Greg Strandberg's Blog, page 13
January 26, 2014
The Hump
I don't write my books in order.
I mean I start at the beginning usually, but halfway through that might become the middle.
I like to get that ending out of the way, oh, maybe 20,000 words in or so.
But that leaves me with the same problem every time, and that's getting over that Hump.
Usually this is right in the middle or end of Act II or so and it's just like a black hole where your thoughts go and never return from.
I'm there right now with my book The Hirelings. I only need about 7,000 words to finish this story, but a good portion of those are right there in the Hump.
Maybe I should just leave those words out. That seems like cheating, but often the reader doesn't want those anyway. They can be boring.
So I'm sitting here at 3:43 AM trying to let the story work itself out. That never works.
Only tackling the Hump does.
I mean I start at the beginning usually, but halfway through that might become the middle.
I like to get that ending out of the way, oh, maybe 20,000 words in or so.
But that leaves me with the same problem every time, and that's getting over that Hump.
Usually this is right in the middle or end of Act II or so and it's just like a black hole where your thoughts go and never return from.
I'm there right now with my book The Hirelings. I only need about 7,000 words to finish this story, but a good portion of those are right there in the Hump.
Maybe I should just leave those words out. That seems like cheating, but often the reader doesn't want those anyway. They can be boring.
So I'm sitting here at 3:43 AM trying to let the story work itself out. That never works.
Only tackling the Hump does.
January 15, 2014
The Y
I went to the Y tonight. My wife does yoga and my son plays in the play room. I can sit there with my computer and get some stuff done.
Tonight I pounded out some more on my new epic fantasy novel - The Hirelings. This is a story that follows some down on their luck mercenaries as they try to put their adventuring band back together and upend the unjust social systems of The Kingdom.
Like most of my books it should sink right to the bottom of Amazon's charts.
Tonight I pounded out some more on my new epic fantasy novel - The Hirelings. This is a story that follows some down on their luck mercenaries as they try to put their adventuring band back together and upend the unjust social systems of The Kingdom.
Like most of my books it should sink right to the bottom of Amazon's charts.
January 12, 2014
Affiliate
I've been messing around with Amazon affiliate links on my site lately.
This means that I removed all my old book covers and replaced them with the Amazon affiliate link HTML code.
I don't think it looks as good and I think I'll change it back.
That's a real pain because it'll take me awhile to load those pictures up and change the links back. I won't make any money either, unless someone buys my book, which is what I want them to do anyway.
I kind of wish I didn't start messing with this.
This means that I removed all my old book covers and replaced them with the Amazon affiliate link HTML code.
I don't think it looks as good and I think I'll change it back.
That's a real pain because it'll take me awhile to load those pictures up and change the links back. I won't make any money either, unless someone buys my book, which is what I want them to do anyway.
I kind of wish I didn't start messing with this.
January 10, 2014
Spreadsheets
I think spreadsheets are really good. I use spreadsheets for the following things:
Books: I list the books I read, keeping a running total for the year and since I started in 2008.
Movies: I do the same thing, but going back to 2004.
Words: I like to count the words I write each day, and I put these into another spreadsheet. That's how I know I got 1.25 million last year.
Sales: Of course I've got eBook spreadsheets for sales on my own books. Thankfully the numbers have gone up as the months have gone by, and I'm now on my 13th month as a self-published author.
I think I spent more time making those headings bold than I did writing this post. Oh well.
Books: I list the books I read, keeping a running total for the year and since I started in 2008.
Movies: I do the same thing, but going back to 2004.
Words: I like to count the words I write each day, and I put these into another spreadsheet. That's how I know I got 1.25 million last year.
Sales: Of course I've got eBook spreadsheets for sales on my own books. Thankfully the numbers have gone up as the months have gone by, and I'm now on my 13th month as a self-published author.
I think I spent more time making those headings bold than I did writing this post. Oh well.
January 7, 2014
Helping Others Publish
Before Christmas I got an email from someone here in Montana. They had a self-published book from the '90s that they'd written and wanted to get onto Amazon.
I met with the guy here in Missoula a few weeks later and we had his book up online the next day. He was super happy to get it out in that format and this has also given him new hope in writing some other things.
For someone in there 70s, I think that's great. I hope I can help other people get their books onto Amazon as well.
I met with the guy here in Missoula a few weeks later and we had his book up online the next day. He was super happy to get it out in that format and this has also given him new hope in writing some other things.
For someone in there 70s, I think that's great. I hope I can help other people get their books onto Amazon as well.
January 5, 2014
Reviews
It's tough getting anyone to notice your new books. Goodreads isn't much help I find.
I try to post my new books in the appropriate author folders, but we all know how useless that can be. Why would they want eyes on those anyways? Wouldn't it take away from the advertising revenue they can snatch from authors?
Oh boy, it sure is slow building up a base of people to even look at your books, let alone read them. I was happy to see that my fantasy perma-free book is on about 20 'to-read' shelves. I guess that's something.
Perhaps I'm just a little bummed because I thought/hoped January book sales would be a little better.
Oh well, I still have a really cool fantasy novel I'm working on called The Hirelings which I think a lot of people will like.
Once I can figure out how to get them to look at it.
I try to post my new books in the appropriate author folders, but we all know how useless that can be. Why would they want eyes on those anyways? Wouldn't it take away from the advertising revenue they can snatch from authors?
Oh boy, it sure is slow building up a base of people to even look at your books, let alone read them. I was happy to see that my fantasy perma-free book is on about 20 'to-read' shelves. I guess that's something.
Perhaps I'm just a little bummed because I thought/hoped January book sales would be a little better.
Oh well, I still have a really cool fantasy novel I'm working on called The Hirelings which I think a lot of people will like.
Once I can figure out how to get them to look at it.
January 3, 2014
Another Day
I'm currently working on editing a fantasy novel for someone. I get paid to do this as my full-time job is as a writer.
I like doing this for other people, but I'd rather be editing my own stuff. Well, my own stuff doesn't pay the bills, though, so I've got to do this.
Will my own stuff pay the bills one day? I suppose some of it is already. One of my goals this year is to have Amazon pay my rent 6 months of the year. It'll come pretty close here in January, but the next couple months will be a lot lower.
Oh well, I guess I'll just keep going.
I like doing this for other people, but I'd rather be editing my own stuff. Well, my own stuff doesn't pay the bills, though, so I've got to do this.
Will my own stuff pay the bills one day? I suppose some of it is already. One of my goals this year is to have Amazon pay my rent 6 months of the year. It'll come pretty close here in January, but the next couple months will be a lot lower.
Oh well, I guess I'll just keep going.
January 2, 2014
Stupid BookBub
Got another rejection from BookBub today, my 12th or 13th now, I can't keep track, although I created a spreadsheet to do just that but not until several rejections had already come in.
Anyway, I'm glad I have a policy of writing about 1,000 words or more before I even get online. After getting an email like that you can get a little bummed. The rest of the day is dreary and hopeless and no writing gets done.
Well, that happens to many, but I didn't let it happen to me. See, the 12th rejection from BookBub really doesn't sting as much as the 8th, and that one isn't as bad as the 3rd, which you thought would finally be the charm.
And of course for many there's not getting over the first BookBub rejection. Boy, I pity those unfortunate souls.
Anyway, I'm glad I have a policy of writing about 1,000 words or more before I even get online. After getting an email like that you can get a little bummed. The rest of the day is dreary and hopeless and no writing gets done.
Well, that happens to many, but I didn't let it happen to me. See, the 12th rejection from BookBub really doesn't sting as much as the 8th, and that one isn't as bad as the 3rd, which you thought would finally be the charm.
And of course for many there's not getting over the first BookBub rejection. Boy, I pity those unfortunate souls.
January 1, 2014
2014 Begins
Another new year begins. I'm not too excited - just feels like another day. I sure am glad I won't be hungover tomorrow, that's for sure!
I really wish I could read more. I used to read 100 books a year, give or take. Now I'm down to less than a dozen.
Problem is I write too much. I put out 5 books in December and I'll probably put out at least 3 in January. What can I say? I like to stay busy.
But how do those books staring at me from the shelf think? They probably feel sad that I've neglected them so. After all, Mistborn has been on my Goodreads 'currently reading' list since July!
Boy, Greg, you need to get cracking!
I really wish I could read more. I used to read 100 books a year, give or take. Now I'm down to less than a dozen.
Problem is I write too much. I put out 5 books in December and I'll probably put out at least 3 in January. What can I say? I like to stay busy.
But how do those books staring at me from the shelf think? They probably feel sad that I've neglected them so. After all, Mistborn has been on my Goodreads 'currently reading' list since July!
Boy, Greg, you need to get cracking!
December 28, 2013
What the Hay
Why not spend a little time writing on my blog page on Goodreads? I suppose if they're going to give me the opportunity to push my own books and even cram some keywords in here, hey, I better take it.
So anyways I've got 21 books published on Amazon now, up from 0 this time last year. I uploaded 3 of my old novels from 2010 on January 1, 2013, and since then I've given away about 6,400 of that first book and sold nearly 100 copies of the other two each.
Yeah, many authors are better than me, but I keep chugging along. I hope you'll take the time to click on one of my books or agree with one of my fabulous reviews.
I guess I'll have to write more posts now.
So anyways I've got 21 books published on Amazon now, up from 0 this time last year. I uploaded 3 of my old novels from 2010 on January 1, 2013, and since then I've given away about 6,400 of that first book and sold nearly 100 copies of the other two each.
Yeah, many authors are better than me, but I keep chugging along. I hope you'll take the time to click on one of my books or agree with one of my fabulous reviews.
I guess I'll have to write more posts now.
