Newsletter - June 28, 2022

I'm on family quasi-vacation in Florida this week. It's a quasi-vacation because I am having to work most days, logging in from the hotel while my wife and kids go attempt to enjoy themselves without my sparkling personality. Work is absolutely nuts right now. I'm generally a pretty calm guy, but I'm at my limit and looking forward to a real break.

I've been bombarding social media this week, trying to build up hype around the release of Book 4. I've gotten a little better with each book, but I'm far from "good." I was still rejected by Bookbub for one of their release deals, and I haven't seen much growth in social media. I received a couple of really great reviews on the ARC copies, and more reviews are still coming in, but I don't really believe I can sell Book 4 effectively when so few people have gone through the previous books -- I really need to connect people to Book 1. After Book 4 is out, I'll have to think through different ways to do the campaigns.

If you haven't hit shepherd.com yet, they're trying to establish a new bookish community with a bent toward lists. They invited me to make some recommendations, and I enjoyed contributing: https://shepherd.com/best-books/transport-select-people-from-earth-to-other-realms

I've seen SOME increase in traffic from all my efforts--I had spikes on my web site for the last 3 days. Note that a spike is anything over 30 people in a day, based on my normal traffic. I'm also finally starting (just starting) to understand how the FB ad campaigns work, and I *think* I'll be able to use them more effectively going forward. I keep hoping there will be some light that goes off, or a monumental breakthrough, but to paraphrase Princess Bride, I'm taking the route of a land war in Asia.

Back to book 4 - ARC reviews are coming in, and here's a few of my favorites (I don't find pushing IG posts into the newsletter to work the way I'd like to see them, so I'm just providing links)

from @ladybug_shirls: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce_XJ0pLqP8/
from @kricklereadsbooks: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfMha2QJ_y3/
from @thelittlebookishnerd: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfWq00Yr3US/
from @delightfully.brittany: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfHycOzA89k/ (okay, she made me laugh. "How dare the author hurt me like this. He knows what he did." 🤣😂😈)

Countdown for Book 4 Release

o To-Do list for writing last week:

~~Email updates~~
Work on next series. I did, indeed, start it. I have my own weird method/non-method for getting started, and I'm fumbling my way forward at a glacial pace that I expect will speed up when my work woes lay behind me.

o To-Do list for writing this week: