It’s been a long week. In addition to work, we had another blizzard. The near-constant grey skies have infected me, dragging me down, pulling the clouds over me like a wet blanket. So I’m taking the weekend off. Some project planning, but mostly? Housework — which can be very therapeutic after deadlines — and art. I have a painting I want to start, and a contest entry I have to finish. Mostly though, I need to dump my hands in paint or soil or beads or something — and surround myself with color as evident by my hot pink nails. I knew I was getting stressed out, because I played lots of instrumental frou-frou music and watched animated movies as much as possible. Now, there’s been some studies on cartoons and how they’re bad for you, just like there has been studies about television and cigarettes, and too much of anything is obviously harmful. But, as someone who doesn’t watch TV, on occasion having happy, bouncy characters dance across the screen in the background is quite relaxing when your insides are churning.
Anyway… That’s been my week. Everything’s been delivered. Lots of wheels in motion. And I’m *thrilled* I can relax a bit, because business is healthy for me. Also on my mind has been my interaction with other writers and editors lately. Many people are heavily focused on promoting books (which is different from selling, mind you) so they tap into the latest and greatest marketing-related idea. This is a natural occurrence and something I tend to ignore until it gets in my face. Remember, I’ve spent many years learning everything I can about aspects of the business, working in many corners with volumes of data, primarily so I wouldn’t do that and make better decisions for myself about which publishers I want to work with.
This is why I’m not keen on taking up the call whenever somebody says YOU MUST DO THIS OR ELSE. As a consultant, my job isn’t to demand my clients to do anything, but to present options and ask questions. This is what I do for myself as well. A lot of it has to do with a very simple fact: in order to publicize, you need an audience to promote to, and you get audience through content, and connecting to the readers who are vested in what you create. I know where many of my readers are and how they connect with me. But (and this is the most important concept here) what works for Stephen King isn’t going to work for me. So, if King said: “Every author should…” because he did something amazing that worked for him either now or a decade ago? Sure, I’ll take a peek at what he said, but I’m not going to drop everything to go do that.
I’m seeing how the need to promote constantly is affecting people. Besides ruffling feathers, it comes across as desperation if all you do is say: “HEY I HAVE THIS CRAP OVER HERE YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION TO.” Now, this doesn’t happen all the time, because often this depends upon the strength of your existing audience and, sadly, how much time you spend online. The more you’re on the internet, the more stressed you’ll be — if you aren’t grounded in the real world. Somebody famous… Say… Like King… Can get away with that sort of PR thing. But, chances are you won’t if your readership is a fraction of his, because there’s less forgiveness among readers and, more importantly, peers. The flip side to that, of course, is temporary fame. And hey, if that works for you? Brilliant!
There’s a lot of people who I adore for who they are, but I can’t stand them online or wouldn’t work with them. I take a pragmatic approach for the simple reason that I won’t ever focus solely on heavy amounts of promotion. It’s not a good long-term solution and a huge time sink. I care about working with great publishers, developing readership, and creating high-quality content that people will want to consume. That means I need to have a good relationship with a publisher (or retailer) who has a better reach than I might just through selling on my website, and I have to plan a release schedule either for myself or with someone else. It’s not the reach I have via traffic, it’s whether or not people will take action after responding to my work — like many did with The Queen of Crows, which is just a small taste of what’s to come.
All of this heavy attention to online marketing via social media is really sad to me, because it’s happening ad hoc and is not the only way to promote or sell books. Publicity is secondary to the work — especially if you don’t know who your audience is. PR feeds on itself and word will spread if you have people who care and don’t feel obligated to help. Believe me, I’ve seen the referrals that happen secondarily to when someone famous Tweets — it’s not as powerful as you might think. You still need people to care about your work, not just you. I know everybody’s talking about platform, but this is just one way to generate interest. It’s not the only way. What are you creating? Don’t you want readers who care about your art?
Word of mouth, because of the time and uncertainty involved, has traditionally been the last PR stand, not the go-to method. Worse, when it doesn’t work? Or you’re broke? Well, you resort to desperation because you think that over-sharing is how you get readers — because if Stephen King can do it, then you can, too. This will pass. It’s happening now because of the saturation of content, but it’ll become less effective the more changes we encounter online and, more importantly, the more people rely on this tactic, too.
For myself, I’m going to keep writing, keep making art, keep building relationships, keep doing my thing.
Went with a friend to dance last night, and I am super sore. Slept in, too, so it’ll be a late night tonight, but it’s that good kind of pain when you’re bumpin’ and groovin’ and shakin’ it. The thing is, the dance is “Zumba” but it wasn’t. Not really. This was extraordinarily organic, fluid, and incorporated hip-hop, too. And I loved it. The class instructor is named “Monica,” and she’s an inspiration. Dropped 77 pounds and cured herself of Type 2 Diabetes.
But what was really noticeable to me, were the people in this room. All colors. All shapes. All sizes. All ages. And it’s been a while since I’ve gotten that. My local gym, being a smaller room as opposed to a giant center, gets that, too. And it’s the way I want to groove and move, because when I’m not surrounded by super-fit hyper-marketers — then I have more fun. I guess there’s a ton of other women that agree with me, too, because that’s pretty much all I heard. Down with the super-fit hyper-marketing to make me feel bad about how my body is shaped now. Up with the positive reinforcement to move how I want to on my terms, and be motivated by somebody who’s enthusiastic without ramming sales pitches down my throat.
I suppose I could, once again, provide my lamentations that while I love, love, love fashion as art in all its forms — Size 12 should not be considered the XXL on the runway. But that’d just be silly. ‘Cause then I’d just be beyootching instead of doing something about it and I am, in my own way, by dressing the way I want to and incorporating fashion where it’s appropriate.
Just nice to be able to find a place to dance that way, too.
Today, I am pleased to announce that both New Hero Volume 1 and The Lion and the Aardvark, Aesop’s Modern Fables are available for purchase in the US.
The first anthology includes a detective noir story titled “Fangs and Formaldehyde” about a vampire named Atlas who will die if he gets too emotional. “Bored to Fu,” a modern-day fable about a mouse, a dragon, and productivity, is featured in the second collection.
You can buy both books, in print or digital, direct from the Stone Skin Press website. If you have questions about other places to purchase them, drop the publisher a line.
I hope you enjoy these stories! They were a lot of fun to write! 🙂
Today, I kick off a new series that specifically talks about what I’m up to work-wise. I’ve made it a policy not to over-publicize games and stories that haven’t come out yet, primarily because I’ve been burned on that before. It’s tricky to manage because everybody’s promoting, but sometimes deals go bad or businesses fold or what have you. Hence, progress reports. Not promising you anything, but these are some projects I’m working on, have been involved with, and may be coming to a book store, game store, or online retailer near you.
Not taking the full-time Marketing Director position with Steve Jackson Games down in Austin, Texas was a tough decision and it left me a little sad (everybody there is just fantastic and ridiculously talented) yet curious about where to go next. (Previously, I was telecommuting and traveling a lot.) When I realized I’d go back to full-time freelancing, I took a look at what my core business will be. I did not want to “leave” gaming nor did I want to “stop” consulting or writing or cat herding. I like working in the creative industries and enjoy seeing projects through to completion.
Before I took on any more freelancing, I righted my wrongs. e.g. I had to get back into the discipline of writing for long periods of time again, and that meant I had shift gears dramatically. I also launched The Thirteen and we’ve been grooving and jiving for a few months now, too. That’s had a positive impact, overall.
Once I got back where I needed to be, which is approximately 2,000 to 5,000 words on average, I pushed the business aspects forward beginning in January. Everything you see here may seem like a ton, but remember — many of these are smaller, a couple-hours-a-week, projects and you’re catching the notifications of these announcements either after the fact or in mid-stream.
Since this is the first progress report, it’s definitely the longest, but next month’s will likely be a lot shorter. With that in mind, here’s some updates in that trio of spheres:
The financial reality of being a writer can be *ow* — which is why I’m consulting for select clients based on an hourly or flat rate. Namely, John Kovalic, who I’ve been working with for over a year now, and Onyx Path Publishing, the official licensees of White Wolf Publishing.
When wearing my consultant hat, I’m typically invisible. It’s part of these part-time gigs. I’m pleased to say that I was heavily involved with making ROFL! a reality and getting Kobolds Ate My Baby back off the ground. ROFL!, which was designed by John and published by the excellent folks at Cryptozoic Entertainment, will debut in March. Our friends at 9th Level Games will also be launching a Kickstarter on March 4th for a brand new edition of Kobolds Ate My Baby.
For Onyx Path, wow… Well, let’s just say that there’s been some serious discussions and a lot of progress made behind-the-scenes. I just started this part-time job in early February and we’ve talked a lot about fans, GenCon, and [redacted]. Since I occasionally freelance for the company *whistles innocently about [redacted]* I “get” White Wolf. There’s the joke in the industry about the White Wolf freelancers, right? We drive gold-plated Cadillacs, drink to oblivion, partake in recreational drugs — we’re the “cool kids,” living the life, swimming in money. Um… Okay, while some of that may (or may not) be true, the message here is that it’s too early to announce anything — but we’re working on wrangling several pieces while Rich focuses on producing games and fulfilling Kickstarters.
I’m open to discussing smaller consulting gigs, but I’m not taking on any other long-term clients right now. I’m heavily focused on what I can provide creatively and leverage my years of experience to consult, primarily so I can continue to write.
I’m reluctant to talk about what I’m working on (or with whom) right now, just because of my history with projects not coming out or businesses folding or goals changing, etc. There’s projects that sometimes get buried and then return from the dead — zombie projects!!! — which can bork expectations. What I can confirm, is that I am freelance writing again for games.
The Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide Kickstarter just ended and I sent in bonus material for my essay “Roleplay Like You’re On TV.” Margaret Weis Productions and everybody I’ve been working with has been fantastic. I’m very proud to be part of the Firefly RPG team and will have an announcement soon about my role with that.
I want to launch a Kickstarter for The Queen of Crows RPG, but I’m still waiting on other people right now. There’s been some “hurry up and wait” related to that and there’s some concerns I, personally, have on the back end. I’m on deadline right now, meaning I have a few <20K pieces to deliver for other game lines by the end of March, so this isn't as high of a priority right now, and I'll likely push this back to the Fall. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on creating what *I* can in my spare time. Everything I do for The Queen of Crows RPG is on spec, so I don’t count that toward my core business, but… I care very deeply about making this game happen. This is the game I want to make, distribute, and get out there into the world. Badly.
Let’s see… I have a few stories circulating out in the wild right now. Some I’m waiting edits for; others are completed and I’m waiting for the final word. Exciting news, my first short story comic will debut sometime this year. I had about seven or eight stories published in 2012, you can see what came out in my list of publications, and my first reprint for “Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs.”
The reprint was hilarious, and by “hilarious” I mean this is a typical Monica-ism. So, a big milestone, right? You get reprinted in an anthology and your story debuts before George RR Martin. You see him at a convention just walking around. Do you a) say how proud you are to be in a book with him? or b) babble like an idiot. Annnnnnd that would be “b.”
I made some headway on short storytelling last year and I was hoping the second novella I published, Redwing’s Gambit, would serve my goals for a book deal, but it hasn’t been “officially” released yet from Galileo Games. I have print copies if you want them. Just give me a holler on my contact page and we’ll work out a deal.
Right now, I’m kicking back and focusing on narrative prose that will sparkle in novel and novella form. More than that, I cannot say, but this will be a longer release/announcement cycle than anything else I’m working on this year.
So that’s it for Progress Report #1!
Questions? Ask away!