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.
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
I realize how much this year I have bowed out due to illness… And I am so sorry. Between my own sinus ick, and worrying about my girl Cyndi having pneumonia, and just general life stuff… I am worn out.
On an up note… I have 3 books less to fight with as they are out. I am working on entries for an anthology that I have been accepted for… I have one more book that I am working with for layout. I have an audiobook that I am trying to record by the weekend (game weekend for me so I have to be ready to run my guys through adventures as well).
We, in my house, are still in the process of doing some remodel. So I am definitely dealing with chaos here. So even though this is not a normal tea party… It is still an update. Just as chaotic as my life currently.
I submitted to Indie Blu Publishing’s call for submissions for their anthology for the chronically ill.(not the name but y’all know what I mean.)
The anthology that I referred to earlier is one that is being put out by coffee house writers. I will be sharing more information as I know more.
Faery Footprints and Dylan and the Pet Zombie and Beauty’s Tears are all available to purchase. The deadline for Through the Sunshine is coming up quickly (January 31). I am working on a surprise anthology for Fae Corps… More details as I get it done.
This year is already shaping up to be a busy one. I know that I usually do a link post on the first Saturday but I was releasing those and I wanted to wait for their links. So I will be doing that post this Saturday. Definitely keep an eye here because I have quite a few projects in the works.
I do hope that this finds all of you well, the sick has been getting around lately. I am probably not going to be posting tomorrow as I am worn thin. Please forgive me this. And I thank you for reading and supporting me throughout all of my journey.
So I actually published this a few days ago. The paperback edition is still not available… I’ll be fussing about that shortly. But the link for the ebook version is here. So I figured that I would let you have that until I can get the paperback live for you.
Pattimouse 