Category: Brent Sampson

Brent Sampson

The Month of Living Dangerously

In the month of November I’ve been trying to write 50,000 words to a novel AND lose 20 pounds to my waistline. What was I thinking??! I was thinking I’d take a break from writing (and blogging about writing) and starving myself, to create a disturbing poster in which I replace Mel Gibson’s face with mine.  Talk about a bad idea! What was I thinking??!

poster

Here are my Stats for NaNoWriMo for November 23:

Average Per Day 1844
Words Written Today 1768
Target Word Count 50,000
Target ~ Words/Day 1,667
Total Words Written 42,434
Words Remaining 7,566
Current Day 23
Days Remaining 8
At this rate, you’ll finish November 28
Words/Day to finish on time 946

Writing a book is proving EASIER than losing weight. I’ve lost 13 pounds so far, and have a week to go.  That’s 1000 words and 1 pound each day.

I have a feeling I’m going to cross the 50,000 word finish line before I cross the 20 pound finish line, especially with Thanksgiving approaching.

What was I thinking??!

 

 

Brent Sampson

A weekend of writing

Taking the weekend off from blogging, but not from writing for NaNoWriMo.

My NaNoWriMoStats for November 21:

 

Average Per Day 1833
Words Written Today 1689
Target Word Count 50,000
Target ~ Words/Day 1,667
Total Words Written 38,513
Words Remaining 11,487
Current Day 21
Days Remaining 10
At this rate, you’ll finish November 28
Words/Day to finish on time 1,149

 

 

Brent Sampson

Getting over the hump (day)

Happy hump day, otherwise known as Wednesday on any given week, but this Wednesday is particularly “humpy” because it marks the time when National Novel Writing participants really SHOULD be over that 25,000 word hump and on the downhill slope of their novel. I’m proud to say I have only 2 writing buddies on the NaNoWriMo site who have not yet traversed that 25,000 hill yet, although they’re both in the 20,000’s, so it should be any moment now. My other buddies have word counts ranging from the lower-to-mid-30’s (which is also where I am) to the upper 70’s (over-achievers!).

If the NaNoWriMo stats from the Denver area participants are any indication, this arduous task becomes harder the longer you’re at it.

day-15

 Let’s analyze this graphic I uploaded when I passed 25,000 words, most notably the graphic in the lower right hand corner, which shows the cumulative word count of all the WriMo’s in Denver. You will notice that we all passed 8 million words half-way through day number 6, but by day 14, we still hadn’t doubled that to 16 million.  In fact, we’re now at day 18, and it still doesn’t look like the cumulative word count has reached 16 million.

We’re all slowing down…  Maybe that means the books have been finished and the word count totals have been reached; I would need to know the total number of Denver participants to determine that.  But my guess is that this Hump day REALLY is a hump day, and we all desperately need that downhill slope.  Well, it’s there, right at word 25,001 it begins going downhill.   So I challenge the rest of my mentorees to get over that hump. And for those of you who already have, keep it up. You’re doing great.

Here are my stats for NaNoWriMo for Nov 18:

Average Per Day 1833
Words Written Today 2538
Target Word Count 50,000
Target ~ Words/Day 1,667
Total Words Written 33,011
Words Remaining 16,989
Current Day 18
Days Remaining 13
At this rate, you’ll finish Nov 28
Words/Day to finish on time 1,307
Brent Sampson, NaNoWriMo

25,000 Words in 15 Days

We are half-way through National Novel Writing Month, where I (and 500,000 other writers) have challenged ourselves to write 50,000 words in 30 days…

So a good bench-mark would be writing 25,000 words in 15 days.

Thanks to an “internal challenge” I had with a couple of my “mentorees” through the NaNoWriMo site, where we challenged each other to reach 25,000 by Friday, I’m happy to report that I earned my 25,000 Writing Badge yesterday. Woo-hoo!

day-15

Here’s a graphic showing the four main statistics from the NaNoWriMo site. In the upper left-hand corner are the Participation Badges (completed) and the Writing Badges, displaying my latest accomplishment of 25,000 words.  The next Writing Badge to earn is by validating my word count, but I can’t do that yet, because I’m not at 50,000 words.

In the upper right-hand corner is my daily stats in bar graph form imposed against an average line chart for where I need to be to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I’m basically right on schedule.

In the lower left-hand corner are all the statistics I’ve been reporting on daily through this blog; this is how they appear on the NaNoWriMo site.  What a red-letter day! The number of words I have written exceeds the number of words remaining.  And, finally, I’m tracking to finish ahead of schedule again (although Thanksgiving is bound to put a damper on that, so if I was ambitious, I’d aim to be at 50,000 words by the 26th.) Don’t want to get tripped up by tryptophan!

In the lower right-hand corner are the bar graphs displaying the cummulative word-count totals of all the NaNoWriMo participants in the Denver area.  14 million words and counting!

I wonder where all those people are going to publish their books?  I know where I would suggest, but then again, I’m biased.

We’re on the downhill slope, fellow WriMo’s.

Brent Sampson, ceo

The power of positive thinking

coverMy November 12th blog was titled “The power of motivation” and within the body of that posting I wrote the following sentence: “Once I reach 50,000 words, I’ll probably stop.”

When I read my posting the next day (as I always do, to review it for errors after 24 hours have passed), something occurred to me for the first time when I re-read that particular sentence.  I didn’t write, “If I reach 50,000 words.”  I wrote “Once I reach 50,000 words.”  In other words, I have never questioned whether or not I would write 50,000 words in 30 days.  That has always been a forgone conclusion in my mind.  I’ve been positive I would do it from the moment I signed-up.

Some might call that cocky; others might call it naive. I prefer “positive.” But, regardless of what you call it, visualizing the future without a shred of doubt has miraculous advantages in life; you do what it takes to “get there.”

I think this is also why I went through the exercise of creating a book cover image for Idle Hands.  From the beginning, I have been picturing the end result.  First, writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Second, revising and rewriting that first draft into a coherent novel.  Third, submitting that novel to publishers, and then after they reject it (hey, it can’t all be positive), self-publishing it myself.  For me, it is easier to picture that published novel in my hands if it has a cover.  That’s going to be my reality. It just hasn’t happened… yet.  But in order to get there, first thing’s first: writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

What does your future look like?

Okay, I rebounded from that horrible 0-word day, so here are my stats for NaNoWriMo for November 13th:

 

Average Per Day 1660
Words Written Today 2039
Target Word Count 50,000
Target ~ Words/Day 1,667
Total Words Written 21584
Words Remaining 28,584
Current Day 13
Days Remaining 18
At this rate, you’ll finish December 1
Words/Day to finish on time 1,579

Even with writing over 2,000 words yesterday, I’m still on track to finish after the deadline.  See what skipping a whole day of writing gets you?  I’d better not do it again… The “fun” part is that both of the “word stats” are in the 20,000’s — I’ve written 21,584 words and the number of words I have remaining is 28,584.  I’m looking forward to that “exactly middle” 25,000 word milestone, with a target completion date of November 15th. That gives me 2 days of writing to crank out 3416 words, or 1708 words each day.  No problem-o…

… baby steps…

 

 

Brent Sampson, NaNoWriMo

Announcing IDLE HANDS to NaNoWriMo

The next “Badge” I received on NaNoWriMo was a Writing Badge, rewarded for announcing my novel on the site. I chose the Event date, which is November 2014. I provided the novel title: Idle Hands

Next it asked for the Novel Genre and provided 18 choices ranging from Adventure to Young Adult.  Idle Hands is a dark comedy-thriller, but that wasn’t a category, so I simply chose “thriller/suspense.”

coverNext it asked me to upload a cover .jpg for the book (see, I knew that would come in handy).

It asked for a short synopsis next.  I have a short three-page “treatment” that delves into the relationship between the three main characters, the two turning points, the two twists, and the climax, but that sounds too long to be defined as a “short synopsis” so I cut excerpts from it and arrived at this as a synopsis for Idle Hands:

“Brad is a Jewish entrepreneur who is approaching 40, unmarried, and lacking confidence in spite of his success with an internet matchmaking service he founded and programmed (initially to simply help with his own dating woes).  And before he knew it, it became successful and he became a millionaire. But it wasn’t enough. And on the cusp of a full-blown mid-life crisis, Brad meets Fenderson Quinn, a charismatic and unpredictable 27 year-old millionaire who sold his own company for $750 million dollars when he was 25.  Neither Brad nor Fender have to work, and with too much money and too much time on their hands, their devil-may-care attitude leads to a fast friendship punctuated by an ever-increasing sense of danger that culminates in murder, mayhem, and malevolence.”

Next it asked for a novel excerpt, which seemed odd since I haven’t written it  yet (aren’t we supposed to wait until November 1, NaNoWriMo?). So I left that blank and will fill it in later, after I’ve written my first word count (no reason to start early when it doesn’t officially count, right)?

Then I clicked “Save” and BOOM, collected my first Writing Badge: You’ve Got a Novel.

The next badges are Adding a Writing Buddy and Updating Your Word Count, and since it looks like that second one needs to wait until November also, I’ll be looking for a buddy.

Our Executive VP at Outskirts Press is participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo, too, so I’ll be adding Kelly to get my next badge.

Brent Sampson, ceo, self publishing

Celebrating 10 years of self publishing with Outskirts Press

In the category of Better Late than Never : Happy New Year.

Our company profile page at Outskirts Press gets updated the first month of every year to update our total title counts and summarize how the previous calendar year’s accomplishments fit into the overall picture of our company, and the industry of self publishing in general. I’ve posted the 2013 updated profile below.  2013 was a banner year for us and our authors. We published more titles by more writers than ever before, launched our mobile site for cell phones, mailed exciting royalty checks to our authors, and welcomed our first-ever Executive Vice President (Kelly Schuknecht, who was promoted in January).  Here’s the updated profile below; and you can see the entire thing, in all its glory, on our website by clicking here.

Here’s to a great 2014…

Over ten years ago, Outskirts Press was founded as a better way for authors to write, publish, and market their books. Outskirts Press incorporated in Colorado in 2003, and through strategic partnerships, exemplary customer service, and unmatched quality, Outskirts Press quickly became the fastest-growing full-service book publishing and book marketing firm.

The years between 2004 and 2006 marked a growth rate in excess of 1,500%, an accomplishment that was recognized in July 2007 by The Denver Business Journal when Outskirts Press was honored to be the 3rd fastest-growing privately held company (in any industry) in Colorado.  By the end of 2006, Outskirts Press had nearly 1,000 books in print,  all of them available worldwide through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble online, among others. And by the end of 2007, Outskirts Press more than doubled its title totals again to more than 2,000 total titles published.

self publishing books

In 2008 The Denver Business Journal once again recognized Outskirts Press as the fastest-growing publisher, and in fact, the fastest-growing privately held small-to-medium sized company in Colorado (in any industry), boasting growth of over 500% for the years between 2005-2007.

In 2009 Outskirts Press published its 5,000th title and became the only self-publishing company to appear on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing privately held companies.

In 2010, 2011, and 2012, Outskirts Press repeated its appearance on the Inc. 5000 list three more times, and became the only self-publishing company to appear on the list of top 5,000 fastest growing private businesses in America for four straight years.

2012 also marked the 10-year anniversary of the company’s founding and the publication of its 10,000 title. What took seven years to accomplish (publishing 5,000 different titles) was repeated in less than three.

Ten short years after its incorporation in 2003, 2013 was a celebratory and banner year for Outskirts Press, and heralded the maturation of an industry success story. Outskirts Press published more books in 2013 than in its first five years combined, and, in fact, more books in a single year than ever before, continuing to exceed industry averages with double-digit percentage growth of new titles and authors.

Now, more than ever, self-publishing writers are recognizing the value of high quality production, superior customer service, and the continued necessity of hard copy books to differentiate their contributions to the literary world from the masses of unfiltered, unprofessional electronic-only books.

So how does Outskirts Press remain the fastest-growing full-service publishing provider?

  • It begins with our Mission Statement: To exceed the expectations of every author we help publish.
  • It continues with our commitment to conservationism and recycling. Our most popular book sizes offer a recycled paper-stock option, featuring 30% post-consumer.
  • It grows with our authors.  Just ask Gang Chen, who earned over $100,000 in 180 days; or Sally Shields, the stay-at-home mom-turned-2-time Amazon.com bestseller; or Ronnie Lee, who has become one of the most prolific published authors of our generation with the assistance of Outskirts Press.

As we look toward the future, our commitment to produce high-quality books and offer high levels of support to our authors in all three phases of their journey (writing, publishing, marketing), only grows stronger.

For instance, to complement our authors’ hard copy printed paperback and hardback editions, we have embraced digital e-books with three a la carte digital publishing options to make electronic readers even easier to reach for our authors:

 We have embraced social media to help our authors further promote their books and enhance their careers:

  • Our author community on Facebook is the most popular and most active among all full-service self-publishing firms.
  • Our author channel on YouTube features the most book videos among all full-service, high-quality firms.
  • Our company blog keeps our authors informed on industry news, exciting promotions, and marketing tactics.
  • Our Twitter account keeps our authors up-to-date, sometimes up-to-the-minute.
  • Our Pinterest boards keep authors and readers apprised of Top 10 monthly bestsellers, our most prolific and successful writers, and genre collections/themes to celebrate holidays and special events.

By publishing our own series of books, we help authors navigate the sometimes tricky waters of book publishing. And by offering free publication in various anthologies through the year, we demonstrate how easy, fast, and fun it can be to publish with Outskirts Press.

Through it all, Outskirts Press authors have remained our main focal point. With over 10,000 published titles, Outskirts Press continues to pour development dollars and resources into further improvements to the Outskirts Press website and its growing list of writing, publishing, and marketing services/products to further support our authors’ goals and dreams.

What does success mean to you? By any measure, you will find it here with Outskirts Press and we look forward to helping you on that journey.

Many of us, and some of our family members, took a moment during a summer picnic to pose…

Are you ready to get published? Click here to visit Outskirts Press Self Publishing now.

Brent Sampson, facebook, self publishing

Self Publishing Bad News & Good News

Back in April, I wrote this paragraph in the closing moments of one of my blog postings: “And speaking of best, over the course of the next few posts, I’ll write more about the 3rd annual Fandemonium Anthology, the 3rd annual Best Book of the Year awards, the 5th placement (hopefully) on the Inc. 500/5000 list, and our 10-year anniversary.”

And in the following posts, I covered the publication of the 3rd annual Fandemonium Facebook Anthology and the winner of the 3rd annual Best Book of the Year awards.  That leaves us with the Inc 500/5000 list and our 10-year anniversary, but I’m also going to throw in a big milestone Outskirts Press hit yesterday.  But first the bad news. After 4 consecutive years appearing on the Inc. Magazine 500/5000 list of American’s fastest-growing private companies, a run that began back in 2008, we did not qualify for the list a 5th consecutive time. Last time I checked, less than 1000 companies have appeared on the list five times in a row, much less consecutively, so 4 consecutive years is something to be proud of. And this means we get to work even harder through 2013 and 2014, delivering to all our clients continued stellar service and quality at competitive prices.

And now the good news! Yesterday, Outskirts Press reached 10,000 Fans on its Facebook Page, a milestone we are all very proud of. We’d like to thank the writing and reading community for their continued support and friendly participation in one of self-publishing’s growing online communities.  Now, all 10,000+ of our Facebook fans are in the running for a free Apple iPad we will give away in a random drawing we hold very soon.  More details will be forthcoming on the Self Publishing News blog.

And everyone will want to stay involved with our Facebook page for the drawing we hold once we pass the 25,000 milestone. Stay tuned!

That still leaves the topic of our 10 Year Anniversary, which we officially celebrate in October of this year. I say “officially” because Outskirts Press was “up and operational” in 2002, but didn’t officially incorporate as a corporation until 2003.  So you could say we’re already smack dab in the middle of our 10th year, and there’s lots more to come. Our talented editing, writing, and designing artisans along with our passionate authors (and IT/accounting and administrative folks) are all to be thanked and congratulated. Here’s to many more!

Speaking of 10 years, my lovely wife and I are celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary this month.  Happy Anniversary, Jeanine. I love you.