Is it safe to come out yet?

Honestly, is there anyone out there who doesn't know I have a new book out? I've hit it hard over the last month or so on the promotional front. It takes time to write all those pieces. Then I have to organize my volunteer hosts, and participate in any comments we might get.

This is harder than it sounds, because I don't assign specific dates to the tour posts. I give the hosts some loose parameters, and live with what I get. I asked my hosts not to post on Thursdays, because Lisa Burton Radio is that day. My own guests deserve their day in the spotlight.

There were a couple of review posts that I didn't calculate into the mix, but I tried to support them too. I know there has been a lot of reblogging on my site through this phase. If I can benefit from my hosts' traffic, maybe they can benefit from some of mine too. It isn't much, but it feels polite to me.

Then there is the fact that all of the posts were unique. It wasn't like reading the same thing over and over. I also liked the Lisa Burton posters for this book. If you missed any of them, I included them as back of the book material. For 99¢ you can have all three of them.

The tour worked out well for mid summer. I moved about a dozen copies per day at first, and it's now trickled down to one per day. That may not sound like much, but that's all the promo I've done too. I was going to advertise on Facebook, but they've pissed me off lately. They push me to boost or advertise every single post I make. Let's face it, not every post is worth spending $20 on.

You authors out there would have met some wonderful supportive hosts if you went on the tour. Don't underestimate the value of knowing a few people like that. Someday you'll want to make a blog tour too, and there's no time like the present to make a few friends. I owe these hosts a lot, and you may see some of them over here from time to time.

I'm pretty happy as it stands now. Reviews are trickling in, and every book needs more. The point is that I have some. I got within three notches of one of the Amazon charts, but never did hit the top 100. It would have been great, but it could still happen. The Amazon machine is strange. Sell three or four in an hour and land a review on the same day and poof – top 100.

I'm checking for reviews a few times every day, but I'll calm down soon. I always have. The reviews have been positive, and that makes me very happy. This book was a risk in my mind, and those who took a chance seem to have enjoyed it.

Tomorrow I need to work on more Lisa Burton Radio posts. I have next week's post ready, I only need to assemble and schedule it. This isn't enough though. I also need to finalize the week after, and work up a couple more shticks.

I have some editing on my horizon too. Depending on how things go, I may even tackle some micro-fiction for October.

Hope you guys enjoyed the tour. Thanks for sticking with me through it, and thanks for reading and reviewing my newest book. There are more on the way.

Did you notice my restraint? No book title, no purchase link. If you're dying to know, scroll through my recent posts.

A post of opportunity

When I sent out all of my blog tour posts, I never gave anyone specific dates to post them. I figured I’d be happy that anyone volunteered to host me at all. I think it’s a respectful way of borrowing other folks’ blog space.

It puts me in the position of watching my WordPress Reader so I can support those posts when they do go up. I knew this would be the case, this isn’t my first blog tour. I haven’t seen a new one today, so I’m checking in. If one goes up this evening, I’ll post right over the top of this post with no remorse at all.

Sales are doing well so far. I never did get close to the top 100 list again, but each review bumps the standings higher. I’ve watched these things for years, and a cluster of sales will do it, as will a couple of reviews in rapid succession. Shy of asking everyone to do something at a specific time, I’m at the mercy of the Fates. This feels right to me. Hitting a top 100 list is nice, but in the long run it doesn’t accomplish much. It’s like collecting a badge in a video game; makes you happy for a while and that’s about it. Staying there for a length of time is another matter.

The odd thing is that both of my Experimental Notebooks have started selling again. They are doing pretty well too. I’m not promoting them at all, only The Enhanced League. Could people be following Enhanced League to my author page, then getting a glimpse of those awesome covers and changing direction? I’m not complaining at all, I just find it interesting.

We’ve had some nice comment threads on a few of the tour posts, and I invite you to join in. I enjoy talking (writing) with everyone. The tour should wrap up by next weekend or shortly thereafter.

The air conditioner broke down on Wednesday. This created a huge panic at our house, because we’ve already had one heat stroke disaster and don’t want another one. We got the bulldogs through with wet bandanas, the ceiling fan, and their wading pool. I had an odd flex day this week and was able to be home for the repair man. All is well now, and it was under warranty.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Try to stay cool, maybe dig between the seat cushions and find 99 cents and check out The Enhanced League. It’s okay if you get distracted and wind up with an Experimental Notebook instead. What? Oh, just click that cover picture in my sidebar. Thanks.

Palindrome Week

It turns out they are declaring this to be palindrome week. Palindromes are those unusual words that are spelled the same backwards as forward. The one I remember as an example is racecar.

This week it's all about the numbers. If you write the date down today looks like this 71017. This wonderful situation lasts until the nineteenth, or 71917.

I'm celebrating with a pint bottle of Elesyian Split Shot milk stout. How are you celebrating? You are celebrating, right?

In other news, The Enhanced League crept toward one of Amazon's lists and stopped at about 103. Then it started nosediving.

This is without any blog tour posts showing up. I think the situation could improve after a few of the posts go live. Just in case you missed it, here is the purchase link.

I have some other posts to write and will probably get to it after this goes live. I have to check my list and see who I still owe something to.

Today’s Efforts

You might guess that I spent a lot of my time today sending out blog tour posts. I have a bunch of them pre-written, but got a few requests for some custom pieces and wrote those too. I still have half a dozen to send out, and a few more to prepare. There are also some long term supporters who I haven’t heard from yet, and I expect them to show up too. These are people with lives, who don’t spend every waking moment behind a keyboard. I expect to custom write a few of these pieces too.

Preparing blog posts is easy enough on work nights. I’ll tap away at them throughout the coming week. It’s easier to support all of my hosts if they spread out a bit too. My posts are all unique, so watch this space to keep up with my personal challenges, Lisa art posts, and more.

Lisa Burton Radio is all scheduled for this week, and I know what’s going up next week too. I’m in good shape there.

I also cracked open a new book today. I didn’t get far, because Frankie needed a lot of poodle time, and we played a lot of ball too. I always miss the best events with my video camera, but posted the final few seconds of Frankie chasing the reflection of a wristwatch over on Facebook. It’s like cats with laser-pointers, but with a bulldog puppy. Unfortunately, I missed her lioness stalk, rush, and pounce.

I need to start my next Story Empire post, and have a vague idea of what I want to write. I have a week plus to post it, so it has time to take form.

My baseball team took a nosedive over the past week, and it feels like they need the Allstar Break to regroup. I hope this is the case, and they can return refreshed and tough for the second half. I managed to watch a few games, and pieces of others. I also played a few video games in the late evening.

Finally, this makes me happy. Maybe it will make you happy too.

With a Little Help from my Friends

It feels like it's been a long time coming, but The Enhanced League is a genuine book now. I played the usual games with my Mac before uploading it. It generally works like this:

“You've been logged out. Please enter your iCloud password.”

I loaded my password.

“You have upgrades.”

I start downloading the newest and greatest to the operating system.

“Your upgrades have just been upgraded.”

I start over. Looks like it will take about thirty minutes. I check back in half an hour. Twenty seven minutes remaining.

Play with he dogs and talk to my daughter before checking back.

“You've successfully upgraded your operating system. Please enter your iCloud password.”

When I clicked the keys, nothing happened. Replace the batteries in everything.

“Something went wrong. You have upgrades.”

Start all over again. Repeat the waiting times, and password entry.

“Do you want to activate Siri on this machine?”

“Whatever! Just get on with it already.”

“Please enter your messenger password.”

“I don't even want messenger on this machine!!!” I click the red dot to close the window.

“Please enter you messenger password.”

“FINE!”

Anyway, after about three hours I was allowed to do the only thing I need the Mac for. Everything else can be done on my iPad.

I just got the email from Amazon that I am live right now.

I'm not the best blurb writer, but here's what I wrote:

The Enhanced league is a collection of short stories and anthems centered around a year in a fictional baseball league. It has a slight science fiction background. This league has a lot more pomp than you might be used to, and nobody seems to care if the players use performance enhancing drugs.

Stories involve existing heroes, up and comers, and falling stars. While there are the obvious stories that take place on the field of play, there are also human interest stories that take place around the baseball gyrations. These stories involve scouting, trades, ruthless business decisions, and even relationships.

I enjoyed researching and bringing you The Enhanced League, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. — CB

***

This is where I ask for a little help from my friends. There are a few things you can do to help, if you're willing.

First is to reach down inside the couch and find ninety-nine cents (99¢), then go to Amazon and pick up a copy of The Enhanced League. This is the link. The widget on my sidebar is also linked. If you need an e-reader, there is a link for one of those on the side too. Grab a hotdog and a beer and have some fun with it.

Second, I need some blog hosts. I have several different posts already written. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to participate. You can request me, or a visit from Lisa Burton, and Lisa has some awesome new posters to share with a baseball theme to them. Let me know in the comments.

I also have a couple of posts I've written by request, and need to get them out to the hosts.

Third, don't be afraid to share the news, reblog one of the posts that pops up online, and tell your friends. I'll be doing the same on your new releases.

Finally, to the awesome group of volunteers who served as beta readers. I used many of your suggestions to improve this book. There is no expectation whatsoever, but if you'd like to post a review I'd really appreciate it.

I'm off to do a whole list of things next. These involve Goodreads, pinned tweets, my book club and more. I'll surf through and keep up with the comments.

In and out

I lost an hour today because I got a haircut and went for some food. We lost our Wingers, but they reopened in a new location. I had a craving for some sticky fingers and brought a batch home.

I finished my short story draft. It's a bit long at 5600 words, but it needs an editing pass or two. I usually lose words at that point. I'd like to send it in by the Fourth, that would give me plenty of time to make any edits they suggest. I like it, but it could use a little something. They always can.

I got more interview work done too. I stopped counting, but I have three almost ready to schedule, and a couple more shticks sent out to the authors.

Tomorrow I want to work on the editing, and write a couple more blog tour posts. I won't be checking in tomorrow, because I have a guest I'm hosting. He deserves his day in the sun, so be sure to make him feel welcome.

That's it, quick and dirty check-in. Hope you're all having a great weekend.

Tuning up a manuscript

I woke up at 6:30 today. Hey, my wife had to work, and I'm on vacation. If the puppies let me sleep that long, I'm taking advantage of it.

I made it out to the writing cabin about 7:30. I had three dogs to feed, and forced Otto into a short, slow walk around the park next door. He's been pretty sedentary, and I wanted him to move around a little bit.

Lisa is still gone, having scheduled her own vacation right after she finished up posing for Sean Harrington. Right now, it's just me and Doubt the raven. A little bit of that New Orleans chicory coffee and I went to work.

I opened up The Enhanced League and started into my reading. My beta readers all pointed out things I used, and I wanted a final reading to make sure everything still flowed. They all had some ideas I didn't use too, but that's kind of how beta reading works. These wonderful people helped me make the book so much better.

Doubt spotted a spelling error and a formatting issue too. For these short stories, I usually start off with a date followed by a colon. Some of them had a location immediately after that, and some didn't. I revamped everything, replacing the colons with periods, and made sure they all had a location. This involved my fictional broadcast team being in some places where the location isn't relevant to the story, but that's how I did it. If nothing else, it helps define how big the league is.

I sent off an email to my formatter. I last contacted her in late April, and feel bad for taking so long. Life has a way of interrupting my writing career, and that isn't all bad either.

I decided to break up the work by assembling and scheduling a guest post for tomorrow. This is pretty simple to do, but it takes some time. I emailed the advance link back to the guest, and checked that off my task list.

Then I decided to start writing blog tour posts of my own. I only managed one, about something new in this book that I call anthems. I wrote about my inspiration to create them, and how I used them in the book. I still have more posts to write, but it feels good to get started.

That's when the phone rang. “Hello.”

“Hi, this is Lisa. Just wanted to see how you're getting along.”

“Oh, fine. It's the first day of my vacation. How's your vacation?”

“It's good, I finished up with Sean yesterday and grabbed a bus out of town.”

“A bus?”

“You know robot girls can't pass through TSA machines. It's a bus or come home to get the rocket-pack.”

“Oh yeah, from the second Notebook. Where did you decide to go?”

“I'm in sunny Southern California right now. There are cruise ships operating out of San Diego, and I may decide to play a little blackjack.”

“Hardly fair with your card counting skills.”

“It isn't illegal to be smarter than they are. Besides, it's my main source of spending money.”

“What about your paycheck?”

“That's cute, but it doesn't provide the kind of wardrobe I'm used to.”

“Well, try to have a good time. Then I need you to help me with a time travel story. Right after that I need to polish up The Yak Guy Project. Before you know it, we'll be starting on The Hat, and Estivation. We need some Macabre Macaroni stories too.”

“It all sounds like fun. The posters are going to be awesome.”

“With you and Sean, I never have any doubts. Can't wait to see them. Do you think I need to find a bus depot and pick you up eventually?”

“Um, I'll keep you posted on that. Bye.”

Research Note: The Henderson Motorcycle Company was an American company. If it were still around, it would be revered right alongside Harley Davidson. They were part of the Schwinn Bicycle company. The Henderson Streamliner is an Art Deco masterpiece.