So many different things on my plate that I feel like I'm neglecting more than I'm tending to, but while I have a moment, why not a blog post?

There's 3 days left on my Parish Kickstarter, and I thought that I would share some things that I've learned in this experience.

Extra Days Don't Matter
I really probably could have wrapped this whole thing up 20 days ago. Why? Well, it's been 20 days of inactivity. I think you pretty much get traffic in the first 3 days, maybe some trickles in the first week, and then some trickles in the last 3 days. I'm expecting a few more views in the final 24 hours, but that won't necessarily mean more pledges.

So Much Spam
Since launching the Kickstarter, I get so many "friendly messages" from people who just want to help get the word out, to share my project with their millions of followers, and all for the low low cost of my first born child... Okay, well, maybe not exactly that, but it's pretty much got me in the habit of feeling dread when I have something in my inbox from Kickstarter - which should be so since I almost missed an actual genuine comment from someone. 
​
I guess on positive thing about my dreading of spam is that it's making me very mindful of how much spamming I am doing myself. Yes, I have posted on social media about it, but I've tried not to be on constant repeat. Maybe I'm limiting my own possibility for page traffic, but I think preserving the people who like me thus far is more important than flinging myself shamelessly at the masses. I for one will start to unfollow people who just want me to buy their crap, especially if I've already bought their crap once and they just keep begging...

People
People are always the unpredictable part of any activity. What's interesting when you're putting on a campaign like this is watching to see who comes out of the woodwork. People I've considered to be close to me almost refuse to acknowledge me and what I'm doing, while people I kind of only sort of know have stepped up being ridiculously generous - really ridiculously generous, to the point that it makes me feel super guilty. Now, I am in no way saying that money equals friendship, and in no way was I expecting anyone I knew to put out the money that I've seen pledged thus far, but the acknowledgement thing kind of gets to me. 

It takes nothing to share my campaign with others, even just once. It takes nothing to ask how it's going, or if there's something that they can do to help it along in a non-financial sense. 

Maybe it's the Hufflepuff in me that just doesn't understand the other houses. 

An acquaintance of mine is a musical performer, and she recently had a rant of her own about feeling inadequately supported. Something along the lines of how often she drops everything to help out with other people's events, whether on stage, back stage or even just buying an honest ticket; and yet while she's trying to set up her own show, she's practically begging people to even acknowledge what she's trying to do. 

This I understand. I'm the kind of person who will feel obligated to help if I have any association with the person or group involved. Even when I don't have the funds, I've always been a cheerleader, because, again, it takes literally seconds to share a page link. Even just last week I found myself out $50 to help a Kickstarter that was based in my home town. Honestly, it didn't look like they were going to make their goal, and while my pledge wouldn't make-or-break anything, I thought I could at least show a bit of support to keep the campaign active, and of course, I shared the link. Within 12 hours that thing was over-funded. And while I thought about going in and reducing my pledge since they didn't really need me anymore, it seemed like a dick move so I just left it at that.

Would I Do It Again?
Probably. But I'd be more strategic about it. I'm still learning about which promotional avenues are more effective than others. I've put my faith in some that have done nothing, and, let's face it, the only reason that this campaign is succeeding is because people who love me want me to do well regardless of what I'm peddling. I couldn't be more thankful for them! And I did reach a few new people, which is the whole point, really. 

Overall, this year has been a year of risk-taking. I've been networking more. I've been sending inquiries to be a part of writing groups, to get access to writing tools, and even promotion platforms. For little introvert me, those are some big steps! 

Anyways, if you wanted to give your karma a boost, the Kickstarter is still running. Have a $1? I would really appreciate it. Don't have a $1? That's okay, just hit that "share" button. I will think of it as you having hugged a Hufflepuff today. Believe me, Hufflepuffs need hugs, lots of hugs.

So many new things starting up this month, and I'm trying to keep motivated and positive as I plunge through it all. Not that it's been very difficult within these two weeks. I'm more so trying to keep from getting ahead of myself and announcing things too early. 

I will leave you with a little teaser though, at least for those of you who can answer the following question:

What is the significance of January 26th?

If you know this, then you have one hint as to the theme of some up-coming news.

It was recommended that I add Galen and Freakhouse to Barnes&Noble's Nook ereader before I move forward with other project advancements. And since both books are already sold through that company in print, I figured that adding the digital copies would be no big deal. So I started with Galen, which I'm not sure is the better idea or not. Again, it was never intended to be an ebook, in fact I don't think ebook devices were a thing when I started to pen it, so formatting it for a digital platform is always a huge pain in the butt. But eventually I got it up there. Next was Freakhouse which took no time at all (the way that it should be!). 

So there I am today, all ready to go, I just need to officially identify myself as a vendor and then I can press that little "publish" button...

...turns out I'm not eligible to be a vendor for Nook. I mean, they sell my print editions, but no ebooks for them apparently. Only 6-ish countries as actually eligible outside of the US, and Canada is not one of them. So, sorry folks, no Nook. But I will, however, keep everything uploaded in the event that the policy changes. 

In the meantime, enjoy the Kindle and Kobo editions, and if you don't have those devices, the old-fashioned paperback will ship to just about anywhere...

... just please don't ask me to deal with customs about it. I had enough of that last year!

I must be crazy. In two days (well, one and a half I suppose), I will undertake the daunting task of completing a full first draft novel within 3 days. I can barely pull this off in 30 with my annual participation in NaNoWriMo. I don't know what compelled me to try this other than the fact that this is the first year that I'm not school planning over labour day. Hopefully it won't hurt me to try it just once... I feel like there is a whole history department out there dedicated just to the people who proved that statement wrong...

Anyways, in order to prepare, I have completed a rough outline, and consulted the Survival Guide. I won't share the whole Guide, after all, you can just click the link to read all 8 pages of it, but I will share the conclusion, because that was the one that I think I'll need to keep with me over the weekend - and it was too big to put into a tweet!

I don't know if I'll make it. I don't know if the novel will. But I'm sure I'll have a lot to rant about when it's all over - if I can write in complete sentences that is.

Release day is upon us! ​Freakhouse is live and ready to go! Thank you to everyone who has shown interest. You won't be disappointed with the 2nd edition. It's like the 1st edition, only prettier!

So for those of you wanting to see Freakhouse in your own hands, remember that ordering online is just one option. Both Galen and Freakhouse are registered for library and bookstore distribution, so if you are willing to wait just a little longer, go to your local library or nearest bookshop and ask them to order in a copy for you. The more you ask, the more will be available!

And remember, there are 25 giveaway copies floating around as well. I'm sure there's one or two of those that would gladly be loaned to someone else. 

If you stumble across a copy on your travels and want to know if it was an advanced copy or not, just look at the print date. All books are made to order, so only the giveaways were made prior to today, August 26th, 2016!

So happy reading to all, and remember, a short review never hurt!

The last Golden Ticket has been found! And by that I mean that the last of the giveaways have been won. 

Top Left: USA; Top Right: Canada; Middle Left: UK/Ireland; Middle Right: Australia/New Zealand; Bottom Left: "Everyone Else!"; and Bottom Left was the whole world together. 

Look at that, USA. You nearly beat the whole world. I don't think that surprises anyone. 

All of the books are shipped, have a shipping order ready for Monday's mail, or are safely in the hands of their new readers. So far only one book was unable to complete it's intended journey, but thankfully my printers covered the cost of returning the book safely to me. It was a bit of a pickle since they aren't allowed to store copies, so "return to sender" really meant that the book would be lost forever. Luckily we caught it right away. I'll see to it that it finds a good, loving home!

I know many of you are probably sick of all of the number updates. Especially if your giveaways had already come and gone. Or worse, if you had no interest in any of the giveaways at all! Well, that's it for this summer. And probably this year. As an independent author, you don't want to know how much money I just spent on 25 books shipped between Vancouver Island to Russia, all in USD which is not friendly to the Canadian wallet. This is why I have to be very blunt about the random messages I get for mailing you free books just because you want one. I'm happy to have been able to do this, but really, that's me asking you to mail me 4 years of your hard (unpaid) work for free. I understand that everyone like free stuff. And artists generally like the stuff that they make. So it sounds like it could be win-win. But it just doesn't work that way. It's one thing for me to choose to gift something, but please don't be that kid who demands a birthday present because it's someone else's birthday. "But you gave Billy a present!" Yes, I did give Billy a present, because it's His birthday, and I Chose to acknowledge that. Plus, he probably isn't a greedy little jerk, thus I felt proud to give him a present that I put my little heart into...
...You get the idea. 

So happy reading, winners! I look forward to your reviews. And seeing how many "used" copies are floating around for profit. I'm serious. I see them. If you want to know about approved sellers, check the book pages I have for my titles. And if you see a copy somewhere, you can just shoot me a message to verify. If it's a-okay, I'll add it to the webpage. If it's this guy:

...just "No". Please just "No". I mean, you can spend $300 however you want, but since I wrote it, I'd rather you give me at lease a portion of what was probably a giveaway from 2013. (This has totally been listed since my 1st edition Freakhouse giveaway so I promise you that this isn't even the cover of the book he has.) Is it sad that I probably spent $20 to have him make $300? So, again, please, just "No".

Besides, Freakhouse will be released on August 26th for a much more reasonable price. And then I can make like, maybe $2.00! Don't forget, e-books are also available on Kindle and Kobo, also for much more reasonable prices.

So remember yesterday when I was talking numbers and said "before Friday"? Well, I wasn't wrong, but I didn't expect to reach those targets so soon. 

That's US on the left, Canada on the right. As of 11am this morning. 

Should I be more optimistic and go for a big number this time?

Let's say 400 and 200 before Friday! Why not!

 This has been incredible! The global interest for Freakhouse has been wonderful to see. Already over 1000 people have added it to their to-read shelves, and well-over 1000 people turned out for the giveaways so far.

So, the numbers so far...

These are the giveaways that have actually ended:
"Rest of World": 617
Australia/New Zealand: 158
UK/Ireland: 353

And this time I can say "yay, Ireland!". Despite the majority of entries being from the UK, one book is flying overhead to Ireland as we speak. County of Mayo to be specific. Land of my husband's people, so that was a neat surprise. 

No books flying to my family's regions. Not even my old haunt in Sussex :( 

This is why the giveaways are random. Clearly I'd have favourites!

So on we go for the last leg of this promotion. The US's numbers are steadily rising. I imagine that we'll break 300 from them before Friday. And the my humble home country is working its way up to 150. We'll see what happens on Friday when Freakhouse gets closer to the front page!

Thank you everyone for your continued support. And remember, if you're still looking for a free book, pop over to your local library and make a request for order. Galen is already available in print and e-book, and Freakhouse is on pre-order until its release on August 26th

Since we are lurking closer and closer to the midway point of the Great Freakhouse Giveaway (probably should have given it a fancy name like that from the start!), I thought I'd share where we're at so far.

To recap, I was hoping that the Galen giveaway would beat the overall numbers from my previous giveaway. It was close to a tie, but did not surpass. I was looking for a number greater than 967 and we ended up with 951. Not bad, but I'm figuring out this number game a little better this time around. By breaking down the giveaways into regions, each one spanning over two weeks, I think it's helped for exposure and for those who consider the odds before entering. Clearly one chance out of a hundred is better than one chance out of one thousand. 

So, the numbers so far...

These are the two giveaways that have actually ended, so these two are the final numbers:
"Rest of World": 617
Australia/New Zealand: 158

Which means that our completed total so far is 775. Not bad considering that we still have three major regions to go. And, let's face it, the USA pretty much out-numbers all other regional Goodreads members. 

There are still two full days left for the UK and Ireland to enter, and as of 10:45pm tonight, there are over 200 entries. Which means that the moment that giveaway closes, I've already beat my giveaway entry high score, and that's not even taking into account the week that Canada and the US still have for their own giveaways! And, yes, with less than a week into the giveaway game, my US numbers already beat the UK... See? This is why I had to split it up. Someone else needed a chance!

Still sad that I went to the trouble of digging New Zealand out from the "Other" category - and that's not me ranking it higher than Australia, Goodreads literally has four top countries listed at the top when you make a giveaway! - and still they could not rise above the masses of Australian entries. Next time, New Zealand! Next time!

So if you are from the UK, Ireland, Canada, or the USA, get in now for your chance at a free book. Why not? Those are like the two best things ever, "books" and "free", though if we go by Muppet rankings we'd also have to account for Ice Cream, Children, and Laughter...

...did you really think that I could go a whole post without a tangent? Really? 

The original title of this post was going to be flat out "Why I hate e-books", but that was when I was in the height of formatting Galen so my temper was very short on the subject. Thankfully Freakhouse has not been as aggravating so I'm coming down off of my tyrannical high-horse - just by a little bit though.

So I'm going to tell this story backwards - at least in terms of how I lived it out:

Formatting Freakhouse was actually pretty straight-forward. File conversions through Kindle are pretty easy, and as long as I go back through in the webpage viewer and re-create page breaks, everything pretty much looks the way that I want it to. So Freakhouse only took two file submissions for me to be happy. Kobo is a little more finicky in that you really don't have any idea how it looks until you see it in the actual device you want to use, so basically as long is it seems logically laid out, I'm happy enough given that I won't know about EVERY device until someone using something I don't have sees it. 

So this is the good story. Freakhouse isn't a visually complex text, and purposely so. 

Galen, on the other hand, is very purposely formatted. There are three sections which are best identified visually based on the font and structure you're reading. I'm very proud of how the three formats come together in the pattern that they do. I worked very hard on that unique feel that I believe Galen has. 

When a file gets converted to be an e-book, the ideal is that all you need are the words to tell the story, and thus the words can be re-manipulated (visually) to fit different reader needs. So whether you're reading from different devices or even just need to adjust your word size/style to fit how you read on your own device, the words will still be the same regardless of how you manipulate. Do you see how I might have a problem with this?

Galen was not written with e-book in mind. Nor can I see myself writing purely for an e-book format. I'm old school. I like to hold a book. I like to feel a book. And, yes, there's nothing like dusty old book pages - those restricted sections behind glass in fancy libraries, yeah, those are fun just to look at, and even though you can actually hold those books with special gloves, I wouldn't have the heart to touch them because they seem sacred and I am not worthy to be in their presence... I think you can already tell another reason why I'm less sympathetic with non-paper books, and I'm still only halfway through my point.

The e-book is less forgiving with style-specific reading. The Kindle so far seems to be handling it alright, but I'm sure there's a reader out there that loses all of the font variety. That brings me to Kobo. I'm sorry Kobo readers, but the version of Galen you get is not the version of Galen that I love. And THAT is why I have little love for the e-book. Sometimes a book is so much more than just what the words on the page say. Anyone who writes poetry should be able to appreciate this. Where the words go, how they are placed, how big or small the font is, how light or dark, how traditional or innovative the style, it all says something. Now I'm not going to pretend that every piece of fiction I write is a visual work of art. But I do like to believe that I write with intention. 

I have never been a big fan of reading e-books, and now as I try to to format for them, my appreciation has decreased. What meaning might I be losing just because I don't see it the way that it was intended to be seen? I want to experience these books, not just read them.