Oh, October Is On Her Way Out The Door

And here I am late with posting, but vibing out to Beyonce's "RENISSANCE" This is a no-skips album for me, but her last couple albums have also been that for me. I love me some Bey. I know you all didn't wander over to hear me talk about Beyonce. Anyways, this might be the last blog post of the year. Between real life obligation, holiday ruckus, and me plain old forgetting I might not update the blog. I'll try to, but just know it is a possibility.

Have you been to my site? Well, if you haven't, there isn't much happening there. In fact, it has been brought offline. I had originally taken it down to do some changes, but then I was like, "Y'know what? I'm just going to take it down for the rest of the year." It's one less thing I have to think about and I can do the updates and changes at my own pace without having an imaginary clock ticking in the back of my mind. I've provided a link on the landing page to buy books and to contact me, but there isn't much else there.

Why did I do such a thing? Firstly, I've changed how I'm going to do my serials and novellas. They're still exclusives, but they'll be exclusive to my Ko-Fi account. The change is for simplicity. There were too many moving parts for doing it through my site and I needed to cut back on some things. I'm also going to use their store feature to buying experience cleaner. So when the site comes live again, and you all go to purchase a book through it, you'll have Ko-Fi, Smashwords, and Amazon as buying options. Readers going through Ko-Fi will be directed to BookFunnel to download their book to their preferred device. It's pretty easy, but support is available through BookFunnel and me as well. Another change is samples through my site. First chapter for all my books will be available as samples on my site, another feature recently rolled out by BookFunnel, which had me going back to them.

Onto serials and novellas. Goodness figuring out how to distribute exclusive content has been the bane of my author-y existence, but I think I'm content with how I want everything to go for Ko-Fi. Firstly, you all will be able to be one-time supporters or monthly subscribers, and those who choose to subscribe monthly will have different tier levels. Level 1s will get access to all episodes of serials and full novellas along with some other perks. Level 2s will get everything on level 1 along with download capabilities. There are some other things too, but I can't recall them. Level 3s, everything in levels 1 and 2, and some other things. Oh! A free copy of either the novella or serial once they're released wide. If they get released wide. I'll let my level 3s know. I just had an idea.

Now, I know my one-time donators are like what about us? Listen, I love all who support me, so I'm going to give everyone who donates something. One-time supporters will have access to level 1 posts for 30 days from the day of their donation. I don't make the rules Ko-Fi did. Another perk is if you buy something from my Ko-Fi store, you'll get access to exclusive content. So there are multiple ways people can enjoy the exclusive stuff.

All right, since it has taken me forever to get this blog post written, the world of social media has changed--officially. Popular micro-blogging site, Twitter, was bought by a person I don't share the same view points with, and I know some people are leaving, some are staying to see what happens, and others don't care and it's business as usual with them. I am part of the leaving camp, but it's not that easy since the Twitter is so ingrained in advertising and exposure, especially for indie and self-published authors. I'm currently testing out Mastadon as a new home with the idea of cross-posting to Twitter for a little while before letting the account become dormant. I'm also thinking about setting up a Discord server. Once I've gotten everything figured out, I'll let everyone know.

Okay onto WIP updates. Nothing new to report. I started editing The Adventures of Swift, but I've been going into the office recently thanks to my new position (luckily it's only temporary), so mentally I am not ready to edit it, but I'm hoping to hop into it this week. I'm also writing fanfic at the same time, and one of my fics has gotten pretty fun so I've been focusing on it too. I know bad me, but I love writing fanfic. It's just fun playing with these characters I've got attachments to lol.

I think that is all for me. It has been a weird weekend for me, so my thoughts are all over the place. Anyway, I wish everyone a safe and fun Halloween, and for those who are like me, I'll see y'all at Target the day after Halloween buying the discounted candy.

Until next time...

-DJ Small

Things Are....Going. Yep. They're going.

I started typing this up while I was logged into work since I was left to my own devices, and thought it was a good time to blog. Priorities am I right? I know it has been awhile, but with Spring being sprung, I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. I fcked up the blog. Fricking blogger changed their customizing page and everything looks horrible, especially with all that Arial font. Psh. Moving on....

Other than that, I would like to say in my absence I have actually been productive. I slowly getting a hang of my chord changes (anchor fingers are key), but more importantly, I have been chipping away at Fate Unseen bit by bit, and I've been outlining the second--and angsty as all get out--Detective Miller book. Can I pause for a moment to talk about this second Detective Miller book for a second? Of course I can. It's my blog. All right, so when I first started this series, I planned for it to be a rom-com that was sort of inspired by JD Robb's (Nora Roberts) In Death series. Something I could work on that would give me a break from the Last Pureblood series, but effin' A y'all. Because I am me, this second book has taken a nose dive right into angst town and it's unintentional but at the same time intentional.

I had to give Eliza and Dax some drama, and man did I bring it. I'm hoping by the time I get to actually writing this part of the story, I'll have figured out a way to make it a little more lighthearted, but it doesn't look like it. Eliza's past isn't the stuff rom-coms are made of, and neither is Dax's, so the best I can do is make sure it doesn't drag on too long. But goodness gracious. Sometimes, when I get an idea in my head, how I execute is so far on the other end of what I was going for that it aggravates me.

Anyways, back to where I was going. I've been putting in some work even though I've been radio silent. I try to post often on Twitter, but I know some of y'all are wondering where I'm at with projects and what my plans are for 2021 since they're always in a state of flux. Fate Unseen, like I said, I'm slowly chipping away at it and I've gotten past a pivotal conversation that happens in chapter 3. Can't say much about the length of it. It's still going to be a long book. I also could be wrong, but we're going to have to wait and see.

I've also been creating PDF, Mobi, and ePub files for the books I don't have these files for. This is part of my effort to use Smashwords and Gumroad as my primary distribution sites. Everything is still going to be on Amazon, but I think I'm going to have delayed releases for my future relases. I'm still trying to figure out how that's all going to flow.

While I've been creating these files, some minor updates happen because if I see something that irks me, I'm going to correct it. Once all those files are created, I'll update them across all platforms, so you might have an update coming to your current copy.

As soon as everything is said and done, the website will be back in action then I can restart my giveaways. For those who have participated in my prior giveaways, they were done through BookFunnel, which I might still use, but I'm thinking about stepping away from them and doing giveaways strictly through my Gumroad page. With BookFunnel it gives me a wider audience to draw in, but I feel some way about it. I'm still ruminating on it, so nothing is set in stone, but I do have to consider my newsletter, which we all know I struggle to put out. If I do come to the decision to end my newsletter, I'll make the strong suggestion for those who do receive it to sign up for updates through my Gumroad page. There's definitely a lot of thinking going on the author-y side of things, but it's nothing I can't handle.

Other than that, I'm just going to continue to eat away at Fate Unseen and we'll see what I can pull off.

In my opinion, I think this was a solid update. If you want to get a jump on everything, hop on over to my Gumroad page and sign up so you can receive updates. You don't have to buy anything to follow me. Now I just need to remember to make posts over there, but that for another day.

As always support your indie and self-pubbed authors by leaving a review, and everyone have a good.

- DJ Small

I Know. It's February.

January came and went. It was pretty wild. The Capitol was bumrushed by terrorist. We got a new president that doesn't look like a bottle of Sunkist gone wrong, and some other things happened, but I cannot recall them. We had some losses too. Larry King, who I didn't know voiced the bar wench in Shrek (thanks for that Tumblr). Cloris Leachman who was always a delight onscreen, and lastly, but certainly not least, the iconic Cicely Tyson. Her most memorable role for me, at least recently, is when she was on How To Get Away With Murder, but that woman was an icon who had bigger and more memorable roles than that.

I know I've been MIA for the last couple of months. I just didn't have it in me to do anything author related. Blogging, the newsletter, writing, editing....none of it appealed to me. Blame it on the holidays, or what, but I just wasn't feeling it, so my holiday break turned into something much longer. However, I did move into my own place at the end of December/beginning of January, so that took up a lot of my time and energy. Seriously the only things I had the drive for was Grey's Anatomy and Sims 4.

With me getting back on the high horse, I've done some author-like things. Website is down because I changed hosting services, but I should have it back up soon-ish. Depends on how much tweaking I need to do to the code. Newsletter is still once a month, but it's going to be used more for announcements and giveaways. My blog and website are going to be the main places to get information this year. It saves me from having to split my focus on a newsletter that usually doesn't have anything in it.

This now brings me to book distribution. Oh, how I would love to not be on Amazon, but it's the larger retailer so it's a necessary evil. I'm going to be doing more sales, giveaways, and name your own price events on my Smashwords and Gumroad pages. Sometimes they'll run concurrently, sometimes one will have something and the other won't. Either way, I would like them to be my primary distribution pages. Might have to come up with something bigger to gain some interest. These events probably won't start until March. I've still got to upload the electronic versions of my books on Gumroad.

I'm guessing it is time to address the elephant in them room...new releases. This year, is going to be the year of Fate Unseen, the second book in the Last Pureblood series. I've started editing again, right from the beginning, and I've decided it's going to be long book. There is no way I can cut out some of the details. If I can tweak something or remove it and put in a later book, then I will, but as for right now, we're looking at a long book. I hope you all enjoy that.

Once that is off my plate, I'm going to be focusing on The Adventures of Swift, which I started editing in December before I fell into a listless state. I know in prior posts I was saying it would be out the first quarter of this year, but since I've flipped my schedule around and decided to bring Fate Unseen to the first half of this year, Swift will be moving to the second half of the year for projected release.

Outside of that, let's just hope I continue on with this train of motivation and get something published this year.

I hope everyone had a safe and healthy start to the new year, and let's cross our fingers and hope we all get some semblance of a social life back this summer.

Remember to review the books you read. Until next time...

-DJ Small

Let's Get Ready To Rumble.....

Hopefully by the time I have posted this the US will have figured out who their president is. I'm sure the number of people that voted for the Orange Stain™ will get swept under the rug and people will proclaim this country has risen like a phoenix from the ash, but minorities like myself will realize that it will be nothing but a crock of shit. I've become bitter about this country, and I would apologize, but why?

All right onto why I'm here—announcements all around! I finished The Adventures of Swift this week. Like actually finished writing it, and not that kind of finish where you still have like two more pages to write, but you say you're done because it's just two pages. No one else does this? Just me? Of course. It came out to 48k words, and hopefully by the time editing is done, it'll be at the 50-55k mark. Each episode doesn't go more than 10k words, and you would think that would cheat the story, but not really. I actually have a little wiggle room in some episodes to give the story some more depth.

I'm going to start editing The Adventures of Swift this weekend, and I think we're still on track for having episodes one and two released during the first quarter of 2021. I've made the decision to make this a Gumroad exclusive. It makes no sense to have people sign up for a subscription for something that honestly doesn't have a schedule. Well it does but it's a real loose one. Like a floozy. I ❤ floozies. In fact, I think all my serials are going to be Gumroad exclusives and I'm going to shut down my Patreon. Again, it just makes no sense for me to have one. I'm going to sit down and explore Gumroad a bit more before coming to a final decision which I should have by the end of next month. I've got other things to focus on.

I inadvertently started writing the second Detective Miller book. I finished reviewing the first one for paperback and it sort of just happened. Murderous Profession got some good traction while it was in the Kindle Unlimited program, and free book day was a hit. For those who are anxious to know, book two starts off three months after book one ends, so Dax and Eliza have been seeing each other for like four and a half months. Dax is preparing to open his own sex firm and Eliza is still trying to make waves in the NYPD. Of course a murder happens, and it's going to test Dax and Eliza's relationship, but so are some other things. We're going to meet some more people from Dax's life, and we're going to dig a little deeper into Eliza's life. I only scratched the surface with her in the first book because that wasn't the focus, but I think it's time we get to know a little more about Detective Legs, right?

Murderous Profession will be a part of the small run of signed books that I will be sending out in January. I'm actually updating the file right now. The polls I conducted in my newsletter and on Twitter we're all favorable, so I'm going to put up an order form on Gumroad, and people can order their signed copies. This will only be for my continental US readers. International peeps I might be able to set something up, but it would have to be like a custom order deal so we can split the shipping costs. Each book will be limited to 10 orders. Anything over will be wait listed, and I'll do a second batch based off of how many people request a book after the initial run. Newsletter subscribers will be notified first of when the order form will be live, and a tweet will go out a couple hours later. This is where I will shamelessly plug my newsletter because if you sign up, you get notified sooner. Click here to sign-up.

For my Last Pureblood readers, Fate Unseen has been moved to a 2021 project. It was too much for me this year. I'm hoping when January rolls around I'll be ready to dive into it and make some serious headway with it.

I'm not sure what else is going on with 2021. I've outlined a couple of stories for a new series that I'm coming up with. This will more than likely be another Gumroad exclusive because I don't think they're going to be long stories. I know I have a stand alone book that's partly outlined that I can work on. I also have my dark and twisted story, but due to that nature of it, it might end up being another Gumroad exclusive. It's kind of messed up lol. It's a bit of a crap shoot. 

I think 2021 will be the year of Swift, Detective Miller book 2, and Fate Unseen. I'm just looking forward to a year of just writing and focusing on my serials. We shall see.

All right folks, that's all I have enjoy your weekend 🙂