Work In Progress

Beginning of the End – Within 24 hours of approval of the extended sample my narrator had recorded all of the audio for the book and sent it back for my review. On Monday I completed the review, only requiring one minor amendment which was completed moments after being highlighted. Within twenty four hours of signing off the audio the quality check is completed and made ready for release.

As with CAPITAL ACTION, the book is sent out to the various retailers and then becomes available on different timescales, however I know it is already available from Google Play. I’ve made this novella available free for anyone who wants to see if they like my writing style.

I have to say that other than the initial time it took to get auditions for the narrators, it has been a seamless process and I would use them again if I was pushing an audiobook wide.

From The Dead – Still only minimal progress here, although I am slightly more motivated to get this complete as I have been hearing from some people who loved the previous Carrie Harris books.

Purple Rain Series – Book 1 – This book is progressing well and I’m on the first major revision / edit phase and I’m enjoying how it’s coming together. The word count is increasing as expected and now sits just under 80,000. There is a long road ahead but at least my enthusiasm for the project is high.

I did a lot of work on the first chapter and sent it out to my mailing list subscribers to whet their appetite for the book. Limited feedback was very positive.

Google Panel

This week I claimed by ‘Google Panel,’ which is the sidebar section that comes up when you search something with a name, if there is a group-able body of results. After seeing a fellow author had done the same, I tried it out and low and behold I had one. Anyway, after applying to google they gave me ownership of it so that no one else can claim it. The only issue is that the photo is not of me! It’s some guy with the same name who has a small amount of tracks on Soundcloud. I have reported this but I’m not hopeful it will change, which I find particularly funny. Perhaps if I release more photos of myself it will change over time.

Sales and Marketing

Over this last week I’ve had a big sales slump. Ignoring the work I’m doing on a one to one basis, I was losing money on the ads on Facebook. This also coincided with a new iOS release and the widely reported privacy setting change that would basically make Facebook’s ads perform much worse than they were before. So I took a few moments and decided now was the time to turn the ads off and see how my sales go. This will allow me to get a measure on how well they were really performing. If it tanks then I can always turn them on again.

So far it’s going okay. My sales of the novella have stalled but that is not surprising as it is the book most commonly brought when new people were introduced to my work through the ads and I’m also giving away so many as I get people to join my mailing list. Time will tell if my current strategy is enough to keep me going, and keep my profit at the same level, or whether I need to look at Facebook again or pay more attention to AMS.

Fan Club

I bit the bullet last Sunday and set up a fan club page. Inspiration came to me as I was setting it up and I named it ‘Antics and Escapades. The official GJ Stevens Fan Club.’

This week I’ve been busy recruiting members from those who follow my author Facebook page and those I know who have read and enjoyed my books. I hope as the group get’s larger (99 members as I write this), it can become a real community.

I currently have two people moderating the group for me, both volunteers who were very eager to help, which is a great sign. If you want to join then follow this link, everyone is welcome.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/anticsandescapades

That’s about it for me this week. Comments and suggestions welcomed as always!