If it wasn't for someone I follow on Twitter, I would have completely forgotten it was Friday the 13th. And if I had a bit of prep time, I probably would have streamed Phasmophobia on YouTube or something. Oh well, that's what happens when you're not paying attention and have too much going on at the same time.
Every passing day just makes me realize why people pay for a personal assistant.
In any case, I hope your week went well and that you were able to crank out some great writing goals. I know I'm still within striking distance of setting more personal records in terms of productivity. Though, I do wish I was able to get more of the fun projects going. But like I've said before, client work takes precedence because they are paying my bills.
Too Many Ads on the Site
I'm setting up the content for the Basic ad sharing platform. And although it does, indeed, generate more income than AdSense, I don't like how it saturates WriterSanctuary with ads. I mean, wow, 15 ads per page?
Unfortunately, once I confirm a payout from Ezoic, I need to switch and show that many ads from AdSense for the same amount of time. This is to show how much Basic generates on average compared to AdSense.
This means my blog is going to look like a hot mess for another two months or so.
Having too many ads on a site is probably one of the biggest driving factors for people to use ad blockers. When you can't read the content because there are simply too many advertisements, it takes away from the user experience. In turn, this reduces the chances of visitors coming back for future posts.
The problem is that Basic doesn't let you adjust the number of ads, so I need to run it as-is. And then to get an accurate comparison, I need to set Auto-ads in AdSense to do the same thing.
I promise after this case study is done, I'll never saturate WriterSanctuary.com like this again.
Ready for Some Videos Next Week?
Using various tools, I have some videos planned out for the YouTube channel next week. In fact, I'm making them throughout the weekend. I've also got a few ideas for the other channels that might start going out soon.
Perhaps the hardest part for me is editing. As I don't have a lot of time on my hands and do everything myself, it gets difficult on some days to publish videos. Especially when you have a client who launches major projects that you need to set up and organize throughout the week.
Unfortunately, I don't have the money to pay someone to edit the videos. Maybe one of these days, I can start adding staff. That would be nice...to delegate a lot of the stuff I do throughout the week.
As it stands, the people who say they'll help me out for free don't do much to actually help. Eh, I guess you get what you pay for.
Getting Kingmaker Rolling on Reedsy
Today, I'm doing a video on setting up a book in Reedsy and adding writing goals. I've had a few people ask me about it and how well the free book editor app works, so I figured it would be a good place to start. Not to mention that I like Reedsy for setting up the book over Kindle Create.
For one thing, it doesn't look like Reedsy is near as buggy.
Anyway, if all goes well and I can keep a handle on everything, today will mark the first day that I maintain my YouTube upload schedule. I'm kind of making it a goal for 2022. It's been a long time since I had a steady flow of videos published throughout the week.
Again, knock on wood, I would love to have Kingmaker published before my birthday. And time is ticking pretty damn quick.
Changing Up Amazon Ads for the A Freelancer's Tale
I'm changing up the ads on Amazon for A Freelancer's Tale, my first book. Now, I know it probably won't sell a lot of copies simply because of how extremely niche the topic is, but it would be nice to get a feel for the ad system before publishing Kingmaker.
I've done a bit of research, found some viable keyphrases, am changing the book description a bit, lowering the price, and a few other things for the next month. Now, I'm not dropping it too low. The point is to find a method that can boost sales while still making money in royalties. After all, the whole point of selling on Amazon is to make money, right?
I need to also set aside some time to look at other ways to promote the book...which includes remembering to email Barnes & Noble so they can fix my account.
How Did Your Week Go?
Even though the plates are wobbling on their sticks, I still have them balanced. Though, I think a good chunk of that has more to do with luck than skill. Yet, things are still going better than they did last year, and that's my primary focus.
What kind of awesomeness did you do this week?