Most of my work today was focused on reading/revising the draft of the sequel rather than promoting Mutt. Writing comes more naturally to me than promotion, so I’m totally in my zone right now being totally fried on too much coffee at going on 4 AM.
What started out as a simple proofreading, with the intended addition of one scene, is quickly evolving into a complete second draft of the book. I’ve added more than 3,000 words (including that new scene) and changed a few things about some character conflicts, and I’m less than halfway done my proofreading. I’m also cutting out unneeded words everywhere I can. It’s going to be a noticeably longer book than Mutt, but I’m trying to stick to the same principals of brevity, tight pacing, and no wasted pages. It’s a more complex story that explores a bit more of the world at which Mutt only glimpses, but I’m hoping it’ll never feel like it’s getting sidetracked in that exploration. I’m trying to keep my world-building largely in the margins and never present the reader with any information that feels like it’s tangential or not immediately relevant. This is a fine line to walk for a SF/F writer given that so many readers of the genre dig exhaustive world-building and detail, but hopefully these books will appeal to people who are turned off by that style, as well as those who need something a bit lighter after braving The Wheel Of Time or A Song Of Ice And Fire.
Related: I finished A Dance With Dragons. It was pretty good. I won’t drop any spoilers for all you people watching Game of Thrones on HBO, but I will say the books are well worth your time, if you can stomach the 5,000 page investment.
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8 June, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: a dance with dragons, a song of ice and fire, advertising, best new books, books, dystopian, e-book, ebook, game of thrones, george r. r. martin, indie author, marketing tips, mutt, post-apocalyptic, promotion, promotion tips, rittenhouse, robert jordan, self publication, self publishing, You're Just A Mutt, young adult | Leave A Comment »
Okay, I was actually very productive yesterday. I just fell asleep before I could write about it here.
I sent some queries and finalized my business card design (which is actually going to be indistinguishable from the sticker design). I also began taking first pages from Mutt and posting them everywhere in the world. (“Everywhere in the world” mostly means cafe bulletin boards and the fronts of free newspaper dispensers.)
(As you can see in the corner of the frame, I’m still slogging through A Dance with Dragons, which I hope to be done with in about a week. I took a reading speed test today that put my comfortable speed on par with a 7th-grader’s. Hence my love for smaller books.)
I’m still waiting to see sales pick up even a little bit as the result of my daily promotion push, but it’s early in the game. It may be that the book continues to sell at the same (very slow) rate for months, but I’m hoping I’ll see a tipping point as these different tactics come to fruition. I’ve gotten positive replies from some wonderful bloggers and should have some new reviews of Mutt to share very soon.
Also, I get sleepy in the early day recently. I think I’m becoming an old person.
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27 May, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: a dan, a dance with dragons, book review, exhaustion, first page, funny, game of thrones, indie author, marketing tips, martin, mutt, photo, promotion tips, self publishing, tired, You're Just A Mutt | Leave A Comment »
