Hey Folks,
I’m actually writing this on Thursday afternoon (yesterday).
Wow. I figured it would take at least a full day just to find the appropriate cover pics for the five publications I want to put out soon. Or longer.
Didn’t happen that way. I got lucky. And I can’t say enough good things about Unsplash, a place where you can download high-resolution images FREE and use them for any purpose you like.
Unsplash even tags each photo with the photographer’s name, so it’s easy to give them appropriate credit for their work.
Anyway, I started searching for photos yesterday right after I posted the Journal, so around 7 a.m.
By 11 (now, as I write this), I had downloaded the photos I needed (plus about 20 more I’ll use in the future), designed five ebook covers, and filed everything in the appropriate folders. I am STOKED! (grin)
Now to put away the load of laundry I folded an hour or so ago, then have lunch. After that, I’ll upload the first Nick Spalding novel (now titled Nightfall).
After that I’ll start compiling the second Mobster Tales 10-story collection. With any luck, I should be able to publish it this afternoon as well. When I get Mobster Tales 3 compiled (I might have to write one more story for that one), I’ll schedule it for release a month out.
I’ll also upload the second Nick Spalding novel (now titled Transitions) for later release (maybe November 20. Then when I get Nick Spalding 3 back from my first reader, I’ll finalize and upload it for release on December 15. In time for Christmas, don’tcha know.
So it’s all going much better than I’d hoped.
Annnnnd I forgot a few things. Promo docs. I forgot to prepare promo docs. So I did that for all three Nick books. (I haven’t compiled the collections yet.)
Then I uploaded Nick 1, 2, and 3 to D2D and then to Amazon. D2D was having some issues, but that whole process (with both D2D and Amazon) still took less than an hour.
I released Nick 1 today. Nick 2 will release on November 19, and Nick 3 will release on December 15. (grin)
Then I went to Smashwords.
Ah, but I also forgot I had to upload a special Word doc created just for Smashwords. Since I used only numerals for my chapter heads, I did NOT have to manually create a TOC though. Yay me. Creating a manual TOC for a book with 40 chapters takes about an hour if everything goes smoothly.
I did create the two Smashwords docs. (I decided to wait until I get Nick 3 back from my first reader before jumping through that hoop.)
So I uploaded Nick 1 and 2 to Smashwords, the second one for release on November 19. So that’s all done, and at the moment it’s only 2:20 p.m.
But I’m pretty much all-in at this point. So tomorrow (now today, Friday), I’ll compile the first short story collection (Mobster Tales 2).
Then I’ll create a promo doc for it, create a manual TOC for the Smashwords version, and get it published in all three places for immediate release. (grin) I suspect that (and finishing this Journal entry) will be a full day’s work.
Then I’ll go back to my writing schedule. I haven’t counted, but I think at the moment I have only 19 short stories to split between Mobster 2 and 3.
If that’s the case, my first project when I go back to writing will be another short story to fill Mobster Tales 3. Then I’ll do all the prep work (at least I already have a cover) and put that one up for release on probably December 1.
So all in all, it’s all good. And I’m remembering more with each passing moment why it’s so easy to slip off Heinlein’s Rule 4. (grin)
But. Even. At. My. Slowest. I’m still publishing a lot more and a lot more quickly than I would be allowed to do through a traditional publisher. And as an added bonus, I don’t have to sign away my copyright. (grin)
Oops. After everything else, I also forgot to go to the very clunky Channel Manager at Smashwords to keep them from distributing my books to the same venues to which D2D will distribute them.
A true PITA, but I want the books available in Smashwords’ online store, so I put up with it. And now it’s almost 3, and I’m quitting for the day (Thursday).
And now it’s Friday.
I realized overnight that I also didn’t put my Nick 1 novel up on BundleRabbit, so I’ll do that today after I compile and pubish the Mobster Tales 2 collection. Sigh. I really wish I could hire someone to do all of this stuff. (grin)
But doing all of this myself is what’s made it possible for me to publish 34 novels etc. in fewer than five years. Just think about it. If lightning struck and I’d been with a traditional publisher for the past five years, my FIFTH novel would just now be coming up for publications.
It’s shortly after 11 now. I started this morning around 7, compiled and published Mobster Tales 2 (to all three venues), then uploaded Nick 1 and Mobster Tales 2 to BundleRabbit. So a day and a half later, I’m finished with all the external stuff.
Now I’ll update the website to reflect these new additions. The smoke has finally settled. So I’ll say goodbye until tomorrow.
Talk with you again then.
Of Interest
See “The Party Crashers: Demise and the Mortis Triplets – Algor, Livor, and Rigor” at https://www.leelofland.com/the-party-crashers-demise-and-the-mortis-triplets-algor-livor-and-rigor/.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 940 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 940
Writing of ()
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 22124
Total fiction words for the year………… 358850
Total nonfiction words for the month… 15710
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 148806
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 507406
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 8
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 34
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 6
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 193
Short story collections…………………………………………………… 31