Icy Road Publishing

I think this is the next logical step - to create a publishing 'brand' via Smashwords instead of pushing each book on it's own. So I've dusted off 'Icy Road' for the purpose of making the new 'system' work for me.

After yesterday's bad case of the Jitters my visit with my Dad went pretty well. He's in good hands, and I don't have to worry about him.

So I'm taking this time to set up Icy Road Publishing on Smashwords. I may have already made a mistake in the way I set it up. I sure hope not.

In a nutshell - this what I'm doing:

Sales of my ebooks have been dismal at best. Mostly because of the turmoil in my life over the last four years - unemployment, family illness, moved parents in, Mom's passing, the grieving period, more illness, more illness, more illness and now - a few days of peace before Dad returns from Rehab.

In a week of relative calm, I've finished 'The Emissary - Arrival,' sent it out to the copy editor and speculated about how to launch it.

Pre-Orders appear to be the best way to go - Apple, B&N and Kobo support pre-orders (as well as freebies) via Smaswords. I can't get that on my own.

For whatever reason, my ebooks don't sell via NookPress and WritingLife - but they DO sell through Smashwords. So I'm slowly removing them from publication on those two sites because I get paid that way.

Apple is my 'money market' so I'm working them as a catalyst. You'd have to either read, or listen to, Mark Coker talk about Pre-Orders and catalysts to under stand them. I fell asleep during Mark's talk, now it's imprinted in my brain. I suspect my Id and my Ego had a fight and Mark won.

The game-changer has been getting acurate sales data from Apple and B&N in a timely manner. Instead of 90 days after the fact...there's a chart that shows daily data.

This way, if something happens on Apple or B&N - like when my e-books go free - I've at least got a chance to make it work out in my favor. That will keep me from second guessing myself five or six times in a month.