…And it won’t cost you your soul. Beginning tomorrow, October 5th, the Wyldling Snare e-book is only $0.99 on Amazon! Here is the link: https://mybook.to/wyldlingsnare. This is a Kindle Countdown deal, which means the price will go up after a few days. I set it so it’ll be $0.99 October 5th through October 9th, and then the price increases to $2.99 October 10th through the 12th. After that, Wyldling Snare will be regular price again. If you were on the fence about purchasing it–for whatever reason–this is an opportunity to obtain it at a low cost.

Bookstores

This past weekend, an author friend and I spent over five hours putting together a spreadsheet and finding independent bookstores of the brick-and-mortar variety. I went through a list of fifty independent bookstores in Wisconsin and contacted them, asking a) whether they stocked physical copies of books written by self-published authors, and b) how an author might go about requesting their book be included on the store’s shelves. So far, I’ve heard from six of them. Results are… mixed. It’s a risk for them, as well as for me, so I understand their reluctance to take on an unknown. I was discouraged at first, but I remain hopeful that a few establishments will give Wyldling Snare space on their shelves.

BookFunnel

If you’ve been to the homepage of this website, then you’ve probably noticed a BookFunnel link (https://dl.bookfunnel.com/qcg6m5zde0) to a short story you can download for free if you sign up for my newsletter. The short story is called “Traveler’s Song” and is about a minor character who appears in Wyldling Snare. Can you figure out who? Well, I suppose you’ll have to mosey on over to BookFunnel via the link, download the story, and read it to find out!

Yes, I am trying to do all the author things. Hopefully, I will have another free short story available soon. I’m not entirely sure how it all works; I’m kind of flailing about and learning as I go how to reach a wider audience. All this activity will probably stretch me out a little thin–like butter scraped over too much bread, as Bilbo would say–but we’ll see how it goes.

Bookstop

Wyldling Snare is a young adult novel, which means it qualifies as a children’s book. As a member of SCBWI, I had the opportunity to create a Wyldling Snare Bookstop page on their website for a small fee. Both traditionally and independently published books of SCBWI authors are eligible, so long as they were published in 2020, 2021, 2022, or will be published in 2022. The Bookstop promotion begins October 18th and runs through December 5th. Once the campaign kicks off, I can share the link. I’ll keep you in the loop. I’m pretty excited about it and can’t wait to see if it brings in more readers who will enjoy the book. 

Being a self-published author is not for the faint of heart. 

It’s amazing how much of being an author does not involve actually writing a book. The vast majority of author activity is consumed by marketing the book one is writing or has already published. Unfortunately, you’re not guaranteed any return for the effort and time spent in promoting your work, and often can’t directly measure if a given activity has yielded results. Case in point: this blog I’m writing. Every author apparently should have a website, but sometimes I wonder if I’m screaming into the void. Am I helping other writers by sharing my experiences and resources in these newsletters? Is having this website helping me sell books? No idea. It’s easy to conclude I’m wasting my time here that would be better spent writing a scene in my second book, Wyldling Trials. 

However, I don’t believe it’s a waste of time. I would not have written this newsletter, otherwise. You won’t get rid of me that easily. Mwahahahaha!

Until next time, friends!