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Sometimes it can be something about them rather than the shape of their face- like a floral scent that matches the softness of her skin, or a gravelly voice that fits with a careworn face.

Carole wrote: "Sometimes it can be something about them rather than the shape of their face- like a floral scent that matches the softness of her skin, or a gravelly voice that fits with a careworn face."

Oh I'm really not good at that type of thing. So far I've got one with thin arms, someone has a pointed chin, two people have long legs and someone else is trying to flick back floppy hair he's just had cut short. I'm not sure I'm at the level of careworn yet!

Also worn out, as are various items of clothes in the house.

I had goals this weekend, but then I went camping.

New week goals. Finish a chapter, edit a short story, and pick a cover artist for the short story (does this sound repetitious... yeah, it is.)

I did end up reading a book but haven't written the review and finalized the second issue of mag. The rest 👎🏽

Is still looking for a cheap cover for sci-fi/dystopian/erotica and is determined to not have naked people on the front.

My goal is to figure out how to work marketing into my routine. Right now I have five writing days a week. I'm thinking of marking one of those days off for marketing--by which I mean working on everything from my web site to learning Mail Chimp to attending local live events. Basically everything that is not actual writing.

How do you folks do it? Set aside specific days? Catch as catch can? Five minutes in the morning? ;-)

My goal is also to get back into marketing my books. I've been terribly inundated with everything-else-but-that for several months now. Arrgh.

But I also have a side project I've been working on: Writing song lyrics. Perhaps that's where my creativity is going these days. It's for a good cause: A grant has been issued to grow local music/artistic talent by matching up young musicians with established pros. They also need lyrics to start playing around with, and my best friend happens to be the co-founder of this project, so...I'm writing lyrics. Any thoughts I entertained that writing a song is just like writing a poem has been squashed! I have three done and want to get in one more by the end of the week.

Alex wrote: "Ellis wrote: "My goal is to figure out how to work marketing into my routine. Right now I have five writing days a week. I'm thinking of marking one of those days off for marketing--by which I mean..."

Thanks, Alex. How I wish I could manage a whole day, but I cannot. I could divide my four hours, but am I reading you correctly? You are suggesting that I cut my writing time in half, devoting an entire 50% to marketing? I mean, I realize that effort is serious, but I already write slow, plus I'm old, and I've got too many novels to write!

Now I think of it, I'll add to my original question. What percentage of your time do you spend on writing versus marketing?

Ellis, how do we do the marketing? I don't do it very well.

I will randomly grab a few hours here or there when I'm inspired or in the mood. I don't set aside specific time to do that. But I also think a portion of your day versus the entire day. Mix it up a bit. But whatever works for you!

Thanks, Nat. Random grabbing is what I've been doing. Who knows, maybe I'll wind up returning to that, and my Marketing Wednesdays will turn out to be just another random grab!

Got it. Thx.

A mini goal-wrote a blurb for Nate and Day with some help. Then thought the usual, "Doesn't matter what I put, no-one's going to read it anyway." So there's that.

Also read through a chapter. It wasn't rubbish.

Goal for next few days: write a new opening for WIP, A Child of Great Promise. I need to set her more firmly in her world before I throw her off the edge.

Cool thread, don't know how I missed it earlier. This week I want to:

1. Finish the print design of my first book, The Little Green Boat. (It's been in digital form for two years)
2. Update the digital versions of The Little Green Boat to edition 2, which adds in a new character and a number of minor text and image tweaks.
3. Complete the first edit of children's book for one of our new authors.
4. Finish the image briefs for another one of our new author's books so I can get it to our illustrator.
5. Launch a parents survey in conjunction with six other authors.
6. Get sales picking up again on our sci-fi novel Adam Exitus.

Busy week ahead!

I'll keep my to-do for this week short and sweet:
1. Read through manuscript to help break writers block on final 5 chapters
2. Set up next post on Facebook page to engage with fans

Good luck everyone!

I don't like to put pressure on myself for reasons of stress when I don't manage them. But, I have achieved things.

I put Nate and Day out for pre-order.
I created an Instafreebie for Modified and followed through those two things with social media posts.
I have a great new review of Modified on Amazon US.
I've not only signed up to write a short story for the Hallowerotica anthology, I've just written 1000 words of something based around two of my favourite characters who I haven't even published yet.

Just hit publish on the paperback version of Nate and Day. It may mean it's out before the ebook which is set for release on Friday. I was more worried that I'd forget to publish it in the first place.

Joined a website erotica for all. I had thought I'd done this months ago, but I think I managed to talk myself out of it on the grounds of not being good enough. So that's a double goal achieved.

Congrats, Amy. I hope you sell millions of copies!!!

Carole wrote: "Congrats, Amy. I hope you sell millions of copies!!!"



You do make me laugh. I'll be happy with more than the two I've got now.

Keep pushing Alex. It's the only way. It won't get done unless you do it.

I need a word doc of similar promo sites. I'd do a spreadsheet, but I've never been able to drive excel and I have 0 interest in it. (I'd probably overuse it and get nothing else done.)

For me, the winning strategy in any start-up business is, 'Think big but start small.' Carmen Busquets
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ke...

Alex wrote: "I haven't done a formal goal in a while, so thanks for the encouragement, Amy, here's mine.

To put together a spreadsheet of all the promotion sites I know and list those that have free/paid optio..."

You are directed and motivated. Great combination for reaching the stars, Alex.

Carole wrote: "For me, the winning strategy in any start-up business is, 'Think big but start small.' Carmen Busquets
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ke..."

Well I've certainly got the "start small" bit sorted...

Amy wrote: "Carole wrote: "Congrats, Amy. I hope you sell millions of copies!!!"



You do make me laugh. I'll be happy with more than the two I've got now."
three- I just bought it to add to my Amy Hamilton collection. ;)

Oh you are too kind. Thank you. Enjoy the cover! I do like that cover...

I love small grassroots types of things. When they hit, it is so exciting. When I play craps, I start with small amounts and watch them add up- it's like playing those games where you keep adding a piece of wood to a tower to see how high you can go before it falls. Oh man, that feeling is amazing- the tension, the anticipation, the thrill of seeing how far you can go.
Writing is a little like that too, IMO.

Amy wrote: "Oh you are too kind. Thank you. Enjoy the cover! I do like that cover..."

You did a great job on the cover!!

Carole wrote: "Amy wrote: "Oh you are too kind. Thank you. Enjoy the cover! I do like that cover..."

You did a great job on the cover!!"

All my own work, sorry, money!

It looks great, Amy.

Alex- use a list. Set up a time of day that you must do some marketing- a steady routine- Know that you will always do at least something everyday.

I have used lists my entire life. It's very satisfying to cross things off as you do them. It makes me feel like I am not drowning and accomplishing things, even if I am buried in "to do's"

I can only dream of those numbers. If you knock a couple of zeros off your sales targets, you might get nearer the number of books I have sold in total in the last 15 months since first publishing. Actually because it was numbers I had to check. 15 months-I've sold 35 ebooks and 6 paperbacks. Some of them I bought. #Facts

Goals:
1. Acquire some form of virtual PO Box- in the works.
2. Finish short Halloween story for anthology deadline end Sept.
3. Scour brain for something to write for Radish.
4. Decide if Blue Lights M/M action/medical/Sci-fi/whatever it is could be adapted for Radish's LGBT section.
5. Coffee.

Genre wise it's tricky. I could put the Halloween story in Paranormal, LGBT, Mystery or Sci-Fi. Any of those would do.

But as for something specifically for Radish I don't know. It's the same characters and universe for the Halloween story as the next book I had hoped to finish. I might jump into LGBT, throw it in there as premium. I really don't want to give everything away for free. And I suspect all that's going to happen with Freemium is that people will be very patient and wait a week for the next chapter.

You know me, I come up with weird.

I'm currently writing something strangely normal which is weird in itself.

One has finished one's Halloween/erotic short story. One is smug!

Woot, way to go, Amy!

A few things to do:

Schedule an episode of Missing Remnants for release this week. Done.

Email Radish to say as they've tweeted asking about Sci-Fi and Mystery stories why not feature Missing Remnants on the Home page among all the naked male torsos and women sucking on olives and fingers. Done.

Email my "mailing list" and alert them to Missing Remnants and what the hell Radish Fiction is in the first place. Ugh... to do.

Decide on somewhere to promote Nate and Day and possibly Missing Remnants. Providing I can make promo people understand what the hell Radish Fiction is lol.

Finish writing, type up and edit chapter 7 of Missing Remnants and get it ready for release next week. To do. Not difficult.

You are my hero, Amy.

Hardly! If I was I'd be contacting all known promoters of Sci-Fi without any hesitation. Instead I'm procrastinating in favour of getting ahead with the writing.

Nope, still a rock-star!!

We have a saying here 'Should have gone to Specsavers.' Basically you need your eyes tested. lololol

I do need to get ahead of Remnants though. It's only going to take me missing a day of writing to miss a scheduled chapter. I'd like to be a few ahead.

OK announcement. I have done the dreaded mailing list. Without apologising for clogging up 593 people's mailboxes this time. (Yay) It actually looked quite good. We'll see how many people unsubscribe. It was 20+ last time.

Still to do- the promotion shi... I can't stand the whole promotion shi... I might stick a pin in Alex's list and go with a random choice.

It's about the only thing I can control. Erotica was difficult to find places to promote. Radish is difficult to find places to promote. I've hit a couple of sites and they require numbers. I may have to buy some ISBNs. I need some non kindle book promotion.

I suspect I'll be buying into people's mailing lists and possibly blogs.

My only goal right now is to get my wife home from the hospital. That's sort of a writing goal, because until that happens I'm not being very organized at anything else, writing included.

I have, however, started a couple of series of posts on my blog, so one goal is to keep both going regularly, and to send out a regular newsletter to help promote them.

Another goal is to get my next novel, Ice on the Bay published. That was supposed to happen by the end of the year, but now it may slip a bit. Because my editor is my wife, and my wife is in the hospital. Domino effect . . .

Hope she’s ok Dale.

My weekly goal is to produce the next chapter of Missing Remnants and Iridessian Haunts. The sooner I get them finished the sooner I can get them published wider than Radish.

I haven’t missed a deadline yet.

Sorry to hear about your wife, Dale. I hope she gets well and home soon.

My goal: Is to get the next books out. And try not to die of frustration. Hopefully my old laptop hangs on a bit longer.

Hope she recovers quickly.

Thank you, everyone. They're doing a lymph node biopsy today, which is a surgical procedure. After she recovers from that, they think they can release her, probably over the weekend. She's doing pretty well today. The list of issues she's faced is a bit long and strange, but includes pleural effusion (fluid around the base of the lungs) and some heart issues. She's now on beta blockers and eventually will need to be on a blood thinner for the latter. The rest of it is okay for now. At this point they're just trying to figure out what's causing her issues and striking out on nearly everything they test for. As one of the doctors put it, she's an enigma. :-P