Monthly Goals - April 2014

Sorry for the  lack of weekly updates. The past couple of weeks have been a bit rough on the personal side. Things should slowly get back to normal soon...

For those who missed it back in January, I set up the writing goals I aim to accomplish in 2014. Right after writing that post, I then read Dean Wesley Smith's post about how to be successful at your writing goals.

One of those suggestions was to report in to someone, whether you miss your goals or accomplish them. So, I to report it to you, my loyal fans, bringing back my old habit of weekly goal-setting and reporting. In addition, I've decided that a set of monthly goals would also be good to do (since they'd end up being more "grand scheme" and would be easier to tie into the annual goals).

So, another month has gone by, and it's time to recap my results from my March goals.

1. Publish the print version of Seeker - Completed.
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words) - Title and plot completed
3. Edit the final version of "Just Rewards" - Not Completed
4. Write 3,000 words on Resurrection - 1700 words completed

Sadly, I hardly accomplished anything this month. Hopefully April is better.

Here are my goals for April:

1. Complete the first draft of "Reciprocity" (the new short story, estimated 2,000 words)
2. Edit the final version of "Just Rewards"
3. Write 3,000 words on Resurrection

As always, I'll report my final results on the first of next month. In the meantime, check out my weekly goals postings to see how I'm progressing.

Here's to everyone striving to accomplish their writing goals for 2014!

Monthly Goals - March 2014

For those who missed it back in January, I set up the writing goals I aim to accomplish in 2014. Right after writing that post, I then read Dean Wesley Smith's post about how to be successful at your writing goals.

One of those suggestions was to report in to someone, whether you miss your goals or accomplish them. So, I to report it to you, my loyal fans, bringing back my old habit of weekly goal-setting and reporting. In addition, I've decided that a set of monthly goals would also be good to do (since they'd end up being more "grand scheme" and would be easier to tie into the annual goals).

So, another month has gone by, and it's time to recap my results from my February goals.

1. Complete the final draft of Fallen - Completed
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words) - Completed "Just Rewards" with around 2,700 words)
3. Write 5,000 words on Resurrection - Not completed, only 1,800 words
4. Generate a new plot for another new short story - Completed
5. Create a print version of Seeker - Completed

Sadly, didn't get as much done as I would have liked. But Seeker should be out in paperback fairly soon, so hopefully folks will check it out. Motivation has been in the toilet this month, for various reasons, so I guess I should be glad that I accomplished as much as I did. But still, I'd like to get farther along.

Here are my goals for March:

1. Publish the print version of Seeker
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words)
3. Edit the final version of "Just Rewards"
4. Write 3,000 words on Resurrection

As always, I'll report my final results on the first of next month. In the meantime, check out my weekly goals postings to see how I'm progressing.

Here's to everyone striving to accomplish their writing goals for 2014!

Weekly Goals - February 19, 2014

Well, another seven days since I recapped my weekly goals, and decided to move on to some goals that could be completed before the end of the month. Here's the latest recap:

 

1. Write 1,500 words on Resurrection - Completed only 500 this week
2. Finish the first draft of "Just Rewards" - Completed

3. Generate a new plot for another new short story (added goal) - Completed
4. Create a print version of Seeker (added goal) - Completed

Progress toward my monthly goals for February:

1. Complete the final draft of Fallen - Completed
2. Complete the first draft of "Just Rewards" (estimated 2,000 words) - Completed, with around 2,700 words
3. Write 5,000 words on Resurrection - Still in work, with just over 1,500 words
4. Generate a new plot for another new short story - Completed
5. Create a print version of Seeker - Not started

 
And now for this week's goals:

1. Write 2,000 words on Resurrection

Next week, I'll recap my weekly goals and report my results. The end of the month is coming up soon as well, so stay tuned for that as well.

Sales Update - June 2013

Hard to believe it's been nearly seven months since my most recent sales update (which is actually longer than the update prior to that. Things have been a bit hectic over the first half of this year, but I do have updated numbers (except for my Champagne titles, which I have not yet received royalty statements on this year. So, here goes:

Heroes Die Young has sold a total of 426 sales (print and e-book total), which means 9 copies have sold since November (for a total of just over a copy a month over the past seven months). This compares to 27 copies sold in the July-November 2012 range, so sales are way down (of course, this may not be the case after I see a royalty statement, but the trend has seemed to hold steady for all of my titles. The five-year anniversary for this one is coming up in September, so it's going to take a bit of action to maintain my previous average of around 100 copies per year.

Friends in Deed has sold a total of 96 copies (print and e-book total), which means that 2 copies have sold since Novermber (for a total of around 1 copy every four months). This compares to around 13 copies during the previous reporting period which is another reason I've said that sales across the board have been down (again, I haven't yet seen a royalty statement this year, but based on all indicators, things are not looking up for this one. January marked the three-year anniversary of this one, so the average is still less than 30 copies per year. One thing that was pointed out to me is that bluish cover art (such as these first two books) tends to sell less than red, yellow and orange. That may be something to look into on any future books I publish.

Seeker has sold 84 copies (99-cent e-book only), so only 5 copies have sold since the last update (compared to 7 copies during the last update). December was the 2-year anniversary for this novel, which means we're still on track for an average of 40 copies per year). However, I decided to go forward with this title (at least for the remainder of this year) as a free giveaway, so my sales stats on this one will be skewed (since I'm not tracking the free sales other than spot checks). I will mention that in the course of about two weeks on Amazon, I've given away over 250 copies, proving another point that people are more willing to try out free stuff when it comes to new authors.

 Dead or Alive has sold 83 copies, with 13 copies sold during this reporting period. This compares to 48 copies sold during the previous update period (although many of those were earlier sales reported by the publisher). The book was running about 4 copies a month at last count, and so now we've dropped to about 2 copies a month. I believe that the two-year anniversary is coming up on this one in July, so we're on track for another 40 copies per month title.

The Cure has now sold 83 copies (print and e-book total), so 16 copies have sold since my past update, compared to 12 copies during the previous update (making it the only title in the field that has increased sales since last time). This book has been out almost 2 years (the anniversary is in July), so again I'm seeing a little over 40 copies per year. It does match to the earlier comment I made about cover art, in that this one stands out for its color (as does Dead or Alive) more so than Friends in Deed.

Death Brings Victory was released just over a year ago (in March), and 48 copies have sold, meaning 11 copies have sold since the last update (which was the same quantity as the last time, but over a greater amount of time). This puts it on track with most of my other novels, at just over 40 copies per year. It's hard to say whether this cover tends more toward the blue or more toward the orange/red, as both are included. However, the fact that this is third in a series (and is much more tied into the first and second books, making it less standalone) may mean that future sales will come after people read the first two.

I now have two Triple-Shot collections out, with the first having been released in November 2011, and the second in July 2012. 40 copies have sold, so 7 copies sold since my last update (versus 12 copies from the previous update). Breaking this down, 29 copies of the first have sold and 11 of the second. The first triple-shot has been placed as free everywhere except Amazon (hopefully they'll price match soon), so sales numbers are probably going to be skewed from here on out (since I won't be recording free sales in the total.

Now for the analysis of this latest period:

Since my latest update (November), I've sold 63 books compared to 82 books during the previous update for an average of just over 10 books per month over the last four (compared to 20 books per month from my previous update). On the plus side, I was anticipating this latest period to be far slower than the last, but now I have evidence to back that up.
And so I have a statistic when people ask (and quite often they do), the latest "total sales" number now stands at 860 copies.

I never saw any bump from sales of e-readers over the holidays. My choice to offer Seeker and the first Triple-Shot for free is my attempt at getting discovered by readers. The first week it was free on Amazon, I did see sales of my other Aston West titles, so it's quite possible that this will help things along in the next update.

In the meantime, I really need to finish more projects. I currently have a short story, a novella and a novel to complete.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bestseller Status?

Well, just received an e-mail from the folks over at All Romance E-Books, notifying me that my novella Seeker has reached best-seller status. Interesting to me, as it's not truly a romance in the modern sense of the word, but I'll still take it. And if you're on ARE, and haven't yet picked up a copy, then click the images below.

SFFS: A Snippet From SEEKER

Welcome to another installment of Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday on the blog. Thanks for all the feedback you give on my snippets, and be sure to go visit all of the other writers through the SFFS link above as well.

For those who like a little romance, this is pretty much as close as I get. Aston faces off against a mind invader (sort of like a mind reader, but a lot more involved) who could find out every criminal activity he's ever committed in my novella Seeker. And for those who don't like to pay for their books, I'll point out that this novella is currently discounted down to FREE over at Omnilit (and who doesn't like free?).

I was privy to a lot of information not meant for anyone to know, much of it illegal activities. I’d mistakenly thought my present innocence would lead to freedom. Now, it seemed past misdeeds might be my downfall.

Fear building, I followed the officer, who watched with a subtle laugh under his breath. He hadn’t reprimanded his subordinate this time, which meant I’d used up my one get-out-of-being-assaulted-free card.

He let loose his chuckle. “Afraid of a pretty woman?”

I didn’t bother to answer, instead figuring out my options. I couldn’t fend off another mental invasion.

In other words, I was screwed.

Poor Aston...he has enough troubles in life without being subjected to a mind invader. Hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season, and we'll catch you next week with another snippet.

Smashwords Summer Sale

If you've been wanting to try out my novels, head on over to Smashwords where you can get the following titles at a significant discount (just utilize the coupon code listed on the book's page):

Death Brings Victory, 50% discount

Seeker, FREE!

The Cure, 50% discount

Dead Man's Forge (Triple-Shot #1), FREE!

So, enjoy these titles at a discount...but make sure to pick yours up soon, because the sale is only for the month of July!

SEEKER Excerpt

 

I was in deep crap. The white flash faded from my forward viewscreen, leaving me right in the flight path of an assault ship. The attack vessel took up my entire display and then some, its twin claw-like engine nacelles stretching out as if to crush my ship in their grip. There had to be at least a dozen automatic laser turrets I could make out. This definitely wasn’t what I’d signed up for in coming here.

My ship’s computer’s voice carried over the internal speakers. “They’re hailing us, audio only.”

I was glad someone had bought all my contraband during my last stop. Being arrested was the last thing I needed. “Put it through.”

“Sierra-tango-four-two-four, shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded.”

“Tell me what this is all about,” I told the screen.

The response was all business. “Random cargo check.”

With a sigh, I watched the dark gray structure approach, battle scars lining the outer hull. Odds were this wasn’t as random as they made it out to be. I reconsidered the idea of making a run for it, but another look at the assault craft’s firepower made my decision simple. There was no way I’d escape alive.

My innocence would get me through this. If that failed, Jeanie could sabotage them. I hoped so, anyway.

“Shut us down, Jeanie.”

“Acknowledged.”

Impending doom festered in my gut as our thrusters cut off. I responded to the assault ship. “I have important business waiting on one of your outer planets.” A blatant lie, though I almost convinced myself. “I hope this won’t take long.”

“We’ll process you as fast as we can.” His tone told me I could toss myself out the nearest airlock. “Prepare to be boarded.”

I cursed aloud.

“The transmission has terminated,” Jeanie responded.

“Friendly.”

The two engine nacelles passed off either side of my viewscreen. Even being innocent, I couldn’t stop the intense dread. A large access tube telescoped out from the nacelle on our port side. Bright yellow flashes shone all over the assault ship as its position thrusters lit off in random sequence.

Loud thumps echoed as their docking clamps ensured my ship stuck around. Another even louder clang right after made me cringe as the airlock tube sealed against my hull. I was sure they’d be disappointed if they ended up smashing a hole in the side of my ship, but I’d be the only one suffering the permanent consequences.

Jeanie’s voice returned. “Pressures should stabilize in a few moments.”

Once the atmospheres on either side of the hatch were equal, it would open. “Take your time.”

“The process is automated based on a set schedule. It is not something I can adjust.”

Sarcasm was still tricky for her. “Never mind.”

I reached down and pulled a half-bottle of Vladirian liquor from my captain chair’s side pocket. Peace and quiet would both be running short, and as I faced the prospect of several unwelcome guests on-board, I needed something to take the edge off. Uncapping the lid, I emptied the sweet yellow nectar down my throat.

Passing through the doorway into my living quarters, I tossed the empty bottle into a clothes pile, crinkling my nose at the stench. The entry hatch popped open as the pressures between the two ships equalized. Six automatic blast rifles were pointed directly at my chest, giving me the usual welcome I received in these circumstances.

Knowing the drill by heart, I clasped my fingers atop my head. Troops piled in, yelling jumbles of words at each other and at me. Someone kicked the back of my legs and a rifle barrel was shoved in my face as my kneecaps struck the metal floorboard.

“Don’t move, scum.”

In my youth, I would have taken exception to such treatment. Age and more than my fair share of holding cells had made me wiser. I bided my time quietly, since I had nothing to hide. A pair of troops tore apart my quarters while others ducked off into my aft cargo hold.

Testosterone flooded the compartment, and all of it was wasted. They were going through this exercise and would end up with nothing to show for it. I smiled, knowing I’d have the last laugh.

“Wipe that look off your face, dirtbag.”

I looked up into the fiery green eyes of my captor. His helmet matched the metallic gray body armor he wore. His nose and mouth were covered in black fabric, but nothing muffled him from running his mouth, unfortunately. “Answer me when I speak!”

I frowned at his abusive attitude, just in time for him to club my head with his rifle butt. He jerked the barrel back at my chest, while my skull throbbed.

The only thing preventing me from jumping up and pummeling him was the fact this would be over soon. I forced words through clenched teeth. “Yes, sir.”

It was good my Mark II blaster was hidden in a secret crevice next to the airlock. Had it been holstered under my jacket, I might have been shot dead like a wild animal, instead of just beaten down like a domesticated one.

Those inside my living quarters finally gave up the search just before the other troops came back from my cargo hold. Their dejected facial expressions told me everything I’d already known; there hadn’t been anything they could find to implicate me. A smile almost crept back onto my face, but I refrained. I really wasn’t in the mood to end up with a concussion.

Another man entered through the hatch, absent any sort of body armor. His dark gray shirt bore a pair of silver ornamental bars on each shoulder. He looked down upon me with all the contempt I’d expect out of a ship’s officer. “Take him to the interrogation chamber.”

My heart sank. It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. “Why?” I protested, before my captor’s blast rifle tagged me again.

I brought my eyes back into focus while another man’s voice carried through the room. “Lieutenant, this ship’s completely empty. There’s no contraband on-board.”

“We’ll see what else he has to hide. The seeker should get some useful information out of him.”

My two-time attacker yanked me to my feet. “Up, scum!”

Already in a poor mood for this unsubstantiated detainment, I pulled away. “Get your paws off me.”

His eyes went wide. He shoved the barrel against my chest. “Give me an excuse to drop you, punk.”

“Enough!” We both faced the officer, whose stare burned into the armored guard. “You have your orders.”

His eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring as he shoved me. “Move.”

The officer led the way. We ducked into the telescoping airlock tunnel, where I worried the spongy floor might bust through with each step. There weren’t enough words to express how thankful I was when my feet stepped inside the craft’s entry corridor. The rubberized floor panels and metallic hull were definitely welcome.

My senses were assaulted with an overwhelming aroma of honey. The mixture was a rare delicacy out here in the depths of space, something I’d only had a few times in life. I looked off to my left as the lieutenant started off in the opposite direction. A woman faced me, shimmering black dress brushing along the floor, her breasts jutting out against the fabric. A hand-crafted shawl was draped across her shoulders, the same color as her fire-like tresses, making it hard to tell where the garment ended and her hair began. Her eyes were two milky white globes against a face of smooth, pale skin. Her petite frame seemed as though it would break just by looking at her.

And look I did.

It wasn’t often I stood this close to such beauty, let alone caught a woman’s stare. At least I assumed she was looking at me. Those milky globes haunted me, somehow conveying warmth despite their cold, empty appearance. It was a shame she was so out of place standing between her escorts, a pair of tall, armor-clad monsters.

A bright flash blinded me. Quick glimpses, images, random visual fragments bombarded my vision. Two bodies, intertwined, slowly came into focus.

Then, blackness collapsed it all.

Massive pain radiated through my skull. My sight slowly returned to normal, and I found myself chest-down on top of the cushioned floor panels. I was back on-board the assault ship.

“Move, scum,” a familiar voice spat above me.

I climbed to all-fours and looked back at the red-haired vixen, fear in my eyes. What just happened? The woman’s forehead creased as I stood.

The armored guard gave off a deep belly laugh. “She’s already in your head, isn’t she?”

It finally made sense. This was the seeker the lieutenant had mentioned.

The bastard kept up with his jubilation, speaking to his comrades behind him. “She’ll crucify him.”

I kept my eyes on the woman and my mood turned from bad to worse. I had no idea what she was capable of, but she could get inside my head, and that scared me to death. I was privy to a lot of information not meant for anyone to know, much of it illegal activities. I’d mistakenly thought my present innocence would lead to freedom. Now, it seemed past misdeeds might be my downfall.

Fear building, I followed the officer, who watched with a subtle laugh under his breath. He hadn’t reprimanded his subordinate this time, which meant I’d used up my one get-out-of-being-assaulted-free card.

He let loose his chuckle. “Afraid of a pretty woman?”

I didn’t bother to answer, instead figuring out my options. I couldn’t fend off another mental invasion.

In other words, I was screwed.

* * *

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