Why hello there. It’s been two months since I did a progress update; however, the reason is that last month, the entire progress update consisted of “I released From Ashe Vol. 9” and I thought the whole “It’s available” post covered all you needed to know about what I had been up to.
Not this time around, though! While I haven’t done any writing on Vol. 10 yet (that is going to change very soon as I plan to begin as early as next weekend), some things have happened that are worth talking about so let’s jump right into them!
I Launched the Store
So, you might have noticed a new Shop link up in the main menu. That is because I finally did what I talked about last year and opened the store! The initial releases consist of a couple of collections and there are more shirts on the way. Not sure how I’m going to handle the release schedule just yet; however, I am thinking about doing simultaneous releases with each new book that comes out. That way, you’ll get a little something more than just a new story to read.
For now, feel free to check out what I have to offer. I have a Blaze Auras Collection from A.R. Dragonfly, a What They Wear collection so you can dress in the same attire as some of my characters, and some other miscellaneous shirts.
If there are other shirts (or products) that you would like to see, feel free to let me know!
Contests
I wish I had an answer for this section; however, I do not as of the time of this writing. This post is going up March 1 and the first result I will learn of is the Reader Views contest where I entered My Girlfriend Was Delivered by 2-Day Shipping. I will know if I am a contest winner in just three days on Monday, March 4.
Regardless if I win or not, the book received a 5-star review from one of their reviewers! You can check out what they had to say here: https://www.readerviewskids.com/my-girlfriend-was-delivered-by-2-day-shipping-piedra/
The other contest is the big one… the J-Novel Club contest. While I won’t know if I won, I will know if I made it to the next round this month. If I don’t, then I do have plans to release My Regularly Scheduled Life as a paperback and ebook. Needless to say, with two contests happening this month, the nerves are settling in!
Final Hope Getting the Views
Even long after its conclusion on Royal Road, Final Hope is almost up to 13,000 views (12,804 as of the time of this writing to be exact). Just wanted to drop a quick thank you to anyone who has read it and if you haven’t read it yet, you can do so at the following link:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68057/final-hope
Website Updates
I actually haven’t included this section in my progress updates in a while but I did do some minor work on the website (outside of launching the store.)
First off, on the back end, I integrated an SEO plugin into the site so that it can be indexed better on search engines. Going through and working on the SEO of all my past pages and posts is an ongoing process that will take a bit; however, it’s something to pluck at now and then. Hopefully, this will help increase traffic as awareness is key in this line of work.
Next, I updated From Ashe’s character section to include the one new and one old character that finally got artwork in Vol. 9. Everything should be up to date now. I swapped out some of the bio cards with newer artwork of the characters as well to keep things fresh.
At the store’s initial launch, I didn’t accept PayPal… well… I do now so I also got that set up.
That’s about it for site updates. As I said… some minor work.
Smashwords Sale!
If you’re looking to grab my books for cheap, Smashwords has their Read An Ebook sale happening from March 3 through March 9! I’ll make a separate post and drop a graphic on the third but all of my ebooks will be 75% off on the platform… so now you’ll be able to pick them up for $1.24!
So, if you wanted to check out any of my stuff, you can now do so for literal pocket change!
Until Next Time
That’s about it this time around. Next time, I’ll have a writing update since I plan to be well into Vol 10 (heck, knowing me, I’ll be finished with it and I’ll be talking about editing the thing next.) Plus, I’ll have updates on the contests; however, if you follow me on social media (which you should be, btw), then you’ll probably know the results before the next update. Heck, if you’re in my Discord server, you’ll know the results before the social media posts!
But until next weekend where I plan to start writing (why next? Why not THIS weekend? — shush.. I’m getting to that!)… I’m going to be enjoying Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and I’ll be watching an AEW PPV on Sunday (Oh… okay. I guess I should have waited and listened — yes… you should have).
Until April,
Ja ne!