News and Notes from the Writing Desk: March Edition

March is roaring in like the MGM lion. So here's what's up around here:

My February Experiment

February was dedicated to the fine art of marketing. I marketed myself, my online work, my works in print. Did I see a significant increase in any metric that would point to better conversions and more sales? Eh. Not really. I did all of these things on a small scale, but from what I see, there was little benefit from the time I spent. A few more views on articles, no new patrons, no jump in sales. At this point, if I want to see real results, I've got to throw a little cash at the problem. It's time to formulate a strategy so I can maximize my money and my effort in the next round.

NY09 Now on Smashwords

I've been trying to expand my reach with my last published work, so I've uploaded If It Was New York, Summer 2009 to Smashwords. It is currently available in their store. I was just notified that it didn't pass the expanded distribution tests (who wants to mess with a table of contents?), but I was only planning on distributing to other library systems that Draft2Digital didn't have. Otherwise, the book is still available at all major ebook retailers worldwide. (By the way, library borrows put the same or slightly more royalties in my pockets than individual sales, so check me out from your local branch's ebook system if they have one). 

If you want to download it from Smashwords for only $0.99, I do have a coupon code on one of my Patreon posts. The post is public, but you may have to have a free Patreon account to sign and see it. I know, I know--another username and password to remember, but I promise you, my public posts are worth the hassle.

The Plan for March

I'm just a girl, looking for that path to success, trying to get things done. I have a backlog of movie reviews I haven't finished editing, plus an essay I plan to write about writing because that seems to be the topic that gets views on Medium.

I also restarted the work on one of the 70s-inspired stories I had. But for this one, I think it would work much better to be split up into novellas because the story spans 25+ years. Each novella would be a key moment in the main character's life leading up to what I think is a satisfying ending. What I'm not sure about is where I want to put it. I could throw it up on Wattpad for free, though I think my time and effort is worth more than what that platform gives in return. I could try Channillo, but considering their application page hasn't been updating since September (of what year isn't quite clear), I'm going to pass for now. The other option (besides straight to KDP Select) is to offer it to higher tiers on my Patreon page. I'm still in the first draft of the first novella, so I have some time to consider these options.

I also have to consider what I will use as my Camp NaNo project for March. The obvious answer is poetry, since April is National Poetry Month. I started a new chapbook a few weeks ago, so I think I may want to use that--especially since one of the poems is already done and was published in my last collection.

I haven't finished writing out all of my lists. If I don't, critical steps often get lost in the shuffle. I still have to make a list for transferring the blog to its own site, plans for fun things to do with poetry in April, and other marketing options I want to try. Once that's out of the way, I'm going to pretend that the rest is smooth sailing.