A new bit is up on the story page! I hope you're enjoying the series. This part is a bit sexy. =)

The Ambitious Author

The other day, my blog was about authors who want to make money have to have a secondary venture because, especially for new authors, you're not going to make $100,000,000 as a writer. This post is going to be about me putting my money where my mouth is.

This post will also be jazzed up with gifs. =) Merry Christmas.

Yes, I am broke. I have $0. Actually, I have $6 in my bank account, despite all my hard work to sell the books that I currently have out.

I also have some big dreams for my company, SideStreet Cookie Publishing LLC. To make those dreams come true, I either need a LOT of money, or to learn to code. Can you guess which of those things I did?

Yep. I'm learning code. For free. I know what I'm doing! It's so exciting to find that something I didn't think I could ever understand is actually a lot easier than it looks! I know you're thinking "Coding? Are you CRAZY?!" Because one of my bestie asked me the same exact thing. I'm an author, so yes, I'm a wee bit unhinged, but that's okay! It's easy, but very tedious, even the little bit I've learned over the last...5 days. Yes, five days. I've learned how to set up a website. It's pretty simplistic, but it's there. I made it with my hands.

It's fun. I find it FUN! How crazy is that?

Now, what does this have to do with my post from the other day? I think it's obvious.

Not only will it save me money, but I can get a job coding. A JOB! Something I don't currently have. Well, at least not one that is making me money to live on.

It's important to keep learning, even if it's just sticking things on other things to make them pretty. Keep your mind sharp.

What have you learned today?

Why Being An Author Is Bad For Business

I was driving to pick up a friend last night to go to an artist meetup in town. As per usual when I drive, I was talking to myself, working some things that I had on my mind and I'd like to take the time to explain them now.

When I write a book, I spend hours and hours sitting on my arse, creating this world and these characters and falling in love with them. Then, when it's finished, I spend hours and hours editing, making sure everything is right before I release them upon the world.

The problem is that, even after all that work, a book is a one-time-buy. I'm not going to buy more than one copy of a book. There's no point. Unless I put out a new book once a month, my sales will never be consistent.

Of course, that's where new readers come in. But that's where I struggle. I have the hardest time pulling people in and getting them interested in what I have to say. It's easier for me to write a new book every month than to get new people interested.

This is why I don't think it's lucrative for an author to only be an author. We have to become business people if we want to succeed and make a living out of our work. It can't just be writing and publishing and chocolate and coffee and sleep.

This is where I am. Trying to find a way to expand on my work in a way that I can make a decent living without abasing myself and crawling back to the job that made me miserable for six long, loooong, long years, and finding a way to increase readership. Because I love being a full time writer. I would love it even more if I made a little more money. $400 a month would set me straight.

That said, and I promise I'm not begging, if you enjoy this blog and The Blood Scorpions, please leave a donation via the paypal button to the side. I don't make any money from this blog or from posting this story. I would greatly appreciate your support.

Ana stabs someone...

There's a new chapter up. Since I didn't post last week, I posted a longer excerpt. Hope you enjoy!

I apologize for October

This month got away from me. You may have noticed that no new parts went up for three weeks. I'm sorry for that. I just kept forgetting. There's no good excuse for it.

That said, I got a new piece up today! Yay!!! The story continues with some inter-Scorpion conspiracy! I hope everyone enjoys it!

A new bit is up!!

The rest of chapter two has been posted! I tried a little something new and the new part is in dark purple so it's easier to find where the new part is. I'll keep doing this if it makes things easier.

What does everyone think so far?

Some exciting news!!

In case you missed it, the third part of The Blood Scorpions went up yesterday!! I really hope you are all liking it. It's going to get more exciting!!

I have some great news! My newest release The Man Without Rules has reached best seller status on Allromanceebooks.com!! They notified me yesterday! How exciting is that! I am officially a best selling author! Links can be found here if you want to check it out!

Thanks to all of you for hanging around so long! I couldn't have done any of this without you guys!

The Scorpions are Loose!

I loosed my Blood Scorpions upon the world a little over a week ago. You have the first chapter and we'll get into chapter two this coming Monday, but what do you guys think so far? I'd love any kind of feedback you have. As my faithful readers, I value your opinions.

I haven't written anything substantial in a while. It's frustrating. I sent myself to bed early last night because I was just so disappointed with myself. I was going to give myself the rest of the month off, but I woke up with my brain buzzing. lol So, I'm working on the sequel to my vampire story I wanted to have it ready for Halloween, but that isn't going to happen.

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying The Blood Scorpions. If you're interested in any of my other works, you can click the carousel to the right, or you can go to amazon.com/author/tyffanikemp

Part Two is live!

Chapter one, part two is live! Find out what happens when Ana confronts Tommy about her husband's death!

Chapter 1 (Part 1) is LIVE!!

It's finally here! Chapter 1, Part 1 is live! Click here to go straight to it! I hope you enjoy!

September Post Schedule

This is a tentative schedule. As with all writing, anything could happen and a post could be delayed.

Monday, September 2 - Chapter 1, Part 1

Monday, September 9 - Chapter 1, Part 2

Monday, September 16 - Chapter 2, Part 1

Monday, September 23 - Chapter 2, Part 2

Monday, September 30 - Chapter 2, Part 3

Start The Countdown!!!

Hey everyone! It's getting close to posting day! I hope you're all as excited as I am! The first post will go up Monday Sept 2nd, Lord willing! I look forward to your feedback!

One Step Closer to Bringing You My Scorpions!

I finished up the Scorpion edits this morning! Yes, I've written the whole first season out. No, you don't get it all at once. =) That defeats the purpose of a serial. It's off with beta readers right now. =) I'll have to do one more edit before I start posting on September 2. For today, though, I have a book signing in 2 hours and then I have to work on more edits for my September 5th release. You can read about The Man Without Rules here if you'd like. =) There's also a link to read the first chapter.

Oh! And don't forget to check out the giveaway going on!

**GIVEAWAY!!!** Check it out! Goes through the end of the month!!

I have a giveaway going on right now. =) I should have posted this sooner. It goes through the end of the month. There are TONS of things you can win by some of my favorite author friends!! Enter and share!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Writer Struggle

I've been struggling the last few days. I can't write a damn thing and I have edits piling higher and higher with deadlines getting closer and closer. I need to start editing Scorpions so I can send off to by beta readers, but I can't seem to make that happen either. I'm not entirely sure what my deal is. This month has been like that. Last month I did Camp NaNoWriMo and I got 60k words under my belt. This month...not so much.

I have a release next month and a release in Oct that I have to prepare for but even the looming deadlines aren't doing anything to force me to get work done. Maybe I just need more sleep or something. Ha!

Anyway, that's where I am right now.

New Layout

FINALLY I've gotten the new layout set up! Yay! It's kind of simple, but I like it. It works for now. =)

My Scorpions are finished!

I finished the first draft! It's rough, but it's good. I'm so happy with it! I'll edit and send to beta's within a week or so and have it ready to start posting in September! I'm so excited! And Glad to be done with it. lol That's one more thing to knock off my list of stuff to get done. lol
~TCK

Ahh! So we have a banner! I'm super excited! I love it soo much! Go check out J.A. Howell for her amazing cover graphics and mind-blowing writing! The banner will serve as my cover for now. Also, now that I have the banner I'm going to get the website up. =) I'll work on that tomorrow.

~TCK

Some Exciting News

I discussed doing a blog tour for The Blood Scorpions with my PA today. We don't have a set date just yet, but we talked about early October. I'll have a couple posts out already and there will be giveaways.

My graphic artist and I are also playing with a cover and a banner. Nothing solid yet, but we're getting there. =) Just a month to go before my Scorpion children are birthed unto the world. LOL That sounds weird.

~TCK

Explaining The Changes Around Here

Hello, everyone! I know it's been a while, and I apologize for the lag in posting. In case you weren't aware, I got a "real" website over at www.tyffanickemp.com . All of my books and blog tour posts can be found over there. And you can find all of the books published by SideStreet Cookie Publishing at www.sidestreetcookiepublishing.com .

Now, as for the changes here, I've decided to start posting a serial story of mine for free. Yes, free. At some point, I may put it together as an e-book, but right now I'm just going to put it up here for you all for free. =) I'm just awesome like that. The Blood Scorpions is something I've been working on for a while. Well, it's an idea I've been bouncing around for a while. I really only had the opening scene in my head, but I didn't know what to do with it. As it is, I can't even really remember how I came up with the rest of the story, but it's one that I like a lot. It's a little more edgy, and possibly more controversial than anything else that I have out right now. That said, I hope it's something you will all enjoy and bring your friends to come check it out as well. The Blood Scorpions is just one of several serial ideas I have and I have no idea putting the others up for you guys to read, if all goes well with this.

As for when The Blood Scorpions will start posting, I'm looking at September. I'll post new bits on Mondays. I'm looking at Part One to stretch through January, but we'll see. Depending on demand. =)

Anyways, thanks for hanging in there and sticking with me. I promise you won't be disappointed that you you did.

~TCK