Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The one thing I hate about summer is the heat. The trade-off is the beach and the fact that I can go outside. What do you like about summer?

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The review is up in the 'notes' section of my Facebook fanpage! And remember, it's 'ask me' week so feel free to ask me something. :)
Just got my first review in this morning, it's good and I'm really excited! More about that review tonight and I'll post it in a few places.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

I need a clone...

I really do need a clone. This weekend has been spent researching marketing tactics and attempting to formulate some form of marketing plan. I've read so much, I can probably write my own book about it (assuming the plan I do finally put into action works).

That aside, with all the posting, commenting, changes and other such things I have to do to market, I'm going to need a second me. Between working full time, attempting to write and keeping up to date with everything, I will have very little free time.

Am I worried? A bit, maybe. The more time I spend on marketing, the less time I have to write. BUT, the more time I spend on marketing, the more word will get out which will eventually lead to more time to write.

On the topic of writing, I'm playing with the idea to create a newsletter for different tricks and techniques to write a good novel. If not a newsletter, it will be a series of blogs.

On the topic of marketing, one of the major things I've learned is communication is key. Commenting on other blogs, discussing like subjects, talking to people on various social networking sites...is a big part of getting the word out there.

Another thing I learned is that I have more then likely been doing the whole Social Networking Marketing thing wrong. That is, I haven't really had a definitive WAY to market.

I also learned there are a lot of 'get-rich-quick' scams that come across as useful information...before they start telling you spam e-mail and use various different commenting tools to spam comment. Spam is a no-no. People hate spam, me being one of them.

Anyway, changes are on the horizon for this little piece of the web I call my blog...and there will probably be more changes to the website.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Motivation

So, I just received my first Quarterly Report from the publishing company. Book One has been out for about two months now and in that time, I have sold two e-books. I'm hoping it's because the book is only available online and not because there is lack of interest in it.

I'm also hoping that in the next four months I can make sales pick-up. I would be happy even selling 100 in four months, then say 200 the next. That's a half-decent goal, I think. But the problem is, major book-stores won't take it unless there is demand. And, I don't have a lot of time to make it so there IS a demand.

A bit discouraging yes, but I'm not going to give up. I didn't come this far to stop at the starting line. I'm going to find myself some really good friends to help push it over the next four months and hopefully that will make the difference.

And if I crash and burn, well at least I can say I tried. It's better to have tried and failed then to have not tried at all. At least, that's how the saying goes anyway.

On the plus side, the bookmarks, business cards and postcards look lovely. Now, once I get a small crew of people together, I can deliver them and hope for the best.
Just got the bookmarks, postcards and business cards in the mail today, they look great! Tonight will be spent planning marketing tactics.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

I just got a random bout of inspiration so I'm going to be spending the afternoon and evening writing. It feels good to get back into it. :D

Saturday, May 1, 2010

New Computer!

I'm just excited about my new work computer. It has 500GB hard drive, 4GB RAM, the new i7 chip and a bunch of other goodies I can't even remember right now. The unfortunate thing, is that this wonderful system is my work computer.

My own personal laptop is amazing, I doubt I'll even be able to touch the 250GB hard drive in it, even if I have it another 3 years. But, the comparison on screen size and resolution is like night and day.

Work laptop is like HD TV. Personal is like a regular TV. And the work has a larger monitor. I think I'm way too excited to go to work now just to use the darn thing.

But, I do have to say that I still love my own laptop. It's got everything I need for the minimal amount of work I do. This one is basically used for writing and surfing the web. I really don't need much more then I have.

Oddly enough, the set-up of this new laptop got me a little inspired to actually write something. I've been a bit discouraged as of late. Mainly because I can't get any reports on how well Book One is doing (live anyway, I have to wait a few months) and most of the networking I've tried to do isn't quite working as planned.

Mind you, 390 fans isn't too shabby considering I've only had Book One out for about a month now. I just need to study how to network properly and adjust my methods. I'm sure I'll have some free time in the next few weeks to do just that.

Until then I'll just keep plugging along (with a super machine :P) until I can make things work a bit better. Maybe if I can get a few weeks off from work...lol.

Thank you again to anyone reading this, and don't forget to tell a few friends. ;)