By James L Hill (aka J. L. Hill)
I was in between assignments from my BPJ (that’s Bill Paying Job), I thought this is a great opportunity to live the life of a fulltime writer. I would finish the next book in my Killer Series, Killer With Three Heads, after all I was already a couple of chapters in. I’d have it out before the end of the summer. That was the perception.
Here is the deception. I still needed to promote the two books I have out. Okay, no problem, I’d make use of some time in the morning and post to that wonder of social media, Facebook. I joined around 50 book promotion groups. I wrote a half dozen snappy and catchy ad post for each book. I spent 2 hours a day on each book posting. That is four hours a day, I broke it up into 2 sessions, a morning and evening, that way I get maximum exposure. But no work was done on the next book, and no real sales to speak of either. But I did pick up followers and made many new friends. As a writer, learn to look on the bright side of life.
I increased my exposure on LinkedIn. Joined far fewer groups, and started receiving a multitude of emails. Everyday I read through 20 to 50 messages, and respond to maybe 10 that I could relate to. This is keeping my in box full and taking up more time during the day, but it is okay, I do most of my writing at night. I made fewer contacts.
Pinterest was next. I heard somewhere that you had to be on Pinterest to sell books. I don’t know how this works, but why not. For what I can tell, Pinterest stands for People interested in a lot of pictures. I created 2 boards, one for each book. Wasn’t sure what I should put on the Killer With A Heart board, I ended up with pictures of me at a couple of book signings, and of course the cover and links to where it can be purchased. My Pegasus: A Journey To New Eden board dwarfs the other, of course there is the book cover, but I got all these pictures of nebulae and astrological things. The cover of Pegasus is courtesy of NASA/Hubble, it is the Heart and Soul nebula. Also, I’m a big science geek and love space stuff.
During this time I started work on a short story called The Moth, which I posted on WattPad. Another site any serious writer should be on (or maybe not). This site actually helps with writing since you post stories long or short, even whole novels if you are so inclined. After posting part one of The Moth I went back to Pinterest and created a board for Butterflies and Moths where I could collect photos. After a couple of weeks I was able to find the right pictures to make the cover for the story. I opened the board to others so they could post pictures too. A lot more pictures and a lot less work.
You’re asking, “What about Killer With Three Heads?”
I’m getting there. But first, I landed a couple more interviews on radio and blogs, those are always fun. My wife decided we needed to move or at least she needed to move. So there was a list of home repairs that needed to be done, since I wasn’t working and had all this free time. She wanted to get into flipping. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, that is where you lose a lot of money in real estate. But she bought another house and now I have 2 houses that need work. And before I wind up with another BPJ, I must fix her new house first.
During the last six months, I have been a publicity manager, photo editor, and a home repairman (that’s a usual job for me), oh yeah, and I wrote 6 chapters in Killer With Three Heads. I did most of the writing at night, which is my usual time for writing. I did decide somewhere during this time to write a couple of chapters in long hand (hiding in the bathroom to get some work in). Then I transcribed them at night.
What did I learn about being a fulltime writer? You don’t get to write fulltime. You have more time to do the other stuff that was getting in the way of writing, but I wrote about the same amount as when I was doing it at night after my BPJ and the other things that keeps everyone else happy. The next time I decide I am going to be a fulltime writer (during my next Software Engineer in-between-time. If anyone is thinking of a career in the IT profession become a System Engineer or Database Administrator, less in-between-time), I am going to move to a mountain top, no emails and no internet, and take plenty of pens, pencils, and blank notebooks along.
Oh yeah, I finally finished that novel, Killer With Three Heads, years later. It is available at https://rockhillpublishing.com/the-bookstore.html#!/Killer-With-Three-Heads/c/29057155/ and everywhere great books are sold.
You can find me at these locations:
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlhill57
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamshi57
Website: http://www.jlhill-books.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuYxL9ab38g
And Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/author3356
I was in between assignments from my BPJ (that’s Bill Paying Job), I thought this is a great opportunity to live the life of a fulltime writer. I would finish the next book in my Killer Series, Killer With Three Heads, after all I was already a couple of chapters in. I’d have it out before the end of the summer. That was the perception.
Here is the deception. I still needed to promote the two books I have out. Okay, no problem, I’d make use of some time in the morning and post to that wonder of social media, Facebook. I joined around 50 book promotion groups. I wrote a half dozen snappy and catchy ad post for each book. I spent 2 hours a day on each book posting. That is four hours a day, I broke it up into 2 sessions, a morning and evening, that way I get maximum exposure. But no work was done on the next book, and no real sales to speak of either. But I did pick up followers and made many new friends. As a writer, learn to look on the bright side of life.
I increased my exposure on LinkedIn. Joined far fewer groups, and started receiving a multitude of emails. Everyday I read through 20 to 50 messages, and respond to maybe 10 that I could relate to. This is keeping my in box full and taking up more time during the day, but it is okay, I do most of my writing at night. I made fewer contacts.
Pinterest was next. I heard somewhere that you had to be on Pinterest to sell books. I don’t know how this works, but why not. For what I can tell, Pinterest stands for People interested in a lot of pictures. I created 2 boards, one for each book. Wasn’t sure what I should put on the Killer With A Heart board, I ended up with pictures of me at a couple of book signings, and of course the cover and links to where it can be purchased. My Pegasus: A Journey To New Eden board dwarfs the other, of course there is the book cover, but I got all these pictures of nebulae and astrological things. The cover of Pegasus is courtesy of NASA/Hubble, it is the Heart and Soul nebula. Also, I’m a big science geek and love space stuff.
During this time I started work on a short story called The Moth, which I posted on WattPad. Another site any serious writer should be on (or maybe not). This site actually helps with writing since you post stories long or short, even whole novels if you are so inclined. After posting part one of The Moth I went back to Pinterest and created a board for Butterflies and Moths where I could collect photos. After a couple of weeks I was able to find the right pictures to make the cover for the story. I opened the board to others so they could post pictures too. A lot more pictures and a lot less work.
You’re asking, “What about Killer With Three Heads?”
I’m getting there. But first, I landed a couple more interviews on radio and blogs, those are always fun. My wife decided we needed to move or at least she needed to move. So there was a list of home repairs that needed to be done, since I wasn’t working and had all this free time. She wanted to get into flipping. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, that is where you lose a lot of money in real estate. But she bought another house and now I have 2 houses that need work. And before I wind up with another BPJ, I must fix her new house first.
During the last six months, I have been a publicity manager, photo editor, and a home repairman (that’s a usual job for me), oh yeah, and I wrote 6 chapters in Killer With Three Heads. I did most of the writing at night, which is my usual time for writing. I did decide somewhere during this time to write a couple of chapters in long hand (hiding in the bathroom to get some work in). Then I transcribed them at night.
What did I learn about being a fulltime writer? You don’t get to write fulltime. You have more time to do the other stuff that was getting in the way of writing, but I wrote about the same amount as when I was doing it at night after my BPJ and the other things that keeps everyone else happy. The next time I decide I am going to be a fulltime writer (during my next Software Engineer in-between-time. If anyone is thinking of a career in the IT profession become a System Engineer or Database Administrator, less in-between-time), I am going to move to a mountain top, no emails and no internet, and take plenty of pens, pencils, and blank notebooks along.
Oh yeah, I finally finished that novel, Killer With Three Heads, years later. It is available at https://rockhillpublishing.com/the-bookstore.html#!/Killer-With-Three-Heads/c/29057155/ and everywhere great books are sold.
You can find me at these locations:
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlhill57
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamshi57
Website: http://www.jlhill-books.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuYxL9ab38g
And Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/author3356
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