Sylvia's Soliloquies

Changes - 3/29/19

Okay, y'all let's get to it.

First of all, just to kind of let you in on what's going on with me right now, I've just got a lot of little things happening at once.  I'm currently investigating a sinus problem that I've had for as long as I can remember and I may have to get surgery (routine stuff, nothing serious, but it means a lot of doctor appointments).  I'm also in talks with someone about a job.  It would not take the place of me writing.  I am a writer at my heart, but it doesn't pay the bills.  I've long wanted to get a "second" job that helps alleviate financial stress in my family.  This would also help me stress out less about writing because when you think of it as a money making tool, the creative juices slow.  Finally, I also have some personal stuff going on that has resulted in some uncertainty in regards to my schedule.  That may be getting resolved, but for now, things are a little unstable.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's get to the writing stuff.  There is an inherent flaw in my writing plan that I always knew existed but wasn't willing to address.  Not necessarily out of fear but just because I'm a lazy ass.  Anyway, the process of one year of writing, one year of editing is simply not sustainable.  If you knock it off balance for even a minute, it gets put off course for the remainder of the process.  So tackling everything I am right now is throwing that monkey wrench in and clogging up the process.  Seems like now is as good a time as any to reevaluate how I do things.

So the first time I did six books in a year was a time that nobody was following me or reading regularly.  I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do this, that I could crank them out.  Now, though, I know I can write a book in two months.  I feel confident in this now.  I don't need to prove anything to myself at this point.  At least in regards to that...  What I do need to do is keep readers engaged.  Taking a year off is a good way to not do that...

So, I'm changing things, though I'm not overhauling it completely.  Just moving things around.  I will now be proceeding with a two months on, two months off, routine.  So I'll write a book for two months and then take two months to edit.  Editing is a lot more flexible than writing, so it's a good way to catch up, breathe, and manage things outside of writing.  This should be more sustainable.  I mean, I can't know for sure, but I think this will be easier.

That being said, once Delilah finishes at the end of April, I will be taking two months off to "edit" (more on this particular edit later).  Then I will be writing Falling for a Memory starting in July.  Then I'll be editing again starting in September, then I'll be writing a Christmas book come November.  And so on and so forth.

As for editing, come September, I'll edit Wedding Mrs. Claus.  However, that first editing period in May/June will be used to address the other change I'll be making -- monetizing Wattpad.

So I like Wattpad.  I like the social aspect, I like the audience here, I like the management tools for handling books.  It hurt taking a book off of here and I'm not sure I want to keep doing that.  However, I've got to make money somehow.  So, I'll be trying something out in an attempt to monetize books on here.

I will be publishing three books on Amazon this year because I want to still see how well I can manage on Amazon and it provides a proper comparison between here and there, but for all the other books, I will be uploading the edited versions on to Wattpad and offering the paperbacks on Amazon.  I will also be offering what I call the  "Tip Jar Series" (TJS).  So the TJS will consist of the short stories I've written for each book.  These short stories will still be trapped behind a pay wall, but it will essentially represent a tip for enjoying the books on here.  If you like a book, you can buy the short story for its corresponding book either on Amazon or my website.  Right now, I plan to make tip jar short stories only a dollar, instead of what I would have charged for the full kindle story if it was on Amazon.

Also, on a related note, I will be keeping Finding Mrs. Claus on here as it is my most popular book and I get most of my readers through that.  So instead of releasing Finding Mrs. Claus exclusively on Amazon, I will be releasing Her Christmas Legacy this year instead.

So to summarize:

1. From now on I'll spend two months writing a book, followed by two months editing.

2. The Dragon Blood Guardian, A Charitable Scandal, and Her Christmas Legacy will be removed from Wattpad and released for Kindle and paperback on Amazon.

3. All other books will have their final revised versions published on here.  A paperback version will be made available on Amazon.  An extended epilogue for each story will be made available for purchase on Amazon and my web site for a dollar to act as a tip jar.

I hope all that makes sense.  I'm looking forward to seeing how these changes play out.  Hopefully, someday, I'll just have everything on here as I am a loyal Wattpad user and I love all of my fellow Wattpad readers and writers!