Completed the 5-Day Amazon Ad Challenge

The other side of authoring – marketing.

Took Bryan Cohen’s 5 Day Amazon Ad Challenge to learn as much as I could about running book ads on Amazon without paying for the full course he offers. I learned lots, and I’m running ads.  I am not making any money, but that’s okay. Everything I’ve read says to give it time. Still –

Let me start off saying that I love Amazon. I need anything from a new pencil to a new water filter, to a new baking pan, I click into Amazon and the next day it’s on my doorstep. That being said, I’ve never imagined making much money selling books on Amazon. Let’s face it, thousands of books are loaded into Amazon every day and listed for sale. Amazon makes a cut of every book sold on Amazon, and it’s only right they do. They’re doing all the work housing and enabling people to purchase and download my books. Now, I’m supposed to pay them to advertise, too?  How much money am I giving to Amazon?

Still, it’s worth testing out. 

If you’re interested in running book ads on Amazon, Bryan offers a course(s) that I’ve heard plenty of good things about. When my collection Midnight Whispers books are complete, I may enroll in the course. (Fingers crosses I’m making a little money before then to pay for the course.) His free course provided the basics for running ads, and his ability to convey what I once thought of as complex and nonsensical, makes me feel like I, too, can run ads like the pros (almost).

Hopefully, I’ll have something positive to report next time I check in. 

Writing projects for 2020

Cover of Midnight in Line and Form part 2

I’ve narrowed down the big writing projects for 2020 – sort of. Since I’m terrible about over committing myself, I’m keeping my options open. 

Midnight in Line and Form part 2:

Yes, this is in release mode. (There is one on my calendar, but I’m not sharing – yet.) Meant to get it out in December, but I needed time to heal, and I’m glad I did.

Midnight Bites (working title):

This novel “completes” the Midnight Whispers series. That being said, I’m leaving the ending open as I like several characters. It’s 90% roughed out.

That leaves one more book. I have two in process, but I’m torn on which one to complete. What do you think based on theses descriptions?

Dreams of Xolotl (working title – it will do for now):

Sissy loves her little dog more than anything in the world, and the little dog loves Sissy. Only Sissy and Great Grandmother know how the love of a little dog creates so much power and only costs a little blood.

The Goblin Twins (working title):

The twins, Erin and Erika Goblin, know they’re special but don’t how special until their fifteenth birthday deals them and the city of Las Vegas with more than a bad hand. Creatures from the Night World flood the family casino with dark magic forcing them and their body guard into hiding. The twins learn how much alike and different they are while securing their futures and bringing peace back to the Day World.

Reflections

Saying goodby

I’ve had reason to pause and reflect since my last entry here in October. After years of battling cancer, my father succumbed to its side effects. When he first went to the hospital in October, I kept with my regular writing scheduled, but as time went on and his condition deteriorated, I let my schedule fall to the wayside. 

I’m sorry I missed you, but I’m not sorry I took time off. These days of mourning and remembrance have allowed me to reflect, ponder, and wonder at the world and those whose lives we touch and in return touch. This past weekend, my family welcomed a beautiful day to gather, embrace, and remember my father as we scattered his ashes at the church he was so involved in.

Funerals should always be on sunny days. Yes, there were tears, but the sun on my face and the breeze in my hair reminded me of the joy I shared all these years with my father, always smiling. Standing in the garden before the memorial stone, smiling is how I saw him. Tears that fell were joyous tears. The smiles continue to grow.

We’ve all welcomed in the New Year, and there will always be a place in my heart that imagines my father near. I put away the mourning and shift back to the living. I look forward to talking, writing, and imagining with all of you again.