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Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Happy New Year! I’m glad 2022 is over, since it was a rough year for me personally. Although I did manage 524K words, which is more than last year! 😉 Also, it’s the first time I actually earned some money – the Kickstarter paid for the workshops, and the Storybundles I participated in paid the editor’s fees.

Here’s to hoping the new year will be as successful on the indie side – and that it will be the last with a day job that gives me nervous breakdowns. Last week I wrote 1330 words, mostly wrapping up projects and editing them. I shall start slowly, since writing shorts doesn’t necessarily hit the 10K/week wordcount, but I still hope to reach 500K by the end of the year.

This week is the first of the challenge. I already have a few stories in mind to cover the first weeks, but not for the whole three months. I shall improvise, LOL! And hopefully my next novel will be rich with details after a reserch trip in spring – fingers crossed.

Now, looking back to the past year, I did a few things. After the rebranding that messed up titles and editions, I decided to start a brand new inventory sheet for the years to come. I also did a count of final sales numbers on the unpublished titles – that’s 61 stories that are no longer available in that specific format, but are probably bundled in other ways.

12 had sales in the 2 digits, 3 of which were in bundles at PubShare (one is still live, and it’s currently a bestseller – Beautiful is available only in two bundles, Love& Magic and Cats Cats Cats, or paired with Lovers in Warriors of the North). 29 sold zero copies. I still have 180+ titles live (some in Italian) and 32 still have zero sales.

My bestseller is still Body Switches. On Storybundle, the best seller is Adventurer. On PubShare, like I said, Beautiful. And my newest series, Immortaland Dragons is off to a very good start. I’m planning a few sales this year, so watch this space! 🙂

Off we go into the new year… And I found out a bunch of authors are doing a Make 100 Kickstarter of SFF stories, check them out! Happy reading (and/or writing) and have a great week!

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by Barb on 04/01/2023  •  Permalink
Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 04/01/2023

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2023/01/04/wednesday-weekly-roundup-169/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


And Happy New Year! In case you love paper calendars, be aware that the Silvery Earth Kids Calendar is still available in my Zazzle store – yes, I update it every year! There’s also mugs, face masks and other neat things there, in case you want to have a look! 🙂

Final wordcount for 2021 was 470K. Now, for this year’s goals… here goes, in this order!

  1. write as much as I can (if I reach 500K fine, if not, it doesn’t matter), having fun and exploring new places, probably as short stories first.
  2. draw more than I did last year – finish the strip and do a few more pencil portraits. Possibly start a new comic or continue Lady Ice, not sure which yet. Finish the strip comes first!
  3. publish whatever I finish – or send it to other publications if it doesn’t fit in any series or collection. But that’s really a third. I must try to keep my creative mind busy, so I won’t feel the DayJob stress too much.

And now, the first publications of the year! Vampires Through the Centuries Going Into the Future only on Amazon, because, like I said on the publisher’s page, I did the ebook only because I did the paperback. So the last two publications are now in KU. Those single stories are available everywhere elsewhere if you read only ebooks.

And my short story “An iCub on Mars” was accepted for Space Opera Digest 2022: Have Ship Will Travel! And looky look! I’m even on the cover! And yes, it’s still on pre-order, you will get it at the end of January so I’ll make sure to remind you! Meanwhile, here’s the editor:

Adventures among the stars need a ship to get you there.

Stories Rule Press presents Space Opera Digest 2022: Have Ship, Will Travel
Space Opera heroes and heroines explore the stars and discover cool new places in ships which range from beat-up rust-buckets to sleek technologically advanced craft that are the envy of the galaxy. Space ships are quintessential for the adventures and challenges our favourite characters face.
Come and explore over 400 pages of worlds of wonder and the ships our heroes fly with Stories Rule Press’ 2022 edition of Space Opera Digest.
Space Opera Digest 2022: Have Ship, Will Travel is the second volume in a quarterly collection of genre fiction anthologies presented by Stories Rule Press.
“Sole Survivor” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Captain” by Stephen Sottong
“Big Top” by Sonia Orin Lyris
“Cycle Three” by Stephanie Mylchreest
“Star Cruise” by Ron Collins
“Watch of the Starsleepers” by Christopher D. Schmitz
“Tome Raiders” by Eric Del Carlo
“The Passenger” by Eve Morton
“An Ordinary World” by J. L. Royce
“Insanity is Infectious” by Cameron Cooper
“Achemar” by Jasmine Luck
“Moby Dick’s Doors” by Michèle Laframboise
“Learning Curve” by Neil Williams
“Exotic Matters” by Phil Giunta
“An icub on Mars” by Barbara G. Tarn
“Of Hedgehogs and Humans” by Rob Nisbet
“Smugglers Blues” by Blaze Ward
“Altered Skin” by Sara C. Walker
“An Unexpected Taste of Home” by Terry Mixon
“Symphony” by Douglas Smith
Space Opera Science Fiction Anthology
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Stories Rule Press is a family-run micropress in Alberta, Canada, working as a cooperative to bring great story-tellers together and assist them with publication.
Editor Tracy Cooper-Posey is one of the original authors with Stories Rule Press. She writes across several fiction genres, including space opera under two different pen names, and grew up reading classic science fiction.

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And that’s all for today… wishing you a Wonderful 2022! See you next week!

by Barb on 05/01/2022  •  Permalink
Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration
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Posted by Barb on 05/01/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/01/05/wednesday-weekly-roundup-117/

Writer Wednesday


And Happy New Year! No fireworks from WordPress this time. Not that I share them very often, LOL!

Anyhow, last wordcount for 2017 was 347100words against the 450K of 2015 and the 400K of 2016. The worst month was February (when I was busy reading the million words for the Anthology Workshop), the best was June (the start of the novel challenge).

I really need to get my shit together and stop getting distracted by other things! I shall schedule regular writing time, since I don’t have Auntie Duty and all my afternoons are currently free. This is The Year of Writing Madly! I shall reach that 500K wordcount!

Possibly writing with intentionality. And is it too late to follow my dreams? Hell no. I’m 52 and still feel like a beginner, with lots of stuff I learned I still need to employ in my writing. Lots of awareness tricks in last year’s workshops.

And doing the accounting of this publishing venture is still discouraging (still spending 10 to earn 1), so I’m really going to cut on the publishing this year. Only one new title a month and then either a bundle or an anthology. And I’ll try Findaway Voices with a couple of novellas.

It was a great year for Draft2Digital and I love their e-book templates – that’s what I used both for Nightly Bites Volume 1 (now live at all retailers and the paperback is also available) and the new box sets.

And if you’re thinking of joining the indie revolution and try them, here’s my referral link. They’re great to work with and they’re working on discoverability for this year, so… what are you waiting for? 😉

The Kobo promo on Brainwaves is almost over. Here are the country-specific links: Sale Dates: Dec 22-Jan 5

AU: https://www.kobo.com/au/en/p/boxingweekanz17

NZ: https://www.kobo.com/nz/en/p/holiday2017

I wanted to send out the newsletter, but I’m still waiting for a cover artist who is lagging behind… so hopefully this weekend I’ll send it out with the upcoming news. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so now and grab your free short story that comes with the subscription! 🙂

Last two links worth reading: Konrath’s New Year’s Resolutions for Writers 2018 (where he suggests the newsletter should be sent out four times a year, six at the most, when another online workshop suggested 1 to 3 times a MONTH! I guess I’ll stick to my own schedule, LOL!) and Thoughts and Goals for a Creative 2018 – not going back to screenwriting, but I’ll definitely try to schedule writing (starting next week so I have time to wrap the loose ends of 2017) and keep doing the batch things of publishing during weekends.

Now I better wrap up the spy story, start requesting books for the next bundle that will come out on Valentine’s Day and decide what to say in the newsletter while I format the next novel… stay tuned… and have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 03/01/2018  •  Permalink
Posted in struggles to get through, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 03/01/2018

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2018/01/03/writer-wednesday-298/

Happiness is…


12 hours late, but better late than never…

231 words wraping up last year’s projects done. One more project to wrap… Onward to The Year of Writing Madly! 🙂

Have a Wonderful 2018!!

by Barb on 01/01/2018  •  Permalink
Posted in Happiness is...
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Posted by Barb on 01/01/2018

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2018/01/01/happiness-is-422/

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