Hi, folks! Dane here, and today’s post is a bit of an update on my marketing efforts, my book progress (or lack thereof) and a few other bits and bobs. And so without further ado, let’s get into it.

 

What’s Changed:

Perhaps the biggest change is that after nine amazing years, I’ve decided to shut down my book blog, SocialBookshelves.com. I first launched it in April 2013, and over the years it’s opened me up to all sorts of amazing opportunities, including literally hundreds of reviews and press trips to York Literature Festival and Latvia.

The good news is that the reviews are staying, they’ve just been moved to a new home here on DaneCobain.com. It basically allows me to bring all of my branding under a single banner and to more effectively promote my own books with the reviews that I write. It also involves a hell of a lot less upkeep. I’ll still going to post them all to Goodreads, and if you enter any of the old URLs, you’ll automatically be forwarded to the same reviews on DaneCobain.com. I’ll also still be making BookTube videos.

I’ve also closed down my freelancing website, Dane-Writes.com, and redirected that to a new freelancing page on DaneCobain.com. Again, it’s all about making everything easier to maintain so that I have one website instead of three.

 

What’s New:

I’ve also been carrying out some improvements to DaneCobain.com. For example, I made sure that my Google Analytics data is being properly captured so that I can get a better understanding of what people are doing when they’re here. I’ve also added a popup that prompts people to join my mailing list. I’ll be using this more often in the future to provide updates about my books and to work with other authors on newsletter swaps to introduce people to more great indie reads, so please do go and sign up if you haven’t already.

I’ve also added a multimedia section to the website, which includes updated versions of my music and video pages, as well as a new section for my radio show.

 

What’s Next:

That’s mostly it for the changes to the website, although I’ll be doing a bunch more marketing stuff behind the scenes. I’m experimenting with Amazon and Facebook ads, and I’m also working on some newsletter swaps and some blogger outreach.

To help me out with the blogger outreach, I’ve hired a virtual assistant called Auggie, who’s going to be shortlisting blogs and reaching out to them on my behalf. She’s doing a great job, and so I also recommended her to my writer buddy and client J. V. Hilliard, who’s now also working with her.

Of course, the big upcoming news is that The Leipfold Files, the third book in the Leipfold series, is due for release on June 1st 2022 through Encircle Publications. It shares some stories about Leipfold’s early years and I can’t wait for you guys to read it!

And of course, I’m also working on a bunch of other stuff, including a bunch of first and second drafts. But I’m also doing a hell of a lot of overtime with my freelance work to help pay for upgrades on my house, and so I don’t want to commit myself by telling you when they’re likely to be out. They’ll be done when they’re done.

That’s about it for today, so thanks so much for checking in and so be sure to head over to my social page and to follow me on your social networking sites of choice. You can also sign up to my mailing list here. I’ll see you soon!