K. Victoria Chase's Blog, page 2

#WednesdayWriter ~ Pay Up

“If you truly believe in your work, charge for it. Art that is offered freely is often disregarded.” ~ Michael Hyatt.

Inspirational quote of the day; however, I often feel the opposite is true for the latter statement. As a writer, if you don’t give away your work–say, the first book in a series–then the reader will move on to an author who will. If you charge for your work, you can’t possibly “entice” a reader to buy. This has been disproven time and time again by plenty of authors that aren’t me.

Well…

I’m going to try and prove it.

Time to pay up.

I’m in the process of putting all of my work back to the paid status. I know some readers think writing is all rainbows and chocolate, but a lot of work, stress, and money goes into producing something those readers want to consume for free. Nobody faults J.K. Rowling’s $95,000,000.00 net worth. I consistently pay to see the Fast and Furious movies because I know I’ll be entertained–but I bought a ticket to that first movie. I want readers who are that loyal.

If you’re just finding me for the first time, you can still receive a free novel for joining my mailing list; after all, you’re giving me permission to email you–that’s huge.

You won’t regret spending $2.99 on any of my novels.

Photo Credit: Youtube

#WednesdayWriter ~ #GetYourLifeTogether

I’ll be honest with you…I forgot to blog last week.

AHAHAHA.

Maybe it’s not funny to you, but it made me laugh last Friday evening when I wondered what the topic of that week’s blog post was and realized that I hadn’t written it.

#LifeHappens

I don’t even remember what I did last Wednesday that made me forget. But this puts my life into an interesting perspective. I’ve been here before–a number of times–and here I am again, and hoping it sticks because I’m looking at other authors around me–a practice you shouldn’t do if you want to avoid the green-eyed monster–and I’m struggling not to succumb–again–to the negative emotions that thrive in defeatism, self-doubt, and self-pity.

#GetYourLifeTogether

I’m waiting for the delivery of a new life goals planner by high achiever mentor, author, and self-management guru Michael Hyatt. This planner is designed to keep your goals, motivations, step-by-step plan, and routines all in one place and in a simplified format for maximum review, reflection, and results (wow, I should write copy, huh?). I’m hoping it arrives in the UK soon so I can actually start living my organized life (hahaha).

What does this ultimately mean?

I shouldn’t forget to blog again because it will be scheduled in the planner with the reason why this is important–to keep me motivated (whether it gets done…down pessimism!)

If you want to look at the Full Focus Planner, you can do so here. No, I don’t get a commission because I’m not a huge influential blogger–although if you buy it, Mr. Hyatt should be pay me, right?

#WednesdayWriter ~ Do You Even Read Bro?

 

You’ve seen the meme. So funny. If you don’t know the background, it all started on a bodybuilding forum where someone asked a question about muscles and what not, to which another reader gave a somewhat expletive-filled, non-sensical answer. A guy named Chris responded to that hot mess with the question, “do you even lift bro?” It’s a question posed to challenge the authenticity of someone’s knowledge. At work, the guys create their own versions of this meme in their interactions with each other such as talking about someone’s loose shirt.

Speaking of work, today our systems were down for about 7 out of the 8 hours I was there working–which is amazing–and I had a chance to catch up on some interesting news. If you’re a writer, you’ve heard the sage advice: read in your genre if you want to write better. There’s great truth in that and it should be observed, unless you’re one of those writers who likes to break out of the box and invent something new, or you just like ignoring craft altogether.

Yet, I would suggest reading everyday news articles about whatever interests you. I wouldn’t be surprised if you find inspiration for your writing in the going-ons and felonious actions of others. Today, that’s what happened.

I’ve been struggling with the plot of Diego–a Perrera Brothers sequel–to the point where I just gave up. Sometimes you can’t force genius, you know? Nah, I kid…but not really. I set that book aside hoping to work through some plausibility issues. It’s a romantic suspense with a lot of law enforcement elements, so it has to be a little smart, right? Anyway, today I read an article about a stupid criminal whose actions mirrored some of those committed by an antagonist, and my mind was blown. I learned something new about how custom investigations worked and how I could ramp up the tension with a more nefarious connection.

Too bad I still have to work on the romance, and that’s usually the easiest part of the book. Well, I have more inspiration for that since I’m pretty sure I just blew it with a new guy (maybe next week’s post). Yup, I’m putting my own experience into this book. Hey, those who can’t love, write. No, wait…

So what am I really getting at? You can get great ideas and learn more about your craft by reading heavy-hitters in your genre. You can also generate creative plot twists, character arcs, and romantic tension by going out there and screwing up your own love life reading news stories/random articles about dumb-dumbs and other interesting things.

Now that’s cute and funny.

#WednesdayWriter The musings of an indie author struggling to sell books by not doing a single thing right.

Photo Credits: KnowYourMeme

#WednesdayWriter ~ Writers You Can Stop Publishing Now

So I came across this gem of an article yesterday: Scammers Break the Kindle Store

In a nutshell, authors are purchasing clickfarm packages to get the KU page reads, free downloads, or borrows needed to shoot them from the bottom of the kindle charts–where a lot of us authors languish–to the #1 paid spot in all of Amazon. Throw ethics out the window.

And Amazon is doing nothing–at least, nothing comprehensive–to stop it.

Scamming the kindle store has been going on for quite some time. As soon as KU was released the scam was to get readers to click to the back of kindle books immediately so the author gets the full royalty payout, even though the book wasn’t read. Authors would put a, “Click to the back of the book for your free/extra book” link at the start of the book. Authors who have massive KU page reads are given a cash bonus by Amazon and those names used to be published monthly–until authors started to complain that obvious scammer names were on the list again and again. Now, a few of these KU scam books were removed, but as David Gaughran writes in the above article, books are easily re-uploaded a couple of months later with new titles/covers–or not, haha–and then they’re back to making money.

Well, what’s an indie author like myself supposed to do with this? I barely make the Top 100 of any genre when I release a book, but the #1 spot in the whole kindle store? And these clickfarm packages cost about as much–or less–as I’d probably spend on new release marketing. If I didn’t have a moral compass that shook whenever I was operating out of bounds, I’d be tempted to use this scheme because it obviously works, unlike some of the other marketing I’ve tried which can’t give you a solid guarantee.

Why won’t Amazon take this book down?

Because it’s all about visibility. That’s the reason why your book either sells or doesn’t. If a book is highly visible, people will spend money on it making Amazon money. Or they’ll stay on the Amazon site a bit longer and spend money on something else and, again, make Amazon money. Amazon just can’t abandon that cash. Amazon’s search engine is highly used and their kindle charts are the go-to for readers looking for the next must-read book.

Currently, the book is not ranked, but it’s still on the site.

Okay, so Amazon probably removed it, but it’s back. The giant that Amazon is, it should have a better system in place to catch and remove scammers. Boy they were on me real quick when I entered my books in KU (Amazon has exclusivity for 3 months) and one of my titles was still being sold through Google or some other online retailer. Amazon sent a threatening letter that if I didn’t remove my book from the other retailer within a week, I would face being banned from using KU for a year and the possible removal of my book from their site. And they’ve done it to authors before, even though we have no control over when a retailer actually removes the book from their site.

But scammers?

Nah, they good.

How can the rest of us, who are struggling to get visibility on a site that continues to limit it, compete in the wake of scammers? Will good ever triumph over evil?

I dunno–to the first question. You can either slink away, sulk, feel sorry for yourself and never publish again because that piece of the pie the world owes you was just taken by the scammer, or you can continue to try, try, try again. Tomorrow is another day.

And you 100% miss/fail on the shots you never take.

#WednesdayWriter The musings of an indie author struggling to sell books by not doing a single thing right.

 

Photo Credit: leecountync

#WednesdayWriter ~ It’s Time to Write

There’s nothing like taking a break from writing to make you want to write. Ever since I made the decision to stop publishing, I’ve had a creative spark that’s hit me like a bolt of lightning. I guess the pressure on me to perform stymied my creativity–to a degree.

It’s always been easy for me to conjure up a story; hearing a new song or watching a movie usually sparks something new. For example, I watched a Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural youtube video weeks ago and now have a fantastic idea for a new horror television script that weaves in historical facts. The details literally came to me while I was at work…working.

With the release of pressure came a burst of energy and, quite honestly, these stories aren’t going to write themselves. A true writer can only stay away from the typewriter laptop for so long. We mostly live in a fantasy world begging to birthed from the captivity of our imaginations and experienced by the world (at least, that what I think my stories want).

Now this isn’t to blame readers. And there are authors who can turn out a book a month and publish with no problem (that’s why they’re making the money and I’m not). But clearly I was stressing myself out–knowingly–with the mistaken belief that writing and publishing was what I had to do everyday, even if the words weren’t coming and the story ideas had yet to be realized.

Wrong.

If I want to spend my evenings playing my video game, I can and I will. Won’t make any money that way, but you get my point.

Except, a writer writes. Period.

I’ve taken a break, gotten my mojo back, and now I’m furiously hitting the keys. I met my word count goal for the day, and I’m one day closer to finishing this book. Good, because I have too many other stories waiting to be written. Probably shouldn’t take too many breaks in the future or I’ll be frustrated that I’m not writing enough, and I might get bored with my own ideas, or I’ll think of another brilliant story and will want to write that one first keeping the others in a state of suspended fantasy…

We writers are straight cray-cray.

#WednesdayWriter The musings of an indie author struggling to sell books by not doing a single thing right.

Photo Credit: www.writing.com; Somee cards

#WednesdayWriter~Stop Writing

A writer needs a break. After consistently writing and editing and pushing out novel after novel…the gas gets low in the tank.

I know I need to recharge every now and then. You’d be surprised how much writing takes out of you. My last book sucked the life out of me like a dementor. A huge part of me didn’t want to even think about getting back to a writing schedule.

Hope you took some time off for the Fourth of July (well, Americans anyway)! I did. For two days, The Companion and I attended Wimbledon (about 3 hours away) and enjoyed some tennis, posh grounds, over-priced fish and chips, and–of course–strawberries and cream. I returned last night and I’m too tired to write, haha. I need another break.

All England Tennis Club

My man, David Ferrer

Strawberries and Cream–after I spilled cream on my dress.

#WednesdayWriter The musings of an indie author struggling to sell books by not doing a single thing right.

#WednesdayWriter~Your Mama is Your Only True Fan

Or whoever is always, 100% without doubt, reading your books.

That’s one thing I wish I knew before I started publishing. My mother was, truly, going to be the only one to read all of my books. Not people claiming to be my most ardent fans because, let’s face it, after three or so years of publishing, my last four releases have proven that fans come and go. You–the author–can and will be forgotten.

But my mama–and my daddy–have bought every single one of my books and my mother has read them all–mostly to proofread if I’m really honest, but at least she’s always offered to do so. She is the consummate encourager and the one person I know, to the deepest part of my soul, who wants my success.

If you’re an author, chances are you fall into the camp of most indie authors: struggling to sell. Sure, maybe you consistently sell one book a day, but we want more than that; a lot of us want this venture to financially support our lifestyle.

When the tides turn from great sells to poor–or vice versa–remember that one person who reads your work, because sometimes that’s all you have. Sometimes one is all you can get. Sometimes one is all you want.

It’s the loneliest number, but it’s still a number. And frankly, one you can build on.

#WednesdayWriter The musings of an indie author struggling to sell books by not doing a single thing right.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Introducing #WednesdayWriter

There’s no real reason for me to post a weekly message on Wednesday except for the alliteration of Wednesday Writer.

So what is this week’s post about? Simple: I’m writing.

That’s right. I’m writing today. It’s taken quite a bit of time since finishing my last book (months) to get back into a groove, but 1000 words a day is easily accomplished in thirty-five minutes or less using the BeFocused timer app. Could I write more? Well, that’s not what this post is about so I’m not going to address that subject today. The point is I’m writing; sometimes that’s all it should be about.

My reward for writing: Playing League of Legends.

That’s right. I’m back into gaming. But right now, I have to write.

I’m on Wattpad!

Finally. Yes, I know. I’ve been meaning to join–and I did two years ago–and post work and now I have. If you follow me on Facebook, then you know I’ve published my last novel, possibly for the year. I’ll be focused on marketing and writing for the foreseeable future.

But!!!!

I will be uploading fresh chapters for stories that I’m working on so you can still read new material. If there is enough interest, then the novels will be published.

I hope you join me as I continue writing in the Rhineland Musik Underground series. Strings of Subversion is the best novel yet, and I’ll be posting a chapter weekly on wattpad. If you’ve read it, then you’ll want to continue the with books.

Read Rhineland Musik Underground #2 here.

Cover Reveal~Strings of Subversion

If you haven’t seen the cover of my latest novel, here it is:

Fans in my Facebook V.I.P. group helped decide between this one and another very good cover. They’ve also been enjoying excerpts as I’ve been editing the book these last two months. I will be releasing the book in a matter of days; I’m so excited!

It would be tough to learn that she had been taken by the Gestapo, but a necessary sacrifice for the mission. And he had been trained for this. Trained to distance himself emotionally, eliminate distractions, and let go of anyone—including himself.

Berlin 1935

Jazz musician Willie Cooper has decided to defy the Nazi ban on performing jazz and join an underground movement. Music is her life, and the money she makes is food on the table for her niece and nephew, whose mother is struggling to hold a job because of the color of her children’s skin.

British Intelligence Agent Klaus Hummer is eager to prove his worth on his first assignment as a journalist for Das Schwarze Korps. The immersion into Nazi propaganda and culture reveals an alarming agenda that could threaten the life of a beautiful jazz singer he can’t extract himself from.

Only the mission. Always, only the mission.