Full-Time Author – Page 2 – Jo Ann Schneider

19
Apr 23
0

Geeky Inspiration

Tags : Full-Time Author writing

I have a problem.

I like to collect geeky things.

Especially geeky things that mean something to me.

Today you get a tour of one of the shelves of my desk! (Aren’t you lucky?)

Behold…my shelf!

1 – Aliens. I saw this show on TV when I was around 13, and I’ve been a lover of military science fiction with a splash of horror ever since! The fan fiction I wrote for these propelled me into writing genre fiction.

2 – Cat Ursula. If you like fairy tale retellings, and haven’t read my Fairy Tale Academy series, you should. Ursula is one of my favorite character in the books! She’s not a cat in my books.

3 – This was a stocking stuffer from my sister-in-law a few years ago. It helps me remember to not take things so seriously and to laugh more.

4 – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I enjoy romance. I love zombies. The fact that these two things were combined so masterfully (especially in the book) has always been a happy thing for me. Jane here reminds me to think outside the box, but don’t abandon what I like to write because other things seem shinier.

5 – Diamond Quill Award. I won this (the highest honor for a book from the League of Utah Writers) for my cautionary tale about how online predators lure kids into extortion, human trafficking, and even death. The other authors in the series and I just gave the rights for these books to a third party who rescues and helps victims of human sex trafficking. This award reminds me that I wrote a book that might help someone avoid a horrible fate.

6 – Local Authors and You. I’ve participated in dozens of local author events. I love talking and teaching about writing, I love chatting with new authors, and I like selling books. This reminds me that I’m not alone in my plight of authoring.

7 – Shikamaru. This is my favorite character from the anime Naruto. He’s one of the most intelligent characters in the show and reminds me to work smarter, not harder.

8 – Winner Duck. I got this at a writing retreat, and he reminds me that I’m not a loser, I’m a winner!

What do the decorations in your room/house say about you?

10
Jul 19
0

Out of Gas

Tags : discouragement Full-Time Author rise above

Last week I put up a report of my 18 months as a full-time author. As I typed it up, I noticed that I’ve done a lot so far this year! I should be happy with that.

And I am.

Unfortunately, my current project is taking a lot of energy.

I mentioned it last week. And while it’s not secret, we’re not ready to do a public reveal on it yet. Which is kind of killing me. I swear forces have been conspiring against us every step of the way, and I have the feeling that it will continue even after these books are out.

It’s a difficult topic. Writing a few scenes made me cringe. But it’s important, and those of us involved really feel drawn to the project, and we’re not going to back down.

Even if I’m ready to throw in the towel and binge watch season three of Stranger Things all in one sitting. Which I am. But I won’t.

You see, I can’t even form complete sentences!

However, I just wanted to say that if you’re feeling, as Bilbo says, “thin..stretched like butter scraped over too much bread” don’t give up! It’s okay to take a break, but keep moving forward, even if it’s just in something little.

For instance. I did the laundry today. All of the loads. It’s even folded. This is my victory, and I will relish in it.

Also, I survived Kempo class. Sensei has decided it is time for hard workouts. Really hard workouts. In the summer heat? Gee, thanks. Pretty sure I lost ten pounds in sweat. I’ll take it.

I only have twenty four pages left to edit for my book in this killer project. Barring disaster it should be ready to go to the editor by the end of the week.

In the immortal words of Galaxy Quest

03
Jul 19
0

Eighteen Months as a Full-Time Author

Tags : Full-Time Author

It’s been a while since I reported on my progress as a full-time author, so I thought I would share.

This year has been a little bit crazy.

I released eight books in my Fairy Tale Academy Series!

I wrote an extra Academy story that was just released in this collection of Sleeping Beauty retellings.

I’ve written a first date of two of my most popular Academy characters that will come out in an anthology in the fall. You’ll have to wonder about that one for a bit.

I’m working on revisions for a special project that you’ll hear about in the coming months. It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before, but it’s…important. Have you ever felt like you’re in the exact right place at the exact right time for something amazing to happen? That’s this project! More in the next few weeks on this!

I released two sweet romances under my Karly Stratford pen name!

As far as money goes, I’ve made leaps and bounds more this year than I have my whole career up to this point, which is amazing!

I’m still struggling with creative energy and motivation. Some weeks I can write a whole novel and other weeks I struggle to get a few words out each day. Balance is the key for me, and I’m still looking for that sweet spot in my creative brain.

The plan for the rest of the year keeps changing! I need to nail it down, but be assured, there will be some YA science fiction from Jo Schneider and more romance from Karly Stratford!

26
Dec 18
0

Year One as a Full-Time Author

Tags : Full-Time Author rise above

I made what I thought were easily attainable goals for this year. I imagined having more time than I would know what to do with and being able to do all the things.

Yeah, that crashed and burned early on.

Here’s a snapshot of my 2018 goals:

Make 20k-25k

Jagged Scars Series Finished

New Sight Series Finished

Sci-Fi series written and out

Babes in Spyland revamped

Flash Fiction Weekly

Blog Weekly

Master Amazon Ads

Master Facebook Ads

Have 10k subscribers on my newsletter

Get 50 people on my review team

Doesn’t sound hard, right? Let’s go through what got finished, what didn’t and why.

Make 20k-25k

This did not happen. The reason it didn’t happen is because I never took the plunge into advertising. One month I did some paid promotions and my sales skyrocketed for a couple of months, then plunged back down to normal levels, which is selling a book or two a day most days.

Jagged Scars Series Finished

This did happen!

However, writing the last book of the series consumed most of the first half of the year. I let it get under my skin, wrote the whole thing about three times and finally came up with an acceptable book. Writing it is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, including finishing my first book.

New Sight Series Finished

This happened! This happened in time for Salt Lake FanX (a ComiCon-like convention) where I actually sold out of books.

Happy to say that writing the final book of this series only gave me a migraine for two weeks. Nothing like the end of the other series.

Sci-Fi series written and out

This did not happen. I started outlining and planning and working through character arcs, and then my romance writing friend called me, and I ended up writing three sweet romances instead of these books.

The romances are doing well, and I’ll get back to this series early next year.

Babes in Spyland revamped

So I want to revise what I’ve written in this universe and then expand it! I have so many ideas, and it will be amazing, but it keeps getting pushed back. This might happen near the end of next year. We’ll see.

Flash Fiction Weekly

I only missed two weeks of this! And both of those are because of finishing book deadlines. This has been a fun activity. I’m thinking I’ll mix it up next year, but we’ll see. There will still be Flash Fiction!

Blog Weekly

Did this. I know blogs aren’t really a big thing anymore, but I kind of like blogging each week. I plan to continue.

Master Amazon Ads

Ugh. This caused me way too much stress, and I hardly did anything. I’ve enlisted the help of my mathy hubby, and we’re hitting this hard at the beginning of the year.

Master Facebook Ads

Same as Amazon Ads

Have 10k subscribers on my newsletter

Maybe this was too ambitious. I’ve more than doubled my subscribers and now have 2,500. But nowhere near 10k. Everything about this changed with the EU’s privacy thing in the middle of the year, and I haven’t been particularly diligent about it since then.

Get 50 people on my review team

I started a review team, so that’s good. I think I have 30 or so, and of them only about 10 are super active, but still, going forward.

What else came up?

Karly Stratford:

Well, I created my pen name of Karly Stratford and released two sweet romance books. The third will be finished before the end of the year and released in February. I don’t want to put my whole focus there, but it is fun getting out of my usual genres and doing something different. I really want to lean these toward clean romantic comedies. Should be good times.

Fairy Tale Academy:

A friend asked me if I wanted to contribute to a Little Mermaid retelling collection in May. I was struggling with my Jagged Scars final book, and took the opportunity to write something different. It’s only 24k and I had a great time with it.

I wrote it with the intention of it being a stand-alone, but a few of my beta readers asked if there is more in the world. Well, now there will be. I have two more written and a total of eight planned. Those will be out between January and May of next year.

Overall impressions of the year:

If I’m being brutally honest, being my own boss was much more difficult than I imagined. I can’t tell you how many days my schedule broke down and I didn’t get much, if any, writing done. Family and friends pulled me away more often than not. I got bored being at home by myself. Sometimes I played on Facebook more than I wrote.

I have a plan to fix these issues. I’ve been using it for a week, and I’m really liking it.

I know I can do more than I did this year. I know I can be a better author, a better business owner and a better marketer. More on my plans for that next week!

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