So another fortnight has come & gone since my last post (see Stepping Back for a reference).
And yes, two sets of forks in the road await me on this next leg of my author journey. If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you might remember some of the struggles I’ve been experiencing while promoting my two companion novels and trying to stay active on social media.
The first decision is fairly simple in that I’m moving along with my third novel to a level where I felt comfortable enough spending a couple weeks writing a serialized short story (“Spare Time“). From my perspective, that means I’m ready to let Core Haven: Hope Amid the Ruins join its companion novel as part of my backlist instead of promoting it in the half-hearted fashion I’ve been doing here of late.
I admit that in the past I’ve struggled with following through on that decision. No surprise there since that novel garnered a wave of positive reactions & was gaining significant traction until Amazon inexplicably pulled the rug out from under it by deleting a dozen or more reviews that were certified purchases from people not affiliated with me. After numerous attempts at communicating with the KDP “committee” about what in my eyes is clearly an unfair practice, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my fate is in the hands of the digital card dealer A10 (as in, Amazon’s notorious algorithm).
My second decision is more convoluted since it deals with social media. The number of platforms I’ve actually signed up for is staggering given my past record prior to self-publishing; the number I actually use is mind-boggling; the number I’m consistently comfortable with is miniscule.
Honestly, the best thing about trying my hand at various & sundry independent author strategies on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, & such is that blogging has taken on a soothing role. Whenever I start writing posts like this, I can feel my inner scribe & wordsmith relax.
After all, it’s writing plain & simple. No glitzy graphics, no catchy phrases, no hashtags, no trends—just writing.
Now as I step back farther from some of those platforms, I find myself yet again triaging my writing-related strategies. What complicates matters is that not long before I decided which platforms to step away from, the driver of the bus, aka views, started spiking here & there. Nothing in the viral range, to be clear. But for a writer accustomed to averaging, say, less than 20 views per post on Substack until late January, watching that average steadily climb gave me pause to reconsider. When the first episode of my serialized story passed 700 views at the same time some of my TikTok reels hovered near or over 1000 views, I wondered if my triage timing was more than a little off.
So as it stands, I’ll stick with a streamlined presence on TikTok & some others of its ilk for biweekly updates, but keep my focus on the more developed writing side of things—namely, this website, Substack, & the platform I recently joined, Medium.
Till my next post a fortnight from now.
Drew
Latest review of Core Haven: Hope Amid the Ruins, 2-9-26
P.S. At the time of this writing, Core Haven: Hope Amid the Ruins has maintained its 4.8 out of 5 with 52 global ratings & 50 customer reviews on Amazon, along with 4.62 out of 5 with 132 ratings & 121 reviews on Goodreads. Not too shabby, right?
My first self-published novel, Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown: A Tale of Survival, is currently available on the Kindle Store.
My companion novel, Core Haven: Hope Amid the Ruins, was released on July 31st, 2025. Available now.
