PERSONAL UPDATE

With a few personal issues this week, along with a very busy period at work encroaching into my writing time, I feel like I’ve not made much progress. This weekend I’m taking my wife away for her birthday and it will be a great time to relax then come back refreshed and ready for writing again.

I didn’t write a post last week, as I mentioned at the start of the year might happen, as I decided instead to concentrate on writing with not much new to say.

ALTERNATIVE REVENUE

As you know I’ve been exploring other means of adding revenue streams in addition to my books, so on top of affiliate income, the merchandise shop and my web store, I have now created a Ko-fi account. It makes it sound like I’m raking the money in, let me assure you, I’m not!

If you’re not familiar with Ko-fi, it is very much like Patreon, in that people subscribe to the service for a small amount of money, currently £2 per month for mine, and in return, not only do they get the warm and fuzzy feeling for supporting me, they also get exclusive and early access content. That could be early releases of books or short stories for example, plus discounts for my signed paperbacks. I could even do a serialised story, but that’s quite a commitment.

The first release on that platform will be LIFE’S A BEACH (working title), which won’t be available elsewhere until I produce a collection of short stories for sale, for which there is no anticipated release date.

Of course, if I get no takers then I will reverse this idea, but I want to at least try.

If you want to take a look, or subscribe, or even make a one off donation, then here’s the link.

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

I’m still not doing any paid promotions and I’ve relaxed much more about my sales figures. I’m not checking them so much and it’s a nice surprise when a get a few sales. I’m still doing promotions through my mailing list, giving away various books as I continue to build my list.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Scarlet Rain Series – Book 1 – The weather apocalypse series is progressing with the current editing phase. I’m 57,000 words and the manuscript is fast approaching 100,000 words. At this rate it looks like I’m going to hit my target of getting it down to 90,000.

Life’s A Beach – Agent Carrie Harris Short Story – I’ve made some very minor changes following feedback from the beta readers, namely adding an empty chair into many scenes, although this won’t mean anything to anyone yet. The short story is now off with the editor and should be back within a couple of weeks.

Agent Carrie Harris Zombie Crossover Short Story – This is still on the second draft, but is the one work that has taken the back seat this week. It’s still looking like it will be around 6,000 words.

Agent Carrie Harris Zombie Crossover Novel – I had some free time the last few days where I didn’t have access to my laptop, namely waiting in the barbers and on the train for work, so I started working on an outline for a full Carrie crossover novel. This will be a continuation of the short story. It needs a lot of work but I’ve got the opening scenes down. I’m excited to see where it goes!

It’s under a month now until events start, and I can’t wait! Preparation will begin in ernest soon.

That’s about if for me for today and I’ll catch you on the next post. Comments and feedback welcomed as always!