I can now confirm that I am exiting retirement. *sigh* I'm joining arm. I love writing that without context. I assume most of you are not part of the semiconductor industry, so it sounds like I'm either supplying weapons or artificial limbs. Either of which are way too cool for me. I really enjoyed spending more time on writing and marketing, and I’m going to miss it. Secrets of Deara is coming together. I sent an early pass to Libby James—I would highly recommend her to my writer friends. I used her skills in developmental editing to get feedback on the early story, and found it useable and useful. I’ve gone through a second pass while Libby went over the first pass, and the story is shaping up. I have a couple of medium-ticket story items to tackle, and then I need to address the information from Libby. (I just started into addressing Libby's feedback). When that's done, I'll send it to Oksana Marafioti for a round of post-developmental storyline editing. After making whatever changes I decide, it will go out to Marla Taviano for copy editing. Cover design should start soon (and goes pretty quickly for sequels). I’m not going to try and guesstimate how long all that will take, but it won’t take as long as the last book to get out. Except that I start my new job in February, which will, of course, slow things. Just for fun, I thought I'd share these early attempts at making video ads for Facebook. Using what folks sent me directly didn't work at all. Adding some of the "image ads" into the videos helped for one (Mother of Trees), but not the other (Guardian League). For some reason, I can't get clicks on the Guardian League ad. If you think you see why, please share. Note that these also have "Headlines" and tag lines on FB, so the failure to get clicks could lie outside of the video. ![]() ![]() All books by Steven J. Morris Indie Author Showcase Previous Newsletters
May you get lost this week in another world. Follow me on Goodreads. |
Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing.
I had a couple of things I wanted to mention. One is what looks like a weird new scam that I haven't worked out yet, and the other is just an update on how I'm doing in marketing. Scam Alert! So, the potential scam. I received an email that looked like this: Your book just gained new reviews from my readers community.<screenshot of a GoodReads book review>Did you get it?Looking forward to hearing from you I followed up with a couple of emails, and I basically think the paid-book-review people...
Last week was Homecoming week, and my younger two girls are both now in High School. It's really something watching how much effort the girls (and their mom and other girls' moms) put into the preparation. Meanwhile my oldest had a rugby tournament, where they awarded her MVP. Certainly a better way to spend her time than watching that Arkansas v Notre Dame football game. Brutal. Yes, to relax, she does rugby and boxing. Any wonder I came up with Red? Really miss having my oldest girl around....
We're a few weeks into the school year, and settling in to the new/old routine, more or less. With my oldest off to college, and my youngest now in High School, I'm getting sentimental about all the lasts. Last time I'll help one of them learn geometry. Last time I'll teach one to drive. Last time I'll find a "box of strawberries" in the fridge that is nothing but stems. It's funny how even the things you don't like become things you miss, innit? My oldest sent me one of her papers from...