600 Followers! Shoutouts to my Newest Followers!

Greetings all,

All stock imagery from Pixabay.

I honestly feel like things are picking up on my blog. I’m seeing steady growth, and it shows in how quickly I’m gaining followers. I have you all to thank for it.

As is usual when I hit a benchmark like this, I’d like to pay it forward by giving a shoutout to my five most-recent followers (as I type this).

Belle.Shelf: This is an eclectic review site, which is something I appreciate. I love fantasy, but a diversified reader is cherished in my opinion because it means, hopefully, I won’t piss her off when I shift gears so much!  The book-review formats are short, quick reads that are fair and honest.

Holy Spirit, You are welcomed here: I haven’t visited this site until I was writing this blog. I read the fist post, an anecdote about someone’s relationship with his/her mom. (I can’t find an “about” page, so I’m still trying to learn more.) What I know is the posts are powerful and motivational.

Boba & Books: This is another review site (most blogs that follow me are). What drew me to this was actually a “rant” review for a fairly well-regarded book.  I don’t tend to use “stars” or “ratings” very much on my blog. I stick to my criteria, but a “rant” here or there probably lends a bit of credibility to a reviewer. It’s harder for me because I usually only read authors I already know I’ll like. But, for someone with a broader reading list, those occasional rants help.

Suzie’s World: Suzie has an eclectic blog. She does music reviews, and I love music, so it’s nice to read about it from time to time. She also posts some original compositions. Check out Starry Night, it’s pretty good.

Fiction No Chaser: I like the layout of this blog. It has the genres right up front, so I can click straight to what I’m most interested in. Jess and Teagan are a fun pair that provides reviews for Fantasy, YA, Paranormal/Urban, and Contemporary books.

I want to thank these five bloggers and all the others who’ve decided to keep some sort of track of my antics. I can’t tell you what a blessing you are. I hope my blog is engaging. Please always feel welcome to comment or ask questions as much as you like.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

 

A Few Bits of Good News!

Greetings all!

As I type this, I officially have 504 followers! I’m simply thrilled each day someone decides to click on my website and decide to keep up to date on my posts!  As is common whenever I hit a milestone, I’d like to take a bit of time to give back to those who followed me by spreading word about their blog, so I’d like to talk about my five most recent followers.

MovieBabble:  I’ve only just discovered this blog since it started following me. Looking at the main page, I’m just startled at how much content they pack into this page. It’s essentially a film review site. I’m honestly excited to check out some of the reviews. I’m always interested in what people think about what’s out there.

Ris Reads: Marisa is a young woman who provides reviews.  Anyone who talks about books is super in my opinion.  She’s new to the review world, but she has good taste in books judging by her last few reviews.

Luna Lestrange Reads: I spend about 10 minutes a day looking for book reviewers. Luna prefers Young Adult (I have a book I’d like you to beta read if that’s your genre, Luna) stories. Her last few reviews highlight her interest in that area. She’s my newest follower, and I’ve only seen on of her reviews, but she’s brief and conversational, which I appreciate in a reviewer.

Stories to live by: Courtney is another reviewer. What drew me to her was her openness about content. In her latest review, the book she read made light of religion, she said.  She wasn’t positive or negative about it, just informative. That way readers who might not appreciate it, don’t buy the book, and those who like that sort of thing know it’s their kind of story.  I appreciate that sort of information.

Nifflerreads: This is a reviewer who read 36 books in January alone. That’s about one more book than I read last year. So anyone that prolific get’s my attention. It means viewers can count on more consistent reviews.

I want to thank those five and all the others who were kind enough to follow my blog. I hope you also decide to subscribe to my newsletter and maybe even try out my books.

Speaking of my books …

I’m happy to announce that after only one day of availability, An Unusual Occupation already has a five-star review!  You can check out that verified-purchase review here. I’m so flattered by this review. I love Bob as a character, so any time a reader connects with him, I’m so pleased. I want to thank the reviewer for not just buying my book, but liking it and telling people about it!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Some Things for which to be Grateful

These two came by to tell me they loved The Journals of Bob Drifter. They also wanted a sequel. While that’s not currently a plan, I did tell them there will be a book they might want to pay close attention to coming in 2019.

I’m spending a few days recovering from a productive, enjoyable, and exhausting AwesomeCon.  I’ll post more about the event later (probably next week). But since I post something every Wednesday and Saturday, I thought I’d share some achievements and milestones with you all.

The first is how successful AwesomeCon was as a whole. I met a lot of new friends. I had several readers approach me (more on that later) to tell me they liked my work, and I sold a solid number of books.  Thus far for yours truly, if I had trouble making back what I paid to have the table. I’m not consistently earning back that money plus a little extra, which I plan to use to order more books for the next event. This would have been enough of a blessing by itself, but my week has only gotten better.

I can say with pride that I now have 300 followers! Raven and Beez was my 300th follower, and I’m always overjoyed when people think enough of my goings on that they let me bombard their WordPress reader with my thoughts. The fact that I’m slowly growing followers is a motivating thing. There’s a lot of perseverance required in this line of work. It’s an evolutionary process, requiring years to build an audience and establish a rapport with true fans.  I’m simply amazed I’ve  come this far, even acknowledging how much farther I have to go.  I want  you all to know how much I appreciate you. I hope my blogs and post are useful and entertaining.

The last thing I wanted to share with you all was a very special 5-star review for The Journals of Bob Drifter.  I was at AwesomeCon during a particularly slow hour when a woman approached me to tell me how much she enjoyed the book. Cathey was so emphatic in her praise that I didn’t really know how to react. You always hope for someone to like your work, but before she even posted this review, I genuinely felt how much she loved it. That sort of moment is what makes a lot of late hours and months of bad sales seem worth it. Just coming up and telling me what she thought was a supremely inspirational moment for me. That review just sort of enchanted the euphoria to another level.  Cathey, if you’re reading this, I can’t put into words what that meant to me. I give you my word that I’ll always push myself to tell compelling, powerful stories. I hope to introduce you to characters that are as inspirational as they are emotional.  Thank you.  I make that same promise to all of you.

As happy as I am, I will need a bit more time to recover and get back into routine. I’m still waiting on the editor to get back to me with Sojourn in Captivity and then the second edition of The Journals of Bob Drifter. I’ve started an outline for a short story revolving around Kaitlyn from Caught. I have a very ambitious goal for 2019, and I’ll have to get to work if I want to meet it.  So I’ll rest up a few days and then charge forward.  I want you all to know how much I value your comments, likes and questions. Every email or message I get is precious to me.  Thank you all and thank you for reading.

Matt

 

I Received the Blogger Recognition Award!

I was looking at comments on the WordPress universe and was thrilled to learn I’d won the Blogger Recognition Award!

The classiest of classy gents, J.J. Azar was kind enough to award me this distinguished honor. It’s honestly one of the most flattering things in the world to have someone form your community feel you’re deserving of something even resembling recognition. As you’ll see below, he could have named any one of the blogs he’s following, and he felt I was one of those deserving.  Thank you, Sir.

To accept the award, I must:

Thank the blogger who nominated me and provide a link to his blog (CHECK)

Write a post to show my award (check)

Give a brief story as to how my blog got started (see below)

Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers (see below)

Select 15 other bloggers for this award (Just 15? Um…ok)

Comment on each blog to let them know I nominated them and link them to this post (pending)

 

How’d my blog get started? Well it was non-existant until Quintessential Editor sat me down and showed me how it was done.

 

I wanted a central location for all things Weech. I like to do reviews, character studies, and, oh yeah! I also wrote these books I’d like to sell. I had a lot of great ideas and things I wanted to talk about in addition to the shameless self promotion, and blogging seemed like the way to go.

As for my advice:

1. What do you do that others don’t? For a while, I think my Character Studies was something I did. There are a LOT of great blogs out there, but I really enjoy looking at characters and analyzing how and why they are effective. That was something I liked to do that I didn’t se others doing.  Then I had another idea. I’m an instructor at the Defense Information School, and I’m constantly reviewing work. I judge award contests, grade students and provide feedback. I’m also a fan of randomly staring at covers. That gave me the idea of the Book Cover of the Month. Every month, I post a bracket in which people can vote for their favorite covers. I’m still growing this, but it’s already been a ton of fun and hugely viewed. There’s a lot of wonderful people out there doing a lot of great things, but you have find the parts of yourself that make you unique and expose (the right word I promise) those vulnerabilities, those parts of yourself that make you special, to the world. If you’re only saying what other say, why should people come to your blog?
2. Consistency is everything.  Now, it’s okay to have some elements of randomness. My BCOTM posts happen each time a new round comes up. But those who follow my blog know that they’ll see a post of some kind every Wednesday (usually a review) and every Saturday (Usually a character study). When I see someone’s reviewed my book, I post that. If there’s some news relevant to my projects, I post that as well. But I never post more than once a day, and people always know when they’re guaranteed to see something new. Also, viewers know the BCOTM posts start on the first of every month, so even that has elements of consistency.

Now, to nominate those I can. There are a lot of blogs I follow, but those below are the ones I make it a point to visit whenever I’m doing what I call, The WordPress Tour. I don’t get to do it as often as I want, but I ALWAYS try to check these guys out.

Quintessential Editor

Red String Papercuts (Steve is my Social Media and Marketing Mentor and Jessie’s poems are lovely.)

J.R. Handley blog (Great interviews and military-based posts)

The Idiot in Tin Foil (Fantastic short works)

Rough and Ready Fiction (Wonderful Web Serials.)

Sinisterdarksoul (Absolutely HAUNTING prose. Content warning.)

Elizabeth Rose’s Site (Just a great site to visit. Lot’s of good info.)

Kristen Twardowski: A Writer’s Workshop (Simple, honest musings with author related info.)

The Excited Writer (Another solid site that, like Corey, talks about balancing writing and family.)

There are more, honestly, but these are the one’s I’m pretty driven to check up on when time allows.  They’re all wonderful blogs that I think you’d either enjoy reading or learn a lot from (usually both).

I’m honestly flattered J.J. nominated me. It’s nice to feel like I’m providing value to someone.  Thank you all as always.

Thanks for reading

Matt.

February Sweet 16!

The Sweet 16 is here!

After yet ANOTHER record breaking round, we’re down to 16 covers. I’m so glad to see such a positive response to the contest. But enough about me and my elation, let’s look at what happened after 1,467 votes!

Let’s go over some numbers:

 

The Closest Contest:

We have a few ties here.  The Winter Over vs War Factory and Ringing in a New Year vs An Impossible War were both decided by just four votes! War and Winter were the victors in those close contests.  Over earns the tiebreaker in because it’s narrow 52% margin of victory.

The Largest Victor:
Bentz Deyo is back people! He brought his following for his cover to The Unleashed to defeat A Gathering of Shadows by 41 votes! The Elven Tales had the largest margin of victory over Death’s Mistress with 71% of the votes. Those are some pretty impressive numbers.

Most Voted On Contest:
Unleashed vs Shadows had the most votes with 119.

Least Voted On Contest:
I’m thrilled to say that every contest had 80 or more votes.  Four matches were tied for the least votes at 80: The Destiny Thief vs Three Years With the Rat, Surviving the Evacuation: Ireland vs Smoke Happens, Age of Myth vs Explorations: First Contact, and Winter vs War Factory.

Most Votes:
Unleashed is back on top with the most votes. Mr. Deyo spoke with me. He’s very determined to make the most of this second chance, and he’s already making good on his word with 80 votes in this round.

So now it’s on to the Sweet 16!  This round will last until March 15. That’s 7 days to pick which 8 will move on.

Head over here and vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

February

Book Cover of the Month of February

Happy 1st everyone! For me, that means it’s time for a new Book Cover of the Month Bracket, and I’m more excited every time I do this.  If you’re curios or new, check out the Book Covers for December and January.

Last month was simply enormous, and I hope to keep this momentum going in the right direction. We have 28 new covers to look at, and the top four runners up from last month have a second shot to win the month!

If you know the authors or the artists, please share this and tag them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as legitimate as possible.

Round 1 will go from today to March 8.

The Sweet 16 will run from then to the 15th.

The Elite 8 will take it from there until the 18th.

The Final 4 runs from the 18th to the 20th.

The Finals will go from the 20th to the 22nd.

I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

200 followers!

As I type this, I currently have 211 followers on WordPress, and that’s just amazing to me. I’ve been on this journey for a little less than two years, and the only way success is possible is with readers who are interested in the content I produce. I’ve made friends, and I’ve become a fan of some of those I follow as well.  So with that in mind, I’d like to pass along that success by talking about a few bloggers I’ve become  a fan of.

Sinister Dark Soul: He has this haunting prose that has the ability to stretch you. Content warning. He goes to places you might not be ready for. The trick is how he eases you into those places. His “Clocktower” series is definitely worth a read.  His prose style makes his posts quick to read.

J.R. Handley: It’s cool to see people I know become successful. His books The Legion Awakes and Fortress Beta City are doing very well. It’s all the sweeter because my good friend Quintessential Editor edited those books. J.R.’s blog is evolving, and I like where it’s going. It has interviews, world building tips and some marketing advice.

J.J. Azar: J.J. has been one of my biggest supporters of late. His blog has a charm and class that just jumps off the page. He posts update on his projects and even did a Q & A that was fun to watch.

Red String Papercuts: Steve over at that blog has become such a valued mentor to me. His posts on marketing are invaluable. I can’t tell you how helpful they are. Factor in Jessie’s prose and poetry and you have a dynamic site worth visiting.

Rough and Ready Fiction: Jenn Moss is a wonderful person. I read and reviewed her book “The Horned Gate.” Her web serials are fun to read. She also does tarot card posts that are fascinating.

I really could go on all day. I try to visit at least three of these (or a few others) each day, rotating to try and stay up to date (Got to give a shout out to Idiot in Tin Foil). They’re just fantastic and incredibly supportive. I’m grateful to all of you followers. I hope to continue to provide you with posts that motivate, inform, and educate you.

With that said, I’d like to ask your thoughts.  What do you look for most from my posts? What do you want to see more of?

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

A 3-Star Review for The Journals of Bob Drifter

While surfing the internet, I found a very kind 3-star Review (She actually gave it 3.5 stars) for The Journals of Bob Drifter.  There are a few reasons why this review is special.

First: Just read the review! She said some amazingly kind things, particularly about the ending. I took the most care in making sure the end of my book was satisfying.  So every time someone mentions the ending in a good way is particularly rewarding in my eyes.

Second: This is a review for the auidobook. I found Jess through her blog The Audio Bookworm. I was thrilled to see someone dedicated to reviewing audiobooks, as I’m a HUGE fan of them. If you like audiobooks and want detailed, thoughtful reviews on a book before reading, see if she’s read it.  You’ll thank me when you do.

If you’re an author, and you’ve written an audiobook, you should strongly consider sending your work to her because it’s hard enough to get reviews, getting an audiobook review is that much more difficult.

You can also follow Jess on Twitter and Facebook.