Betsy Horvath

Author: Betsy Horvath

  • The Search For A Blog Post

    Once Upon A Time, not so very long ago (this afternoon, in fact), there was a girl named Betsy who was sitting in front of her computer desperately seeking a blog post.

    Betsy strove mightily to put out a blog post at least once a week. But, alas, The Sickness had descended upon her and hit her and knocked her asunder for several weeks and so she flaileth.

    And, lo, The Sickness had been a mighty and terrible foe, but Betsy had at last fought it into a corner and was now struggling to pick up her life again.  Verily, she hath determined that she would in no way sink into a sea of snot and lethargy.

    However, despite flailing mightily, this afternoon Betsy could find no blog to post. She rifled through the dim recesses of her mind, and yet could not chase a blog post from the thickets. She searched the air, and could not see a blog post flying overhead. She searched the depths of the wine-dark sea, and saw many creatures, but no blog post. Or at least, not a blog post that was obvious and easy to catch.

    “Alas!” she cried, wrist to forehead, head flung back, “Whatever shall I do? If I do not have a blog post by this eve, I shall skip yet another week and will wake up in the morning feeling hatred towards myself and my poor uncreative mind!”

    “Thou must not hateth thyself when a blog post dost not come, for lo, many blog posts hath come before, and many more will come in the future. Another will appear. Sometimes that is just the way things goeth.”

    Startled, Betsy looked to her left and saw a large white rabbit dressed in the jaunty costume of a minstrel. His tri-cornered hat was decked with bells that jingled, and he was carrying a tambourine with ribbons upon it.

    “Good day, sir,” she said. “I know you, do I not?”

    “You do,” the rabbit affirmed. “For I am Sir Harold the Wise.”

    “Sir Harold?” Betsy frowned, her mind much confused. “Art thou not the Guide on my Quest to become a successful independent author?”

    “I art,” the rabbit nodded. “But just as Alice followed a White Rabbit to find Wonderland, I will also lead you to many strange places.”

    “You wilt?” Betsy clapped her hands together in glee. “And wilt thou help me to find a blog post for this eventide? For, lo, I have searched everywhere within my brain and without, but one does not appear. At least, not one that is obvious and easy to catch.”

    Sir Harold shook his tambourine. “T’would be my pleasure, my lady!”

    “Such awesomeness wouldst be much appreciated!”

    Together the two sat at the computer looking through files. Then they wandered into Betsy’s mind, as Sir Harold was much familiar with the landscape.  They searched the fields and woodlands. Finally, they dove into the deep lake at the center of Betsy’s mind to see what they could see.

    But, lo, although they saw many fine visions and ferocious creatures and a few things that really cannot be spoken of aloud, they did not see a blog post. Or at least they did not see a blog post obvious and easy to catch.

    At last, winded and burdened, they returned to the computer.

    “Alas, I see nary a blog post!” Betsy cried. “Whatever shall I do, Sir Harold? I must needs give up!”

    And Sir Harold raised a finger and looked exceedingly stern. “Just because a blog post is not obvious and easy to catch dost not mean it is not there. Thou must not quit. Quitters never win, and winners never quit.”

    Betsy pouted and crossed her arms. “So sayest thou.”

    “Indeed I do, my lady!” Sir Harold shook his tambourine again. “Dost thou have any thoughts at all? If so, please tell me what they are.”

    Betsy frowned. “Mayhap I should write about excuses and how I have so many of them? Or how I have anger, or, indeed, feelings of woe towards my own poor person? In truth, I have many feelings that I do not express.”

    “That I doubt, my lady.” Now Sir Harold shook his head, making the bells on his hat ring. “And, lo, thou didst just complain last week. More would be whining.”

    “True.” Betsy thought. “Mayhap I should write about my feline companions and the roundworms that do not go away?”

    “Nay, for I fear many will not care for such a subject.”

    “True.” Betsy thought and then snapped her fingers. “Ah hah!” she exclaimed.

    “What seest thou?” Sir Harold demanded.

    “I shall write about this adventure, my friend!” Betsy told him. “I shall write about my search for a blog post and how I did not find one, and how you came to help, and how we did not find one.”

    Sir Harold thought and nodded. “Mayhap t’would be best. But what will be the moral of the story? For even a lowly blog post must have some kind of a point.”

    Betsy smiled upon him and opened a blank page on her computer. “That even when you think you have not found something, oft times you have. It’s just that you do not know that you have found it and so you walk away.”

    “And that a blog post can be whatever you want it to be, even if it is, in the end, about nothing,” Sir Harold added.

    And Betsy doth smile.

    “Indeed, Sir Harold. Indeed.”

     

  • Starting Again

    My friends, today I’d like to share a great secret with all of you.

    You can have as many ideas and good intentions as you want.  You can have goals and dreams and freaking aspirations.  You can give yourself pep talks.  You can have a production schedule.  You can even actually write things down on a calendar.  You can have a plan.

    But if you get a head cold from hell, none of that matters.  Everything – everything – comes to a full, complete, dead stop while you deal with rivers of mucus and sinus pain making you want to yank out all of your teeth and trying not to hack up a lung every night.

    Trust me.  I speak from sad, sad experience on this one because this is how I’ve spent my last couple of weeks.

    *sigh*

    Let’s just say that creativity has not been top of mind lately.  In fact, nothing has been top of mind.  Except congestion.

    The good news is I can finally say I’m feeling back to normal.  The bad news is that now I have to start again.

    I think everyone knows how hard it is to get moving once you’ve come to a complete stop.  As Sir Isaac Newton says:

    An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force.

    An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

    If you are at a standstill and you want to move, you have to apply force to get moving.  And that can be a LOT easier said than done – it’s ridiculous how hard it can be to get going once you’ve stopped.

    I think it’s because when you’re moving, you don’t really pay attention to what you’re doing.  You just know that you’re moving.  But when you come to a complete stop, you look at the overwhelming mountain you’re trying to climb and you freeze because it seems impossible.

    That’s where I am right now.

    Now the question isn’t whether I should start again – because of course I should.  The question is HOW do I start again?  How do I start to climbing when the hurdle looks impossible from where I’m standing?  How do I get going again when I don’t have any momentum?

    How?

    Maybe the first thing I need to do is not be angry or disappointed with myself because my body needed a full stop.  Maybe I can’t be discouraged and give up simply because I couldn’t keep going the way I thought that I should. Maybe I need to realize that this is life, and life happens.

    Then I need to start small.  Instead of looking at the big picture, I need to find tasks I can complete.  For the writing part of my life, that means writing this blog post and the February newsletter.  Next, is actually opening the document I’m editing, even though I’m terrified that I’ll never ever ever ever be able to find my footing.  Then I need to start reading that document.  Then I need to sink into the actual editing.

    The focus is on moving forward, step by step, inch by inch.

    Starting again.

    And…here we go.

     

     

  • What Are You Aiming At?

    Come here, my friends. Have a seat on this comfy sofa. Turn off the news. Disconnect from social media (well, after you read this blog post). Stop streaming Netflix. Just sit. Take a deep breath. In…Out…

    Good.

    Now, I have a question for you to think about. What are you aiming at?

    We are all archers in this life. We all have a bow and a quiver of arrows. We all have a selection of targets. Which one (or more) are you aiming at?

    Some of you will say “I’m aiming at nothing”. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it. Trust me – that’s how I’ve spent most of my life. We still draw our bows. We still shoot our arrows. But if we aim at nothing the arrows go all over the place because we’re not directing them anywhere.

    You can’t get away from shooting arrows – that’s just the nature of life. But you can aim them.

    And, just like an archer, we can be looking at a target, but if our aim is just slightly off we might miss it altogether. A slight adjustment when shooting the arrow can be the difference between a bullseye and putting the arrow into a nearby tree.

    My aim has been slightly off lately. It’s so, so easy to do, barely noticeable until you see the arrows aren’t hitting the center of the target you’ve chosen. I get caught up in the step by step process instead of seeing the real objective, or get swept away by the whirlwind of everyday life, or sucked down into a million rabbit holes. My arrows go all over the darned place. If you’ve read my blog before, I’m sure you know that this is something I struggle with constantly. I’m sure it’s a constant struggle for you, too.

    In my case, it occurred to me that although I have identified one of my targets as “to be a successful indie author”, I’ve been pointing the tip of my arrow at the “successful” part instead of the “author” part. And, for me, that’s off.

    Sometimes it’s harder to see that your aim is just slightly off than it is to recognize you aren’t aiming at all. For example, I really do want to be successful. Of course I do. Nobody says “I want to be a failure doing this thing I love.”

    But I can’t force myself to be a success. I can learn the skills I need to master and do what I can to support the likelihood of success, but whether it happens is not really under my control. It can’t be what I aim at. The center of the target actually is the writing. Success is the byproduct, not the bullseye.

    Do you see the difference? I hope for and try to support success. But I must aim at creation. Success will not come without creation, but creation can come without success.

    I have often felt that if you feel like you are a round peg forcing yourself into a square hole, you must step back and evaluate what’s going on. That feeling was my first indication that I was just slightly off target – the feeling of needing to use force to get into the groove.

    Again, I’m going to do my darnedest to try to be a success. I’m going to sit at the feet of people who are further along the path than I am and listen to them and learn everything they’re willing to teach me.

    But I’m not them and the way I ultimately try to make this work will be my own. I have to aim at the center of my own target, not theirs.

    Which brings me back to my question. What are you aiming at? Is it a career? A money goal? A relationship? Do you want to be like a particular celebrity? Or are you aiming at escaping real life altogether?

    Then I have to ask, do you want to hit what you’re aiming at? Is your target worthwhile? Is your aim true, or slightly off? Or are you forcing yourself to aim at a particular target when really you want to turn around and shoot your arrow in the opposite direction?

    We are all archers shooting arrows. Where do you want yours to hit?

     

     

  • Why I Decided To Make My Ebooks Exclusive With Amazon (For Now)

    Here’s another post discussing what I’m doing publishing-wise and why I’m doing it, for those who care. Which, granted, aren’t that many of you, but hey.

    As before, this discussion is set in a woodland clearing I rented for the occasion and is attended by a variety of woodland creatures who are all prospective indie authors.  Once again, it is my hope that my dialog with these furry and fluffy prospective authors will make this post worthwhile (aka entertaining) for the massive blog audience of non-writers.

    But I’ve been wrong before.

    Let us begin….

     

    *Betsy is sitting on a large boulder in a clearing in the middle of a forest* *She looks up when one bunny, two squirrels, an opossum and a hedgehog enter the clearing*

    Wait, this is it? Goldarnit! They promised there would be flyers this time! There are less of you this week than there was last week!

    *The woodland creatures exchange a look* *Shrug* *Settle down around the boulder*

    Whatever. *Betsy mutters as she flips through her papers* So, this week we’re going to talk about going exclusive with Amazon and why I decided to do that for now for my Hardy Falls ebooks.

    *Tapping from various tablet computers*

    *Betsy settles back* An independent author basically has two options for publishing ebooks. We can publish them with a wide distribution, or we can be exclusive with Amazon through their KDP Select program.

    *Hedgehog raises his paw*

    Yes?

    You mean that an independent author can publish ebooks other places besides Amazon?

    Oh, my yes. An independent author can publish ebooks on almost every ebook platform known to man. That’s what we mean when we say “wide distribution.” You can publish your ebook everywhere on every site you can find, either by yourself or through an aggregator like Draft2Digital. Amazon’s definitely the biggest ebook store out there, but you can also publish on Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and everywhere else.

    *The aggressive squirrel from last week spits out an acorn cap* So, that’s good, right?

    Well, sometimes. But not always.

    *The squirrel frowns* Being everywhere is better than being in just one place.

    *Betsy chuckles* That’s what I thought too. However, I recently pulled the books I have control over (the Hardy Falls books) from the other stores and went exclusive with Amazon.

    *The bunny stares* What? They were in all the stores, and you decided to pull them back? Why do that? And why now?

    Yeah. *The opossum looks up* I thought you have trust issues.

    Oh my, but I do. I hate the thought of putting all my eggs in one basket. Especially an exceedingly large and perhaps even soulless basket owned by a major corporation. But I think it’s the best choice for me for now.

    *The hedgehog shakes his head* I don’t get it.

    *Betsy smiles indulgently* I completely understand. There are a couple of good reasons why I switched for now. But first, let’s talk about the differences in the way the major online stores work, at least as far as I know.

    *The other squirrel frowns* Don’t they all work the same?

    No. Nook, iBooks, and Kobo all operate more like traditional bookstores. There are humans involved in deciding which books get featured on the site and which books get promoted to readers. Think of it like books being displayed at the front of a bookstore.  If a writer has name recognition or a personal connection with the sales representative (like maybe they met at a conference), their books have a better chance of being put forward because the sales rep knows the book exists. That’s wonderful – but not for me since I don’t have connections at this point. I’m sure momentum can build, even for a new author without the rep’s attention, but it is much harder.

    *The squirrel continues to frown* So, what about Amazon?

    Amazon doesn’t work that way, and that’s one of their big advantages for an author like me. Amazon is really much more of a data company than a traditional bookstore. Each time you go on their site, they track every move you make, every breath you take. Their recommendations are for you specifically, based on the data they’ve gathered about you. They have sales reps too, but they’re less important.

    *The opossum looks concerned* That’s kind of creepy.

    *Betsy shrugs* It sure is, but it’s Big Data. It also means that someone like me can still get in front of readers, even though I don’t have the name recognition or backlist of a Nora Roberts. If the Amazon algorithm thinks a customer will like my book based on their past purchases, that customer gets an email recommendation. That’s why “also boughts” are important. The Amazon algorithm looks at what the people who bought your book also bought; then it links your book to that other book. It will promote your book to the people who bought that other book because they are linked.

    Okay. *The aggressive squirrel looks uncertain* But that still doesn’t explain why you went exclusive with Amazon. That “also bought” stuff is for every book.

    Yes, but Amazon offers some major benefits for going exclusive with them. I was giving up those benefits to have my book available in all the other stores.

    *The bunny hops* But your sales in the other stores made up for that, right?

    *Betsy laughs so hard she falls off the boulder* *Scrambles back up* Sorry, sorry. Give me a second. *Wheezes* Okay. Did you listen to the part about my books not getting attention on the other stores? In the time since “Handling It” has been out, I think I’ve sold three copies on the other stores – and I know who I sold them to.

    Oh. *the woodland creatures exchange a glance* *tap on tablets*

    Which means that, although 99.99% of any sales I’ve made have been on Amazon, I’ve been giving up the perks Amazon offers for exclusivity to be in wide release.

    *The bunny waves her hand* What are the perks?

    Primarily for me, it’s Kindle Unlimited. That’s a subscription service where people pay a monthly fee and can read as many of the ebooks in the program as they like for free.  Only books exclusive with Amazon can be in Kindle Unlimited. The author still gets paid for the number of pages read – not as much as a sale, but something – and the borrow counts as a sale for author rankings. That’s a wonderful program for an author who doesn’t have a lot of name recognition or a backlist. It encourages people – in my case the avid romance readers in KU – to check out a new author without any risk. But there is also the Prime borrowing program, countdown deals, free days and other programs you have access to by being exclusive.

    Ohhhhh. *The hedgehog nods* Do you think you’ll be exclusive with Amazon forever and ever?

    No. I want to be in the other stores. I want to be everywhere. But for now, until I have more books in the series finished, I’ll probably stay exclusive.

    *The aggressive squirrel looks unconvinced* What about print books?

    This is for ebooks only. The print books are still available everywhere. I think we’ll talk more about print books some other time because they are their own animal. Um, excuse the expression.

    *Frowning squirrel is frowning* But it means that Amazon is, like, really, really important now.

    *Betsy winces* I know. But I didn’t sell any books on the other platforms anyway, so what do I have to lose? And it’s not forever. Until I have more books published, Amazon will be friendlier to me than the other vendors (and Amazon’s not terribly friendly).

    *The opossum raises paw*

    Yes?

    Do you think you might be making a huge mistake?

    Oh. *Betsy sighs* The possibility is excellent. But for now, I’ll see how it goes.

    *The woodland creatures exchange a look* *Gather up their tablet computers and leave the post*

     

  • Writing Everything Down

    As we all know, Betsy is flailing around like a sock puppet trying to be a successful independent author / publisher. That’s not new. But now she has goals AND a production schedule. She seems to actually be interested in taking her game to the next level.

    However, Skipper, a chipmunk who is a Habit Implementation Specialist sent by the Muse Council to help Betsy develop and meet her goals, has asked Betsy to come see her in her office in Betsy’s brain. Whatever can she want? Isn’t she satisfied with the progress Betsy’s making?

    Let’s see….

     

     

    *Betsy walks into Skipper’s office* *throws herself down on the sofa across from Skipper’s desk*

    Whaaaaaaat?

    *Skipper looks up from the paperwork she’s been perusing* You’re here! Awesome! We need to talk.

    *Betsy flops back on the sofa and closes her eyes*

    Whhhyyyyy? I’m doing what you want me to do. I’ve got goals and a production schedule and everything.

    Yes. *Skipper shoves the papers aside and hops up on her desk* *Strikes cheerleading pose* But there’s still room for improvement!

    Oh, come on! *Betsy arches her back and stomps her feet against the cushion* I’m doing good!

    *Skipper considers her and settles onto her haunches* No you’re not. You’re wasting time.

    *Betsy settles back down* I am not. *She sounds uncertain*

    Right. *Skipper looks at Betsy with her big, dark eyes* How much time have you spent on social media or email in these last few weeks? How often have you checked your KDP dashboard or your Amazon rankings? Sound familiar?

    Maybe I get on the Internet a little bit. Now and then. *Betsy sits up and picks at a thread on the sofa cushion* *Mutters* I have a stupid production schedule.

    *Skipper sits and folds her little paws on her little knee* Do you actually want to hit it?

    *Betsy sticks out her bottom lip*  Yesssss.

    Then it’s not good enough for you to just HAVE a production schedule and goals. You need to work towards them consistently. And that means you can’t waste all of your time.

    *Betsy’s pout deepens* I sit down at the computer. I sit down every day. And I make time to write, too!

    *Skipper cocks her head* And do you write?

    *Betsy picks at the thread* *Mutters* Sometimes.

    Sometimes. And sometimes you don’t do anything but surf the web. You’re making the time, but you’re also getting pulled down rabbit holes into unproductive paths.

    *Betsy scowls at her* Okay, fine. Yes. I surf the web sometimes. But I’m writing, too. So, what does it matter? I’m getting things done.

    It matters because you might be able to work more efficiently and maybe even hit that production schedule you’re so proud of making. But first, you have to see what you’re really doing.

    *Betsy’s scowl deepens* How am I supposed to do that?

    *Skipper smiles* You need to write everything down and track it.

    *Betsy gapes at her* Everything? You mean EVERYTHING everything?

    *Skipper nods* Everything. When do you sit down to write? How much time are you spending? How many words are you writing in that time? What are you writing? Your fiction? A blog post? Everything.

    Oh, good gravy! *Betsy jumps to her feet and flails her arms* I can’t do all of that!

    Yes, you can! *Skipper pumps both paws in the air*  And you need to write down that production schedule and post on your refrigerator, not squirrel, excuse the expression, it away in a notebook somewhere.

    *Betsy puts her hands to her head* That’s so much!

    But wait, there’s more! You also have to write out a task list to tell you the things you need to do that are not connected with the actual writing.

    *Betsy’s face crumples* But whyyyyyyyy?

    Because. You need to shine a light on your process and make it solid. You need to find out what’s really going on and keep it in your mind. You need to know what needs to be done and when you need to do it. That’s the only way we’ll be able to make things better.

    *Betsy crosses her arms and stomps her foot* I hate you.

    No, you don’t. And this is important. Writing everything down makes you aware of what you’re really doing, what you need to do, and by when. Not just what you imagine is happening. It will be a first step we can build on.

    *Betsy gapes* There will be more?

    Yes! Yes! *Skipper’s patience is fraying* Do you want to do this thing or don’t you?

    *Betsy drops her head and scuffs her foot on the floor* *Bottom lip is protruding to a dangerous degree* *Mutters*
    I want to do it. It’s just that it’s such a paaaiiiiinnn to do all of this work.

    *Skipper sighs* We have to know. For example, are you writing more in the morning or the evening?

    I write more in the morning.

    *Skipper holds up a paw* No, you WANT to write more in the morning. But how much are you ACTUALLY writing in the morning?

    *Betsy frowns* I sit at the computer in the morning.

    *Skipper puts her paws to her head and tears out a little fur* Oh, for heaven’s sakes. Do me a favor and just fill in a darned spreadsheet, would you? If you want to write in the mornings, and you’re not writing in the mornings, then we need to change things up so you DO write in the mornings.

    *Betsy shuffles her feet* Okaaaaay.

    And don’t forget the production schedule and the task list. Track everything. Because you can’t tell what you need to change until you see it.

    *Betsy pouts* And I really have to do all of this?

    *Skipper shrugs* Only if you want to get better.

    I want to get better.

    Well?

    *Betsy sighs* Okay.

     

    To be continued…

  • Why I Probably Should Have Had More Than One Book Ready Before I Published

    As I mentioned in a prior blog post, I’ve had a number of people ask me about independent / self publishing.  I decided to write more posts about what I’m doing regarding said publishing, why I’m doing it, and what I’m doing wrong in the hopes it may help others.  This is one of those posts.

    In order to write this post, and those that might follow, I have reserved a meeting space in the woods (for the fairly high price of four bags of non-genetically modified corn) so I can reach out to the little furry woodland creatures in the area who are interested in indie publishing.  Hopefully this will generate some synergy and dialogue to make these posts more worthwhile (aka entertaining).

    Let us begin…

     

    *Betsy is sitting on a boulder in the middle of a clearing, deep in a forest*  *After a moment, small woodland creatures enter and settle around the boulder*  *Specifically, there are two bunnies, four squirrels, an opossum, and a  hedgehog*

    *Betsy looks at her audience and frowns*  This is it?  There were supposed to be flyers.

    *The woodland creatures shrug*

    Well, okay.  *Betsy clears her throat*  Today’s presentation is about why it is better to write a series, and to have more than one book in the series written before you publish the first book in the series.

    *The creatures all pull out their various tablet computers and dutifully tap a few notes* *The hedgehog raises her paw*

    Yes?

    Why should we listen to you?

    *Betsy smiles*  Because I did it wrong.

    *The hedgehog frowns*  That’s not good.

    No, it is.  Because I did it wrong, I can tell you why it was wrong and why I did it anyway even though I knew it was probably wrong and what I’m thinking I’m going to do about it now.

    *The hedgehog keeps frowning*  What if you’re doing other things wrong?

    Oh, I’m sure that I am.  *Betsy smiles confidently* But I can only talk about what I know I did wrong now that I know I did it wrong.  If I’m still doing it wrong, and I don’t know it’s wrong yet, then I can’t tell you it’s wrong.  Right?

    *The woodland creatures look at each other*

    Okay. *The hedgehog sounds uncertain*

    *Betsy adjusts papers*  Good.  So when you first think that you’re going to be a fiction writer, most experts tell you that you should write a series, and that you should have several books in the series ready before you publish.  Does anyone know how many books you’re supposed to have finished before you publish?

    *Paws are raised*

    Yes? *Betsy points at the opossum*

    Lynn Kurland said you should have at least three books ready.

    *Betsy points at a squirrel*

    Liliana Hart said you should have at least five books done.

    That’s right.  *Betsy nods*  I would say that Liliana Hart is more correct.  I’ve heard multiple authors say they didn’t start to make any sales at all until the fifth book was out.  So, let’s say the more books you have ready in a series, the better.

    *A small squirrel looks up from his tablet*  Is that what you did?

    *Betsy smiles benevolently*  Good heavens, no!  Can anyone guess what I said to myself when I was starting?

    Oh!  Oh!

    Yes?  *Betsy points to the gesticulating bunny*

    *She clears her throat*  You said, “Dear God, if I wait until I have five books ready, I’ll be a hundred years old! I’m not going to wait!  I’m putting it out now!”

    *Betsy nods* Yes.  Yes, I did.

    *A large, aggressive squirrel frowns*  So that was wrong?

    *Betsy leans back on the boulder*  Oh my, yes.  The experts are right.  If you can wait, you should have several books in a series written before you publish the first one.

    *The aggressive squirrel persists*  So then it was bad.

    Not exactly.

    *The squirrel shakes his head* Huh?

    *Betsy smiles*  I don’t really regret what I did.  I was so terrified of publishing, that if I’d waited I probably would never have followed through. For me, it was definitely more important to get the books out there. And for the Hardy Falls books, publishing has helped me work my way through the learning curve of independent publication. But it really wasn’t the best idea to put the books out one at a time, with a year (or years) in between.

    Why does it matter anyway? *The opossum is squinting*  So what if you don’t have them all done?

    *Betsy shakes her head sagely*  Think about the age we live in. In the same way that people binge-watch Netflix or Hulu, they pack their Kindles with books and binge-read. We love book series in the same way we love television series. We want to invest in characters or a place for multiple books, not just one. We want to live with these people. That’s especially true in romance, where series and trilogies have a long history, but it’s equally true for every genre.  Think “Lord of the Rings.”

    Ooooohhhhh.  *Tapping from various tablets*

    So, not only do you want to put out a series, you want to have multiple books in the series ready to go when you start. In our world, there are just too many distractions competing for people’s attention. Too many movies. Too many shows. Too many games. Too many books. If you can’t deliver new books relatively quickly, you are forgotten and lose any momentum you might be building. Millions of authors are publishing books every day, there are plenty of other things for people to read. They will forget you in a heartbeat.

    Like you.  *A squirrel looks up*  You aren’t delivering quickly at all.

    *Betsy squirms*  Well, um, no.

    So do we have to take years and years and have the whole series ready first?  *One of the bunnies is frowning*

    Well, no.  But if you have a couple of books ready, you can publish them every month or every two months for a while. That keeps your name out there in the new release column and gives you time to be working on the next books while you’re finding your audience. And if people like your books, you have a backlist for them to work through.

    Instead of just one or two.  *The hedgehog mutters*

    Right.  And if you are a reader like me, you’ve waited to start a series because you wanted to see if the author would let it drop or if they would persevere. There’s nothing I hate more than starting a series and being left hanging because the author doesn’t continue. I often don’t even start reading a series until there are at least three books out there.

    *The frowning bunny continues to frown*   Which is why it was stupid for you to write the prequel to “Handling It” first, instead of immediately writing Hardy Falls book 2

    *Betsy fidgets*  Um, right.  But I had my reasons.  *Woodland creatures stare at her*  I did!  Except, um, at the moment I don’t have any proof that the series is going to move forward, because I kind of took it backward.

    So what are you going to do now?  *The hedgehog sounds a little dubious*

    *Betsy beams*  Well, I’m glad you asked.  Hardy Falls Book 2 takes place in the time leading up to Thanksgiving. Book 2.5 takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So instead of rushing to get them published, I’m planning to release them in the fall.

    Assuming you get them done.  *The frowning bunny frowns*

    Then I can release them in the appropriate season, and I’ll be able to release 2 and 2.5 closer together.

    If they’re done.  *The frowning bunny crosses her arms*

    And I’ll be working to make sure Hardy Falls Book 3 can come out soon after Book 2.5

    If you get it done.  *The frowning bunny taps a foot*

    *Betsy winces* Uh, right.

    But you won’t have any new books until the fall, then. *The hedgehog is frowning too*

    *The aggressive squirrel shrugs*  Does it matter?  She doesn’t have any momentum anyway.

    *Now Betsy is frowning*  Hey! I need to have things to publish.  Then I’ll worry about momentum.

    *The opossum looks stern*  As long as you actually get the books done.

    Right.  *The frowning bunny agrees*

    Yes!  Yes!  *Betsy throws up her hands*  It all depends on whether or not I get the books finished.

    *The woodland creatures exchange looks*  *They all shake their heads and gather up their tablet computers*  *One by one, they leave the post*

    *Betsy calls after them*  Don’t forget to come back now!  Lots more to say!

    *silence*