Struggles and Royalties

So I must admit to being very excited. I first published Love Bite on March 1st. Now, exactly 30 days later, I have finally sold enough to make up for the cost of the cover. As a matter of fact, I’m now ahead $4.11. Yes, I laugh a little as a write this. Technically I’m not ahead anything if you consider of the cost of the laptop, printer, copy paper, and flash drives. You don’t go into writing for the money- if you do you won’t last long. You go into it for the love of spinning a good story, and if you’re lucky you’ll spin a great one.

Someday I’ll accrue enough royalties to make up for investing in the tools of the trade. For now I consider them long term goals and consider myself in the positive with royalties from the first book. I’m happy with where I am right now. I’m writing and that’s enough for me.

Okay, yes, maybe I’m a little obsessed…

To my fellow authors out there- are you familiar with the KDP stalk? Do you check and see how your sales are doing? Is it a crushing blow to see that someone returned your book? Do you stalk your KDP reports after someone says they downloaded, excited to see the number increase by one? Just me? Oh…. *blushes*

Yes, I fully admit all of the above are true. I have been published for 4 weeks and I am still very new. Sales are doing much better than I expected, and I will also admit to doing a (most likely scary) happy dance when I sold my first book on amazon.co.uk. Yeah baby, I’m international now!

So I logged on to stalk myself and saw the dreaded first return. *sob* *gasp* Yes, my heart broke a little, but I was determined to overcome it. I just sat down and went back to working on book 2, Bitten By Regret. I originally said when I started it a few weeks ago that I expected to publish in 3-6 months. Now I’ve tentatively pushed that up to an early May release date. The Muse is insistent and I don’t like to argue- I may find I have nothing to work with if I do!

Bad reviews? A return? No reviews at all? *shrug* Yeah, they suck, they truly do. But you know what? I’m still writing for myself first so it’s okay. At least I’ll always have one fan, even if it’s only me.

Busy bee!

My cover for Bitten By Regret, book 2 in the Just One Bite series.

I know I’ve been fairly quiet these last few days but I claimed some time for myself. I spent the weekend reading Plague of Coins and The Forgotten Eden by my current favorite author and friend, Aiden James. I have always loved writing but it was nice to take a weekend and fall back in love with reading again since there never seems to be enough time for it.

I happily return to work today with some new ideas for my Just One Bite series. Book 2, titled Bitten By Regret is nearing the halfway point and I look forward to being on the other half of the series by the end of the week- probably another 5000-10,000 words of so.

I have a tentative cover design for it and I love it so far. Now to use the cover as motivation to get this book written, and hopefully ready to be published in May.

Marketing And Writing

Sadly this post is not advice-oriented. This is an example of trying to balance your time and still get your goals accomplished. I spent all day yesterday advertising Love Bite and Table of Blood to try and drum up some new readers. No easy feat

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The books are as different as night is from day. While both are supernatural in nature, Table of Blood is a short story and Love Bite is a vampire novel that’s going to be part of a series. The main characters are a lesbian couple and there are some graphic love scenes. In TOB, the story follows a girl from childhood to adulthood and there are no sex scenes at all.

This means advertising in different areas and wording each advertisement differently. This also means there is no time to work on the second book in the series or the new short story I’m also writing.

So how do you balance your priorities? I’m still seeking the answer to that myself. The way I do it is spend 4-6 days a week working on my novel or the new short story. I accomplish as much as I can (usually 500-800 words a day, although occasionally I manage to get 1500-2000 written) and then I take one day a week strictly for marketing. I also try to squeeze in at least 1 blog every other day if I can find anything to write about that day.

In addition I’m a stay-at-home mom with a 4-year-old who hasn’t started school yet. This means everything I accomplish in that week has to be divided up around her needs. My days are full and I work really hard but the pay-off will be worth it, and I’m not only talking about sales. I feel accomplished, useful. Maybe a little scattered and hectic but each day is worthwhile. I challenge myself daily to get some large project done- I encourage everyone to do the same. Challenge yourself to accomplish something today, and again tomorrow!

Shrug off the Disappointment

Sounds like a great idea if not an easy one, right? But it’s very important to do this as a writer no mattter how hard it may be sometimes. As a writer you will get disappointed a lot- whether it’s a book rejection from a publishing house or a bad review from someone who has read your work.

I wrote a short story that I was absolutely proud of. I took an inanimate object and made it into something menacing and supernatural. It got rave reviews from those I let read it, and my pride grew. So I entered it in a short story contest. 6 winning entries were chosen for publication- mine was not one of them.

This is where the shrugging it off comes into play. I let myself be upset for a moment, but only one. Then I shrugged it off and published it on Amazon. Now it’s there for readers to enjoy even if it didn’t win the prize. While I was looking forward to having a contest publication to add to my biography it was okay- I tried and that was good even if the end result wasn’t what I was hoping for.

As for reviews that make you frown? Just remember that not everyone gets your writing style. One of my favorite authors has several 1-star reviews on Amazon, and I know he feels every one of those more than the 5-star ones. The message to take away is that you cannot please everyone, so instead I offer this advice: Write for yourself before all others. You may sell tons of copies or none at all. Be your own biggest fan and your harshest critic, but always write for yourself first.

Good Morning to the World!

Hello all! Since I posted the blog “Graphic Scenes- To Add or Not To Add?” I’ve done an awful lot of soul searching. I’ve come to a few conclusions.

Although to some I went too far on my adult scenes in Love Bite to others I could have done more, or I could have ditched them altogether. The way I view it, after a long conversation with a good friend yesterday, is that I actually fell somewhere in the middle. I can back up from here and be less graphic in the future. I could go full steam ahead and actually add more to future books.

What I have decided to do is this- the same thing I did in the first! Write what my characters are screaming at me to write. If it’s a softer scene that comes to mind I’ll write it that way. If it’s more graphic than the first then that is write I’ll write. I’ll research, I’ll learn more, and I’ll do the scenes better, whether they are more explicit or less.

My book will be written the way it cries out to be written. If I try to censor myself in even one small way I may find myself unable to move forward from that point. I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am to stop now.

So for better or worse, the second book in the Just One Bite series will write itself the same way the first did- just hopefully better. Thanks for your responses. Feedback makes it easier to make a decision, especially when it is such a hard choice! Keep reading, loves, because I will keep writing.

Where To Find Me

I’m not one to toot my own horn, but for those who are curious, here goes:

Toot toot!

You can find Love Bite, my first novel in one of these locations:
Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Love-Bite-Just-One-ebook/dp/B007FL4WOM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330799109&sr=8-1

Paperback edition: http://www.amazon.com/Love-Bite-Just-One/dp/1470165554/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_t_3

or: https://www.createspace.com/3813882

You can find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/kayglassauthor

or follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kglass112406

And of course there is my author webpage: http://www.wix.com/kglassauthor/all-things-books

That is the end of my horn tooting… I’m all over the Internet these days.

The Importance of Reviews

I joined a review community on Facebook recently to try and help a few authors out with their books. I read one that captivated me with its storyline- that is, the description did. The story itself was less than impressive. This was my first review and upon finishing the book I dreaded writing it. I gave it 3 stars and felt awful about it because even that was generous! Spotty grammar, misplaced punctuation, and a story that went from point A to point B to point Z…. wait, did I miss a few pages?

I felt so guilty even giving this review to the author, especially when I told her than sadly I felt like I had been promised fireworks, showed up and got firecrackers instead. It was a shame because the whole storyline was great!

I received an email from the author today and I absolutely dreaded opening it. Having just published my first book I know how each criticism hurts. The upside? She was happy! Until my review she didn’t notice she had accidentally uploaded her rough draft, not the final copy! Whew! All my worrying was done for nothing.

If you find yourself reading a book and you have the time to do so, please do! This helps authors know what to do more of, or less of, in the future. Or maybe, just maybe, you’ll find yourself helping someone as I did- purely by accident. Good review, so-so review, or awful, the author needs to know. I would rather receive 100 bad reviews than 3 good ones. Those bad reviews help prevent future mistakes. Future mistakes cost sales in the future. So if you’re an e-reader, pick up your device of choice and read. When you find the time, please review what you read later. It truly does help!

I’m Sorry, Did I Mention I Write for a Living?

If I did, someone forgot to tell the ringing phone and the whining 4-year-old! I’ve attempted to write all day and I’ve gotten a grand total of 2 paragraphs written- maybe 500 words. I suspect the Muses are working against me today. The puppies ate the last set of headphones so I’m stuck listening to cartoons.

I manage to finally tune it out and start writing…. I get all excited…… then the phone rings. I answer the phone, talk for a few, then it rings again. Repeat pattern.

So I take my own advice and turn off the ringer….. then the cell phone rings! It’s a conspiracy I tell you! I’m not meant to work on book 2 today! So I decide to write a blog about the distractions I deal with on a daily basis- and the phone hasn’t rung once!

The only good news is that after 12 days on the market Love Bite is still doing fantastic on the market. I’m thrilled by the sales from my first book. Hey, it’s not a #1 New York Times bestseller but it’s better than I ever dreamed it would be! Here’s to more success for Love Bite on Amazon- and hopefully the paperback version as well, not just the ebook!

The Black Hole

Welcome to my home, or as I like to call it- The Black Hole. My house is vicious. If you set something down here, the furniture will eat it. Money, lighters, flash drives, clothing- it’s all edible, and we feed our furniture well.

Don’t forget the coffee table that drinks blood. It was once my grandmother’s. I gashed my head on it as a child, and both my kids have as well. I swear that’s what keeps the damned thing polished and new looking.

And toys…. If Toys R’ Us and K B Toys ever mated and produced offspring, the children apparently live here. In every room of the house. All over the place. And they reproduce nightly, creating new toys to trip over, and food for the furniture.

It’s definitely a black hole, this house. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, send help- and check my furniture carefully…..