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.
Well that’s fun. We have a tie. Four votes each for gathering teardrops and fighting ignorance. Three votes for on my way home. Two votes each for crimson petals and thoughtcicles. And a vote for just verse.
So I have to choose the winner… But it is far less options. So I flipped a coin. Heads for Gathering Teardrops and tails for Fighting ignorance. I got a heads.
That is my next volume. I will have to let everyone know when I am able to publish the voices within.
I lost a friend today. He actually passed away on the 7th… But I found out today. He was so bright and compassionate. He would at least once a month send me a digital hug. He was a veteran and a good man. I will miss him.
I normally put poetry on pictures with a copyright notice… This one hurts too much.
Pattimouse 