A week in the life of a self-published author

You need to like hats

When you’re self-published, you wear a lot of hats.

To stay focused and to keep writing and putting yourself out there and plan everything and blah, blah, blah, takes a lot of mental focus. This hasn’t always been my strong suit, as you can tell by me giving up on that last sentence and using three whole blahs. But thanks to self-reflection and very good coaching (which I still plan to discuss soon), I’m a lot better at staying on course. Here are some of the hats my head is wearing this month.

WIP (that’s Work In Progress)

I’ve got thirteen days to get my next book ready to go to my editor (and awesome business partner) Michele. She’s going to give it a good once-over, to make sure the plot makes sense and is paced well. I need this help because sometimes when I’m up to my eyeballs in details and am on a deadline, it’s easy to lose sight of the story as a whole.

I love that I know someone who is great at this kind of thing and I can’t wait for her to tear the whole manuscript apart. Well, maybe not rip it to shreds … but I’d rather have her do it than a disappointed reader. There are no guarantees, but I feel much better about putting a book out after Michele has looked at it.

The book will probably be done tomorrow, which leaves me time to take one full pass at it before sending it to Michele. This project takes precedence this week.

The book is called The Last Resort, and it’s the fourth installment of a series I’ve been writing in for a few years now, the Old School Mysteries. They’re cozy mysteries without the dead bodies—instead I’ve added more satire, a little more adventure than actual mystery, and people with strange names. Think Carl Hiaasen meets Janet Evanovich on Richard Osman’s old street. At least that is what I aspire to.

In this story, our main hero, Delphine, a retired super-spy, wants nothing more than a quiet Hawaiian vacation. But if everything went as planned, I wouldn’t have a book…

I’m giving away free copies of The Last Resort to people who would be willing to leave a review once they’ve read it. If you’d like one, just let me know. The more reviews I can get, the more Amazon will show the book to readers, so you’d be doing me a tremendous favor, as well as getting a free ebook!

Backlist sale

I have ten books published, and I’ve got some on a shelf here at home. So I’ve put them all on sale in my online shop. They’re $6 each, what a bargain! I’m only selling to readers in the USA, because I don’t have room in my brain to deal with international shipping right now.

I’m posting about the sale to Facebook and Instagram once a week for a few weeks, since I think, thanks to a reader survey I just did, that’s where most of my readers hang out. I’m also sending an email to my author mailing list to let them know. I’ve sold a few books already, so that’s nice.

A little fun for the heck of it

I created an Amazon list, full of things my characters have recommended as Christmas presents. It was pretty fun to come up with! Four characters chose four items and described why they chose them. Choosing the gifts and writing the copy was fun … putting it all on a web page was not.

I used affiliate links, I hope readers understand about doing it but probably every link you click on nowadays has some kind of commission attached to it (which is why lists like “The best toilet paper holders of 2024” are, pardon the pun, total BS).

You can check out the Old School Holiday Gift Guide here, if you want to see what kinds of things Delphine and her friends think make good gifts.

Audiobooks ahoy

My cousin was going to record the audio versions of the Old School Mysteries, but she doesn’t have time. So I’m going to do it myself. Starting tomorrow. Because I have so much free time! I figure if I can record and edit a few chapters each week, I’ll get it done eventually. Which is better than never.

I’ve already learned how to edit the audio so it passes Amazon’s quality check, so I’m ready to do it. Another one of my cousins is a dialogue coach for films, and he’s already given me some pointers after listening to a previous attempt from a few months ago.

So I’m on it!

2025?

For sure I’m planning to release three books next year—The Last Resort and two more in that series. I’ve got some other ideas that I’ll hopefully commit to and turn into plans for 2025. One includes the possibility of serializing a book here on Substack. I’ve also been wanting to write a romance novel forever. And I have an idea for another series. I think about these things from time to time, but know myself enough to realize I have to give each one my full attention, otherwise nothing will grow into anything. I am simply not a good multi-tasker. Once I’ve finished the draft of The Last Resort, and it’s with Michele, I’ll be able to switch gears and do some end-of-year planning.

I think that’s it … for now…

Do you have any WIPs or writing (or other) plans for 2025 you’re putting together?

Thanks so much for reading this post—I don’t think I’ve said that recently. I appreciate you being here and taking the time to look this over. Yay, you!

if you’ve ready my “beverley green” series, you’ll know who the chicken is

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