indie writer

2025 WIP Challenge: End-of-Year Wrap-Up

| C.E. Flores

Well… here we are at the end of the 2025 WIP Challenge, and yes, I know that I haven’t posted an update since August. Oops. But in my defense, time is a weird soup, and somehow the last four months evaporated when I wasn’t looking.

Did I write?
A little! Here and there! Enough to feel smug for a moment and then promptly forget what I was working on.

Did I finish any new WIPs this year?
Absolutely not. Not a single one. Zip. Zero. A very symmetrical number, if nothing else.

But did I learn something?
Oh, definitely. I learned that if I ever expect to actually complete any of these WIPs, I need to carve out more consistent writing time instead of assuming Future Me will magically take care of it. (Future Me did not.)

Was it a wasted year?
If we’re talking strictly in terms of word count, maybe.
But in terms of life experience, growth, chaos, plot material, emotional arc-building, and general character development? A gold mine. I’ve been living the chapters I’ll write later. Transformation, baby. Sometimes that counts just as much as finishing a draft.

To anyone who made an honest attempt to write this year, whether you wrote a sentence, a page, or just opened the document and stared at it meaningfully, congratulations! You showed up. That’s the hardest part.

As for whether I’ll undertake another challenge next year, that remains to be seen. I might switch things up and track actual hours or word counts per month. I haven’t decided yet; I’m still in the “thinking about thinking about it” phase.

Here’s to the stories still simmering, the WIPs patiently waiting, and the small but mighty wins that carried us through 2025. Onward!

August 2025 Book Marketing Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

Sales were… brutal. Like, curl-up-under-the-desk-and-question-everything brutal. 

Honestly, August hit me hard. I discovered halfway through the month that I’d completely forgotten to reset my Amazon ad end date. Yep… ads off, visibility tanked, sales plummeted. OMG! From now on, those ads are staying ON, no excuses.

I did decide to be a little more strategic, though, keeping active ads only on the Lupita book and my herb series. And once I fixed the end date, things picked up a tiny bit… but let’s be real: it was still one of the lowest months of my author career. That stings.

Now, here’s the small silver lining: I’ve been testing out some revamped social media content, and there’s been a noticeable bump in engagement, mostly on Bluesky and Instagram. More follows, more likes, more conversations. Will that translate into better book sales? Well… let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic, but not holding my breath.

I’ll be honest and let you know that the discouragement is real. I’ve been putting in extra hours this year, pushing harder than ever with marketing, and yet my royalties barely register anymore. And of course, the questions swirl:

  • Is it my material?
  • Has my work stopped resonating?
  • Or is it just… the economy?

My main market is still the U.S., where so many people are struggling just to survive. When disposable income disappears, books are often the first luxury to go. 

But here’s the thing, I’m not giving up. Writing is what I do, what I love. And even if the road feels bumpy right now, I have to believe this is just one rough chapter, not the whole book.

What keeps you going when you feel like you are screaming into the void as a writer?

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Book Hawking: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Your Self-Published Book is your roadmap to turning your hidden gem into a must-read!

June 2025 Book Marketing Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

I’m pretty proud of myself for my efforts in June. June isn’t a big seller month with everyone doing summertime activities, but I think my efforts this month will pay off down the line. 

I received several new reviews on Goodreads for the books I uploaded to Muted Muse. I then selected choice snippets and created testimonial posts using MockUpShots, scheduling them to post once a week over the next few months. 

I also used Canva to make some Leave a Review (please) graphics and have them scheduled out once a month over the next couple of months. 

I wanted to share something that I believe could have an immediate impact on book sales.  It’s already affecting mine. I recently tried to order an author copy of one of my own books, only to discover I couldn’t get it shipped to Mexico (where I live). Amazon wouldn’t even let me add it to the shopping cart.

After digging around, I learned that because my books are printed in the U.S., and Amazon Mexico doesn’t have its own printing facilities, new tariffs make international shipping unfeasible. 

On top of that, Amazon raised print book prices in June, so I had to adjust my list prices to reflect those changes.

Print has always been my bread and butter, but with these new distribution and price hike hurdles, I shifted gears. I reviewed all my titles to ensure they were available on Kindle, which involved reformatting and tweaking several manuscripts. That part’s done, but the results? Not exactly encouraging. My Kindle Unlimited royalties for the first week of June barely broke the $1 mark after 10 days. Oof.

So, July’s focus is now all about reassessing and rebuilding my paid ad strategy. With these changes, I’m revisiting every campaign to figure out what’s still worth investing in and what’s not.

How did your book marketing go this month?

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Book Hawking: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Your Self-Published Book is your roadmap to turning your hidden gem into a must-read!