Samie Foster's Blog - Posts Tagged "newsletter"
After Getting Lost In The Woods & Trying Bookstagram, I’m Back To Writing Again….Also I think Indie April Went Well..
Hello all, I’m back. I took an early vacation. I went up north, backpacked in the woods, did some stuff with family, and hung out with some old friends. It was a break I needed. But now I am back and am diving into book related work once again. And now that I am back, I want to share what is going on.
First of all, I thought the Indie April giveaways went fairly well. Rainy Day Hotel got into the hands of a bunch of readers. With Once Upon a Time in Boston, there was no traffic for some reason. But things picked up again for Meteor City, despite the fact I was not really actively promoting it as hard as the first two weeks. I was getting pretty tired by that point. So it did go well. And of course, I participated Indie April and bought a few indie books as well. So it was nice. It was the first time I went as hard promoting my stuff to try to make the most out of Indie April and, to be honest, it was kind of exhausting. Hence why I had to take a break after nonstop self advertising after three weeks straight.
And during my little vacation, I did some book stuff as well. I really wanted to try Bookstagram. So I had a plan. I ordered some author copies of a recently published hardback version. (Yes. I stealth released it. I don’t advertise it, because I feel it’s too expensive for the consumer, & I’m still tinkering with print size & whatnot.) They were supposed to arrive around the 16th. They did not. But I had a proof copy and some ribbon to cover up the watermark. And everywhere I hiked, I had a copy of Rainy Day Hotel in my backpack, to take photos of I found a really pretty spot. And I got a lot of photos and found that it was kinda fun to do it this way. It might be a little different from what other Bookstagram folks are doing, but I like this vibe. I think it makes my shots unique and I hope it catches on and actually helps book sales as people claim it does.
Also during my break, I wrote and finished writing a short story. An urban fantasy murder mystery. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but I’m looking forward to working it into something really nice in future drafts.
But what about the future? Well, I got an dark fantasy full of vampires, werewolves, and witches coming your way. It’s kinda an urban fantasy twist on the Universal Monster gimmick. It’s fun. It’s campy. It’s not as dark as my recent works. My last few stories dealt with so much grief, trauma, and loss. And I’m trying to change the tone a little bit. This is a vibe I gravitated to when I personally went through a rough patch during the pandemic, and I’m trying to change that in my writing. I want to release something less dark and a little more fun. I really hope the beta readers find it fun. Speaking of which, back to the point. It’s edited. I submitted it to Scribophile for beta readers to critique, and they swarmed the story within a couple of days. I am quite surprised. There is usually a two week turn around. So soon I will get to digging through the reviews and take notes on what all the critics have to say. This is a shorter, less complicated story, so hopefully this will not take over a year of editing before making its way to KDP.
And that is it. That is the plan for now. I am back home, trying to slip into the indie author groove and get some stuff done. I hope to have some new fun stuff to share soon.
First of all, I thought the Indie April giveaways went fairly well. Rainy Day Hotel got into the hands of a bunch of readers. With Once Upon a Time in Boston, there was no traffic for some reason. But things picked up again for Meteor City, despite the fact I was not really actively promoting it as hard as the first two weeks. I was getting pretty tired by that point. So it did go well. And of course, I participated Indie April and bought a few indie books as well. So it was nice. It was the first time I went as hard promoting my stuff to try to make the most out of Indie April and, to be honest, it was kind of exhausting. Hence why I had to take a break after nonstop self advertising after three weeks straight.
And during my little vacation, I did some book stuff as well. I really wanted to try Bookstagram. So I had a plan. I ordered some author copies of a recently published hardback version. (Yes. I stealth released it. I don’t advertise it, because I feel it’s too expensive for the consumer, & I’m still tinkering with print size & whatnot.) They were supposed to arrive around the 16th. They did not. But I had a proof copy and some ribbon to cover up the watermark. And everywhere I hiked, I had a copy of Rainy Day Hotel in my backpack, to take photos of I found a really pretty spot. And I got a lot of photos and found that it was kinda fun to do it this way. It might be a little different from what other Bookstagram folks are doing, but I like this vibe. I think it makes my shots unique and I hope it catches on and actually helps book sales as people claim it does.
Also during my break, I wrote and finished writing a short story. An urban fantasy murder mystery. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but I’m looking forward to working it into something really nice in future drafts.
But what about the future? Well, I got an dark fantasy full of vampires, werewolves, and witches coming your way. It’s kinda an urban fantasy twist on the Universal Monster gimmick. It’s fun. It’s campy. It’s not as dark as my recent works. My last few stories dealt with so much grief, trauma, and loss. And I’m trying to change the tone a little bit. This is a vibe I gravitated to when I personally went through a rough patch during the pandemic, and I’m trying to change that in my writing. I want to release something less dark and a little more fun. I really hope the beta readers find it fun. Speaking of which, back to the point. It’s edited. I submitted it to Scribophile for beta readers to critique, and they swarmed the story within a couple of days. I am quite surprised. There is usually a two week turn around. So soon I will get to digging through the reviews and take notes on what all the critics have to say. This is a shorter, less complicated story, so hopefully this will not take over a year of editing before making its way to KDP.
And that is it. That is the plan for now. I am back home, trying to slip into the indie author groove and get some stuff done. I hope to have some new fun stuff to share soon.
