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Those of you who have been following my mini-blog tour know that I paid for a professional cover for, and editing of, Carnal Secrets. One of the commenters on March 10th asked me the following question: …do you feel the money you put out will be made up in sales?

At that time, I responded: I think I'm going to recoup the cost and make some profit this year. Even if I don't make any profit this year, I still think it was money well-spent because I have a professional product…

I thought I'd post a quick update on the situation:

As of early this week (ie, a little over a month since I put the story out), I have recouped the entire production cost of Carnal Secrets. (I'm not including the number of hours I spent writing, revising and promoting the story. I'm talking purely about the actual cash layout for the book.)

Am I happy? Of course! I'm thrilled!

More importantly, I'm grateful to fantastic reviewers, book bloggers and my readers. I really wasn't sure what kind of reception I'd get with the story, especially with it being self-published and my not having a decent platform, etc.

So thank you. :)

…check out Lynn Viehl's post on the reality of a NYT bestseller.

mood: stuffed…! Hero Material and I had three days of gluttony starting Friday
eureka of the week: figured out two important world building / plot elements in All the King's Women; must incorporate them into the current draft

Happy belated V-Day! :)

Hero Material and I ate tons of food. On Friday, I made cheese fondue — very very good! — and on Saturday, we had Italian and on Sunday, I made beef stew and a ton of garlic bread.

I still feel stuffed.

We also went to a local jewelry store on Saturday to look at some custom made rings and design diagrams (pics). I do like diamonds, but for our engagement and wedding, we decided to go for sapphires. Hero Material has six loose gems, and I love their deep blue color. The issue, of course, is the right setting.

I liked some of the designs, but it was much more than I expected to pay. And to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to spend that much money given the current economic condition (recession) and so on. Hero Material thinks that I'm fiscally conservative — meaning I don't like to spend money even during bubble — but we'll have to see. The designer told us that it takes about twenty days, so if we give her a month, she'll have all the rings ready for us.

(My mom was determined to send me hundreds of jewelry store catalogs. I had to ask her to not bother since it's really not necessary.)

Speaking of spending money…

Numerous Japanese news stations reported about U.S. “stimulus” bill's “Buy American” clause. (BTW — it was very amusing to watch it since Japan is incredibly protective of its own domestic firms.) The foreign countries' problem isn't that the U.S. is spending the money it doesn't have, but that it wishes to use that money to buy American-made steel and so on for construction projects, etc.

Now, I'm not a big fan of protectionism — I'll blog more about how it can really hurt consumers later with some examples from Japan — but come on! The bill is supposed to stimulate domestic economy. The American taxpayers are going to be infuriated if the government uses $800 billion of their money and stimulate the economy of some other countries, when American economy is in recession.

I can't help but think that the countries that complain are just looking for “free lunch”. They don't want to spend the money but still get the benefits. If they want to stimulate their own domestic industry, they too can pass a $800 billion stimulus bill.

mood: optimistic about the future
currently working on: All the King's Women outline; I have it almost figured out…!
currently reading: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

2008 was long and difficult yet surprisingly interesting and rewarding as well.

On the writing front, the year started off with selling a book to Samhain so that's always fantastic. But the biggest accomplishment is of course signing with an agent. I also left a critique group, but I think in a way it was inevitable. I do miss many of the writers I met there. Oh, and I have a new pretty website. :)

On to the financial matters — my mom lost a ton of money thank to subprime. I wish she'd listened to me when I asked her to sit tight for another year before investing in the funds she was interested in. When you hear about banks raking in record profit from issuing more and more subprime loans, which are by nature very risky, you know there's something fishy going on, and that it's going to fall when weaker real estate markets start to lose their value one by one. I started the year with a ton of debt, but my venture investment paid off right before Christmas, so I'm starting the year with no debt (except the mortgage I have on my house) and some extra cash.

Talk about strange since I never expected to get any payment from the investment, given what's going on in the market.

My writing goals for 2009 are:

1. Complete two manuscripts. I think I figured out what's wrong with All the King's Women and Nine. W00t!
2. Read 52 books. Fiction, non-fiction, it doesn't matter. I just need to read to get more ideas and to recharge. I noticed that I didn't read all that much during the latter half of 2008, and it really affected my creativity.
3. Take time off! I'm absolutely terrible at taking time off and relaxing. I always feel like I have to work or else. Of course this is unsustainable, and I do burn out and can't write for a month or two. Very unproductive. So I'm forcing myself to take two days a week off, along with major holidays, etc. Oh, I'm also making myself go to the gym three times a week at least.
4. Read 2 how-to books (this does not count toward my goal #2) or take two online classes. I already signed up for a January class on how to not sabotage myself. I'm also eying another class on line edits because I think I can benefit from it.
5. Write 2 blog posts a month. I'm terrible at blogging because I just forget at times. So I resolve to do better this year. :)
6. Stop looking for and/or seek crit partners / groups. It's really not that I think I'm too good for feedback, but it takes a lot of time and energy to find a good crit group, and I've decided (after a long and careful consideration) that ROI would be better if I stick with the beta readers I have right now and spend the time I would've used to find good crit groups / partners on reading and taking classes. (BTW — this doesn't mean I don't want any CPs or anything if one happens to come my way, but I just won't be actively looking for them either.)
7. Evaluate and identify all not-helpful-anymore loops, groups, etc. Resign from them by Jan 31. This is a must since I decided that I don't have time for them. I stayed with most of them because you “have to network” but I had to wonder networking isn't about being in a group that sucks up all your time but gives very little in return. I should know better (or else my management consulting professor would send me a stern note saying she taught me better than this).

How about everyone else? How was your 2008 and what are your goals for 2009?

Business Week recently published an interesting article titled “Obama's Victory: A Consumer-Citizen Revolt”:

This column is dedicated to the top managers of American business whose policies and practices helped ensure Barack Obama's victory. The mandate for change that sounded across this country is not limited to our new President and Congress. That bell also tolls for you. Obama's triumph was ignited in part by your failure to understand and respect your own consumers, customers, employees, and end users. The despair that fueled America's yearning for change and hope grew to maturity in your garden.

Millions of Americans heard President-elect Obama painfully recall his sense of frustration, powerlessness, and outrage when his mother's health insurer refused to cover her cancer treatments. Worse still, every one of them knew exactly how he felt. That long-simmering indignation is by now the defining experience of every consumer of health care, mortgages, insurance, travel, and financial services—the list goes on.

Obama was elected not only because many Americans feel betrayed and abandoned by their government but because those feelings finally converged with their sense of betrayal at the hands of Corporate America. Their experiences as consumers and as citizens joined to create a wave of revolt against the status quo—as occurred in the American Revolution. Be wary of those who counsel business as usual. This post-election period is a turning point for the business community. It demands an attitude of sober reappraisal and a disposition toward fundamental reinvention. If you don't do it, someone else will.

I found the article very interesting, although I'm not sure which came first. Is it the consumer need for cheap stuff or the corporate need (driven largely by investors) for profit? I think they feed off each other. In order to provide consumers with cheap stuff (which are now more disposable than ever before) made companies cut cost ruthlessly in order to make as much profit as possible. And as companies cut cost by laying off people and reducing wages, people's need for cheap stuff became stronger.

Speaking for myself, I don't expect companies to provide any help in case their products break before the warranty expires. So I buy from either:

1. companies well-known for manufacturing reliable products, or
2. companies with the cheapest products

The former is usually reserved for big ticket items like laptops, cars, TV, etc. The latter is reserved for little things like ballpoint pens, kitchen timers and notebooks or things that I can live without.

BTW — I do expect and demand that big Japanese retailers do better than their American counterpart. For example, I buy a lot of electronics from a big regional chain store. Its service staff always provide great assistance when products they sold break down and facilitate the warranty process between their customers and manufacturers. Not to mention, its sales people know everything about the products they sell and are happy to spend however much time necessary to help you make the best purchase possible, even if you leave the store without buying anything. I don't have to waste my time surfing the net for information because somebody there will give me the answer I need to make a decision within a second. The store is not the cheapest in the city, but it earned my loyalty, and I absolutely adore shopping there.

Finally, something to make you laugh — The Matrix Runs on Windows:

From today's New York Times comes this gem:

…an American Express cardholder whose maximum has been reduced to $1,000 from $1,200 has that much less to spend on clothing or meals out, purchases that lift the economy.

I really hope the New York Times business section gets better writers.

An American Express cardholder whose maximum has been reduced by $200 and thus is unable to spend that amount on clothing or dining out has no business buying clothes or dining out in the first place. An economy floating on debts that people can't pay back can't sustain itself. That's the main reason for the current financial crisis. People in America are generally overextended. That's why when they lose their jobs for even a couple of months, they're unable to pay their bills and fall behind.

It's astounding that some people are still advocating unsustainable consumer spending as the primary means of “fixing” the economy.