Revising and Revitalizing
Cool kids never have the time
Hey! Extra spicy or super sweet?
The nights and weekends can feel a little fuzzy when time outpaces thoughts. The whirlwind of the weather has even added to the complications these past few days.
The building management decided it was time to tear out and install new windows.
The warm breeze has only been complemented by the loudness of the city outside.
But enough complaining!
As a consequence, or perhaps a respite, this will be more of a general update rather than a look into more of my thoughts on how I write stories.
Amazon Adventures
I’ve never thought of myself as a gifted merchant or a talented seller, but I am happy to see people have bought Besnowed.
The sales have clearly mostly tapered off, but that’s to be expected. The dreams of thousands of buyers may be dead, but you can help that line start dancing again by leaving a review on Amazon!
Not only do the words make me feel nice, it also makes Besnowed more searchable among the endless list of other titles on the platform.
For some context, I’m nowhere near the top in any of my categories, but I do have a pretty decent rating with a few people already taking the time to leave a review.
In the last bit of Amazon news, Kindle Direct Publishing raised their printing costs last week. In order to keep my profits above 0.00 USD, I’ve increased the price of the paperback edition by 2 USD.
The margins on the physical copies are surprisingly low, but I suppose that’s the drawback to not worrying about printing and shipping logistics.
Timely TikTok
I’ve been experimenting more on TikTok, that place where short attention spans thrive.
As social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter seem to be in a race to see who can decline faster, TikTok has risen as the only “cool” mainstream corporate social media platform.
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And I’m having fun with it.
Reading from Besnowed, reciting poetry, and creating original works. As a creator, the spur of the moment style of TikTok takes a second to get used to, but it’s a welcome change.
Rather than hiding an idea and attempting to polish it to perfection, I can just upload something rough and take note of what, if anything, sticks.
I pushed myself to experiment in that style, recording three videos and immediately publishing them. I would normally think much more about when to schedule them and which titles would be the most appealing.
But not this time!
I sent them all out as soon as I could and simply waited for any interesting results.
Cement Lament - An original spoken word piece
St. Vinson’s Triumph - Reading from Ch. 1 of Besnowed
Acquainted with the Night - Reciting Robert Frost’s poem
What I found was two of the three gaining a bit of traction while the first was left mostly ignored and unwatched.
Now I’m curious to find out if it was the timing or the content!
Next Chapters
I’m already thinking about the future and have signed up for the next season of Buildspace. That’s another chance to enter the fray and potentially win 100K!
I’m thinking I won’t write a completely new book from scratch this time. I’d rather take an old project that’s collecting dust and polish it into something ready to share.
The one I have in mind is a bit of a stranger story, but I quite like how it explores regret, heroes, and a generational curse.
While the beginning of the season is still a little ways away, Molly has jumped on board and started drafting art.
Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come:
I also want to let everyone know that I won’t be making a new newsletter for this new season. I plan to share my thoughts and processes on the journey here. Hopefully building up excitement as I get ready to release another book.
If you enjoy my writings and ramblings, you can really help me out by sharing this newsletter or telling others to sign up as well!
And if you’re unsure of how to share, everything from posting a link or forwarding an email works. Although I think the simplest way is to just remember the URL:
That will send people to a signup page, and it should be straightforward from there:
Most of all, thank you for your time and your attention. I hope you’ve found something worthwhile either in the words or between the lines.
Until next time.
Cheers,
John