Month: February 2023

Weekly Ramble #166

Lee Hall 2 Comments

The mind of a creative can be an amazing thing. Mine generally functions better when I am busy but every so often when I have the time I’ll take a step back from creativity. It is during these breaks that I grow the most. Experience and time served focusing on a craft has its obvious rewards but rest as a basic human necessity is vital to anyone looking to grow.

This year started busily with difficulty from external and internal issues for me. But like always, I found a way to overcome my obstacles and come out of a time that tested me to the limit. Reflection is fostered by time and to heal requires both. Coming back stronger than ever is my goal for this year when it comes to those external happenings. I’m going to do everything in my power to set right anything that wasn’t from last year. January and February are normally tricky for a lot of people and that includes me – I’ve got goals on my mind but I don’t want to burn out early.

Surviving is great but thriving is better and that is something I am aspiring to do this year. As always I’ll keep going, keep working and keep figuring myself out.

Recent Reviews

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Book Reviews mean everything to authors, they help us grow and provide some all-important feedback that may even possibly shape our future works.

While being published may be a hobby for me, I still take it seriously and have aspirations of one day making it more. I appreciate every review I receive from my wonderful readers who have paved this author path for me.

Here is some recent praise for 3 of my works!

You can find out more about all of my books here.

Weekly Ramble #165

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Pursuing dreams matters to me. Pursuing things that make me happy also matters. Writing and telling stories has been something I’ve dreamt of doing longer than pretty much anything else so when I do write, it makes me happy. Above everything, doing things in life that make you happy matters the most.

As I am just about to finish drafting my latest writing project, I cannot help but feel pride for enduring and finding everything I can to nearly complete the journey. To me, every project is different but everything required to finish it always feels the same – there are struggles in some capacity every time and it is up to the story teller to overcome them. My inspirations come from many different corners of life and I do my best to express them in the words I lay out. Of course the editing process takes us away from the original intentions sometimes but that process is nearly always necessary to create a polished finished product.

This project in particular is a stage play that will be performed within a year – a very special outlet I am lucky to have. Guess I better get to finishing it…

‘The Whale’ – Review

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Brendan Fraser delivers a deeply emotional and moving performance that doesn’t hold back from the brutality of a man suffering.

From the very start of Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Whale’ we are exposed to a vivid and graphic view of ‘Charlie’ who is a morbidly obese English teacher on the verge of losing his life. Fraser carries a certain charm he has always been known for while also going to new territory for his wide ranging convincing acting ability – very early on we see him wink as he would in an action adventure yarn from the late 90’s but then much later in the film we see him desperate to know that his life has been worthwhile. This existential sense is just one of the many elements and themes of a layered story that touches on loss, love, health, money, religion, purpose and even classic literature.

With a small but brilliant cast, the players all pull together and orbit the main character in their own ways to bring a story that will stay with me for some time. This film could easily become an on-stage adaptation and of course it is more than obvious to see why the award nominations came pouring in. For Brendan Fraser, hopefully this is a redemption story although even without the awards it is a decorated return. At times ‘The Whale’ wasn’t easy viewing which is credit to those in this gripping performance.

‘I need to know that I have done one right thing with my life!‘

5 Stars

Crossing $1000 in Book Royalties 2022

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Money.

A subject that can be kind of divisive for anyone who has published or released something creative in this world and for pretty much everyone else. With that discussion firmly to one side, this is my account of how I crossed $1000 in book royalties for the year 2022. Making any type of income from my books and creativity online crept up on me over the years and while I did spend my time churning out content and publishing with my head down doing the work, eventually my income began to grow.

Before I do dive in, I’ve always believed that creatives deserve to be paid for their work. And its perfectly valid for an artist or any creator to value their work. It is also normal and okay for a creator to aspire towards making a career out of their endeavours – something I one day aspire to do. But that word value is where we shall begin…

Value

Over the years of being published I’ve discovered that having a perceived value for your works is the first step to making money from them. From taking pride in a job done well to the hours you’ve put in to create something from scratch to even your public perception of that work. All of this stuff and the general success of it along with you, revolves around that value. There is a lot more I could say about value, but as long as you are aware of how you conduct yourself online and have pride towards your work, you’ll be fine.

Now, linked rather closely to value is pricing…

Pricing

That perception and belief of value should drive what you think is a fair price for your work. Pricing for books can be a sometimes tricky thing to master. I’ve tried numerous pricing strategies over the years but my major selling price was in fact my perceived regular price.

Having tried the lowest possible price for my e books via kindle ($0.99) for an extended time didn’t result in many consistent sales but after raising that price (around $2.99) things started moving more frequently. This is part value and psychological towards the potential reader. Low prices can be good for a temporary book promotional boost, but a decent competitive price over an extended time will do good for your sales eventually. Paperbacks are another factor here also and seeing as I used to sell predominantly digital, paperback sales began to rise for me in recent times. This is probably due to fair pricing and value while also because of my rising profile on social media. Having 40,000 Twitter followers does help sometimes but it took a while for me to get there.

With regular sales at regular price, royalties will trickle in consistently and we’re not talking several sales a day here. Just a consistent one or two sales every three or four days will work wonders for that royalty balance trust me. And trust, is a huge factor in this…

Trust

Just how does a creative earn trust online? Well it isn’t easy and it takes time, a lot of time. But if you take responsibility in everything you do in the public facing domain of social media, eventually you’ll earn that trust of others. I sell most of my work through social media because I am present and generally pleasant. Decent behaviour sticks out big-time in this day and age. Running parallel to that time I have spent earning trust is consistent creative content…

The Three C’s

Those who know me will also know my guide book is titled Consistent Creative Content and I wholeheartedly believe they are three things any creator needs to succeed. It took me six or so years to release eight books and using my time rather well it has propelled me towards higher royalties. This writer journey is a marathon not a sprint and you may be one or two books in or more, but over time it gets better if you keep going. Readers like choice and if they make a good enough connection with one of your books, they will return for another, so having that option will increase your chances of sales. Backlist really is King and alongside that is another huge factor, promotion…

Promotion

Book Promotion is a huge umbrella of variety and to the first-time author a rather daunting concept. You can only do what you know how to do at the time of a book release and that’s okay. I’ll admit my book promo methods were limited during the release of my first book and over some years I learned a lot. All of the things I did learn I then applied back to that first release and it is now one of my most successful.

With book promotion and discovering the many methods it involves, this will take time. Generally, I pay for advertising via book promotion websites while also plugging my work online occasionally. My method for regular sales is to focus more on convincing potential readers to be interested in me and then hope they move on to my books – this concept works for me mostly…

I am regularly present on social media. For those who aren’t, advertising takes many forms and if you want serious results then sometimes you have to pay serious money.

BookBub is a promo site that brings fantastic returns and during 2022 a perfect BookBub storm unexpectedly erupted for me. It was during the run-up to the final release in my Order of the Following Series that I managed to grab a coveted featured deal -BookBub’s ‘Holy Grail’ of advertising packages, for the first book in the series. Of course I pounced and put into action everything I’ve learned to ensure maximum sales and KU page reads.

That featured deal happened back in September of 2022 and now in February of 2023 I am still getting page reads, reviews and sales from it.

An effective book promotion, will serve a book for plenty of time after.

Most of my fictional works are enrolled in Kindle Unlimited and that gives maximum opportunity for extended royalties from digital downloads. Quantity is key here and if you can sell books in quantity, the money will eventually roll in.

Quick Fire Factors

And so I’ve hopefully laid out the details to reaching a huge royalty milestone. Here are some quick fire factors that helped shape that journey.

Writing in Series – long term but this helps, when my series was complete it became way more lucrative, keep going series writers!

Writing Stand Alone – peppered between those releases in series are stand alone books in a variety of genre and length. This helped me big-time. Remember backlist is King.

Supporting the industry – I regularly review books by fellow authors from my social media connections. This has helped me regularly release reviews that serve as blogging content and is an opportunity to gain trust and friendships from fellow authors.

Social Media Presence – there are a lot of potential readers out there online, spending time with them will drive sales, eventually.

Time is your friend – it takes time to get to anywhere good on a creative journey.

Paid Advertising – to make money you sometimes have to spend money.

Kindle Unlimited – most of my fictional works including my series is enrolled in KU. Those page reads add up if you can reach readers.

Taking this journey seriously – serious results comes from a serious attitude. I am always doing something to help market myself or my stuff online. From blog posts, to reviews, to social media presence to the odd book price promo or advertising.

Concluding Thoughts

I’ve tried to be as neutral as possible when highlighting my experiences of making over $1000 is book royalties because like I said at the start, money can be divisive subject. For this account I have homed in on certain subjects that all work in unison to create the perfect recipe for book royalties. You shall find more specific guidance below.

Thank you for reading!

This account was inspired by a recent Patreon Audio Presentation where I talk in detail about my journey. You can find that here.

Further Reading:

Building Trust on Twitter

My Most Recent Guide on Securing a BookBub Featured Deal

A guide to Selling Books on Social Media

Twitter Coaching Sessions

A concise list of Book Promotion Websites

‘Fire at Her Fingertips’ by Rebecca Crunden – Review

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‘You know it’s better to lie. To keep the fire for yourself.’

Rebecca Crunden delivers a powerful tale with deep meaning that immerses readers from the start.

For a shorter read it doesn’t hold back with a writing style that uses every word to create the sense of an enduring journey to finding belonging and home. There is a lot of symbolism and metaphor here paired with poetic writing that displays Crunden’s strengths as an immersive story teller while also carrying an important message. Fire is a force that carries a mystique and power which is embraced here. Its also okay to be different because eventually you’ll find others to accept you for who you are.

Shorter reads like this deserve praise because they may only whisk the reader away for a short time but that important message within will stick around for much longer.

5 Stars

Reflections of a Writer-Director

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And so the curtains fall on what has been an arduous but rewarding journey. It has taken an incredible amount of effort by so many to create a show that reflects hard work by those who shared my vision.

The Iver Heath Drama Club has spent over 70 years presenting shows to the local community and is a place where all are welcome – from audience to stage or technical and even the massive efforts of those behind the scenes. Having been a part of this fantastic drama club for over twelve years I’ve always felt valued and accepted by them. My writing journey has always been embraced by IHDC and their encouragement is a major factor in why I’m still writing. Their unique approach to accepting and including everyone is so important and something the club must always fight for. Community based theatre is a staple of providing entertainment and escape for everyone in the local community and IHDC does that very well.

For their latest pantomime effort I proudly took on the prestigious role of director, my first foray into managing a full-length show and a view that I’ll never forget. To see those words I’ve written performed by so many talented people will stay with me for a long time. Having already been the resident panto writer for some years this occasion the whole thing rested upon my shoulders representing a new type of pressure and of course pride for the journey. But like I said, I was not alone and I don’t really consider myself a director but IHDC made me feel like one and they took my vision and converted it into the bright colourful lights of theatre.

Audiences, performers and crew all went home happy which was my number one objective in all of this.

Successful shows are fostered by work and dedication along with the collaboration of so many talented folks who I am proud to call my friends. We did an incredible job together and so for now let us all retire to the green room.

Like always, the writing continues as I have already penned the first half of my next pantomime and IHDC will be going forth into their next production. With a number of scripts now written we will also be looking towards officially opening our very own script store. We have already had one customer in the form of another wonderful drama group who presented my adaptation of Rapunzel to great success!

You can find more information about IHDC via their Facebook Page.

‘Clear and Convincing Evidence’ by H.C. Helfand – Review

Lee Hall 1 Comment

A beautifully written continuation of a fantastic story about life and opportunity…

H.C. Helfand has delivered another fantastic and beautifully written story that see’s the continuation of Abigail Fischer’s journey and this second volume of the Arcadia Chronicles takes the reader on another wonderful ride and experience.

From the start, Abby and David have a lot on their plate, from unexpected plans to career aspirations while also maintaining their own farm not to mention the emergence of a long lost relative; straight away that familiar feeling from the first story began to creep in and remind me how likeable the two main characters are in this book – their love, their history and everything about them gives readers an urge to cheer for them. The title which I’ve now leaned from this book has a deep meaning that carries the theme which intertwines with family, drama, law, purpose and career aspirations while being wrapped up in that unique togetherness expressed between our two main characters. There is also a very important subject of mental health that highlights the importance of everyone having a right to freedom, no matter their health situation.

There is of course, some wonderful description in this book, and there are many quotes that struck me as poignant, meaningful and beautifully put. This story is about the drama of life and not necessarily where you are from, but where you are trying to go.

Some of my favourite quotes:

‘The mossy hills in the distance carpeted the barely clouded sky. A chickadee hovered over the cherry trees. Crickets in a choir rubbed their wings in song.’

‘Make the leap, Abby. You’ve done it before…’

‘Sometimes life gives opportunity at the most unexpected of times…’

‘I took my time walking toward the entrance. Rows of windows lined with shades stared at me. Some lowered; some rose. Were they winking? I shook the thought out of my mind…’

5 Stars – A book and series I’d highly recommend!