Big changes

One of the nice things about self-publishing is that you have total control over the entire thing.  It’s also one of the bad things–you are responsible for the entire thing!

I will say, however, that one of the benefits that I’d envisioned has paid off big time–I had thought that publishing stuff under a pen name would allow me to get my feet wet with different aspects of the process so that I have an idea of what I’m doing when it comes time to publish my “serious” stuff, and that has definitely been the case.  I’ve made a few mistakes along the way that I would have sorely regretted with my “real” work, so even if only for that reason, this has been a useful project.

My sale (which I mentally refer to as “Proof of Concept”) still sits alone on the DTP reports screen, but I’ve taken some steps to hopefully remedy that.  Work is going well on the novella and I hope to publish that in February.  I’ve updated my Amazon Author Central listing to indicate that as well as point out that I’m dropping the price of SC1 to 99 cents.  With a decent cover and a lower price, hopefully I can sell a few of these and garner a review or two, giving me something to build on for the novella.  I actually already have an idea for another one after that (in fact, I even have a cover ready to go), so perhaps I can build some momentum here.
I am encouraged by the continuing good responses I’ve received from the UK site, where Story 1 has garnered 1450 views and Story 2 has 554.  Of course, those are from people reading for free, but I’ve also received the following praise for Story 2:

FEEDBACK: Wow.. fantastic piece of writing, well formed…I look forward to reading more of your work… MUCH more.
FEEDBACK: Hi, just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed this story…I look forward to reading some more.
FEEDBACK: I was amazed; fantastic. Natural. I enjoyed much.

So, some people do like what I’ve been doing, which keeps me optimistic.  Now if only Barnes and Noble would hurry up and publish this thing (ironically, I’m anxious for it to go live so I can edit it with the new cover and updated text) I’d be all set!