You should have seen the earliest versions, of both the novels and the covers. I've learned a LOT since 2010, and while I've watched so many others soar into millionairehood around me, I'm still puttering around over here with my little books, but something's changed since this summer. Perhaps some weird combination of things -- the kids are older and more able to function without me 24-7, life is operating at a somewhat even keel right now, we're in our house and no longer renting (renting does weird things to my psyche because I never feel settled), all of which leaves me more thinking time, more working time, or maybe because all of the nitty gritty details about publishing in general don't scare me anymore. 

What really helped with that was getting out there, meeting other authors, finding the best pages on FB to follow, learning from them -- and that means learning what to do and what NOT to do -- and then whittling all of this down into a handful of lists:

• To sell books, you need THREE THINGS: a great book, a great blurb, and a great cover. 
• As far as marketing goes, do THREE THINGS WELL: have a newsletter, have a great comic con presence, Facebook ads, Amazon ads, do book clubs in your area for word of mouth, create great tie-ins for your series... choose THREE and excel with those three things. 
• And write every day. EVERY FREAKING DAY. 

And that's it. That's basically my business plan at this point. So I need to get to work. 

AIRTABLE
I have started using Airtable -- I'm working my way up to the pro plan, but I've found I'm able to do quite a bit with the free templates available to slobs like me. So far, I used their "Project Tracker" and renamed it "Novel Tracker," and now I have this great database where I've plugged in the books already published, plus all of the books I have planned. So far there are 22 books on that list (6 are already out) and I have more books swirling around in my head. 

But at a glance, I can see their titles, their series, if they're plotted, date for final draft, date to betas, date to publish, ISBNs, notes, etc. Plus, everything can be color-coded and that makes everything more fun. So I'm excited to work in more of their templates into my business plan. Excel has always freaked me out a bit, and AIRTABLE is sort of a mix of scrapbooking and Excel. If that makes sense. It probably doesn't, but that's okay. LOL 

Off to work on the daily word count! 

April showers, and oh what showers we had in April. And March. And OMG January and December... all the way back through to October 1. We're approaching 90 inches of rain in Astoria since October 1, and up in the hills above town, the measurement soared past 112 inches sometime last week. That's a ton of water. 

But April showers bring May flowers, and this is our third day in a row of real, honest-to-Apollo sunshine. But May will also be bringing something else back into the world: Treetangle books to Amazon. ​

I'm trying to work faster, more efficiently, but there are always things vying for my time and energy. Like, my daughter was treated horribly at her track meet over the weekend, but then we had dear friends visit Saturday night, but then Sunday morning while I was still pissed over the track meet fiasco, I dropped my cell phone in the pancake batter of pancakes that I can't even eat because of my pre-existing condition. BUT -- the sun was OUT and every day is a new day with no mistakes (thank you, Anne Shirley!). 

​And now these babies are heading back to market, all shined up and fancied up and soon their cousin books will be finished and published too. Because you can't make a career out of one book. (Unless you are that guy who wrote about Matt Damon being stranded on Mars.) 

I've made a little checklist and will be clicking off each book as it once again hits Amazon in ebook and paperback. 
A checklist that will sit here mocking me if I'm unable to check off every damn book by the end of May. So bug me about it! 

Four have been out there before, but Chaos at the Coast is new. It was so funny going through all of my novels prior to their re-release, because I'd forgotten so much about their stories, it was like revisiting old friends. They all missed me and are screaming at me for sequels. Of course. Adds that to the checklist. 

Don't miss that I have the first chapters (or two, in the case of Six Dates with Jenna) here on the website to read, and also don't forget to sign up for Treetangle Talk, the newsletter associated with Treetangle Publishing. 

Be well and keep reading.