Kate Baggott's Blog: Cornfields of the Sea - Posts Tagged "kate-baggott"

2012 will be over in 10 days and I am superstitious about passing judgement before it's completely finished.

Here's the thing: mostly, this year sucked. I have friends who lost their parents this year, I have friends whose spouses became ill. I have friends who have been fighting cancer and friends who died of it.

And, through it all, I was not the best friend I could have been because I was suffering myself. For most of the year my husband and were separated, the kids lived with him officially 70% of the time and inofficially with me 55% of the time. I had a mild nervous breakdown that my friends and family pulled me out of. Then, one of our children was diagnosed with a condition that I had long suspected and have been unable to get any medical/social help with.

In the last 1/3rd of the year, my husband and I got back together. It's the best thing for all of us, but there is a lot of healing and hard work ahead of us and life, as it always is, remains very uncertain emotionally, physically, and financially.

Finally, in the 12th month of an unredeemable year, something wonderful happened to me. On Tuesday I won the America's Next Author Competition 2012.


My story, Finnegan and Grandfather Cheng., took the $5000 prize after a three-tier social networking and literary judging panel ordeal that demanded the competitors enlist everyone they have ever met (in real life & on-line) to support our work with virtual votes, comments and social networking shares.

I don't have the prize money yet, but it's already spent. Debts are all horror stories, but my nightmares are disturbances I can deal with now. The sense of relief I feel is greater than the joy I felt upon winning. Really. Relief is great.

The most positive part about all of this is not the money, though. The truly wonderful thing is the opportunities this win might bring. If I manage those opportunities properly.

The problem is, how do I teach myself to identify what is positive and will help me build a future after I've been living through hell for so long? How will I learn to tell the difference between positive thinking and wishful thinking while hanging on to the ironic, the sarcastic, the oppositional and the agreeable contradictions in life that I hate and love in equal measure?

I don't think I'm alone in trying to change my experience, my outlook and my way of moving forward. I do not want 2013 to be so many months of misery and I think a lot of people feel the same way.

I cannot imagine a better place to explore that issue than among a community of readers. I cannot imagine a more appropriate way to write through these challenges and share experiences than keeping a blog at Goodreads.

And, if you've read this far, you definitely deserve a Christmas present. Here's where you'll find a free download of the America's Next Author 2012 Anthology.

I hope you like it.

With love from,
Kate Baggott

Author of Love from Planet Wine Cooler
Love From Planet Wine Cooler

Like many parents, I spent my Christmas in the kitchen. I do not mind being the chef in my house. It may have taken me ten years to learn how to roast the perfect turkey (the answer, as it is so often, is more butter), but watching my family devour a good feast is one of my greatest pleasures in life.

I also, as you might guess, enjoy eating even more than I enjoy cooking. I have a tendency to be on the heavy side. Sometimes, I am ten pounds overweight, sometimes I am thirty pounds overweight. It depends where I am moderately active or extremely active I am at a given time in my life.

The thing is, I am generally healthy and fit and a little extra weight does not bother me for one reason. I seldom think about what I look like.

I don't know how much I am about to confess is typical of girlhood/womanhood and how much is just me being neurotic, but I learned very early in life that I was not blessed with that most important female attribute, beauty.

Writing that sentence triggered a lot of bad and bitter feelings the moment I wrote it. Obviously, I am not completely healed or accepting of the life I lead with the face I've been given.

Still, I have cultivated some other attractive qualities. I'm funny, I'm smart, I'm a good cook and I'm a very, very good friend. Expertise with make up is not something I've ever mastered, so I generally don't bother. When there is an ocassion though, I do dress very well. I'm tall, I have big boobs, great hair and a disarming smile, so I can work with what I've got when I need to.

I'm just not always certain when I need to.

I stay home and write in my pajamas a lot. I teach in jeans and running shoes because I have to move from teaching assignment to teaching assignment.

This morning, though, I had to face reality. I had to ask myself this question: Would I sell more books if I were more attractive?

What provoked this question? A blog post about my America's Next Author win. You can see it here.

They've used a video I shot as an acceptance speech for another writing award a few years ago. I was so excited about making a video with my kids and sending it off, that I did not think about slapping on some make up or testing which camera angle suits me best. As a result, I am even plainer and paler in the movie than I am in real life.

I may have messed up "my professional image" because I did not show enough care in creating a media product.

Should I try to counteract it? Do readers really care what writers look like? All of us build our impressions almost instantly, regardless of how intellectual or bookish we might be.

I'm thinking of an experiment.

Right now, I need to sell 11 more eBooks on Amazon.com to get a $100 royalty cheque and another 15 downloads on Kobo to get them to pay me. I just started on Ebook Mall, but I can get paid $50 after just 21 sales there.

I think I should get a really hot author photo taken. You know, the kind where the writer (OK, me) is hair straightened and made up until she cannot recognise herself. Then, I'll take one of myself with my tablet camera as soon as I get out of bed in the morning. I'll use the photo I have posted now as a control. I'll post one photo at each venue to see which version of Kate sells more books during the month of February.

What do you think? Should I try it?

I've been a mess.

I've been worried about my debts and my responsibilities toward others. And, unlike many other people with financial problems, I had a bit of a reprieve in the wings. I did win the America's Next Author contest. I was due to recieve $5000 in prize money.


And, it was delayed and delayed and delayed.

Today, though, all the delays were resolved. Martin Leenders, Managing Director of eBookMall and America's Next Author, came over for lunch. He also gave me my prize money in cash. With flowers!

I still can't post images directly into this blog, so here is a link to the photographic evidence.

Right after lunch, I paid off my overdraft and my credit card debt. While I still owe lots of people lots of money, I can actually feel like I'm on my way to getting my life back.

Finally, I can also get back to my other obsessions. Like creating a new cover for Love From Planet Wine Cooler with my friends Sandy and Suzanne. Lots of you commented on my my Live Journal and this is what Sandy has created after 21 iterations. I have to say, I hope you LOVE this one.

So, it's time to wind up all the worries and celebrations associated with winning and move back to the work of being a writer. That is something I can be comfortable about.

When I had my first professional blog, I was instructed to write 2 updates per day in order to keep my audience engaged.

That advice / instruction was nonsense then and it is nonsense now.

What matters is telling people you engage with, when you both find the time, the very big stuff. Some experts would tell you that bragging is never good. Luckily, the big stuff that happens to me is seldom good enough to be considered bragging.

It's just big.

Since the last time I wrote you, my children and I have moved from Germany to Canada. I'm Canadian and the kids are Canadian citizens, but this is the first time they have lived here. The transition from school class to class is difficult for young people. Imagine what it is like moving from country to county. But, just because we're going through difficult stuff, does not mean it isn't ultimately good.

Helping my kids through this big change has only been possible because I do the kind of work I do. Obviously, we are not living off the proceeds of Love From Planet Wine Cooler.

No. My dirty little secret is that I am a ghost writer. I write everything from newsletters to blog entries and advertisements to books for other people. In fact, I recently finished working on a book about new discoveries in skin health. My favourite work comes from helping scientific, medical and technological experts who can't write to translate their work, ideas and plans into books everyone can read. I stick to hard topics so I have less competition. Business and general ghost writing is more cut throat because more people can do it.

I work hard, most of the time, but I can leave my desk at 3 o'clock and take the dog to pick up my very own children. I don't have the flexibility to give into other distractions, but being there for the kids right now is important.

When I am not on project, I have to do things like update my web site, build my twitter following (I'm @baggyk by the way), manage my accounts and get my resumé into decent shape. These are the things all business people have to do and I have to get better at integrating them into my daily life.

That does mean I'm a bit slack about posting recent publications.

One of my Finnegan Stories was recently Published in Suddenly Lost in Words Volume 3.

And, one of my Dry Stories has been published onWild Violet.

Being able to come to this blog, when I can, is a huge relief. My life might be chaotic to live, but when I can sum it all up into a monthly blog post? It really doesn't seem that difficult.

Hi.

It's been a while, I know.

I've missed you.

Yeah, that sounds lame, but it's true. Really.

We've never talked about "exclusivity" and "committment" and other big words that make me wish this text box had a spell checker.

And, you know, it's not that I don't think you can meet every need I've got because I do.

That's just not where I'm at in my life right now. So, I'm back and I want to spend time with you, but I have been seeing other blogs.

First, I was interrogated by Joo. I met her in a group here on Goodreads. It's not as seedy as it sounds. They are just really humourous people and I got carried away.

Speaking of funny, I have to tell you about the Terri Weeding incident. Terri is really funny too and she sponsored a humour writing contest on her blog. I know they say that certain behviours are bad for your self esteem, but honey, I won it and it feels good.

But it's not all about the laughs. I'm still a little sensitive about my ex calling me "moody" so I didn't want to make you cry. Not full snot stream sobbing, but a few sentimental tears. I decided to save it for Jacob Share's JobMob guest blogging contest. This is the seventh year of the contest and I've entered most of them, so I felt secure enough to talk about my beloved grandparents there.

So yeah. That's what I've been up to. Wanna go out for a drink?

I forgot to include this sponsor info for Jacob!

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CONGRATS to Marianne who won the little Celebration little Contest I outlined below.

_____

It's summer in my part of the world and my little family and I have been enjoying ourselves with visits to weddings, pow wows, libraries and swimming pools.

I think it's time to share a little joy.

The first Kindle device, or Kindle app owner, to leave a comment below and email me with the subject line "I Am First" will win a copy of my eBook Love from Planet Wine Cooler. My email address is baggyk (at) yahoo (dot) com.

This contest is open until the first comment/email is received and closed when I update it with the winner info!

When I was 19 I had cancer. It was Hodgkin's Disease, which if you have to have cancer is the kind to get. Treating the disease was one bad year out of my life and, since then, I might have lived differently than others who haven't faced threats like serious illness.

Whatever life has to offer, I want to try it.

That does not mean it's all reckless abandonment, but I have taken some big risks.

I haven't been as careful with my career or guarded my future earning potential as carefully as other, smarter people. I have loved and created relationships based purely on that golden light of beauty and longing I saw in another, without ensuring that we had all the other boring components to go through life together with cooperation and care. I have indulged my children in their thoughts, feelings and impulses just because life is short and childhood is just a few seconds of being nurtured and held close unconditionally.

And, I've worked and written and taught and learned every moment of every day of my life. Once, I showed my resume to someone who said, "I see you do exactly what you want to do and nothing else."

That's not 100% true, but I wish it was.

Of course I have made sacrifices and compromises, but I have also never done anything I am ashamed of. Writing, teaching, consulting, editing and ghost writing all rely on the same skill sets and character traits. Doing all of them keeps me connected to every aspect of life and strengthens my connections to friends and family and colleagues.

I experiment. Sometimes I make entertaining mischief and sometimes I make mistakes. It's all part of the art of living. I'm not sure it's great for my development as a writer, as an artist, but if it strengthens my sense of community, my sense that there is a reason for everything, then I feel more complete and I think that is worth celebrating.

Speaking of celebrations, I recently got to read at the Toronto launch of Friend. Follow. Text. It was one of those moments in life that could have gone all wrong. I had to jump on the bus to Toronto immediately after work and, of course, rush hour traffic and bus company schedules conspired to make me late. I missed the other readings, I left friends I wanted to meet there waiting and the DJ had found the crowd's groove by the time I arrived. And still, everything worked out. Editor Shawn Syms stopped the music and told me to project, so I raised my voice and there, in the crowded Cafe, I used my story from the book to connect with everyone there. It was a moment that made me so happy to be alive.

And those are the moments I am always searching for. Whether I am writing about adopting our dog,or back to school shopping, or putting together a collection of short stories like Love From Planet Wine Cooler. It's all about experimenting until that connection with others is created and shared.

It's often said that you need to spend money to make money.

I'm not a gambler, but I do like the song and if there is ever a time to learn something from Kenny Rogers, especially via the Muppet Show, it's probably during this era of unrestrained hopefulness and rampant insecurity. Not that I am an advocate of casinos or any other kind of voluntary tax. In fact, I try to stay away from any business that might make organized crime another cent.

That said, I've started a $55 experiment on a Goodreads ad for Love From Planet Wine Cooler.

For most investments, self-publishing has been relatively risk-free for me. I had a lot of help from friends to do the cover and copy edit. Almost all of the stories had been published elsewhere before they appeared in the collection, so I got paid for writing them before I even tried to sell the book.

$55 is not a huge amount, but the difference between gambling and an experiment is writing down the observations and drawing conclusions based on those experiments. I will be sharing the observations about this experiment here on this blog.

To be honest, I have not followed the Goodreads ad best practices that they outlined in a Powerpoint slideshow I scrolled through.

According to their guide, I should have bid 50 cents per click-through and I only bid 11 cents. This will effect how often and at what time of day my ad appears on the site. I also put my own site, http://www.katebaggott.com as the destination of my click through rather than my Goodreads author profile. I will see how things go and switch to their way if things look really dismal.

I'm not sure if you can view my campaign dashboard, but as I write this, my ad had been viewed 13 times and has a 0% click through rate. Since it has only been up for an hour or two, that's not bad.

If any of the other authors reading this would like to share their experiences with a campaign like this, I would really like to hear them!

The days between Christmas and the New Year were made for reading. I insist upon it in my own life and try to make allowances for those who curtail socializing to stay in with a book. Really, reading fiction is wish fulfillment for grown ups. So are naps. And leftovers.

There are two stories I've written on a holiday theme for you to take a look at between naps.

For those of us who have lost someone too early, after too terrible an illness, after too much love to do without, I wrote The Last Bluebird. It is not a downer. It's about that cycle we all return to and must learn to accept.

And then, I wrote something completely different for another holiday season. Be a bit careful with this one because it might make you need a nap...with someone.

For those of you who got calendars for Christmas, here is what January might have in store, in the fictional sense, if you like firemen. This story also appears in my book, Love from Planet Wine Cooler.

I spent my Christmas vacation on marketing campaigns for Love from Planet Wine Cooler.

My idea of fun has clearly changed as I've matured.

On the upside, there is no hangover, just compare and contrast analysis.

Two days before Christmas, I decided to invest $55 in a Goodreads self-service advertising experiment. As promised, I wrote an update that highlighted how quickly nothing can happen.

As of this moment of writing on January 3, 2014, the Goodreads Ad has been viewed 1,833 times. I targeted women over the age of 21 who read chick lit, contemporary fiction,E-books and women's fiction. So far, no one has clicked on the add. I changed the text to make it more compelling at about the 900 views mark. My next change will be to target readers of Jennifer Weiner and Marian Keyes to see if they are more receptive to a new author.

While I was marketing, I decided to experiment with a free promo on Amazon.

While Love From Planet Wine Cooler remains my primary title, I thought giving readers a taste of my other work might spark some more interest in it. I chose to offer a piece of erotica called The Critical Pose that has been selling a copy every month or so. While missing that twenty-seven cents in income is certainly a loss, I decided to risk it.

I promoted the promotion via my Facebook group, my Twitter feed,and this blog. While the campaign was short, just 24 hours, there was a lot of data to track.

In total, 116 people downloaded the ebook. Since I can generally count on 90 to 120 people to click on a link I post to a story or article, that number comes as no surprise, but the added reader app does present a barrier for some people, so I am generally pleased. For the first time, there was activity to report from the Italian and the Japanese arms of Amazon. In each place one reader downloaded the story.

More exciting were the new reviews posted on the UK, US and Canada sites.

In terms of both advertising and promos, was there a change to the bottom line? Well, no. In December I sold just one download of Love from Planet Wine Cooler and I know exactly who bought it. According to my friend, business writer Anita Windisman, all marketing in this day and age is so highly customized that we all have to go to our customers one-to-one and make one sale at a time.

So far, that has been the one true tip I can pass along to other authors.