Obviously it was my birthday last week so I took a few days off (and reminded my husband what I look like again LOL) and caught up on some reading. We seem to have formed a tradition where we all go to Chester Zoo to celebrate my birthday and this year was no exception so off we trundled off, membership cards in hand. We enjoyed glorious weather for the entire day, hooray, and to think Little Miss was not even nine-months old when we first went.
There's no word on my publishing journey to report, although I can expect my first round of 'proper' edits any time now. I get the feeling it will be a fairly quick turnaround so if I disappear off the face of the earth for a few days, that's why. There's also been a delay with the anthology I submitted a story for as Allie A Burrow, so no news there either.
As for the reading... I raced through The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins last week and WOW! If you don't follow me on Facebook, you'll have missed my initial reaction. If you've not read these books, I can happily recommend them, I've even suggested hubby reads it seeing as it is now being used in classrooms.
The past couple of days, I've been laid up in bed after my darling children shared their tummy bug with me. First to go down was Widget, then a couple of days later Little Miss went down (spectacularly short, one episode and she was done) and then by bedtime the following day... my turn. I have a notoriously weak stomach, it's partly why I've been vegetarian for over twenty years, so anything like that hits me hard. Sigh. But I'm on the mend again at last.
So what of my writing?
It's all go still, although I'm trying not to get too caught up in any big projects knowing that my edits are due. I've seen a special submission call for novelettes/novellas which has aroused my interest and with a word count of 5-18K words, it should be fairly quick and straightforward. As usual, I've got more projects on than I can manage, so it's a case of trying to prioritise. I also read this blog post today from a respected publishing professional, which has made me want to put the brakes on somewhat.
Fellow writers and readers alike, what do you make of the Diluting your Author Brand article? Perfect sense or balderdash? Is having too many books out at once damaging your writing career and turning off your audience, or is it your best form of marketing? I'd love to hear your thoughts...
And my final thought... good luck to everyone who entered this year's So You Think You Can Write contest *fingers crossed*!!
Hope you're all recovered from that bug, Laurie! We had it in our house doing the rounds for almost three weeks - nightmare!
ReplyDeleteIt's a thought provoking article, but I'm not sure I agree with it. I know my sales have increased in direct coalition with every new book that I released and I managed a total of thirteen books in a year of being published plus three free reads.
Will I release that many next year? I doubt it, but never say never. I do know that I get reader e-mails asking me when the next in a series is out, and I know as reader myself, I sometimes wish Authors would write faster, so I could get my next 'fix' as it were.
I do think readers can switch off when you're constantly out there saying, "Here is my latest book," but only if you don't like that particular writing style. Personally I LOVE it when I discover a new author with a substantial back list, because I will buy that back list and happily lose myself in that author's writing.
Different strokes for different folks I reckon.
In this fast moving business, if you only release two books a year, chances are I *will* forget about you, unless your writing was exceptional.
That's my personal take on it :-)
I'm totally with Doris. On the other hand, I did notice, if you read the aforementioned blog, that she says "at once" and I think she (I'm defaulting to she, but I don't know the person LOL) literally meant it. Because in another part she says that for 1,2,6, months it's the only or default book.
ReplyDeleteI think she's talking of the people who throw out twenty books in a month and hope someone buys it. But in case she means a lot in a year, I don't think it's a problem. Like Doris, I'll forget about you if I don't see something new within six months. And, I was in an anthology (maybe not exactly the same) and it helped my sales. I don't know how much yet, but I had a reader say they got Ulfric's Mate based on Ravaged. And, the announcements I have more books coming (November, December) seems to have generated more interest again, and helped my FB page numbers. I sure hope it leads to people wanting more from me and buying backlists!
I have been incredibly lucky this last year with published works both as Raven and with my YA hat on. There was quite a gap between my first and second releases, and it was almost like starting over. I don't expect anyone to buy everything,( hell, I don't expect anyone to but anything and I'm happy as larry if someone does.) but my books range from historical to contemporary, sweet to hot, and a lot in between. I hope in there someone will find something they like.
ReplyDeleteI write as my ideas flow. So far they have flowed fast and furious, but who knows how long it will be like that?
I'm like doris, there is nothing better than finding an author I love, having a back list to look forward to immediately, and know the next book isn't far away.