To begin, ignore the title. My SEO was telling me “In Recent Months” was a crappy title that wouldn’t get any attention so I decided to placate it with a few more words. It seems to like this one much better. Perhaps I should begin every post with “Life of an Unknown Author”.
I haven’t posted here for a while but not because I haven’t wanted to. I’ve simply been extremely busy elsewhere.
For those who don’t already know, my grandfather passed away toward the end of October. That was quite a bit to deal with, though most everyone has handled it well to my understanding. There’s still more in that regard but I’ll not get into it here.
From there, funeral arrangements and all that, we went straight into November which, as pretty much everyone in the writing industry knows, is NaNoWriMo. I don’t often participate in the event but once again I found myself typing my heart out to hit the minimum 50k word marker. #IGotGeorged
The last time I participated was when I wrote The Pandora Gambit. My friend George talked me into it. Sad to say the stipulations this time are much the same only I have a different book to show for it now. I must say it’s nice having a complete novel after a month’s effort but I really need to learn how to tell George no.
To one up my writing endeavors, I did something extra during NaNo this year as well. I started a YouTube channel where I did a daily log/offered writing advice/discussed the stuff going through my head during the writing of the book. It was fun and I fully intend to add video making to my schedule. Honestly, I liked it better than I do blogging and I feel the market is more gravitated toward that anymore anyway. Sadly that seems to be the world we live in now. Most people don’t want to read. They want to watch and listen. I’d be a fool not to acknowledge and try to find my way in that.
If you’d like to check out that series of videos you can find them HERE.
In other news, I’m looking at updating some of my stuff. One of the biggest things I’ve struggled with is understanding how to market online. I know the basics and how most stuff works (how it seems to work for other people that is), but when I try to apply it, I’m clearly missing something.
In order to become a little more visible online it’s my hope to make some changes to achieve this goal. With any luck the addition of YouTube videos will aid in that regard.
I’m also toying with the idea of raising my prices slightly. I’ve been looking at other works lately and noticing that I’m horribly underpriced compared to similar works by other authors. Pricing in this industry is a strange game. Too low and people think your work is crap and they wont buy it. Too high and they wont buy. Half wont buy it anyway because it’s not a movie, and the other half have subscriptions like Kindle Unlimited and can read the books without direct payment, which again goes back to price point judgment. With all this in mine raising my prices to comparable total word per cost I have nothing to lose and the possibility of new readers to gain. Of course, this requires me to reenlist in Kindle Unlimited for another 3 months but honestly it doesn’t make much difference for me. Non-Amazon readers haven’t shown much interest in me anyway.
Basically what I’m saying is there are going to be some changes made to not only my website but my platforms overall. Stay tuned and if you happen to encounter something that either doesn’t work, something that you don’t like, or something you’re simply curious about send me a message. I promise to respond as soon as I’m able.
In addition to writing a video making, I’ve been having quite a few people interested in my artwork lately. Like so many I practiced art when I was younger but I never really had the aspiration to turn it into a career. Yet it seems my jack of all trades status has placed me in the artists wheelhouse. In addition to a few paying Book cover art jobs, I was recently asked to draw up some samples for an upcoming gig which I cannot talk about at this time. All I can say is it has the potential to be something big. I spent a week preparing my samples and while they aren’t the greatest due to multiple factors, I learned some stuff from them and win or lose, I’m proud of what I created.
I don’t know if I’m going to try to create more art for fan view or not. I’m not the greatest at sharing things and as I already said, I’ve never really had the aspiration to be an artist. I’m a craftsman, which I understand is a big controversy in the art world.
I believe it’s a simple distinction. Art exist simply to look pretty (subjective). Crafts serve a purpose. My books are crafts. They’re a tool to bring escape and enjoyment to the readers. Everything I create serves a purpose on one regard or another. It’s a product, a tool. I exchange it for money, which I in turn exchange for survivability and comfort, and more often than not more stuff to make product faster or easier.
I believe that’s enough rambling from me for now. If you’ve read this far, I appreciate your interest. Please take a moment to subscribe to my newsletter where you can get little updates like this on a monthly basis. There’s a free book in it for you.
Best Regards,
Levi Samuel