Sunday 1 February 2015

R.G Rankine’s new short story: 15 Soon & Alfred Duff on Wattpad

Dear all,

I have just released a new short story this weekend. It seems like a long time since I have done so… and in fact it is, April 2012... which seems impossible but I cannot find any plausible way of denying it or hacking into Amazon's database to change the dates. 

It is called, “15 Soon” and describes a young school lad coming to terms with new feelings he is discovering. These take place as a hot summer approaches and the friends he has in different aspects of his life converge in an unexpected way. He has to cope with burgeoning romantic emotions whilst accepting some existing relationships he has relied on up to now may not be good for him anymore. 


Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/16gdoI6 
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/168sQoG 

I am not making a big deal out of the whole marketing thing, as crazy as that sounds I know, because this year I really am focussing on writing and as much as I am learning about the promotion and marketing skills needed (and believe me, I know it is absolutely vital to every indie out there) I am going to be a bit bloody minded about it. I have set myself a target of putting a new short story out every month while I am working on my first novel and I do not want to spend the time needed to push for reviews and expanding my reach. That sounds like suicide and in a purely logical business sense it is, but that is not where my mind is - and yes, you could argue I don't have a choice, it needs to be - and I am not going to worry about it. I have too much to work on right now and for me the most important thing is getting content out there. 

Over the last few years I have drafted many stories to a decent level of readiness but as my life has taken a few twists and turns I haven’t been in a place to convert them all to completed stories. As you may have read in my blog if you have followed me so far, last year was a turning point. I had a lot of time to think about what I want to do and I committed myself to spending the coming years on my writing no matter how difficult life may be in the social and financial sense. I really feel that I will never improve as a writer if I don’t make the time to finish what I have started and get on with new works. 

Alongside the writing I am still learning about marketing and I am not ignoring that. My business plan and various publication process documents are being updated all the time with new ideas and I'm pleased about that but it is not my priority. If I actually make it to the end of year without going crazy and have 12 new short story ebooks self published and a complete draft of my first novel I will be very, very happy. Then the hard work will really begin... I have many more shorts to work on and other ideas for novels but the business will have moved on and I will be putting marketing and promotion at the top of my to-do list, except I will have a decent level of content behind me which is the thing I need to feel more confident. 

Saying that, I am not just typing away in isolation. I am working on other projects that will increase my social media content and following which I am looking forward to sharing with you soon. It is just the time needed to promote every single publication that I am not prepared to commit to... oh boy, I can hear the sighs and wringing of hands from here, sorry to anyone that statement annoys the hell out of!

Anyway, there we are. If you choose to buy the new short story (£0.99 or $0.99 and equivalents) then fantastic and thank you very very much, I would be keen to hear your views on it, but I won't be hounding you so that's the last post on it... for now!


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On to a new announcement! I am really pleased to let you all know that my Thinking Plainly colleague Alfred Duff has just opened a Wattpad account and will be releasing his new novel chapter by chapter over the coming weeks.



It is a really interesting move because we have been working towards a few different projects on Wattpad (more of that in later posts) and Alfred has taken the bull by the horns and gone straight into a serialisation so I hope you find the time to take a look at his Wattpad page and read and comment upon his first chapters that are now online.
Of course if you can't wait!... then his ebook is available to buy at the following links:


If anyone reading this is a Wattpad user, either writer or reader, then please let me know what your page is or your favourite pages and myself, Alfred Duff and Rufus Garlic will follow and add them to our lists for future posts on the subject.

Here’s to a very productive 2015.

Take care,

RGR

www.thinkingplainly.com


Please join me on all my social media pages:

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/Robert.G.Rankine 
Twitter:           https://twitter.com/thinkingplainly 
Google+:         https://plus.google.com/+RGRankine 
LinkedIn:         https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgrankine 
Instagram:       http://instagram.com/rgrankine 
Flickr:              https://www.flickr.com/people/thinkingplainly/ 
YouTube 1:     https://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainly   (Personal Channel)
YouTube 2:     https://www.youtube.com/thinkingplainlyltd  (Company Channel)
Pinterest:         http://www.pinterest.com/thinkingplainly/ 
Blog 2:            http://rgrankine2.blogspot.co.uk

And Author Profile Pages to keep informed of the latest releases:

Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/IqRZK  (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)
Amazon US:   http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf (Click 'Add to Favourites’ under profile photo)
Nook:              http://amzn.to/1CIEjaf 
Google:            http://bit.ly/1yyMhQx 
Scribd:             http://bit.ly/1xVQlLh 
Apple:             Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine
Kobo:              Author page not available yet - search R.G Rankine


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