So the weekend has crept up on me again and I’ve hardly done any of the things I hoped to do this week. I did manage to compose and send out a newsletter. I thought my last one was in July, but it was in June. The July newsletter on file was just a template I’d saved for when I did it in July. But I didn’t do it in July. I didn’t do it in August. And I didn’t do it in September. But I did do it in October and I renamed it ‘Autumn News’.
If you haven’t received your newsletter, do check your spam and junk folders. I think there’s one subscriber who hasn’t actioned the original ‘thank you for subscribing’, which sets off an automated process culminating in the welcome newsletter and first short story. Brevo is telling me it sent yesterday’s newsletter to one less person than is on my mailing list. So again, if that’s you, please accept the initial one that starts everything else off.
I decided in the end to throw up a full colour pdf of the magazine for newsletter subscribers, but hold fire on it for three months. There’s a placeholder there that subscribers can follow a link to, and as soon as my first 90-day period is up, the first pdf will be available. I decided this was the best way to get around the digital exclusivity grey area.
Saying that, I’ve not sold a single copy of the magazine thus far and I have no idea yet if anyone has collected it as part of their KU membership. By now I would have seen sales on Draft2Digital, so already I’m counting the days to when I can remove it from Kindle Select and get it out there. If this continues to be the trend, I won’t bother giving exclusivity to KU. Ever Again.
That’s one thing I did yesterday, and it did take much of the day. I’m still familiarising myself with the new Brevo way, although a lot of it is exactly where it was when it was SendInBlue, it’s just a different colour, or slightly different wording. I also think I’ve got the hang of the newsletter layout now and the sizing of images.
If you’re not a subscriber, then you’re missing a free short story, this eventual free access to the magazine, and pictures by the poet from our Whitby holiday. There are also two new book covers on there, for one new story, that readers can let me know whether or not they prefer one or the other.
Fancy it? Then follow this link or fill in the form in the sidebar (it’s at the bottom on mobile devices). You can then access the entire newsletter archive online.
Despite the newsletter looking fine on mobile devices on my dashboard, on our Samsung phones it’s looking really, really tiny. We can tip our phones on one side and the view is improved considerably. However, do let me know if yours is a bit tiny too and I’ll look at enlarging the font and then asking Brevo how to properly optimise it for mobile devices.
The only other thing I did yesterday was share the gig list. Oh, and I found out a bit about copyright and image licences.
Today has been catching up on household chores and scheduling in when I’m going to write (or attempt to write) Project Management for Writers: Gate 3. I need to give myself a kick up the bum and do something productive.
As soon as today’s illustration popped up on my search for an image, I knew who the artist would be.
I used an element of this one myself for the working cover of Snowblind: a Marcie Craig mystery.
I had to cut out a psychedelic background to make it match the other book covers in the series and either I flipped the image or the artist has for this one.
I use so much of this artist’s work to illustrate mine. I may look into contacting them in the future to see if we can perhaps come up with a deal. I’ll also point out to them that ellipses always come in threes…
I have a meal plan to write and a shopping list before we do the shopping this weekend, and Monkey Dust have a gig tomorrow night. Whatever you’re up to, have a goodun!
I finally could buy the magazine! Yay! I’m not on KU, but it’s going to my Kindle. I had trouble with the link last week, but that could have been internet wonk .
Oh, thank you so much! You should have let me know, I could have sent you the file! You’ll get the pdf too once the 90 days are up.