This week, I didn't get to spend much time actually writing. Between editing, researching projects, assigning rewrites of old content, and a ton of behind-the-scenes stuff for my projects, I didn't get in as much time hitting the keys as I would have liked. Nonetheless, the things I worked on this week were quite north of important. So, it wasn't like I was wasting time.
All of the things I did this week worked to improve all of those brands and clients later on. In my world, everything centers around playing the long game.
Spending the Money for Autocrit
I've decided to pay for a year for Autocrit. It's $144, or some such, and I'm hoping that I can make that up in ad revenue from WriterSanctuary.com or perhaps boost views and watch time for the YouTube channel.
Some aspects of Autocrit that I've seen so far aren't too bad. Keep in mind that I am VERY anti-AI and will NEVER use AI-generated content whether it's for my manuscripts or cover art. However, there are a few interesting tools and reporting elements that pique my interest, mostly because I am a dork when it comes to numbers.
So far, spending about $150 on Atticus has helped me generate quite a bit of traffic on YouTube. And the Scrivener videos are among the top 10 every month. So, perhaps Autocrit can help me get over the threshold for joining the YouTube Partner Program. Not to mention driving a bit more traffic to the blog.
As they say, "You need to spend money to make money." There's only so much you can do reviewing free products. Who knows, perhaps I can generate a few affiliate sales with the content?
Working On Fixing Up the Blogs
One of my goals this year is to get all of the blogs to a point where they drive a similar amount of traffic to WriterSanctuary.com. And I have my work cut out for me considering they are severely lacking. That was where I spent a lot of time this past week.
It's a bit of a pain to decide what content is "helpful" according to Google and what needs to stay simply because the subscribers like reading the post. It's a delicate balance if you want to keep the site at the top for search results regarding specific topics.
With the schedule I have now, it shouldn't be too difficult to get all four major blogs on a schedule of at least one new post per week, minimum. Now that everything is somewhat in order, I should be able to get them all on that routine within the next week or so. Let's just hope that my efforts are worth it in the long run.
Writing Three Different Books This Weekend?
As I didn't have much time to work on my books this week, I am going to focus on three blocks of two hours each on Saturday - one for each book. This includes the new one I'm writing for the Reedsy Master Class, Fury (the sequel to Kingmaker), and VII (the story on Wattpad). Two hours really isn't a lot of time, but it's better than none at all.
I just realized how often I say similar things. Maybe I should stop planning and just do it. Every time I have a logical, awesome, productive plan in place, life throws yet another element to disrupt that balance. Next week, I'll have to play chauffeur for everyone, which is going to tap a lot of time.
It's exceptionally difficult to maintain a successful flow when working from home. At times, it makes me yearn for the days when I worked at a title insurance company from 8 to 5. Then again, we also didn't have social media, smartphones, and other distractions. If someone called you at work, it was because of an emergency. Nowadays, everyone can contact you anywhere for any reason.
Anyway, the plan is to work on the books on Saturday while crossing my fingers that chaos takes the day off.
Printed Copies of Kingmaker Are SO Dark
I received my paperbacks this week for Kingmaker for the monthly members. Everyone gets an autographed copy from me for free, but I am quite disappointed in the darkness of the prints. You can barely make out the imagery on the covers. This was after submitting a much lighter version.
It appears as though Amazon ignored the updated version of the cover and used the original to run the author copies. I'm lightening the image one more time and will wait a couple of days before ordering more, but it upsets me something fierce.
This drives the point of looking for my own printing services and cutting Amazon out of the equation for paperback and hardcovers. At least, adding my own printed versions on the website to sell directly.
Now that I think about it some, I bet it would make a great series of blog posts and videos to do so. I guess I'll schedule some time this week to dive into printing services. Good times.
It's Gonna Be a Busy Week!
Not only do I have an awful lot on my plate this week, but I also have to drive across Colorado and make multiple trips across Denver. I'm not sure how much time I'll actually get to myself next week, but I can assure you, it'll be time well spent.
Especially if I can get a video out that can drive more than 4 consistent views per day. That's what I need to outperform the top Textbroker video on the channel for the number 6 spot of the top 10. You'd think it would be relatively easy. But for a writing/educational channel operated by a 47-year-old guy in a cluttered office, it's quite difficult.
Have a great week, and I'll see you next time.