Book Update

Here are a few samples from the cover shoot done for the book:

The layout is being formatted and I should have a few options to choose from by next week.  It is very exciting!!!

The book is finished.  I was planning to put it up on Kindle myself as well as a few other places, but have decided instead to send it to one publisher who is a long shot and to enter it into a contest with the winner being announced in August.  If by September, there is no good news on either of those fronts, I am going to decide on one of the co-publishing/self-publishing type of contracts I have been offered and go with that.  A traditional publishing contract is unlikely without a lot of hours of trying to get my foot in a door which is closing more by the day for all novelists.  As I just don't have hours to devote to that, I have decided to go the co-publishing/self-publishing route (unless of course I win this contest or a traditional publishing contract falls out of the sky)!

I will be mailing my contest entry this weekend, so wish me luck!

My Actual Online Earnings for May, 2011

I was working on finishing touches on my book this month.  The shoot for the book cover was the most fun I've had in a long time!  One of my daughters has also been struggling with her health again as she has a severe lung condition, so my time on the computer was limited and I did NO article writing for the second month in a row.  I was so happy to see that my old articles are continuing to make residual income.  Even though the amounts aren't nearly as high as they were the months I was writing, some is better than nothing!  Here is the breakdown of exactly how much money I made online in May, 2011:

Triond (both types of earnings)    $2.22

Bukisa                                        $3.50

My websites (ads)                       $4.02

My websites (affiliates)                $4.72

Itracks*                                      $100

Total online earnings for the month of May, 2011:

$114.46

*Itacks was for an online discussion group I participated in over a 2 month period.

I expect that my earning summary for June will look significantly different as my book will be available on Kindle and Barnes and Noble e-book division by then and I have a few other projects that I am working on.

Book is Basically Done

My book has been written.  Before I can put it up on Kindle, I need to do a few things like have a cover designed, get permission to use a song's lyrics, get someone to edit my Epilogue, and e-mail an author (as a courtesy) whose book is mentioned in mine.

It is really strange to have it pretty much finished.  54,180 words...194 pages...my words...my story...

I feel more nervous than relieved, but I am excited to move onto other projects once this is done.  I have three or four short e-books I want to write that are adoption related and I already have the skeleton for one of them mapped out so I am looking forward to starting on those shorter projects.

If all goes well, I could potentially have those little details wrapped up within a few weeks and have my book up on Kindle in June, perhaps even by June!!!  It makes me feel shaky and a bit sick to think that people will read what I've written and judge it.  I know that it is ridiculous to feel this way because I have been blogging for six years and people have been reading and judging that for most of those years, but somehow, this seems different.

Wish me luck!

My Actual Online Earnings for March, 2011

In March, I focused on getting a new website up and running and worked on editing my book.  Between these two things and rumours and news of plagiarism at Triond, I only wrote a few articles at the beginning of March and then stopped.  I'm not sure what my article writing future will look like given my fears of others plagiarizing my work.

Here are my online earnings for March, 2011:

Canada Talk Now Surveys $10

Surveyhead                              $25*

Surveylion                                $4

Triond (both types of earnings) $5.92

Bukisa                                     $2.62

My websites                             $3.57

Total online earnings for the month of March, 2011:

$51.11

*Surveyhead surveys were completed over a period of about six months, but I counted the income for March as this is when I reached the minimum payout.

For April, I'm not sure what my goals are as I miss article writing, but am wary about continuing.  However, I would really love to break the hundred dollar mark, so we'll see.  

I've been busy at work editing my book and am getting closer and closer to putting it up on Kindle.  Most of March was really focused on getting a website up and running and that took a lot more time than I anticipated.  The website is doing well for a new site though...one day, it had 851 hits!!!

We'll see what adventures April brings!

Website Ready, Now to Change Focus...

The website that I have spent two months working on is officially launched on Monday and I am pretty happy with the traffic so far and general response.  I have posts scheduled for the rest of the month, so there is little to do but moderate comments and do a bit of work for next month's posts.

This means that beginning next week, I will have the time to focus on another project and I have to admit that I am procrastinating when it comes to finishing my book and putting it into e-book format.  I have examined my reluctance and there are three things that I think are holding me back.

1.  There are a few things that need to be done that are outside my comfort zone and experience.  These include things such as obtaining permissions necessary to proceed.  There is a reference to another book in my book and as a courtesy to that author, I would like to ask for her permission to reference her book.  There are partial song lyrics, which are critical to one part of the story, but mean that I need to buy the rights to use them.  I have tried before and because they are from another country, ran into some snags and am nervous for the work it will entail.  I am also nervous for what the cost will be - yikes!

2.  I have to admit to being resistant about the whole e-book idea.  If I had a publisher offering to publish an actual book, I could easily finish and edit the book in a weekend because I would be excited and would want to see my writing in print, but an e-book doesn't excited me.  I like the feel of an actual book in my hands, so I don't have a Kindle or other e-reader, though my husband does, so seeing my words on one of those leaves me less than enthused!

3.  I am scared of failure.  What if I get it in e-book format and nobody buys it?  Worse than that, what if a few people buy it and don't like it?  If I don't finish it, I won't have to face these possibilities.

My Actual Online Earnings for February, 2011

One thing about goals you make yourself is that they can become goals you break yourself!  I had made a goal to finish writing my book in February and when it became apparent that the flu was going to take up residence at our house and wear out its welcome, I allowed that goal to slide away.  I was then only left with my goal of achieving Triond’s February bonus.  In order to qualify for an additional 30%, I needed to write 20 qualifying articles and managed to squeak in on the very last day with the last one.

Though my total online earnings for the month were about half of what I expected before I knew that I would be caring for six sick children all month and be sick myself, I am thrilled with how much of the online earnings came from my article writing.  I am especially happy since I did not do any writing at all other than on Triond and wrote less than 30 articles total.  This means that my residual earnings are continuing to increase.  This is a trend that I hope continues.  

Here are my online earning totals for the month of February, 2011:

Bukisa         $5.72

RedGage $0.26

Triond $11.90*

Surveylion $8.00

ACO Surveys $3.00

*Triond earnings are a reflection of the February bonus, regular Triond, and *dsense. 

Total earnings for February, 2011         $28.88

For March, I am going to finish writing that book if it kills me!  I hope to have it in e-book format by April.  I also plan to write 20 articles and to launch the adoption website I have been working on.  March will be a big month, but as most of those projects are foundation laying, I do not expect my income to be any higher than it was in February.  Hopefully, April will see me breaking that $100 mark!

Triond February

In February, Triond is offering a special.  If you publish 5 articles, you get an additional 10% on your monthly earnings.  If you publish 10 articles, you get an additional 20% and if you publish 20 articles, you get an additional 30% on your monthly earnings!  There is some fine print involved in that the articles need to be published on qualifying sites, so need to be on certain topics.  This is a very broad range though including Domestic (anything parenting, housekeeping, etc.), Sports, News, Humour, Health, Business, Science, Computers, and a few others.

I was planning to write very few articles in February and just see what the residual earnings would be, but this special is too good to pass up.  I have written 9 articles towards the bonus so far, so I already qualify for the additional 10% and am one article away from the additional 20%.  I am planning obviously to try to write 20 qualifying articles to get the 30% bonus.

If you are interested in signing up with Triond, it is free to join and I really enjoy the writing community over there.  I have learnt a lot already.  They only accept new work, so you cannot re-publish a blog post or already published article of yours.  You can however, publish something new at Triond and then turn it into a blog post or repost it elsewhere.

My writing has been really slow this month.  I don't have a babysitter as often anymore, the kids have been sick, and I have had birthday parties to plan (3) and other projects on the go.  I still have big plans for working on my book this month, but haven't so far.  I'll keep you posted!