Five Year Goals in Review: March 2017

Today's the last Friday of the month, making it time for me to review some goals. This is part of a project put on by Misha Gericke where you make a long term (five year) goal and blog each month about how it's going. My goal is to have a world-class publishing company. In five years. Dream big or go home, right? I'm a little over a year into this venture, and so far it's going well. *Ubooks are patent-pending. Black and White has signed some amazing authors. But the one thing we don't have yet is an audience. You know, the reason behind all of it. So with that in mind, beginning tomorrow I'm starting a twenty-one day Kickstarter campaign. Partially to raise funds to hire some new people to produce more Ubooks, but mostly it's to force me to market--something I hate to do. Probably the only time I've done anything close to an actual marketing push is during the last few Aprils when I posted some of my work during Arlee Bird's A to Z bloghop. So I thought I'd apply that same thinking to this. For twenty-one days I'll be posting daily on this blog/Instagram/Facebook to let people know about this new book format. I'm way out of my comfort zone here, so any help you'd like to give spreading the word would be much appreciated. Here's the link to my Kickstarter homepage if you'd like to share it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1531528220/1409684295?token=65115878
 
Thanks again!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
*For those of you who don't know what Ubooks are, they're books/stories on video feed, which allow them to be read without interruption. This (I feel) greatly enhances the story, allowing a reader to remain immersed in the story without the distraction of a page turn or a finger swipe. It also allows music/sound enhancements. The best part? They're completely free. All of our Ubooks can be read/viewed free of charge on Black and White's YouTube channel or at www.setbooksfree.org.

IWSG; February 2017

Today is the first Wednesday of the month, making it IWSG time Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on each month. For those of you who don’t know, IWSG stands for Insecure Writer’s Support Group, an online community of writers supporting each other through and in this crazy work we chose to do.

This month my insecurity is about control, or lack of it.  My husband is training to run a marathon. He’s already run a half, and while He’s always been very athletic and in really good shape, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea. He’s forty-six. Now I know that’s still relatively young, but I had an uncle who died of unexpected heart failure at forty-six, and I just can’t shake the worries that come along with having lost someone I love so young. But I’m not the kind of wife to tell her husband what he can and cannot do, so I just supported him the best I could, and let the worries fester. Last night my husband was out on a run, nothing crazy, maybe four miles, and I got the phone call. Thankfully, it was from him and not an ambulance, and thankfully it was his knee and not his heart. As I helped him hobble to the car, dreams and plans shattered in an instant, I realized how little any of us can plan for anything. We have no idea what’s going to happen today or tomorrow because none of us in control. Sobering thought. And you know what? That’s okay. Because maybe my husband’s blown-out knee might have saved us from something much graver later on. What does this have to do with my insecurities as a writer? Nothing. Everything. Ask yourself this: How can we feel secure about anything when we have control over nothing? I guess that’s where faith and trust come in.

What are you trusting in?

January 2017: Five Year Goal in Review

I can’t believe it’s the last Friday of January, but it is and here we are, at another Five Year Goal Review day. For those of who don’t know what I’m talking about, The Five Year Goal is a monthly blog hop put on by Misha Gerrick (thanks Misha for putting this on!) where you make a long term goal (five years) and work towards it, posting your progress on the last Friday of each month. I started this venture a little over a year ago, so I’m a little vested.

My goal is to have a world class publishing company.

A little history:

My husband and I started Black and White Publishing Co. several years ago, but at that time we did not actively seek out other authors. Honestly, I didn’t think we had anything to offer a person that they couldn’t (with a little time and research) do for themselves. Face it. Today you can hire an editor, a cover designer, someone to format your book, and someone else to market it. In five minute you can upload your book onto Amazon, Nook, Kobo, iTunes and in ten you can be earning royalties, without someone like me taking a cut of anything. I care about authors. I want them to succeed. Why would I stick my hand into something they don’t need me to? And then *Ubooks came along. This is something authors can’t do for themselves. This is something only Black and White can offer. Last Spring we offered our first contract to an author besides me. Now we are up to seven, some with multiple books in contract. This is such an exciting time for us. It’s still in the beginning, still at the top of the hill, still pushing the boulder with two hands, barely inching forward. But it is moving.

I can’t wait to see it fly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Ubooks are a patent pending book format where books are set on video feed with or without audio. Check them out at setbooksfree.org