Day 26 - Cover Designing and The Jigsaw Puzzle of Digital Distributors and Social Media

Ah. The weekend. Time to relax. Gonna just put my feet up on the coffee table here and…oh crap. I still have to do the cover! Oh crap! I just looked at Draft2Digital and it looks complicated!

As for the cover design, since my manuscript is formatted (well, almost - I have one last anal-retentive read-through I want to complete) I can now start on the cover. You need to know how many pages you have before you design. I have 69 pages. LOL. Too bad I didn’t write an erotic romance. I’ll download a cover template from somewhere and get that party started. I feel pretty confident I can get it done this weekend. I know Photoshop. Let’s just put it this way, I got my first bootleg copy of Photoshop 3.0 somewhere in the late 90s and used to design websites using raw HTML code in the web 1.0 days. Yep, there were no WYSIWYG programs. In fact, applications were once called programs. Back then, we walked two miles to school in the snow with no shoes and didn’t have indoor toilets. I used to sell newspapers on a street corner and shouted, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” - I’m kidding, but it was a long time ago. It’s true I know a lot about Photoshop and I did run an online music magazine for ten years. Of course, this doesn’t make me a great book cover designer.

A Couple (Rookie) Tips for Designing Your Book Cover: 

• Don’t design your own cover unless you’re actually a designer. Just don’t. There are thousands of artists out there, you just have to find them. Start with UpWork, Twitter, and Fiverr. This is one place you want to spend a little cash. Look at it like an investment.

• If you feel like giving it a go and don’t want (or can’t afford) to use Photoshop, try Gimp, Affinity Photo, or Canva. Canva is the path of least resistance; they make it really easy. 

• Post your completed cover on your social groups and get feedback. Many times, the biggest suggestions I see from the hive mind are the fonts. Knowing how to use fonts is actually a skill and an integral part of design. Font choice is just as imperative as your overall design and color scheme. I’m not going to tell you how to design your cover because I am not an expert. I do know this, however: make sure both your image and title are readable in a small thumbnail. If you don’t know the difference between a serif and sans font, hire someone. 

I understand the need to DIY your cover. For me, it’s an issue of time. I would have preferred to hire someone with more experience than me, but there’s no way to get it done in a week - blame the fact that I didn’t know how many pages I had until two days ago. I can whip something out this weekend. Whether it will be good or not remains to be seen. I think it will be passable. I will post it as soon as it’s done. Your cover can make or break your book…no pressure, huh? 

I’ve also realized that there is a steep learning curve with digital distributors. DDs are everyone other than Amazon/Kindle who can or will distribute your book. And there are many. To name a few: Kobo. Draft2Digital, Nook, and Apple iBooks. There are also some designated to your country so you’ll have to look them up. I’m not exactly sure how they all work and I figured I would jump and build my net on the way down. Some of them are more complicated than others. To be honest, I haven’t quite figured out what the benefits are to each one. I just know everyone says you have to use them. I’ll find out. 

This weekend I will also plan out the “week before launch” week in my planner. I will schedule some social posts, work on the newsletter, and keep learning about social media. How to use social media is also a complex subject. There are so many things to consider, groups to join, plans to make. It’s a whole job onto itself - which is why companies hire social media managers. Social media is also a slow-moving train going uphill. It takes time to build momentum. What I’m doing now will be less effective for this launch, but more helpful toward the next. Use your first book as a platform for all that will follow. Interesting, huh? By the time the second one comes around, everything will be in place and things will be a lot easier. 

Today I’m really tired. Must just be the end of the long week. I kinda feel like napping all day instead of doing all the things I need to do. I must remind myself that self-care is important - just as important as (if not more) than marketing and social media. 

Day 25 - Kindle Create, Formatting in Word, and Learning What You Don’t Know

At this point, all I’m really doing is managing social media, monitoring my traffic, writing newsletters, putting together free handouts, and planning the sequel to Lessons in Love. I hadn’t intended it to be a series, but if you’re a writer, you know how it goes. You don’t want the story to end and almost immediately, you start thinking of new adventures your characters can go on. 

I was going to save the following information for the end of the 30 Days, but I might as well tell you now. The hardest part of self-publishing is setting everything up and figuring it all out. Twenty-five days ago, I didn’t know what KDP meant and now I feel like a pro. OK, maybe not a pro, but a skilled amateur. At least, I understand how it all works. Mostly. My next hurdle will be uploading the files and hoping they turn out OK. I can imagine a scenario where I order an author’s copy of the paperback and find many typos, misuse of homophones, something dreadful. Let’s hope not.  

I’ve spent the last few days formatting. Not continuously, but in small chunks. It’s actually very simple since Kindle provides lots of guides and templates through Kindle University. I copied and pasted Lessons in Love into the template, worked out a few kinks, and voila! It looks great! I’ve printed it out and I’m going to give it one final read-through and we’re done with the paperback.* I’ve played around with Kindle Create (a free, stand-alone app for formatting eBooks) and have toured the various digital distributor sites. I feel confident I won’t have too much trouble. In fact, I’m surprised by how easy this has all been. 

Early on, when I posted that I was starting this project, someone said, “Good. People need to know how much work goes into self-publishing.” That’s true. There are a million little tasks. And not just working on the book - there’s also this blog. When I say I wrote a blog post, this is what actually goes into a blog post: 

• Coming up with the idea

• Writing it all out (in Word)

• Reading it three or four times to check spelling, grammar, etc. 

• Pasting it into the blog section of Squarespace. 

• Fixing formatting issues, italicizing, bolding, etc. (For some reason, Squarespace doesn’t retain the formatting when I copy/paste.) 

• Finding images

• Resizing images

• Uploading images

• Adding images to the post

• Finding and entering links

• Publishing it - making sure it has the right settings and date

• Posting about it on Twitter

• Posting about it on Facebook

• Reading it again to make sure I catch any last-minute mistakes

• Having my husband read it so he catches any mistakes I missed. What a sweetie.

Total time per blog post is often several hours. I tend to write these before bed or early in the morning before school. 

So you see, there are a million little tasks attached to every item on your checklist. Speaking of checklist, I’m working on a really (actually) handy checklist for getting your book self-published. I’ve been through about five different ones and they’re all missing crucial information. You know why? They want you to buy their courses. Nope. Not me. I’m going to put as much as I can into it. It’s going to be long, but it will be thorough. It will also include links, helpful apps, and more. It will also evolve over time. I’ve been keeping track of everything I’ve done and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve worked out some kinks in my own routine that will definitely help with the next book. If you like and need checklists (like me), keep an eye out for this one. 

The bulk of the hard work is over, I think. Getting set up. It’s not hard, it just takes time. Yesterday I created accounts for all the main digital distributors (Barnes and Noble, Draft2Digital, Kobo). It took about half an hour and I wished I’d done it earlier. Most of these require verification. Setting up is lots of busy work, building your foundation one brick at a time. And that takes time. In the beginning, I felt overwhelmed by all the little jobs. Now, I have a system in place and things are running like clockwork. And it took me, what…a few weeks?

Once your book is written, there are three main stages to self-publishing: 

• Setting it all up

• Running it

• The aftermath

Think of it like a large music festival. On the Main Stage we have Setting it All Up. Those are the big bands everyone has heard of. On the East Stage we have Running It; the smaller bands, you may have heard of one or two. And on the West Stage, we have the Aftermath, the bands no one knows and you might go see if you get a chance. If you’re not too drunk and sunburned. What you don’t know is that the bands on the East and West Stages are just as important as the acts on the Main Stage. They’re going to make it big someday. You need to see them. And like a musical festival, many of the performances overlap. You’ll be doing a lot of running back and forth. Further, each stage has 50-billion bands playing. Don’t worry, you can do it.

I’ll break it down for you fully in an upcoming post. I don’t see many people doing that, especially not for total N00bs like me. They assume you know what Kindle Create is or what ROI (return on investment) stands for. Remember, I didn’t know what KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) meant twenty-five days ago. And here I am, nearing the end of the Fire Swamp about to publish my first novella. I’m gonna show you how and I’m not going to charge you. A great deal of what you’ll find on the net is geared towards directing you to their courses. It’s like how drug dealers get kids hooked: the first taste is free. Think I’m kidding? Almost every guru I’ve encountered uses this method. It’s the same idea behind free samples in grocery stores. Get your customer to have a taste, they’ll want to buy. You, the seller, come off as helpful (good feelings for everyone) and the customer feels good about trying your product for free - especially if they’re hungry. What you don’t see is the repercussions when two months later, the customer realizes they’ve subscribed to something they won’t use. I can say this because I’ve fallen for it. They provide just enough information to pique your interest. As I said, I’m publishing these reports and lists as a public service. They may not be here forever… so get ‘em while they’re hot.

I don’t want the hassle of setting up a course, but I do want to share what I’ve learned. If you didn’t read my rant on YouTube teachers, check it out. It’s super ranty. Does this mean I’m a saint? No, of course I have a secondary motive. This is a lot of work. I’m doing it because I want you to be a part of my community and I really hope that if you find this stuff interesting, you’ll thank me by buying my books. But even if you don’t, the information is still here if you want it. I’m trying to be as close to altruistic as I can be. Anyone watch The Good Place? I’m trying to rack up Good Place points. My dream of dreams is to build a community of excited Melanie Brodie fans who can’t wait for the next release. I can dream, can’t I? 

*Oh, right — the cover. More on that this weekend. 

Day 24 - How I Manifested a Small Town Out of Thin Air

Unlike a lot of authors, I don’t agonize over names. I give my characters normal/average names because they are often normal/average people. My towns are often named whatever’s easiest. For example, the small town in which LESSONS IN LOVE takes place is called Apple Creek. Here’s how I came up with that: I looked up Ohio’s major exports. I saw a few things…corn, for example. Meh. Corn Corners? That might be funny, but then I saw, to my surprise, that Ohio also exports apples. Who knew? Well, I guess if you live in Ohio, you knew. Appleton? Maybe. Apple Valley? Nah. Apple River? Apple Creek! I checked Google to see if there was actually a town called Apple Creek in Ohio. I couldn’t find anything so…hooray! We got a winner! 

About a week later, my husband asked, “Did you look up to see if there’s a real Apple Creek?” I replied, “Yes, of course. There isn’t.” For whatever reason, he looked it up again. And there it was. Not only did Apple Creek now exist, but he found a photo of the elementary school, Apple Creek Elementary - which is also the name of the school I made up in my story. He found photos of the school and it’s almost exactly how I described it in the novella. Red brick and all. Further, I mention The Dollar General - they have one of those too. Their main drag is Main Street. Yep, same as mine. The real Apple Creek has approx. 1200 residents. That’s about what I imagined (give or take) for my little town. I’ve never been to Apple Creek, Ohio. They have a Methodist church on Main Street, I made mine Presbyterian.

Sounds like I’m a terrible researcher, right? I mean, how can you go wrong with Apple Creek Ohio? Even if I spelled it wrong, Google is smart enough to correct me. Further, there are now photos of the town and I swear, it’s like the universe read my mind. Did I manifest this small town the way a Sims player creates a town? Why didn’t Apple Creek show up when I first looked for it? And how is it possible the school is named exactly the same name and looks like the one I conjured in my mind? Coincidence? Am I a magical god capable of creating worlds not only on paper, but in the real world as well? 

OK sure, I’ve been to Ohio and I know what it looks like out there. I’ve been to the Midwest and there isn’t much divergence from small town to small town. They’re all adorable. It’s easy to call this a coincidence, but it just feels uncanny. There is a real Apple Creek Ohio that I’ve never been to, yet somehow I’ve described it almost perfectly. How did I do that? An amalgamation of all the small towns I have been to and lucky guesses? Probably. Science might want to tackle this one. Until then, let’s just call it serendipity. 

The plot thickens. I searched again and found a blog post that starts with: 

Apple Creek, Ohio, is a real place. It is a village set in the heart of Wayne County, Ohio, eleven miles from Dalton and ten miles from Wooster. There are real streets and real people in Apple Creek.

Uh. Yeah. We know that now. But for some reason, the universe wants me to truly-really be aware of the real Apple Creek. And if I had known there was such a thriving Amish community in Apple Creek, I would have included it. There’s still time, I’m starting on the sequel already ;) I got your back, Amish folk. 

There is also video of someone driving through Apple Creek on US 250. I swear, none of this existed a week ago. Maybe I’m loosing my mind or I’m in touch with some higher power that allows me to create real worlds without ever seeing them. It’s probably because I love small towns; those sweet little places in between the big places. I love them and they’re on my mind. I can see them clearly when I close my mind. This isn’t a case of “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.“ I got so many things right…I’ve surprised myself.

To the real people of Apple Creek Ohio, if any of you ever read my novellas, I hope you like them and I hope I do loving justice to your home. Although, in my mind, Apple Creek, Ohio is still a fictional place. Maybe someday I’ll go there. I see you have a Johnny Appleseed Festival - which is weird, because Johnny comes from Massachusetts. Did he spend time in Ohio? I have no idea. You also seem to have a Yoga Fest. You sound like my kinda town. 

Day 23 - Busy, but Running Out of Time - Launch Giveaway Video

I may or may not be a day off. I am basically working on this project during all my free time. 

Big things I’ve done in the last 72 hours: 

1. Created some neat handouts for after the launch - lists of helpful strategies and tips I’ve learned that go beyond what’s already out there. 

   “But…” you’re wondering, “You’ve been complaining about teachers making bucks off their knowledge!” 

   “Yes,” I reply. “I’m not going to sell these and they’ll be available - if anyone wants them.” I’ll post those after the launch. 

2. Plotted out the final two weeks in a Bullet Journal-inspired journal. It’s way less intense than an actual Bullet Journal

3. Created a video for the final launch giveaway - took most of Sunday to make

4. Posted video on social media (a few teasers on Instagram)

5. Created a boosted post for the final launch giveaway on Facebook

6. Loaded some scheduled posts into Buffer

7. Wrote and scheduled the Readers Collective mailer for Tuesday the 8th - this includes a handout of how I create and structure my characters - specifically for Lessons in Love

I admit, I’ve become a bit sidetracked with the handouts. I kind of just love editing handouts. When I worked in an office, I had a habit of re-designing the inter-office memos. I’d change the fonts, clean up the text and grammar, and organize the layouts better. Even If it was just a reminder to clean out the break room fridge. Office memos always suck. I love doing this kind of thing, but I could never figure out how to make a living at it. LOL. I hate bad design, especially if you’re expecting the entire office to read it. Come on, people. Stop using Comic Sans and Papyrus. I once got reprimanded for updating a memo. My boss said, “No one asked you to do that!” But the employees in the office told me (confidentially) they loved it. I suspect she was upset because by changing her design, I was criticizing her memo skills - which I was. They were horrible. 

The handouts have been fun, but guess what I haven’t done yet? That’s right. Finished the formatting for the paperback or eBook. This means I need to haul butt and get it done - like today. I keep thinking it won’t take that much time, but you’d be surprised what takes longer than you’d think. For example, making the launch giveaway video took around four hours start to finish. Putting up the Facebook boosted post took about an hour - only because I messed up the first one, had to cancel it, and start over. I also experienced some issues uploading the video via Buffer. I just wouldn’t load - which means I have to upload manually. Not that I mind, it’s just time consuming and the attempt took about an hour only to fail. The Readers Collective mailer took several hours. I’m not quite settled on the design of it and I tweaked it more than I should have. Meh.

I also have not designed the cover, if you can believe it. Again, I feel over confident in my skills to get it done fast. I have a feeling that won’t be true. I wish I could stay home from school today, but alas, I cannot. I’ve already missed a day and I only get four days. Don’t want to upset my grades - which are going to be especially bad for this math class I’m taking. Not enough hours in the day. 

I’m super proud of this video. Many thanks to my hubby for the skilled cinematography ;)   

Day 22 - The Complicated World of Facebook Ads

As an experiment, I attempted to use Facebook Ads to gain new followers and get people to enter my three giveaways - which in turn expands the Readers Collective mailing list. All in anticipation of my novella launch on October 21st. This has, by no means, been the most extensive or scientific experiment, but I’ve used it to get to know Facebook Ads and see what a minimal investment can buy me. Spoiler alert, it’s not much. I ran three boosted posts over a three week period. “Boosted” means Facebook will show your ad to more people than it would get on its own. Supposedly. If you are not familiar the difference between Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts, read this.  

Good to Know: Ad Center and Ads Manager are two different things.

• Ads Center gives you basic information (reach, engagement)

• Ads Manager is more complicated (???)

First off, the Ad Center and Ad Manager aren’t easy to find. I wanted to get all that juicy data into a spreadsheet so I could analyze it. Nope. Once I found it, I discovered that the copy function (ctrl v) is blocked throughout the Ads Manager and Ad Center. I had to enter my data by hand. Why doesn’t Facebook want you to copy and/or paste your information? 

Further, I was unable to export my ad data. The export function is also difficult to find. When I finally found these mysteriously hidden links, I tried twice and all I got was garbled mess. I attempted both .xls and .csv files. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

TOTAL SPENT: $40 = 16 page likes at $2.50 per page like. 

Time to Approve: Facebook must approve every ad you submit. Boost 1 was approved in a few hours. Both Boost 2 and 3 took twenty-four hours. I assume this is because Boost 1 only ran for a day and was given a priority. 

OK. Which ad did the best? Obviously, I spent more money ($20) on Boost 3, so that one did much better reaching people, but had less *conversion than Boost 1 and 2. 

*Conversion: An action that's counted when someone interacts with your ad (for example, clicks a text ad or views a video ad) and then takes an action that you've defined as valuable to your business, such as an online purchase or a call to your business from a mobile phone.

	Days	Engagement	Reach	Spent	LinkClicks	Shares	Comments
Boost 1	1	47	439	$9.96	4	2	0
Boost 2	7	43	404	$10.00	11	2	1
Boost3	3	292	1234	$15.43	2	1	0

I had to count my own page likes by memory. Nowhere does Facebook tell you how many people liked your page as a result of your ad. Probably because there’s no way to tell if you have new likes because of the ad or it’s just a coincidence. 

• After the 1st boost: +1

• After the 2nd boost +9 (10 total) ß did the best

• After the 3rd boost +7 (16 total)

Forget about reach and engagement. What really counts is conversion. Conversion is where your likes and clicks turn into some action (usually a sale). The action I’m looking for here (pre-book launch) is page likes and entries to my giveaway. Based on the data above, Boost 2 did the best converting; I got the most link clicks and a higher surge of her followers. By surge, I mean eight more than then week before. However, I got exactly thirty-three giveaway entrants during both Boost 1 and Boost 2. Boost 3 only got twelve entries; which was a bigger prize and ran for a shorter time. Boost 1 only ran for a day and received twice as many link clicks as Boost 3. Are you confused yet? Me too. 

I’m sure there are factors that make a difference: time of day you start the ad, photo used, copy text, and length of campaign. I would argue that Facebook makes this process difficult on purpose. The Ads Center and Manager are not easy to use, it’s hard to find information, and exported data looks like vomit. I spent a great deal of time fishing for information: clicking, looking around, forgetting where a page was, having to look things up on Google. When creating or analyzing an ad, there are almost too many options to consider and it’s overwhelming. There’s definitely a steep learning curve. 

If you’re going to use Facebook Ads, I suggest reading a book about it or watching videos on YouTube. It’s so complicated and doesn’t quite make sense. How do I use the data above to make better ads? It’s overly complicated on purpose. There is no way to tell WHAT worked. Keywords? Day of week? The photo I used? The only thing I can think to do is use a modified version of Boost 2 (which did the best) and see how that does. I’ll post results next week. Facebook Ads are made for those beefy dudes who sell entrepreneur books; the ones that scream at you on YouTube. I actually watched a guy yesterday that called his audience “stupid morons.” Yet, he has a wide audience, sells books, and claims to make six figures. Go figure. 

I don’t think anyone is stupid. I think Facebook deliberately makes the ad game complicated and addictive. It’s gambling. And gambling is intermittent reinforcement. You win some, you lose some. It’s the winning some that keeps you coming back. 

In behaviorism, Intermittent Reinforcement is a conditioning schedule in which a reward or punishment (reinforcement) is not administered every time the desired response is performed. On an intermittent reinforcement schedule the mouse would only receive food every few times (it is typically random and unpredictable). There is an increased likelihood the desired behavior will continue with intermittent reinforcement conditioning and the behavior lasts longer than continuous reinforcement. Gambling is an example of intermittent reinforcement. You don't win every time or win the same amount when using a slot machine- this wouldn't be exciting or fun. The reinforcement is intermittent and causes a positive and euphoric response in the brain that in some circumstances can lead to gambling addiction.

As a small business owner (yes, Indie Publishing is small business), you just want to do well. You want to get a return on your investment (ROI). You want to make a living, feed your kids, take a vacation now and again. But Facebook doesn’t care about that. All it wants is your money. To get your money, it gamifies the system. Makes it a “hunt and peck” - which humans inherently love. Women, especially, are naturally inclined to enjoy searching because we are hunter/gatherers. It’s the same concept behind popping zits or shopping for groceries. Why do we like searching for things? The simplest answer is: human nature. Facebook augments its honey pot by providing tons of useless data. At first glance, it looks like they’re really trying to provide you with all the information you could ever want. In the end, most of it is truly useless. 

I spent $40 and converted nineteen people. Is it worth it? Who actually SAW my ad (engagement) is useless information if they didn’t convert. Facebook shows you a big number: 236. Wow! Uh…what did they engage with? They didn’t click my link, didn’t click the photo, and definitely didn’t like my page or enter my giveaway. So what exactly did they engage with? What does that even mean? 

So, I spent hours searching Facebook for answers only to come up with basic information: reach, engagement, etc. Nothing I can really use. 

Many fans of the Facebook Ad system are pro-users - number crunchers, left brains. Are you a number cruncher? I’m not. Facebook Ads isn’t made for writers. But we’re told that if we want a wide reach, we HAVE to use it. It’s the best place to get those readers. But is it? Unless I dig really deep into the numbers and go all, A Beautiful Mind on it, there is no way to tell what’s working. My sister, who loves this kind of stuff, tells me it takes time. I didn’t expect my first run of ads to do well, I merely wanted to learn. I’ve learned a lot. 

Day 21 - Finished Editing, Thinking about the Audio Book

I’m a copy editor and my husband worked on his school paper. What could go wrong? We started the final edit last night and we’re done. Is it done? I’ll probably do one final read-thru. Will it be perfect? Nope. If you look hard enough, even major publishing houses miss typos from time to time. What we want here is “pretty damn good” and I think it is. I hope I’ll be forgiven for one or two misplaced commas. 

Should I celebrate? Nope. No time. Plenty more work to do. 

Now it’s time to format the manuscript for both the paperback and the eBook. This process should be easy. I’m not anticipating any issues since I’ve watched plenty of videos, read the KDP tutorials and even messed around with their templates a bit. 

When I was a wedding photographer, one of the first things people asked was, “How long will it take to get the photos back?” If I had one thousand RAW photos and knew I was delivering five hundred, I could safely estimate four to six hours total. And then I doubled it. Nothing ever takes as long as you think it will. I could usually work six hours per day, which meant two days to complete. And then I doubled that. Four days. Let’s call it a week, just in case. Life gets in the way, things happen, expect the unexpected. A week is actually really good turn-around for wedding photos. When I was juggling multiple couples, I would double that week. “Two weeks,” I would reply. 

So, to format the book, I’m thinking I can get it done in four hours. Double it. That’s eight hours. I can’t work eight hours per day. I’m in school and have homework. During the week, I can do two hours per day (realistically). That’s four days total. I can’t double that estimate because I’m running out of time. If the formatting takes four days (two hours per day) I’m done by Thursday. Maybe? Let’s see. We’re talking both the eBook and the paperback. I don’t actually expect the formatting to take that long. 

And then it’s time to design the cover. Font choices, readability, color schemes, design, downloading photos, Photoshop. Good thing I know what I’m doing. I mentioned before, I have twenty-five years experience using Photoshop. I’ve done some print work, but mostly I’ve done web-work. Here’s where Melanie gets nervous and puts way too much emphasis on the cover because everyone will see it and the cover makes or breaks your book. 

OK, so I have my work cut out for me. I’m up for it. However, I’m also simultaneously managing social media, writing correspondence for the Readers Collective, putting together goodies for subscribers, and writing this blog. I mentioned school, right? I frequently have forty-five to a hundred pages of reading per week, plus math homework. How many hours are there in a day, again? Oh. Only twenty-four? Cool. I can do it. Me and my best friend, coffee. 

I spent today finishing up the final edit with my husband. Mom came over and hung out for a bit. Not like I can ignore my mom. I only see her once a week and she’s getting up there in years. When she left, I turned on the Hallmark Channel and became engrossed in Harvest Moon - which has me thinking I really need to change the season of LESSONS IN LOVE to Fall. Add to list. 

But then I started thinking about the audio book. Should I record it myself? A million years ago I ran a podcast. Check this out: it was in the olden times before podcasts were a thing. Yep. Everyone told me I was crazy. There were few resources, iTunes didn’t yet have a podcast category, and it was actually the wild frontier. In fact, I’m not sure YouTube was a thing yet. Wow. We used to have to self-host our podcasts on our own websites. Soundcloud was around, but they didn’t allow long form audio. I did all that for about a year and had a small, but loyal audience that boosted my ego by telling me I had a great voice. I did all the audio recording, sound engineering (what it was at the time) and editing. Was it professional-grade audio? Meh. It was OK. Great for the time when there wasn’t much to compare it to. 

I can rent a soundproof studio and record my own audio for less than hiring a narrator. I got a few quotes from narrators and we’re talking in the thousands of dollars here. If you know someone good and affordable, let me know. The best part is, the studio is within walking distance of my house. I live in a lively neighborhood where the local bar often hosts obnoxious drunks who like to go, “woooooo!” all day long. My place is also right next to the elevator shaft. VROOOOOOM. CLUNK. All day. Not to mention the neighbor’s barking dogs, police sirens, clacking high heels in the hall, and airplanes flying overhead. Finally, since I live in a loft, audio sounds like it’s being recorded in a very large tin can - no matter what I do. So studio it is. I can get twelve hours for $250. If I can’t record a novella in twelve hours, I’m in trouble. I should buy some of that lubricating throat spray voice actors use. 

Instead of formatting the paperback, like I should have, I spent the afternoon looking up what it takes to be a good audio book narrator. I watched some videos, found some vocal exercises, and learned a few tips. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good at impressions. I think I can learn how to impersonate an audio narrator. Do I see a lucrative side-hustle in my future? Heh. Maybe. The hardest part of audio narration will be fatigue. When your mouth stops working and your tongue starts to twerk. I’m also a bonafide tongue thruster. It’s a thing. Look it up. I could record a few hours per day. Of course, this is all AFTER the paperback and eBook are rolling. 

Are audio books necessary? If you believe every self-publishing guru, they are. But are they really? The concept is: wide distribution. You want to get your book in front of as many people as possible. Audio books cover an entirely different audience: commuters, the disabled, and people who just like listening to books. I listen to audio books all the time. It makes sense to have that as an option. I do really like recording audio, but my concern is the cost. If I spend $250 on studio time (forget manual labor time) will I even make that back? What are the odds Lesson in Love will sell enough copies to cover my expenses? It’s slim. That said, once it’s up and online, it’s there for the foreseeable future. There’s also all the nonsense of ACX, Audible, and more marketing. Different marketing. It’s something to think about - and soon. The quicker I can get the audio book done, the better. 

Things are a bit tight right now, but overall, I’m feeling great that the finish line is on the horizon. I can actually see it. 

Day 20 - Getting Down to the Wire

It’s finally hitting me. Holy shit. I’m running out of time!

For those of you savvy readers, you may have noticed that this project isn’t EXACTLY thirty days. It’s more like 37 days. That’s because the thirty-day mark landed square on my fifteen-year anniversary of my first date with my husband. Whoa. Really? Fifteen years? Yep. Every year, we go to the same place we had our first date; a retro diner in Los Angeles. So, I moved the date to the following Tuesday. 

Tuesdays are typically the release days for novels. At least, that’s the industry standard. I figured: why buck the system? I also don’t mind the extra week. I’m not nearly where I want to be. Part of that is because as good as the novella is, I’m a consummate perfectionist. I want it to be the best it can be. I did some scene re-writes while I was out of town and I think it’s finally in a good place. Hey, even if it isn’t…the deadline’s coming, right? I will stick to the deadline as best I can. My goal is to make it. 

Today I started formatting the paperback manuscript, but ran into a snag. It has to be edited. OMG! Why do I keep forgetting about the editing? Maybe because I hate when other people edit my work. I hate when someone points out a missed comma or I used a word twice in one sentence. In the end, I have not hired a “professional” editor. There just wasn’t enough time. I’m a copy editor and my husband is doing the final edit. He worked on his high school paper, so…between the two of us, I don’t expect too many egregious errors. I find the self-publishing audience to be slightly more forgiving in that arena, anyway. Last year I read a self-pub novel with some of the worst grammar and spelling errors I ever saw - and yet, it was rated five stars on Amazon. I don’t know. Maybe the author bought reviews. Still. My novella is in pretty decent shape. I feel good about it. 

I plan to spend the weekend formatting the novel for paperback and eBook. I can’t design the cover until I know how many pages I have. While I could just go with an eBook (make my life easy), I kinda want that paperback out there, ya know? There is something magical about seeing your words in print and knowing people are reading it. Even if it’s just for my own library shelf to be donated to the Goodwill after I die at the ripe old age of one hundred and twenty. 

My third giveaway is underway. It’s much shorter, so if you read this before Sunday October 6th, get on over there. It’s a good one. A ten-dollar Starbucks Card and a steamy romance novel. A new one starts on Tuesday October 8th. 

Also on Tuesday, I’ll be sending out a PDF to the Reader’s Collective of how I create and structure my characters for my writing. Specifically, the characters for Lessons in Love. I know some cool tricks, some of which I’ve learned over the years and others I’ve picked up at writing workshops. I do not SPAM and I’ll only send out three to four emails per month. In case you were worried. 

As for Launch Teams, there has been almost no action on that front. To be honest, I haven’t really been pushing it - and I think you need to push it. In further honesty, it seems like a hassle. Bugging people so that I can give them a free e-copy of the novella and then bugging them to review it? Perhaps I’ll have better luck for the next novella. That said, if you’d like a free e-copy of the novella and would be willing to review it, join the Melanie Squad. I also tried to join some launch teams and again, no bites. I posted on Twitter, joined some Facebook groups, and even contacted authors directly. Is no one doing Launch Teams? When I asked if anyone had a launch team on Reddit, no one answered. Does this mean Launch Teams are a dead art? Must be. 

In other news, I recently read yet another blog where the author has decided that teaching is the way to go. If you missed my rant on writing and self-publishing teachers, go check that out when you’re done with this. Long story short, it’s not the way to go. First off, you’re not a teacher. You’re a writer. Second, often the teaching takes priority and the farther you go, the less a writer you are. Unless you’re a master, please don’t teach. And by master, I mean, more than one book published. Look, it doesn’t take a genius to self-publish a book. One thing I’ve learned in the last few weeks is that all it really takes is persistence and a willingness to learn marketing. Both take time. I’ve seen bad books do well because they had a great advertising strategy. Of course, who am I to talk? I don’t even have ONE book published. Self-publishing, like everything, is a roll of the dice. You can have a perfect novel, a perfect advertising campaign, and plenty of money to spend, but it still doesn’t guarantee you’ll hit the lottery. Do it because you love it, not because you want to quit your day job. My dad used to say, do what you love and the money will come. What I didn’t understand about that phrase was that the money will indeed come - after blood, sweat, tears, and lots of time.

Days 18 and 19 - Getting it All Done

I’ve found that getting anything done during the week is almost impossible. As I mentioned (when? Last Tuesday?) I’m starting to feel the burnout. It’s not the project. In fact, learning to self-publish has been my savior, my fun. It’s almost relaxing. Here’s what my mid-week days look like: 

• Up at 5am

• Coffee, write (usually this blog)

• 6:30am - Shower, get ready for school

• Out the door by 7:30

• Walk to coffee house for coffee, call Lyft

• Lyft to train station - arrive 8-8:30am

• Train to school (45 mins)

• Walk to school (ten mins)

• 10am-12:30pm class

• Walk to train (10 mins)

• Train home (45 mins)

• Lyft home (10 mins)

• Home by 1pm-1:30pm

• Feed the cat, eat lunch, watch something (usually an episode or two). Sometimes I fall asleep, sometimes I’m up

• Homework between 3pm and 6pm - intermittent breaks cleaning the house

• 6pm: Start dinner

• Husband home by 7:15pm

• Eat dinner, watch some TV - depending on what we watch, I try to be done by 9pm

• 9pm: Time for bed

• In bed by 10pm - usually, my husband and I are chatting, I’m getting ready for bed, sometimes I’m desperately trying to work on Melanie stuff until 11pm. If I don’t go to bed by 11, I’m wrecked in the AM. 

The afternoons look like the best time to get stuff done, but by the time I get home from school and start my homework, I’m pretty tired. It’s also during this 3pm-6pm window that I try to work on house stuff (mail, organization, whatever needs to be done). It doesn’t help that my 3rd semester of copy editing started last week and I have anywhere from 45-100 pages of reading every week. Plus, homework and workbook exercises. 

I can’t even imagine those of you who have kids. I know there are people out there who raise children, go to school, and work a full-time job. I tip my hat to you all. You are amazing. Please tell me how you do it. Truth is, I’ve been more organized on this project than ever. It’s not just organization, it’s time management. For the first time in my life, I’m mostly sticking to a schedule. But as you can see, when do I have time to write? I see all these people on Twitter posting about their wordcount for the day and I’m like: uh, none? I haven’t written a word in a week - and that was while I was out of town, stuck in our hotel, and I added a new scene to LESSONS IN LOVE. 

And then there’s the weekend. My family wants to hang out. My mom wants me to go with her to buy a new couch. I’d love to, but when can I work on Melanie? 

This has been my problem forever. How do I manage to do what I want, work on the things I want AND keep the house from falling apart, spend time with my family, and not be wound in knots? In my 20s, I would always succumb to what everyone else wanted - thus, my dreams were put on the backburner. In my 30s, I became a step-mother and all the tasks that came with it. I learned how to assembly-line their lunches, so there’s that. 

This isn’t so much a complaint post as it is about commiseration. I know the uber-organized ladies on YouTube are insane. The people who write books about getting it all done are monsters created to make the rest of us feel bad. Marie Kondo is a robot. They don’t show us their freak outs, when they lose their shit on their kids, or smash a dish out of sheer frustration. I’ve been there. I once got so mad while I was washing dishes, I took a cup I hated, walked out to the backyard and smashed it on the concrete. That felt good. 

Ok, so we’re all stressed the F out. Right? I assume so. Is this why so many moms post about needing that glass of wine every day? I don’t drink anymore, but I also don’t seem to have an adequate method of venting. The kids are all grown and gone, but I still find it hard to manage my time. Perhaps I need to take a step back and reorganize. I can squeeze a few moments out - like the train ride or not take so long a lunch break. Or should I value my long break and really soak it up? Share your thoughts in the comments. How do you stay organized and keep your stress down? If you’re feeling the burnout, go ahead and vent. I say bah-humbug to the perfect Instagram moms and crazy organizer ladies. They don’t represent the majority of us. Do they? My sink has a funny smell. Clean it out or write a chapter?

Day 17 - Getting Stabby

Today my husband was sick. I went to school and sat through a boring, two-hour lecture on financial aid - which I won’t qualify for anyway. Came home, ate lunch, and fell asleep on the couch for a solid two and a half hours. Woke up groggy and attempted to read the 40-some pages of copy-editing homework I have. I didn’t finish. My mom is feeling needy and I had to talk to her on the phone for an hour. Meanwhile, my husband is walking around making noises because he wants attention. And then the cat starts in. She hasn’t shut up all day because she thinks it’s time for treats. It’s not. I need to apply for the Winter semester and their website isn’t letting me log in. I can’t create a new account because it says I already have one. But it won’t email me a new password. I didn’t do my math homework. I’m constantly being distracted by family, cats, school. Not to mention, my step-kid is coming into town on Thursday. Yay, but holy hell I have a lot to do. 

All I did today for the novella is put the latest giveaway Starbucks card into an envelope. I wrote a nice letter, addressed it and put a stamp on it. I also read a bit about Amazon advertising - which I’ve decided is the key to getting that coveted “bestseller” title. Hitting the advertising market hard makes sense. When I’m ready to advertise, I’ll write about it and keep you updated, but I’m starting to think this is why bad books make the bestseller list - bad books, good advertising. 

I have a metric shit-ton of work to do on the novella and I’m falling behind in school. Sort of. I’m about to fall behind and it’s stressing me the F out. Here’s what bugs me (and tell me if you can relate): When you get busy and start working on your passion projects, everyone starts feeling neglected and clamors for your attention. This is where the saying “when it rains, it pours” comes from. Why does everything land all at the same time? Why? I don’t freakin’ know. 

I am in therapy. It’s a long story, but at times like these, I think about what my therapist would tell me: Lock myself in a room, turn off the phone, and tell everyone to F off. 

I may do that. Of course, now it’s 10pm and it’s time for bed. I have school in the morning. I didn’t get much done on the novella yesterday, nor today. The good news is (let’s focus on the positive for a minute) I’m much more organized in school than I’ve ever been. I did amazing on two math pop-quizzes today. I don’t even know how that happened. No one’s dying, everyone is healthy, and the sky is blue. OK. I’m trying here. Like a lot of women, I tend to keep it all together until I burst. Today I’m bursting. Could be hormones, all the crappy food I ate while I was out of town, or the Schumann Resonance. Sun spots? EMFs? I’m a bit tapped out. 

Self-care dictates that when you feel tapped out, you tap out. It’s 10pm, I’m yawning, and there is no more Ican do. Go to bed. Sleep. Recover. Start again tomorrow. 

This is about what life feels like right now.

Day 16 - Let's Talk About Organization and Systems a Bit

Is today Day 16? Apparently, I don’t know what day it is. I thought today was October 1st and it’s only September 30th. If that doesn’t tell you about my current state of mind, I don’t know what will. Of course, coming home from vacation is always disorienting. I’m also back in school and it turns out I’m terrible at math. No shock. I was the kid who looked out the school window and dreamt about going for long walks. I dreamt of escape. 

I’m currently in school part time. I’m taking two classes in the real world and one online. Between the commute and lunch, I don’t get to start my “Melanie day” until after 2pm. By that time, I’m tired and ready for a nap. You feel me? 

I’m attempting to be super organized in both life and work. It’s laborious, but once you get a system down, it’s smooth sailing - I hope. Part of that includes having a regular digital cleaning schedule. This is prompted by the hoarder-esque status of my desktop Mac. I can’t find anything and I have hundreds of thousands of photos. You may recall, I mentioned I was a wedding photographer in a former life. Not to mention thousands of photos from tens years of iPhones. Needless to say, it’s a combination of chuckle-chin selfies and glorious wedding photos. It’s a mess. It’s been one of those “someday” jobs for a long time - but I want to take small bites out it. My Mac has also started to slow down and I suspect it’s because I have too many files, too many applications. 

Years ago, my husband discovered the Kaizen method. 

Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous improvement based on the idea that small, ongoing positive changes can reap major improvements. Typically, it is based on cooperation and commitment and stands in contrast to approaches that use radical changes or top-down edicts to achieve transformation.

At the time, I thought it was hokum. But now I feel like some jobs require Kaizen - like thousands of photos on your external drives. If I can consistently go through them once a month (during my monthly digital clean up) in twenty years I’ll have a totally organized photo library. 

As for the digital clean up, I’ve been very methodical this month and written down all my steps - which I will be sharing in the next day or so. 

On the Lessons in Love front, today was really about doing the digital clean up. The only book-related thing I did today was set up my GoodReads account. I’ve submitted an application for my author page and added LESSONS IN LOVE. Once it’s approved, I’ll post more information and you can friend me and vice versa. To learn how to set up your author account, read this. Setting up GoodReads should be part of the social media foundation and done early on.

If you read yesterday’s post, you know I’m feeling overwhelmed. Only two weeks in? To self-publish your book, you must be hyper-organized. I’m a combination of hyper-organized and super-disorganized. I’m so organized, it’s hard to wade through all my notes and calendars and systems. It’s not just the self-publishing part; that’s fun. It’s the life/work combo. If I had nothing else to do but get my novella online, I’d be right as rain. But I have, school, homework and family, and a cat. Post your favorite self-care activities in the comments. I’m definitely not doing enough.

This project is forcing me to take a hard look at how I do things and really nail down a system. And that’s what you need: a system. The best book I ever read about systems is The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It. It really gets it into your head why you need systems and why they work. It’s an older book, but don’t let that fool you. It’s helped me in more ways I can count. In fact, I think I’d like to read it again.