Progress Report

I have this unfortunate mass of pages an editor expects to see, a rough draft pounded out in the flow, not going back, not rewriting, just putting a note there if the scene sticks and moving on.

There’s a glimmer of readability there, but damn does it need work. That it’s not ready is an understatement.

I put my Valentine Day’s IR romance novella (cute and humorous) on hold because there’s no way I’ll be able to get it done and out in time. It’ll be ready for next year though. After I wrestle this manuscript down, I will turn my attention to Midnight Blue and its new connected stories.

So, I’m busy, but busy in a good way. This is the way it is supposed to go. Decent writing is revision, and you gotta have something to revise. That’s sitting and pounding it out. No shortcuts. There’s not a lot of tips to doing that, but to park your ass in front of a computer, get your characters in your head, and get them in the action–action that raises tension and builds conflict. If you keep writing at it, the words will eventually flow and the pages add up. Then, the work starts for real.

Heart’s Desires free downloads are piling up, getting close to 10K. It’s holding around the 30s in contemporary romance, the only black chick in the bunch. It’s not solely in contemporary romance on purpose–although that’s what it is. I tried to add the categories AA romance or multicultural romance, or even AA fiction, but they would not take. I really wanted to add those categories so I could see pretty single digits in the bestseller lists. I figure if I have in the low double digits in the humongous, broad category of contemporary romance (including paid, free, traditionally published, and Nora Roberts), I must be doing pretty well in the AA niche. I have no idea why Amazon wouldn’t play. Amazon can be a mystery. It’s also in contemporary romance at B&N, although category lists are more difficult to navigate there. I swear all I see are Nora Roberts books in the top 100 contemp romance results.

It’s low 300s to high 200s in Kindle free downloads right now. I’d love to see it in the top 100. To be honest, the other contemporary romance covers look prettier than my home made ones, so I’m shelling out some of my e-book profits for new Eastman series covers, done professionally. I can’t wait! I’ll show you as soon as they are ready. Maybe the new covers will help the downloads add up to push it into the top 100. I’m also going to have the interiors professionally proofed, yet again. Damn those wily typos. I think they hide when they know folk are looking for them.

The other Eastman series e-books are selling steadily at $4.99 each, with numbers slowly climbing as new Heart’s Desire readers decide to invest in them. I was selling more ($4.99) books at B&N, but now Amazon numbers have surpassed them, although B&N numbers are holding well. I’m content. I will putting them all in print shortly too. I still have to buy ISBNS. The profit is so nice, that there’s plenty to reinvest with room to spare. The direction publishing is moving is is very exciting.