Tag: conventions

On Publishing Sooner or Later: Pros & Cons

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On PublishingLeave a comment

Over the last few months, I’ve been processing my ideas for writing and publishing books going forward. I last published something in 2019, with my short mythology series on Wattpad. I didn’t intend to go five-plus years until publishing my next story, but here we are.

I’m ready to embark on the next phase of my book writing/publishing journey. I say “embark”, because I’m not necessarily ready to publish right now — just to take the next steps. What I haven’t quite decided is how I want to proceed.

I could focus on my duology and try to get those out in 2025, at the soonest. That would enable me to attend a few book conventions or festivals with my duology and my previous novel, The Warden of Everfeld: Memento. I could also hold back, prepare several different stories, and then pursue a more deliberate publication schedule to drive higher overall sales.

So, I need to make a list of the pros and cons.

Publish sooner?

There’s no reason to make two different pros and cons lists, so I’m just going to focus on the most immediate question: Do I want to publish something in the near term, regardless of longer-term timelines?

Pros of publishing sooner

I could get my author name out there again.

  • Perhaps have new stories will help drive sales to WoEM. Then again, maybe that will draw unwanted attention to the fact that I have yet to publish my intended sequel to WoEM.
  • This likely implies a social media “presence” of some form, something I’m not thrilled about.

It would allow me to attend some book conventions or festivals with more than one book to sell.

  • I attended exactly one convention to sell my first book in 2019, and I greatly enjoyed it. It was so much more rewarding to talk to people about my book and meet other authors/creators face-to-face, instead of trying to advertise online.

I could feel like I’m making progress on my writing goals.

  • Perhaps a mental hurdle, but sitting on “finished” unpublished works for years could be a detriment to my motivation.

Cons of publishing sooner

I would be left with another uncertain publishing gap.

  • I could focus on finishing and publishing my current duology. However, once completed, I would feel the same pressure to identify a publishing timeline for my next work.
  • All the book marketing/sales threads, forums, and articles say that you shouldn’t leave too long a gap between publishing cycles. I’m not sure how important that is to me, though.

I’d likely need to establish a social media presence.

  • I’m not particularly interested in the idea of producing social media content just to get my name out there. I understand it’s something lots of authors have to do, but it would require additional mental energy I’d need to prepare for.

I’m not decided, but I think I’m leaning towards publishing sooner just to have something attainable to reach for. More pondering is needed.

Steve D

Creativity Sessions writing process. Evening Satellite Publishing.

A Changing of the Writing Goals: Or a Reassessment

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On PublishingLeave a comment

In my October Write Day post, I started to ponder what my medium-term writing goals really were. I’ve been diligent about setting monthly goals for myself, just to ensure I’m focusing some of my energy on my hobbies, like writing.

I also know what my super-long-term goal is: I’d like to have multiple published stories that I can take to conventions and book festivals. I want to actually meet people who may be interested in reading my stories, not just try to sell online.

My current work-in-progress, which I’ve generally referred to as “The Herb Witch Tales”, is a duology of novellas that I intend to publish as one volume in print, to keep printing costs down. My next intended project is the sequel to Warden of Everfeld: Memento, which will be a full-length novel. While I have a solid start on that novel I had started drafting in 2018, it will not be ready for publication quickly.

At the moment, I have one published book and a slew of online short stories that are not ready for print form. I definitely need more than one book in order to make paying for tables at conventions worth the cost.

But I’m also concerned about pushing to publish my current work-in-progress, doing a bunch of marketing, going to some conventions, and then not being able to publish anything for a few more years.

That doesn’t seem like an effective way to sell books. I also don’t want “final” drafts to languish on a hard drive somewhere without seeing the light of day.

So maybe that’s the answer. I’ll publish my current work-in-progress when it’s ready, not make a huge deal about it, and continue with my next project. Once I have three books to sell, then I can start to consider my proactive marketing and conventions.

It just may take a few more years to get there.

Do any other writers out there stuggle with this question? Do you feel pressure to publish every year?

Steve D

April Write Day: Writing in Quarantine

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, Writers - Steve D'AdamoLeave a comment

March has been weird for everyone, I’m sure. Maryland, my home-state in the US, has been under a state of emergency with escalating degrees of a shutdown for at least three weeks.

My wife and I are incredibly fortunate to both still be working. I am working from home, and she is considered an essential employee for a healthcare institution. (She works in a lab, so she’s not on the front lines of the pandemic response, like most doctors or nurses are.) My son is out of daycare for the time being, and I haven’t left my house in a week.

I’d be happy to talk about life under quarantine if you’re interested, but not in this post.

This post is about writing! And other goals. Continue reading “April Write Day: Writing in Quarantine” →

4 Strategies to Promote Your Book Release

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Publishing, Writers - Steve D'AdamoLeave a comment

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about actual marketing strategies, so I wanted to find a topic I could cover in greater depth over the next several months:

Promoting a New Book Release!

This topic is relevant to my own publishing efforts, since I’m writing and aiming to publish a two-part novella later this year. I’ll start off with a summary of different book promotion strategies, and then deep-dive into each topic in later posts.

Continue reading “4 Strategies to Promote Your Book Release” →

When the Doubt Creeps in

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, Writers - Steve D'AdamoLeave a comment

I had totally planned to write about marketing strategies this week, but I am mentally drained. Next week.

For now, I’m just going to unload a bit. A few things coalesced over the last several days that had me in serious doubt about my writing endeavors. As in, I honestly questioned whether I should be in the self-publishing arena, whether I even wanted my stories published at all. That was a first.

Here’s what happened, in the order that I remember it:

  • Writing my short story was extremely slow for me last week, and felt more tedious than anything.
  • I applied to a convention for this autumn, then realized that if I don’t make the cut, it might be difficult for me to get to any conventions this year, which is one of my big goals.
  • In not looking into conventions sooner, not thinking about Awesome Con over the winter, and making unrelated plans that made it too difficult to commit to Awesome Con at this point, I felt like I was already losing out on a big opportunity this year.
  • KDP emailed me saying they found parts of my book published elsewhere online, which is against their terms of service, and they took my book down from their market. 

That last one still irks me. They claimed to have found places where content in my novel were published online and asked me to provide explanations as to why.

…I have not published a single word of my novel anywhere in any online forum. They asked me to send them links of where they found my book’s content published, as if they were protecting my copyright by not telling me if anyone else was infringing on my copyright.

I sent them four links, two of which were on this site, one on YouTube, and one on Wattpad, and told them that I used my cover image in marketing materials, which is… kind of… what you do when you publish a book.

I then emphatically asked that they identify any other places they had allegedly found my book published online, because I was terrified that someone had stolen my story.

They replied thanking me for my cooperation, confirmed that my book would be made live on their platform again, and gave me no other information!

What the hell?

Am I supposed to assume that the four places I use my cover image online were what flagged their team to potential copyright infringement of my own book?

Maybe. I haven’t even bothered asking for clarification, because I’m 90% certain I won’t get any.

This episode took place over the course of about 18 hours, but that day-and-a-half had me questioning every decision I had made about writing and publishing stories over the previous six years.

The good news is that I’m mostly over it, I think. The first draft for my short story was bothering me, because I know it’s terrible at this point, and I wasn’t sure how to make not terrible.

But I also know that the first draft is always terrible, and that I just need to get the thing written so I can go back, scribble some notes, and rewrite it. I wrote up a small outline to help me figure out how to get from the middle of the story to the end, so that should make the writing process a little smoother.

Except tonight (Tuesday) because I can barely look straight ahead without my eyes drifting.

The moral of the story is this: You will always find a reason to doubt yourself as a writer. Sometimes, the universe gives you several reasons all at once! Take a moment to breathe, and then find a way around it.

I can still publish this short story this year. I can still attend a convention or two. And I can do some quick Google searches to make sure no one has stolen my book, even if it’s just for momentary peace of mind.

Steve D

March Write Day: Looking Ahead

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, Writers - Steve D'AdamoLeave a comment

February has been a month of preparation, or at least preparing for future preparations…

I’ve started looking into conventions I want to attend this year, and realized a little too late that I should have been doing this three months ago. Due to another trip I’m taking around the same time, I will not be attending Awesome Con in DC this year, which is a bummer.

However, I’ve found a few book festivals in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia that I’m looking into attending later this autumn. Some of the application dates are looming, so that will be a focus for me this month. I’d definitely like to attend two of those. I’m considering doing all three. Hopefully I’ll have more details this time next month. Continue reading “March Write Day: Looking Ahead” →

2020 Marketing Goals: Short Story or Bust

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Publishing, Writers - Steve D'AdamoLeave a comment

Last week I reviewed my book marketing goals for 2019 and summarized how those went.

TLDR: meh.

But the past is gone and we must look forward! So here are my plans for 2020 on the book publishing, marketing, and selling fronts. Continue reading “2020 Marketing Goals: Short Story or Bust” →

Pre-2020 Goals and Ideas

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Publishing, Writers - Steve D'AdamoLeave a comment

For whatever reason I’ve been thinking a bit about my writing and publishing goals for next year, including my goals for this site. That, of course, leads me into thinking about what I want to do with this site in general.

I’m not going to write my full book marketing goals post for 2020 yet, because it’s 11pm on a Monday, and it’s not quite 2020. However, I’d like to set the stage a bit for how I may approach the coming year, and get some thoughts onto virtual paper. Continue reading “Pre-2020 Goals and Ideas” →

Midway Check-In: 2019 Book Marketing Goals

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Publishing, Writers - Steve D'AdamoLeave a comment

We’re a little over halfway through the year, so I thought I would provide an update to the marketing goals I set earlier in the year for my book and this website.

To be fair, I haven’t given much thought to my book marketing goals since Awesome Con in April. Granted, I was much more focused on finding a job most of that time, but this will be a good refresher for us all. Continue reading “Midway Check-In: 2019 Book Marketing Goals” →

Quarterly Sales Report: Awesome Con was Awesome

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Publishing, Writers - Steve D'Adamo3 Comments

Awesome Con was fantastic. I talked to a ton of cool people, connected with a couple authors, and sold some freaking books.

I wish I had the budget right now to do more conventions, but I’ll just have to be patient. At the very least, I can plan to be at Awesome Con again next year. For now, let’s have a look at how well my first novel actually sold at my first convention. Continue reading “Quarterly Sales Report: Awesome Con was Awesome” →