You’re going to think these posts are about how my e-book did on Bookbub, and they sort of are. But keep reading until the end of my “cleaning up” posts, because it’s ultimately about how everything other than my e-book did, and you’ll be shocked at how important everything else was; these posts contains tips I’ve NEVER SHARED BEFORE, so if that interests you, read on. And if you’d rather learn more about how to get selected for Bookbub and other general tips, check out this post, this one, and this one. Now, on to the show.
I paid Bookbub $470 to help me give away my novel to their Crime Fiction subscribers last week. On the surface, it may sound odd to some people that I pay a service to give my e-book away, but if you’ve ever tried to give away perfume samples at the mall, you know that people look at “gifts” (and even low-priced items) like three-day old fish: highly likely to stink. They need someone else to validate the value of that gift/deal before they want to accept it/spend their time on it.
Enter Bookbub. The two primary reasons Bookbub is so successful, IMHO, is that they curate their recommendations rigorously and they have built an enormous list of over 7,000,000 subscribers by preferred genre and preferred e-book sales venue; the Crime Fiction genre alone is over 2,000,000. But they wouldn’t have the second—huge, quality list—without the first—rigorously curated recommendations.
Note: Bookbub recommends free and discount e-books. Two of my fellow SkipJack Publishing authors ran 99 cent discounts on their e-books in the Thriller category in January 2016 (The Closingby Ken Oder and Deadly Thymeby R.L. Nolen), and both of them did over 5,000 in paid sales (during their promotion day including the four days following it). This more than paid for their promotions—which are twice as expensive to run as free promotions—and both e-books cracked the Top 100 on Kindle.
I’ve done discount e-book promotions on Bookbub, too, but I have had the most success using Bookbub to promote my first-in-series permanently-free e-book, Saving Grace.
Most people measure the success of their Bookbub by its multi-day impact on their free downloads and/or paid sales; five days is a normal measurement period. I do that, and I also like to help keep the awesomeness going by stacking a few other promotions on the backend of a Bookbub. Last week I used OHFB ($100) the day after, and ereaderiq/BookSends/PixelofInk ($160) two days later; I spent a total of $730 between Bookbub and these other two promotions. My fellow authors (above) used promotions before and after their Bookbub promotions to maximize its impact and duration, too.
So how did my novel do, just on free downloads and paid sales? Keep in mind as you review these numbers that my usual daily total of free downloads is about 300 (boosted by weekly promotions to maintain that average). My daily paid sales run about 125.
Day one: 39,470 novels downloaded for free. I sold 574.
TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY SIX OF THESE SALES WERE AUDIOBOOK ADD-ONS TO THE FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD OF MY NOVEL. In other words, I made money on the free book itself.
Day two: Free—8,323. Paid—251.
Day three: Free—4,741. Paid—300.
Day four (no promotions): Free—3,732. Paid—331.
Day five (no promotions): Free—2,665 . Paid—320.
Totals: Free—58,931. Paid—1,776.
My novel cracked the top five free books for two days. I made about $3600 in royalties over these five days on paid books, so my average net per day after paying for the promotions was $576. That’s nearly double my normal net. And the really cool thing, based on my past experience, is this uptick in paid sales will continue/slowly taper for months as people get around to reading the free novel and move on to the other six paid books in the series, plus my other books. Now, sometimes it is a year or more before they get around to it. I know, because they say so in their reviews 😉 Sometimes it is the next time they see it promoted and think “oh yeah, I really need to read that book.” Or, sometimes, the next promotion reminds them to go back and buy the others. Whatever the reason, a lot more people download free/discount books than actually read them in the short term. That’s okay. Many of them get there eventually.
Stay tuned for more posts on cleaning up with your Bookbub promotions in the next few weeks as I explain “off the page” ways to monetize.
Any tips on strategies that have worked for you are welcomed in the comments below.
Good luck!
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like those in her What Doesn’t Kill You world, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
From time to time, you should take stock of your life for situations that no longer serve you or your writing, then let them go. Even activities you once loved. Doing so will help your creative process overall.
Recently, I shared how I’ve given up the last of my regular guest posts on huge writing blogs. The decision was not done lightly, but was necessary to gain more time personally and professionally. That thought process has made me reevaluate my whole world. You should do the same, because…
Less is more for your writing process. As in, more time, energy and happiness.
Back in the day, my brother had a Stretch Armstrong doll that we loved as kids. He’d yank that poor guy one way and I’d pull him the other way until we s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d him as far as we could. We thought it was hysterical and spent hours torturing playing with him.
Sometimes, I feel like Stretch Armstrong. Writers must do so much more today than place words on a page in the correct order. Whether you’re traditionally published or indie, you must….
Be a writer, editor, researcher, marketer, query-er, website builder, blogger, networker, social media guru, and speaker.
Your To Do list feels never ending. No wonder you’re exhausted.
Yes, writings tugs you in many, different directions, but here’s what I’ve learned in my twenty years at this. Especially, since 2013 when my literary agent left publishing and I decided to take control of my career and go indie.
Recently I had the honor of attending my first Novelists, Inc. conference. It is a “must-attend” annually for me from here out. My head is spinning with ideas and information that will change strategy and tactics for me, in big and small ways, and I’ve blogged on specific topics several times already. This time I’m sharing my thoughts on an author’s online presence. You know, website, Amazon author page, Goodreads author profile, BookBub author page. That kind of thing.
Let’s start with this idea: you don’t have to make this hard. Write one bio. Take one picture. Have one link to subscribe to your newsletter. If you blog, have the blog “pull” through to all the locations that will take it. In a word: multipurpose. Do it once, use it consistently. That’s the key to no muss, no fuss.
Now, let’s break it down.
Website
Yes, you have to have one. Have you ever heard of “proof of life,” like when kidnappers let their victim talk on the phone to prove she’s unharmed so they can claim their ransom? Well, a website is your proof of life so you can claim the royalty on your book when a reader sees you’re for real and goes and buys it. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You don’t have to do it yourself. Find one you like and emulate it, either on your own or by hiring someone. I modeled mine after Nora Roberts. No, it’s not just like hers. But she inspired it.
Let’s look at some quick elements.
Imbue it with your author persona, the one that appeals to your ideal reader and matches all the messaging you’re putting out there in social media and in your bios.
Make it easy to subscribe to your newsletter (and, if you have one, to your blog). Make it easy to find your book pages.
A word about blogging. Blogging is a great way to keep readers that have a large appetite for you, you, you and your writing, writing, writing engaged with you between releases. If you blog, blog on topics that will appeal to that ideal reader. I find that my series leading up to releases called “The Story Behind the Story” is very popular with my ideal reader. I don’t sell books from my website, I drive readers to retail sites (because reviews, recommendations, ratings, and rankings lead to more readers, and I want the millions of visitors to those sites, not the paltry numbers I attract to mine), so I am not worried about drawing millions of new readers, I’m concerned about courting the readers that seek me out. Anyway, blogging not only is great to engage with them, it also provides new content to keep them coming back, and it can be multipurposed on your other online points-of-presence (Amazon and Goodreads, and even fed/posted on your social media like Facebook).
This is critical: fresh content that engages with your ideal reader and can be used over and over and over on all online points-of-presence.
Even if you don’t have a website, there’s no excuse not to have an Amazon author page. But if you do have a website, you can link to it from you AAP (Amazon author page) as well as republish your blog through it. Sweet! I’m not going to bore you to death with repetition or creating how-to-post guides. Let me just list a few elements that Amazon offers: a place for your bio (where you can tell people how to sign up for your newsletter), the ability to post videos, and direct links to your books’ sales pages and reviews.
Also nifty, it has “Also Boughts.” Readers like these. They can tell a little more about what you offer by seeing who other readers think you are similar to. And authors love them. You can see how readers classify you, and compare covers and blurbs and categorization with these authors.
Readers can follow you on Amazon, which means Amazon will then direct email them about your pre-orders and new releases.
Goodreads
So on Goodreads, you again reuse that photo and bio (with links to website and newsletter), and you again have direct links to pages where readers can buy your books and see your reviews, readers can follow you, AND you can pull through your blog.
I’ve had people show up at book events in random cities from seeing them on Goodreads, and I’ve had someone follow me for years unbeknownst to me, reading my blog on Goodreads, and then sign up to come to one of my writers retreats.
But there’s more!
Here are some of Goodreads additional engagement features:
Readers can ask you questions. Cool.
And readers can see who you like to read (and the books you are reading, if you keep that feature current). Readers LOVE this.
I rank your own website, Amazon, and BookBub (next) more important than Goodreads, but it’s also a great place to show up online, and if you can swing it, it’s worth it.
BookBub
While BookBub doesn’t pull your blog through, it does allow for you to reuse your photo and bio (with links to your website and newsletter sign up), and direct links to your books/reviews. It also allows for people to follow you. Once you reach over 1000 followers, you can participate in BookBub’s pre-order alert program, which sends an email to all your followers informing them of pre-orders. When your book releases, your followers get another email from BookBub announcing the release. In addition, you can target your followers in BookBub advertising. This isn’t a blog about BookBub advertising, but trust me, that’s a good thing for you.
These are the places I think you need an online presence. But really, it’s wherever your ideal reader would go and expect to see you. Now, enough from me. What do you guys think?
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like those in her What Doesn’t Kill You world, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
Recently I had the honor of attending my first Novelists, Inc. conference. It is a “must-attend” annually for me from here out. My head is spinning with ideas and information that will change strategy and tactics for me, in big and small ways, and I’ve blogged on specific topics several times already. This week I’m sharing my thoughts on social media.
Love it, hate it, love to hate it, hate to love it, whatever your position is on social media, the reality for authors is that your readers are online. According to information released at NINC, an overwhelming majority of readers 1) buy books online (in whatever format: print, ebook, audio) 2) from recommendations ( 3) get those recommendations from social media, especially Facebook. If your readers are on social media, getting recommendations there, and taking those recommendations over to online retailers when making purchases, you need to be online, too, influencing them before they make these crucial decisions and click, click, click.
Which ones?
Yes, you’ve got a website (you need a website to show you’re “real”). Yes, you’ve optimized your Amazon and Goodreads author pages (yes, you need those for the same reasons,). [I’ll blog tips on these soon.] But you still need to be where readers are chatting and sharing and living, which is Facebook. I regularly communicate with a large group of best-selling authors, and no one finds their investments in Twitter, Instagram, or other social media as valuable as they do Facebook. And if you stay off Twitter you won’t have to read a certain President’s tweets. I find that incentivizing to devote my efforts elsewhere.
Facebook first. Others only if you’re into them.
Page or Profile?
If you’re looking for easy, just do a profile. If you want a “fan” page with a less personal tone and want the ability to do Facebook ads, you need a profile, too. It’s up to you. I do both. Some people do individual pages for their books or various nom de plumes. That’s too much work for me. But I do like to boost posts to get more engagement when I have new releases, and my assistant runs ads for my box sets. I couldn’t do those without a page.
Here’s my profile today, where I’m most personal:
What do I post?
Your readers follow you because they want a little more of what you have to offer. More about your books, more about your writing, and more about your life. Think of your posts as letters to someone you are dating. Be more interesting, more intriguing, more exciting than you are in real life. Make your posts match the persona captured in your bio on your website and Amazon/Goodreads author pages too.
Do post asking people favors. People respond well to requests for favors.
Do include photos, gifs, memes, or short videos. People love these. Honestly, it shocks me how much people love short videos. If I include my husband, my views double. Go figure (well, he’s eye candy; there’s that; but I think our chemistry appeals to my romantic mystery readers).
Here’s an example of one of these dumb, popular videos that show readers what my life is like and appeal to my ideal readers (women aged 40-70):
Do post announcements: pre-orders, cover reveals (strategically), awards, honors, new releases, milestones, celebrations, you name it.
Understand that if you include links, less people will see your post unless it is on your page and you boost it. (Thanks for nothing, Facebook)
Do engage with people who comment on your posts (you can delete any trolls). This is your big chance to build a base of super fans.
Do not post asking people to buy your books, or telling them to, or chastising them because they haven’t reviewed or bought your books. Your goal is that by posting information about your books and writing as you are building your fan base that other people will see their friends engaging with you about it, and that your friends and followers will also share your information. You aren’t direct selling. You are becoming visible, and you’re looking to engage with your readers.
How often?
Can you handle once a day? If not, how about twice a week? I prefer the former so that you could engage with readers in real time that comment on your posts. But anything is better than nothing.
What about groups?
Listen, if you’ve done everything I’ve already mentioned, you’re doing great. You can stop. But if you want to create a group for your super fans who have a much larger appetite for all-things-you and where you can communicate with them directly with a great chance of engagement, groups work well for this. I have a group for advance reviewers and another for super fans. They are very active.
Here’s my “super fan” group:
What have I left out? Tell us what strategy works best for you with social media. Our fingers are poised over the keys, ready to implement 🙂
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like those in her What Doesn’t Kill You world, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
Recently I had the honor of attending my first Novelists, Inc. conference. It is a “must-attend” annually for me from here out. My head is spinning with ideas and information that will change strategy and tactics for me, in big and small ways, and I’ve blogged on specific topics several times already. This week I’m sharing my thoughts on pre-order strategy.
Once upon a time in a writing career far, far away, I could do pre-orders through Smashwords aggregated onto Nook and Apple. And no others. Wow, was that only a few years ago?
Now the only major player who doesn’t take direct upload pre-orders for indies is … you can guess this … come on … Nook/Barnes & Noble (big raspberry), but you can still aggregate pre-orders to them via Draft2Digital or your favorite aggregator.
Undoubtedly, the bestseller ranks are crowded with authors whose books participate in pre-orders. But if you’re wide distribution, the strategy is much more complex than just “slap it up on Amazon ninety-days before release.” (That, by the way, is the entirety of the strategy if you are KDP Select. Skip to the next blog post.)
So, before we talk strategy, here’s something cool to know:
Apple iBooks—now clearly the #2 ebook retailer after Amazon Kindle—rewards you in its algorithms every time someone clicks on your book page, whether they buy or not. Amazon actually detracts from your ranking in its algorithms if someone clicks on your page without buying. Hmmm. This opens a world of good possibilities with Apple.
Something else cool to know: real humans select who Apple promotes, and they look at things like whether you give them exclusives (even temporary ones), and how many clicks you are driving to iBooks. So anything you can do to give Apple an exclusive and to drive clicks is good. Be sure you do things like use their affiliate program, have links to iBooks on your website, and to mention them in social media ads.
Apple also counts pre-orders double in its rankings calculations, whereas Amazon does not. (Kobo double-counts, too. Go Kobo!)
In these days of domination on Kindle by the Amazon imprints and the page stuffers in Kindle Unlimited (with exceptions for some fine and blessed authors, but the talk at most author conferences is about dwindling Amazon Kindle sales for the rest of us), I think it behooves wide distribution authors to do everything they can to court the retailers where they have sales growth potential.
My strategy thus is about courting Apple as well as maximizing my pre-order potential on all the other sites. See image above with “iBooks only” buttons? Yeah, those exclusives are me courting Apple. Those exclusives won’t be forever, but, for a period of time, they will be. And that helps me woo Apple.
MY STRATEGY:
One year before release: I put up a pre-order on Apple, without the final cover, and with NO EBOOK FILE. this is totally legit to do, by the way. Here’s one without its final cover and no ebook file–just a placeholder cover and a place for devoted fans to pre-order way in advance. I’m only just now writing this novel.
2. When my cover is ready: I put up my cover and announce a cover reveal, linking exclusively to Apple (with my affiliate link, because Apple let’s you use it anywhere and everywhere) on social media, my website/blog, and in my newsletter. Here’s one ready for a cover reveal!
3. When my first chapter is ready (copyedited, please): I upload a sneak peek to Apple and announce the release of the sneak peek, linking exclusively to Apple (with my affiliate link, because Apple let’s you use it anywhere and everywhere) on social media, my website/blog, and in my newsletter. See “Sample” in image below? That’s where readers download the sneak peek.
4. At least 30-days after the sneak peek and when I have three chapters ready to go, I upload to Kobo. Kobo automatically releases the first three chapters when you set it to pre-order. Kobo also gives you double algorithmic credit for pre-orders.
5. At the same time, or in 30-day increments thereafter up until 30-days before my Kindle pre-order date, I release pre-orders in this order.
Barnes & Noble Nook, through Draft2Digital
Google Play
Smashwords
Any others
6. 90-days before release: I put up my Kindle pre-order, which is when Kindle will let you.
For 1-6:
Don’t forget to include a top notch, voice-y, edited, emotionally compelling book description with each pre-order.
Be sure to research and utilize the best SEO keywords in your metadata at the time you set up your pre-orders.
Categories count, so choose your best categories when you upload your pre-order.
7. After all retail pre-orders are set up, I run a BookBub Pre-Order alert for my individual full-length novels.
8. During the period of Apple exclusivity after cover reveal and sneak peek, consider Facebook and BookBub ads, if you’ve got the know how and if you’ve got the budget.
9. Each month in my newsletter and on my website, I add the newest retailer pre-order to my announcements.
10. Consider promoting a bonus-content giveaway through your newsletter, blog, social media, and some BB and FB ads to encourage pre-orders. Cheryl Bradshaw explains how to do it here.
11. And big #11: make dang sure you get your book in the hands of advance readers so that you can ask them all to leave reviews when the book goes live.
By the time my book is released, I’ve had a year of driving look-see hits (and possible buys) to Apple and other major retailers, and maximized the potential to brand my new book before my most important audience, my subscribers and social media contacts, with interesting announcements and content, and the inclusion of their favorite retailers.
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like those in her What Doesn’t Kill You world, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
Recently I had the honor of attending my first Novelists, Inc. conference. It is a “must-attend” annually for me from here out. My head is spinning with ideas and information that will change strategy and tactics for me, in big and small ways, and I’ve blogged on specific topics several times already. This week I’m sharing my thoughts on my conversion from Pressbooks.com to Vellum as my application for creating ebooks and print interiors. I first learned about Vellum at the NINC conference, and I was resistant. I’ve sunk money into my books on Pressbooks, both in terms of fees to license them and in terms of my assistant’s time to learn it. But after hearing about it and trying it out, I’ve made the switch!
Disclaimer: Vellum is a Mac-only product at this time, so skip this post if you are anti-Mac. 🙂
1.Price: Vellum is a one-time investment that allows you to then create unlimited ebooks and print interiors. For creation of both ebooks and print, the cost is $249.99. For ebooks only, it is $199.99. I was paying anywhere from $49 to $99 for licenses to create my books on Pressbooks. If you write nonfiction, you’re used to paying a formatter as much as the price of Vellum to put your books together, but even hiring out fiction is usually less than $100. Scrivener runs about $45 for DIYers (but comes with a steep learning curve).
Since my upcoming publication schedule has me publishing three new novels, six short stories, and two-to-three box sets per year, Vellum quickly becomes a great deal for me compared to the price of Pressbooks or hiring a formatter, without the gnashing of teeth Scrivener gives me. For an author who only plans to create four books or less…Vellum may not be right for you, price wise.
Or maybe it will be.
2. Ease of use: Vellum is so easy to use, it makes me want to weep. I’m able to import Word documents that with very little advance effort turn out to be pretty-close-to-useable ebooks. With Pressbooks I had to create every element and chapter laboriously “by hand.” I made more than one copy-and-paste error doing this. (Note: Scrivener users, I find Scrivener even more challenging, which is why I never embraced it, even though I bought it.) With Vellum, I can drag and drop elements around within the book I’m creating, or even across into other books. This is a game changer for me. I can create a common set of front and back matter that I keep up-to-date, then when I want to replace it across all my books it is a quick process. In Pressbooks, I had to open and close every element in every book that required a change and copy and paste the text into it. #justshootme
To make a box set in Vellum, I simply paste my individual already-created novels one after another into a new book. Boom. I’m nearly done except for a new cover and fine-tuning my table of contents.
3. Store and affiliate linkage: Want to add store links? Yeah, you can do that, and Vellum is smart enough to know that it only puts Amazon links in Kindle books, Apple in iBooks, etc. Not only that, but you can set up the Vellum app with your affiliate codes and Vellum will globally generate and use them in the links in all your books, for the retailers that allow them. #ohemgee On Pressbooks we had to create “alternate endings” and select/deselect them for individual exports by retailer. It was labor intensive.
4. Preview capability: Vellum can generate alternate versions of your book using different themes and settings and preview them for you instantly, with no data-sucking, time-consuming download to endure. It also shows you how the book looks on different devices. (If you’re working with a formatter, imagine how much time this would save in back-and-forths and miscommunications.)
When you finish your book, it’s ebook ready and print ready. So awesome! With Pressbooks, we had to create (again) alternate chapters to use and then generate a separate PDF that was print-only.
5. Try it free first: The download of the software is free, so you can create and preview a book in it without having to spend a cent. And if you go by multiple pen names, no problem. Use them all If you like it and want to generate the book, simply purchase the software. Which is exactly what I did.
Finally, while Vellum is author-specific, you can restore your license to get it to a new or second computer that you own.
** The one downside, for me, is that with Pressbooks being web-based, both my assistant and I could log in and work with my files. Not so with Vellum. It’s one or the other of us, and I hope they address this in future versions.
I’m a little in love with Vellum already. Oh, hell, who am I kidding? I’m head over heels.
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like those in her What Doesn’t Kill You world, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace (e-book free everywhere) and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
Recently I had the honor of attending my first Novelists, Inc. conference. It is a “must-attend” annually for me from here out. My head is spinning with ideas and information that will change strategy and tactics for me, in big and small ways, and I’ve blogged on specific topics several times already. This week I’m sharing changes to my newsletter strategy that I’ll be implementing as a result of Erica Ridley’s truly outstanding session on newsletters.
First, I have a Thunderclap I’m building. If you would consider supporting it, please join here:
On to the good stuff! For the last few years I’ve been working on building my subscriber list. Not all subscribers are, however, created equal. You want the subscribers that are the epitome of your ideal reader, and you want subscribers that open and act on your content (not just stay subscribed). I have not done a good job on converting subscribers to action, and I’d like to build more quality subscribers. (Read my past post on building your list, here).
Change #1: I’m switching from Mailchimp to Mailer Lite at the recommendation of, well, just about everybody I’ve heard speak on the issue. Why?
—On MailerLite, each subscriber is only counted once. It doesn’t matter how many different “groups” (their version of “lists”) they are in. If you’re on their paid plan, you pay for each person only once.
—More “free” features compared to Mailchimp.
—Two reviewers claimed MailerLite sends “beautiful emails”, as compared to a “formatting look” of Mailchimp.
—Reviewers claim it’s more user friendly compared to Mailchimp.
—They also include 24/7 support by email & chat for paying customers. MailChimp’s chat support is only till 6PM ET.
—Several reviewers liked the feature for landing pages. MailerLite’s interface for building beautiful landing or squeeze pages is simple, easy, and intuitive.
—I found this feature interesting for the “non-opens”. MailerLite has an auto resend feature (unlike MailChimp) The MailerLite auto resend feature allows you to resend a follow up message to subscribers who didn’t open your email or didn’t click on a single link.Change #2: Emojis and capitalization used to work well for us for opens, and for a lot of other folks, but that included spammers, which meant that over time spam filters starting blocking emails based on inclusion of those kinds of fun attention grabbers. We’re changing strategy on subject lines to keep out of spam traps.
Change #3: Ideal readers want more of what we write. I’ll be sharing a lot of short content that is EXCLUSIVE and free to subscribers, and then publishing it later. Bookfunnel now allows you to sell to readers. I can offer paid exclusives to subscribers as well this way, or exclusive discounts.
Change #4: I’m upping my game with new subscribers with a series of “drip” emails that will come out right after subscription, starting with a voice-y (right tone for my ideal reader from me) welcome, an introduction to my novels and the world and characters, and followed up with exclusive discounts and another free offer.
Change #5: I’ll be focusing on ideal reader subscribers, and to do that I’ll be trying to work with other authors who share the same ideal reader on “swaps”: giveaways to cross-subscribe, and recommendations/announcements for each other. Obviously, not only am I looking for the authors who share the same ideal reader/subscriber profile, but those that have a lot of subscribers.
Change #6: I want to learn from the actions of my subscribers, and reward the subscribers who open and click through (are most engaged) by offering them even more great stuff, to evangelize them. I also want to be sure I’m incentivizing the behaviors I need most from them, mainly: review and recommend.
That’s all I’ve got until next time. Happy American Thanksgiving, all!
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like What Doesn’t Kill You, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace (e-book free everywhere) and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trail rides with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, donkeys, and goats. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
SkipJack followers (and your clients, friends, and family), y’all get early dibs on the August 2018 novelists retreat at our (Eric and Pamela’s) new Wyoming Snowheresville, a big ole former B&B! It’s a pretty awesome place and area!
This retreat is going to focus on productivity and craft, but the nighttime conversations will be all about publishing and promotion, including all the awesome stuff I learned at the INCREDIBLE Novelists, Inc. conference (be sure to be follow the SkipJack blogs this next twelve moths as I roll out what I learned and my strategy changes). I’m offering the option of working with people on their business plan or critiquing their first 50 pages as part of the retreat package. Over the course of the week we’ll cover a lot of ground, writing-wise and publishing-wise, and you’ll get plenty of private writing time and recreational time to recharge as well.
We offer double and triple occupancy on rooms to keep the cost writer-friendly. Or bring a buddy and they can play while you work 🙂 If you don’t fly, it’s a long drive (from anywhere), but ride with a friend and use the time to brainstorm stories, or trade off driving and use it as writing time. That’s what Eric and I do when we aren’t caravanning with two trucks and two trailers! Heck, I’ve been known to digitally record first drafts the whole way, anyway. Love my handheld digital recorder.
We also rent the whole place out, as we do our Nowheresville, TX farm between Houston and Austin. They’re perfect for family vacations/reunions or UNfaciliated writer/artist retreats. Again, details at the link above. We are open to the idea of booking additional facilitated retreats for groups, so send a message if you have a proposal.
And for those that don’t like clicking, I’ve copied in most of the information below my bio (scroll down).
See you there!
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like What Doesn’t Kill You, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace (e-book free everywhere) and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trails with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, horses, donkeys, goats and whoever else wants to tag along, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
August 5-11, 2018 Facilitated Novelists Retreat at Hideaway Mountain Lodge
“A breakthrough weekend for me.” David Welling
“I learned an enormous amount of useful information in a short period. With the experience of allowing a fear of critique from other writers to twist me up inside only to discover it’s a rather painless, easy experience was a real eye opener for me.” Heidi Dorey
Join Silver Falchion-award-winning, best-selling author Pamela Fagan Hutchins on the eastern face of the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming for a one-week facilitated novelists retreat that will cleanse your soul and explode your writing and your publishing career.
“I went to this conference seeking ideas about outlining a novel in ways that wouldn’t stifle creativity and spontaneity. I got that and so much more. Best-selling, award-winning novelist, Pamela Fagan Hutchins shared wisdom and lessons learned about first drafts, revision, maintaining momentum through the dreaded middle of the plot, writing with efficiency and consistency, and so much more, all delivered with her trademark enthusiasm and energy, much of it in valuable one-on-one sessions. All that combined with group discussions and critiques with great writers and writing time with feedback made this a priceless learning experience. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this conference a 12. ” Ken Oder
“I had a wonderful experience. I followed-up with a full manuscript critique with Pamela and landed an agent and publishing contract, too.” Mack Little
Blogged at Cows, Camaraderie & Concentration |: “Thanks to Pamela and the talented writers who made the writing retreat helpful, productive and inspiring! My revision process is changing!” Patricia Flaherty Pagan
Authors Ken Oder, Mack Little, Pamela Fagan Hutchins, Patricia Flaherty Pagan, Heidi Dorey, and David Welling.
Includes:
A critique of the first 50 pages of your novel by Pamela (or a critique of your business plan)
Daily mini-workshops on giving and receiving feedback, deep novel revision, unforgettable characters, leap-off-the-page description, seat-of-your-pants tension, finishing your novel, and much, much more
Dedicated writing/revision/inspiration time
Critique feedback from participants
Close-out feedback from Pamela on the revised first 10 pages of your novel (or revised business plan)
Invaluable discussion and community building with Pamela and other participants, often focusing on publishing and writing advice
Relax on the deck with coffee and watch the wildlife (or join Pamela there for yoga at dawn), hike the property with Eric of SkipJack Publishing and the dogs, or feed apples and carrots to the giant draft horses
Enjoy home cooked meals with the scent of pine trees wafting through fresh air
Feeling overwhelmed? Take a break from the retreat and enjoy a wide variety of local activities
If you’d like to arrange for a readers or artists retreat, email pamela at pamelafaganhutchins dot com.
About Pamela:
Highly sought-after speaker and winner of the Silver Falchion (Adult Mystery) and USA Best Book Awards (Cross Genre Fiction), bestselling author Pamela has led critique circles, taught writing workshops, and provided manuscript critiques for countless authors. She is the author of What Kind of Loser Indie Publishesand loved by writers worldwide for her online courses on writing, publishing, and promotion at The SkipJack School.
“Pamela Fagan Hutchins is truly at the top of her game when it comes to deciphering today’s book publishing industry. She managed to put the last piece of the publishing puzzle in place of a journey I started 10 years ago to have my own publishing house. The beauty of Pamela and Eric’s work is that it is going to save me untold time and money eliminating the “trial and error” method of marketing. ” Rita Mills, Publisher
About the Hideaway Mountain Lodge:
Mountains higher than Yellowstone, wildlife that’s really wild, exciting history sites . . . . .and no crowds! The Bighorn Region is a vacation destination for the discriminating visitor.
The Bighorn region is usually passed over hurriedly by first-time tourists—an unexpected looming mountain barrier on the way to Yellowstone—but for those special folks who don’t like crowds, condos, and curio shops this has always been a special place. Mountains to explore, Indian wars sites to discover, western lifestyle you thought was gone forever. . . . . and where else can you see one hundred miles from the window!
The Hideaway Mountain Lodge is a traditional mountain lodge where guests are personally entertained in the relaxed style of an earlier time. Guests are made to feel like part of the family and come away with a personal attachment to Sheridan and the Bighorn Mountains. It’s the perfect spot for artists, writers, or anyone seeking peace and tranquility.
While retreat guests follow a program designed to educate, inspire, build skills, and increase word count, guests will also socialize and compare their experience and their lives with each other and the hosts at mealtimes and at the end of the day on the deck or in the great room of the lodge. Guests are folks who prefer to explore and discover on their own, and hosts Eric and Pamela listen to plans and interests and make suggestions to facilitate those desires.
While our main purpose as hosts is to facilitate exploration on your own, there are some places that are just too remote or hard to find, and besides, some folks prefer to have a “native guide”. So while we’ll be telling all we can about where to explore, there are some days when we load up the vehicles and put together a party to reduce costs and have some fun.
For those seeking active adventures, there is hiking, fishing, jeeping, ATVing, kayaking, horseback riding, golf, bicycling, and auto touring. Spectator sports include rodeo, Indian powwows, polo, wildlife viewing, and birding. A day in town can include shopping, dining, museums and perhaps a little taste of the bright lights that evening. Guided activities include history tours, wildlife safaris, fishing guiding, and geology trips. Daytrips to area attractions visit Little Bighorn Battlefield, Bradford Brinton Memorial, Devils Tower, Bighorn National Forest, Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, the Medicine Wheel, the Hole in the Wall, Trail End Museum and Fort Phil Kearney.
Or, guests seeking peace and tranquility can relax on the deck with Moncrief Ridge looming to the south and the spectacular panorama unfolding below: rock formations, buttes, rugged foothills, and the owners’ draft horses grazing in waist-high buffalo grass and wildflowers. What better place to stimulate your creativity and quiet the noise of modern life?
The Hideaway Mountain Lodge.
Lodge Activities:
Bring a guest who just wants to explore or schedule a break in your writing week for fun, fun, fun.
Full Day Guiding
4wd transportation, guide, field lunch, for a wide variety of activities and endless destinations . . . . $95 each, $325 minimum
Some of the possible excursions: Lake DeSmet or Tie Hack Reservoir (fishing or kayaking), Fort Phil Kearney/Wagon Box Fight/Fetterman Massacre museum and sites, Little Bighorn battle site, driving tour of Bighorns, Bighorn Recreation Area, Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Reserve, Devil’s Tower National Monument, Medicine Wheel, The Hole in the Wall, fly fishing on the Tongue River or Big Goose Creek, Bradford Brinton Memorial hiking or Razor tours in the Bighorns, The Trail End Museum, and much more.
Evening Wildlife Safari (Moose, elk, deer, bear, mountain lion, wolves? Who knows what an evening will bring!)
4wd transportation, guide . . . . $39
Kids under 12 . . . . $20
Pamela, Eric, and Georgia enjoying a mountain drive on the Razor.
Available for Rental
Polaris Razor ($100 for three-hours, $150 for full-day).
Kayak/trailer ($30 per day).
Pamela and Georgia enjoying the kayak at Lake Desmet.
Horse Riding Lessons or Guided Rides
Horsemanship Lessons: $50 an hour.
Guided rides for up to three guests:
$95 each for two-hours.
$185 each for four-hours.
AUTHOR RL NOLEN on Feathers with Pamela on Katniss.
The perfect writers’ wines!
“By lunchtime on the second day, I knew this retreat was the best investment I could ever make for growing my career as an Indie author. I arrived without a clue of how to market my books, and I left with a detailed, six-month action plan. Pamela & Eric are so knowledgeable and generous and willing to share everything they can to empower other writers and publishers. Plus they are fun and wonderful people!” F.E. Greene, author of The Never List (Loves Across Londons Book 1)
Authors C.L. Fite, Bobbye Marrs, F.E. Greene, R.L. Nolen, Pamela Fagan Hutchins, Jim Cole, and Ken Oder with Rhonda Lanham of SkipJack Publishing
Schedule
Starts Sunday August 5, 2018 at 4:00 p.m.
Ends Saturday August 11, 2018 at noon.
Registrants will received detailed instructions and schedule in the two weeks prior to the retreat. Pages for critique due June 15, 2018 to pamela at pamelafaganhutchins dot com.
Location and Travel
Address to be provided upon registration. Options:
Fly into Gillette WY (1.5-hr by car),
Fly into Billings, MT (1.5-hr by car),
Fly into Casper WY (2.5 hr by car),
Fly into Denver CO (6-hr by car),
** Fly into Sheridan WY (20-min by car: fly through Denver, book direct from there to Sheridan via http://www.flysheridan.com).
Driving? Map to Big Horn WY to get an estimate. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to make this a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Note: WE HAVE INSIDE DOGS. ALLERGY SUFFERERS COME PREPARED OR OPT OUT.
Target shooting can be arranged!
Meals
Meals and non-alcoholic drinks included. Breakfast and lunch will be buffet, dinner will be family style. In a small group, dietary accommodations can increase costs; we will be happy to accommodate you for an additional $70 for the week. Please specify your restrictions when you register. Writer-guests may bring alcohol if they wish. No smoking is permitted inside the house and outside only in designated areas due to fire hazard.
Rules and Restrictions
Professional behavior is required at all times. Writer-guests will be responsible for damages.
Registration
A variety of accommodation options are available, but they’re booking fast. Each option (see below) includes the retreat and meals. Email pamela at pamelafaganhutchins dot com with your registration preference. All prices will be subject to Wyoming state taxes.
SPRUCE ROOM. Lofty dormer room high in the treetops overlooking the Sheridan valley. Antique oak furniture with queen bed, futon couch/bed, and adjacent bath with stall shower and decorative old-fashioned claw foot tub, shares bathroom with Treetop Loft . . . . One writer: $1000; Two writers: $600 each; Three writers: $550 each
TREETOP LOFT. Open to the great room two stories below and sharing the Spruce Room bathroom, accommodates up to three adults who are great friends!, teens, or older children . . . . One writer: $800; Two writers: $500 each; Three writers: $450 each
ASPEN ROOM. Romantic vaulted ceiling bedroom with sunny dormer window seat Queen size Victorian Angel bed with old-fashioned country quilts and ruffled curtains, and a day bed. Attached private shower bath. View through treetops overlooking Little Goose Canyon . . . . One writer: $900; Two writers: $550 each; Three writers: $500 each
PONDEROSA ROOM. Our premium room with cozy western furniture set off by the warmth of hand-peeled logs and country curtains. Queen bed, twin bed, outside balcony, 100-mile view. Attached private shower bath. Our only room with no stair navigation required. . . . One writer: $1100; Two writers: $650 each; Three writers: $600 each.
MONTANA ROOM. Very private room with Queen size adjustable bed and old-fashioned country quilts plus a futon bed. Shared shower bath. View across Sheridan into Montana and the Wolf Mountains . . . . One writer: $900; Two writers: $550 each; Three writers: $500 each
LITTLE GOOSE CORNER. Cozy, private space with Queen size bed that shares the Montana Room bathroom, accommodates up to two adults . . . . One writer: $800; Two writers: $500 each
Booking for a single writer but bringing a non-writer to stay with you? Add $50 a day.
Feathers and Katniss helping Pamela with her ninth novel, Bombshell.
Recently I had the honor of attending my first Novelists, Inc. conference. It is a “must-attend” annually for me from here out. My head is spinning with ideas and information that will change strategy and tactics for me, in big and small ways. I blogged most recently on the series-promotion strategies I took away from one of David Gaughran’s sessions. This week I’m sharing the changes in my publication schedule that I am implementing as a result of a wonderful session by Roxanne St. Claire and Kristen Painter. Both are hybrid authors who are killing it as indies, but were mid-list as traditional authors. Their success is no accident, that is for sure.
Their advice assumes two things. The first: that you know how long it takes you to write a novel. The second: that you can write a very, very good one. Assuming both those things, their strategy is to reduce the time it takes you to write a novel, through strict discipline and hard work, so that, ideally, you can write several in a year. Then, in a nutshell, they advise holding onto your books until you have enough to publish in quick succession. Ideally, thirty days apart. Their careers both changed dramatically when they employed this strategy. It results in a chunk of the year with high income and tapering income over the rest of the year, and it keeps the loyal readers engaged and tickles the ranking algorithms of the big retailers.
Until now, I have published novels as I’ve written them, and I have averaged two per year, although it has taken me five months to write each (from starting it to publishing it) in sequence. Like most of the authors at NINC, I have experienced tapering sales with the increasing stranglehold on the industry by Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program and their imprint authors, and I’ve been looking for ways to improve the performance of my novels financially. I’m convinced now I have found it. No more sequence writing and sequence publication. This year’s schedule at a very high level (writing and publishing only) look like this:
Month 1: draft novel 1
Month 2: draft novel 2
Month 3: draft novel 3
Month 4: rewrite novel 1/send to betas
Month 5: rewrite novel 2/send to betas/send novel 1 to copyedit
Month 6: rewrite novel 3/send to betas/ send novel 1 to proofreaders/send novel 2 to copyedit
Month 7: promotion and planning/send novel 2 to proofreaders/send novel 3 to copyedit
Month 8: promotion and planning/send novel 3 to proofreaders/
Month 9: publish novel 1/draft novel 4
Month 10: publish novel 2/draft novel 5
Month 11: publish novel 3/draft novel 6
Month 12: publish box set of the 3 novels/rewrite novel 6 (etc.)
I have not shown on this simple schedule the myriad of support activities for publishing, like working on the cover, formatting, newsletters, promotion, and many more. I’m switching to a trilogy format, which is a natural move for me, as this takes readers to completion in this shortened schedule (a key goal to convert readers of novel 1 to readers of novels 2 and 3; completion and conversion percentages for even fantastic series novels is shockingly low when you factor in distractions of every day life and lag time between publication of novels) and allows me to complete my multi-book character arc. NOTE: This is my schedule after attending their session, not St. Claire’s or Painter’s.
St. Claire and Painter also recommended publishing short stories and novellas as bridge content to keep the ranking algorithms humming, so in my example schedule I could do that in year two while I continue working on novels 4-6. I plan to incorporate writing prequel and epilogue short stories into drafting the novels themselves–start early in the story, end after it ends, and peel those “chapters” off as the shorts. They also opined that their readers seem to prefer slightly shorter books (70-90k words), and that this makes it easier to adhere to a strict schedule than if they were writing War and Peace.
In other NINC sessions, we learned how to effectively use the short stories and novellas as exclusive content for newsletter subscribers prior to publication, and I’ll blog more on my revised strategy for use of newsletters soon.
In the meantime, I’m super pumped about my new schedule and will only add that after drafting two novels on a handheld digital recorder for transcription in 2016, I switched back to typing for the next two novels (2017), and I have decided to return to the handheld for first drafts for my 2018 novels. I’ll blog on why I’m making the switch soon, as changes in technology and the demand of my schedule are driving me back to it.
Until then,
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins, winner of the 2017 Silver Falchion award for Best Mystery (Fighting for Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like What Doesn’t Kill You, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace (e-book free everywhere) and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsyand Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes and trails with her hunky husband, giant horses, and pack of rescue dogs, horses, donkeys, goats and whoever else wants to tag along, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).
Anna), writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like those in her What Doesn’t Kill You world, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace and the 2015 and 2016 WINNERS of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy and Hell to Pay. You can snag her newest release, Bombshell, if you’ve already run the rest of the table. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School (where you can take How to Sell a Ton of Books, FREE) and writes about it here on the SkipJack Publishing blog.
From time to time, you should take stock of your life for situations that no longer serve you or your writing, then let them go. Even activities you once loved. Doing so will help your creative process overall.
