Shocking author confession. I regret giving my book this title…

A long long time ago, well longer than I care to admit, I had an idea for a book and the title just came to me. It was during that magical time when the words were flowing, and I believed that once it came out it would become a Harry Potter like sensation. There would be a movie of course, and tie in merchandise, possibly a musical based on the movie, and of course a loyal fanbase with a catchy name like the Locker Rockers, the Lockeristas, The Mob of 17, or The Sleeperinos. None of that happened. I know you’re thinking I’m delusional, but really it’s all because The Secret didn’t take effect. When does the power of positive thinking kick in anyhow? Can someone give me Oprah’s cell number so I can ask her?

Anyway, I put my book up for sale and crickets. I shouldn’t admit this but I am. Sales are not what I thought they’d be. Even the non-delusional version of me. Sometimes I wonder if it’s my title. The title in question is Rock’N’Roll in Locker Seventeen. The same title that felt, so right, like destiny. This wasn’t going to be one of those books with a generic one or two-word title that sounded like hundreds of other books out there. This one was special.  So what went wrong with the title that felt so right?

The first problem is the phrasing of the words Rock’N’Roll . I am just sick of writing out rock’n’roll every time I promote. The punctuation never looks right and I have to tweak the apostrophes that surround the n constantly. It’s a pain, to be honest.  I’ve also discovered that people don’t really call it rock’n’roll much anymore. They call it rock, or rock and roll. If I had just called it rock and roll, I would have been able to get the keywords, rock, roll, and rock and roll. Instead, I had to be cute. I wasn’t thinking about metadata when this magical title came to me. My muse is not up on her SEO marketing I guess.

My second problem is that I wrote out seventeen. Yes, it looks better on the cover, but when people are looking for something numerical they just type the number. When I want to find my book quickly I do it too. I just type locker 17. That’s why if I had to do it over again I would call it Rock and Roll in Locker 17. Oh well live and learn, then blog about it I guess.

Oh and remember how I was admitting that my dreams of a movie, and a musical, and a fanbase, never came true. Well, I lied a little. One thing came true. You can buy awesome Rock’N’Roll in Locker Seventeen merchandise here. Yes, there is even a lunchbox covered in flaming skulls. Until next time Locker Rockers.

Yet Another Blog Restart plus Email Marketing Totally Bites

Welcome to the refresh of my blog. It’s still named the Locker 17 blog after my book, which is rapidly on its way to becoming a trilogy, but It’s not going to be one of those blogs that is only about promotion. So if you are looking for a blog where every post is about how you should buy my book, you’re at the wrong place. You should subscribe to a mailing list for that. Oh, wait I don’t have one. I’m going against every writing expert’s advice on this, but the truth is I loathe email marketing. Sure, I’ve subscribed to the occasional writer’s newsletter, thinking I could use the occasional tip, who hasn’t? The thing is it’s never the occasional helpful tip. It’s a barrage of unwanted messages flooding my inbox 10 to 20 times a day. Even if it is only weekly or monthly, it piles up behind the 10 to 20 a day emails and gets lost in the promotion folder I never look at.

Oh and one more thing about email lists, once you are on them you are a commodity. I see posts that say looking to trade lists of email subscribers on marketing forums all the time. So once you are on one you may end up on 20 without your consent. So you’re going to unsubscribe, then I’m going to freak, out why is everyone unsubscribing? Do they hate me? Do they hate how my newsletter says the same thing over and over, buy one of the books I have out? Are they even looking at them? Oh, wait of course they aren’t. Lots of people hate email marketing. If they are that interested they will seek out the information themselves. So while I will probably go over to the dark side and start email marketing one of these days, that day is not now. You can relax, sit back and enjoy this blog and all of its new goodness.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way I’m sure you’re wondering what this blog is going to entail. What’s its new direction? Okay, the short answer is I dunno. The long answer is if I limit myself to one specific niche, I will never keep the blog up. I know I’m supposed to position myself as an expert in something and blog about that, but I’m not. If I was then I would be too busy, doing symposiums, and lectures, and creating snappy power point presentations to even have a blog. So this blog is going to feature nostalgia and news. It will also have tips, tricks, and brilliant ideas. There will be random rants about pop culture, tangents that have nothing to do with anything, the occasional confession, and random bits about things only I find funny. There will be no clickbait slideshows, I swear.

So sit back enjoy, activate the RSS feed deal if you are so inclined, and get ready for fun.

Oh and one more quick thing. I should inform you that I have a new book: Beyond the Music out, and I have a new edition of Rock’n’Roll in Locker Seventeen out. The kindle version now has a table of contents. (FYI: The Smashwords version is not the new edition yet)

I’ve also tweaked my website a bit. It’s not a complete overhaul but a work in progress because I ran into some complications. You can see it here.