August 10, 2022
Week 96
Emotional State: Making a Shift Again
Books & Shifts
I made a decision this weekend. One I didn’t expect to make, but it feels right. I’ve been working on a new reader magnet for the Space Between series called The Tidal Space Between. It takes place in the summer between Seraphina’s junior and senior year of high school in the Hamptons at her best friend, Ro’s, house.
It’s short, 23,000 words (75 pgs.), but it’s also a perfect introduction to the series, minus Angwyndith, of course. I hint at the Coda and at Angwyndith, but they don’t make a full appearance because I wanted it to be about Seraphina and Ro, their friendship, Ro’s family, and how Seraphina chose to be a book restorer.
It also ties in some of the smaller touches, like the trunk Seraphina uses as her suitcase, the books she owns when she arrives at Merricott, and why Ro and Seraphina’s friendship is as deep and flawed as it is. And there’s a hint of Merrowfolk (The Motion) politics and plotting as well, which is a set up for the book about Ro coming soon (most likely Book 5).
When I thought about this story and how perfect it was to show what the series is about — character growth and relationships, with a backdrop of urban fantasy as the framework — and use it as a reader magnet, it didn’t fit. It wouldn’t get enough eyes on my series, let alone fresh eyes who are the perfect audience for it, being given away on newsletter pushes on Bookfunnel.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten quite a few subscribers with my current reader magnet on Bookfunnel and it has done wonders to build my list. But I don’t know how many of those readers have actually purchased my first book. Judging by my sales, I’m going to say less than 2%.
Read through on a series is king. If I can hook a reader in with something either very cheap or permafree and see the subsequent sales of the next book in the series, then why wouldn’t I do that? I was still going to edit the crap out of it and pay for a book cover, so it wasn’t as if the time and money spent was new, which was why the decision was easier to make than I expected.
I do think by the time I publish Book 3 next year that I’ll see sales momentum on the series, and I’ll see even more once I get out the next 2-3 books. But if I can get momentum now by taking something I meant to be a cookie and turning it into an amuse-bouche for the main character in my book, then why wouldn’t I?
I’d already planned to purchase a cover for it, which is underway as we speak. All I need to do to is the blurb, find some keywords and categories, and throw it up on Amazon. Okay, so I need to market it as well, but we don’t need to talk about author fight club right now.
What this also means is that I’ll be publishing something on the anniversary of my debut novel, which is kind of fun. And it doesn’t mean that Book 2, The Dark Space Between, is getting pushed back too far. Nope. I’m moving it to an October release instead. That gives me more time to set up the launch, perfect the blurb, and advertise the heck out of it.
And edit it. I have some minor work to do on it, so pushing it back gives me the breathing room to do that while I do all the other things, like write my next cozy mystery and start working on the next novella in the Space Between series (Spoiler: It’s an Angwyndith adventure with a previous host, set in 1836!).
In a way, it’s a win/win (except for the added responsibility of author fight club). But then when has that stopped any of us from writing more books?