Getting things done

Yesterday ended up being a good day for writing down my notes.  Today I am typing them up.  Rebirth is done the writing, typing, editing, rereading and editing by me stage.  Now to get it to a prereader for a once over.  Came out rather nice I think.  Time to move onto the notes for Possibilities.  That little tale has been a pain to get going but I have it now.  Once I get the notes done for it I can type in the notes for another as yet untitled bit.

It is interesting to me how I can go from one series to another.  I don’t mean to skip from one series to another but the ideas come as they may.  having four Mythos of love stories is cool and I sorted through my files and found four others that will probably stay in that romantic theme.  With those and the five Death stories I have a lot to finish.  The only problem is the darker turn tales are taking and the ideas for horror stories.  I have six of those pending!  I was working on Possibilities when this scene with a scared and drenched six year old child running through a storm hit me between the eyes.  WTF right?

I have tried to work on just one tale at a time but it is like my mind gets stuck in neutral when I do.  If I want to keep putting out content I have to work on multiple tales at the same time.  Maybe this is a sign of OCD or some other thing, who knows?  But it does give me so many tales to tell the world.

I used to just sort them by science fiction, fantasy and horror but now I have been slowly sorting my story ideas by those series I have come up with.  I still have many that are in those plain genre categories but someday I will sort them all.  The important part is to work each day and get them out.

I realized that between the short stories, the collections, the anthologies and those tales I have tossed up for free I have close to a hundred tales available for readers.  Okay it only shows as sixty on amazon but that is because there are six tales in Gates, six tales in Distance, eleven tales in Naughty Interludes and more scattered through the anthologies.  If i keep writing as I have been I could easily have 200 tales up for reading by the spring!  Wouldn’t that be cool?

Happy Civic holiday or what the heck is this?

After two years in Canada you think I would be used to the holidays but well?  Today is a civic holiday called Civic holiday.  Basically it is a day off for those who work in offices I think.  I know my hubby has to work today as do his friends, so is it really a holiday?  I don’t know.

Well the free promo of One More All Hallows Eve did really well.  One day promo had 173 downloads and one review.  That story now has five total reviews, all four and five stars.  The new one wanted more Harry…which of course is what the other free promo was.  Hope Everlasting is the second story in the Guardians of the Gate City series and it isn’t dong too bad either.  So far 92 downloads and I gave it a full week so by the end of the week I expect to see more downloads and hopefully a review or three.

I decided that August is going to be my free month for sure.  Obviously had Hallows up and have Hope up but next week I plan on putting Partings up for two more days, then well have Sacrifice up for three days and finally that attempt at breaking into a different genre with Distance (my erotica) going up for free the 20th through the 24th.  Here is hoping it will get some notice and maybe some actual sales.

Been working on the Chaos war like a good doobie.  This is definitely going to be a longer tale.  The first part is all ready past 30 pages in word.  Now I found out that the page length in word does not translate to an exact amount of pages on Kindle.  8 pages at 14 point font is 14 pages on the kindle.

I usually type at 10 point and then adjust when I go to publish.  I do want to finish this story.  I started it back at the turn of the century!  Yeah that was a while ago.  Not the longest it has taken me to write a story, we know that but it needs to get written.  After all I have so many other stories to write, publish and sell.  Well hopefully sell.

I love the encouragement I get over on the amazon MOA discussions.  The men and women over there are really a great resource for an indie writer.  Most of us have been writing for a long time but actually putting those stories up for sale?  It is harder than people think.  In this world of instant gratification it is still hard to wait to see a sale come in. With Amazon you get a nice little report you can pull up any time to see how the downloads are going.  Yes they are slow but it has been only been since April right?

My traditional published book, Gates, I sent an email to my publisher to find out how I could get a report to see how well my efforts were working.  Well you don’t get to find out for a YEAR.  Yes I said a YEAR!  Okay I wont get upset.  After all Gates is just one of the books I put out.  People have bought it yes.  After all it has a ranking in both ebook and paperback.  So I just have to be nice and patient.  I will just focus on writing and promoting and hoping I actually sell enough to pay one bill sometime this year.

Okay I should probably type up my notes on Chaos from last night and then figure out how to get the next important scene set up.  When writing a short you can really just dump the reader right into the scene but a longer story needs set up and that takes time.  I don’t think I will ever write something over 200 pages but you never know.

Sales and downloads

I am not sure which I should be happier about.  The fact that my stuff is getting downloaded and very occasionally reviewed or the fact the very very nice people have bought and paid for my work.  I was surprised to see Knight Protector finally sold a copy.  Makes me do the silly hamster dance of course.  After all the whole point of putting my work on a for sale site is to see sales.  Yeah I may have only sold under a handful of stuff so far but it is a start.

The weird one is that Gates, the kindle copy, also sold a copy or so but I can’t see how many because while it is a kindle copy it isn’t one I posted up, the publisher did.  So I don’t know if it was one copy or more.  Need to get my publisher to let me have some type of report.

Now I need to figure out how to get Endings on the radar of readers.  It isn’t on Amazon so I don’t have the same boards to play with.  I don’t see discussion boards on Kobo so far.  I know I could have put it on Amazon and will probably put it up there in the fall but I wanted to have it in other places so it didn’t seem I was flooding amazon with my work.
Here is the link to the Kobo

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Endings/book-lrkvXtsAfk-dzKRK3uBuJA/page1.html?s=jdovH3-ThEWCGwpdIicxTw&r=2

I worked so long on this book that I hope the readers from over on fictionpress will look for it.  I guess maybe if I go over to fictionpress and put in the link it would work.  After all there are still the in process Loralil stories over there.

Now yesterday a friend of mine has convinced me to pull down from the various places I have erotica up and to bundle them into a book (or four) and post them.  After all erotica is selling like hotcakes thanks to the Fifty Shades book.  I hate to jump on a bandwagon but well…we need the money.
And well I can write pretty much any type.  Okay yeah I havent done cowboy stories…I should with my step dad finally cracking open books and reading them fast.  And for anyone who knows him this is a milestone.  The man NEVER read when I was young.  He hated reading and now thanks to old age…and yes 73 qualifies and his medical condition he has discovered a love of books!

Well I need to work and work and work.  So much editing to do on those stories and then covers and deciding where I can post these for sale.  The erotica actually worries me more than my fantasies have.  Erotica can be done so badly and I don’t want to turn off possible buyers of my nonerotic stories.  Because those are my hearts children and I love them like I love my body’s children.

 

I’m back!

Okay I never really left but I have a working desktop with word and other stuff on it now.  Which is important.  I didn’t waste time while was down either.  I have pages of notes to type into the computer and edit.  The new Guardian of the City story is really moving along.  Harry is going to have to deal with a wet and angry pair of sisters.  Should be interesting they let me know their story.

Now I don’t have Adobe quite ready for me to make covers yet.  Should have it by Tuesday or Wednesday and then I can make covers for the stories I need to post.  I have enough that I think I may just go ahead and post them one story at a time.  Of course they are all parts of series.  And we have the name of the series worked out.  They are of course, Guardians of the City, those are Harry’s stories.  Then there will be Death Walks Through.  Death’s stories.  Those are a little darker, more of light horror or ghost stories really.  Thirdly there will be Worlds Apart.  My more science fiction stories.  And then there is Echoes of Elder Times.  Stories that have a more mythic feel to them.  Be they retold myths or something I came up on my own they will have a theme.  Just like Gates did.

Now I added up the downloads so far.  With only three downloaded sales and one paperback sale I guess I should look at how well the free downloads went.

Night and Day 179 downloads

Passing the Torch 137 downloads

One More All Hallows Eve 116 downloads

I could look at those numbers and whimper, after all each consecutive story had less downloads than the one before BUT Hallows actually got four reviews versus the one each of the other two.  And well Gates just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere at all.  With it being all over and the ebook being only 99 cents you would think it would do better.  Six collected stories, which the people who have read my copy loved…who knows?

I will just have to keep plugging along.  I have plans to put more poetry to photo and music, and once photoshop is up and running I can make covers for Sins and Shadows and Loralil.  Get the two fanfics up over on wattpad and Goodreads, give people a taste of my style.  Hopefully hook them in for the original stuff.  Loralil will see the light of day finally.  After all two complete books of work and at least three more in the works?  I have to publish her somehow.

Okay I have babbled enough over here.  Tomorrow I will go over to my other blogs and do reviews of games and movies and tv show.  Stuff I haven’t been up to date on.  At least while the machines were down I got some book reviewing done.  All I can hope is after all the reviewing I did for the past week that the karma faerie gives me some reviews back.  Who knows, they could be good.  Anyone think I should offer more freebees?

OMG reviews and new kindle

Okay two posts here the same day..why?  Because my publisher has put Gates: One reality to the Next into kindle format and it is on Amazon for $2.99!  Yes a complete collection ready for people to read.  Which is good right?

Then a really nice guy read and reviewed my short One More All Hallows Eve…and gave it five stars!  Oh my I wasn’t expecting that.  Plus the free download is moving along nicely…over 100 downloads and we still have two full days.  Plus I just looked and I actually have sold three copies of Passing the Torch…my goodness it is happening.  Okay I am not selling like the preferable hotcakes but it is a start.  Who knows I might actually have an audience!  Okay back to being the silent writer type.

Knight Protector on Kobo

Well it took a bit but my novella is showing up out there finally.  I was beginning to wonder if it was every going to show up anywhere other than the publishers.  Just pulled it up on Kobo

 

http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=lisa+williamson#__utma=1.1232442539.1340877979.1340877979.1340877979.1&__utmb=1.1.10.1340877979&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1340877979.1.1.utmcsr=%28direct%29|utmccn=%28direct%29|utmcmd=%28none%29&__utmv=-&__utmk=100143390

It should also be on ITunes like Gates:From one reality to the Next  but I have to download ITunes to find out.  This old computer has had trouble with ITunes before so we will see.  It if works I will get the link for Knight Protector and Gates up together.  There are supposed to be other places you can find Knight Protector too but I haven’t had luck so far.

Now if I can get these two ebooks moving and selling then I can put together a cover for Endings, book one of the Loralil Greyfox saga.  It has been long awaited by a lot of odd people and it does fall into a more traditional fantasy quest style.  Yeah it has dark moments, yeah I kill off secondary characters but that is what Quest fiction is about.  Having enough stuff for four more books and not putting them out makes me twitch but well why put them out if no one reads them right?

Actually thinking about it I bet i could put out more than four more books.  If I gathered up my better erotica but well, not yet.

Oh yeah funzies!  I found my old children’s story that I started nearly 20 years ago.  I was done as a kamishibai.  This is a type of shadow play done with pictures, sounds and comments.  There is a free viewer out there and tons of stories.  Most are well, horrible but some are really good.  Mine was not bad.  Wont say great because I never finished it.  Now I am thinking of pulling out the story part of the file and maybe writing as a tale tell.  A story with in a story type thing.  It is cute and sweet and really meant for the younger set but it is a test of my ability as a story writer to be able to do something not meant for older teens and adults.  While it has a bit of tragedy I couldn’t let this one go the dark way I let most of my stuff go.

 

 

Super heat

Since it is going to be so hot today I think i will be writing in the basement again.  Now I can get some good stuff done down there.  It is quiet and cool and I can’t hear all the neighbors making noise.  I can focus on the words I am trying to put together.  Hope Everlasting is moving along nicely.  Coming to a climax now.  Nothing like a good climax in a story.   Leading up to the climax is a bit harder than you would think.  I have great openings and great endings.  The middles are where the work is.  After all you need a good bridging scene to get you from the information gathering sequence to where your hero confronts the villain.

Course it is fun to introduce those information sources.  They tend to take on personalities of their own of course.  I think my little friends that I added here might be some of my favorites.  They might be seen again, who knows?  After all Harry has a lot of stories to tell.  Thought I have decided that I will probably work on Jackson’s story next.  He isn’t a Guardian but he is a cop with extras.

Will just have to see if any one will actually read any of my stories.

I have started up an author page on Goodreads.com.  Gates and Knight Protector are up there so far.  I will be posting up everything I can but it does take a bit of time.  I put up the trailer for Gates there to help people decide.  I do like how my trailers came out.

Other thing I want to work on is a cover for Endings, book one of the Loralil Greyfox saga.  After all I have the second book finished on that one and they need to go up somewhere right?

Now if I can just get someone to buy, read and review.  This is the part that is so hard about being an author.  You write and write and edit and edit and edit, then you post and then…nothing.  Evening my fanfiction hasn’t had that many reviews.  I get downloads, people read my stuff I know.  Heck the adult stuff has a following all it’s own but I don’t know what I can do to get it out to people to read.  Does anyone read any of these stuff?

Approved!

Well it took three weeks but The Knight Protector is now on the premium catalog over on Smashwords.  What this means is that they will be sending it out to a bunch of other retailers, getting more exposure.  Should show up on Barnes and Noble, Ibooks, etc.

And speaking of Barnes and Noble, Gates is now over there.  That surprised me.  I just went over to see if Knight was there yet and up popped Gates!.  Interesting don’t you think?  I know a couple of you bought my book and thanks loads for doing so.  I can’t find my sale stats on that yet and it is driving me batty.  I don’t expect a lot but it would be nice to know if it is worth me putting up more of my work.  So far it is the free stuff that is getting downloaded.  Not necessarily read but downloaded.  And not in huge numbers.  I am not a Stephen King but maybe some day I can have a few thousand people reading and commenting on my stories right?  Not a lot to ask I think.  I don’t expect to make a living writing but oh it would be fine if I did.

Restarted posting stuff over on MySpace, yes I had one of those once.  And obviously my other blogs will be getting stuff.  I have been a bit off this week so I haven’t written much.  Hopefully I can do a lot more this weekend.  I would love to get Hope Everlasting finished up in time to upload it when I put One More All Hallows eve up for a free read.  A nice teaser don’t you think?

Well here is hoping I can get more readers for my nonerotic work than I have for the erotic.  Maybe I sould make up a book of my photographs and another of the recipes I have mastered.  Spread out what I do and hopefully someone will want to buy what I am selling.