Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist
As I said, I only have one question and then I’ll answer for me:
What are you doing this summer?
A simple question, but one that has an impact on indie authors and bloggers alike. The summer is a slow and nearly dead time for both. You scrambling to get what little sales you can find and try to promote with the hope of hitting a freak high point. At least that’s been my experience. Sure, you can release a new book and put on the afterburners to boost it. Not a guarantee, but it’s something. Otherwise, you hang back and ride out the storm to about mid-August/September.
For me, I’m going with the second option since I don’t have anything else to release right now. Will I make it to the fall with Charms of the Feykin? No idea. My summer for writing will be working on the first draft of Chasing Bedlam (the 2’s of fans cheer for that news) and maybe Book 14. The kid has summer session, but it’s only for half a day and that doesn’t give me much time. The episodic nature of ‘Bedlam’ makes it easier to take breaks than the heavier Windemere.
All of that leads me to these two points. One is for July and the other is for August:
- See that ‘Legends of Windemere Bios’ page that showed up out of nowhere? Well, I’m going to be putting ‘Teaser Tuesday’ and ‘Questions 3’ on a break in July. They will be replaced by character bios that will give the basics of each champion, Kira Grasdon, and Fizzle. A smarter person than I suggested this as a way of helping those who start late in the series to learn about the characters. Some characters will be missing info due to spoilers, but I’m hoping to give a background and insight into each one with 2-3 paragraphs. The listed info will include: hair, eyes, role/job, debut book, signature weapon, unique markings, and hometown. Not sure what else to put there right now.
- In August, I might bring back ‘Questions 3’ and turn Tuesday into a guest post day for authors. Nothing extravagant or complicated. If you want to write up a post to promote your book then let me know. It’ll be a first come, first serve thing and the amount of people who respond will determine if I add extra days to this. Since this is for August, I’ll speak more about it later.
Anyway, that’s the news. Kind of like a goals/life update, which might work out since I don’t know if I’ll be around over the weekend. Having trouble deciding on what to say in those things since I don’t do much. Have fun.
Legends of Windemere 
My plans for the summer: finish and release book 4, start working with book 5, work on that massive piece of Avatar/Legend of Korra fan art, work out another draft of arc 4 (books 10-12) and do a daily illustration (both over the course of July)… I might also try to get a start on the Hell Bent poster that would include every named character that crops up in the book series and the short stories. Of course, I still need to finish designing a number of them… And should probably finish figuring out their backstories.
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That’s a really busy summer. Curious to know how massive that Avatar/Korra fan art is. I keep imagining a wall-sized mural. Do you find it easier to do the physical design or backstory first?
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Both tend to be around the same level. And the pic would include every named character and be inked/colored/shaded digitally. It would also mean that the sketch would be spread over multiple pieces of paper. I’ve done other such pieces of fan art, and the biggest I’ve done up until now is the Gravity Falls one. 127 (give or take) characters, important objects, and locations over 6 8 1/2″x11″ pieces of paper.
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That’s really impressive. Are these commissions or for fun?
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It’s mainly for fun. I still need to whore my stuff out a bit more to get commissions.
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That sounds like a plan. I would say good plan, but I don’t know if one exists for Summer. I know there is going to be camping involved in my summer.
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Decent plan might be it. Probably do a bunch of trips to the park, beach, and zoo. There are a few kids movies that we can see too. That’s the thing about the summer. Need to plan a lot of kid stuff.
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This summer I am wrapping up the last of the John Cannon Trilogy. I have a fourth book that needs to be edited and made ready for a 1st quarter launch, and I have the fifth book in my head that needs words. Other than that I think I will take it easy.
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Awesome. What’s the fourth book about?
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It is about a guy who runs a major mutual fund which is hacked and the perps make it look like he did it. He only gets help from his college buddy who died twenty years before. Yes the buddy is a ghost. So it is a thriller with some paranormal overtones.
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The ghost aspect makes that one really interesting. 🙂
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I hope I can pull it off.
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I’m sure you’ll do fine. Ghosts are just like any other character, except invisible and they don’t need doors. 😀
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Ha ha ha. Thanks.
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Planning a trip to Washington DC for my family this summer, so everything really revolves around that for me. Otherwise, I’ll be at work with my nose to the grindstone. 😦
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That sounds like fun. It’s cool to have that central trip for summer. Hope everything goes smoothly.
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Thumb’s up for your plan. As soon as I get my act together, I’ll email about a guest post.
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Got it. I’ll try to do what I can. Next week is looking like it’ll be chaotic since it’s the last full one of school for the kid.
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Reading. writing, boating, fishing and pre-marketing. I’m getting NA ready to publish, but won’t be releasing it until September. That’s my plan, for the very reasons you stated. I’m working with a lady who is helping with marketing and she’s been pulling together some things we’ll be talking more about later. We can’t even talk further about things until there is a book.
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September is a smart idea since the summer is usually slow. Are you doing this on Amazon or a small publisher?
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Amazon. I’m waiting for my book imprint image file before I submit my files. I want to have it all done long before September. The plan is to purchase proofs to send to reviewers as part of the marketing plan. The POD will be ready first and copies can go out once it’s approved and available. I have to deselect sales channels so it doesn’t go live before hand.
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