Keeping One's Ducks [aka #Writing Projects] in a Row

Whooops. 

The blog that was supposed to run today. I ran last week -- Curtiss Robinson's Worst Writing Fear -- Losing His Writing. You can access it here. If you didn't read it last week, you should take a look. I know I found it interesting. Sounds like Robinson is making good

use of personal experience to write fantasy. If my fresh reading pile didn't have ten books in it, it would have dipped into the series. [We won't talk about the two stale TBR ones.]

Must confess I've made other mistakes doing the guest blogs, all relatively minor, thankfully. But I won't be doing any more formal blog tours even though I managed to get close to 200 or more views for all of them. 

The offer for individual guest posts still stands though. My topic is "Your Worst Writing Fear". You can contact me at mkkaytheod-at-yahoo-com if you want some free promo for your book. You'll get an author bio, book blurb with buy links, and a short excerpt.

At the same time, I'll be using blog tours for my own promo. I got some wonderful reviews for The Ghost in the Closet from the review tour I did with Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours. I was also very impressed with Goddess Fish's professionalism. If you're thinking of checking out a blog tour for your book, I would ask around among your writer friends and check at their reputations at  Absolute Write Water Cooler before you part with any money.

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I've already mentioned this on other social media -- Facebook and Google+ -- but I must say I puzzle over some of the reviews I've gotten on the eight stories I have self-published while trying to build a writer's platform. Just got a spotlight from Book Viral that opened the floodgates on my confusion. Granted there are reviews that make me wonder if they read the book. Then, there are others, the ones that offer considered critiques with completely different takes on the same story.

Check out the Book Viral Spotlight 
for The Ghost in the Closet

What confuses me? Book Viral said The Ghost in the Closet was "A heart-warming tale of hope and ghostly apparitions". Other have said it's a spooky horror story and chilling. I don't know if there is enough in the sample for you to make up your own opinion. For the record, I call it "dark fantasy". Samples can be found for Amazon, Nook, Smashwords, and KOBO. [For the record, Smashwords gives you a variety of e-formats to choose from.]

Any writers out there who care to comment
 on their feelings about their own reviews?

Taming Twitter

My opinion: Social media, including Twitter, are a time-suck. Almost as big a suck as playing games when you should be writing. Have you heard that bitch before? I know I've grumbled and snarled about it ... and I read about it a lot too.

The big question is: What have I done about it?

At this point, I have two Twitter places: my normal one [@kaytheod] and the advertising/promo one. I set up the second one because I got a little tired of sifting through the "Buy-my-book" ones. They've both been up since at least 2010 and have over 2,000 followers. My guess is I engage with only about 50 of them regularly. -- I can beg people to buy my book with the worst of them.

I spend about 30-45 minutes a day on Twitter ... readng, following back, replying, and retweeting

So what good has all the time I've spent done for me?

1) Attracts People to my Websites. This is a flawed measure since the Go Daddy counters go spastic every once in a while, but I do notice an increase in visits when I promote my websites. One of my main enticements are the free short stories I offer. Visit my author website to learn more.

2) "Sells" A Few Free Short Stories. If I promote a lot using hashtags, I get a large increase in the number of people who download my free short stories. My base line comes from my epub The Foiling of Gorsfeld which I only publicize on my websites.

I also promote the links to buy my e-novellas, Troublesome Neighbors and Taking Vengeance. I'm not a stellar seller, but I don't do too badly for a self-published writer with only a few listings. My rank yo-yos worse than a chronic dieter's, but I have risen to the 30,000s in author rank a couple of times. I'm always amazed at how high one sale lifts the ranking of one of my novellas ... for a day.

3) Drives People to My Blog. This is where Twitter shines. If I come up with a catchy title my numbers soar. I post maybe once a day at both of my Twitter accounts. Usually my blogs get over a hundred reads in a week or so. My highest number of views for a blog so far is 600.

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Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be a writer, so what have I written. I did get the package for The Noticed One, a soft horror short story, ready to send off -- if Kindle Singles accepts it for publication -- though I'm still agonizing over the blurb. [Have I ever mentioned I'm lousy at doing promo c**p?

Cover

Current Blurb:

Plain Cassy Mae goes to live with her grandmother in the mountains after her mother died, in spite of GrammyJo’s working juju. But worse dangers lurk in the hills than her grandmother’s herb lore.