Fb Ads + Wren 3 & Pequeno edits – Writing Wk13.2 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

This week I’ve mostly been absorbed with scaling up my FB ads while writing a couple new chapters for Wren book 3, Make Them Pay. FB ads scale up I’ve been serving my suite of Saint Justice ads (5 of the book covers in both square and rectangular, copy is the book blurb) to 3-4 primary audiences for the past month, but never really knowing which ones were working and which were just spinning my wheels. Now, thanks to judicious use of affiliate links, I have a much better idea of who converts and who doesn’t. This is super valuable. …

First 10k month – Writing Wk13.1 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

Early this week I made my first major post on the 20booksto50k Facebook page. It’s the biggest group of Indie authors I think there is – almost 50,000 members, brought together by a shared ‘climb up the mountain’ toward book writing/publishing/marketing success. On there you’ve got folks making 100k+ a month and more, and sharing how they did it. You’ve got people who run their own small presses, who write a book every two weeks, who’ve been full time indie authors for a decade and more. I’ve never written a post there before – lots of comments, no real content, …

Enemy of the People 1/4-point – Writing Wk12.2 2021

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I already wrote in 12.1 about finishing up Make Them Pay – through the week’s end I chased that with some oddball tinkering on books 1-3, re-made the boxset and re-issued it, then dug into book 6. Also lots of ads nonsense ;). Enemy of the People 1/4-point I had been concerned even before this latest spate of rewrites that the Enemy of the People opener was not propulsive enough. It is all down-time reaction to the events of the last book, with some problems of Wren’s physical and mental state. At the core though – it’s not fun to …

Make Them Pay rewrites finished!? – Writing Wk12.1 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

I just closed out the Make Them Pay, Wren book 3 rewrites, and am feeling celebratory. I already wrote about everything I did to change the book, but as I accelerated toward the end, I was really feeling it. This thing hums. I am getting better at spotting the bits that lag. I had 2 chapters that were kind of coda, catching up on where everyone was up to. Now I’m thinking that kind of stodge is a readthrough killer. If you give kind of happy-ever-afters to all the characters, and end with little sense of threat and a feeling …

Wren sales down, Facebook ad mystery and W3 rewrites – Writing Wk11 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

The past week has been a little disappointing sales-wise, as my Facebook ads are delivering less bang for their buck. Thus far they’re still profitable, though I’m spending more to make less, and that is naturally frustrating. What is causing this? Facebook ad mystery It’s a mystery, so I don’t know, but every day I try new ad combinations that are attempts to test the water and figure out some kind of mastery. Here are some disconnected comments: Maybe I have already shown my Wren 1 ad image and copy to all the cheap clicks who are likely to buy, …

Wren sales & Facebook ad lessons – Writing Wk9+10 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

2 weeks ago I felt like I was teetering on a highwire – sales rising crazily, ads working like never before, selling books like hey were hot cakes. I had no idea if it was a weird blip or a one-off, and feared any single change I might make could mess things up. Well – that hasn’t happened, though I’ve done a number of things that messed things up, reset the ads and dropped my rank. A torrent of horrible reviews hasn’t rushed in, crushing my star rating, and if anything, people have been saying very nice, positive things. There …

Wren through the roof – Writing Wk8 2021

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This week has been epic in sales. I’m not ready to talk turkey (details) as I’m wholly aware all this could go away as swiftly as it sprang up. That’s happened before. I sold big, didn’t know why, and it just disappeared. This hasn’t disappeared yet. Here’s some sense of what I’m looking at, with actual numbers removed: It’s heart attack territory, really. Whenever I see the chart rising, I get a mega adrenaline spike. Worries that it’ll disappear, or that it’ll lead to a flood of negative reviews that throttle future sales, or somebody will figure out this shouldn’t …

Wren readthrough at 50%! – Writing Wk7 2021

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I’ve been blah-blahing about the importance of readthrough for many months now – keep on editing Wren to try and get more people to enjoy book 1 enough to read book 2 and onward. Well, maybe I have hit it. I’m wary to draw broader conclusions, but figures this month so far suggest the last edits to Saint Justice have doubled readthrough from 25% to 50%. Strong news, if it holds true. This month I’ve sold: Wren 1 – 119 copies Wren 2 – 62, which is 52% Wren 3 – 49, which is 41% from book 1, and 79% …

Wren write to market!! – Writing Wk6 2021

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I talked a lot about rewriting Wren recently – well buckle up cos here’s some more in that delicious vein! WRITE TO MARKET Chris Fox came up with that snappy term – WRITE TO MARKET. It is best summed up in a simple Venn diagram that I just made you’re welcome: While being aware of this, I’m not a big doer of this, though I think I am trying. I definitely pick popular genres that people want to read – however when I go in I tend to lean more on what I want to write than what most people …

Wren 1 rewrites: back behind the DM’s screen – Writing Wk5 2021

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Well it has been heck of a week in rewrites. I already said everything I’d do to Wren 1 in the last post, in line with vicious comments I got from a Fiverr beta reader, and this week I did them, and was left feeling strangely bereft… But do not shed a tear for me, Argentina. Stats are very early to come in on the effect of this new rewrite, really just a week since I put a half-finished new version of Wren 1 on Amazon, but it’s looking good so far, with readthrough up from 27% to 50% to …