March 16, 2011
Years ago, I realized that Woody Allen seemed to make a movie every year. And it seemed that his movies were coming out on about the same schedule every year, and, at least until recent years, the quality of his projects remained high. I really admired the consistency and workmanlike efficiency of that model, and it occurred to me that discipline is often a matter of just deciding to follow a model and not wavering on the implementation of that model.
I know, easier said than done, right? Well, for the past three years I have tried to follow the project-a-year model, and it has worked for me. I won't be the person to assess the quality of those projects, but they are, nevertheless, finished projects.
This project-a-year model helps me in several ways. One way that this is beneficial is that it gives me a schedule to follow every year--something that is difficult to set and follow when no one is looking over your shoulder.
But the most important way that this project-a-year model works for me is that, in the past, finishing a project was a brief relief followed by the panic of not knowing what to do next. Giving myself this yearly schedule has freed me from that panic. Now, I start a project right after Spring Break(I live in a University town), and finish the project some time in the fall. So, now, after I complete a project, I sit back and wait, knowing that, even if I have a great idea, I still have several months to deliberate on the subject.
Well, spring is almost here, and I am about to start a new project. This means that I will probably not be posting many site updates in the coming months. Not that I update very much anyway, but I will probably be close to nonexistent until the fall.
Knowing that, I'd like to get some general paperwork out of the way:
1.) Title Update. Of Wanting and Rain is now available on just about every eBook distributer, except Google Books. I am still in debate mode about whether or not to independently post my titles to Google Books, bypassing my distributor. My understanding, from my distributor, is that they don't honor the publisher's model--dropping the price of titles substantially whenever they see fit, and without warning or input from the author/publisher. That isn't good. So, I'm still waiting to see if my distributor can get a deal with them to honor the publisher's model.
2.) Price Changes. All of my titles have been reduced in price. In the Satchel, On the Train, Selling Dreams to Nancy, Haven, and Such Deliberate Loveliness are all currently on sale for $.99. If you buy direct from Smashwords, you can name your price. My newer titles, Inexplicably, Love, Imeros, and Of Wanting and Rain are on sale for $1.99. And, again, if you buy direct from Smashwords, you can name your price. I am making no guarantee on these prices, or how long they'll last. I have been experimenting with prices for the past year to try to find a sweet spot. If I don't seem to be selling more books at the current price than I did at the old price ($2.99), then I'll go back to the higher prices.
3. Possible Audio Options. I have just begun looking into making my collection available as Audio Books. This is a big undertaking, and I'm debating whether or not it will be worth the cost and effort on my end to get this done. As of today, it is something I am seriously considering tackling toward the end of the year.
4. Possible Short Story Collection. I have some old short stories, many of which are still available in the sidebar of this site. I have been thinking about including these, including 'The Writing of…' prefaces to each story in a collection. If I decide to publish a short story collection, then all the stories that I have posted here will disappear. For now, they will remain. But I will be reassessing this toward the end of the year.
5. Follow Me on Twitter. I won't be updating this site very often in the future, but I plan on continuing to update my twitter account periodically. So, follow me on Twitter for updates about my titles, my writing, and other reasonably interesting miscellany.
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