Book IV is moving along. Not as quickly, as I’d like, but as I outlined in the last update, there is a lot I’m working through with characters, revelations, relationships, and important plot developments over the last three books. I’m nearly through the difficult early scenes of the story, however. The thing is, I’m kind of enjoying taking my time and approaching this book a bit more leisurely than the six before it. I’d still like it to be out by the end of the year, but I’m not going to beat myself up if it isn’t.
I’m in the fourth chapter of the book now, and the “intro” part of the story should conclude with chapter five or six. After that, I believe the rest of the book will come out more quickly, as there is less of a puzzle to piece together.
Apart from Book IV, I’ve noticed that my stats on Substack are falling off a bit. I think that has more to do with less posting than losing an audience. In fact, my subscriptions continue to go up. Also, my last post did exceptionally well, and I think that I need to do more posts about writing, marketing, management, and the things I have learned since publishing the Barbarians of the Storm series, as well as my two decades working in marketing, branding, and multiple, professional creative fields.
Additionally, I think I’m going to kill The Story Behind the Storm article series. I thought those would do really well, but they’re my weakest posts, as far as engagement. Funny enough, the most effort goes into them, which is also why I only do about one per month. I may still pop one out occasionally, if there is something I specifically want to explore in that way, but I am no longer prioritizing them. If you did like those, let me know. But I can only judge what works and what doesn’t work by the amount of engagement it receives.
As of today, I brought back the weekly promo thread on Twitter. I stopped doing them due to Twitter’s backend changes torpedoing their growth and reach. Also, they took up a lot of my time on Wednesdays during hours I am at the real job. Interacting and sharing all the content that came in became a big chore. I was also dealing with stressful, real life shit, and needed a break. But, for now, it has returned. Also, the real job isn’t at as stressful of a place as it was back in April/May.
On the Talking Pulp Press Discord, I explained further:
I brought the weekly promo thread back, this week. To those not on it, lmk if you want to be and what your Twitter handle is. Many have changed, and I'm not going to search for them all. I started to, but a lot of people weren't coming up in the search. Anyway, I did this as sort of a test to see if Twitter's botched "improvements" have settled in and will allow the weekly thread to get the traction it once had. I doubt it, but there's no harm in trying, I guess. But I doubt we'll ever see 30K+ impressions again.
Additionally, I still want to find a way to promote the larger group of us in a way that's more effective than relying on Twitter to do its basic job.
Aaaaand I guess that’s it for the weekly-ish update.