Hello all! It's been a minute, and for that I apologize. I've been in a bit of a weird head space, lately, to be honest. After the release of The Master of Shearhaven, I've been trying to figure out my next move.
I'll be perfectly honest. Setting up this site, doing promo boxes, making merch, getting going on TikTok, etc. It was a lot of work that hasn't really reaped much in the way of dividends. I've been eternally grateful for the people who made site memberships. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who has purchased, read, or reviewed the book. All of these efforts have sold books, and gotten me new followers. But, there are some hard truths to face in amongst the gratitude. Practical things I'm trying to wrap my head around.
Projects in the Works
First and foremost, it's been hard to figure out exactly what project I want to do next. I have been writing. And thinking. And writing. Right now I have a few projects in various stages:
- Secret Book - I'll announce this soon, but it's the book I've been spending the most time on currently. I've been waiting to talk about it until it's further along and I felt for sure I wanted to pursue it and it's working. I think it is.
- Horror Novella - A while back, in between drafts of TMoS, I wrote a horror novella. I wanted to do something that stretched myself as far as gore goes. An idea I thought could be fun, but also have some serious notes. I still have to return to that and see how it feels now that I've had almost a year away from it.
- My Literary Fiction Novel - This has been "done" for a long time now. I was sending it out to agents before abandoning that idea. I'd like to put it out myself. But I do feel like I need to go through it again, and it'll have to be edited.
- Dharktyde Racers - The thing I was most focused on for a long time here. I still love the concept. I didn't think my time away from it would be so long. But various things have interferred with my ability and desire to write. So the first three stories have sat longer than I intended. I had originally thought about releasing them via Kindle Vella, but now that's going away. Which, frankly, I'm okay with. The less enmeshed with Amazon I am the better.
So there's a lot in the works project-wise. I've been trying to figure out what to do next. My brain has so many stories it wants to tell, and share with the world.
Marketing / Social Media
This has been another thing I'm unsure about. I've been enjoying TikTok a great deal. It might be going away. I've started to cross-post a lot to Instagram and YouTube. But I know the format from TikTok isn't always the best and, as expected, I've yet to make much of any in-roads into the book side of either of those platforms. I'm on Bluesky, too. But, again, still struggling to get anyone to notice.
I only have so much time, and I've been spending a lot of it making videos about books, mostly not my own, and maintain some awareness of The Master of Shearhaven. I've learned a lot, but I am to the point where I feel like I need to be realistic about my own abilities to maintain the marketing along with everything else. And, you know, have a life outside of work and writing.
Avenues of Support
My ability to get anyone to join this site is weighing a lot in my mind. I love the format of this platform I'm currently on for the site. Being able to sell direct is great. So I plan to stick with it. Keep trying to make those memberships attractive with more content. In particular, I think I'm going to lean in more on providing stories versus so much behind the scenes content. Dharktyde Racers should be a key component of that as I release it here and as E-books. Hopefully that will help. I want to get more out to the poeple who ARE supporting me via this platform as a thank you, too.
I'm also going to start my Substack up again. I enjoyed the platform, but again it felt like a lot of work for not much return. It's sort of psychologically hard to pour so much time into things and have them sort of fizzle.
So, how do I make this all work? How do I write and market these books in a way that's sustainable for me but, also, most importantly, it's still enjoyable for me?
That's what I've been struggling with. And my answer is still vague. But I think I have some ideas.
My Focus For the Forseeable Future
- Writing. I love talking about and reading books. But my main focus really is telling my own stories. I want to center that more going forward.
- Releasing Books. I want to focus my energy on getting the books I've got in the pipeline released. And worry less about the Marketing. I know that seems backward. I WILL market my books. But all the stuff with promo boxes and that sort of thing just ended up being expensive and not terribly effective. I might focus more on writing and releasing and worrying less about how many people actually pick it up.
- Book Videos. I still like making videos discussing books. I've really enjoyed the community of people I've come to know on TikTok. The ones who actually interact with me on there. The fact that it could go away saddens me, especially as i've not found another platform that can really replace it. I'm going to rethink how I produce them, though, to see if I can format them to work better on YouTube. The problem with YT is it doesn't really have the social aspect of TikTok.
- Social Media. This is an area I will probably pull back even more from. I've shut down my Twitter, and I'll be on Bluesky more. I'm thinking of shutting down my Facebook author page. I'd love to exit Facebook sooner than later. So what does that leave? Instagram for reposting book videos and my other photos of stuff I enjoy or have done. I think if I focus on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Bluesky, I can sustain that. I just need to get more focused on what I'm doing on those, and playing to the strenghts of each platform. Which means more time in production of everything, but if I'm less places hopefully that'll be easier.
I'm feeling good about this course correction, after a lot of reflection. I'm glad I tried to do a bigger marketing push for The Master of Shearhaven. And, frankly, it's not that I think it failed, per say. I think it's been moving much slower than I'd hoped/anticipated, but I think it's more about embracing that slow nature of it. Being less worried about a big burst at the start, and being more focused on the long term and being able to sustain what I'm doing. I'm feeling upbeat about the future (well, this part of it at least!) and I'm glad to have thought thorugh it and settled it.
Expect more here, and on my newsletter, Psychochronograph, soon! Thanks again for all your support and love.
