The Daily Journal, Sunday, July 28

In today’s Journal

* Thanks
* Quote of the Day
* Another Recommendation
* Topic: Why Google Play, Why All the Emphasis on Spreadsheets, and What About Length?
* Daily diary
* Of Interest
* The numbers

Thanks for all the comments over the past couple of days. I appreciate knowing you’re out there. Besides, you guys offer up some valuable advice! You can always share here through comments.

Quote of the Day

“If you capture the right beginning, you’ve written a small version of the whole.” Les Edgerton

Another Recommendation

In case you missed it in yesterday’s comments, Bob Beckley recommends Hooked by Les Edgerton for advice on writing beginnings. You can “look inside” at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1582974578/.

I found the paper edition a little pricey, BUT what’s $20+ if you learn something invaluable that stays with you for the rest of your writing life?

As with anything, if you buy this, take what works for you and leave what doesn’t.

One additional note: LesEdgerton.com (mentioned in Hooked) is defunct. You can find Edgerton’s blog at http://lesedgertononwriting.blogspot.com/.

Topic: Why Google Play, Why All the Emphasis on Spreadsheets, and What About Length?

Yup, today’s topic is all over the place. But it all ties together, I promise.

First, you might wonder why I’m so happy to finally be uploading my books to Google Play. Or you might already know. Many, many people are way out ahead of me on this. (grin)

Like everyone else, most of my sales come through Amazon.

But of all the other 400+ current venues, over the years the consistent big sellers of my books have been Apple, then Kobo, then then now-all-but-defunct Barnes & Noble.

So let’s talk about Apple for a moment.

As my wife patiently explained to me recently, most of those who download my books from Apple use their iPhone.

Pretty much everybody who has a cell phone uses either an iPhone operating system or the IOS’s only major competitor: the Android operating system.

Uploading my books to Google Play will make those titles available where they’ve never been before: to the other half of a still-booming ebook market. (grin)

Which brings me to the spreadsheets.

One spreadsheet gives me the ability to see my entire fiction inventory all in one place. All_Fiction.xlsx contains a lot fewer headings than the other spreadsheets, but again, it’s only a quick reference to my personal inventory. Kind of an I-love-me electronic bookshelf. (grin)

The more important spreadsheets both provide a backup for All_Fiction AND contain all the information I need to upload literally ANYwhere: D2D, Smashwords, Amazon, Google Play, StreetLib, PublishDrive, etc.

1. Finishing the Novels_Novellas_Only spreadsheet was my first priority so I could upload those titles to Google Play AND because I mostly write novels these days. With that spreadsheet done now, I can add new novels to it (and to All_Fiction) as I finish them.

2. Finishing filling-in the blanks in the Short_Fiction_Collections spreadsheet is now a priority so we can upload those titles to Google Play as well.

3. Finally, finishing filling-in the blanks in the Short_Fiction_Only spreadsheet is important because those stories are the major part of my IP inventory. Eventually we’ll upload those to Google Play too.

However, the headings for Short_Fiction_Only are all set, so if I do write any new short fiction, I’ll add it and its information to the spreadsheet as I go (and even as I’m continuing to fill-in the information for previous titles).

So is the All_Fiction spreadsheet redundant? Yes, it is. But I like having one where I can add my latest work quickly without having to worry about filling in all the upload info. (grin)

But what about length?

I know, I know. The short stories are much shorter than the novels. So why am I giving them equal importance?

Here’s the thing: When you think about licensing, you think about Story. Period.

Not the length of the story. Just Story.

Because when it comes to IP, any story is as valuable as any other. Length doesn’t enter into the equation.

In the Publishing mind set, we think ONLY in terms of length: novel series sell better than stand-alone novels, and short story collections (and short story series) sell better than individual or stand-alone short stories.

We let a story be whatever length it needs to be, but how it will sell is firmly rooted in the back of our minds. My sales expectations are much higher when I think of my novel series and novels than when I think of any of my individual short stories.

But in the Licensing mind set, all that matters is Story.

You might license any story (regardless of length) to Hollywood. You might license any character (from any story, regardless of length) to a toy manufacturer. You might license any setting (from any story, regardless of length) to a gaming company.

For that matter, you might license any fictional world that you’ve created (again, regardless of story length) in any number of ways. For just a couple of examples,

* How many writers out there might like to write in the world centered around the quiet little fishing village of Agua Perlado (which I am in the process of trademarking)?

* How many might want to write in the future-earth SF world following the Inter-Arab War (which I’m also in the process of trademarking)?

And the list goes on.

Business, eh? Who knew?

Rolled out late again this morning and with a full slate.

Today I’ll finish uploading my novels to Google Play Books, then work to fill-in the spreadsheets for my short story collections and individual short stories.

I’ll probably finish the one for the collections today. Then I hope my wife will upload those for me over the next week or so.

Filling-in the information in the individual short story spreadsheet will take awhile into the future. I’ll add to it during “admin time” as I am able.

And then I hope for some reading (learning) time today. (grin)

Talk with you again tomorrow.

Of Interest

See the great comments on “Day Job Thinking” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/day-job-thinking/#comments.

See “How to Come Up With a Title” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/07/how-to-come-up-with-a-title.html. Some good stuff here, but (shrug) my characters usually hand me the title. (grin)

See “WWYWTR – Story Length” at http://prowriterswriting.com/wwywtr-story-length/.

See “New Pop-Up on Thinking Big” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/new-pop-up-on-thinking-big/.

See “We Asked 13 Novelists…” at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/books/lee-child-ruth-ware-my-favorite-murder.html. Thanks to Karen for the tip. This is a great article with some real gems, and not all of them are about murdering characters.

See “Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #106” at https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2019/07/self-publishing-the-carnival-of-the-indies-issue-106/. Take along a salt shaker. Maybe somebody here will submit the Journal or a blog post from HarveyStanbrough.com. (grin)

Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 1100 (Journal)
Total words for the day: 1100

Writing of ()

Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX

Total fiction words for the month……… 7399
Total fiction words for the year………… 358737
Total nonfiction words for the month… 30850
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 215050
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 573787

Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date…………………… 7
Calendar Year 2019 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 43
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 194
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

4 thoughts on “The Daily Journal, Sunday, July 28”

  1. That last comment from Dean on “Day Job Thinking” is a great reminder of why I’m still hammering away every day, spending as many free moments as possible writing or studying the craft. I have a well-paying job and I appreciate the comfort it provides for my family, but I can’t *wait* until the long term begins to pay off.
    And the only way for that to happen is for me to put in the work up front.

    I remember at last year’s masterclass, hearing Dean talk about the notion that everything we do as writers is creating intellectual property, was like opening a secret room in my mind that I’d never noticed. Most of the books that talk about generating wealth refer to passive income as the key, usually focused on real estate, but IP *is* property and seems like a lot less risk and headache involved.

    All in all, I’m very excited about what the future holds.

    • You and me both, Phillip. And in a way, it’s kind of comforting to know DWS is in the same boat with us. (grin)

  2. Regarding the price of “Hooked,” if you check eBay once or twice a week, you may be able to eventually buy at a lower price. For example, Les’s “Finding Your Voice” is available in paperback for $3.73 with free shipping right now.

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