
MY SUGGESTION FOR A MOVIE:
If you are looking for a suggestion, I would suggest Rebecca for the first movie. This movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and it has a lot of gothic atmosphere. There is also a psychological plotline in this story so it is a goldmine for learning storytelling tools.
Most of the synopses on Wikipedia give you an outline of the story but they don’t have spoilers in them. Sometimes I only read about six paragraphs on the really long ones because the purpose is only to know a little bit about what the story will be about so you can watch for how things are handled on film. You can easily translate any of these tools to novel writing.
GOTHIC MOVIES: Gothic movies are great at showing how to introduce fear and suspense into a story. They are also a great place to learn how to use the atmosphere and the location and backdrops to add to the suspense.
FILM NOIR: These movies are great to learn character development. Film Noir is usually about all fallen characters. In other words, they are all sinners, but some characters are bigger sinners than others. This is a great way to learn how to craft a fallen
LONG SERIES: These are great to learn about how the location and things in the room or backdrop help to relay the story. You can learn a lot about the passage of time, how flashbacks are handled, how to introduce new characters in preparation to take the story in a new direction. Miniseries like Downton Abbey and other miniseries are a great place to learn about what is going on.
MELODRAMA: Melodrama has fallen out of favor in recent times, but I personally think it needs a comeback. You can learn about melodrama from old world soap operas. I think the only one I can think of is Dallas. It’s on either Amazon Prime or somewhere else you can watch it. These types of shows are good for showing how to blend romance, cheating, and other emotional scenes into the story.
You don’t have to commit to watching the entire soap opera. You can learn a lot about storytelling tools by watching only a few shows.
Blow is a copy of the entire Brainwashing Sheet I referred to above. You can read the blog post about how to use it here.
And you can sign in to download your copy of the sheets below:
March 4, 2024
Book Marketing – ManyBooks.net
I have advertised with Freebooksy and have had a good experience. The cost to advertise runs approximately $100 to 110. Occasionally, they do have a special, but generally, it is a $100.00 cost. I’ve had over 2,000 downloads with them, so I consider them the best that I have tried.
I have also used The Fussy Librarian and I’ve also had a good result. Their prices range from $49 to $80. They have less of a reach, but I have had 300 or 400 downloads and I still consider that a good result.
THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK:
I decided to try some of the newer kids on the block to see what kind of results I would get for less of an investment. The first one I’m trying is Manybooks.net.
You can see a snapshot of their website to the left. The website is for readers, of course, and they have a search where the readers can browse through all the books or by genre.
AUTHOR SERVICES:
In order to find the author services, you need to scroll all the way to the bottom and look for a link for Author Services. I took a snapshot of it above.
THE REQUIREMENTS TO ADVERTISE:
Above you will see the conditions that I took a snapshot of from their website. The book has to be marked down at least 50%. You need a minimum of 5 reviews on Amazon and you need to have a 4-star rating or higher. More on this below.
I tried the $29 package, shown abaove, to see what kind of results I would get. Because they required a 4-star rating, I had to choose Book 4 from my Newport Vampire Series. It’s always harder to market for a Book 4, so I had pretty realistic expectations going into this.
The first book in this series, Darius, A Vampire Story, is permafree on Amazon.
Besides the two permafree books I have, all my other books are in Kindle Select. So I set Distrust to be free on February 26th and February 27th. I only purchased the one promotion on 02/26/24. I signed up and these were my results:
02/26/24 – Distrust – 135 downloads and Darius (Book 1) had 21 downloads
02/27/24 – Distrust – 132 downloads and Darius (Book 1) had 19 downloads
I was very happy with the results. First of all, having 135 downloads for a Book 4 in a series is good. Darius also received 21 downloads. Now, Darius gets downloads everyday on its own, but I attributed all the downloads to the promotion just for ease of keeping the records.
The bigger surprise was that I had the same amount of downloads on the 27th. I only paid for one promotion but I count all of these downloads as results of the paid promotion.
Next time I will try Murder in the Sanctuary which is a Book 1 in a series but not permafree and see what kind of results I get. I will do a follow-up blog and video.
I am also planning to try another book, Groomed for Marriage which is permafree with the second $39 package. I’ll write about that one when I do it. The third package had to do with more of an editorial package. It seemed a little bit involved, an author interview, and working with their staff. I wasn’t interested in that one at this time, but for anyone who is looking for something like that, their price seems very reasonable and their staff, pictured below, seems friendly enough!
Below is a video I made going over the website and showing you where everything is. Sometimes it’s helpful to see it live.
February 27, 2024
Finding, Making & Clawing Back Time & Energy to Write that Book!
This is the third and last segment to the Personalized Workflow Series. In this post, I'll share my best strategies to find, make and claw back time to make room to write that book you want to write.Although I'm in retirement now, I wrote the first six of my fiction books while self employed full time. So I know the following strategies work.HOW DO YOU FIND TIME?
In order to find time, you need to analyze your life to find the wasted time and the dripping faucets of time. The last two segments of this series are all about looking at your duties and obligations from a bird's eye view in order to do a proper analyzation. By seeing everything on paper before your own eyes, you can more easily see where the time leaks and losses are happening.Look for the obvious ways you're losing time. Are you sleeping too late and not getting an early enough start? Are you getting lost in social media or talking too long on personal phone calls? We tend to do this kind of thing when we're not in a time-management frame of mind. We assume we have all the time in the world. First look for obvious wasted time. With two ounces of discipline and a tighter but realistic schedule, you can reclaim all wasted time and direct it to your actual goals.
Learn to break down projects into bite-sized pieces. Instead of scheduling yourself to write for five hours for two days in a row, try scheduling three two-hour writing sessions over the course of a week.Once you have made the list of obligations and the realistic time frames to complete them, you can more easily juggle a calendar to make time for everything. It's easier to swap out a 2 hour time-frame than a four-hour time frame.ANALYZE YOUR LIFE FOR WAYS TO MAKE THINGS MORE EFFICIENT:Once you have found all the time leaks and fixed those, now it's time to look at the ways in which we can more efficiently use our time. Most of us develop the bad habit of keeping a mental list of the things we need to accomplish. Then we move from one thing to another based on what we think we should do now or next. This leads to squandering both time and energy.By looking at all of your weekly or monthly obligations from above, you can be much more efficient with your time. It's possible to categorize tasks and assignments in order to get them done together. With a little foresight, multi-tasking happens naturally. I'll give some examples below.
Multi-task Example 1: If you go to Church once a week, schedule a grocery pickup afterwards. Use Instacart to order the groceries and then simply swing by and pick up the groceries on your way home. That's a two to three hour savings right there.If you need to pick up mail at a post office or a central location, add that small errand onto the grocery haul. I'm sure you are getting the idea that by grouping errands done with the car together, multi-tasking allows you to clear them all away on one trip. This saves both time, energy -- and gas. This is another huge time savings that can be put towards making time to write or do whatever else you want to do.
Multi-Task Example 2: Schedule doctor appointments on the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Schedule research to be done in the waiting room in both doctor offices. Most doctor offices allow you to use at least a general Wi-Fi. Then add lunch with a friend between the visits and keep up friendships as part of your new lifestyle.I always have a cellphone and ear buds with me. Any time I have to wait, no matter where it is, I watch marketing or writing videos to improve my skills. This is a strategy to squeeze every available minute in a day and make it work for you.Multi-Task Example 3: Get any Saturday chores out of the way by doing the chores one bite at a time during the week. Washing a floor takes about ten minutes. Dusting one room? Fifteen minutes -- depending upon how many dust-collectors you have displayed! You can get up twenty minutes earlier in the mornings to make time for one housekeeping or bookkeeping chore to clear a full Saturday.
At the end of your day, when you're ready to sit back and relax, put in a load of laundry first. Set an alarm to put it into the dryer. Be sure to transfer it to the dryer and then you're done. If you have enough energy to fold and hang the clothing when done, great. Otherwise, the folding can go on to tomorrow's list of things to do. Just tumble dry the clothes for five minutes before folding. You have just found two more hours to write.
Pick up the living room: If your living room is a mess -- and if you have kids it probably will be -- do the following: Before sitting down for the night or before leaving for work in the morning, put four things away. Then put another four things away. By about the fourth run of putting four things away, the living room will be tidied up. You will be amazed at how this four-things technique can clean up a room in no time!Analyze the rest of your home-cleaning and house-maintenance routines and see how many of them you can reduce down to a five to ten minute quick routine before leaving for work or leaving for an appointment. My home is orderly as I do these 10 minute clean ups about twice a day. That's enough to keep it neat. I literally don't have a cleaning day. It's all done in these 10 to 15 minute sessions that I sneak into my days.LET'S TALK ABOUT MAKING TIME TO WRITE:So now that you have the strategies to find at least a full day to write, let's talk about making it a more formal endeavor. This requires an announcement to the people around you. Creating an actual workspace will also formalize this goal.Tell your family and close friends that you are setting aside a few hours on Saturday or whatever day works for you where you will need them to allow you to have this time uninterrupted. Tell them straight out you will need their cooperation. Children often think parents' only job in the world is to wait on them. Be sure to explain to your children that you are adding a personal goal into your life and you need their help and cooperation.This formal announcement will let them all know you're not taking time away from anyone. You're not abandoning them. You have simply cleaned up your life in order to put the found time towards meeting your new writing goals.
Infants: If you have small babies, this announcement won't work, of course, but you can make good use of their nap time. That can be your time to write. Toddlers can be a handful and you may need to schedule your free time to write after their bedtime. If that is your only time, let your spouse know you want to set aside a few hours to write and you need his or her cooperation.CLAWING BACK TIME & ENERGY FROM WORK?
Clawing back time and energy from your job is a different strategy. This can only be done in some jobs. Realigning and redistributing your energy, however, can be done in any job or career. Let's talk about the differences below.First of all, not all jobs are careers. Sometimes we have jobs because we're in a phase of life where we can't devote ourselves wholeheartedly to an outside career. Women raising children or caretaking a parent are perfect examples of needing a paycheck with not too much responsibility. Sometimes it's more beneficial to have a job with kids because your life changes every five years based on how their lives change. Being able to redesign a job or get a different job based on your needs can be worth more than a career during the years you raise children or caretake a loved one. Remember, after you're 45 years old, you still have time for a career that can span 25 years or more.IF YOU HAVE A GOOD CAREER POSITION:Some jobs are career tracks. If you are pursuing a career and are in a good position where there is growth built into the company you're with, that's great. You may not be able to claw back too much time, but you will be able to claw back some energy with the efficiency I cover later in this blog post. Keep reading.IF YOU HAVE A JOB THAT IS DRESSED UP TO LOOK LIKE A CAREER BUT IT ISN'T:For those of you who have a job that is disguised as a career path, the first order of business is to decide if this is the type of job you really have. If there are no supervisory positions to move into, you have a job. If there are no corporate positions available, you have a job. If everyone in management is from the same family or closely-knit cultural group, and you're not one of them, then you have a job. You can claw back both time and energy from a position like this.If there's no career growth in a business, people generally max out salary-wise and it's only a matter of time before the bosses are too tempted to hire a younger person for less money. There is no loyalty from employers today. So just know that.GOOD JOBS vs. DEAD-END JOBS:There are still what I would call good jobs that are not career paths. If you are pursuing a greater goal and have a good job with no career path, it's fine. If you are raising kids or pursuing a masters or a doctorate, a good job without a career path is okay. Even a dead-end job can work as long as you are being paid fairly.During the years you are pursuing other higher goals, going from good job to dead-end job to an okay job works well because your need at this time is only a paycheck. You can recover both time and energy from all of these jobs.Once you know you are not in a career tract, you can recalibrate both time and energy output on your job. First of all, good people tend to give too much to these jobs because they tend to give a lot of themselves all the time. You must realign your energy output according to the following rule: You agreed to work a full shift with certain responsibilities in exchange for a specific amount of money. Shift into that mindset. Don't volunteer to do extras. Don't arrive twenty minutes early -- take care of some chore at home if you're ready earlier. Don't feel it's your job to entertain the people at work. You want to shift into a state of mind where you are doing the job you agreed to do but with a slightly reduced amount of energy output. Your goal is to hold up your end of the bargain. Do the shift you agreed upon, but don't exhaust yourself in the process.You will be shocked how a shift in your mindset will allow you to leave the job after a shift with a reserve of energy that you can put towards your writing goals.TOXIC CAREERS & JOBS:
If you have a great job but it's in a toxic environment, the amount of energy that you are expending psychically, mentally and emotionally is very high. Working with horrid people and/or in a toxic environment is very draining. A good job is better than a toxic career, especially if you have a goal to write or pursue a different occupation. So just be aware of this. You may want to employ some of the strategies for taking back time and energy from a dead-end job so you can gather your energies for other pursuits.STRATEGIES TO SAVE ENERGY:Shift into a lower energy output in these dead-end jobs. Continue to hold up your end of the deal. Do an honest day's work in exchange for your paycheck. That doesn't mean working to the point of exhaustion. It means a fair day's labor.Make checklists and cheat sheets for most of the things you do at your job. If you are following a boss' list of how to do things, just lower your pace and energy output. This will allow you to continue to work, but stay away from exhaustion.Analyze all of your job duties and using web flow charts, checklists, procedure lists and information sheets, which we learned about in parts 1 and 2 of this series, you can reduce the amount of mental energy applied to all of these tasks. This will enable you to save a huge amount of mental energy at work too.All jobs, no matter what it is, can be robotized. Example: Think of all the doctors' offices you've been to where they have it set up like an assembly line. They move you along the conveyor belt from one waiting area to the next, all preparing you for a four-minute visit with the doctor. They have robotized even that profession to be an assembly line job. This is for efficiency.A WORD ABOUT LUNCHTIME:Claw back lunchtime for yourself. Too many employees wind up eating lunch with co-workers that they barely have anything in common with. Because we now live in a global society, we barely have anything in common with each other -- except knowing the other people we work with. So very often the conversations at work descend into gossip. And there is NOTHING more energy robbing than making idle gossip.So if this is how you are spending your lunch hour making idle chitchat or gossiping with coworkers, you need to start leaving your job to sit in your car and write, do research, run errands, or whatever. Just use the lunch hour constructively.Try to limit the mindless chit chat that also goes on in most workplaces. Co-workers are not friends. You won't know most of them five years from today. Don't allow them to talk and talk and talk until you're punch drunk. Under the best of circumstances, they can be an occasional lunch buddy. Lunch buddies are people in the third circle of influence in your life. Our spouses and families are in our first circle of influence. Church or private club friends, lifelong friends, more distant relatives, and neighborhood friends are in our second circle of influence. The third circle of influence is for co-workers, doctors, business connections, old acquaintances, etc. So don't allow co-workers to drain your mental, emotional or psychic energy during the day by making idle, mindless chatter.By applying all of these strategies, you will recover a lot of time and energy from each day. Now you have everything you need to set up your new goal of writing that book!
