One of the most frustrating discoveries I’ve had in my venture into independent publishing is the amount of time I end up waiting for stuff. I got into independent publishing so I could have more control over my own work. But I’ve found there are aspects of independent publishing that will always remain out of my control. Like the time it takes for the editor to complete the edit, the pace of the cover artist’s work, or the approval time required from various publishing platforms.
So what do you do when you’re stuck waiting? You find other ways to be productive.
Yesterday was a slog of a day, though I was fairly productive. I had no meetings scheduled, so I took the girls to the bus stop and headed to the gym. There weren’t any morning classes offered, so I created my own workout in the studio. Abs, squats, chest, arms, shoulders, triceps, squats, back. It was a solid 45-minute workout. I thought I might do some time on the bike, but I got into the workout and just kept going.
I headed home and cleaned up. I checked my Naughty Week independent publishing action plan. There wasn’t too much I could do. I am still waiting on the cover files to be updated by Pintado. I haven’t heard back from him. It’s only been a couple of days.
The other thing I’m waiting on is Findaway Voices. I submitted everything last Friday and received a message that it would take up to 7 days for them to get back with me with a handful of voice options. I am itching to get those because I’d like to keep this moving along so the audiobook will be ready for November 1. I’m also curious to hear what my options are. I think this could be a fun part of the process.
There wasn’t much else I could do. I signed up for two Facebook groups — the 20 Books to 50k group and an offshoot of that for authors of children’s books. I’m not sure if I actually fit into that one, but I’d requested to join to find out. There are some seriously dedicated authors out there. The whole deal behind 20 Books to 50k is that if you can earn $7.50 a day in book sales for each of your 20 books, then you’ll be making $50,000 a year. I just did the math and it checks out. It’s actually more like $54,000. People are really into it. They post photos of there workstations whenever they finish a book. On the screen of their computer is the final page of the book with “The End” at the bottom. It’s hard work writing a book. It’s even harder to write a good book.
I looked down my action plan. I still have a lot of learning to do. There is a Udemy course I’ve earmarked to take on AMS ads. It’s free and given by Dave Chessen, the guy that started Kindlepreneur. He’s the man when it comes to keywords. I’m not at the point where I need to start ad campaigns, but I figured I could watch the 2-hour course and then revisit it in October or November when I launch.
The gold rush phenomenon may be at play here, and I’m aware of it. The course offers a great deal of value, but it’s there to sell Chessen’s KDP Rocket software, which looks pretty useful at first glance. From what I can tell, it’s a good indie author tool and will save hours of time on keyword research for ad campaigns. Right now it’s $97. I might cough up the cash to acquire it on my race for gold.
For some reason I was tired. I took a 15-minute late afternoon nap and just woke up more tired. I ate a low-calorie dinner because I’m trying to lose 10 pounds. I’ve got about seven to go. It fluctuates. I watched a little news and then I got into The Swedish Fish. I need to work on that every day or it will never get done. It’s all about discipline. It’s like piano. If I commit to fifteen minutes a day, then eventually I’ll learn the song. Typically, I sit down for those fifteen minutes and it turns into thirty, forty-five minutes, an hour.
So I sat down and wrote the prologue for The Swedish Fish. It’s about the largest catfish ever caught. I think it’s a nice way into the story, similar to how I open Naughty Week. That bit of realistic magic to set the tone and the reader’s expectations. It was sort of influenced my Moby Dick. Melville goes off on these tangents to talk about whale anatomy or factual science and then uses it (sometimes) in the story. The prologue only added about 300 words to my word count. Not that word count is super important at this stage. I just felt I worked harder than 300 words, what with the research and all. It’s a valuable 300 words because I think the voice of the novel is emerging.
