I think I need to do a video like this... I'm proud that I grew my KZbin this year and I published 1 book!!! Goal for next year is to publish 2!!!

Oh this is perfect timing for me. I am looking into how to grow my Instagram so I'm ordering this calendar asap!

I don't have any published books (just some short stories floating around on the internet) but I can relate to going to events, paying for vendor and traveling, and not covering expenses. If it makes you feel any better, I tabled at a fantasy convention in Portland, OR where the organizers FAILED to bring in attendees. They had months to prepare and get the word out in a massive city. Clientele should have been perfect. I think their 'word of mouth' was just trying to recruit vendors at other conventions to make money off us, and expecting us to do the marketing for them. It was a multi-day convention and I had 2 customers with sales totaling $14 on Square, so I didn't even get to keep it all. 😂😂😂 I was so mad.

You lucky thing! What lovely bookshops ❤

My plan is to self-publish my non-spicy romance novella in the spring and then publish my vampire spicy romance in October. Both stories are mostly written (first rough draft) and I need to start on edits.

I recently got back into my own house and I finally got my own office, which is also going to be my library.

Great idea about the envelopes. I'll buy them. Thanks for posting the link.

I've always wanted a library in my home too!!

I'd love to find a silent book club. I'd never heard of it until I saw a post where someone said they accidentally started one. 😂 Looks like some awesome bookstores! And you've got some good finds.

I love my google pixel! I used to be a samsung girly but switched to the pixel when we switched to google fi mobile and internet. Love the holiday tree! So fun! Totally a paper planner, love all the supplies and pens that go along with planning. I don't work a full-time job so my life is even more boring LOL I still do vlogs.

Really interesting to see how you manage to slot writing into your busy days. The quality is good.

I've just started writing my first series and debating how much I need to think about the future stories

It's great that you're passing on this info to others x

Great tips Thanks!!!

I'm on Facebook and Discord, and a discord would be a lot of fun. How are you planning on tracking progress on your plans? You mentioned the kanban board and phyiscal planner. Are you going to get a 5 year planner that you can use to track progress?

Good luck! Part of me would love for publishing and creating videos to become a full-time career, buuut... I have too much anxiety revolving around financial issues, so I keep telling myself this is a hobby. However, that doesn't stop my brain from being like, "But what if..." Sooo... I probably won't ever be a full-time creator, but I know full-well that if some circumstances changed, I probably would too.

Congrats on the new job! I know the other one was stressing you to the max, so I'm glad you were able to find something else better. 🎉

I still went on to all the socials and created accounts for my pen names just in case I want to switch platforms one day, no one else can take them. However, my focus has been KZbin (I think a lot of people forget it's technically a social media even if it's a strangely-formatted one) and IG. However, I noticed I'm getting a lot more interaction on YT than IG so I've all but abandoned IG. Hoping to implement some of your tips to kick start it again.

Wishing you the very best of luck!

I’ve heard lots of people doing this and finding great success! ❤🎉

I hired an "assistant" to manage my TikTok... My gen z daughter lol

Congrats on your new job. Ai makes me sad. It's the death of creativity.

When it comes to AI, I only use it for brainstorming now. Before, I also use Grammarly and ProWriting Aid. But now, I do my best to edit my manuscripts so I can also practice my tenses. I also want support my editor because she's a lovely person to work with. As for NaNoWriMo, they are really getting on writer's nerves. I'm not sure if they're doing this accidentally or on purpose to generate buzz around them 🤣 I still do NaNoWriMo but I stopped using their site, long before I heard of allegations. 💙💙💙

Helpful commentary. 👀

Thanks for the video. I never heard of Ream, but I know a lot of authors don't like Kindle Vella.

I haven't participated officially in NaNo in years but once Chris Baty (the founder) left, the company went downhill. But I think using the term NaNo even if you're not participating brings them attention because then you have to explain to people who've never heard of it. I'm keeping a list of different writing challenges that I think sound interesting. - 100KQ4 (100K in the last 3 months of the year) - 85K90 (85K in 90 days the first 3 months of the year) - 18KinApril - 80KinAugust And I host a 7-day challenge the first 3 quarters of the year where the goal is to write a project (you set your own word count goal) from start to finish in 7 days. I've been using it to complete a short story series and because I have September's off from work, I'm hoping to write 40-50K and complete the last short stories for the current series I'm working on. I'll probably still fail but it's going to be a lot of fun!

You nailed it here. Authors marketing to authors and not readers. And, I spoke with the KDP team about this yet they're okay with this practice. Goofy. I've heard some good things about Ream, so I'm curious how it's treating you since you posted this video a few months ago. Great video!

Bang! Subscribed! What a breath of fresh air. Glad to hear you're feeling better, Mary!!

JANOWRIMO!!!!!! I'm on that like stink on....well, you know....

Hey, Mary Ellen. Great video. I just subscribed. I like hearing how things have changed and where they are now. Good rant. Thanks for taking the time to point out these things.

agree author swap is a BAD idea!

Praying for you

Interesting indeed - thank you - yet cannot find thier website and there is no link??

Congratulations on the release of your book! I think that's a good idea about packaging those stories that are already done and releasing them. As for me, I've been working on outlining a YA novel.

Yeah, I also let "Daniel" (the voice in Word's Read Aloud) read my short stories to me as part of the editing process. I always catch one or two silly mistakes that way. Congrats on the release of your book!

You can run your story through pro writing aid for free or buy a one month subscription. I did that in the beginning when I had no one to read my story. Do the best you can and then let it go.

I hope you start feeling better and find time to do everything that you need to get done.

My views on AI align with yours. What I love about NovelCrafter is using the chat with scene feature to chat with my characters. Brandon Sanderson calls this auditioning your characters. AI is a tremendous boon for helping you to get into the head of your character and make sure that your codex is properly configured for how you imagine your character. You can tell NovelCrafter to take on the persona of the character and respond as if they were that character, using only their natural language and dialog. You then ask the character questions and see how they respond. This is great not only to help flesh out your character, but it can help you when you get writers block, or to ensure that your book is following proper character-driven story.

NC has a KZbin channel and one of them is about importing a novel. It might help you.

AI is awesome. But it is just a tool. And Novel Crafter is just another tool, one that can be used by an author without even considering AI, or that can integrate AI as deeply as one wants as part of the process.

Hi! you popped up on my home screen, just followed you on Ream bc I'm investigating that avenue. Just heard that they allow AI pretty indiscriminately. Any thoughts? Still researching...

Bless you x

I'm glad you made it through the tornados OK. I'm sorry this whole situation has been stressful.

This kind of stress is why I don't want to put up pre-orders until the book is ready for publication, as in I'm ready for formatting.

I know this is an older video but I’m in my 40’s and I’m currently a full time author. I’m also in the Chicago land area if you are interested in connecting.

I do really well on Ream. Not so much on Kindle Vella, especially after the new updates. I lost a lot of money when they made the first 10 episodes free, and all the following episodes are 10 tokens.

Omg! Thank you for this video! I’m so tired of seeing AI stuff. I’ve been looking for something to do like a Story compendium. I thought AI was required!! Is there a way to create a long timeline of events? It looks easier than scriv for tagging.

Congratulations on your health news and Camp doesn't stand a chance!

Thanks for the video. I hadn't heard of Ream and really didn't like Kindle Vella's exclusivity terms. This looks like a promising alternative.

You got this Sis!