I’ve talked about this on and off for a couple of weeks now. I think that’s actually rather mean of me, since I haven’t told you anything about it, so I’d better explain.

I have a brand. I’ve been building it around my name, Raven ShadowHawk, but also around the type of erotica I write. My erotica seems different from a lot of what I’ve read so far, in that it’s less crude, less about the sex and more about the relationships. Not to say that nobody else writes this way, but I’m still exploring the genre and the trend is slightly in the opposite direction.
*shrugs*

I wanted a name to make it clear that what I’m doing is a bit naughty, but not just about that. It’s smart. It has heart. So I came up with Smut With Brains in the middle of the night when I should have been sleeping.
-_-
Of course.

This is all rather new in my mind, so I don’t have any logos or banners yet, but I have ideas and I’ll be popping over to Fiverr later today to see what I can do. Yes… despite Ileandra’s disappointment I will be going back there. It’s too good a resource to let go, but I will make sure that I don’t depend fully on one artist, like she did. *tuts*

It’s an idea that will feature heavily on the solo site (when it finally goes live) and I’ll use it to mark up all of my releases just to differentiate them from Ileandra’s. Mainly because we’ll both be using Little Vamp Press to self publish. I’m sure she has ideas of her own about a tagline or branding slogan, but I’ll let her tell you about it. Not my place. 😛

When I get some artwork back I’ll be sure to let you know. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you about the same time we get this banner sorted out. *grumbles*

Okay, got that out of the way.
Goals now.
It’s been a bit of a mixed up week.
Only on Saturday at the Subs Group we were talking about our method for keeping on top of what we want to achieve and I talked about this blog. But since then I’ve lost the little list of things I wrote down so I’ve no idea what my submission goals were! And I didn’t refer back to the blog in the week so I’m finding out as I write whether or not I achieved last week’s goals.
-_-

Last Week

~Transfer deep edits of Slippers & Chains back into digital form
Completed yesterday! I’ve sent the file to my Kindle to do a read through, but this is quite a clean draft. I think, barring any major issues, I’ll be ready to send this to betas by the end of the month, after all. YUSH! *fist pump*

~Begin deep edits on Eric & Morgan (for real this time) just one page to start myself off. That’s the goal until the rest is done
Hurray! Two pages. *snerk* Now to keep going.

~Finalise details to go in press kit for solo website (for real this time :P)
Nope. I’m sensing a pattern here. Jeez, I need to get a grip and just do it or else I’ll never get the site live. That deserves a wrist slap.
…Ow.

~Read at least one peer blog post a day (within or around my genre)
Nope. I think I managed one every other day because I realised that there aren’t many erotic bloggers in my reader. That’s a bit of an oversight. *shrug* So I’ll slowly be building that list and getting to know more of you in the coming months. Looking forward to it.

This Week

In light of last week, maybe I need to focus better on what I’m actually doing. The reason I lost sight of those goals (aside from not looking at the list) was because I spent the time hammering away at Bill. I have the final formats back from Karen now and I just need to do the background gaff to make sure everything is ready for the release date (March 29 lovers!!!). That includes sending ARC copies in various formats and setting up the files to go on the three (and now potentially four, thanks Nook!) vendors I use.

Yeah. So if I take into account all that junk, the slip ups aren’t so bad.
She says….

1. Set up Bill across various vendors and do all the checks to ensure integrity of the file

2. Update previous releases to reflect the new one

3. Start reading Slippers & Chains from Kindle for issues before sending to betas

4. Finalise details to go in press kit for solo website (DO IT RAVEN, JUST DO IT! – *huff huff*)

5. Find three potential designers on Fiverr for Smut With Brains media and approach with commision details

That’s plenty. See you on the other side.