Bookcast 95: Magenta

I am DL White, an Atlanta based, self published author of romantic fiction that centers Black love. On this week's Bookcast, my indie author podcast, I'm doing a  dry run of a new format, recording on a new day, posting on a different day and time. It’ll be a quick and dirty bookchat and I’ll give an overview of writing and book sales. I’m hoping a slight change in format will breathe a little life into this podcast and give me some renewed energy because I’ll be honest… I’s tiyad boss.

If you enjoy this kind of thing and love this podcast, be one of the cool kids and join my podcast supporters at Bookcast.buzzsprout.com OR Buymeacoffee.com/booksbydlwhite. Every little bit helps and all contributions go toward bringing this show to your ears.

Find full show notes including the Book Report, what I'm watching/reading/ writing at Booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast/95 or my substack. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and new format, new posting date, new segments!
• 3:13 Book Report
• 7:46 What I'm Watching: DNC, Homicide, Golden Girls, Locked In
• 11:27 Writing Report: Book sales, series, substack, 20K in 5Days, challenges, Project 10
• 23:44 Close, thanks for your support!

Transcript

DL White [00:00:15]:
Well, hello hello hello everyone, and welcome back. I am DL White, Atlanta based self published author of romantic fiction that centers black love, and this is the book cast my indie author podcast. Today's show is a dry run of a new format, a little bit of a new format. I'm recording on a different day. I'm posting on a different day and a time. It'll be a quick and dirty book chat, and I'll give a really light overview of writing and book sales. I'm hoping a slight change in format will breathe a little life into this podcast and give me some renewed energy because I'll be honest, as tired boss. If you enjoy this kind of thing and love this podcast, I invite you to be one of the cool kids and join my podcast supporters at bookcast.brussprout.com.

DL White [00:01:06]:
Every little bit helps in all contributions go toward bringing this show to your ears. So a bit of a change. No q t and a this week. I'll be honest. The segment never really popped off. I don't get a whole lot of questions. So I don't know if I'm keeping that particular segment in this show. I don't like feeling like I'm mining my audience for content because I can find things to talk about.

DL White [00:01:29]:
I can ramble for 27 minutes about just about anything. Of course, if a question pops up, I'm happy to devote a segment of the show to answering it. Also, on hold are recommended reads and listens except for when I know something is coming up. For example, this week, the library podcast will be chatting about the Never List, my 2020 release. If you haven't read that book, it's decadent and delicious, and I love it. Snatch it up for free in ebook at bookstoread.com/theneverlist. With that, let's get things cracking. We are keeping the break because I just really enjoy going in and coming out of it.

DL White [00:02:34]:
And we're back. I hope you were able to grab yourself a beverage, a snack, whatever you need to launch into this episode. I am very excited to be here. So let's begin as always with the book report. I have a little book chat. I've read a 140 books toward my goal to read 200 books this year. I'm 11 books ahead of schedule, which is entirely more manageable helped only by the fact that the books are just not doing much for me. The books lately have been very meh.

DL White [00:03:09]:
I've been bouncing around a lot, picking up stuff, and putting stuff down. Nothing's really hitting. And I've had a busy couple of weeks at work as well. Not much of an excuse regularly usually because I've said before I work alone pretty much. So I'm just at my desk doing things, emails, scheduling calls, scheduling meetings, documenting things. I do a lot of keyboard work, so I like something to keep me company. This week, I've been a lot heavier on podcasts than I have been on audiobooks because the books just aren't doing much for me. But I did get a few books read in the past, week.

DL White [00:03:49]:
So 3 books down Eagle Rock and Ash Caine novel book 4 by Ian k smith. This book was just okay. I got 50% in and I was like he could end the book right here and I would be fine. It just was long and with a whole lot of nothing happening, just driving here and there and talking about golfing and just what is happening, like, step up the pace. Why is this book so long? I also read The Cottage on Pelican Bay by the miss Brenda Jackson. Now look, I love all of the Catalina Cove novels. They this is my favorite series, but this book was not it. Just was nothing happened in this book.

DL White [00:04:35]:
There was a lot of sex if you like that. I don't mind it, but I need something else. I needed an external conflict. I needed a problem to solve. The problem with these two people was, they didn't live in the same place. I don't I don't there was there was nothing to this book. It's still a Brenda Jackson novel, so I'm sure it's doing well. My mid little, I didn't like this review ain't gonna hurt it none.

DL White [00:05:04]:
I also read never saw me coming by Tanya Smith. I think I talked about this book while I was reading it. Also kind of a miss for me. It was frustrating. It seemed very unrealistic. I don't okay. It does need to be a movie though. It if if it is drawn out in a movie the way it's written in this book, it would be a banger.

DL White [00:05:29]:
I would love to see it hit the screen. I just feel like this book was hella unrealistic. So just my thoughts. Just my thoughts. Reading. This week, I am gonna be reading Guide Me Home by, Attica Locke. I have a ARC of this. I'm a be honest.

DL White [00:05:50]:
I might wait for audio on this. This is the last book in the Bluebird series. I really enjoy Attica Locke's work. Being totally honest, I I might wait for audio on this one. Break Every Rule by Brian Freeman. He's a new, he's not quite thriller ish author to me. He's more, like, not action adventure, not thriller. Like, somewhere in between in that vein, Deep, Deep Snow was a really good book that I enjoyed from him, and I've been trying to read him ever since.

DL White [00:06:22]:
So break every rules, a new Brian Freeman coming soon. Might read this, might wait for audio. I don't know. I just I never know these days. I am reading The Summer House by Brendan Du Bois with James Patterson. This is honestly my first James Patterson book. It is not bad. It is not bad.

DL White [00:06:42]:
Not really good, but not bad. So I'll let you know how I feel about that next week when I have finished it. I'm about halfway through. Kind of enjoying it for now. 2 books I deemed not for now. I put them down Master Slave Husband, Wife by Il Yeon Woo, which is the, book club pick for the Stacks Book Club. The Stacks Podcast Book Club, it just didn't it did nothing for me. It didn't hit for me.

DL White [00:07:07]:
It was, it's narrative nonfiction, which sometimes works for me, but most times doesn't. It just was not interesting to me at all. Could not I can get past chapter 3. I saw some people say this is really masterful. This is a really good book. I'm I'm gonna go ahead and take your word for it. Looking forward to this week's episode of the stacks podcast because we're gonna talk about this book. Looking forward to the conversation.

DL White [00:07:32]:
Didn't finish the book. Also, following Mysteria by Leila Ibrahim. Also put this one down. Absolutely not interesting to me whatsoever. It's a World War 2 book. It's historical fiction. I am a historical fiction girly, but this just did not work for me. On things I'm putting into my face and my ears, I'll talk about what I'm watching because this week I had some really interesting watches since the books just were not hitting for me.

DL White [00:08:00]:
The demer Democratic National Convention, of course, I watched all 4 nights gavel to gavel on YouTube. Really great coverage with no moderator chatter, no people breaking in. I saw every speech. I saw every performance. I feel old. I've never watched a political convention before. I never cared before. This week, I was I was like, okay.

DL White [00:08:20]:
I'll check it out and ended up watching all 4 nights. I really, really enjoyed the roll call. I am to understand that it's never that lively. It is never that hip. They have set a new precedent. I'm interested in seeing how the RNC in 4 years tries to act like they're hip and, into it. They don't have really any entertainers I'm interested in on, their end of the political spectrum. So I have no intention of ever watching the RNC.

DL White [00:08:51]:
But, the DNC in 4 years is going to be really interesting. I'm interested to see who they have on stage. I'm interested to see who they have entertaining the crowd. Should be a good time. After 4 years of falling asleep to Futurama and American Dad, literally, I would just flip back and forth and start the series over and over and over for years. Like, since 2020, I have been falling asleep to either American Dad or Futurama. I have moved on to the Golden Girls. See, I turned 50 this year.

DL White [00:09:22]:
I just feel like I am coming into myself as an old person. So that's why I'm falling asleep to. Fun fact, the last two episodes of the Golden Girls, I have seen exactly once. I saw them once. I cried my eyes out. I can never watch them again. I just I refuse to do that to myself. If you read a book or watch a show and you're like, I cried so hard, I'm I'm never watching it.

DL White [00:09:43]:
I'm never reading it. I'm never putting that into my face, my ears, my heart. I got I'm not I'm not doing it. That's not what I get into entertainment for. So, the trick to getting me to read or watch or listen to something is not telling me that it ripped you apart because I am never signing up for that. I'm also heavy into homicide life on the street. I can finally watch the show that made me fall in love with a police procedural. I feel like I was watching homicide before I was watching law and order.

DL White [00:10:16]:
It was, like, homicide life on the street, LA law, like, all those. I was watching all those before I was watching law and order. They're considered sister shows, and the show creators and writers were friends. So they often put, characters into each each other's episode. I remember I did was surprised to see Frank Pembleton show up on an episode of law and order. So it's, now on Peacock, streaming on Peacock. So I've been watching a couple episodes tonight. Super enjoying it.

DL White [00:10:47]:
I'm also really enjoying homicide life on the set. It's a great new podcast about the series they have had David Simon David Simon on, and they have had, the guy that plays Tim Bayless. Totally forgot his name. Like, his name just dropped out of my brain, but they've had writers. They've had, like, set directors. They had the show creator on. So very good, podcast. It's brand new, so you have totally have time to catch up with it.

DL White [00:11:13]:
It's awesome. And then I've been watching locked in with Ian Bick on YouTube. He has a a, interview podcast where he interviews people who have spent time in prison. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with this topic, but I'm absolutely fascinated of the story of how they began and how they got involved in crime. I I am all in for the story of how they got caught, when they were sentenced and their time in prison and then coming out and what they're doing with their lives now. I'm totally into it. Moving on to our writing and publishing update in book news. The never list, of course, I've mentioned a couple times is free for a limited time.

DL White [00:11:54]:
I set it free so it can be part of stuff your e reader, which is the 1st week in September. Be watching the socials. I will absolutely let you know. I will also be sending out a newsletter both, to my MailerLite newsletter, my regular newsletter, and my Substack. So if you are subscribed to either, I will let you know. It'll go back to regular price after that, which is 5.99 on, the ebook retailers and 4.99 on my website. My books are always much cheaper if I can help it on my web store. I have given away almost a 1,000 copies of this book so far, so I hope it results in some sales.

DL White [00:12:30]:
On series, I ran a little bitty promo on the Pottery Lake series to coincide with the Dollar Days sale that I participated in. The audiobook for curl and die was 99¢, so you could begin that series for a dollar. I also set the audiobook for the guy next door to 199, and then the accompanying ebooks were on sale as well. I sold 34 units total resulting in about $25 of in sales for the entire series. The way I set the prices up, you could get the entire series in ebook for $5. So a few people might have gotten the whole series. A few people might have rounded out their collection, for cheap. So, it also it gave me some sales on home for the holidays, which is a Christmas book, so I'll take it.

DL White [00:13:13]:
The other series that I had going was Black Diamond, which is being pushed by the release of the pearl black diamond bay book 3. I have sold 24 units this month resulting in about $35 worth of sales. Total sales from the black diamond series in every format since the launch of the pearl is a 140 units, about a $146 in sales. On the pearl alone, I have sold a 120 units across all markets including my store bringing me to, 377 and some change in sales. So I paid for editing of that book and almost all of my marketing. I'm pretty much breaking even on that book right now, which is not bad for about a month ish, 45 ish days past book launch. So everything I make from, I'm gonna say September 1, I'm gonna consider profit. I wanna do one last push for this book over Labor Day as these are summer romances, and then I'll start pushing potter lake hard because those feel like autumn books to me.

DL White [00:14:12]:
Writing wise, I'm peeping up on my weekday writing routine. I do a dabble every morning, which is a short piece of a 100 words, including the title. That's based on a prompt that I just randomly pick from a prompt site that I found on Tumblr. It's really nice for me to get the juices going, and I can post something fun every day. Again, I'm posting that on my substack. Also posting it on my Facebook and my Instagram account. I'm posting the full text of that, and then you get a link to that on Twitter. I'm doing a sample Sunday, which I haven't done my sample Sunday yet, but it's coming.

DL White [00:14:46]:
I'm gonna it's gonna be it's gonna be up today, and then a teaser Tuesday over on my substack. I'm doing those on substack instead of my blog over on Squarespace because it's hard for people to subscribe to my blog over there, and I don't get nearly the discoverability on my blog as I do on sub stack. And again, I am linking every post I'm making on my regular sub stack over on my website so you can get to those posts if you go to books by dlwhite.substack.com. In order to get to the short fiction site, you have to follow a couple of links. I can't figure out how to get, those posts also over on that Substack, but I'll figure it out. Eventually, everything will, will pop up on my website so you can get to those posts on Substack from my website. So this week, I posted also a written version of I almost do, which which I read in 2023 on the book cast. And I have to say it got a lot of attention, and it did not get this much attention when I read it on the podcast.

DL White [00:15:50]:
So people seem to really like it. Wanna continue posting short pic short fiction and fan fiction pieces that I really like, and then eventually doing some serial stories over on my substack. Speaking of fan fiction, I started a piece for our awesome August challenge, and then it just kinda fizzled out. I got bored with it. It seemed really dumb, So I removed it from the challenge and put it to bed. The challenge has really low participation this year. It's basically a bust. It happens.

DL White [00:16:23]:
Our next challenge is Poptober, which comes up in October. We'll see if we have more energy for that one. The boys aren't really doing anything, and so it's not really very motivating to write. It's also very fun, like, busy in the summer. So it's difficult for people to really get into writing schools back in. So we'll see how we do with POPtober. We're also coming up on the 20 k in 5 day challenge again, so it's almost time for me to start pounding the keyboard on book 15. I do have a great idea.

DL White [00:16:55]:
Let's hope I've been able to kick my brain into gear, because I do have a book I need to turn in for by the end of December. So, I have a 5 day weekend coming up next week, so I plan to spend a few days digging into my characters and my story, doing a light map of the story so I can jump right into writing in September. And I do still wanna do a holiday short that would require finishing book 15 in October so I can get over to editing. We always do 2 rounds, so I wanna make sure I get plenty of time, at least 4 weeks for editing. So that can be done by the end of the year, and I can't even believe I'm talking about the end of the year. But I have to plan ahead if I'm gonna get anything done. As I mentioned, the Never List is gonna be featured on the lit library podcast this week. I've been trying to write a little extended epilogue to that story, and it just will not gel.

DL White [00:17:47]:
I gave up. I wish I could surprise the folks will love something fun, but I I got nothing. I wrote that book 4 years ago, so I got nothing. My brain's very magenta. Y'all know that term from the Golden Girls. Blanche says all kinds of feelings tumbling all over themselves. You're not quite blue because you're not really sad and you're a little bit jealous. You wouldn't say you're green with envy.

DL White [00:18:12]:
And every now and again, you feel you're kinda scared, but you hardly call yourself yellow magenta. I'm feeling really blah. Like, the books are made. The writing isn't hitting, like, maybe it's just summer. It's the dog days of summer, and I just need to keep resting. So, I'm just gonna keep doing that. Lastly, project 10 is still not dead, but also not alive. I don't have any progress on it.

DL White [00:18:37]:
I don't know what I'm doing with it, but it's gonna stay on the list until I figure this thing out. So I will update you all when I figured out what I am doing. Another thing I should let you all know about is a new website called by direct from authors.com. I have been participating in these little promos. The only way my books move lately is participating in these little promos, the dollar days and the stuff your Kindle and the, YOLO with Kobo, all those little promotions that go on. The only way my books move outside of Amazon is if I participate in these little promos. So, the leader of those promos has started a new website called by direct from authors. It allows authors to list their direct sales site so that people can search by trope or by author, and if the author is listed there it'll bring up their direct site and you can buy books direct from authors.

DL White [00:19:37]:
Did you know that we have to pay a minimum of 35% of sales of each book to a retail website? On Amazon, I've talked about this before. If my book is priced 2.99 or above, I make 70% of that sales price minus the cost, minus what it costs me to send that book to your Kindle. So I pay a delivery fee. So if it's a really big book, that delivery fee is, I don't know, like a dollar or something like that. I don't I don't know. I haven't ever looked at it because there's nothing I can do about it. So 70% of books priced 2.99 or above 35%. I make 35% of the cover price minus delivery fee of books that are priced to, less than 2.99.

DL White [00:20:28]:
So for book is 199, I'm only making 35% of that minus the delivery fee. If a book is 3.99, I'm making 70% of that minus the delivery fee. So when you buy direct from an author, I am making 90% straight. I'm making 90% of that cover price because it's free for me to have them up on PayHip. I don't pay anything for PayHip. They take their fee off of the back end, and they send me the rest. The math, maths for me. So when I post my books up, a lot of times I do the books to read because I just know that it's gonna be easier for people to find a book, especially if it's on sale, if I just list all the platforms and I let them take it.

DL White [00:21:16]:
But if I am, like, promoting my books in general, I'm always gonna pop them up from my website. My store is always the first link that you get to even if you're looking at books to read. You always see the the the pay hip link first, 90% versus 70 or 35%. I like how that math maths. You know what I'm saying? So by direct from authors.com, if you know an indie author that has a direct sales site, they want to be listed. It is not free to be listed. It's rather low cost. It's $50 to list and then it's $5 a month to stay listed.

DL White [00:21:59]:
That covers, like programming and designing the site, keeping the site up for the site to be hosted, all of that. So it is not free, wish it was, but it isn't. And I know a lot of people, like, can't really afford, that kind of thing. So hang tight when you can get on it. And, I would like to see a lot of black indie authors on that website because we know the readers are gonna be looking for us. They're not looking for anything but brown faces. They're not looking for anything but black romance, black mystery, black fiction, black all of that. So if we aren't represented, black readers are not going there.

DL White [00:22:48]:
So, like, I I don't I don't think it's my job to try to attract black authors to this website because I'm listed just like anybody else is listed. But it's a waste of my money to be listed because white authors ain't looking for me. You know what I'm saying? Not white authors, but white readers. Readers who are not are not black are not typically looking for my books. So I also I wanna serve my audience. So this is just an easy easy way for my direct store to be posted, and then hopefully when people are looking for small town romance, second chance romance, landlord tenant romance, romantic fiction, friendship romance, close proximity romance with black characters, they will also find me there. So that brings us to the end of today's show. I thank you so much for joining me for today's chat.

DL White [00:23:47]:
I truly, truly enjoy having you here. I welcome any comments or feedbacks that you have. Feedback. I do that every week. Why? Comments or feedback at books by dlwhite.com/bookcast/95. You'll also find full show notes and links to all the things I talked about if it's relevant and a transcript for today's show. Please share the podcast if you enjoy this episode, and if you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, give our girl a rating. I'd really appreciate it.

DL White [00:24:14]:
Don't forget you can support this podcast with your book purchases at payhip.com/booksbydielwhite by spreading the good word, by joining the newsletter or the substack. Links are on my website atbooksbydlwhite.com/linkinbioorbythrowingsomecoinsinthehat@bookcast.bussprout.com. Spotify premium hours and Hoopla listens renew monthly. My books are available there also at Kobo Plus and Evergrand. So if you're looking for a cost effective way to read or listen to my books, check those options out. I ain't trying to take all your money. I have some codes to listen to my books on Spotify, so shout me out a holler if you would like one. Author DL at books by DL white dot com.

DL White [00:24:55]:
All I ask is for an tactful honest review of the book. Let me tell you. I almost almost never look at my reviews. I can't take it. Even the good ones stress me out. I only look at them to pull quotes Sephora promo. So feel free to be honest about a book. If you didn't like it, cool.

DL White [00:25:13]:
Post on up about it. Do not message me about it because that book is out. I am not rereading it. I I I I wanna say I don't care. I wanna say I don't care. I'm not gonna, but I want to. You know what I'm saying? Post your review. I mean, be nice about it.

DL White [00:25:36]:
Don't be a butt. But post review. All I want is a honest review of the book because your review, whether you liked it or not, is going to inform another reader about it. Thank you so much to my monthly supporters at Buzzsprout. Yours your gift covers my Buzzsprout subscription, and I really appreciate the support. Every little bit really does help. The book cast is written, produced, and edited by me, D. L.

DL White [00:25:59]:
White. Our theme music and any sound effects are provided by Pixabay. I will be back next week. Have the greatest week ever, and we'll chat again soon. Bye bye.