New Calves... Kickstarting Books
Calves keep coming. They pause and then a momma drops a new one. Vision and an expectant attitude is how this universe works. Same for writing and releasing new books...
Hi,
More new calves. And we’ve seemed to hit a pause now that we’ve gotten over half way. For now. And I’m meanwhile struggling somewhat successfully to get my books off their own “pause”.
Farming News - Up to nine calves now. #6 is featured. Fresh, cute faces for you. And tiny home plans start taking shape.
Writing News - Things are lining up - but are too slow for my taste. The darned things keep re-writing themselves…
Expectancy - Get anything and everything you want. It’s as simple as setting out your vision and updating your attitude to one that always calm, cheerful, and expectant.
Farming News
Here’s Calf Number 6! Another new bull calf.
All white face, rear socklets.
And your suggestions on what to name this young bull are appreciated. Comment on the Substack newsletter or reply with an email. Whatever’s easier.
(UPDATE: We’re up to 10 calves as of this morning! Still expecting a total of 17 this spring. Over half-way and 7 to go. Still dieting you on calf pictures so you can meet each one.
Tiny Home News
Only the okra is still left to plant. They seem to be doing fine in their little pots for now. But soon, we’ll be done.
Had to get some chemical spray (in a hand-sprayer bottle) for the beans. Don’t like to have to use these, but the bugs got away from us. So we’ll have to get some more companion plant research, as well as home remedies going.
We picked up the surveyor’s description for the land we want. Now I just have to get back with my Mother to see what she wants to part with and for how much. We’ve mentioned leasing the land to begin with - until we sort out our finances. Again, check out Five Acres and Independence. We’re following those steps.
We did check into the idea of Shed-To-Home and visited a couple of local dealers. We can get a portable shed as big as 16’x60’ - which has the foot print of a smallish mobile home, but without the wheels and frame underneath. The cost is somewhere around a quarter that way. And you then finish it out exactly the way you want it. That’s where your other costs come in.
Thankfully, I went through re-building the main section of our big house a few years back and so polished up on my electrical and plumbing.
Here’s a funny part. If you only block it up and anchor it down with mobile home anchors, then it doesn’t go onto your real estate taxes - just your personal property tax. They also offer 5-year financing on it, which suits us who are in our 60’s. No sense carrying a lot of debt again.
Right now, we’re thinking in terms of a 12’x36’ shed for now, and then adding on later with another shed or even a mobile home. Funny enough, if we put these with their narrow ends toward the road, they look a lot smaller. And depending on their colors, they can almost disappear in the background. Nice for privacy.
Writing News
The writing moves slowly. Mostly due to all the farm work needed in this spring, plus visiting places for the new tiny home project.
The books themselves are ahead of me, pulling me along. Yesterday, I sat down to write a short promotional essay (about 3,000 words) and wound up writing the third book, well ahead of what’s needed right now. So I stopped and copied-out the first piece and started over.
Again, we’re doing a four-part series under the WriterpreneurOS umbrella. This first one is nearly ready for a Kickstarter (hence, my writing a promo piece for it) and the next one on copywriting needs to get over to proofing.
Kickstarter Planning
Still trudging through the homework on this. I found that Lulu has put up a small page on how to run crowdfunding for a book release. And they’ll help you with the shipping - you only have to send them a spreadsheet with the book titles, names, and addresses. You then pay them for the printing and shipping. Very simple.
I’ll probably run a short campaign for the first one and then line up the others. Reading on these says I should probably run some four releases a year. Each one getting more involved as I get more experience. And then work through my entire backlist while I also build my audience up.
The general theory is to do a kickstarter first, promoting to my existing list (since the social media have become walled gardens and send no traffic anywhere). Plus, I’ll work up Notes on Substack which will be tidbits on their own.
Kickstarter never deletes any projects, so they are a wealth of data on how people run similar releases as mine. AND - they now have an option where people can give late pledges and receive bonuses. Meaning that these earlier projects can still earn income years later. SEO that pays for itself.
SEO itself is imploding with Google’s integration of AI into its searches. So we are really finding that businesses like authors have to really talk to their readers and give value they will support. SEO and social media are now dead-ends, and we’re back to Kickstarters and subscriptions. What goes around comes around. Only better.
Oh - whatever you can create, you can kickstart. Feel free to try this on your own. A little homework, a lot of writing and nice graphics. Make your own dreams become actuality.
The Recurring Special Offer:
For a short time, the beta-readers version of Writerpreneur OS is still available. Until I start the kickstarter release, you can download the new and improved edition (especially if you already have it from earlier.)
That link is now Pay What You Want - a nice way to donate.
Here’s the link: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/WOS01-beta-readers
See if you can find more oopsies. Leave comments, reviews. Ask questions. Be one of the first anywhere.
It’s just north of 250 pages these days, depending on format. Available are epub and PDF. No charge. (Free download, in other words.)
Nearly 20 years of writing-publishing-entrepreneuring - all rolled into a single book. And updated. Condensed.
AN ASK: if you’ve downloaded it, please give some feedback. Leave it in the comments, send me an email. Something, anything. Like it, could be better.
Expectancy and Believing
I’ve found that there are two key areas to keep your attention on: your vision and your attitude. Both of these are touched on in all the classics: Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, Bristol’s Magic of Believing, Nightingale’s Strangest Secret, Wattle’s Science of Getting Rich.
You set your vision and you update your attitude. Once you can know and expect your vision as inevitable, then the world becomes a better place.
I’ve told you about how I wrote my own future into existence. And that book is still predicting what is about to happen. That “shed” above fits into where I described where the main character got the Amish to build a house frame for him, and he outfitted it with a kitchen and bathroom while he lived in his tiny home nearby and did his writing. The details shift a bit, but the story is holding true.
That’s just a vision. I should probably write the sequel to it in the same spirit. All just fantasy - until it takes place. You plan your actuality and then it becomes so. Too simple. That’s the secret, though. Get your own attitudes of limit out of your way and replace them with a calm, cheerful expectancy and watch things form up just as you envisioned them.
It works. Always has. You only have to prove it for yourself through small tests and larger ones.
Visit my bookstore at http://store.livingsensical.com to get digital versions of these (and other) books. You can get the print versions online.
Thanks for being there, opening this.
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I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)
Robert
PS. Again, you can always email me about anything.
PPS. Again, do upgrade to the paid newsletter version. That helps me keep the lights on - so I can keep all this coming to you. As much or little as you want…
PPPS. I’m considering putting my entire library up (digital versions) for the Patron (Founding Member) level. I’ve done that before in parts, as many of you know. Do let me know what you think about that idea. Reply to this email, or leave a comment on my Substack page for this.
(Meanwhile, I’ve put my archived newsletters and articles all available as free, instead of behind a paywall.)
AND you can always buy me a coffee…