Hi friends! May completely snuck up on me. Between a series launch, a string of family visits, and a heavy workload at the day job, I seriously didn’t even notice we were in a new month until about the 10th. It was, frankly, unsettling. Nevertheless, May was full of exciting developments. Let’s take a look.
May Accomplishments
1. Hubris Towers series launch!
Seriously! Go check it out!
Bill and I published Episode 1 of our new comedy series. It’s so good! You should totally read it!
- Reader response has been phenomenal, with almost unanimous 5-star reviews to date. Brilliant!
- First-month ebook sales were a little lower than I expected, but should pick up as we release new episodes.
- The paperback Pocket Edition was surprisingly popular. I expected to sell a few to die-hard fans, but we sold dozens of them. Maybe because it comes with a free Kindle copy on Amazon. (Boom! Marketed.)
2. My first free promo I made The Stone & the Song free for two weekends in May, and—wow! Suddenly I understand why people use free promos!
- My book hit #1 Free in Fairy Tales on the first day of the promo and stayed there for the rest of the weekend!
- Downloads in the first day more than doubled my first month’s sales, and over the course of the two weekends I ended up with hundreds of downloads.
- This is the first time I’ve definitively broken out of the friends-of-friends sphere of readers, and also resulted in my first (5-star!) review from a total stranger.
- The first weekend did about four times as well as the second, and I have no idea why. Let me know if you have any theories or have seen similar results.
3. First multi-platform release The Stone & the Song is my KDP Select guinea pig, but long-term I definitely want to build up a robust cross-platform audience. Hubris Towers was my first multi-platform release.
- So far, Hubris Towers is available on Nook, Kobo, Google Play, and Amazon.
- So far no real traction on the non-Amazon platforms. I’m curious to see how this develops as the series matures and gains momentum. Still pretty sure it’s worth it long-term.
4. Released 2 more sections of the Dream World Collective
- You can read them for free thanks to the generosity of my lovely patrons.
5. Wrote about 8,000 words of Hubris Towers Episode 2. (Now with Russians!)
- Planned release date is June 13. That’s so soon!
- This is by far the fastest-paced large-scale project I’ve attempted to date, and I’m really excited to see how that helps us build momentum.
- Sign up here to get a reminder when it comes out
6. The Clickworks Press catalog is expanding! I can’t say too much yet, but I’m getting ready to release the first Clickworks Press book I didn’t write.
- This is a game-changer. My plan from the beginning has been to make Clickworks Press bigger than me. Bringing in new authors makes it a fundamentally different kind of endeavor, and I’m so excited to be bringing in brilliant talent this early on.
- Short-term, this helps authors streamline their publishing experience, cross-promote, and get more exposure. It points readers to great new reading experiences. It helps Clickworks Press develop legitimacy, flexibility, and a robust catalog. Long-term, just wait and see. We’ve got some incredibly cool ideas in the pipeline.
- I’m still thinking through the details of the business model and I’d love to hear what you would find cool and useful. Drop me a line at byfaroe@gmail.com if you’re interested in brainstorming or have some ideas for me.
June Goals
That was long, so I’m going to keep this quick.
- Release Hubris Towers Season 1, Episode 2.
- Write 1/4 to 1/2+ of Hubris Towers Episode 3.
- Release more sections of The Dream World Collective.
- [Stretch] Set up a weekly auto-delivery system that will give people happy stories in their inbox.
- Iron out the first-phase Clickworks Press model.
- Investigate the costs and mechanisms of a Clickworks Press website that can support my super-cool ideas.
- [Possibly] Write more of The Unaccountable Death of Derelict Frobisher. Frobisher is the crème de la crème of my writing endeavors (which is saying something). It will not do to neglect it much longer.
What’s new with all of you? Anything I can get excited about with you? Tell me!
Cheers! —Ben
