22Q4: Sassy Grandkids and Voice-Over Opportunities
Hey Y’all!
This past month, I attended Grandparents Day at my granddaughters' elementary school. My youngest was in the first group, and there were four other grades before her older sister's group performed. So I settled in to watch those different grades do their thing and had the best time! Little kids are so much fun.
Both girls enjoyed themselves and performed well. The most entertaining moment was when the principal asked the first graders to raise their hands if their grandparent was their best friend. My six-year-old granddaughter looked me straight in the eye and did NOT raise her hand. Of course, this made me laugh, and I grinned at her. She shrugged in return.
Gotta love sassy kids with attitude!
Things I’m Working On
That Next Book
Since I've chosen to publish wide (i.e., not exclusive to Amazon Kindle Unlimited), my focus is on getting the next book out and building my backlist. I began the second novel in the series before the first one was complete, but then lost steam and set it aside. I had an idea for another book in the series and started working on it. The same thing happened, and I lost interest AGAIN! To date, I have two more books started in the same series of interconnected, stand-alone novels, but am having trouble making headway on either of them.
That first book—Alex and Fin’s story—appeared fully formed in my head, and all I had to do was sit down to write it. I won't say it was easy, because writing it down and getting it shaped into what I imagined in my head was hard. But the story was there, so I had something solid to work towards.
These next two stories are kind of there. I mean, they are romances, so we know how they end. It's figuring out all the things that happen in the middle that trips me up. I wish they had just come to me fully formed, like Left Turn did. Is this what they talk about when they say how hard that sophomore book is?
Voice-Over Work
An author friend and I are looking into voice-over work. I've actually done some professional voice-over work in the past, back in the day when I installed and configured telephony systems. I had two clients who would pay me to come back and record any changes to their systems.
I never thought much of it until years later, after several people mentioned how much they liked my voice. So, with the rise of audio books, I'm thinking maybe I should explore that arena as an additional source of income.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Publishing News
ScribeCount Eliminates Free Tier
Back in August, I had just published my debut novel, and was using a tool called ScribeCount to track my sales. ScribeCount uses a browser extension to gather sales data from all your retailer/distributor platforms to produce a combined report. (The data nerd and process manager in me loved the simplicity of having everything in one place.) Watching the graph grow and change as my book sold across the different platforms and in different countries was super fun.
Then, in mid-September, ScribeCount announced they were changing their pricing model effective October 1st. They no longer have a free tier. While the price is still based on author earnings, the first tier starts at $9.99 USD per month.
I really like this application, but can't quite afford the new price yet. Maybe once my regular sales grow to that level, I'll be able to sign up again. But hey, if your author career is at that point, you should definitely check it out.
Latest Articles on Writing
Here’s what’s new since last time:
What’s On Your Mind?
I'm generally a private person and have had trouble getting started on my newsletter. It's hard for me to imagine what my audience would like to hear about. To get an idea of what's on your mind, I'd like to start with a question.
What do you write? Are you writing a blog? Content for a news organization? A screenplay? A novel?
What's your cup of tea when it comes to writing? I'd love to know. Reply to this email and let me know what you're working on.
Until next time, butts in chair and ink to paper!
Lancy