An unfortunate update

Just a quick note to say that any buzz I was feeling on Tuesday has been sufficiently squashed. Since I posted those numbers I've seen zero more people download Consider Us Even.

That's not what I wanted to see. Obviously. Not sure what happened. I am guessing the initial rush has passed and now we are getting down to the nitty gritty. This is when it's going to take some work to draw interest in my work. It's OK, just was hopeful that it wouldn't come to this. Not so early. I've got more writing to do on the expanded version of the story. Plus final editing on Chasing Filthy Lucre.

So, I'll ask a favor to any of the folks here who may have read Consider Us Even. Go to Smashwords and leave a review. Tell others you know about the free book. Tweet about it. Share it on your blog. On Facebook. Wherever. I know I can't do this alone. I'm going to need your help.

A Consider Us Even update

I don't plan on making this place just somewhere I update numbers. But I want to update numbers. I put Consider Us Even up on Smashwords a little over a week ago. A week ago Sunday if you are wanting to get all technical on me.

If you haven't seen it yet, click here.

So far, there are 112 downloads. I don't know about you, but that's a number that impresses me. No reviews yet, and I haven't heard from any readers, so I am hoping people like it. I am hoping that these same readers will be willing to pay $1.99 for the full version of Chasing Filthy Lucre.

I've also noticed looking at the stats Smashwords provides that I am closer to a one to one ratio on page views to downloads. Straighter language? Right now, just about everyone who looks at the page downloads a copy. So either, my description provided is so enticing people can't say no. Or, there is someone out there telling people to go grab a copy and people are without taking the description into account.

I did this next trick once with Scrib'd numbers. Let's play it again. It's called, awkwardly, "How much would Jarrett have made if he was charging for this?"

So, we have 112 downloads in 9 days. That's an average of 12 downloads each day. There are 31 days in December. Staying on that 12/day pace puts us at 372 in the month. If I were to charge 99 cents for this story that would be $368.28. Since this is something that's only available at Smashwords I would get to keep 85 percent of that total. That means I would have made $313 in a month. Extrapolated out over a year and you have $3,756 off this little story.

I know that you can't assume the current download rate will be maintained. At some point things should flat line and the sales will stagnate. But, what I do know, is that an average author, at least from everything I've heard, makes about $5,000 in an advance on their first book. This short story would get me more than halfway to that. That's cool to me.

Consider Us Even up at Smashwords

Remember the plan that I mentioned a month or two ago? The one where I was going to publish a short story to Smashwords with an excerpt of Chasing Filthy Lucre? That plan?

Well this weekend it went from plan to reality. I did it. Formatted the file, sent it through the upload. Now it's there for the whole world to download. That means you, dear reader, could be one of those downloaders. The link the is here.

I uploaded the story on Sunday, and as of now, at 12:30 on Tuesday night, 56 people had grabbed a copy. I like those numbers. I've done a little promotion, but nothing heavy.

I included a mention of this blog in a little foreword I wrote for the beginning of the story. If that's how you found your way here then I speak for all of us when I say, "Hello. Welcome. Make yourself at home."

And if you did download the story and read it I'd love to hear what you thought. And, if you felt so inclined, I'd appreciate a review at Smashwords if you don't mind.

Feeling like a writer

A few weeks ago Gina went to Montreal for the weekend. Her best friend has a business trip up there and the two of them left a little early and saw what they could see up in Canada.

I spent her time away doing a little editing and correcting. Also did a little writing. Then when I went to the airport to pick her up I took my idea notebook with me. I started planning out some ideas for the next story in my series. I actually got a lot done, a lot planned. I like where the story is going. I like the new characters that I sketched out. It could be fun. A little chase story.

Once I saw passengers from Gina's flight come through the door to baggage claim I closed the notebook and moved closer so Gina could see me. It was while I was waiting that I realized for the first time in my life I felt like a real writer.

Don't get me wrong. I thought of myself as a writer. Someone who enjoyed stringing some words together. Someone who enjoyed telling stories. But it wasn't until then that I thought, "You know what? I'm a writer. A legit writer."

I think that what it was that made me feel like that was I had one story I was editing, one story I was writing, and one more story that I was planning. I had something in all three stages of production. That's not something I've had before. Well, not true. I've been editing and writing at the same time, but this was different. All three stories were linked. Required me to plan them. Required me to make sure they all worked together. That's what was different this time. And, I have to admit, it felt really cool.

How people find me

With Blogger's new stats feature I can check and see how many people visited the blog and when they stopped by. I can also see how they got here, including which search terms directed them to me. Here is the oddest I've seen so far.

i wip my hear back and fowad

Now, Gina has deservedly chided me for my spelling in the past, but I am certain that I never wrote that sentence or wrote it that way. I am going to guess that "wip" is what keyed whoever wrote that to my blog.

A proper post is coming, hopefully later today or tonight. I've been busy since we last spoke.

... if you really take a hideous detour from the "right" track, your characters will get more and more uncomfortable. Because if your characters are any good whatsoever, they have unfinished business, and your detour is taking them away from it for no good reason.

Charlie Jane Anders at io9 on writing out of a dead end. Read the whole thing, it's good. This was the quote I chose to highlight. There could have been dozens others.

Thanks for reading

Just checked my numbers for the new version of Chasing Filthy Lucre on Scrib'd. We are at 108 so far. That's the fastest I've made it to that landmark number. So, if you are one of those 108 then thanks. I appreciate it. If you liked it, tell someone about it. If you didn't like it, you can tell someone too. Who knows, they might like it.

And if you haven't read it, click here. Or click there to read it again.

Complete second draft on Scrib'd.

I posted a completed second draft to Chasing Filthy Lucre on Scrib'd. It's here. Read it. Let me know what you think.

First draft revisions complete

Last night I finally finished the last of the revisions on the first draft of Chasing Filthy Lucre. I think what was holding me up was the fact that I had to add a section that amped up the tension in the third section. When it was all said and done, after all the adding and taking away of words I wound up with just over 21,000 words in length. Translated to actual print pages it comes out to just over 70 printed pages. That's not bad, and if I stick with my pricing plan in the beginning, seems like a fair value at $1.99. Now, consumers could disagree. In that case I'll have to make some adjustments. But that's one of the nice things about doing this on my own. I can make those changes on the fly.

I am getting ready to print the second draft in a little bit and get a jump on the second round of edits. I am eager to keep with my internal deadline of an early December release. Like I'd said previously I'd like to be out before the holiday and possibly get a few nice reviews up before all those people open their e-readers on Christmas morning and go looking for something to populate them with.

I am still working on expanding my Consider Us Even piece. And the plan I mentioned for it earlier involving Smashwords is changing some but still in the works. Hoping I can get that done soon too. Again, a pre-Christmas launch would be great.

So, that's what's happening here. Things are still trucking along.

Oh, and before I go, I mentioned previously some plans I was making for more regular content. That's still bubbling. Still thinking on that. But you have seen one thing I want to do already show up. I am going to try and do writing quotes regularly. I like them, but if you happen to think they are a waste of time let me know. Could change my mind.

Writing full, complete sentences actually slows down your reader. The longer the sentences, the more chance they will skim. All this works against a strong, steady pace.

Good advice on pacing from Ronie Kendig over at Novel Journey.