The book and the Kindle pre-orders have been out for a few days, and I do have some pre-orders waiting – thank you, very much! I’m a touch disheartened that no one’s snatched at the book yet. I know it’s steep, and there is very little I can do about that. If I price it any lower, I’m not going to get as much profit from it. Yes – this is still a business and I need to make some sort of income from this. As much as I like the notion of being an indie author…I do have to admit that having someone else taking care of the marketing would be nice. I’m not really the ‘slap hands, kiss babies’ sort of person.

Maybe I’ll try submitting a novel and deal with the rejections.

I’m trying my best to not look at KDP’s reports on sales. It’s addictive hitting that site to see if you have any sales. It’s also maddening when you click on the site and see nothing there.

As my wife points out: “You’re a good writer, we just need to get your name out”. Which in this day and age is easier said than done.

But enough of that – there is a link to the books on the right, as well as links to all the others.

I can’t remember if I’ve said this or not, but I am going back to The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show. I can get that finished up sooner than starting a brand-new project – Catastrophic Christmas Party is going to be my Nanowrimo project, so I can get halfway to four books before July. I really, really want that pen.

Other than all of that, there is nothing more to say. I’m stopping overtime for the next couple of weeks, and honestly, I don’t think it’s going to go on much longer. I’ll be happy to get that morning writing period back and maybe quit napping during afternoon lunch. As I told Nancy: “I am not addicted to caffeine. I can quit whenever I want with no ill effects.” Then we both have a good laugh and I go back to snorting Pepsi Max syrup.

With the rumbling of the thunderstorm overhead, I probably should wrap this up before the power goes out. Like I said check out the books on the right and maybe click on a link to purchase one of them. I’ll talk to y’all in the next one.

Well, I finally did it. It’s as good as it’s going to get. I put “Valentina’s Feast” up for pre-orders on Kindle for a Hallowe’en release (am I the only one that puts the apostrophe in between the two e’s?). It’s set up right now, and you can follow this link to pre-order. It’s done. That’s it. I am officially abandoning it and getting the paperback put together for a same day release. By the time you read this (it’s Sunday here and I put it up Saturday afternoon), the preorder will be ready. If you don’t like graphic horror or sex – let someone who does know about it. I’m also going to put it up on the other platforms closer to the day so that I can have a simultaneous release across as many platforms as possible.

Anyways, “Valentina’s Repast” is not chugging along and it’s my fault. I’ve been taking up overtime at work, and when I get to lunch, I’m so tired all I can do is eat my sandwich and take a nap. I’m not writing in the morning because I’m trying to get out the door earlier. I don’t want to quit the overtime because this is money that’s going to cover the holidays – thank God we decided to not do anything major this Christmas. I’m frustrated about things is all. I might do this for another couple of weeks, try to get at least two good paychecks out of it, and then stop.

On to better news, I finally joined the crowd and watched “Squid Games” and I have to admit it’s really good. Apparently, they ended it to make way for a second season. I really do recommend it to anyone who wants to see something a little different in the “dystopian captive” genre. I think next I’m going to watch the movie “Parasite”. It’s been on my to-watch list for a while.

I guess I’ve put off laundry enough, so I’ll wrap things up here. Please, give my horror novel a chance or to someone who would be willing to do so. I promise I’m coming back to Evan’s poor world come November and probably rush this one out for a Christmas release. Also, please check out the books to the right if horror is not your bag. Hope you all have a good day.

It’s coming down to the wire for me as far as getting Valentina’s Feast ready. This Saturday, I’m going to lock myself in the study and finish trying to trim down 2,000 words. Looking back through it, I don’t really think I can – it’s pretty tight as it is. My editor said I could take out some of the step-by-step stuff (wish she’d been a little more specific) and trim it down. So far, I’ve only taken out maybe a hundred words and I’m in chapter two. I can’t wait for this to be finished.

As far as what I am doing next — *sigh* I’m not sure anymore. I’ve been getting a lot of good feed back about The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show from my writer’s group, and I am committed to getting Valentina’s Repast finished. Might as well surrender and try doing both. Just bounce between the two when I get writer’s block…which I’ve had for the past couple of days. Valentina had her first bloody dream, and the aftermath of that is not coming to me. So, I might try to write another chapter of Medicine Show and see if I can get some sort of momentum back with it.

I can write four books before next July and still make time for the vacation plans. Might not get the reward pen until afterwards, but I will get it. I just got to anchor myself down and get to work.

Of course, as I say this – I’m getting into overtime at work and getting into eleven hours of work. I have barely any time to do anything after I get home than make dinner, do dishes and get ready for the morning. I haven’t written in the morning since three weeks ago. It’s hard being a part time writer. There are those that can handle this, and I frankly don’t know how. I know when I get home from the gym, I should at least sit down for an hour and eek out something. I’m just so tired when I get home, all I want to do is sleep.

I have Saturdays – well, every other Saturday. I can do some work, but it doesn’t feel like it’s enough. I just feel like I’m not writing unless I’m doing something every day.

Maybe I need more coffee.

Well, that’s all for now, as my lunch is winding down. Feel free to meander through the books on the right and donate some coffee so I can write in the evening. Until next week – take care!

I like it when I learn new things about self-publishing. It’s on-the-job training that you don’t really get anywhere else.

I just learned more details about Amazon’s self-publishing program. I always knew about pre-orders, but I never realized how useful it can be. For example – you can put in a part of a book, and when you’re finished (as long as it’s before the deadline. More on that in a minute), you can update the file with the full book. You can post the link in the back of a Kindle book, and they can pre-order it. I know, I know – yeah…duh…. I jut never considered that. I always wanted to have the book ready to be uploaded and sent out directly to Amazon.

The other thing I learned is this: You have up to a year.

A whole year. Can you write a book in a year? I know I can.

I can put in a placeholder file for Valentina’s Repast and work on it, get it finished by…say…Hallowe’en next year and put in a pre-order link. I can use that as a way of seeing whether or not the first book was popular. If I get a lot of pre-orders, I know the book series is going to be a winner. If I don’t get a lot – maybe this is something I should set aside.

The problem – because there are always problems – is that if I put up a pre-order, I have to follow through. Not only because I made a promise to my readers, but if I don’t, Amazon will cancel the sale and I don’t get the money from the pre-orders. The money is secondary, but the promise is real. This is the reason why I didn’t take advantage of pre-orders. Now that I know how it works, I will use it as much as I can.

In fact, I plan on using it at the end of this week. I’m going to finish up trimming down Valentina’s Feast (2K words! I can do it!) and put it up for sale on Hallowe’en. After that, I will put up a place holder file for Repast and put in the pre-order link and refresh Feast’s file. After that, I let people know about Feast and hopefully get some sales.

Oh, did I mention that I have a concrete day for Valentina’s Feast? Yep. 10/31/21 is the date is it coming out ready or not. I’ve been hemming and hawing long enough. This Sunday, I will lock myself away and cut it down to 90K words or less. After that, I get everything together and start hawking it. Wish me luck.

Speaking up books – you know the drill. Books to the right, give cash for some coffee and buy Valentina’s Feast when it hits the virtual shelves on Amazon or wherever you buy e-books.

Have fun and stay safe.