Author Writing Corner – Page 23

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020

My Book Family of Short Reads and the Rest of My Works, Covered Here and on YouTube for Part Three

Today, over on YouTube, I’ll be covering the rest of my works I’ve published in the past three years.

By John Irvin

Already the third week into January, time is already flying by. The publication date for Longevity, Book 2: Independence is approaching fast and I still have a few loose ends to tie up. Yeehaw!

Today’s vlog is published on YouTube, check it out here. I hope you can tolerate my lame speaking skills, I write better than I talk.

I have covered the Longevity series, the Magic’s Time Split series, and my StarQuest Anthology. Beyond that, today I’m covering my Mermaid Seas Trilogy and several other short works. I have quite a few more, so now that I’m recording the video, I’m beginning to wonder if I should perhaps add a Part 4 to this opening YouTube series.

I’m trying to keep the videos to an average of 5 minutes.

It’s been a busy month already to say the least.

But, I feel more like an authorpreneur and CEO of my own business. Because that’s what business is: business. No pun intended. No, nothing like the Harry Potter pun I read the other day, you gotta watch out for those, they Slytherin.

Sorry. Moving on.

This morning, I’m working on the second draft to Book 3, As Flesh Rots, in my Magic’s Time Split series. Next week will be the second draft for Book 4, When Nights Bleed. After that I’m writing the next installation of the Ikkilion Chronicles for my Patreon backers.

So the rest of my January is booked in my writing domain.

I’m also gathering more volunteers for my GoFundMe Fundraiser Launch Team set for March. The plan is to have a pre-launch party, get up to 15 volunteer members for the team and make sure they’re all on the same page. We hope to gather a good chunk of pre-launch pledges.

Look for volunteers for a Launch Team — Looking for a team…

All funds raised in this campaign will only be sent on the expenses for and related to the John Irvin Author Book Tour 2020. That is set for August and could tentatively take me all the way to Los Angeles! Fingers crossed.

I’ll keep sharing more info on this as the Launch Day approaches.

Backers will be placed in tiered levels, depending on the amount they can give. Believe me, every dollar counts, so whatever can be given is appreciated. Each tier gets a reward, each reward stacked on top of the previous the higher the amount reaches in the stacked tiers.

It’s been done before, many entrepreneurs in this day and age use crowdfunding to startup their businesses. I’ve done a ton of reading and research on this topic and am finally using this medium in hopes to see my Author dream come into fruition.

My books may be fiction, but I do believe there is a message—even a small one—in each story. There is always the quote I love reciting, I think C.S. Lewis said it, if not, I apologize.

“Fairy tales are not real because they tell us dragons are real. Fairy tales are real because they teach us dragons can be beaten.”

If you know the real person who said that, let me know. Thank you ahead of time.

If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!

I’m also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would be eternally grateful!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Or email me at john@johnirvinauthor.com

November 25, 2019November 23, 2019

Announcement for my New Weekly Blog Schedule and the Upcoming Author Vlog.

I’m dropping the Days and Raising the Expectations with the Audiences.

By John Irvin

There are quite a few changes—several different revamps and new launches—approaching on the horizon.

I’ve already been slowly talking about already if you’ve been reading my recent posts. So this one will be extra short.

My authorpreneur blog will be moved to Thursday only. The Broadcast—or newsletter—will still be on Fridays. So this will be my last Monday blog and I won’t be doing a Wednesday blog. This Thursday—which is the 28^th of November will NOT have a blog. It’ll be starting the new phase next week!

There are always revamps in life, make sure there’s no quitting

Reason for this being, I’m launching a YouTube vlog around New Year’s and it will be coinciding with my blog thenceforth. It’ll make my job a little less complicated so I can have more time writing and publishing.

Basically, I’ll figure out how to provide the video link in my blog on my website and in the video relate the link back to the blog. Circular, but efficient, I think.

I have so many videos to record in the coming month! But it is exciting. All this work I’m adding onto my plate makes me think that by the end of 2020, I’ll be able to accomplish my main goal.

That’s Freedom.

Freedom to take a Book Tour whenever and wherever I please.

Freedom to write whenever and wherever I want.

Freedom to get to know my readers better since I could make more time socializing instead my time off from my Author career working a 9 to 5 (or rather 10 to 6 or 7 in my case).

Freedom to be my own CEO.

Thank you for joining me on my journey…let’s be friends!

Here’s to Freedom!

I am an affiliate marketer for Amazon and some of the links provided are affiliate links, meaning I make a tiny percentage of a sale if you go through my links.

If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!

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November 13, 2019November 13, 2019

It’s Cold and My Heater Isn’t Working, but I’ve got a Good Book to Read

I’m reading about Working At Home and I’ve already Started a few Side Hustle Gigs via Fiverr.com for Proofreading and Ghostwriting Blog Articles.

By John Irvin

So, I’ve returned from the camping trip, I hope y’all had a great weekend. It was drop-dead gorgeous while we were up there at Oak Mountain, Alabama.

The weather was sunny about 95% of the time, it only got frigid a little bit during the nights, but not as unbearable as it has been in the past.

Vista from King’s Chair at Oak Mountain, Alabama

Then of course, the night I return, the temperature drops below freezing. This morning, I could not get out from under my covers it was so cold. So that messed up my schedule. This is why I’m so late with today’s blog.

But I’ve still got a whole afternoon to worry about it.

So there’s no complaining from the peanut gallery.

I took a quick trip into town earlier and ended up having to change a blown tire. That was awesome fun in the cold—with the burning ice of the metal bars. It woke me up.

It just made me laugh, because that’s life. You just have to go with the flow sometimes, take the punches when they come, smile and say, I’m not dead yet. Keep going, eventually you’ll scale your mountain.

I’m reading an amazing book right now about Working at Home by a kindred spirit author of mine. If you’re interested in cutting out that annoying commute, no longer having those annoying bosses breathing down your necks, and a better security of being your own CEO, I recommend reading this book!

Caitlin Pyle knows what she’s talking about.

I randomly came across her article on Pinterest. I’ve been dying to leave my pizza delivery side job—you all know this from past blogs—and something inside me just said, pay for that shipping.

Well, after some miscommunications with printer and publisher, they were finally able to ship me the book. It was waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home from the camping trip on Monday night.

I’m almost finished with it.

There’s a 28-day step launch plan at the back too.

It gives me hope and also ideas for some side hustles.

Back when I first started on this Authorpreneur job and didn’t really know much about what I was doing, I advertised myself as a copyeditor and proofreader as well as a freelance writer. I really had no idea what I was doing.

Well, now that I do, and I’ve been reading this book, I’m now starting some side gigs on Fiverr.com for proofreading for my fellow authors.

We all need each other—as the saying goes, We rise by lifting each other up. And we can’t rely on our own two eyes to catch those pesky little typos after the editor has had her fill of our books.

So I’m here for my author friends. If you’re a writer, here’s my link: Fiverr.com/irvinauthor If you know a writer, please share this link with them. That would be such a blessing to me and I hope to them.

As for my own writing, I’m so happy and full of anticipation. My cover artist started working on the design for Book 2, Independence, in my Longevity series. I’m looking forward to seeing her glorious work soon!

As for Book 1, Revelation, I just checked this morning, and the E-Book IS being sold now right along side the Hardcover and Paperback on Amazon.com. I’m so happy!

Longevity, Book 1: Revelation by John Irvin — Hardcover, Paperback, and E-Book NOW available on Amazon.com!

Even with Life getting in the way, praise God, I’m still making headway, staying on track—it’s a little slower than I like, but slow progress is better than no progress.

I’ll talk to y’all next week or in my Broadcast if you’ve subscribed!

I am an affiliate marketer for Amazon and some of the links provided are affiliate links, meaning I make a tiny percentage of a sale if you go through my links.

If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Or email me at john@johnirvinauthor.com

October 28, 2019October 28, 2019

The Entrepreneurial Struggle Will Wear You Down

But You Have to Keep Going and Believing, Think of Those Behind You.

By John Irvin

After last weeks theme of breaking the chains of Corporatism, I sure feel “plum tuckered out” that’s old hillbilly speak for I’m tired.

It’s funny how in the Author journey—as in every aspect of life it seems—your motivation comes in waves. One week you can be all fired up and the next down in the dumps.

This is where discipline comes in.

This is where determination comes in.

I will keep writing, no matter what. — Why are we not running like we’re on fire toward our dreams?

We only have one life on this planet, it runs out fast, why are we not running like our butts are on fire toward our dreams?

But, when you work hard, keep going, pushing yourself to the limit, every single day and get little upfront reward. When you watch you bank account fluctuate so close to the red line for so long. When your mind begins to tell you your friends and family are giving up hope in your dreams.

When people start to question you, Why are you doing this? Why aren’t you looking for a better job? It’s been three years, if it was meant to be, don’t you think it would have shown up by now?

Doubt settles in. Life laughs and punches you in the groin.

You fall. Push yourself up.

Life hits you again.

You fail again.

So you start to lie on the ground a little longer each time.

The ground starts to feel like a comforter. It whispers in your ears, You can’t do this, why don’t you give up? You’ll only hurt yourself more.

But we weren’t made to stay on the ground.

It’s when you feel like you just flat out can’t go on—every single cell in your body screams to give up. You actually start to want to give up. But you take another step anyways, that’s true strength.

So I’m going to keep with my plan, try a new plan, and keep going.

Magic's Time Split, Book 1: Hidden Lake's Light by John Irvin — This book is Permanently Free! (PermaFree)

I’d like to let you know, thought I’m still exhausted, I got up this morning and started writing the next book in my Magic’s Time Split series. Book 5 is going to be a fun one. I still haven’t exactly figured out a title that zings with me though.

Since I started writing down the idea of the whole series, the title was tentatively called People Change Too. Because the main mythic creature type to be introduced in this one will be Shapeshifters.

I finished Book 4, When Nights Bleed, last week and its main mythic creature type was Vampires. The one before that was Zombies. So you’re starting to see my trend here, aren’t you?

But I want a better working title, maybe by Wednesday’s blog I’ll have figured one out. I’ll let you know.

Over in my Longevity series, Book 2, Independence, was just returned to me by my Editor and I’m excited. I’ve finished adding in the interior stuff like Copyright page, author profile page, other works page, etc. so now it’s only waiting for a formatter and the cover art and ISBNs, a some little tweaking then it will be ready for its due date in January 2020.

Just talking about that gives me a little energy to keep going. I’ve come so far, there’s no point stopping now.

If you’d like download Book 1 in my Magic’s Time Split series for FREE go to this link: Hidden Lake’s Light.

If you’d like Book 2 for free, make sure you sign up for my newsletter!

If you’re interested in starting the Longevity series, you should check it out on Amazon! I’ve got it in Hardcover, Paperback, and E-Book. Though I think Amazon is still taking its time adding the E-Book. But here’s the link: Revelation.

Longevity, Book 1: Revelation by John Irvin is out on Hardcover, Paperback, and E-Book — Revelation comes in three formats!

Next blog post I’ll share an excerpt from each of these three books. Does that sound good?

All right, I’ll talk to y’all on Wednesday!

I am an affiliate marketer for Amazon and some of the links provided are affiliate links, meaning I make a tiny percentage of a sale if you go through my links.

If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Or email me at john@johnirvinauthor.com

September 13, 2019September 13, 2019

EXPLORATION—FINDING MY AVENUE. I Tried Freelance Along With My Own Writing

By John Irvin

When I started out as a “full-time writer,” I signed up for Upwork.com and Wealthy Affiliates. W.A. helped me start my first website. I had no idea what I was doing then—looking back, I see the direction I could have gone.

Funny how you can always look back with 20/20 vision.

But I now see the whole first year and a half for what it was.

Exploration.

I was finding myself you might say. Exploring the avenues of freelance writing, proofreading, copyediting, etc.

Reading a couple books on being a writer—such as: Make Money As A Freelance Writer–I found the life of a freelance writer is nothing but cold pitching a 100 times every single day. Sadly, that’s not really in me.

Make Money as a Freelance Writer by Gina Horkey and Sally Miller

Then came the scammers—the thieves, the perverts, the liars. Yeah, I have to state it here. Half of those who offered jobs, either via Upwork or email, were scams. I learned a lot for those experiences though.

After that year and a half was over, I ended my subscription and my freelance website closed out a month later.

It took a few months before I found someone to help me start from scratch—I was now focusing on my own books, mine alone. So I need an author website.

That’s when I found Joanna Penn at the TheCreativePenn.com (Check her out if you’re an author looking for freedom!) She is literally stocked with information and podcasts and everything I needed to begin my Author-Entrepreneur Career!

I signed on,

got the first free book as the incentive for that, loved it so much I’ve been collecting the rest of the Author Career series since. Only one or two books left!

Getting my website up and running was easy with her help, the video guide she shares at her site aided me for the most part. Yes, there is room for you to explore on your own. I did that, I’m still learning a few tricks to it, but I like where I’m at. Yes, I know, I’ll change my mind later and want to change up something on the site—but that’s normal.

Since that new day about a year ago now, I know what my career goal is and what I am now. I am 100% an authorpreneur. Do I have other side hustles? Yes! There is one quote I read, Every millionaire has at least 7 sources of income.

Now, my goal isn’t to be a millionaire—although that would always be amazing—but rather to be financially independent. Passive income is where it is at!

Passive income is basically “Money flowing in while you sleep.” It’s scalable income. Non-scalable income is you trading your time for money. That’s your every-day 9-5 normal job. That will get you nowhere.

Here’s a great starter on ideas for Passive incomes: Passive Income Freedom. I’ll be sharing others as well on the subject in the near future.

Along with my affiliate blog, I also have my books—each book is a passive income source. So, eventually, I’ll be reaching my independence goal.

Whatever your dream job is, I believe you can do it. Through trial and error or through the help of others who’ve been where you’re at, whatever your way is. Wherever your journey leads you, never ever give up. Keep going.

Every one of us has been given a mountain or two in our lives to show they can be moved.

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September 9, 2019September 18, 2019

When You Change Paths, But Keep The Same Destination (My Author Book Review is Changing to my Author’s Corner)

By John Irvin

Today will be my 104^th blog post. The previous 103 are all book reviews. But I’m going to be honest with you. From the experience, I’ve seen, no matter how much I advertised my blogs, the only ones that made any difference, were actually the commentaries on my own published books.

Yesterday, there was no posting, because I did no blogging. Instead, I did much thinking. Finally, today, as you can see, I’ve decided to change directions with this author blog. I won’t be doing book reviews anymore—at least for awhile.

I’m keeping my goal though—still trying the affiliate marketing.

But I will now focus only on my own books and on my author life. It does seem more related to my website—I’ve been wondering if the niche was just not right for my author website so people were just being confused.

I will keep my Archive though. The Book Reviews are still there, available for anyone wanting to read them. But now I’m jumping onto the new path.

https://johnirvinauthor.com/

I’m excited. Feeling a little timid, but bearing the determination of a maelstrom within me.

Today I won’t talk about any books, only wanted to announce my decision and change the title of my blog. I’m calling in John’s Author Corner—not too original, I know. But I think it fits.

I’ll also be dropping down to only three posts a week. I need more time to focus on my writing as I have several works due over the coming months. So Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be my new schedule.

Those of you who’ve subscribed for my newsletter, I’m still going to be sending that out on Friday.

Hey, changing this focus of my blog will actually help in the near future when I start going on my Book Tours or visiting my bucket list places around the world! Now that I’m no long just writing book reviews, I’ll be able to let folks know what’s going on in my life.

Although, maybe every once in awhile, I’ll add a little review of a book that I absolutely have to share. But, again, that won’t be the focus.

It’s a new day, a new week, so many exciting things can happen. Make sure to live life, enjoy and learn from every moment. Chase your dream, whatever it is. We only get one life, make sure it counts.

If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!

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