I Don’t Get a Bunch of These
So I’m probably an hour or two away from hitting publish on Legends of Windemere: The Mercenary Prince. This means it’ll be live by the time I wake up and tomorrow is promo set up day. This includes the usually sites, emailing the volunteers, attaching the Amazon link to all the guests posts, sending all the guest posts, attaching the Amazon link to all the future posts, and eventually posting on here. Needless to say I’m already feeling a little worn.
Thinking about it, my stress is coming from the following:
- Everyone is in the house and the bad weather will make them stay inside. So the curious munchkin will be an ever-present hazard.
- The weather is turning to sleet and my laptop has already lost the Internet once. I really don’t want to have my book out there for a day while I can’t even get a blip on the Wifi. Happened once a while back and I got no sympathy from the house for the panic and plight I was trapped in for a few hours.
- WordPress and social media have been very quiet since last week. Probably the holidays, but I have an unsubstantiated fear that people are leaving the Internet for the real world. The Matrix was wrong?
- Will the book even sell? Every new volume of Legends of Windemere sells less than the last one. Happens with a series, but that doesn’t make me feel any more at ease here. No idea how to counter this.
- My legs are killing me from walking around the zoo all day. I’m also tired, which means I could end up sleeping late. Figures that’s a risk on the one day where I DO NOT want to be sleeping until noon.
I think #4 has me the most scared for the long term. I only do tweets and blogging to promote my books. Other social media sites got me nowhere or seemed too confusing for me to use quickly. Facebook was a disaster the last time I tried to use it. So I don’t really have much. I do thank all the volunteers who will help with the debut promotion. I actually should set something up in the debut post that will act as pingback to notify me about your posts going live. With the kid home until next Monday, I won’t be on the computer as much as I usually am after a book debut.
A final note:
Legends of Windemere 
Oh my gosh–how exciting!! Congratulations, Charles! It sounds like you’ve got a pretty good handle on self-publishing. I have tons of respect for anyone who is able to do that–I am unpublished but hear from my author friends how much work goes into that. The best of luck with your new book!
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It’s odd, but I know the motions without feeling like I have a secure handle on the outcomes. There’s still so much unknown even after knowing formatting and basic promotions. Guess the plus side is that the stress keeps me somewhat humble. Ego can be a hindrance at times.
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It will all go off just fine. I’ll watch my mailbox.
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I actually thought you said ‘it will all go off-line’ for a terrifying second.
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You are on pins and needles about this. I do much the same thing, then remind myself that I can recover and adjust later.
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It’s either the stress or fatigue from having chased a kid around a zoo all day. Probably a combo.
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I took my grandkids to the zoo once. They made me take them home again.
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They keep sending the kid back with us too. Then again, he might be too much for them. There’s crazy baboons and then there’s human kids.
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Best of luck with the release, I shall be awaiting the volunteer info and will post it as soon as I get it.
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Thanks. Though I’m wondering how much attention posts will get during the week. A lot of people might be on vacation. I think . . . been years since I had a vacation.
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Sucks to hear, and I hope you do get one (and it does not turn into a working vacation!) I had one 2 years ago and hated every minute of it, if that makes you feel better 🙂
As for people being online, I think everyone tries to spend some family time, but the real troublemaker is the internet. Like you mentioned yourself, the collapses already started happening here and I doubt it will get better, especially since now more than ever we humans use the net to give our best wishes (since phones tend to be jammed and laggy for decades.)
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Don’t have the money for a vacation, but maybe one day. Honestly, working vacations aren’t too bad as an author. Change of scenery tends to be good for the imagination. Sorry your last vacation wasn’t good.
The collapses are rather odd. I wonder what caused them. I have theories, but they revolve around people being sick of all the negativity you see online these days. Hope it isn’t too bad after the new year.
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I think it should get sorted after the Big Eve. Serbia, however, still did not have Christmas, so we are stuck with bad internet until second week of January.
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Ouch. Though I’m not sure how that system of Internet works. Hope you get it earlier.
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It works, but it goes on and off when you need it the most 🙂 Its good, in a way, takes out the distraction when you are writing, but the rest of the household goes into a hysteria XD
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Good point. Though I’ll admit that I need the Internet for one of my newer projects. The one that’s the post-apocalyptic action comedy requires that I examine Google Maps while writing. Don’t have to do that for fantasy.
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Yes, it can be very handy for stuff like those, but I personally fall pray to procrastinating on it and getting distracted too much, or just seem like a vulnerable target for questions like ‘Can you check real quick if this store is still open” or “What was the game score”.
I can honestly say I enjoy seeing people in here panic sometimes when it is down, it’s like watching the apocalypse 😛
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Forgot about the questions. That’s why I rarely leave the room when I’m writing. Only to sneak some lunch when the other residents are distracted. I’d probably be one of the people flailing like a maniac and worrying about how many emails are waiting for me.
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Wish you all the best for this one. I ‘ll tweet about it if you could give me a gist in the twitter character limit. I also only use Twitter since FB didn’t seem to draw much interest in my case either. Oh, social media is an ‘enigma wrapped in a mystery’ 😉
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I agree about Facebook. I rarely use it these days. Though with Twitter, you can tweet directly from the book’s page, which is great in a pinch. I’ve always wondered if that works better. What would you need from me for the tweet?
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Yay! That’s wonderful news; I’m so happy for you! Looking forward to that promo email 🙂
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Just scheduled my own post here. Figure I’ll send the promo email after I get everything else set up. So many places to start with.
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Best of Luck Charles.
Hugs
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Thanks. 🙂
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Good luck, Charles, we’re all rooting for you x
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Thanks. Just woke up, so the whole promo thing starts now.
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Fingers crossed 🙂
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Good luck with this one! 🙂
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Thanks. Luck always helps. 🙂
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Ready when you are! I’m so glad for you!
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Thanks. Everything has been sent.
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I have your latest email with the how-to and plan to post early next week, to avoid overkill on the first several days. Stay tuned!
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Thanks. Looking forward to it. 🙂
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Here wishing all hte best for yuor new book. You’re a veteran, there’s no reason why things shouldn’t go the way they should 😉
See you on the other side!
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Thanks. Fingers crossed that it sells. Always a fear that it won’t work out and I’m not using as many promo sites as I used to.
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Congrats on the publication! #4 worries me as well, for sure. I mean, I’m only 2 books into my own series, so I can’t really comment on a longer series, but I’d like to think readers will keep going in a series once they pick up the first book, right? This is going to be a silly question, but I assume you have links in all your books to all your other books so readers can easily find the next in the series? I know I’ve given up on a few series in the past because I couldn’t find the next one. Other than that, happy promoting, and happy new year!
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I think it’s easier for a trilogy or anything under 5. Modern audiences don’t seem to want the same characters for longer than that. Many expect a total upheaval and to end a lengthy series with all of the originals dead, retired, or evil. Oddly pessimistic in regards to heroes if you think about it.
I do have links to all previous books in the new ones. Started doing that over the summer when it was suggested. I even put a link the new book in the one before it, which I should do at some point with Book 8. A strange thing that has happened is Amazon has the first 7 books listed as a series. Not sure how or why that happened.
Have a happy new year too.
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