24Q4: Writing Progress, Search Term Analysis, and Moving to KU
Hey Y’all!
Well, quite a lot has happened since we last talked. In my author business, I've started writing again after a discouraging dry spell, and I've done lots of geeky Excel work, exploring data from Amazon ads.
On the home front, we've cheered on the grandkids at soccer, musical recitals, and spelling bees. And we've enjoyed watching the littlest little experience school for the first time. He's so proud to go to school like his big sisters.
We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, which was tons of fun, but also made me a touch nostalgic. I'm fortunate to have my immediate family close to me. We all live in the Houston area within thirty minutes of each other. (FYI, in Texas, we measure distances in time, not miles. Depending on where—and when—I'm driving, twenty miles could take me twenty minutes or it could take me two hours.)
But having everyone close strangely enough means we don't spend as much time together. Back in the day when I used to drive (or fly) back home to West Texas, we'd spend days with each other. My mom's house was the hub for all activity, and while we might not see the entire family at once, we did see everyone at some point during our stay.
I don't want to downplay how happy I was to have my family together. We ate. We told stories. And we played games. Uno Attack was a big hit with adults and children alike. But it sure made me miss my mother and the days we'd spend hanging out with my extended family.
Hope you guys had a nice Thanksgiving break and are looking forward to the upcoming December holidays!
Things I’m Working On
Women in Caprock Series
I'm so close to finishing Code Block (book 2 in the Women of Caprock Series). I've got two more scenes to write and they are both blocked out and waiting for me. I plan to finish those this week, then send the manuscript off to my book coach for a final review. At the same time, I'll start working on my self-edits.
My editing process is to do several computer search-and-destroy edits. These are where I use my grammar and spell checkers, then search and fix any known bad writing habits I have. After these on-screen edits, I print out my manuscript and read the story aloud. It's amazing how easily you can hear a phrase that just doesn't land right when you read it aloud. After a few of these passes, I'll export it to my Kindle, so I can read it in a different format.
With Left Turn, I'm not sure how many electronic passes I made, but I had four printed drafts and one on my Kindle before I felt ready to turn it over to my developmental editor.
Anyway, once I wrap up the first draft this week, it's time to look for the cover designer and getting my professional editor booked so I can get Claire and Noah's story published. I'd like to see it out before summer, but that depends on everyone's schedule. I'll keep you updated.
Social Media
For the entire month of November, I scheduled a post every day for #Knowvember, a campaign to share information with the world about me and my writing. Y'all, it was so much work! Every few days, I would put together some fun little graphics and answer the questions that fellow author Maren Jenner put together for the event. Some answers were simple, and others required serious thought. One positive development from this event is that I had several other authors interact with my posts AND my Canva skills leveled up.
Search Term Analysis and Data Services
I have been tweaking my Search Term Analysis spreadsheet (mentioned briefly last quarter). An author friend has been testing it for me using his own data and insists I should sell it to other authors to help them analyze their Amazon ads. The goal is to pinpoint new Search Terms that are profitable and pinpoint existing ones that are costing you money, so you can pause them or add them as negative keywords.
Based on his feedback, I'm also considering selling my services to authors on setting up spreadsheets and showing them how to analyze the data they get back from Amazon (and maybe Facebook). I've already been able to advise a few writing group buddies on some financially related topics and being able to give back that way feels very good.
(Let me know if you have an interest in this and we can work something up to fit your needs. And feel free to share if you have any author friends who might be interested.)
Moving to Kindle Unlimited
As mentioned in my last newsletter, book sales fell off in 2024 and I made some changes to the categories, keywords, and blurbs everywhere my book is sold. I gained some traction in the last half of 2024, but the year is coming in at about half of what I sold in 2023. And all of those sales have been from Amazon.
With my attempt to sell "wide" (meaning on all platforms like Apple, Google, Kobo, etc.) falling flat, I've decided to pull my ebooks from the other platforms and move my Women of Caprock Series into Kindle Unlimited. This will give me an opportunity to do a second launch, if you will, and hopefully do a better job of it this time. (We'll see. You know how I hate the marketing thing. Ha ha!)
Anyway, my plan is to delist the ebooks on December 15th and move them to Kindle Unlimited before the end of the year so I have nice clean numbers for 2025.
Publishing News
AI continues to be a hot topic in the publishing industry and will probably stay in the headlines as long as there are no rules governing its usage.
Draft2Digital AI Training Survey
In September 2024 (technically Q3, but we'll talk about it here), Draft2Digital posted its survey results on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. Those surveyed included D2D's global community of indie authors and small press publishers. The results showed a deep mistrust of AI in general and big tech AI developers in particular.
The key questions from the survey that caught my attention were:
Are authors interested in the opportunity to sell their AI training rights? 45% said No, 25% said Maybe, and only 31% said Yes.
Does it matter to authors how the end product LLM will be used? An overwhelming 75% said Yes, 22% said No, as long as they were compensated.
Why do authors oppose AI training?
25% AI companies are unethical/untrustworthy
25% Harms creatives & people
19% Ethical objections to AI
14% Other reasons
10% I worked hard for my work and it's mine
8% AI has no place in creative work
Check the full article, results, and conclusions here.
HarperCollins AI Licensing Deal
Another story to hit the news centered on the HarperCollins AI Licensing Deal as reported by the Authors Guild in their November 19th article.
The main points of the article are:
The Authors Guild applauds HarperCollins for taking definitive steps towards defining authors' rights for AI training on their intellectual property as separate rights to be granted, rather than assumed under existing publishing agreements.
They like how the author must explicitly grant permission to opt-in.
They like that the HarperCollins proposal includes "guardrails" that protect the value of the books, such as limiting outputs to a small percentage of the book's text and pledges from AI licenses not to scrape text from piracy websites.
However, the Authors Guild does not like the proposed 50/50 split between author and publisher for these rights, nor are they happy about the $5,000 price tag for these rights ($2,500 for the author, $2,500 for HarperCollins).
A separate news source (CBC News) quotes several authors who have come out against this proposal, even though they have acknowledged it's the first time they've actually been asked permission.
Latest Articles on Writing
Here's what's new on the blog since last time:
Revisiting Timelines in Excel - This article walks through my latest template for setting up a calendar in Excel to track your story events in. And I've uploaded the template to my "Buy Me a Coffee Shop" to share with anyone who wants to download it.
Fixing Scrivener Compile Headings for Navigating Word - This article shows you how to set up Scrivener's Compile settings to automatically convert into Word's Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles (something I've been manually doing after exporting to Word.)
Author Community Spotlight
This quarter's shout out is to Maren Jenner, a Michigan-based romance author who loves to read and write. And who inspired me to actually commit to a social media posting goal. (And I did it, posting every day in November!)
You can find more about Maren here and a list of her books here.
What’s On Your Mind?
I've never been great at mapping out personal goals and objectives, and am continually fascinated by how others approach this task.
Are you already making plans and setting goals for the new year? If so, what is your process? Any tips you want to share?
Let me know in the comments or reply via email. I’d love to learn something new.
Until next time, happy writing and I hope your family has a lovely holiday season!
Lancy