PERSONAL UPDATE

Same old. Not been out other than to work and run. Haven’t caught COVID. Still doing fine.

WORK IN PROGRESS

CAPITAL ACTION – The novella is back from proof reading and picked up enough points that I’m glad I used the service. I spent Wednesday formatting the book into an A5 booklet format, squeezing the novella into the maximum 64 pages. That was a challenge whilst keeping it readable. I produced the cover using Canva and I’ve order 5 booklets as proofs. I’ll do a final read through using one of these and deal with any formatting issues I’ve not yet picked up.

I’ve also formatted the book for paperback, updating the cover as required. That was a bit of a challenge to get it to the right size but saved me from bothering James, my ex-cover designer. The proof is on its way from Amazon. I’m left with creating the various formats for ebook and then audio to produce, which I’ll talk about a little later.

BEGINNING OF THE END – This novella came back from the copy-editor yesterday and I’m working through the edits. There was a key comment about an aspect of the story I need to address to make sure the setting is clear. For this I will need to do a full read through before going back to proofing. Hopefully I will have this completed by the end of the weekend. I still have the back cover to produce but that should be pretty straight forward now I have done it one.

AFTER THE END – AUDIO – I have now approved all of Jessica’s chapters and am waiting for Logan’s so I can review them. This is on course to be with me by the end of the month.

LESSON LEARNED – AUDIO – This has now hit the virtual shelves. My current plan if only to contact those who listened to OPERATION DAWN WOLF and see if they would like a free copy in exchange for a review, plus to let my mailing list know at the same time as providing CAPITAL ACTION to them.

FROM THE DEAD – With 64% of the current edit complete, I’ve put this on hold while I concentrate on BEGINNING OF THE END.

NEW PA SERIES – I’ve got 22,000 words down on this so it’s progressing well. This will also go on hold.

NOVELLA AUDIOBOOKS

The audiobooks for the novellas will be going wide, i.e. not exclusive to audible / Amazon / Apple. This will allow me to reach a wider audience and have control over pricing. My plan involves the option of giving the audiobooks away for free.

After researching I’ve signed up for a Findaway Voices account and will publish via them. They should be able to assist with finding a narrator for BEGINNING OF THE END, much like ACX do. I will let you all know how I get on compared to ACX.

SALES AND MARKETING

Sales have remained level and with the novella production going well I’m increasingly looking to the future strategy. As the campaign will be centred around growing my email list I’ve been researching how I can improve my opening rate from 20%. I happened to mention this to someone I’ve met recently via another avenue and it turns out they’re an email marketing specialist. Adrian specialises in exactly this subject, getting your email campaigns opened by the user. As soon as he heard about my interest he shared a great free checklist to help me out. You can check it out here. https://deliverabilitydashboard.com/Checklist/

There are at least three points I hadn’t considered on the list and I’ll be studying it in detail soon.

That’s about it for this week. Hopefully next week there will be more progress to report and I’ll be able to show you the proofs of CAPITAL ACTION in booklet and paperback format!