I have spent an enormous amount of time editing Sylvanus: Swords and Sons over the last three weeks. More time than I typically do for pure writing, and probably more than makes rational business sense, but I am in love with this tale and want to make sure it is as good as I canContinue reading “The Words That Remain: Editing Sylvanus”
Tag Archives: publishing
I Tracked More Than Half a Million Amazon Keyword Rankings. Something Has Changed.
I know I am publishing a post outside my typical blogging schedule, but I’ve been working on this one for a while and feel it deserves a special place. For nearly four years, I have tracked where my books appear in Amazon search results. What began as a fairly simple attempt to understand whether readersContinue reading “I Tracked More Than Half a Million Amazon Keyword Rankings. Something Has Changed.”
Flashback Fridays #6
In this week’s look to the past, I focus on the moment I received my first novel in hand. True to the nature of my life, it had a bumpy road getting there (it was a premonition of my future struggles with Amazon), but when it finally arrived, it was something special. Finishing a bookContinue reading “Flashback Fridays #6”
I swam the market until I hit a rock
I’ve decided to stop my query process for Jezelle: Thief of Forks and switch gears to self-publishing the book. On the surface, that may look like defeat—another swing at traditional publishing and missing—but that’s not what this is. This is me looking directly at how this business actually works, looking at how far Jezelle swamContinue reading “I swam the market until I hit a rock”
Quick Update
First off, Happy Holidays! I hope you are all safe, warm, and jolly. I apologize for the lag in posts, but all my free time this past month has been devoted to rewriting Jezelle: Thief of Forks. I tried to get to this post on Saturday, but it just didn’t happen. Better late than never,Continue reading “Quick Update”
Leveraging rejection to be a better writer
First, I would like to thank you all. After posting that I was stepping back from blogging to focus on rediscovering my passion for writing fiction, I received a considerable amount of support. There was also concern that I may be giving up. Don’t worry. I am still writing. In fact, I’ve been doing itContinue reading “Leveraging rejection to be a better writer”
Self‑Publishing Isn’t a Fairytale — It’s a Fight!
If you think you can self‑publish a book and watch it take off on organic traffic alone like you read about with the self-publishing superstars, here’s a wake‑up call: you can’t. Writing a book is a lot of work, but hitting “publish” is not the victory parade most people imagine. It isn’t the moment theContinue reading “Self‑Publishing Isn’t a Fairytale — It’s a Fight!”
One Step Closer: Koen is Home from the Editor
The line edits are in. After months of waiting, wondering, and second-guessing, Koen: Quills from the Raven’s Nest has come back to me from my savior with a red pen, the editor at Grendel Press, who heroically battled the creeping typo and the terrorizing grammatical error. This isn’t my first round of feedback, which cameContinue reading “One Step Closer: Koen is Home from the Editor”
2024, a year in review
Another year is coming to an end. It’s time to look back and see how far we’ve come (or not). I’m rounding up my fourth year on this self-publishing journey. It hasn’t been a rocket, more like an air balloon, but I’m hopeful that 2025 will be a good year in my writing world. First,Continue reading “2024, a year in review”
Writing and the illusion of talent
I’ve been writing. No big surprise, I know. But I’ve been writing a lot—record amounts, in fact. I wrote over 15k words this week alone—more than 2k a night (which, for me, is 6 pm-8 pm). The last time I wrote like this was Dawn of the Lightbearer during the pandemic. I love it. ThereContinue reading “Writing and the illusion of talent”
