Sorry for the break between posts, it’s hard to stick to a schedule starting out. On top of that, we’ve been dealing with an injured dog, which of course takes priority. On top of the top of that, I started looking for a new job too. So on top of the top of the top of that, I figured that today was an opportune time to restart my blog with a state of the author post.

Today is officially the three month anniversary of Pallas Lost’s release! I’ve sold pretty well for myself, considering I did almost no marketing during June. Nothing amazing, but I did accomplish several things:

  1. I sold more books than I expected to ever sell.
  2. I relearned I have problems believing in myself.
  3. I got a glowing review from a person I have no connection with.

Basically that’s two of the three things I needed to consider myself a success. The third, of course, being unprompted/unrequested fanart of my work.

By the end of this month, the royalties for the May should roll in. I plan to use that for advertising, and to help pay vet bills. I’ll also have a big decision at the end of the month on whether or not I re-enroll in KDP Select. The biggest “cost” to KDP Select is locking exclusivity to the eBook for a further three months. One of the benefits is the ability to run special sales; I’m tempted to forego that in order to use other sellers. I know some people rightfully don’t want to support Amazon at all, it’s just a shame they have the corner on the market.

As well, I need to push for people to leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. I have a very low conversion rate of readers to reviewers. I deeply appreciate everyone who has left a review, every little positive mention is a step towards the algorithm giving a shit.

I’ve also started actually using Twitter, instead of just having a Twitter account that languishes in the dark like a particularly evasive potato. I don’t think I’ll be able to send myself to conventions to sell books any time soon, so digital marketing is going to be my big footprint. Seeing a couple of friends get pretty massive success on the back of their social media presence hit me somewhat hard. I know TikTok is all the rage right now, but I have severe reservations about the level and amount of data that the app collects on each user. Besides, I don’t have the face or musical knowledge to properly Tik some Toks.

Work on the sequel has floundered some. I had a bit of a dry spell; I took a month off that has turned into several. It really seems if I don’t hold myself to a higher standard of scheduling time for writing that I’ll fall into a trap of neglect. I’m seriously like 90,000 words into this novel, and I’m so close to the finish line. I’m finding myself excited to see what the ending will be!

My plans for the threequel have taken a huge blow. A major change mid-novel for Pallas Found meant that the ending changed drastically… which drastically changes the trajectory of the third book. My current plan is to finish Pallas Found in July, and immediately start editing it. NaNoWriMo this year will be a tossup between the threequel and draft two of Pallas Found.

I want to get Pallas Found in the hands of my Alpha and Beta readers by the end of the January at the latest. I might send the Alpha as soon as August/September if July goes well.

So that’s the plan. Stay tuned to see if I pull it off!