Reviews

Did two TOKYOPOP reviews over the past couple of days, but I still have 11 total left to read and write. Actually, I want to say 12, because there’s a TOKYOPOP manga that I read recently that I’d like to review unprompted. But, I have over thirty-two 1200-word college essays to grade now, so I have no idea how I’m going to get the rest of these up and running in a timely fashion.

The Step and the Walk

I wrote over 1600 words yesterday! Yay! But I keep getting sucked into taking little breaks here and there of like 2-3 days, which is not good. The manuscript is 36,584 words long, which is also really, really short. In this part of the book, Andresh is on a ship for 31 days, and then he arrives in Mariner, and then, on his second day there, he runs into Lily, and the book ends there.

I’m guessing I’ll finish this draft out at 40,000 words if I’m lucky. Which is not good. I printed out an 1819 and 1820 calendar month by month and logged the dates in which Andresh wrote in his journal during the book, and he barely used it! I have weeks go by without him doing or saying anything! So, when I write draft two of this, I’m going back to where all the empty spaces are and adding more entries. His college time needs to be more substantial. He’s got a little romance and some heartbreak there, and while I do depict that, I can always add more of it. Especially the romance.

My ultimate goal is to have it be a minimum of 67,000 words, like The Name and the Key is. My personal deadline to OHB is April 30th. Hopefully I can figure out the beta reader situation by then and have a completed draft that meets the word count. If the book is in the 40,000 range, that’s more like a novella, which is definitely what I do not want. And I don’t think readers would want that, either!

Social media promotion of The Name and the Key

I completed one of the template packs I purchased from Creative Market, so the quality and frequency of artsy Instagram posts has gone down. If it’s a static post, I cross-share it to Threads and Facebook. But if it’s a reel, or I have a lot of description, Threads won’t accept it. So my reels, which are considered a more popular way to post on Instagram, aren’t being as widely shared as I’d liked. I’ve been neglecting Threads because of this.

The posts are a little less frequent now only because I have to put on my thinking cap and come up with a new way to promote The Name and the Key to readers. My reach is still really bad, so all of this effort feels like screaming into a void, but…I have to admit, it’s fun creating moodboards and fashion boards for characters. I throw in a little reel about myself here and there, too.

In other news, I filled out the application form for a Bookstagram & Creative Tour with MTMC Tours. I wanted to time this in July with The Name and the Key‘s release, but I realized I have to have enough personal copies of the book to ship (and five of them have to ship internationally), and I’ve had delays with newly published books coming in (this happened with the preorders for Son of the Siren–Amazon delayed them), so I requested a month after publication to promote The Name and the Key. This will allow time for me to receive books and ship books. If they select me and put me on the schedule, I’ll be so happy! I did the same tour with them for Son of the Siren and got some beautiful Bookstagram posts, reels, and even book reviews out of it. I did do a second tour later with another company, but it wasn’t nearly as successful or as professional as MTMC Tours, so I won’t be doing second tours again. I plan to work with MTMC exclusively, if they’ll have me.

Second art commission–a chibi of Andresh–should be starting soon, as I have a paycheck this Friday coming in for once (my first!). I hope to do cute social media art with the chibis, but also, for promo swag, make them into stickers.

Lastly–It’s early, but I started submitting The Name and the Key to places that give inexpensive editorial reviews. The manuscript is currently off at Reader’s Favorite and I should hear something back from them by the 19th if everything goes according to schedule. I’m terrified that people will not like The Name and the Key, or else think my sophomore effort isn’t as good as my freshman one. I’m interested in seeing what Reader’s Favorite has to say, and if I can use any of their review as a formal blurb for the book. That’ the goal–since I can’t find authors to blurb for me, the best I can do is try to get editorial reviews to vouch for me in some way. I took a long time getting editorial reviews for Son of the Siren, so I’m hoping that if I have some blurbs right out the door, it’ll help boost sales for The Name and the Key.