Bookcast 113: I Like the Pressure!

In Episode 113, "I Like the Pressure," I share insights about my writing process and publishing journey. I begin with my book report, having read 41 books toward my 100-book goal for 2025, and highlight 13 books I completed in February across romance, thriller, and contemporary fiction.

I then break down my February sales performance, revealing a successful direct-to-reader strategy through BookFunnel that generated most of my revenue. My holiday novella "Grumpy Valentine" performed exceptionally well without Amazon distribution, proving my direct sales approach effective.

My project updates include progress on "Ruby's 10" anniversary hardcover edition, complete with dust jacket, plus a special epilogue novella for fans. I'm also preparing for the Black Romance Book Fest in May- preorders are open! 

The episode's main topic explores my realization that I work best under pressure. By analyzing my Clifton Strengths (Intellection, Input, Responsibility, Adaptability) and Enneagram type (9w1), I discovered that what seems like procrastination is actually my natural creative rhythm. Rather than forcing myself into rigid daily writing schedules, I'm embracing quarterly planning with deadlines that trigger my responsibility strength while accommodating my thinking process—working with my nature rather than against it. 

Visit booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast/113 for complete show notes. 

Transcript

DL White [00:00:14]:
Welcome to episode one thirteen of the book cast. This is a space where I share short fiction, writing updates and life as a self published author of romantic fiction that celebrates Black love. I am your host, DL White. I'm an Atlanta based writer of novels, short stories, fan fiction, but above all, I'm a reader. So we always start with the book report before diving into writing, publishing, and the topic of the day. I'm so happy you're here and I'm actually so excited to be here. I skipped last week because I just didn't have anything to share. So I'm here and I have a lot to share.

DL White [00:00:55]:
So let's get our housekeeping out of the way. First of all, if you like this kind of thing, the podcast being the thing you might happen to like, I so welcome and encourage your support of it. It's really very easy and, multiple ways to do it. The easiest is to follow the podcast wherever I'm posting it. Like, there's PodLink, there's Buzzsprout, there's Goodpods. Wherever you would like to follow this podcast. Subscribe wherever you might be listening. I'm also on YouTube.

DL White [00:01:27]:
Boost what's being posted. Repost, comment, let peopale know that you enjoy the podcast. Word-of-mouth really is gold. You can also buy the books, booksbydlwhite.com/books has all the information you might ever need. Wear the merch, booksbydlwhite.com/shop. Join the newsletter, throw some folding into the offering plate. You can find all of the links you'll need at booksbydlwhite.com/link in bio. Today, we'll do our book report, then I'll update on February sales, new well, I guess news flash, spoiler, February went well.

DL White [00:02:09]:
I'll talk about my marketing and action items from all of that, then I'll do an update on writing projects this quarter. Really good fun stuff coming. And lastly, I'll talk about why queen under pressure is stuck in my head. I'm working on using my natural creative rhythm for my own betterment and my writing career. So we'll talk about whatever else is lingering out there and we'll close her out. So let's get at her. Today is Sunday, 03/02/2025. It's my birthday month, FYI, and I do get a smidge ridiculous about it because my birthday is my favorite day of the year.

DL White [00:02:46]:
I don't quite do, like I don't quite celebrate all month, but, like, maybe all week. But, anyway, my birthday is March 25, which means I am an Aries, and I don't really follow zodiac. I don't know much about other signs. I just know a whole lot about mine. I know that I am stubborn. I'm very much an Aries is what my friends tell me, even the ones that love me. So I don't yet know what I'm doing for my birthday, but I have taken time off work. So let's hope whatever I do will be fun and will be on somebody's white sand beach.

DL White [00:03:20]:
Join me for a short beverage break, and then we'll get this party started. Alright. Alright. Alright. I hope you had a good break. I did. I walked all the way across the room to get my water. And just a reminder, I am having coffee and water, and often, because the way my body is set up, my stomach tries to get in on the conversation.

DL White [00:04:18]:
So if I haven't done a really good job of removing all of the extraneous noises in the room, you may hear a thing here or there. Ignore it. Pretend it's not there. Let's begin as always with the book report. I am at 41 of my 100 book goal for 2025. Now I don't I don't expect anyone to compete with me. I am not competing with anybody else. This is strictly a thing I do for me because I enjoy it.

DL White [00:04:47]:
I just like having something to shoot for. So I'm well ahead of that goal. I'm averaging a book every two to three days, which is a good pace for me on a super stressful like, in a super stressful time of year where I have too much downtime and not enough going on. I can go through a book a day. So a book every two to three days is a really good pace for me. It means, you know, I'm I'm keeping myself occupied with other things. So it's really good. In February, I read 13 books, which is good for me, A really strong mix in genres of romance, thriller, contemporary fiction, some literary and historical elements were sprinkled in.

DL White [00:05:24]:
Romance and suspense are really my sweet spot. So every month I I really tend to hit strong in either romance or, thriller, mystery, suspense. Every so often, I throw a nonfic in there, but I'll be honest. I was supposed to read that book on the Freedman's Bank last, last month, and I just didn't get to it. And I thought I could have, like, a couple of days, but, the talk at Resist Booksellers was actually yesterday. I still may read it, but I just took it off my list because, I don't wanna pressure myself about it anymore. I wanted to read it before the event. Turns out I kinda didn't really need to because they talked a lot about the book, but, anyway, nonfiction is always at the bottom of my list.

DL White [00:06:05]:
In February, I got read, Audra, which is a prequel to Family Ties series by Delaney Diamond. If you aren't reading Delaney Diamond, I want you to fix your life. I really want you to, like, get yourself together. Get on over to Delaney Diamond books, I think, is her website. I go to your web browser. Just type in the search bar Delaney Diamond and then fix your life. She is awesome. Great romance, really well written.

DL White [00:06:34]:
Her romantic suspense is top tier. I love the Cordoba agency series. Always waited on bated breath for the next one. I think the next book is a family ties book that's coming. Really looking forward to that. I'll be yours, a Valentine's novella by Nina High. Really enjoyed that. Nina is one of my favorite new, well, new to me authors.

DL White [00:06:56]:
A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall. I talked about this book in my review of it. It was okay. We Are the Brennans by Tracy Lang, Not Our Daughter by Chad Zunker, who's loving you by Lula White. I gave a glowing, drooling five, four star review of this book. It's really good. Go to LulaWhitebooks.com immediately. Put this book into your face.

DL White [00:07:20]:
Take a trip back to extra black nineteen seventies, New York, and get your life. Super enjoy this book. Kill Her, the Lacey James series number five by Chris Patchell. Also Justice for All, which was a short by Chris Patchell, really enjoying this entire series. She just cannot write fast enough. I listened to Junie by Aaron Crosby Eckstein Eckstein. This one was a historical fiction and despite the fact that there was a ghost in this book, I really enjoyed it. I don't get into, I don't really get into, like, what it what it like, the speculative fiction, magic, ghosts, paranormal, anything.

DL White [00:08:05]:
I don't really get into it. So if there's a ghost in a book, I'm I'm really upset because I can't like the whole impetus for things happening is because magic because ghosts and my logical brain can't, I just can't, I can't process that. So anyway, Junie, however, is a very good book. I I really enjoyed that, especially on audio, done really well, a new to me narrator, that I'm gonna look up. It looks like she really only does You books, which is a tad disappointing, but, Junie's not a You, so maybe she will venture more into adult fiction because I don't do You. Frenemies with benefits, Peach Tree Cove number three by Sanithia Williams, who is an author I really enjoy, but I had to grab this book and just read it on the page. The audiobook is voiced by Ed Renderelle Ojo, who is normally spectacular, but I just could not get with the southern accent she chose for these characters. I couldn't do it.

DL White [00:09:03]:
It was really ruining harshing the vibe for me, man. Harshing the vibe. So I got this book and read it on the page because I have to read a Sanithia Williams book. Really enjoyed this book. It was very good. Like, they kind of weren't really frenemies, and this is my issue with, like, enemies, like, a enemies to lovers or a friends with benefits. Like, there's not yeah. I I have issues with the trope, but it was a good read.

DL White [00:09:31]:
And then, cold as hell by Kelly Armstrong. I don't remember this book. I think I might have put it down. I don't remember. And then Make Me Want by Katie Robert. This is a audio release of a really old Katie Robert book. This was spicy. It was an erotic romance, but I listened to this in audio.

DL White [00:09:49]:
I got a audio art from NetGalley, and I just had to tell them that the choice the voice choice for this book was off. Like, this is like a steamy, sultry, sexy novel. And the voice they chose was so chipper. And I just it was it just was not it took me out. It took me out of the story. It wasn't a good voice choice. They needed someone with, like, a really rich tone, like a slow, sultry, speaking voice, and the voice was really more suited for, like, a rom com. Just my feelings.

DL White [00:10:25]:
But You Could Do Damage by Casey Mills was absolutely fantastic. I listened to this in audio. I had an arc an e arc, ebook arc, but I just couldn't get to it. I decided to wait until release day, and I got it in audio and fantastic. It is actually book one. It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. So if you're the type of person that you can't do cliffies, just know that going in. The next installment comes out in October.

DL White [00:10:53]:
I'm just gonna go ahead and go to kcmillsbooks.com and just sit and wait for the next installment. This was fantastic. It's an arranged marriage mafia type novel. I will say this is the only kind of fake marriage trope I want to read. I'm so tired of reading about fake relationships, and I keep reading them because my friends write them. And I I have serious, like, FOMO if I don't read the book, but I'm getting to a point where I can get myself to not read them. I'd support you, but I can't do it anymore. But this, like, arranged marriage type of thing, I'm really into it.

DL White [00:11:30]:
I think Shay Sanders has another, book like this, an arranged marriage type of book where he marries a woman because, otherwise, she would have to testify against him for something she witnesses, and it's so good. Can't remember the series, but I'll try to put it in the show notes. Really, really fantastic series. Love it to pieces. So in March, I so far have seven books. You you guys know what I do is I go through the arcs that I have, and I add them to my currently reading list. This reminds me of the books I have to get read by the end of the month. So I've got under thriller and suspense, The Quiet Wife was a jack which is actually held over from February.

DL White [00:12:09]:
I gotta gotta get that read, like, today. I did pick it up in audio, so it should go a smidge faster for me. Blood Moon by I didn't write down the authors on this list. Blood Moon, I believe, is a Sandra Brown, and it might be a rerelease. I may or may not get to this. Lethal reunion by Lacey Baker. This is like a harlequin, romantic suspense. And in a book called Ambush, I don't remember the title because I failed to write down the actual authors for these books.

DL White [00:12:40]:
And then memoir and nonfiction, Firstborn Girls by miss Bernice McFadden. I have this. I started it. I feel like I really wanna wait for the audio because I think she voices it. And if I'm gonna read a character going through multiple chapters of abuse and misuse by the people in their lives. I wanna hear that in the author's voice. I'm not putting myself through that just to be reading it. So I may wait till release day, grab the audio, and finish that up.

DL White [00:13:13]:
I'm I'm, like, 30% in, but I really I really kinda just wanna hear it. And then They Were Her Property, which is historical nonfiction. The Stacks podcast book club is reading this book this month, and I'm so, so, so excited. I read this book in 2023. I'm probably still mad about it. This is an excellent, excellent novel about the role that women played in, the history of enslavement. It's really good. I can't wait to, like, dig into conversation about this and hear what Tracy and her guests have to say about this.

DL White [00:13:45]:
We find out on Wednesday who, the guest is for this book, and I'm very excited. I'm hearing that it's a good person. She never gives us, a hint. Well, she'll get she'll give us hints, but she'll never tell us who it is before, the day of the podcast. So and then lastly, I have Dream Count by, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And, that one is coming up at some point in in March. That's just the arcs I have to get through, like, through the first two weeks of March. Plus anything else I happen to just pick up that looks good, I am gonna be a busy girl.

DL White [00:14:24]:
TV and movies this week, I caught up on all my faves, Equalizer, The Irrational, Will Trent, Elsabeth, Matlock, The Pit, Papa's House all had new episodes, and I'm all caught up. As of last night, there is a new episode of Equalizer tonight, and then new ads to my lineup. I'm thinking I'm thinking about adding Watson to my lineup, mostly for wars chestnut because he's fine. But I also love a medical drama. It looks a little cheesy, so I might try the first couple episodes and see if I can dig it week to week. But it would be nice to have Morris Chestnut on my TV every week. You know what I'm saying? And then Balan Out Loud is a new TLC show. It follows a young woman with Tourette syndrome and following her in her daily life with her family, her fiance.

DL White [00:15:13]:
I followed her on TikTok for a little bit. She has a really bubbly, funny personality, and she has a great supportive family like her dad her poor dad. They just put that man through so much, but he is, oh, he is all about his family. And he told her he told her fiance that, like, nothing better happened to my kid. She's 22, mind you, but she has Tourette. She's got a lot of like, neurological, disabilities that make it difficult for her to operate in society. But dude is all about his baby girl. So really good show catching up with that.

DL White [00:15:51]:
I am trying paradise. I'm trying. I watched the first two episodes. Not sure I will continue. I'm a little confused. I heard it's good. I know it's good. I don't know that I wanna get into a show that mimics the time and space that we're currently living through.

DL White [00:16:06]:
You know what I'm saying? So I don't know. But I did hear that it's it's very good. I know Kaye is gonna be in my comments talking about it's good because she's about to, like, run it back. And I heard episode seven was really good, but I also heard episode seven was, like, very prescient with the current times, and I don't I don't I don't want that in my face. I'll be honest. I just don't. So I feel like the only political thrillers I want right now is the diplomat season three. Other than that, I don't I don't know I don't know if paradise it's there.

DL White [00:16:38]:
It's there. I don't know if paradise is gonna happen. And then I haven't caught up with Scamanda or Landman. I I just haven't got to them. I've been busy on a couple of projects. And when they're out of the way, I'll have more time to waste on TV. And just as a reminder, I'm using the JustWatch app to track shows I wanna keep up on and remind me when a new episode is coming up. This podcast is not important enough for that to be sponsored.

DL White [00:17:01]:
I'm just saying this is a thing I enjoy using, and I would like for everyone else to be as obsessed with it as I am. When a new episode pops up when there is a new episode, I get a reminder that pops up, like, hey. A new episode of The Pit is available. The new episode of Will Trent is now available. So now I can time because I I try to binge my episodes. There's only a few things that I will watch live because commercials. So I will watch The Equalizer usually on Mondays so I can just speed through it. And then Will Trent, I'll watch live because I will kind of live tweet that not tweet, but live post that over on Blue Sky, and then the Irrational, Elsbeth, Matlock, The Pit, Papa's House, I will binge those, on various days of the week because mostly because a lot of those start showing at, like, nine, ten o'clock.

DL White [00:17:57]:
And I don't I don't have I don't I don't have the brain capacity. I don't I can't do it. I'm old. At 09:00, I'm in the bed, and I might fall asleep while watching it. So I will binge it later when I can speed through the commercials. Like last night, I watched a whole block of Elizabeth, Matlock, The Pit, like, all in in one block so I could catch up on the Thursday night shows that I am entirely too old and watched to watch live. So that's my catch up on TV. I did not watch any movies this week.

DL White [00:18:34]:
I'm normally good for a couple of podcasts. I did catch up a new show. There's a guy named Scott Evans. Now not Chris Evans' brother, Scott Evans, but Scott Evans, the black guy who used to work in, like, entertainment TV. He has a new YouTube show. I think it's called Houseguest. It's really good. I caught up on a whole block of his shows yesterday.

DL White [00:18:58]:
He had Chloe Bailey on Friday, a really good episode. She is just such a talent and really, a delight. She is she's just a delight, a really fun person. And then I watched back a few episodes. He he had Tabitha Brown, Kev on stage, Kevin Fredericks, and also the other Scott Evans. I watched that episode. That was actually very, very funny, both Scott Evans. So that's a really good show.

DL White [00:19:25]:
It's I think it's a new ish show, and so I have subscribed to that. And, also, Taryn Delaney Smith and her best friend, Tiffany Sharice, I believe, they have a new podcast. I watched that on YouTube on Fridays. It's called We're Your Girls. It's very good. Like, just down to earth conversation about things like money, sex, books, best friendy type stuff. So it's really good. It's a nice, like, Friday morning watch that, you know, I at at noon, I kinda go dark or gray on my work calendar.

DL White [00:20:01]:
I'm here, but, like, I'm doing other stuff. So I'll turn on, like, a podcast to watch while I'm waiting for anything to come in through email or whatever. We're pretty chill on Fridays. So that's what I do. So I save those podcasts for, for my Fridays. So good deal on that section. Moving on to sales, writing, publishing. My February wrap up is pretty darn good.

DL White [00:20:28]:
Actually. I'm looking at sort of an executive summary. Again, I use scribe count to aggregate all my information, and then I, like, take that and kinda look at it and see where where I'm at. Total revenue was $3.00 $7.00 9, which is not too bad considering my total spend was $1.00 9. That's just what I tracked. I know I spent a little bit more because I bought a I bought a post through written word media through, a free Booksy post, but it's not gonna post until March. I don't know how much I spent, but it wasn't much. So I'm just calling it that.

DL White [00:21:07]:
That's what I spent on, like, Facebook and Instagram. I sold well, total units were 1,209 free units, and that's Leslie's curl and die across all platforms is free, and then a 45 copies of paid units. So a total of 1,354. Unfortunately, most of those are free. But, you know, hoping we get a little bit of a re a little read through, and some free to paid conversion. So my net profit was a hundred and $98, which is not too shabby. A 81% return on investment. February performance shows really strong distribution, across my platforms with BookFunnel generating the highest royalty rate per unit, and then, Amazon KDP providing the highest volume.

DL White [00:22:04]:
But, again, that's mostly free copies of Leslie's curl and die. Grumpy Valentine holiday novella was my top performer across formats. And I think that's I think that's significant because it wasn't on Amazon. I wanted to see how this book performed when it wasn't on a platform that would push me out to, the masses. And so all of these earnings are just mainly book funnel, a little bit, a little bit of I don't I don't even think I have library sales, but, like, I was on, like, Google Play and, like, a couple of smaller platforms, but it was not on Amazon. I did not upload that book to Amazon until today. So ebook, audio, print, it's been up since February 14. And, you know, 300 is not not too shabby.

DL White [00:23:00]:
My revenue breakdown, ebook was, like, the winner in formats, $2.29 47 in ebook, $52.94 in audiobook, $24.42 in paperback. And then someone out there still has one of my books in Kindle Unlimited because I earned a whole an entire 46¢, which was a 10 pages. Isn't that ridiculous? I'm earning 0.004¢ per page for a book that's not even in Kindle Unlimited. So, I earn an entire 46¢ on on that book. And then platform wise, 67 copies sold through book funnel, for 61.9% of my royalties and 1,156 through Amazon KDP. Most of that, again, is free copies, but I did make 81 on that platform. And none of those $81 were grumpy Valentine. So it was, I hope people, getting the free copy of curl and die and then wanting to pick up maybe other books in the series or other of my books.

DL White [00:24:15]:
Amazon was 26.5 of revenue this month, then Draft2Digital with 62 units at $34.54 in revenue, 11.2% of my royalties. On Findaway, I sold, basically two pop two copies of something, and I earned 90 entire cents. And then on Google Play, I gave away 67 copies of Leslie's curl and die. And that's all the sales I made at, Google Books. I don't really make a whole lot of sales there, but it does look like people did pick up free copies of that. I did do a I did a fussy librarian for, Curl and Die, which is why my giveaway totals are so high. It's not that people are just randomly finding it, but I did do a, I did a little, fussy librarian paid newsletter, posting, just so that people know it's out there. That introduces people to the title.

DL White [00:25:11]:
And then, you know, I have the rest of my books there in the back. That's what that was about. My top performing performing titles were grumpy Valentine in ebook and then in audiobook with thirty one and twelve units, and then beach thing with 10 copies, dinner at Sam with dinner at Sam's with seven copies, brunch at Ruby's with eight copies, and then the never list with five copies, and the guy next door at six copies. And the guy next door is in the, Potter Lake series. So I think people really went from curl and die directly over to the guy next door. So, yeah, I don't know. As far as format distribution, ebook was at 74%, audiobook was at 70 17.2%, eight % in, paperback. I think I went through that already, but, I I think I put it twice.

DL White [00:26:04]:
So I'm effectively using a free distribution to build readership, and my conversion rate looks to be about 10.7%. Is that good? I don't know. I don't, I don't have a clue, but it does look like BookFunnel is providing my highest per unit royalty, which suggests to me that direct sales are most profitable. Amazon KDP has a lower per unit returns, but provides the highest volume. And, again, that's only because Leslie Leslie's curl and die is free and grumpy Valentine was not on Amazon. So, I kind of like, I don't know if it's if it's a fair apples to apples comparison, but if grumpy Valentine was on Amazon, it probably would have beat out book funnel. But this kind of shows me what I can do on my own without the Amazon algorithm pushing my books to people. So today is March 2.

DL White [00:27:02]:
I did load that book up to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, all the all the major retailers. And so in March, let's see how that book performs. It's no longer a it's no longer a new release, so it's not like people are gonna be rushing over to book funnel because that's the only place where they can get it. So I do expect sales to be higher on those major platforms. But, again, I have now made my profit, and basically everything I make now on the major platforms is gravy. And so that's really telling me that this is the sales strategy that I wanna go towards from now on. In the last few sales, I've tried to really keep my sales at, on my website as long as possible until sales, like, really start to, like, die down to zero. And then I'll put it on major platforms, and then I get another spike.

DL White [00:27:56]:
But I'm normally only able to hold it on my website for two to three days before sales really drop off to zero. And I had a kind of sustained two weeks worth of sales, I think, mostly because I had ebook and audio. So very, very good. And then, I did spend a little money in ads. I did ads on grumpy Valentine, and I spent I spent about a hundred dollars, which is not bad at all for ads. I'm also looking at my Instagram insights in the last thirty days. I had 23,371 views, 63% from followers, and 36.8% from nonfollowers, which I kind of attribute to me being reposted by, sites, like, by direct from authors and, like, the the Kobo direct sites, really, from Instagram, from Substack and whatnot. Me being reposted by those sites plus their followers is really building my nonfollower number.

DL White [00:29:00]:
I'm I'm pretty pleased with that. I reached 5,991 accounts, had a total of 986 reactions, 82% from my followers, 17.8% from nonfollowers, engaged with 369 accounts. And then, my total number of followers is three three thousand six hundred and eighty five, and I've been in the 3,000 range for quite some time. I would like to hit 5,000, so I gotta figure out, like, how to get there. And Instagram tells me that, I'm my my followers are most active between 3PM and 12PM. I'm hitting between 800 and a thousand views at those times. And so if I'm gonna if I'm going to time anything to post, I'd needs to post at those times or between those times. So that's gonna be a goal for March.

DL White [00:30:01]:
Click through rate looks like a 3.4%. Is that good? I have no I have no idea. Not any earthly idea. I really need to figure out what these numbers mean. You know what I'm saying? But, like, if I don't run ads, I don't see a sales spike, so it's doing something. But I would like to do something and know what it is I'm doing. Significant click spikes occurred around February 8. Not sure what that was.

DL White [00:30:29]:
I didn't have anything really. I didn't have a sale or anything, so I think it was just random. And then my highest royalty returns occurred between fourteenth February 14 and sixteenth, coin coinciding with Valentine's Day because grumpy Valentine came out February 14. So my analysis says that I need to leverage BookFunnels' high returns. BookFunnel direct sales generate significantly higher per unit royalties compared to other platforms. So I wanna direct more readers to this platform through my marketing efforts. Look at audiobook potential, audiobook audiobook format generates the highest per unit royalty, $3.78 per unit with only 14 units sold compared to a 19 ebooks. So there there's definitely opportunity to expand this format across more titles.

DL White [00:31:23]:
I'm really seeing this more and more, especially since I put out grumpy Valentine myself. Grumpy Valentine performed well across both ebook and audiobook format, suggesting holiday themed content resonates with my audience. The free to pay strategy, I don't quite know if that's working, but I'm committed to leaving curl and die as a perma freebie. I just I need to add to that series to make that more of a value. And then, advertising efficiency, my daily performance really varies a lot. So I need to consider focusing focusing my budget on days and campaigns that show the best returns like mid month or around a series, or a new release. And then looking at Instagram strategy, my account shows a whole bunch of views, but I need to concentrate on generating posts over generating stories. Stories get more views, 53.6% more, but they drive, fewer interactions at 11.4%.

DL White [00:32:25]:
So, post generates 62 point cent 62.1% of all interactions despite representing only 27.5% of my views. So, my strategy and ad campaigns directly impact my book sales. I'm seeing that through the numbers, especially with grumpy Valentine title, during through the Valentine's Day period. Correlation between Instagram engagement and sales spikes proves that I have a foundation for planning future marketing campaigns, as well as timing my posts between, you know, 3PM and 12PM being optimal, because that's what most of my readers seem to be on. And focusing on posts over stories are driving engagement, definitely actionable insights. So to do for me, develop a strategy to convert more free readers to paid readers, possibly through series starters or improved back matter, like linking to, like, the actual stories at the end of curl and die. And all the other I have two other freebies. The, Olympias on King Street is free through my newsletter, and then, anonymous is just a free book I have out there.

DL White [00:33:41]:
Optimize my posting schedule, focus on posting content versus stories, leveraging my author photo in my contact mix. On February 23, I posted a photo of me, and it generated the highest single post engagement all month. I got 88 interactions. So you guys really like when I show my face. And then, of course, leverage book funnel as a a main source of sales and develop an audiobook recording schedule and marketing strategy. Clearly, my audience really likes audio and doesn't mind my voice, which is a thing that I worried about because I don't I don't sound like Wesley. I don't sound like Adrenole. I don't sound like Bonnie, but I do sound like me, and I like the sound of my voice, quite obviously.

DL White [00:34:22]:
I've been talking for thirty five entire minutes about me. So a thing I need to do related to that is to cut an extended audio sample for grumpy Valentine and put it on YouTube. I have an extended audio sample of, like, sixteen to twenty minutes of cuts from the audiobook for, brunch at Ruby's dinner at Sam's beach thing, curl and dye, and the guy next door. So I want to promote to them, make sure I have good links that lead to the direct sales platform links to buy those. Okay. Updates on our projects. I'm doing really good at keeping myself busy. I have a lot to do.

DL White [00:35:03]:
I've given myself a lot of projects. I do love a project. So Ruby's ten, homework assignment to myself was to figure out how to create a hardback cover with a dust jacket. And I did it. I looked at BookVault. It was way too confusing to me, and everything was in pounds. And I was like, is this gonna be created in The UK and then take, like, ten weeks to send to me? I don't want that. So I took a page from Katie Cross, Goes through Lulu.

DL White [00:35:30]:
So I looked at Lulu, and they have a nice template that I worked through to create the dusk jack dust jacket for my book. The test arrived, and it looks so much better than I thought it would. Not that I thought it would look horrible, but I thought I would have a lot to correct, and I didn't. Like, the fold is perfect. The cover looked okay. I corrected a few things. I needed to center the title more and make my name bigger, like James Patterson big. I needed to move my image up a little bit more.

DL White [00:36:00]:
I didn't think I would like the band that I put across the bottom, but I actually really like that. And then I ordered another test, so I'm very excited about getting that in the mail and letting that be my launch copy. So I'm so excited about launching the hardback version. I consider doing a Kickstarter, and I'm kinda going back and forth on it. I just I don't want it to flop. You know? And I don't have much to offer in the way of tiers except for additions people already have because it's a ten year old book. So I'm a think on it this week. My assignment for this week is to maybe come up with some fun stuff to create tiers for people to pledge to, even if it means spending a little bit of money.

DL White [00:36:41]:
So, I I'll think about it. Either that, or I'm just gonna order 10 hardback copies and sell them direct from my website. And when they're gone, they're gone. So there's that. Also related to that, I don't know why I was keeping this a secret, but maybe because I wanted to make sure that I finished it first. But I think I did let it slip a few weeks ago that I was planning a little follow-up epilogue check-in novella thing for Ruby's ten year anniversary. It's basically just a little, not current day check-in, but a little bit past the end of brunch at Ruby's check-in with my characters. I did finish it and it is with a beta reader just to kind of see how we feel about it and to decide what I'm gonna do with it.

DL White [00:37:31]:
I had thought about putting it at the back of the Ruby's ten, but it's lengthy. Yes. So I'm now thinking it's gotta be a standalone novella. It's a low stakes thing, and so I'm not gonna stress myself out about it, but it will be out with the tenth tenth anniversary edition. I think I will also update the ebook and paperback formats of the original edition to match the new edition after it launches. The interior won't change much except it did have this book pro edited, so it will be the most updated version. Short story long, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just muddling through. It'll be crystal clear before the on sale date, but that's kinda what I'm working on.

DL White [00:38:16]:
And then I do have the, first pass edit pages. They're in my email inbox waving at editor Kai. I just haven't looked at them. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I need to rest. I'll open it Monday, and then I want to try them have try to have them back to Editor Kai by Tuesday, Wednesday at the very latest because we still have one more pass before I have a final copy that I can send to print. This is also gonna lead into the topic I have for today and the subject of today's podcast called I Like the Pressure.

DL White [00:38:51]:
I apparently just really like to be up against the wire. But moving on to my project updates, calculated risk is complete. It is uploaded to the website where I needed to upload it to. I'll have more updates when I know them as far as when it will be available for people to read and to look at and to gawk and praise. Very excited about it. Black Romance Book Fest is in May. It's at the May, and my preorders are open. The organizers now have my link.

DL White [00:39:23]:
So if you're looking to preorder any of my books and pick up your copy at the festival, I will add the link to the show notes, but you should also be able to reach that link through the Black Romance Book Fest main site. They're on Instagram. I think they have the link up on their website. I'll find it and put it in my show notes. I don't predict I will have a lot of preorders. I'm not I'm not a person that I'm not a big preorder kind of person. So I am planning to bring a smattering of books, and I would rather bring a conservative number of books and sell out than have a hundred books sitting in my house. So if you are at all interested in preordering a book, please grab that form and order them up so that I will be sure to have them, and I don't sell out before you get to the festival.

DL White [00:40:09]:
I'm also considering having some QR codes done up for audiobook purchases at the festival. I don't, like, I don't really know how to work that, but it sounds like an interesting idea. Grumpy Valentine, I'm adding, like I said earlier, major retailer distribution for ebook and audio that should be up on, like, Barnes and Noble audio. It's not up on on Amazon. It's not up on Audible yet because I haven't figured out how I wanna work that. I don't know if it will ever be available on Amazon because they're everything I look at tells me they want it for 7 years. And like, what if I don't want it up for seven years? Like, I don't know if I want it on Audible. To be honest, it's short.

DL White [00:40:55]:
It doesn't need to be up. Like you can get it anywhere else, literally. So I think I'll save audible for like my full length because I don't I wouldn't want people to spend a credit on that. You know? Like, I voiced that. So, anyway, I wanted to see how well I would do when the book was only available through certain channels. So, of course, I made more on book funnel because that was the only place that you could get it. I'm really surprised, again, that I was able to hold out until March, but I have made my profit on it. So yay.

DL White [00:41:24]:
More of that. Absolutely. I wanna talk about the five star review that I got and compliments on the audio for that book if I can dig it up real super quick. There's a person that I follow on Instagram. We actually follow each other. They're a voracious reader. I mean, they read like you wouldn't I just so much reading. Books over BS is, such a great account on Instagram.

DL White [00:41:51]:
I mean, they be reading. I got a five star review for this book. They actually live in Atlanta, which doesn't surprise me. This book is so so Atlanta. But I got a five star review. The reaction is he's a keeper. They said this book was just what I needed. It was fun and flirty.

DL White [00:42:08]:
The couple oozed black excellence. I loved them individually and collectively. I wanted to shake Opal a time or two, but I totally understood her demeanor. Sterling was the bomb. He was confident and considerate. I loved him. I appreciated the short story format. They got right to the point with no wasted moment.

DL White [00:42:25]:
I really enjoyed this read. Thank you so much for that review. I typically don't read them, but if you tag me in them, I can't help but see them. And so I did. When it first popped up, I only saw the the the three stars. So I was like, oh, okay. You know, three is average. Okay.

DL White [00:42:40]:
And then when I was going through my feed and I was tagged in it, and so I did I was like, well, I looked at it, and I was like, okay. Let's see what they have to say. I saw it was actually five stars. So it's actually peaches. So I got five peaches. I'm just beaming. I'm so, so, so delighted. And they also said that they loved my, audio narrator's note because I did put a little narrator note in there, and they said that I should voice more of my books.

DL White [00:43:09]:
So I'm taking that as a sign. They said I have a gift. So I'm just, like, beaming, and I'm feeling very special about it today. So, very happy about that. Music of my heart is the fan fiction. I skipped totally skipped this week. I'll I'll pick it up next week. I have an outline of the next chapter, and I kind of know where I want it to go, but I haven't written it yet.

DL White [00:43:30]:
I've just been busy on other stuff. Also haven't worked any on the sisters trilogy I've been planning. I didn't even open it. I've been working on Ruby's ten this whole week. And once, like, once that's out of the way, I feel like I can really start to, work on that, but I've been saying that for quite some time, and I keep giving myself projects. And then I'm kind of musing on a Saint Patrick's Day short story. I'm kind of inspired and motivated by February sales. If I can just continually have things available for people to buy, then I can continually meet my revenue goal for the month.

DL White [00:44:06]:
My goal was low. It was 300. I've just barely made that. And that was I feel like I was pounding it pretty hard. So, you know, I don't know what I wanna say here, but, like, I don't I don't wanna be beholden to always having a new release to push sales, but also if that's what I have to do to get new sales and to keep bringing people in and to keep, you know, getting, you know, new readers and delighting my seasoned readers, that might be what I have to do. So for today's topic, I'm picking on myself a little bit. I titled this episode, I like the pressure and it's because I'm trying to work with my natural creative rhythm. And I wanna talk about something I realized about myself as a writer, particularly this past month, maybe in recent years that I actually work best under pressure.

DL White [00:44:55]:
I have all these stories that sit around for months, sometimes years, but I never finish them until a deadline looms, like, about sixty days out. Then all of a sudden, my brain my brain kicks into high gear. We have a lot of conversations in writer circles and author circles about what motivates us as writers. Do we have an internal person inside our brains screaming, get it done, get it done, get it done. Or is it external? Is it a deadline? I think for me, motivation is external, even if it's really internal, but I fake that it's external. Like, I I make up deadlines. Often, I'll reach out to my editor and be like, if I wanna publish a book by this date, when do I need it to have it to you to start the editing process? Then once I have a date from her based on her calendar, I set my deadline for a week before that because I need to assessively read through it before it goes anywhere because I have to like it first. So I recently connected this pattern to my Clifton strengths assessment and my Enneagram, because if you know me, anybody who has ever taken a course by Becca Syme talks nonstop about their strengths.

DL White [00:46:02]:
What are your strengths? What's your top five? What's your Enneagram? And it kinda started making sense What psychologists call productive procrastination, sounds like a really good word, isn't a flaw in my process. It's actually my natural creative rhythm. If I look at my top five strengths, I can see why this happens because my top two strengths are intellection and input. So I love thinking deeply about ideas. I love collecting information. That's why I gather story concepts and I let them build over time. I've told, talked about it before I throw open a Pinterest album. What, what are the, I, what do they call it? Pinterest, whatever.

DL White [00:46:42]:
And I throw in my ideas, all my character inspirations, all my setting inspirations, everything that I need to inspire me to write that story. I throw them in Pinterest. I play with them in my head. I open dabble. I start writing something till I hit a wall, and then I close it. This gets the idea out of my head so I can concentrate on other stuff, but it also starts to clock and the collection process. But these strengths alone don't push me to finish anything. The magic happens because of my other strengths, responsibility, and adaptability.

DL White [00:47:17]:
My responsibility strength means I take commitments seriously. When I say I'll do something, I feel bound to follow through. I own it. I I told my boss, don't tell me you want me to do something unless you really want me to do it because I will start yesterday, and I will own it, and I will be obsessed with it until I am done with it. My adaptability strength makes me respond to what's happening right now rather than planning too far ahead. This combination explains why deadlines work well for me. They trigger my sense of responsibility while playing to my natural adaptability. Then being in Enneagram nine with a wing one adds another layer.

DL White [00:47:55]:
And I've been kind of digging into Enneagram and how it shapes me as a person, because me is my favorite topic. As a nine, I seek peace and harmony, which means I collect ideas calmly over time. I don't wanna be rushed. I don't want us to be last minute. I need all my what's about me when the deadline comes. That wing one brings in that perfectionist tendency that kicks in when a deadline is approaching. I only fully engage when the responsibility becomes urgent. And I mean, like sixty, ninety days urgent.

DL White [00:48:29]:
So how can I use these nerdy details to my advantage? First, I can create better systems to capture my story ideas when they come. I am using notes in my phone right now, but sometimes it's just open dabble, throw something in there, freeing up my mental space so I can start that creative process. Second, I'm using my responsibility strength by creating artificial deadlines with accountability. When I tell someone else, or I announce it on this podcast about a deadline, it creates a start and end point in my brain. I'm also breaking projects into smaller deadlines, planning quarterly author meetups for accountability. I meet with my author group. It's like the third week of the first month of each quarter. So third week in January, the third week in April, the third weekend you got, and so on.

DL White [00:49:19]:
So that sets up an accountability point for me. If I tell Sharon that my goal for 2025 is to I think my goal for 2025 is three books, possibly more like three three in a possible is three releases plus a short or like, something I might write for the podcast or like a short story or whatever. We'll have a check-in every quarter when we meet. How are you doing according to your goals? So that, that like that lights a fire in my brain that starts the clock for me. Third, I'm working with my adaptability by planning, flexible writing sessions instead of rigid schedules. I do not write every day. I do not sit down in my chair on X day, X day, X day, and write from X time to X time. I have a full time job that requires all of my brainpower Monday through Thursday, at least, or Monday through Friday at noon.

DL White [00:50:17]:
So I accept that I have to produce in bursts rather than steady output. I might sit down on a Thursday night and bang out some stuff and then work on it Friday, Saturday, Sunday, which means I'm mostly a weekend writer, and I take long breaks between projects. I have to be okay with that being perfectly fine so long as I've got my deadlines in, like, in in view. For my Enneagram nine wing one brain, I must accept that my creative process includes periods of apparent inaction. And it's not that I'm not doing anything. It's that I'm thinking. Thinking is not really writing, but for me, thinking is kind of writing. I need, I need time.

DL White [00:50:57]:
I need time for it to build up in my brain. And then by the time I'm ready to write, I'm at my thirty, sixty, ninety days before my deadline that I really need to move. Then I use my perfectionist streak strategically during final editing. And and I'm also trying to create better transitions between day job and writing time. I do not have the mental strength to create drafts during weekdays, but I can edit. So an old habit I'm bringing back is to write, write, write, write, write on weekends. Just get it on the page. Just put it on the page.

DL White [00:51:28]:
Put it on the glass and then edit it out and smooth it out during the week. Because that's so much easier for me to like pop in during my lunch break, go through a chapter real quick, close it out, come home. Look at that chapter again, smooth it out more and then move forward. My practical approach now is quarterly planning. I I plan my self imposed publishing deadlines, you know, within the first thirty days for acceleration, the final sixty days for my productive sprint, trying to work on that. This used to work around the word maker's 20 k in five days. Word maker's shut down, by the way, and so I'm kind of freewheeling right now. But this works with my natural rhythm instead of fighting it.

DL White [00:52:13]:
Then I don't feel like I'm always, like my mind is always blank because I am forcing myself to work on a schedule that doesn't work for me. I also need to schedule some audio recording days or nights because the house is quieter at night, and I need to start working through my backlog of audio projects that I have assigned myself. I cannot decide which to start with. Like, I don't know I don't know which to start with first. Perhaps calculated risk since it's next coming out, but I also have the Ruby's, like, extended epilogue thing that I could put in audio. So there's also an idea. Big takeaways for me is understanding my natural tendencies, which means I can work with them instead of against them. And and then, you know, I could beat myself.

DL White [00:52:57]:
I could continue beating myself up for not being a consistent daily writer or a person that pushes out a project every thirty days or sixty days or ninety days, or I could accept that I thrive with deadlines and structure my writing life accordingly. So I'm super curious of the writers or the project managers or the people that have to produce a thing, a creative thing within certain, areas, days of time. Have you noticed patterns in when you work best? Have you taken a look at strengths or Enneagram and then kind of, analyzed how you work and what works best? I would love to hear how you have structured your creative process, or are you taking somebody's routine and trying to make it work for you? Like, I might take somebody's writing schedule and tweak it to how it could work for me. I I delete all those weekday writing because that's not happening, And I call it weekday editing. And then I do like weekend writing, you know, or whatever. I'm gonna look into maybe heart breathings because, Sarah Cannon runs that and made, it's, HB 90. So they only plan like ninety days at a time, This time to this time, this time to this time. And, so that's kinda how they make it through the year.

DL White [00:54:21]:
And I'm really kinda thinking about looking into that because it looks like that is gonna work better with my brain, with my energy level, with the way I wanna be doing things. So I'm kind of kind of excited about it. Have I done it yet? No. But I'm excited about it. So bookish friends, we have reached that point in our chat where I need to let you go. But before I do, I wanna remind you that everything we talked about today, including links, resources, a full transcript is waiting for you at booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast/1thirteen. You might also find it on my Substack. If you're enjoying these weekly chats about books, about publishing, the best compliment you can give me is to share the show with other readers and writers.

DL White [00:55:09]:
I mean, you can also send me a love letter through my Instagram DM or you can follow me on Blue Sky, or you can send me an email. But, you know, you can also do something more simple like follow the show and tell other people about it. Ratings on Apple Podcasts and Spotify really do make a difference in helping other people find me. If you want to support the show, remember there are so many ways to do that. Browse my books and my merch at booksbydlwhite.com/shop. Join my community through the newsletter or my Substack. You can treat me to a virtual coffee at buymeacoffee.com/booksbydlwhite, or you can support the show directly at bookcast.buzzsprout.com. Thank you to my monthly supporters over at BookCast.

DL White [00:55:51]:
You are the reason I can keep showing up here every week. Thank you for believing in the show and showing your continued support. The Bookcast is written, produced, and edited by me, DL White, with music and sound effects by Pixabay. Next week, we'll dive into the usual updates, reading, writing, publishing, plus I hope to have another interesting topic to ruminate about. Let me know if there is something on your mind you would like me to spend time talking about. Until then, I'll meet you back here next week. Bye bye.