So between the stress of the normal holidays and vehicle issues… I have been a little bit more than usual fighting with my internal demons. To the point where it has even interrupted the writing. Usually the fight feeds the writing…
I’m not sure what the difference is this year but I have been struggling. That being said… my friend Jenny Elliott – writer, and Fae Corps intern…chose the best way to cheer me up.
She has been reading my The Voices within volume. And she came to a poem and decided to tell me that I was more than enough.
Screenshot she sent me.
Then she has been busy with making marketing stuff for Fae Corps and I keep running across my books there.
Though I know it was a part of her job…it really does feel like I have made some difference in this world.
Sometimes we can’t see the world around us for the immediate struggle we are dealing with.
Remember you never know what your reviews will do for the author.
So I have been busy working on publishing tasks yesterday, Well that for me included dealing with the dreaded Goodreads Now admittedly I don’t do everything I need to with it, because every time I go there it is the same thing. I can’t claim all of my books on there. Not even the ones all written as me. The reason – My name is too common. I should be able to give the information about the book and claim it…but no. It is based on the name of the author. I am debating doing a rebranding. Adding my grandmother’s maiden name in as my middle name (I tried my middle name to start with…it is even more common.) Still I wonder how much I should rebrand? Should I just start from here? or go back and rebrand from the beginning? There is a lot involved. I just don’t know if Goodreads is worth the effort. I have my amazon author page. I have my books2read reading list. Does anyone other than authors even really use Goodreads?
Though I have to say that I am annoyed by how common my name is. Names have always been a fun thing for me. I wanted to write as Susan Ann Andrews when I was a girl. I really thought it was the prettiest name out there. I chose to write my poetry and my kid’s books under my name because I wanted to love my name again. I wanted it to be mine again. It was part of healing the abuse I had been through. I chose to do the pen name of Serena Mossgraves for my horror and darker stuff so that my kid’s books would not be tainted by those writings. So I am struggling now. Do I really want to rebrand simply because of how common my name is? Or do I stick with who I am? This really feels like I am facing an existential crisis. Do I change my persona for the idea that I am not fitting in? Or am I fitting in too well? Oh crud. I really don’t know what to do here.
Yesterday I was sure that I needed to change the branding. Today, I wake up and find in my email in response to my help request…OK we merged this and this….I look on goodreads…now one of Serena’s books is listed as Patricia. And still not even half of my books are listed as me. I still can’t claim them. Changing my brand will mean I have to go and fight them for the right to the listing all over again. In order to change it I need to go into KDP and D2D and Google Play and Barnes and Noble. Change The Details on each. I need to upload a changed cover for each. Then I need to hope that I have not screwed something up. For one or two books it is not that difficult…but I have a catalogue of around 30+ It is a hugely daunting task. OK… I can change my branding from here on out…but the whole reason I wanted to do it was because of Goodreads not letting me accept my books…if I change my brand it will throw them into a worse fit.
I think I need to think on this. I am going to do nothing about it until after the first of the year at the least. That way I can be sure I am still needing to adjust and I don’t feel like I rushed in for stupid reasons.
Many years ago, my first kids book was Pip the pup. I illustrated it with my own drawings and clip art. One of my young readers – Dante, asked for more of Pip’s story.
I couldn’t refuse him. Releasing December fourth is the next chapter of pip’s adventure… Done in the same style. My own drawings and clip art to illustrate what I hope will be a good continuation of a cute story.
As an artist and book cover designer or as a poet. If you want me to create something for you email me to get a price. (Mine are really reasonable.) Patti.Mouse@gmail.com
Okay… I know that I usually do Tunes on Tuesday… But something came up yesterday, and I want to discuss it.
A friend in the indie writing community discovered a pirate site… With almost all of my books and all of Serena’s listed. Talk about mixed feelings… Part of me feels betrayed. The other part is like… Well, at least they are good enough for piracy. I am not going to lie, and say it is about my books being shared. I see piracy in two different ways. Things like peer2peer are different. I see that the same as me sharing the book with a friend. It is not going to make me money… But it is not offensive. At least not to me. The site last night is not p2p.
That site charges for my books. I get nothing from it. It is not certain whether the site delivers the book to the buyer. I don’t know if they are even using the buyer information properly.
So, I wanted to tell you that Serena and I both only publish to the above markets. If you find my books anywhere else then I did not give permission for it to be there. Let me know and I will proceed to attempt to get the cease and desist word to them.
Just an Fyi, it’s illegal to print ebooks. Any site telling you different is questionable anyway. I have arc files for those who are interested in leaving honest reviews, but can’t afford the book. It is not a hard thing to get a copy to read.
Wow. A whole decade. Doesn’t sound like much… Especially after you reach a certain age. Ten years ago I published my first volume of poetry. A Pocketful of Poetry was a dream my whole life. I did not like the idea that the publisher could change the words and appearance of my poetry. So, for me, it was something that had to be just a dream until I could do it myself. I looked into self publishing… And initially all that I could find was the pay as you print options. That is not how I wanted to do things. And along came Amazon with Kdp. Suddenly indie publishing was a more viable option. Suddenly I could have a dream come true.
In the interim, I have published a lot more books. Some as me, some as Serena. 3 kids’ books, 1 novella, 1 novel, 1 anthology, 1 memoir, and 18 poetry volumes. I have been published in several literary magazines. It is very surprising what can happen in 10 years.
On a personal level, I have moved from Oklahoma back to West Virginia. I have always been a West Virginia girl, so I was miserable in Oklahoma. I have lost a hundred pounds. I have become more confident about my art and myself.
So I am ready for all that the 20’s have for me. Are you?
Pattimouse 