The second half of 2021 was dominated by exploring ideas, reflecting, soul searching and wrestling with several important decisions. As it turns out, this was all good stuff. However, I would take being focused and productive, over trying to figure out what in the hell I am doing, any day. Still, it is important to have periods of exploring and reflecting as a dedicated focus might just keep you going in the wrong direction. As it turns out, some fairly minor adjustments were needed to get back on track again. And it feels way better to be back on track. Let me explain.
Some time last Spring I decided that my non fiction work was going well after finishing three books (The Meaning of Life, Predicting the Future and The Ghost of Socrates). And, I was well on the way with a fourth (Writing Stories to Explore Possible Worlds). All was going well and I had learned a lot about the self publishing process. One of the downsides of learning a lot is that you realize what you should have done, and I was tempted to go back and fix everything. But, I decided to move forward instead.
I decided to spend the summer improving my fiction writing skills. I read and listened to many, many books on writing fiction, and many, many more fiction books. It was a productive summer and I realized that good fiction was within my grasp, but it would require some serious work. So, then, I had to decide whether to put the non fiction on the back burner and ramp up on the fiction writing, or put the fiction writing on the back burner and push ahead with the non fiction writing. I think that some day I will be able to do both. But, I am in learning mode now and focus matters.
In addition, sales were not going well largely because I had not done any marketing and had done nothing other than create this blog to create a presence on the web. This is not the Field of Dreams. It is not true that you write and readers will find it. They have to know about what you have written and they have to want to read it. This is a much higher standard. I needed to create more of a presence, which was another learning curve.
After, three months of anguish, thrashing, being in a slump, and wrestling with many decisions, I finally figured out what I needed to do. I will spare you the details of the thrashing and cut to the final decisions.
I created my main website at DrJohnArtz.com . It tells a bit about me, for those who are interested, and lists my books with links to them on Amazon. I will also list the series I am creating on YouTube with links to the channel. This was a big improvement because it was difficult to explain to people what I was doing and where to find my stuff.
One of the issues I had wrestled with was whether to use my own name, a pseudonym, or a trade name. As you can see from the URL in the previous paragraph, I decided to use my own name. Still, I really like the trade name that I used to name this blog (LegoCogitoScribo) and wanted to use it somehow for a lot of reasons that I won't bother you with now. I had also created a YouTube channel by that name, and had gotten a Gmail account and a Web domain using that name. None of those are reasons to use this trade name. But, I liked the concept of I Read, I Think, I Write. I will explain that in next month's post.
I decided to create a secondary website at LegoCogitoScribo.com where I would post book reviews of some of the books I was reading and really liked. I doubt that I will spend much time reviewing books that I was not that crazy about. There are a lot of really interesting books coming out lately on both writing and emerging ideas. I thought some people might like reviews and comments to help them decide which they might be interested in. Hopefully, traffic to the secondary site will draw traffic to the main site which will draw traffic to the books. Or, at least, that's the plan.
I have a main YouTube channel (DrJohnArtz) where I need to create some content as I have been creating content under a pseudonym. Fortunately, the pseudonym channel has not drawn a lot of traffic as it was really a learning channel for me to learn what not to do. Or, at least, it turned out that way. I plan to post a series for each of my non fiction books on my main channel. So, if you don't want to bother reading one (or any) of the books, you can watch videos on YouTube instead. Hopefully, traffic to the YouTube series will draw traffic to the books as well.
My secondary YouTube channel (LegoCogitoScribo) mirroring my secondary website and, using my trade name, it will have book reviews. Again, if you don't want to read the stuff you can view the videos on YouTube.
The fiction writing will go on the back burner for now but I will continue to read fiction and read books about writing fiction for the next year or two when I will bring it back to a front burner and see what I can do.
Writing and independent publishing these days is like one person trying to put up a circus tent. It is possible, but it takes determination and persistence with a lot of learning and a lot of mistakes along the way.
Fortunately, it all makes sense to me now and I look forward to a focused and productive 2022.
