Category: Social Media

What a difference a year makes

#books, #design, #dystopian, #publishing, Abnormal, book trailer, Celebrity, Convention, cover art, Fandom, Learning, Marketing, Musings, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Social Media, Thoughts, Time, Writing

A lot can happen in a year. You can move, change jobs, cut your hair, gain weight, lose weight, start a new diet…

…You can sign with a publishing company…

That’s right: it’s been a year since I signed with RhetAskew Publishing! What a whirlwind of a year it’s been, too! Edits and revisions and frustration and a trailer and marketing and promotion and cover concepts and decisions and book launch and signings and Tucson Comic Con–whew! Now my second book is in the hands of the great people at RhetAskew, and I can’t wait for my next round of edits–and my next year of publishing.

The whole thing is still pretty surreal. I mean, I have a published book. In bookstores. Online. At a con. I have a sequel in the works. A series in the works.

I wonder what the next year will bring… The sequel, of course. More cons? Maybe, maybe not. Tucson Comic Con was close to being worth it, financially speaking, but not quite. I still have books in the back of my car that I need to sell. There’s a smaller local con in February that I need to talk to my husband about. It’s much cheaper than TCC, and it’s close to home, but I don’t know if the logistics would work out. 

There’s also the possibility of another TCC. I’ll get an offer of the same table rate as this year because I was already a vendor, but again, it’s a matter of logistics. I want to try to get into TusCon, which is a sci-fi-specific con, but I’m afraid to even check the prices on tables for that. It’s gotta be more expensive than TCC was. Still, it would be a good opportunity. Hmm…

I still gotta work. Still gotta do all the things. Laundry, grocery shopping, bills, etc. Life’s not going to become all sunshine and roses and unicorn farts just because I’m signed with a publisher. It would be nice if things worked that way, but nope. Not quite. Lol

RhetAskew has been great to me this past year. They give great advice, and they listen to their authors. I don’t really feel that I had to really sacrifice anything to get Abnormal published. The book is great. The cover’s great. RhetAskew really does whatever they can for the author. They even give marketing and promotional advice–something I would have been lost on before!

I suppose I should get back to Book 2 before I have to go to work. I’m a little bit stuck, but I’ve made progress in the last week or two. Not as much progress as I’d like to make, but progress is progress. Who knows? Maybe next year I can add “NYT bestseller” to my list of annual accomplishments…Lol

Aftermath

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Convention, Fandom, Geek, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

Now that the con is over, I have to focus on Book 2 again. I did some figuring, and overall I made a few hundred bucks at the con selling books. Not quite enough to fully cover what I paid for the books, and definitely not enough to make up for the money I spent on the table reservation for the con itself, but enough that I’m quite happy with it.

Will I go next year? I’d like to. I’d like to go to TusCon, which is a sci-fi-centric con, and I might even like to do a small con at the local community college. That one would be cheaper than Tucson Comic Con was for a table, and I’d hit that sweet college student market. I know some college students, especially the kind who would attend the con, like to read. Voraciously. And a New Adult sci-fi/dystopian novel would hit the college market nicely, I think. We’ll see. I have to discuss with the hubby before I commit to anything on that end.

Phoenix Comicon–er, I mean Phoenix Fan Fusion–is probably not going to happen. Tucson Comic Con just wasn’t profitable enough, and PFF is more expensive and harder to get into. No, it’ll be a few years before I can get in there.

I started back on Book 2 revisions this morning, but it’s an early day at work today, so I didn’t get much done. A few lines, enough to move the story along a bit and get me some momentum for later on, but definitely will need to zero in on that here now.

I’m very excited for Book 2 now that more people are reading Abnormal. Maybe I’ll gain a new fanbase–I certainly had enough middle-aged and older men buying the book this past weekend. And at least one eighty-something grandma. I hope she doesn’t get a heart attack reading the racy bits…I kinda didn’t warn her about them. I mean, I didn’t even think about it until she was walking off with book in hand. Eh, I’m sure it’s nothing she hasn’t read before. I hope.

Speaking of new fanbase…I’ve really got to get back in the habit of reaching out to book bloggers and other influencers every day. I have been slacking on that as of late, and I can’t just leave it to the publisher; they’ve got a lot of new projects on their plate, so I need to pull my considerable weight and get more eyes on Abnormal. 

That will have to wait until at least tomorrow, though. Today I have to work. Silly day job, paying the bills and all that.

Con Log: Day 2

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Learning, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Sewing, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

So today went much better than yesterday. I sold nine books at the con, which I think is not too bad for an unknown author her first time vending.

Wore the top hat that’s on the book jacket, and people seemed to like it. I got more comfortable with my pitch to customers as the day went on, and I’m hoping tomorrow brings those wait-til-the-last-day-of-con-to-make-purchases shoppers. You know, the ones who asked if I would be there all weekend. The ones who said they’d come back. Those shoppers.

As before, I end the day exhausted, but in better spirits than yesterday. Tomorrow we’ll see how I end the con, and we’ll see what we can learn from how this one went.

Clare Speaks

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, Convention, cover art, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Interview, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Reading, Sci-fi, Sewing, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

Now that I’m mostly free of this cruddy cold that’s had my brain all muddled the past few days, it’s time to update y’all with some news. 🙂

First off, both Arizona and Tucson business licenses have been procured! Yep, I can officially sell my book and bookmarks at Tucson Comic-Con. Now I just need those pesky books to arrive and I’ll be all set.

Secondly, TCC exclusive Abnormal bookmarks have been made! They feature the neuron image from the cover design. 🙂 I’ll have a limited supply, so if you’re planning on stopping by at Tucson Comic-Con, make sure to make Table AA147 one of your first stops. I’ll be near the escalator on the right if you’re facing the concession stand across from the escalators. Here’s a pic:

Thirdly, the character interview of Clare with The Protagonist Speaks went live last week, but because I was in a cough-syrup-induced haze I forgot to post the link! I’m super excited to have Clare’s voice out there in a new place, and I need to get onto all the social media and post it. I mean, I’ve retweeted and stuff, but I gotta post the actual linkage and stuff.

Preparations for Tucson Comic-Con are still underway, but it’s mostly little things. I know I have a receipt book somewhere, just need to find it, and also make sure I have plenty of hand sanitizer and other such things ready to go.

Five more days. Four and a half, really. This is gonna be fun!

Finding my balance

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, anxiety, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, embroidery, Fandom, Geek, Insomnia, Learning, Marketing, Mental Health, Musings, Novel, Promotion, SCA, Sci-fi, Sewing, Sleep, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

Work. Home. SCA. Books. I have many different facets to my life, and I’m having a bit of trouble finding the right balance between them all.

I forgot something at work last week–something major, in relation to my new position. That was embarrassing. At home, my sleep schedule is still very off despite the new dosage of meds. I’m pulling back from the SCA to try to manage the other parts, and I’m slacking on the book promotion.

I will have to force extra time between patients for the new position. I don’t know what I’m going to do about the sleep, aside from making offerings to Morpheus or something. I’m slowly finding the balance of SCA–I need to take at least one weekend a month off from it, it seems, to be able to keep sane. And as far as book promotion goes, I’m back at it this morning–between embroidery and catnaps, that is.

*Sigh.* How do busy people do it? I’ve been mostly a couch potato my whole life, and now I have work life, social life, home life, and author life. It’s a little overwhelming.

I’m going to have to apologize to my potential future Laurel for my absence from the SCA and for my complaining in this blog about wanting to take a break from the arting. From what my husband tells me (he went to an SCA event this past weekend while I stayed home), she thought I meant I wanted to take a break from working with her on arts. Not so. I just needed a break from period art in general, and I think my “weekend off” might have given me a chance to recharge and regroup.

This week, I’ll do better. I’ll work harder. Sleep more (maybe?). Craft more. Promote more.

There are people out there with fuller schedules than mine. Surely I can juggle these few things and still allot myself enough time for each.

Seeking a swift kick in the ‘nads to get my ass moving

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Convention, Fandom, Geek, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

Yeah, I know. I’m a slacker. If I don’t have constant pushing or motivation, I tend to drift away from the stuff I need to do in favor of stuff I want to do.

Take the book marketing/promotion, for example: I’ve seriously let that slide in the past couple of weeks, and from what my publisher tells me it’s shown in my sales. I’m really frustrated with myself for that, because I want the book to do well. I just am not good at pushing myself.

I’m hoping to take my promotion back on the road in the next few days to get more people interested in/hearing about Abnormal. I need to set goals and meet them, though, if I’m going to be successful at this. I can’t just keep tweeting excerpts from the sequel-in-progress or what have you. I have to remind myself that publishing and marketing a book takes hard work, and I have to treat it like the job it is. Set times each day for researching and contacting influencers, set a number of influencers per day to contact, etc.

Tucson Comic Con should help sales pick up a bit, but I have to promote that appearance, too. Gotta get word out that I’ll be there, and I have to think up something other than just books to have at my table. I’ve got some ideas (one excellent one in particular thanks to my Editor in Chief), but it’s going to take some–you guessed it–work to get them done.

Too bad “author” isn’t a job where you can clock in for your hours worked and rake in the dough that way. That would be awesome.

Of course, if it was like that, G.R.R. Martin wins the game. Straight up trolling his fans by letting the TV show surpass the books in story and just, as far as anyone can tell, not finishing the series. Not cool, man, not cool.

Nervous energy

#bipolar, #books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, anxiety, Celebrity, Depression, Fandom, Geek, Health, Insomnia, Marketing, Mental Health, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Sleep, Social Media, Stress, Work, Writing

Maybe it’s because my confidence has always been low. Maybe it’s because the process is still new to me, even though I’ve been through it before. Maybe it’s just those just-submitted-my-manuscript jitters.

Regardless of the cause, I’m abuzz with a ton of energy–too much for the amount of sleep I haven’t gotten yet.

I thought there’d be a rush of relief, a release of pent-up adrenaline, something, but nope. All that excess energy is still swimming around inside my head, and it’s frustrating. I want to sleep. I want to rest. I don’t really want to be up right now, yet here I am. Sure, I could have stayed in bed, but as I’ve discovered lately, unless I’m woken by my bladder and my bladder alone, when I’m awake I’m awake for at least a good hour or two, and the longer I spend in bed lamenting my lack of sleep the harder it is to doze back off. At least out in the living room I can get stuff done.

Yesterday I finished revisions on the draft of Book 2 and started the tedious process of writing an outline, synopsis, and query letter. Yep, those nasty little necessities that make being an author actual work. I bet if I logged the actual hours I spent working on writing, editing, revising, marketing, and promoting, I’d be in OT. Like, every week.

I know my husband isn’t at all happy with my predawn antics. He wants me in bed, resting. But it’s not like I’m getting up early on purpose–I just…wake up. A lot.

Tomorrow morning I see the ol’ psychiatrist. Guess it might be time to change up the sleeping meds…again. The last med he gave me works well enough at full dose, except I can’t wake up properly in the morning. I get extremely groggy, and I’ve had some close calls on the commute to work when I take the full dose. The doctor said that if that happens I can half it, so I half it. But fat lot of good it does at half.

Sometimes I wonder if this insomnia is bipolar-related, but when I think back on it this has been going on a very, very long time, too long for it to be a manic episode. I think I’d be proper crazy if I was in a sustained manic state for this long. As it is, I’m only semi-crazy, so I guess it doesn’t stem from the bipolar. Is that a good thing? I have no clue.

The psychiatrist should be pleased that Abnormal has been published, along with a book signing and a library appearance, but he’ll be disappointed that I haven’t been on Oprah’s show yet. I guess that’s his gauge of success for an author: appearing on Oprah.

I somehow doubt Oprah would be interested in my writing style, but who knows? Maybe I should add her to my list of influencers to contact. Lol

Trollin’ with my homies

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Fandom, Friendship, Geek, Learning, Marketing, Musings, Novel, Promotion, SCA, Sci-fi, Social Media, Thoughts, Time, Writing

I’ve finished the latest round of revisions on Book 2, and as I go to do the Write Event games on Twitter (follow @writevent to see what I mean) I’ve decided that I let too much of Abnormal go out into the Web as tweets. Sure, it garnered interest, but how much is too much? And how much of Book 2 should I give my Twitter followers a peek of?

My solution: I’m going to start writing fresh lines just for the Write Event games. Some will be from my WIPs, but some will be pulled out of thin air.

That’s right. I’m going to keep people guessing. It’ll be my own personal writing game: Sneak peek or made-up crap?

With that now safely ensconced in my brain, I think I’ll be able to entertain myself for months. The bonus is, even if there are Write Event themes that don’t fit with my WIP, I can still tweet something related to the theme and make it look like it’s from the WIP.

In other news, this morning I plan on starting to outline my *cough* semi-completed draft, as well as writing up a query letter and synopsis. My November deadline for submission is fast approaching, and I’m going to try not to cram for it this time.

First, though, food. It may be oh-dark-thirty in the morning, but I’m starving. I didn’t grab enough food at last night’s SCA household meeting. Well, potential household–we’ve camped with them twice now, which meets their requirements for joining, but they’re waffling on voting us in or out. It makes me slightly suspicious, and I have to admit I kind of feel like my husband and I are the redheaded stepchildren of the household. Like, we’re kind of part of the family, but we’re expected to do more work and it’s kind of assumed that we’ll be around…not, like, appreciated, y’know? Sure, there are a few people in the household who I know like having us around, but I’m not sure why they didn’t vote last night, which was the first household meeting since our second time camping with a large contingent of the household. Hmm…

Maybe I’m not the only troll in the room…

Excelling…or am I?

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Critique, Fandom, Geek, Interview, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

So I thought I was doing pretty well with contacting authors, podcasts, and book bloggers about Abnormal. I mean, I’ve been following along with the Marketing 101 assignments that my publisher has been putting out in the Facebook group, I’ve been researching places to contact, I’ve been documenting my contacts…so why is it that, when I input the contacts I’ve done into an Excel sheet, I’ve only contacted about twenty people/businesses??

I guess reality is not the same as perception sometimes. I’ve got a list of five more book bloggers to contact today, but I’m a little discouraged at how dismal my personal efforts have been. I want Abnormal to succeed, so why am I slacking?

Well, part of it is just life. I get busy (or I get too sleepy in the mornings), and I forget. Or I say I’ll do it after work. Or something. Regardless of the reason for the slackiness, I need to step it up. Get cracking.

My efforts look so much more impressive when they’re scrawled in a composition book or date planner. I guess I write much bigger than I realized. Lol

I just have to tell myself that I can do this. I’ve got a form email saved for sending to places, I’ve got a list started of places to contact, and I am looking every so often for more places. I’m less overwhelmed than I was previously when it comes to finding places to send requests for reviews/interviews to, but I still don’t feel like I’m doing enough.

On the plus side, I got my author copies in this past weekend, and they look great. I mean, I’ve seen the paperbacks when I did my signing at the local bookstore, but it’s cool to have a copy to carry around, and the hardcover looks great, too. 

Ain’t they a beaut? 

I guess I should get off the blog and get to the blogs. Er, book review blogs.

Plagued by pollen

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Education, Fandom, Geek, Health, Learning, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Social Media, Time, Work, Writing

Sweet baby Jesus, whatever’s in the air lately is kicking my ass.

Okay, so maybe it’s not that bad. I can still breathe–kind of–and I don’t have a scratchy throat. The sniffling and sneezing is annoying as hell, though.

My allergies are weird. Some years, I go without any allergy problems. Others, I have really bad symptoms when the pollen count is low. Still others, I have symptoms for a couple of weeks then nothing. I can’t predict when or how the allergies will strike, so it’s pretty much a crapshoot. Do I take allergy medicine today or not? I might be feeling okay now, but it might get worse as the day goes on.

As far as the Abnormal front goes, I feel pretty accomplished. Yesterday I made several attempts at contacting podcasts, libraries, and bookstores to see about getting Abnormal on the air or on the shelves. No responses yet, but that’s okay. Some days the fish just don’t bite. Just making the contacts is a big step for me, especially with my weird fear of being a bother. Yeah, it’s not the fear of rejection that bothers me. If someone responds with a “no,” well then they’re just not interested. But if I possibly am a bother to them? Man, that gets to me.

Today I hope to contact at least three or four more podcasts, a couple of book blogs, and more libraries. I’ve kind of exhausted the local and regional bookstores–that’s southern Arizona for you. The desert is as empty of bookstores as it is of all but the hardiest of plant and animal species.

Also today, if time allows at work, I need to get my new certification done. It’s an online test, “open book” as it were (because since it’s online, I have Google as my resource if I get stuck). I was hoping to get guidance for what to study from the current person in that position, but he hasn’t had the time to shoot me an email, I guess. That’s okay, though. I can figure it out, I’m sure. It’s just a matter of squeezing it in where I can.

Off to go bother some podcasts and blogs!