Ending the Month of May More Optimistically

...and altering the road ahead

It’s the last day of May and even though this month sucked for a lot of reasons, my sales spiked these last few days. In fact, I have now surpassed my total book sales for last year. And, as I have stated before, despite a recent lull, I am much further ahead than I ever thought I would be. So, it’s important to remember that and stay focused on the road ahead.

Hopefully, this May-ending sales boost is the start of strong momentum going into June. However, I’ve begun to notice that these waves of great sales versus the down time, seem to be related to new waves of fans discovering the book series. People that come in passionate about the Barbarians of the Storm books tend to go all in from the get go. So, it’s hard to generate repeat buyers when many buy the whole shebang from the start. Looking at a much larger sample of sales data and trends now, this stuff is becoming more clear to me. And man, I appreciate that kind of passion, even if it puts more pressure on me to produce stories that will keep people engaged and coming back.

So, I am working on the next book, the second anthology. I am also trying to do that while breaking myself of certain habits. Mainly, my hyper-obsessive drive to get shit done in an unreasonable timeframe. It’s really hard for me to ease up, though. I get overly excited about getting stuff out and I have this intense drive to push through, as I have a half dozen other stories in my head that I want to get to. But… I need to stress myself out less, take my time a bit more, and chill the fuck out.

I am now at a point where I have a really strong foundation, five books, a growing fanbase, and new fans that discover my work almost daily. The thing is, their enthusiasm is like a match to an oil spill when it comes to me wanting to give them more. However, there are other projects I need to put some focus on, which will only help to increase the Barbarians of the Storm IP’s reach. With that, I definitely need to continue writing but I also need to reserve the time needed to develop these other creative avenues tied to the books.

I was feeling pretty fucking low this month, which is obvious from recent posts. However, I am feeling more optimistic, I’ve had time to reflect on recent setbacks, and I can only keep pushing ahead, staying focused on what I know I need to do. Also, the real job should be easing up a bit, and my creative energy won’t be monopolized as much by that place’s insanity and disorganization.

At the end of the day, I just want to make really cool, fun shit. I have to remember that sometimes, because the process should be fun as well. Most days, it very much is.