My story runneth over

In writing The Tainted Sliver, the third book in the Tales from the Green series, I have come across an interesting dilemma. Those who read the first two books know that by and large they are almost entirely from the point of view of my main protagonist, Alex. This rule is only broken when I feel that I need to show a scene where Alex isn't present or occasionally for flavor to show an outside character's view of Alex's growth as a character.

In my first draft of Tainted Sliver, however, I have written many scenes from the point of view of Kira (for those who don't know Kira, buy my dang books and quit asking questions. Links are to your right :p ). In fact, her seperate intertwining storyline is forming another book altogether, at least in length. The good news is that I am overflowing with ideas to build my world and characters. The bad is that most hangups I have had while trying to finish Sliver involve Kira's tale.

So, I come to a decision making point: do I cut all of Kira's tale to deliver the same quick paced, dryly humored, Alex-centered type of story that I did for the first two installments? Do I then write a fourth novel to incorporate Kira's story, which is after all coming together fairly well despite my misgivings? Do I write said fourth novel and then reweave it with Tainted Sliver to make one huge book? The possibilities are intriguing, but the workload involved is mind-numbing at this point.

Not dead.

I need to get out of the one post a month habit, but I've been busy. The Tainted Sliver is at about 75% at the moment, which means that most of my writing time has been devoted to actually writing rather than marketing and promotion of my other books. A novel concept, I know.

Promotion of a self-published novel is like a full-time job unto itself. Other writers know what I'm talking about. Between keeping active on a variety of writing forums and carefully picking and choosing when and where to plug your own work without looking like a spammer, you also have to always be on the lookout for any advertising opportunities that pop up. That means interviews, keeping up a blog, guest blogging, requesting reviews, and submitting write-ups to websites that feature indie books. Those who like to take it a step further are active on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and a host of other activities I lack the energy for. The fun part is that if you let up for even a week, your presence on the web basically disappears. After all, there are an aweful lot of other indies just waiting to take your place in the public eye.

August was an awesome sales month because I busted my hump all through July doing interviews and featured spotlights. I also got some lucky breaks by way of well-timed reviews and new book covers. Now that I've started really writing again my focus has slipped from my online presence (as the infrequency of blog posts should attest) and sales have dropped down to June/July levels. I'm not complaining, though, because those months weren't bad at all, just not great. September is actually shaping up to be an alright month for me writing-wise. I've hit a few snags but I still believe that The Tainted Sliver should be done by Christmas.

Edit 09/21: I stand corrected on sales slowing down. A sales explosion (or salesplosion, as I like to call it) has occured in the last day. I've almost caught up to last month in sales with plenty of time left in September. You people never let me down :)