Book Covers – Take The Next Page

THE THREE-YEAR RIDE! — Derek Barton

Audio Books, Book Covers, Book Giveaway, Dystopia, Epic Fantasy, Goal Setting, Horror Story, Inspiration, Marketing, Murder, Mystery Thriller, Patreon, Royalty, Self-publishing, Werewolves

Anniv Blog

Three years ago, I created this blog and established my site and social media footprint in order to advertise my book and to give my fans a place to reach out to me. This has been a crazy but fantastic ride! So thankful to all of you who’ve come along as passengers on my little quest.

Here’s the growth from year one to now:

SUBSCRIBERS:

2019 = 70 WordPress, 11 Email & 488 through Twitter & Facebook.
2016 = 11 Email

VIEWS/VISITORS:

2019 = 4,488 — 2016 = 1603 views
2019 = 2,475 — 2016 = 659 visitors
2019 = 61 — 2016 = 19 different countries

POSTS:

2019 = this is the 115th post!! (26 so far this year)
2016 = 37 posts

GIVEAWAYS: 18 Individual giveaways for Book, Audio, Amazon or Metal Bookmarkers!

As you know if you’ve been following my goal blogs, I use a bi-montly process that has actually been quite effective. Here are the goals made and fulfilled from July, 2018 through June, 2019:

Complete the Audiobook for In Four Days. Now out on Amazon, Audible & Kindle!
Create/organize this year’s 2018 Indie Fantasy Book Giveaway with several other independent authors. Was a decent success — this year’s increase in participation & what we are giving away is a nice testament to that!

Find at least two places to do a book-signing appearance. Did four book signings but due to finances and low turnout I couldn’t justify doing more…but with several books released now, I will be on the prowl for another couple signing spots this year! Would also like to get into one or two comic-cons, but cannot promise that due to having to usually register months in advance.
Finish editing for Elude #1 & #2.
Design the book cover for Elude #1 & #2.
Write the end of Elude #3. The entire series has been completed, book covers designed then redesigned, and soon to be released in audible format by the end of the first quarter next year!!
Send out Monthly Newsletters by 15th of the month. I have been successful with this and plan on continuing.
Keep up The Hidden saga on the website every 2 weeks. Accomplished this and have published the entire series on Amazon & Kindle!
Start my outline for Book #3 for the Wyvernshield Fantasy series. Still trying to get through this one. Coming up with the battle plans and the intricate plots is a whole lot more complicated than you’d expect! Plus, with this being the finale, I want to do better than “What-did-you-do-to-my-Game-of-Thrones?!”… UGH!!!
Write up and prepare for writing in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Challenge in November — Book #3 will be my focus for NaNoWriMo! (50,000 word count goal!) I participated in this last November, but my outline had too many holes so it only garnered 26,000 words… However, it’s a good start!
Craft a video book trailer for Consequences Within Chaos and The Bleeding Crown. (Can you say strettcccchhhhh gooooaaalll???) This will happen — but trying to make Wyvernshield #3 a priority right now.
Start another web saga? May have to have a survey for which genre to pursue — fantasy or horror. Decided to do a Dystopian/Fantasy saga: Juxtaposed… Now working on Chapter Four.
Thinking about setting up a service to other authors for possible book cover design. Maybe… I did get this off the ground and have had some success doing covers, editing & proofing for other writers. I plan on continuing this as the work has been sporadic and not too overwhelming so far.
Begin a four-part guest blog swap with fellow writer Adam Mitchell and complete a Blog Interview with him! (This will be my first ever blog swap and should be a lot of fun!) This has been a success — our final and fourth blogs are due out this month. Check out Adam’s here! For my blogs, click here!

Thanks again to all of you for your continued help, support and following me along this bumpy road! It has been the greatest adventure of my life!!

Anniv Blog v2

THE 2019 INDIE BOOK GIVEAWAY IS UPON US!! — Derek Barton

Book Covers, Book Giveaway, Dystopia, Epic Fantasy, Horror Story, Murder, Mystery Thriller, Self-publishing, Werewolves

HEY EVERYONE! IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN!! A SUPER-SIZED INDIE BOOK GIVEAWAY THIS YEAR!!

Check out these amazing eight authors giving away FREE EBOOKS — Doug Sanburn, T.D. Barton, Logan Fox, Susanne Lamdin, Nesa Miller, Andrea Cooper, Adam Mitchell, and Christy Mann!

ONE WINNER will have their choice of a $100 Amazon Gift Card or a Kindle Reader (pictured below!).

2019 Kindle Reader

It’s open for entry from July 5th to July 31st. You get “extra entries” by posting an ad on Facebook or sharing the ad or Tweeting (like Trump) on Twitter!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

Bi-Monthly Goals for July & August 2019 — Derek Barton

Audio Books, Book Covers, Book Giveaway, Dystopia, Epic Fantasy, Goal Setting, Horror Story, Inspiration, Marketing, Murder, Mystery Thriller, Royalty, Self-publishing

Blog Goal #1

Well…this has definitely been a challenging yet rewarding year. Unfortunately, events have substantially impacted my writing production.

At the beginning of April, I gave you my goals for April & May. Now, I won’t go into detail or give any excuses, but me and my family had to face and overcome some serious medical obstacles followed by financial hardships. I was so derailed that I lost most of June as well still working things out.

The dust has settled and overall, we are sitting better than where we even started the year. However, like any sudden change, it takes time to recover and adapt.

I do want to apologize to you, my core fans, and ask for your forgiveness and patience.

My work schedule has done a 360 degree shift on me and thus, my writing time has been severely compromised. One of my priorities this month will have to be to determine when and where to write. As I have stated in the past that I write mainly after 10 PM when my family goes to bed. Now I am working from 8 AM to 4:30 PM versus 11:30 AM to 8 PM — not too mention the two hours of driving time… But, I repeat, I am not wanting to give you excuses, only facts which I’ll have to find a work-around.

I promise you: Writing and developing my collection is too important for me to throw away or forget about. Adjustment, flexibility, good attitude and drive will help me find a path through.

Here were my goals and results from April & May:

Complete the outline for the third book in the Wyvernshield Series — partially completed; more chapters to work though.
Complete the outline for the new web saga, Juxtaposed — succeeded on this goal, but need to publish the third installment.
Complete the outline for the new Evade Series (crime/horror series) — no writing or outlining yet done on this storyline unfortunately.
Rework the covers of my books — partial success as I revamped the Elude Series which I’m quite happy with. Still need another artist or somehow figure out what I want for my new covers for the Wyvernshield Series.
Begin a four-part guest blog swap with fellow writer Adam Mitchell and complete a Blog Interview with him! — success as I published the interview (see here if you haven’t had a chance to read it) and have done 3 of the 4 guest blogs with him so far.

And by the way…I recently did an in-depth interview with my voice actress, Laura Richcreek on the Wyvernshield Series. That is in the editing stage but soon to be released. STAY TUNED FOR THAT! It was fun to do and we get into a lot of the minute details and reasons behind the plot twists in the two books. >>SPOILERS ALERT<<

My Goals for July & August:

The last goal blog, I proposed goals and put some dates of completion with them. This time I’m going to try putting Priority Levels on them — I will work from the top down which will keep me focused on what’s most important for me to complete.

Complete the total outline for the third book of the Wyvernshield Series. Highest Priority.
Maintain a two-week production of the chapters for the web series, Juxtaposed. Highest Priority.
Develop and begin the Evade Series outline. Medium Priority.
Find a cover artist or design the Wyvernshield book covers myself. Medium Priority.
Develop a book trailer for Wyvernshield Series. Lowest Priority (stretch goal).

There are many other things I want to do, but time is very limited so I hope these goals can be accomplished. With luck and with the better financial position, I hope to do more appearances, giveaways, and book signings by the end of the year! Thanks for everyone’s support and I appreciate everyone sticking around to see what’s in store for the future.

The Hidden — NOW ON AMAZON!

Book Covers, Horror Story, Murder, Mystery Thriller, Werewolves

An unseen terror stalks mankind – preying upon the weak, the lost and the outcasts that society will not miss. Lottery winners Nate and Zelda Malone thought their luck and fortune had forever changed. It has… Fate has chosen them for an extremely dangerous new path and an encounter that will forever haunt them.

This terrifying collaboration by T.D. Barton and myself is a unique ‘werewolf’ origin story that takes place in the 90s. Fans of Stranger Things and Stephen King’s IT will love this nostalgic but intense horror tale!!

If you have the courage, step now into a dizzying, heart-pounding tale of terror that you will never forget – if you survive the telling.

CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON!

Bi-Monthly Goals for April & May 2019 — Derek Barton

Book Covers, Epic Fantasy, Goal Setting, Horror Story, Marketing, Murder, Mystery Thriller, Self-publishing

Goal pic Apr 19

Time for a goal check-in!

In January, I opted to break away from the Bi-Monthly goals and introduced a new goal system. As you may recall, it was a goal system defined by Sarrah Cannon in her YouTube video How To Make 2019 Your Best Year Yet.

The essence of her system revolves around Main Goals, Projects, and Tasks. You set two or three “main” general priority goals to focus on. Then you break down those goals by deciding on Projects that will accomplish those general Main Goals. With each Project Goal, you detail and define what Tasks you are taking to get the Project finished.

Here are the goals I worked up for the first quarter:

My MAIN GOALS are as follows:

Increase my site visitors by 25% = 232 visitors — (2018 1st Quarter’s results were 186 visitors) ACTUAL RESULT: 243 visitors (Success!)
Complete one of three books for the year 2019 ACTUAL RESULT: Published Elude: Part Three the first week of April (Partial success).

PROJECT GOALS are as follows:

Goal to Increase Site Visits —

Three Monthly Giveaways
Two Book-signings
Weekly Blog Posts

Goal to One of Three Books for 2019 —

Write & Publish Elude Part Three

TASK GOALS to Increase Site Visits as follows:

Develop three unique site giveaways (signed book copies, amazon cards, audiobooks)
One Book-signing set in January (Superhero Saturday); call and set up another for February or March
Update each week a blog post (web sagas, goal-setting blogs, etc) for a total of at least 12 blogs in the 90 days.

TASK GOALS to Complete Elude Part Three as follows:

Complete Bullet Outline
Write the rough draft (30,000-word count left)
Go through 3 waves of edits
Cover & Blurb (already completed)
Publish on Kindle & Amazon by 3/31/19

While I did accomplish my goals, I felt like the extra month gave me too much leeway — gave me an out and I was not as “driven or pushed” as I have been with the Bi-Monthly goal system.

A couple positives did come out of the trial run: I was able to get a weekly blog done for the three months which was a nice plus and also I increased my site traffic by almost 31% versus the 25% I was shooting for.

So… I may not have felt like I was productive, I did accomplish some objectives. That being said, I’m going to try to do a combination of the two systems and see if that works for me.

First I am going to set myself five Main Goals that are a bit more specific than the general “Main Goals” as with Cannon’s approach. Also, I am going to give myself a bit of an established timeline completion date (not a deadline but more of an expectation).

MAIN FOR APRIL & MAY GOALS:

Complete the outline for the third book in the Wyvernshield Series (possibly titled Swimming in the Ashes). Due date by May 15th.
Complete the outline for the new horror web saga (no title yet). Due date by April 30th.
Complete the outline for the new Evade Series (crime/horror series). Due date by May 31st.
Rework the covers of my books. (I have been hit over the head several times by more successful authors that my books were not cohesive or didn’t express the right genres. “If you confuse the reader immediately, they will not bother figuring it out and move on.” I write in two genres so I’m going to have to do a better job at making it more obvious.) Due date by May 31st.
Begin a four-part guest blog swap with fellow writer Adam Mitchell and complete a Blog Interview with him! (This will be my first ever blog swap and should be a lot of fun!) Started by April 15th – the interview and First Blog on May 1st.

My April & May months may only 5 goals for the Bi-Monthly system which usually had 10, but these are some tough objectives and come with imminent goal dates. And along the way, I want to get a video done for my fantasy series as I watched several videos on book trailer production and think I’m up to it…but where can I get in that extra time?

WISH ME LUCK!

HEAVY…METAL BOOKMARKERS GIVEAWAY!! — DEREK BARTON

Book Covers, Epic Fantasy, Horror Story, Mystery Thriller

THESE BAD BOYS ARE UP FOR GRABS! I will give away a set of my collectible four – signed – custom-made bookmarkers ($30 value) at the end of the month. They are made of durable, thin sheet metal and have a gloss to bring out specific colors.

TO QUALIFY, CLICK ON THE LINK HERE. Just complete your email entry to me. No purchase necessary.

Winner must live within the United States.

Good luck!

A Must-See Character? — Derek Barton

Book Covers, Book Giveaway, Horror Story, Inspiration, Murder, Mystery Thriller, Self-publishing

Character Sketch

Have you ever wanted to participate in a book’s story creation? Watched a movie and thought, I wish they would’ve have done this…or wished they would have taken the story in this direction…or This character is so flat, boring…

Well, I am offering you your chance!

In an upcoming modern horror/crime story I am developing, I want YOU to tell me what would you’d like to see or read — what character you’d write about!

My only limitation for you is that the story will focus on two patrol officers — I am picturing this character as my main character’s partner.

Should I chose your character, I will send you a Signed Paperback copy of the novel in advance of putting it on the market and give you exclusive credit on my dedication/acknowledgment page for that character creation! Also, you will get an exclusive paperback copy of Elude #3 coming out late March or April with an alternate cover…YOU WILL HAVE THE ONLY SIGNED COPY!

This giveaway will go to the end of March and you must be within the United States to win (sorry, but International Mailing is just impractical at this time). Also note, if not enough entries are sent or viable characters to choose from, I may not select a winner for the giveaway.

Use my prior Character Sketch blogs to get a better idea of what I am looking for:

Diving into the oceans of your characters!

OR…

New Character Sketch!

CHARACTER SKETCH

Name —

Gender —

Character Strengths & Weaknesses ==

How old?

What does the character look like?

Where is the character from?

How does your character deal with conflict?

Where does he/she live?

Does the character have any unique or special abilities?

Who else is in their life?

The character’s current status in life?

What is your character’s goal or motivation?

To participate, Copy and Paste the questions to an email and send your responses to Rivyenphx@gmail.com. Feel free to add images, short summaries or anything else you want that will bring your creation to life!

Good luck and together we can really write something special!!