Not THAT kind of manifesto; don’t worry, I haven’t gone crazy yet (I hope). No, this is a post about what this site is about, and what this site’s readers, new and old, can and should expect from me.
Expect stories. Real stories. That means non-fiction real life stories, a.k.a anecdotes or life updates, and fictional stories. Opinions about stories, or sometimes just opinions. And factoids around stories, such as things I came across in my research for writing my stories.
Two questions might now come to your mind: why now? And what will change for those of you who have been following me for a while?
Why now?
Because I read a book, “Your First 1000 Copies” by Tim Grahl. I found it a few weeks ago when tidying the library; I must have bought it a while back when I was still considering self-publishing for A Basquet of Cats. Self-pub or not, Tim’s book is worth a read, because it talks about the author’s platform, i.e. exactly the kind of thing I’ve been (very amateurishly) trying to set up with Stories and Stuff over the past few years.
Probably everyone currently reading this on a somewhat regular basis is a combination of friend, (ex-)colleague, and/or a person I met online in one of my many writing communities. This reflected in the content I created, a wild mix things about myself, fiction, the craft of writing, or thought-leadership adjacent musings.
Whether you are writers yourself or not, all of you are readers, and those of you who have signed up after Basquet has launched will likely be more interested in reading about alpacas and cats than about the MICE quotient, name notwithstanding. Hence my resolution to shift the content toward pure stories.
I started this blog/site almost 4 years ago for the fun of it; the promotional aspect never really mattered until now. “Marketing” is often a dirty word for the act of trying to sell people stuff they don’t need. Tim defines it differently: marketing is the act of building long-lasting connections with people, and then adding value to their lives. I like that definition!
The other thing from the book that stuck with me is this quote:
The common thread that runs through all of the successful authors I’ve worked with is they actually believe it’s a good thing for readers to buy their books.
I’m not a successful author, not by a long shot, but I can get on board with that. I write to bring some joy into the world; a smile or a laugh, a tear, or even a shout of anger directed at the story’s villains, all documented reactions by the early readers of Basquet. So yes, I believe it’s a good thing for you to read what I write; buying my books is a bonus… đŸ™‚
What’s changing?
Adding value by providing the right content for you is one thing; another is making it as easy as possible to access it. That means the biggest change those of you already on the mailing list will notice is that you will from now on be able to read posts directly in your inbox; no clicking on a link necessary. Easy!
The other change you might already have noticed is that I stopped posting the ugly drawing from the 100 Day Challenge. That’s not because I stopped doing the challenge—I didn’t, gotta fill that museum! No, posting the drawings was my sneaky (and rather selfish) attempt to make you into my involuntary accountability buddies, and that doesn’t quite fit with the attempt to add value to your lives. Bottom line: it’s stories and story-adjacent things. That might include drawings in the future, when I’m better at it, and it fits with the story I’m telling, but until then, no daily challenge postings of whatever kind. In other words: no spam.
Third change: new signups (signup form on the top right of the homepage, and down at the end of this post) will receive 3 free stories! (And everyone already on the mailing list will get them too, of course.) The stories are from a collection that’s in my long-term plans, with the working title “Fantastical France”. FF will be a collection of rural fantasy stories (yes, that’s a thing—it’s like urban fantasy, but in the countryside), written in an anecdotal style. Hope you enjoy them! The first one will go out later today.
The site will get a bit of a revamp, too, focusing more on what I now am calling “the Whiskerverse”, i.e. the alternate history reality of A Basquet of Cats. Brighter colors, more cats! Other than that, not that much will change, as the majority of the content was already stories. I’ll continue to aim for posting once a week, generally Thurdays. There will sometimes be more, mostly when there’s an announcement, such as the pre-order links for Basquet sometime later this week. Or when I publish the prequel graphic novelette.
My hope, and ask of you
The best (and sometimes only) way to improve is by receiving and incorporating feedback. That is my ask of you: talk to me. Tell me when I’m doing things you don’t like, but also when I’m doing things you enjoy. Did you actually like me posting my drawings? Tell me! Want to hear other things I’ve now decided not to cover (or never have)? Tell me that, too! If enough readers tell me, I’m more than willing to change things up again.
In addition to talking to me, I hope you’ll talk to each other. Comment on here! Share links on social media! Leave a review for Basquet on Amazon or wherever else you will be ordering it! (Assuming you will order it.) Or let a friend borrow the book, and then discuss it!
I’d love for Stories and Stuff to become a community. Hope springs eternal, etc…
Thanks for getting to the end of my “manifesto”. Wasn’t crazy, was it?
Cheers
Christian