July 2014 Round-Up and August 2014 Plan

It’s August! Yeah, I don’t how that happened. Seems every month this year has crept up on me faster than it should have.

This month was a rather hectic one, but fun!

July
– Kept completely to schedule.
– Posted every scheduled day, except one I missed due to internet not working.
– I received more great reviews for my books 😀
> Heart of the Arena: 1x 5*, 4x 4*
> Stolen Bloodline: 4x 5*, 1x 4*
> The Queen’s Jester: 3x 4*
– Connected regularly with bloggers.
– Used twitter and facebook more effectively to help support other authors.
– Read 3 books (1 below target!)- The Commons, Book 1: The Journeyman by Michael Alan Peck, The Soul by S.R.Carrillo, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
– Updated my blog.
– Set up a mailing list and newsletter- Click here to sign up!
– Released Prophecy of Stones!

One goal I didn’t reach was that I didn’t look into different forms of marketing quite enough. This is something I am going to have to do, no matter how much I dislike marketing 😀 If I want to earn enough to live on from my writing, then it is something I am going to have to think about more and start implementing.

So, now onto August!

Plan:
1st- 31st- Write first draft of next book.
13th- Book review, either traditional or indie.
29th- Indie eBook review

Goals:
– Read 4 books!
– Find new ways of marketing and implement them.
– Continue actively supporting others and look into different ways of achieving this.
– Write more short pieces for prompts.

A lot of other things happened in July:

Melissa Barker-Simpson released her new book, Hands of Evil! You should definitely check it out. I am currently reading her book, Sins of the Father, and am thoroughly enjoying it (review to come!).

Ness Kingsley has returned to us 😀 She’s a great blogger, and definitely worth checking out her posts. Very excited to hear more from her in the future.

Lost to the Aether (my best friend and one of my amazing readers!) has started posting his comic, which is great fun read!

Kimberley M Ringer achieved an amazing thing by completing the Wharf to Wharf race! So a major round of applause to her!

Shehanne Moore has been posting some brilliant and hilarious posts, worth checking out just for the hamsters 😀

The Legends of Windemere trailer was released!

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Wow, what a wrap up of this month 😀

I also want to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who re-blogged, tweeted and shared my release day post. I am so grateful for your amazing and continued support!

This weekend I will be posting some scheduled marketing posts, but I won’t be around until Monday as usual 🙂

June 2014 Round-Up and July 2014 Plan

Hello all! 😀

This is the first post I’ve had to properly say hi to everyone after my break, which was lovely, and thank you for all the nice comments you replied with 🙂

So, now onto the round-up of June. Wow, I don’t think I can even keep up with how fast this year is going! How is it July already? 😀

June:
– Kept on schedule! Finished the first draft of my book by the end of June.
– Posted every scheduled day including re-blogging.
– I got my first reviews for my books (5* for Stolen, 4* for Heart of the Arena!!- Rather excited if you couldn’t tell).
– Connected regularly with other bloggers.
– Started to more actively support fellow authors with tweets and facebook as well as doing a support post with links to other indie books (worth checking out the comments too, some great suggestions for books for your summer reading).
– Read 4 books- The Vessel by Callum McLaughlin, The Stolen Throne by David Gaider, Olivia’s Choice by Taylor Grace, Immortal Dreams Anthology by Chrissy Peebles and C.M.Owens
– Linked to other’s posts, but not enough!

So I think I actually met most of my goals for June, which is a nice surprise as it felt like another rather manic month!

Onto July:

Plan:
1st-5th- Editing first draft/Work on art for the book
6th- 20th- Off to the readers for editing/Plan next book/Start working on the cover of current book.
21st-29th- Finish editing/Formatting/Cover
30th July- July EBook Review
31st July- Release Day!

Goals:
– Read 4 books
– Link to other’s post more often.
– Keep actively supporting other authors.
– Look for new ways to market my books (using illustration, etc)

An exciting month ahead again!

I was also interviewed by Melissa Barker-Simpson, which was great fun!

I am planning to do a complete overhaul of my blog social media pages etc, changing the theme and taking some suggestions that people commented in my marketing post (books in the side bar, etc). So if my blog looks messy and weird over next few days, it’s probably because I am fiddling with it, apologies in advance! 😀

It’s also CampNano this month, which I’m not participating in, but to all those brave writers who are… GOOD LUCK! 😀

Progress Report:

Status of Fourth Manuscript: Editing first draft.

Books read: 0/4

July eBook review: Book read. Review written and ready (Yay for being super-organised!)