Month: July 2016

Part 2 of My Podcast Interview!

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Hi E’rebody!

Mike Sanford, operator of the Introverted Indie Author Podcast just posted PART 2 of my interview with him!

Honestly, this interview was so much fun, Mike is such a good guy and so easy to talk to. I’m very grateful he asked me to come on, and It’s super fun (and a little bit anxiety-inducing) listening to yourself be interviewed 😀

Really, it was so much fun that we talked for nearly 3 hours and had to split it into two pieces. So without further ado, part 2:

HERE BE PART 2 ON MIKE’S WEBSITE

DIRECT DOWNLOAD

Thanks to listeners for joining us in this foray into writing and uber-nerddom. You guys rock.

Oh, and here’s PART 1 in case you missed it.

-Evan Pickering

180 Days of HOOD.

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6 months.

It’s been pretty incredible, all things considered. Without any pomp and circumstance, here are the two graphs of my first 180 days:

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The huge spike in mid-April is my one stack promo. Sales were great for a long while, they’ve tapered off a bit lately. I’m not sure if this is summer slump or if I need to get my ass in gear doing better advertising. Time will tell, I’m sure!

By The Numbers

Keep in mind, these are inexact calculations. I don’t have the energy to exactly count out the number, lol. But if they’re not exactly right, they’re quite close. If I’m wrong, I’m probably wrong on the lower side, I’d rather be short in calculation than over-estimate.

Books sold: 4,389 (approximately)

KU Pagereads: 1,800,000 (approximately)

Books sold/Day: 24.4

 

What’s Next

I’m hard at work on WHISKEY, Book 2, trying to get it out as quickly as possible. I’m more than halfway done. I know the old adage ‘the best marketing is writing the next book’ so I’m trying to take that to heart.

Frankly, the drop-off in sales I’ve had the past few days (not graphed) has got me in a panic a little bit. I’m trying not to get too crazy about it, and just accept that it’s summer and books have natural ebbs and flows.

Part of why I wanted to post this is to take a step back and appreciate what this has been, and to give me some big-picture perspective. I’m immensely proud of the book and everything that’s happened.

Also, I’m working with a voice actor right now creating the audiobook for HOOD. I’ll write more about that soon, I’m absolutely ecstatic with his work so far and I can’t wait to get it out there. It’s so cool getting to hear your story narrated.

Anyway, thanks for all the love and support along the way everyone. I really appreciate how much people have done for me to help me get where I am.

 

-Evan Pickering

 

I got Interviewed for a Podcast!

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Hey everybody!

I recently was interviewed on the Introverted Indie Author Podcast with host Michael Sanford, it was tons of fun.

I found out he was a fellow comrade in arms in nerd-dom and in indie authorship, he’s an awesome guy and a great host. Definitely most fun I’ve had on an interview.

On the site:

HERE BE THE PODCAST

Direct link:

//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/4507573/height/90/width/640/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/no-cache/true/render-playlist/no/custom-color/ffa000/

Check it out, let me know what you think!

I go into depth on my experiences with writing and editing and publishing and advertising, along with various nerdy topics.

Enjoy you bloodthirsty monsters!

Evan

 

BOOK 2 UPDATE!

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I figured it’s about time.

UPDATE TIME!

Fear not, intrepid readers of HOOD. I am hard at work on WHISKEY and I hope to have it drafted by the end of summer! I’d love to have it published by then, but alas, the procedural side of writing strikes again. Editing and publication will take some time.

I still hold out hope I can kick it into another gear and have it published by then. We’ll see.

30,000 words. That’s how much I have written. I did the outlining & storyboarding at the end of May when my semester ended, so for all you mathmagicians out there, I averaged about 1,000 words/day in June.

Didn’t even need a calculator. 😀

Based on my rough estimations, the book should be around 80,000 words. Again, for you math types, that makes me about 40% done.

If you’re looking for better news, the past week or two the amount I’ve written per day has definitely accelerated. I’m getting into a groove, I can feel it. I’ve decided to set my new, aggressive goal for July at 2000 words/day. That’s a big jump from my low-pressure 500 words a day setup, but I think given how much easier it has been to sit down and write lately, I think it’s a good idea.

Time will tell.

The best news of all is I love what I’m writing. I honestly think it will be better than HOOD. I had some nervous author-doubts about that going into writing this book. But it’s been so fun to write and the story is coming together beautifully (from my perspective.)

So there you have it. Update finished. Back to writing.

*pull-starts chainsaw*

– Evan