Blog

Well, I can say with certainty that things have not gone perfectly since the last post. It’s not that sales were lower than expected (because I honestly have no idea what to expect), but various problems popped up all over the place that forced me to halt my advertising campaign the day before it launched.

 

The main issue was that the preview for the book looked terrible due to a formatting issue, so I had to hire someone to fix that. While they did, I found out that there were further issues with creating a paperback version that neither I nor my illustrator accounted for. Needless to say, it was … messy for a while.

 

However, those troubles are now behind me, and everything is looking to be fully back on track. The advertising campaign will begin shortly (unless something ELSE pops up suddenly). Let’s hope it’s smooth sailing from here on!

 

Also, make sure you check out my Facebook and Instagram accounts, as I work hard to make my uninteresting life seem somewhat compelling. At the very least, you’ll see all the neat updates for the series, so there’s that! Or, if you prefer something more relaxing, my Twitter account is almost entirely just retweets of beautiful landscapes (and some opportunistic attempts to advertise my book, of course).

 

See you in March, where I’ll hopefully have a proper update on how the advertising campaign is progressing!

It’s here! Please ignore the sound; it’s just my thunderous heartbeat letting everyone know how nervous I am.

This month is going to be a big one … and and expensive one. You know the saying “You have to spend money to make money”? Yeah, well, now I know what they meant by that because a product no one has heard of is hard to sell, so advertising is going to be fairly costly and spread out over several of the big companies (Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, etc.) I’m confident that once people read the book, they’ll love it, but getting them to want to read it will be the hard part.

 

I have a few things going for me, though:

 

1)  I have a plan. I know who I’m going to advertise with and am ready to get started the moment the book drops.

2) All the prep work is done. I’ve the YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon ads all done and scheduled to be posted/advertised, and I’ll be working all day tomorrow with several sites dedicated to selling cheap eBooks (that I’ve scouted out ahead of time, so there shouldn’t be any surprises).

3) The book is pretty amazing, so people start reading it, they’ll be hooked. What? It’s my book, so I should have more faith in it than anyone.

4) Uh … I’ve got spirit!

 

I’ll update the blog at the usual time in February, so we’ll see then how far that spirit has taken me. Until then, make sure you pick up a copy and leave a good review! Wait. What am I saying? If you’re reading this, the book is up for pre-order, so go buy it now!

 

… Well, yeah, it goes on discount tomorrow, but that’s not the point! Do you want to buy a book at a low, low price or do you want to support my endeavors by paying more for no reason? (Yeah, I’d wait until tomorrow, too.)

Magi of Gaia will soon be released, and I assure you that there has been no end to the amount of work that has come from that.

 

First, let’s talk about advertising. Over the past two weeks, I’ve gotten in touch with a few different voice actresses to read lines for the YouTube ad I plan to run during February and they’ve already completed those lines. Also for that ad, I’ve contacted a musician whose music I like and am in talks with that person for whether or not they will allow me to use one of their songs in the background of the ad (if they say yes, I’ll go into more detail later). Once I hear back from them, I’ll start the final stretch of the project by hiring someone to put together all the images, voice acting, and music together into a nice-looking ad.

 

I’ve also gone through roughly 40 different book marketing websites, and have made notes as to when I should advertise my book with them. Many require your book to have a certain number of reviews and a decent review score. Others want your book to be a certain price (or free), so the plan is to immediately discount the book for a month of so after its release to meet the majority of those promotions’ standards. Getting those reviews will take a tiny bit longer.

 

Next, I’ve gotten up TWO new social media accounts, though I’m still learning how to use them properly.

 

You can check out the new Facebook about HERE.

 

And the new Instagram account HERE.

 

As far as Facebook goes, I haven’t really delved too deep into it yet. Currently, I’m focusing on using Instagram to its fullest, and I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job so far! It’s a slow process, but I feel like I’m progressing smoothly.

 

For the website, I’ve been working a bit on the “MAGI” section. In it, I reiterate some of the history of the Magi, go over the different types of magic the Magi use, and comment on notable figures that have influenced history (well, moreso than most Magi, at least). I’d say I’m about halfway done as of this blog, so I expect it to be finished by the time the book come out.

 

Lastly, I’ve contacted my illustrator again to see if they could expand the ebook cover for Magi of Gaia to be the necessary size to make a paperback book. Once she’s done (and once I get my graphic designer to make it look sharp), I’ll be able to sell not only ebooks, but physical copies as well! That’s amazing (and I’m going to buy the very first copy for myself)!

 

 

So yeah, it’s been two weeks of work, planning, and learning new things. I feel a little bad that I’ve had to switch gears away from writing on volume two, but the fact that I’m eager to get back to work on it is a good thing. Maybe I’ll try to work in a few pages between finishing up the “MAGI” section of the website and figuring out Instagram and Facebook.

 

The next time I write will be after the official release of the book. See you then!

First and foremost, THE HISTORY SECTION IS DONE! I’d still like to tidy it up and make it look nicer, and I’ll likely make small adjustments over time, but as for now, it’s complete and ready to be read by any curious onlookers. Unfortunately, the rest of the sections under the GAIA tab are still empty, but it’s one step at a time, right? Speaking of the GAIA tab, check out the new art I had done, sadly replacing my super amazing, one-of-a-kind placeholder art (it will be missed).

 

Today starts the month of marketing, and this is where I’m most nervous. The first step is to go to several different fantasy forums and see if I can drum up interest in the book, trying to give a few hundred copies for free in order to get more reviews, and thus move the needles on Amazon’s algorithm (I was told that’s how that works, anyway). Hopefully, I can get enough people interested to do that. Incidentally, if you’re reading this before February 1st, 2020 and would like a free copy of the first volume of Magi of Gaia, send me an e-mail. Even if I don’t respond for some reason, I’ll definitely put you on the list and send you a copy, though make sure you’ve read the sample chapters that you can download from the main page of the website to see if you think you would enjoy the book.

 

Other plans revolves around making a short advertisement for my book and getting it up on YouTube. It shouldn’t take TOO long, but I need to find the right voice talent and video editor for the job first. I also keep tweaking the wording of the script to sound as good as possible.

 

Frankly, I’m nervous. I’m nervous, but I’ll give it my all! Wish me luck!

Hello! I have to say up front that not much has changed in the past two weeks. The history section has been coming along nicely, but it’s still got a ways to go (mostly, it needs fleshing out in some areas). Other than that, I’m looking towards getting some art done for the website to replace the placeholder art, though, honestly, look at it again. Isn’t it kind of cute how terrible my drawings are? …Wait. Am I complimenting myself or being self-deprecating?

 

Regardless, there’s not much to update today. I’ve been trying to get out more, but the rain, even today, is doing its best to keep me inside. Until it calms down, I’m stuck in here, so I guess I’ll mess around on YouTube.

 

And since this is such a short update, how about watching it with me? You like magic, don’t you? You’re here, after all.

Hello! For those of you who celebrate it this time of year, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. I celebrated by eating a thoughtful, well-balanced meal … is something I would say if I were a liar. No, of course I overate and enjoyed every bite of it, but it caught up to me the next day. I regret nothing.

 

It’s December now, meaning you can expect to start hearing Christmas music everywhere you go and see stores start piling in all the decorations … and, again, I’m joking. We all know those things started November 1st (and even earlier if some places)! As long as we enjoy it, that’s all that matters. Don’t let the marketing get to you. This season should be about togetherness, not gift-giving. -Cut to a year later where I’m probably saying something like “Magi of Gaia would make a great gift for the book-lover in your family!”-

 

So why is this blog entry called “History”? Well, for the actual update part of this post, I wanted to talk about the updates related specifically to the website. I’ve already mentioned the revision of the first side story, but this time I want to talk about the “History” section. Truth be told, it’d been a lot harder to form a world history than I expected, despite knowing where I want to end up. I’ve delved back over five thousand years from the present day of Gaia to create their history, looking at wars, standout heroes, conflicts between Magi, and so on. It’s a lot, and yet I’m trying to take each of these major moments (events so important that some could be books all their own) and reducing them to a few sentences.

 

History is a difficult subject to tackle, and I’ve been thinking of putting more time into crafting it so that it will be ready for the book’s official launch (which is still looking like it will be February 1st). I want to have History done so that I can take it and use it as a framework around every other subject on the website, such as technology, religion, etc. It would be reckless to work on those other subjects without a set history already laid as the groundwork.

 

It may take some time away from having the second volume ready to go when I would like it to be ready, but I also don’t

want to have the website looking so bare when the first volume releases. So yeah, it looks like another shift in priorities is ahead, but I believe it’s for the best.

It’s getting colder, dropping below freezing, and staying in bed longer seems like an increasing good idea. It’s not. That soft warmth is a trap, intended to keep you prisoner—an addict to its embrace. Don’t fall for it. Don’t be like me.

 

Joking (or half-joking) aside, a sudden cold snap can make you feel incredibly lethargic. I’m not sure what brought it on, exactly, but I haven’t seen the sun in days. It’s either been too overcast to see more than the vague position of the sun or, like today, raining nonstop. It’s scary how a sudden change in weather can affect you. The only thing scarier will be my power bill now that I’ve turned on the heater. Wish me luck on that.

 

As far as a progress report goes, I’ve completed my revision on one of the side stories I wrote a while back. I won’t say who it’s about because that would ruin the surprise, but as I went through it a second time, I felt as though I was reading a fairy tale. I don’t know if it’s because the story lends itself to a fable-like reading naturally or if the style of writing I used to hide the identity of the main character made it feel that way, but that’s how I felt. In any case, My current plan is to release it for free on the website shortly after the book launches or maybe at the same time. I would really like to get the other side story revised, but it’s a much longer piece, and February is coming quickly.

 

Geez. I can’t believe February is so close. It feels like I’ve been working on getting this book sold forever, but as the time for release approaches, I’m growing more nervous. There’s still over two months to go, but it feels like tomorrow. However, today is today, which means there is work to be done!

 

Oh, hey! It’s been a while since I actually talked about the book itself, huh? I didn’t even mention Thanksgiving, but that’s okay. It’s used to be overlooked ;(

(I had originally written a happy little blog post that Bob Ross would have been proud of, but the internet ate it, so this is more-or-less a recreation of what I wrote the first time. If the flow sounds a bit off, that’s why.)

 

We return again to standard time, though I wonder why we still observe daylight savings time. I know that its original purpose was to help farmers, but is it still necessary in this day and age? Well, what do I know? It’s possible that many farmers still rely heavily on it. You won’t hear me complaining about it around this time of year. That extra hour helps me wake up more refreshed and ready to start the day. However, when spring rolls around, you’re likely to hear me start grumbling about it.

 

Halloween and my birthday have passed by in what seemed like the blink of an eye. I enjoyed watching a ton of scary stuff (and stuff that was meant to be scary, but was unintentionally hilarious), but the moment November arrived, I felt that it was time to move on. Now, I’m looking forward to getting the soft gingerbread cookies that only come out this time out year and … well, that’s about as festive as I’m feeling.

 

Thanksgiving will be spent with my family as normal, and Christmas is still nearly two months away, though you wouldn’t know it by the displays you see in the stores. Last Thanksgiving, my family was too afraid to try the curry I had made, but that was their loss. I was happy to take it home, eat what I could, and toss the rest into the freezer. This year, I think I’ll go with a pasta dish—I’m thinking ricotta cheese and spinach-stuff pasta shells covered with a tomato sauce. I doubt there will be many leftovers this time around.

 

…What was this blog supposed to be about again? Something about repeatedly saying, “Yeah, volume two is going fine. I’m still looking for an agent to help publish the first volume” or something like that?

 

Nah, that would be boring.

 

(And this time, I shall highlight and copy the blog post, just in case.)

“Ah, I can’t wait for the leaves to start changing colors … Wait … I’m surrounded by evergreens.” Oh, well.

 

The weather is finally starting to turn cold around here, and so the only problem is that my bed feels so much warmer in the mornings. I’m the type of person that doesn’t like to turn on the heater until I have to, but that breaking point is approaching quickly. With the weather ready to make a sudden drop tonight, I think my best bet is to prepare my poor wallet for those high bills that come with having an active heating system running.

 

… What? What do you mean you didn’t come here to read about the weather? I warned you I was going to be like this this month.

 

… Okay, fine. I guess I have a small bit of news in that I’ve started revising one of the side stories I had written previously. I know it was at the bottom of my priorities list, but I needed to refresh and editing is an entirely different beast than writing. Also, I like this particular short story for my use of metaphor, though I’ll admit I might have overdone it slightly. Still, it’s a fun reread (Wait. Can I say that if I’m the one who wrote it?). The only problem I’m seeing is that I specifically wrote this story keeping the main character’s identity a secret from the reader until the right time, so I can’t label it as “{Character}’s Side Story” because it’ll give away the reveal. Hmm … I’ll have to think it over.

 

Otherwise, everything is going to plan. Nothing new or interesting, really, so how about something festive? Let’s see … AHA!

 

Since I won’t be posting again until early November, I’ll leave you with something informative and fun: A Pumpkin Carving Tutorial!

IT’S OCTOBER!!! It’s time for the weather to start getting colder, pumpkins, spooky Halloween stuff, and (importantly) my birthday! Well, since my birthday is the day before Halloween, maybe I’m biased towards this particular holiday, but I love it. It’s the rare time of year where children (and some adults) can learn that it’s not only okay to be scared once in a while, but it can be fun, too.

 

Lately, I’ve enjoyed watching people play indie horror games, which are either surprisingly good or laughably bad. Both of those provide great entertainment. I’m not too good with horror games in general, so it’s easier for me to watch others play. I know. I know. I just said this is the time of year where it’s okay to be scared, but I tend to get TOO immersed in things and then have trouble sleeping at night. There’s something to be said for not pushing yourself, too, I guess…

 

Huh? OH! The book! That’s less fun to talk about because “everything is going smoothly, and there have been no changes of substances since last time” doesn’t really do much for anyone. I suppose I could also get you another cute video like last time, but it’s best if we make blog entries like that as rare as possible. So yeah, “progressing smoothly” blah blah blah “slowly updating history” blah blah blah. You get the idea.

 

You’ll hear from me again before Halloween and then once more soon afterwards, so expect a couple more posts like this before I focus on something else. Until then, enjoy the beginning of one of my favorite holidays, and go eat something with pumpkin, pumpkin spice, or gingerbread. Take care!