by Naomi L. | November 28, 2018 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Hello, dear readers! Another month has passed and I have a lot of exciting news to share with you! It’s been yet another busy month, probably the busiest so far, and I can’t wait to share what’s been going on in the month of November with my writing and my blog relaunch!
So to keep you up to date, here are some updates on my writing endeavors in November!
Updates on My Books
Oh wow, where do I even begin? I had no idea how much I’d be able to get done in just a month!
First of all, I’m finally about ready to publish my book, The Silver Queen and Other Dragon Tales! I sent review copies out earlier this month, so if you were one of the beta readers who sent me feedback on any of my stories, you should have a copy in your email! If you missed the email, don’t worry: I’ll be sending out reminders soon with a link to download the PDF.
As for when I’ll publish the book, I’m planning to launch it next month! If all goes well with my launch prep, you can expect to see the book on Amazon after December 9th! Wish me luck!
I’ve also been participating in my first ever NaNoWriMo all month. I set a daily word count goal of 2000 words for up until the Thanksgiving weekend, and after writing every single day since November 1st, I finally won NaNoWriMo yesterday! I can’t believe I actually managed to write 50k words in under 30 days!
I did it! *happy dance*
The novel draft I’ve been working on is the first in a YA/NA fantasy series about dragons. The first draft isn’t finished yet and it’ll still need a lot of editing before it’s ready to be published, but at least I have something written now, and that’s the first step! I look forward to shaping this draft into what will likely be my first real novel!
Once I finish this draft, I’d like to let it sit and return to the short story series I’d been planning to write after The Silver Queen. Considering the amount of work that will still need to go into my novel, I may end up publishing these stories next. More updates on that soon!
Updates on My Blog Relaunch and Rebranding Campaign
For the first time in months, I actually have some real news to share about my blog relaunch! It’s a small update, but progress is still progress, right?
This past weekend, I took advantage of Namecheap’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to get huge discounts on email and web hosting. I already set up an official email address through my new domain, and I’m currently working on setting up a proper Coming Soon landing page for my upcoming website. I’d still like to use SiteGround for hosting once my new blog is ready, but in the meantime, I’ll be able to collect emails through my landing page and use my new email address for my official author mailing list!
For now, I’ll still be focusing mostly on my book launch, but once The Silver Queen is finally published, I can really start focusing on my new blog! Again, to everyone who’s been waiting for a major update, thanks for your patience!
Reminder: Guest Posts Still Wanted!
And finally, this is another friendly reminder that I’m still accepting guest post submissions to help me promote my blog relaunch! There’s still plenty of space for more posts, so don’t be shy!
If you’re interested in submitting a guest post, be sure to read the guidelines first, then sign up for my list below!
Join My Blog Relaunch Street Team!
You should receive a welcome email plus another email in a few days with instructions on how to pitch me your guest post.
Thanks again to everyone who’s signed up to help me make my book launch and blog relaunch a success! You’re all awesome!
Talk to you again soon! Until then, happy reading/writing!
by Naomi L. | October 31, 2018 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Happy Halloween, dear readers! The end of another month is upon us! It’s been a very busy month for me, so I’m excited to share what’s been going on in the month of October with my writing and my blog relaunch. This time I have much more exciting news to share about my books!
So to keep you up to date, here are some updates on my writing endeavors in October!
Updates on My Books
I made substantial progress on my book of dragon stories this month! I had been struggling to export a half-decent ebook from Scrivener, but a friend told me about the free Reedsy editor earlier this month, so I tried it out and was finally able to format my book with it!
I did a final round of edits on my short stories, added the front and back matter, and exported the manuscript into Kindle format. Now I just need to export a review version in PDF form and hopefully I can start sending out advance review copies of The Silver Queen soon! So exciting!
Aside from preparing to launch my book of short stories, I’ve also decided to participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo! I spent a good part of this month outlining what will be the first novel in a YA fantasy series about dragons. It will be my first NaNoWriMo ever, so wish me luck!
Updates on My Blog Relaunch and Rebranding Campaign
Not much has changed on this front since last month. I’d still like to move my blog over to SiteGround, and I have a running list in Evernote of ideas for blog posts I’d like to write once my new site is finally up and running.
In the meantime, I’ll be focusing on my book launch over the next few weeks. I hope to publish it at least by early December. Once it’s published, I can start focusing on my blog relaunch again! To those who have been waiting and asking for news, thanks for your patience!
Reminder: Guest Posts Still Wanted!
And finally, this is another friendly reminder that I’m still accepting guest post submissions to help me promote my blog relaunch! There’s still plenty of space for more posts, so don’t be shy!
If you’re interested in submitting a guest post, be sure to read the guidelines first, then sign up for my list below!
Join My Blog Relaunch Street Team!
You should receive a welcome email plus another email in a few days with instructions on how to pitch me your guest post.
Thanks again to everyone who’s signed up to help me make my book launch and blog relaunch a success! You’re all awesome!
Talk to you again soon! Until then, happy reading/writing!
by Naomi L. | October 24, 2018 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Hello, dear readers! We’re almost through the month of October, and after working hard to organize myself over the past few weeks, I figured it was finally time to share two major updates with you all: the cover of my upcoming book and my new author name!
A few weeks ago, I shared an update with the news that I’ll be changing my author name on social media before I relaunch my blog. Since I decided to publish my first book under my real name, the plan is to start marketing my dragon stories on social media and focus on updating my blog after launching my book. And since my book launch and rebranding campaign are now overlapping, I thought it would be fun to reveal my book cover and my new author name at the same time!
So without further ado, here is the cover of my upcoming book of dragon stories:
Yes, my name is Naomi Lastrucci! Nice to meet you! 🙂
You may start to notice some changes in my social media profiles soon, though it may still be a while before those changes are reflected on my blog. There will be more updates coming soon, but for now, I wanted to kick off what will be a very busy next several weeks with these major announcements!
If you’re interested in staying in the loop about my book launch and rebranding campaign, feel free to sign up for my blog relaunch street team below! As always, the door is still open for guest post submissions; just be sure to read the guidelines before you sign up!
Join My Blog Relaunch Street Team!
Thanks for reading! Talk to you again soon! Until then, happy reading/writing!
by Naomi L. | October 3, 2018 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Hello, dear readers! I know I just shared an update with you last week, but I’m dropping in again to let you know there’s been a slight change of plans regarding my publishing and blogging goals. Allow me to explain…
To Book or to Blog? A Catch-22 Problem
While I do want to self-publish my book of dragon stories and relaunch my blog under my new author name, the question I’ve been facing for the past few weeks is which to do first. The original plan was to publish my book under my pen name, then relaunch my blog and start publishing new books under my real name.
However, when my designer finally sent me the book cover samples with my pen name last month, she included another copy of each with my real name, and frankly, I fell so in love with them that I knew I couldn’t publish the book under any other name but my own. In short, soon JC Wolfe will be no more!
This left me with the question of how to proceed with my plans to publish, relaunch, and rebrand. It wouldn’t make sense to publish under my real name only to redirect readers to a blog written under my pen name, but at the same time, the only way I can afford to properly relaunch my blog and rebrand myself is by successfully publishing and selling my book. A real catch-22, right?
Rebranding One Step at a Time
The solution I came up with was to start rebranding myself through social media first. I can set up a landing page for my book through my email marketing service provider and promote it through my social media profiles under my new author name. Once my book is finally published and (God willing) selling, I can focus my efforts on updating my blog!
This is somewhat of a spur-of-the-moment plan, but for now, it feels like the best course of action. I’m still not sure when I’ll start rebranding, but hopefully I can finish getting organized soon! Keep an eye out for more updates soon, including the reveal of my book cover and my true author name!
Guest Posts and Blog Relaunch Street Team Volunteers Still Wanted!
And as always, the door is still open for guest post submissions for my blog relaunch (be sure to read the guidelines before you sign up)! Those who join my blog relaunch street team will also get early updates about my rebranding campaign, so if you’re interested, feel free to sign up for my list below!
Join My Blog Relaunch Street Team!
Thanks for reading! Talk to you again soon! Until then, happy reading/writing!
by Naomi L. | September 26, 2018 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Hello, dear readers! Yep, another month has gone by since my last update on my blog, so here’s a quick update about what’s been going on in the month of September with my writing and my blog relaunch. Progress has still been slow, but this time I have a little more news that I’m excited to share with you!
So to keep you up to date, here are some updates on my writing endeavors in September!
Updates on My Books
My three dragon stories have been self-edited, though I still have yet to properly format them into an ebook, so there’s no news on that front. There is, however, a spot of good news that came up at the end of this month.
I finally got some book cover samples from my designer!
I’m not quite ready to share them yet, but I’m very excited to be one step closer to publishing my book! Readers on my mailing lists, especially those of you who beta read my stories, will definitely get a sneak peek before I share the final cover on my blog, so be sure to sign up at the bottom of this post if you’re interested!
On the side, I’m continuing to edit my 100k-word fantasy novel every day and writing my short story trilogy in my spare time. I also just started outlining a new idea for a fantasy novel that I may try to write for NaNoWriMo! If I do, there’s a chance this will actually be the book that follows my dragon stories, as I’d like to turn it into a series! More news on all these books later! Wish me luck!
Updates on My Blog Relaunch and Rebranding Campaign
I mentioned last month that I’ve mostly been focusing on my books lately, so I haven’t had much time to spare for my blog relaunch plans. Because of that, I still don’t have a lot of news to share. One thing I can say, though, is that I’m now fairly certain my new blog will be hosted on SiteGround!
On top of that, I’ve been brainstorming plenty of blog post ideas for my new website! I have definitely found my niche now, so you can expect a common theme across my content (hint: it will match the theme of my upcoming short story book). I’m more excited than ever for my blog relaunch! Again, fingers crossed that it won’t be too far away!
Reminder: Guest Posts Still Wanted!
And finally, this is another friendly reminder that I’m still accepting guest post submissions to help me promote my blog relaunch! There’s still plenty of space for more posts, so don’t be shy!
If you’re interested in submitting a guest post, be sure to read the guidelines first, then sign up for my list below!
Join My Blog Relaunch Street Team!
You should receive a welcome email plus another email in a few days with instructions on how to pitch me your guest post.
Thanks again to everyone who’s signed up to help me make my book launch and blog relaunch a success! You’re all awesome!
Talk to you again soon! Until then, happy reading/writing!
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