Hello Bloglandia!

Even though the sizzling temps this week in Portland are making it feel more like it’s still August, it is indeed September. And that means it’s time for re-evaluating a few things.

In normal times, it would be time to head back to school and this period is known as la rentrée by Les Français. But la rentrée refers not just to school getting underway…It’s a time to start new projects, a time to think about goals for the upcoming year, and time for fresh starts.

Well, you know as much as we can plan and restart in these wacky times.

Planner, colored pens…I’m ready for new ventures!!!

I’ll get into this more in the coming weeks, but I spent August really examining my goals and dreams, sorting out why I wasn’t achieving them yet, and deciding what I needed to do to get things moving.

Throughout August, I sucked up some advice from a few trusted sources (rather than my usual scattered approach of taking fragments of advice from every source imaginable). That advice has sparked a whole mindset shift and made me realize two things

  1. I want to devote more of my time to writing and releasing more books, and
  2. I need to cut back on some things if I’m going to have that time.

One of those “cut back” things is blogging less. This is a hard decision because I have “met” some great people via blogging, but (not to get into a whine fest here) the time I devote to my posts simply hasn’t been worth it lately.

While I will continue to post some news on here, posts will be shorter and they’ll have fewer images (I waste way too much time searching for those memes). I’ll also be sharing fewer writing and personal updates here, because to be honest, the blogosphere seems to no longer be interested.

Okay, that was a really long-winded way of saying…

I’m changing my “stay in touch” focus from this blog to my newsletter.

But happy news…that’s seeing a BIG change as well, because I’m also finding new ways to make sure my newsletter readers know they’re superstars!

First up, after surveying my newsletter readers, I’ve switched from a biweekly format to a monthly format…yes, that’s right, I’m not only sneaking in more writing time, but I’m also keeping my subscribers happy. Win win!

Second, the newsletter of Before was mostly just writing updates and me announcing a few Book Funnel promos. The New and Improved newsletter will be more personal (because that’s what my subscribers said they wanted most) with a quick update on my writing news.

But the biggest change is that, to show my appreciation to my readers (okay, and to bribe them), I’m giving away a short story each month AND a 20% off coupon to my Payhip Bookstore.

So yeah, you might want to get on this bandwagon!!

A New Gift to Bribe You to Sign Up Today

Another change (egads, there’s so many changes I’m starting to feel like David Bowie!), is that I’ve got a new lure to draw you into the newsletter….

Mrs. Morris Meets Death: A Mortal Tale of Time Management

As mentioned a while ago, my writing style is moving toward a lighter, more humorous direction, and Mrs. Morris fits that writing style to a T.

The story was accepted for publication by The First Line Literary Journal last winter, and now that the rights are fully mine once more, I’ve decided to share it with you.

Readers have loved this story and have said it’s one of my funniest. And they’ve really enjoyed the character I’ve created in Mrs. Morris.

So, if you’d like to stay in touch and if you’d like to get a copy of this humorously, death-defying tale of time management, mistaken identities, cruise ships, and romance novels, be sure to sign up today. You can click HERE or just click the cover above.

Thanks, as I implement more changes, I’ll let you know….briefly.

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Not ready to sign up yet?

You can also buy Mrs. Morris Meets Death exclusively from my Payhip Bookstore.

 

 

15 thoughts on “Mrs. Morris Meets Death…for free”

  1. Oh wow, I hear you! I’ve been thinking the same about my blogging lately too. So much time goes into a post, and the readers just ain’t there any more! And yes, I’ll admit I’m part of the problem… It’s so much easier to keep up with all things Tammie when your newsletters just drop right into my inbox!
    Otherwise, I hope your rentrée is going swimmingly and is full of exciting plans to fill up all that free time you’ve made for yourself!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Oh good, glad I’m not the only one noticing the diminishing returns of blogging…well, I’m not glad for the diminishing, but you know… Yes, all that time I’m freeing up will be excellent for more……napping! Wait, maybe I need to go re-read some of that advice. 😃

      Like

  2. It’s funny how we are on the same wavelength most of the time. I am shortly posting my announcement to subscribers that I’m going monthly.

    I’ve already been testing out the not posting all the time thing and its great! I feel way more relaxed already.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m already feeling weird about only emailing once a month. Now I’m hearing open rates are better for weekly emails. Arghhh! Oh well, I’ll stick to the monthly format through the year and see how it goes.

      As for blogging, I still have basic ideas for a weekly post, but I’m going to be reusing some of those old posts I put so much work into, and any new posts will be much slimmer. And yes, it does feel good to “give” myself that little bit of a break.

      Like

      1. Aw, dont be. This is what you need to conserve time, my friend! Weekly emails would be insane to keep up with. We would never get anything done!

        Yes, I knew you would figure it out! I’m scaling back my extraneous stuff, mainly focusing on the bookish side of things. Might do a post about my promo from Bookfunnel too.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Definitely do the BookFunnel post on your blog! I usually see a little bump in clicks after doing one. And yeah, the weekly email thing would be tough, but then I could just send shorter emails (sometimes I feel they get too long). Ah well, it’s all about experimenting to see what works, right?

        Like

      3. Okay dok, I figured I might.

        You have a good point. I say try out the monthly thing if you’ve already announced it. Then maybe consider weekly if your numbers aren’t great with the new sendout. But what do I know lol!

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Your comments are closed on the post where this would be more appropriate, but I guess this post is in the same general subject. 😉

    Anyway, I appreciate your posts about publishing. I’ve been on Lulu for 15 years and had no clue what else is going on out there, having focused instead on blogging for many years. Well, back in April, Lulu screwed things up royally. It looks like they’re finally straightening things out, but for months, people couldn’t get into their accounts, couldn’t change anything, had the wrong projects showing as published or unpublished….

    Thanks to your posts, and comments people made on posts about Lulu, I knew there was another place to go. I’ve been working on revising and moving my books to Draft2Digital. But that payhip site looks interesting, too, as a way to get books directly to people without having to rely on vendors, especially since Amazon won’t let me give them the new Draft2Digital book while the Lulu book is still showing up there. (I can’t find information on how long it takes for Lulu books to stop showing up on vendors after they’ve been retired. 😦 Who knows how long this will be.)

    Can I just take the Draft2Digital files and put them on Payhip? Is the free plan sufficient?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hey Nyssa,
      Sorry, which post were having trouble with? I must have comments set to close after a certain period.

      Sorry, I’m not too familiar with Lulu, but unless they have an exclusivity clause, you should be able to put your books up anywhere you want. I’m not sure what the deal is with Amazon having problems with your books…except for their usual weird rules.

      D2D is the best, they really offer so much and their customer service is the best.

      As for Payhip…Yes! The free plan is what I’m on and it’s great. You pay a small commission, but it’s not bad. I use my own ePub files (generated with Scrivener) and then make a mobi file on D2D, which I also include on the Payhip listing since so many people read on Kindles. Payhip also ties with D2D for having AMAZING customer service…I can’t tell you how helpful they are.

      Anyway, if you have any questions about self publishing or anything like that, feel free to email me any time… Tammie @ tammiepainter.com

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Yeah, we can put our stuff anywhere, but on the Draft2Digital publish page they said that Amazon will ban you if you try to publish something there that’s already listed on Amazon. So I’m waiting for my Lulu link on Amazon to go away. All the other vendors are putting up my links with no trouble.

        Thanks for the info! Payhip and Draft2Digital sound like a great improvement over Lulu. It was good for a while, but it’s gotten dated and clunky.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Ah, I see. Okay, while I do love D2D, I do recommend (and I think even the D2D people recommend) loading your books directly to Amazon, rather than through D2D. You’ll get a better royalty rate, you get more control over your listing, and it gets your books onto Amazon much more quickly. It’s an extra step in the process, but it’s not much different than D2D’s process. Before you publish on Amazon though, I’d just contact them and explain what’s going on to see if they can help with getting your Lulu books delisted. Their customer service isn’t the best, but they can be surprisingly helpful with some things.

        Liked by 2 people

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