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alexandraerinNews For Today
Today (or in calendar terms, more likely sometime tomorrow) is the second to last chapter of Tales of MU volume 1. That could go under "plans for today" but really it feels like news.
As the rather large volume of LJ posts I've made in the past few days indicates, I've had a lot of brain activity lately that is more focused on the business side of my work than the writing side. By this I mean both the larger business of writing/publishing and the way I do business myself. One thing that's interesting to me is to realize that I started Tales of MU just a few months before the Kindle went on sale, and maybe a year before Smashwords was a thing. As a result of being focused on carving out my niche with free, blog-based content I really missed out on the potential there.
I don't think anyone can say that I "missed the boat"... these things are paradigm-changing marketplaces that still exist. The boat is still there, in other words. I'm not even sure I missed an opportunity. I took an opportunity. The area I focused on ended up being profitable for me. And now when I step into the Kindle-world, I already have a readership who can review and "like" and such my stuff there. Moving from one self-pub model to another is a leg up, in the same way that moving from a trad-pub career to self-pub is.
Also on the subject of how I do business: I got a question in a reply email from one purchaser of The Gift of the Bad Guy who wondered why I'm doing email fulfillment instead of an automated content delivery system.
Well, the time will come when for practical purposes I'll have to switch over, but as long as LitSnacks is small enough to do it on my own I'd like to do that because it forces me to develop processes for doing so. Not to get all Calvin's Dad, but it builds character. It builds skills, or revives skills that I haven't used since I had people above me who provided processes and tied my compensation to my ability to follow them. I've handled the MU diploma program badly every time I've tried to run it. I have three still-owed ones that I need to mail out on Friday, and the most I can say is that they're not the same three ones I owed people last time I said this. After that, I believe I'm shutting it down for the time being. The whole thing depends on things that are too far outside my natural skill set and inclination. It's good to stretch yourself, but to play on two different meanings of "stretch", it's good to stretch before you try to stretch too far. Warm-up, you know?
You know, when you're working in a cubicle farm and there's this flow chart you're supposed to follow every time an item comes across your desk or whatever, maybe you think, "Pffft, I know how to do my job. This is just busy work. It's a bunch of hand-holding nonsense."
But man, having a process to follow... well, in putting together someone's Author Appreciation Edition(s), there's not that much to it. It takes seconds, not minutes of work. But absent a process to do it, I might spend a minute getting the files in order and then more time checking and double-checking to make sure I got everything right. I'm not suggesting that checking my work is a bad thing. I'm saying that without a process I end up going, "Wait... did I check...?" Maybe I did, several times. Maybe I didn't once, but I'm remembering having checked the last one.
When I started doing the AAEs, I didn't have a process. By the time I finished them, a de facto one had evolved.
Skills acquired. I also had a blinding flash of obvious about the nature of "labels" in Gmail and how they're not folders and what that means. It's a serious "this changes everything" moment, you have no idea.
All this is to say that I'm adding structure to my work life that wasn't there before.
Personal Assessment
Kind of feel slow today, mentally and physically. It's not the "still waking up" kind of slowness, but I got up recently enough that waking up more might yet alleviate it. We'll see.
Random Link
Blue canary on the outlet by the lightswitch who watches over you."
Plans For Today
Chapter 496 of Tales of MU, though I'm going to call this one for Thursday. I know I've said it before, but I really thought I would have The Gift of the Bad Guy all wrapped up with a neat bow before Monday. But I was working frantically on that Monday, and Tuesday I was more or less coming down from that. If I had all day today to do nothing but write I could get the chapter turned out but it's 4 in the afternoon and I'm just waking up. If this were just another chapter I'd be pretty sure I could turn it in not too long after midnight anyway, but it's not. I have two chapters left and some fairly specific notes I need to hit in them, as well as a general sense that there are important things that need working out as I write them.
I've rarely if ever had anyone complain when I say "I want to take the time to get this right." I've had complaints about delays but never about that reasoning. And it's never been more true than it is now. Ending volume 1 is a fairly pragmatic decision, creatively, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve the best send off I can give it.
Today (or in calendar terms, more likely sometime tomorrow) is the second to last chapter of Tales of MU volume 1. That could go under "plans for today" but really it feels like news.
As the rather large volume of LJ posts I've made in the past few days indicates, I've had a lot of brain activity lately that is more focused on the business side of my work than the writing side. By this I mean both the larger business of writing/publishing and the way I do business myself. One thing that's interesting to me is to realize that I started Tales of MU just a few months before the Kindle went on sale, and maybe a year before Smashwords was a thing. As a result of being focused on carving out my niche with free, blog-based content I really missed out on the potential there.
I don't think anyone can say that I "missed the boat"... these things are paradigm-changing marketplaces that still exist. The boat is still there, in other words. I'm not even sure I missed an opportunity. I took an opportunity. The area I focused on ended up being profitable for me. And now when I step into the Kindle-world, I already have a readership who can review and "like" and such my stuff there. Moving from one self-pub model to another is a leg up, in the same way that moving from a trad-pub career to self-pub is.
Also on the subject of how I do business: I got a question in a reply email from one purchaser of The Gift of the Bad Guy who wondered why I'm doing email fulfillment instead of an automated content delivery system.
Well, the time will come when for practical purposes I'll have to switch over, but as long as LitSnacks is small enough to do it on my own I'd like to do that because it forces me to develop processes for doing so. Not to get all Calvin's Dad, but it builds character. It builds skills, or revives skills that I haven't used since I had people above me who provided processes and tied my compensation to my ability to follow them. I've handled the MU diploma program badly every time I've tried to run it. I have three still-owed ones that I need to mail out on Friday, and the most I can say is that they're not the same three ones I owed people last time I said this. After that, I believe I'm shutting it down for the time being. The whole thing depends on things that are too far outside my natural skill set and inclination. It's good to stretch yourself, but to play on two different meanings of "stretch", it's good to stretch before you try to stretch too far. Warm-up, you know?
You know, when you're working in a cubicle farm and there's this flow chart you're supposed to follow every time an item comes across your desk or whatever, maybe you think, "Pffft, I know how to do my job. This is just busy work. It's a bunch of hand-holding nonsense."
But man, having a process to follow... well, in putting together someone's Author Appreciation Edition(s), there's not that much to it. It takes seconds, not minutes of work. But absent a process to do it, I might spend a minute getting the files in order and then more time checking and double-checking to make sure I got everything right. I'm not suggesting that checking my work is a bad thing. I'm saying that without a process I end up going, "Wait... did I check...?" Maybe I did, several times. Maybe I didn't once, but I'm remembering having checked the last one.
When I started doing the AAEs, I didn't have a process. By the time I finished them, a de facto one had evolved.
Skills acquired. I also had a blinding flash of obvious about the nature of "labels" in Gmail and how they're not folders and what that means. It's a serious "this changes everything" moment, you have no idea.
All this is to say that I'm adding structure to my work life that wasn't there before.
Personal Assessment
Kind of feel slow today, mentally and physically. It's not the "still waking up" kind of slowness, but I got up recently enough that waking up more might yet alleviate it. We'll see.
Random Link
Blue canary on the outlet by the lightswitch who watches over you."
Plans For Today
Chapter 496 of Tales of MU, though I'm going to call this one for Thursday. I know I've said it before, but I really thought I would have The Gift of the Bad Guy all wrapped up with a neat bow before Monday. But I was working frantically on that Monday, and Tuesday I was more or less coming down from that. If I had all day today to do nothing but write I could get the chapter turned out but it's 4 in the afternoon and I'm just waking up. If this were just another chapter I'd be pretty sure I could turn it in not too long after midnight anyway, but it's not. I have two chapters left and some fairly specific notes I need to hit in them, as well as a general sense that there are important things that need working out as I write them.
I've rarely if ever had anyone complain when I say "I want to take the time to get this right." I've had complaints about delays but never about that reasoning. And it's never been more true than it is now. Ending volume 1 is a fairly pragmatic decision, creatively, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve the best send off I can give it.