My modus operandi has always been, when a book is done, it's done. It's not that I don't edit, because I do, obsessively. What I mean is, I don't go back and change the story, especially after it's been published.
But I'm rethinking that. I did a sales promotion for Shadow Song that resulted in one download and two pages read via KENP. Two pages. Clearly, the opening sucks.
Only twice did I begin my books with even a rudimentary plot in mind. That's because I have no idea how to plot, and frankly the story unfolds more organically than had I sat around and tried to diagram Point A, Point B. I begin with a setting and let the story evolve from there.
And Shadow Song is a good story, but I began with too much "lead up", I guess one would call it. I describe the protagonist working at her original job and the events leading to her company being bought out, which.....leads to the actual story. No wonder people stopped reading. The opening goes on for too long. I know I can fix that. And on the plus side for me, I'll get to read the book for the first time since publishing, so it'll all seem new. All things considered, I'd much rather start a new book than go back to an old one ~ and I don't even want to start a new book. But this assignment won't be as much of a slog.
Another puzzling occurrence is that my novella, The Diner Girl, had 108 pages read in November. Well, it only consists of 79 pages, so did a bunch of people each read about three pages? Or did two people read to the halfway mark and stop? Did one person read all the way through and another stop in the middle? Amazon doesn't report the number of people who checked the book out via Kindle Unlimited, so it's an unanswerable question. That's kind of a sorry excuse for feedback. The thing is, I have no problem with the opening of that one. It starts out rather exciting, actually. I'm not going to change anything. Besides, I'm not going to make a habit of reworking previously published works.
Those two are the only of my novellas that got any traction this month, if one can label it traction. Of course, I have those four copies of BOOM! sold, so my royalties should be amazing! Somewhere around three dollars and two cents, I'm guessing. On the plus side, I'll be able to buy three lottery tickets, which is a lot less work than writing. I just have to punch the app on my phone. Plus, it's more profitable. Shoot, I won five dollars the other day!
So I guess I'm off to ripping seams ~ after Thanksgiving, of course.
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