S.M. Butler's Blog, page 45

It’s that time again! ROW80 check-in time! For those of you that don’t know what ROW80 is, it stands for A Round of Words in 80 Days. It’s a challenge done four times a year, and it’s meant for people with lives that can’t do a strict challenge like NaNoWriMo. Learn more about ROW80 and sign up on the website.

Basically, how I do my goals is that I have an overall blog post at the beginning of the round detailing what I want to accomplish this round. Then each week, I do three sections to each topic: what I meant to do, what I did, and what I will do. That’s me stating what my goals were, what I did to accomplish them, and what I’m going to do for next week. Because I’ve learned that if i don’t beat myself over the head with things, I don’t get it done.

Writing
What I meant to do this week:

Ideally, I’d like to finish the new contemp. I’m not sure if that will be possible though, so let’s work on getting another 10k.  I think that’s doable.
I’d also like to get another chapter on Full Circle.

What I actually did this week:

Didn’t finish the new contemp, but it is on its fifth title now. I think there’s about 15k left to go, but I think I took a wrong turn.
I started a new menage bunny, which took me by the head and jerked me around all day yesterday. Got 8k on that yesterday. Probably will finish it today. Trying to keep it 10-12k.

What I will do for next week:

So today I’ll finish the menage bunny
Then I’ll get back into the new contemp so I can finish that before the end of the month.

Blogging and Social Networking
What I meant to do this week:

Three more posts. I can do that.
Schedule next week’s as well.
Make a list of topics to write about.

What I actually did this week:

Totally only did two posts this week.

I fluctuate from 2-6 posts depending on my blogging mood. I think it’s just how I do it. *sigh*

What I will do for next week:

Work back up to three a week.
Schedule, schedule, schedule. I suck at this.
I put up a Guest Blogger page but I haven’t been actively seeking. Probably should do that.

Publishing
What I meant to do for this week:

Continue to refresh my email a lot. I’m supposed to hear back on almost all of them this week.

What I actually did and what I will do for next week:

Refreshing my email. I have subs out but I’m working up a backlist for selfpub as well.  So that selfpub project may be for next year.

Crafty Stuff

What I meant to do this week:

I want to do two more covers, which means I need to buy some more stock art and images.

What i actually did this week:

Can’t buy stock images until the first of the month so that was a no-go.
I think I’m going to do a Kickstarter project for book covers, but I’m still working out the logistics and the details of it. There’s actually quite a bit that goes into it.

What I will do for next week:

Finish writing the Kickstarter proposal and work out the details as to donation prices, prizes, ect.
I still want to do that camera strap…

Fitness and Health
What I meant to do for this week:

Workout three times.
Plan out at least three meals.

What I actually did this week:

I did no planning. This is not surprising.

I worked out twice. I need to find the time to get that third workout in.

What I will do for next week:

Workout three times.
Situps and pushups every night.
Do better with the Points.

I haven’t really gone over on my points since I started Weightwatchers, but I’m not really happy with the minimal weight loss for the last few weeks. So, I’m taking my points down a bit, and adjusting what I’m eating just a little bit more.

Overall

I love the way this is working for me lately. My goals are organized, and I get to check things off. Things are happening and they’re nice things. I haven’t heard from the subs I have out, but I hope to hear within the next week or so.

I probably won’t be online much as I hurt my eye last night and it’s annoying to try to watch the screen. I think I’ve got the brightness as low as it will go without me not being able to see the screen. It’s helping but man… eyes are sensitive.

Other than that, I’m very happy with my little bits of progress lately. How’s everyone else doing? I should go divebomb comment some other ROW80 posts…

 

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday, the day in which I join a couple hundred other authors to showcase fun six sentence long snippets on their blogs. I’m currently working on a contemporary erotic romance that I’m super excited about for a submission call. It’s untitled right now, because for some reason, titles elude me.

Ethan sat at his desk, leaning on one elbow. He had inventory for the Electrical shop on his screen, all ready to compare to the paper copy he had. But he just couldn’t seem to concentrate.

He flipped the screen over to the browser, his email looked dreadfully empty. Usually, Ash emailed him several times throughout the day. Even with the book, she’d emailed him when she picked up Corwin or stepped away from the computer. More than just being able to talk to her, he also knew she was okay. But she hadn’t today, which meant she was still pissed.

For those new to Six Sentence Sunday, you can play too:

1) pick a book– a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published

2) pick six sentences from anywhere in the story

3) post them on Sunday (hence the Six Sentence SUNDAY)

Want to play? See the site for information on how to do just that: Six Sentence Sunday

If you have a Twitter account, you can add the hashtag #sixsunday to your tweets when you tweet a link to your Six Sentence Sunday post. If you’re a writer (regardless of published/unpublished status) come join us!

I’m forgoing my usual Flirty Friday post this week in favor of doing this post about the concept of FREE and running a very special giveaway. We’ll get to the giveaway in a minute.

There was some discussion on one of the email loops I am on last week about FREE. It’s a powerful thing. I think it’s what gave the independent and self-publishing movements the traction it needed to really break out. For instance, JA Konrath originally made his ebooks free on his site. He never intended to make money off them.

There’s a problem with FREE.

Authors really need to look at this FREE thing. The newest craze is the Amazon KDP Select program. Authors give Amazon an exclusive for 90 days and make their books free ONLY ON AMAZON. What’s the problem with FREE books though? Besides giving Amazon an exclusive so they can sell more Amazon Prime memberships, there’s another thing to think about. How does FREE work? Scott Sigler gives his content away for free as podcasts and now has major publishing deals. JA Konrath gave his books away for free, created a readership that would pay him money. These guys got their start in FREE. But what’s the problem?

FREE is meant for short term.

How many authors are out there giving away their stuff for free right now? How many books are in the Kindle Lending Library for Prime Members? If everyone sets their stuff free, what is the long term effect? Right now, I have about 300 books on my Sony Daily Edition. About 80% of them were free, and I have yet to read them. Why? Because when I open my Sony, I almost always go for the books that I’ve bought first.

The markets are saturated with FREE. Readers have no incentive to buy. Why should they? If they are patient enough, the author will put it out there for free anyway. We’re setting a precedent here. Readers expect to get FREE all the time. I know that people want to make money, which means they need to market themselves. Oh, wait. That’s a key word there. I said “market themselves” and not “market their books.” Huh. Freudian slip maybe?

Market you, not the books.

Actually, that’s what I meant. I talked about this in my Personal Branding series. Too many people don’t see the elusive art of marketing as an art form. I’m fascinated by it. Social media revolutionized it. People mistake the product for being the book. It’s not. It’s the author. We are the product we’re selling. Let Barnes and Nobles and Amazon sell the book. You need to sell you.

How about offering your book at a reduced price instead of FREE all the time?

Even this is a tactic to use sparingly. We are creatures of habit. Seeing something at a certain price point means we’ll be angry if we see it higher later. Honestly, and you could talk to bestselling authors and they’ll agree with me, but FREE isn’t a standalone book tactic. Neither is the $0.99 price point. Social media is a fantastic marketing tool, but it’s not meant to sell books. It’s meant to build an engaged following of relationships with people that will buy whatever you put out.

That’s the key in my opinion.

Throwing links at people announcing your free book hoping one will stick isn’t the answer. You need to garner great content, create a great book, and let other people do the work of getting your name out there.

What do you think? Do you think FREE is the way to go? Is there a situation where FREE works? Why? Let’s discuss. I love hearing from you!

Alright, let’s get to the giveaway portion of our post today because today is Sidney Bristol‘s release day for Personal Adventures! I accidentally bought two this morning, so one lucky commenter will receive a copy of Personal Adventures FREE! (See what I did there?) All you have to do comment here and talk to me about FREE.

I’ll announce the winner here in this week’s Six Sentence Sunday post over the weekend.

If you’d like an extra entry, hop over to Facebook if you’ve got it, and LIKE Sidney’s Facebook page.

For yet ANOTHER entry, go LIKE my Facebook page as well.

Go forth, my dear readers. Go forth, and win free stuff.

 

 

It’s that time again! ROW80 check-in time! For those of you that don’t know what ROW80 is, it stands for A Round of Words in 80 Days. It’s a challenge done four times a year, and it’s meant for people with lives that can’t do a strict challenge like NaNoWriMo. Learn more about ROW80 and sign up on the website.

Basically, how I do my goals is that I have an overall blog post at the beginning of the round detailing what I want to accomplish this round. Then each week, I do three sections to each topic: what I meant to do, what I did, and what I will do. That’s me stating what my goals were, what I did to accomplish them, and what I’m going to do for next week. Because I’ve learned that if i don’t beat myself over the head with things, I don’t get it done.

I missed last week’s check in. I’ve been working hard at getting this new contemporary erotic romance done. But… Let’s get on with the goals and stuff. So this week I’m updating for the last two weeks.

Writing
What I meant to do last time:

Continue working on the new contemp, which needs a title. I have about four for it right now. Need to decide on one. Ideally, I’d like to have another 10k in on this for the week.
Get through two more chapters of Full Circle. I’m slowing down a little on this one because I’m balls to the walls on the contemp right now. It’s not often I get a burst like this, so I’m just riding it out.

What I actually did:

I’m up to about 23k on the new contemp. Zero draft is looking like it’ll end up right around 40k or so. Which is normal for me. My words breed during revisions.
I got one more chapter on Full Circle. I’m having to stop on that one a lot to resituate myself. The ending is changing a bit, so it’s requiring new words.

What I will do for next week:

Ideally, I’d like to finish the new contemp. I’m not sure if that will be possible though, so let’s work on getting another 10k.  I think that’s doable.
I’d also like to get another chapter on Full Circle.

I’ve also been thinking about another old story, but I’m holding off on taking that out right now. I burned out horribly on that story, so i think I’m going to let it marinate until I’m ready to play with it.

Blogging and Social Networking
What I meant to do this week:

Three posts for the week.
Edit and schedule a few of the old posts from the old website for future weeks.
Continue with my Facebook stuff. I’m kind of treating it as an experiment to see if it’s something I can do long term. So far, I kind of like it, so I’ll keep at it for a bit.

What I actually did this week:

I missed a lot of the posts for last week, though I got the week before. So half accomplished.
Did no scheduling, but I am compiling a few of them for a book, but I still need to write new stuff to go with it.

What I will do for next week:

Three more posts. I can do that.
Schedule next week’s as well.
Make a list of topics to write about.

What I’ve noticed lately on Twitter is that it’s become some sort of a link playground. People promo and link to their stuff, their friend’s stuff, and all that. No one seems to be having conversations anymore. So I’ve started unfollowing those that promo excessively or link too much, because while I do like following other’s links, it doesn’t seem like they’re putting too much effort into enhancing their content with them anymore. So, if I’m following you and you promo a lot, and don’t really engage your followers, I may be unfollowing you soon. No offense, but I’m there for the conversation.

Publishing
What I meant to do for last week

Still waiting on submissions that are out right now. I’m getting close to time, so I think I’ll hear something super soon.
The anthology I’m in, Spells and Swashbucklers, comes out at the end of the month. I’m considering promo ideas.

What I actually did:

Spells and Swashbucklers is out! It went live on Amazon early and the ebook version is part of the Kindle Select program, which means if you’re a Prime Member, you can download it for free.
Refreshed my email a lot.

What I will do for next week:

Continue to refresh my email a lot. I’m supposed to hear back on almost all of them this week.

Not too much on the publishing front right now. I’m concentrating heavily on content creation, so not much is going out.

Crafty Stuff
What I meant to do this week:

I want to work on and finish two pre-fab book covers.

What I actually did:

I actually finished the second pre-fab cover last night. So yay for that.

What I will do for next week:

I want to do two more covers, which means I need to buy some more stock art and images.

Fitness and Health
What I meant to do for this week:

Work out three times.
Stock more fruit to eat.
Go to GNC and see what they have for weightloss.

What I actually did:

Got some more fruit in the house. It’s my new favorite snack food.
Didn’t make it to GNC, but I’m not too worried about it.
Working out has been difficult. I’m not integrated into my routine yet, so it’s been hard to get moving and get to the gym.
I’ve lost two pounds since I started WeightWatchers, so it’s another slow, but steady thing.

What I will do for next week:

Workout three times.
Plan out at least three meals.

Overall

Still slow but steady, but I like the progress I’m making. I’m not usually patient enough for “slow, but steady” but I’m seeing results now, so I think I need to keep going with this and maybe I can push the speed a little bit, not much but a little.

This weekend is my local RWA meeting, so I’m really trying to finish my book so I can put my name on the “I completed a manuscript” list that they have. It’s the small things that motivate me.

 

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday, the day in which I join a couple hundred other authors to showcase fun six sentence long snippets on their blogs. I’m currently working on a contemporary erotic romance that I’m super excited about for a submission call. It’s untitled right now, because for some reason, titles elude me.

A little background on this part. Ethan and Ash have been in somewhat of a tense situation. They’ve been married two months now, and they just had a massive fight. Ethan took Corwin (Ash’s son) out for the day to let Ash have some time to herself and they just got home.

Ethan snuck around the corner until he could see in the kitchen. Ash’s face was transformed as she hugged Corwin, lifting the five year old off his feet. Jealousy cut into his heart a little bit, because she didn’t give him that smile. Or hell, any smile at that moment.

Jealous of a five year old, he scoffed. You’re a regular stand up guy, Ethan.

“Did you have fun?” she asked Corwin.

“Yep,” he replied. “I splashed a lot.”

“Why don’t you go upstairs and I’ll be right there to put you in the bath?”

For those new to Six Sentence Sunday, you can play too:

1) pick a book– a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published

2) pick six sentences from anywhere in the story

3) post them on Sunday (hence the Six Sentence SUNDAY)

Want to play? See the site for information on how to do just that: Six Sentence Sunday

If you have a Twitter account, you can add the hashtag #sixsunday to your tweets when you tweet a link to your Six Sentence Sunday post. If you’re a writer (regardless of published/unpublished status) come join us!

Welcome to Flirty Friday, the day in which Sidney Bristol and I talk about our online dating adventures. Be prepared for absolute stupidity, some snark, and the occasional WTFery. As always, there will be no naming of identities or personal information.

I don’t know how many times I have to talk about how little information these guys give. If you want someone to reply, you have to give a little. It’s not as if I want your life story right off the bat, because that’s a little creepy too, but something, just a little taste would be awesome.

So this particular site… I haven’t been on it in weeks. So I log in and there’s this message. Now I understand the French thing, because I mention a minor in French on my profile, so this guy thought he was being witty by saying “I must admit you are seductive” in French, but honestly, guy, it really doesn’t have the same effect when it’s typed rather than spoken. I might have been impressed if you could say it to my face, correctly. Typed… it just doesn’t have that same impact.

Here’s the other thing… What did he mean when he said he liked my description? Is it the way I write, the way I talk about what I like, the things that I said in my profile? I don’t know what that means! And that means, I don’t know what to say back because I don’t know what he’s talking about.

So, the verdict? Not as bad as some of the ones I’ve seen, but not a winner.

What do you think?

I think this wins the Internet today. I may be guilty of saying almost everything in this video, with the exception of the self-pub and the Jane Austen stuff.

In other unrelated news, I know I haven’t been blogging that much this week. I’ve been finishing up a major test and working on the new shiny contemporary romance I’m doing for Ellora’s Cave’s Ball and Chain call. I really need to get it done this month, so all my energy has been focused there. I promise, I’ll be back in full force next week.

I don’t normally talk about hot topics that press my buttons on the blog. I like to keep it lighthearted, and fun, but I’m at the point where I want to scream to the rooftops. but maybe that just makes me a “crazy woman.” Keep that phrase in mind for a moment, okay? It’s important later.

I don’t know how many of you follow the news. I tend to keep it on as background noise. But this particular article about Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson caught my eye, and damaged my calm.* Sometimes, I wonder if some of these men are kidnapped by aliens and brainwashed to create controversy and chaos in our lives, because I just don’t want to believe that people ACTUALLY think this way.

Rev. Jesse Peterson and Kirsten Powers on Fox News

He states in his sermon video that was recently published to YouTube that America’s greatest mistake was allowing women the right to vote. His words: Back in “the good old days, men knew that women are crazy and they knew how to deal with them.”** Have we really not gotten over the women’s liberation and civil rights? Is it really about sex or this man’s singular hatred of women? Maybe his mom didn’t love him enough.***

I’m ashamed to admit that I watched both videos in their entirety, though I had to stop halfway through the sermon video to go smoke a cigarette because I was so pissed off and shocked that this line of thinking still exists. And of course, he has to bash a Georgetown Law student for fighting for her rights. In his opinion, it’s about “all the sex” women are having in college. Um, you don’t think that men are having sex too? Intercourse actually does take two, at the very least. Having sex doesn’t make me “degraded” and “without shame” as Peterson suggests. Hell, the law they’re fighting over isn’t even about that. It’s about a woman’s right over her body.

Now I’m not for abortion. I’m actually against it, but I’m not against women’s choice if they want to go about it. I am for proper care for feminine issues, and that includes post-abortion care, birth control, and a host of other things. i personally don’t believe abortion is the right way to go, but I would never force that decision on someone else. This guy would, because women are crazy and unable to make decisions.

“Evil comes in the woman.”

Uh, no, Reverend. That would the man.

Sorry, that was crazy of me. I’m such a silly, stupid woman with no patience. ****

In all seriousness, though… I’m always surprised when I read things like this. I always think about the good in people, and then it surprises me when something bad happens like this. People need to stop living in the past, lamenting over “the good old days” and wishing things were more like they wanted. Because you know what? It sucked back then.

Women deserve to have rights just as much as the next guy. Right now, women still make $0.77 to men’s $1.00 in exactly the same position with the same experience. I’m tired of old stuffy white men telling me what is right for me. I’m on birth control, but not because I like having sex (though that is nice) but because my health issues require some sort of birth control to regulate the processes in my body. And you know what? I got those issues while serving in this country’s military. So, while those stuffy old men are up there deciding on whether I can have sex or not, they’re also deciding on my physical health. Forgive me if I don’t accept that they can choose whether I live or die.

I find it horrible to see a man who wants to condemn his own ethnic people to a life of slavery to “teach them the value of hard work” or wants to give men the right to beat their wives. That’s spoken like a man who has never had to endure that hardship. A man that’s never been forced to work and not been paid, and maybe beaten within an inch of his life because his OWNERS didn’t like the way he looked at them. Slavery sucks. It’s also the words of a man that has never been beaten by a spouse or feared for his life. Trust me when I say it’s not pleasant.

Stop living in the Dark Ages, Rev. Peterson. Realize that life isn’t so bad that we need to revert backwards in time. Even though we women are crazy and black people aren’t slaves any longer.

Men can still be men without making women suffer for it. Because it takes a real man to be civilized.

~~~

* Why yes, that is a Firefly reference, thank you very much.

** Besides the obvious tense slip up there, Peterson is referring to the good old days in which the black population of the US was enslaved by “good old boys.” I find it hard to believe that the man would wish for slavery.

*** Peterson’s words in the video suggest that women aren’t capable of love. “You walk up to them with a issue, they freak out right away. They go nuts. They get mad. They get upset, just like that. They have no patience because it’s not in their nature. They don’t have love. They don’t have love.”

**** Anyone who says women don’t have patience have obviously never met or spoken to a mother.

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday here. I’m currently working on a contemporary erotic romance that I’m super excited about. It’s untitled, but I’m toying with Chained to Her Heart or Entangled in His Desire. I don’t know. It’s my friends to lovers to marriage of convenience story. I’m having a lot of fun with it. Anyway, this is right after they get married, and she’s having not only second thoughts, but a lot of guilt over lying to her family.

“Look, Ash, I didn’t mean to make you feel worse. I just… I’m saying all the wrong things here.” He sighed. “Tell me what to do to make it better.”

A rueful little chuckle fluttered through the door. “You can’t make it better, Ethan. Not this time.”

Heaviness settled on his heart as she spoke, her voice laced with the sadness of a woman in pain. He didn’t have any more words for her. For the first time since he proposed the idea to her, he wondered if he’d made a huge mistake.

For those new to Six Sentence Sunday, you can play too:

1) pick a book– a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published

2) pick six sentences from anywhere in the story

3) post them on Sunday (hence the Six Sentence SUNDAY)

Want to play? See the site for information on how to do just that: Six Sentence Sunday

If you have a Twitter account, you can add the hashtag #sixsunday to your tweets when you tweet a link to your Six Sentence Sunday post. If you’re a writer (regardless of published/unpublished status) come join us!

Twitter is indeed a powerful social networking tool. I love it. I enjoy it. Many businesses and marketers have already discovered how powerful Twitter is for finding and engaging their audience. The fact that it’s free, relatively low on advertisements, and has such immediacy makes it a tool for everyone, from news organizations to celebrities, to yes, authors.

But then new Twitter users don’t understand how to grow that following they want and they start Googling “how to get more Twitter followers” or they fall for shit like this:

EVIL

Let me make something crystal clear here… I will never, ever follow back someone who uses the Team Follow Back hashtag. It’s stupid and every time, that person annoys me and I end up unfollowing anyway.

The one thing that I think that people don’t understand is that it’s not how many followers you have on Twitter, but how many RELEVANT followers you have. I could have 20,000 followers tomorrow, but what fun is that if none of them care about what I’m sharing?

More engaged followers are far better than a bunch that don’t care.

So there are lots of ways to do that. We’re going to talk about them.

Find Relevant people

Yes, this means you follow people like you. As an author, you might need to follow writers that write similar to you or have similar subject matter in their books. Or you might go through their follow list and find out who they deem worthy of following. Either way, you need to find people who are going to care about what you have to say.

Start with a fully filled out profile before you ever follow one person.

Most people will check out your profile to make sure you’re not a spammer or bot. This is your first impression. Why wreck it by not presenting yourself in the most positive light you can?

What does this mean? It means you need a profile photo of your face or business logo. Authors, this means your book cover is not appreciated. I have had nightmares of bodies with bookcovers for heads coming after me. It’s not pleasant. Please don’t add to it.

Also, you’re a writer. You need a bio. You’ve got 160 characters to play with so let people know how awesome you are.

Balance your tweets: find the ratio

I’m going to give you guys a very simple equation.

Total Tweets = OC*40% + MT*40% + RTs*20%.

OC = original content
MT = mentions
RT = Retweets

What does that mean? It means forty percent of your tweets should be interaction with other people, replying to their tweets and having conversations. Original content is also forty percent. This may be links that you enjoyed reading, your own blog posts, or general miscellaneous things as you go through your day. After all, Twitter was made to be mobile. Finally, RTs shouldn’t be more than 20% of your stream. This includes Triberr tweets as well, for those on Triberr. You don’t want to annoy the audience you’re building.

Interact and engage the audience

I don’t know about you guys, but I give people three chances to talk to me. I will @reply them on different occasions, usually in response to something they said. And if they don’t answer any of them, I’m unfollowing. If I don’t talk to you at all? I’m unfollowing.

And remember, they don’t ahve to follow you in order to interact with you. I’ve found most people on Twitter will talk to you if you send them a message. You could jump into one of their conversations with relevant comments or RT one of their links. When you participate in these conversations, it gets your name out in front of NEW people.

Twitter chats are also a good way to meet new people. Anyone can host a chat by using a hashtag (#).

Promote your Twitter account in other ways

As always, people need to know you’re on Twitter. So include links to Twitter on your other social networks. There are services that will help to sync up your content, but use this sparingly. If you sync it all up, people are getting the same material on every network. So why should they follow you in all those places. One place would do just fine.

What do you think?

As I work on building my own audience, I have to wonder if any of this makes sense to people other than me? What kinds of things have you used to build your own relevant Twitter audience? Talk to me about being social!