Before I get into what I mean about a fresh new look, let me tell you about what I am up too. It’s been almost two months since I last wrote. Ouch! Yes, I know. I’m neglecting you, my fans and readers. Will you accept my apologies? Not that I am making excuses because I am not. I do have an explanation.
After I released my last book, ‘UnderCurrents,’ I looked at all of my projects in the works, and especially the books I wrote just before my head injury. While I wrote several chapters for the next book in the Consortium series, I knew that I wasn’t doing Mona any justice. Mona is the main character in the Mona Bendarova Series and the languishing Books 3 and 4.
I decided to finish them up and publish the first of the two by the end of November, the holiday Thanksgiving here in America. It will be tight, but doable. It’s in the final round of editing. My editor might slack off, I don’t know, nor do I care. She’s very good at finding inconsistencies and oddly written sentences and paragraphs. As she edits, I am working on the book covers. Frankly, it’s hard. I know what I want to say visually on the book covers, but finding the perfect cover photos is proving difficult. Rest assured, I will figure it out.
Therefore, be on the lookout for ‘Lucky Bitch,’ Book 3 in the Mona Bendarova Series. Mona has some challenges to overcome, including those that wish her harm from inside her own family. With little support from her friends and family, it’s sink or swim for Mona.
A Fresh New Look
Getting back to a fresh new look, I spent much of the day yesterday updating and refreshing my website. It’s cleaner, simpler, and faster. GTMetrix reports my home page loads in 4.7 seconds rather than the 6.+ seconds it used to load in. Not bad.
Could it do better? I know it can, but not on the platform I am currently using. There are just too many duplicate calls to multiple destinations for modules I have no control over. I find it interesting that the bulk of these duplicate calls are to amazon.ca. Amazon is my bread and butter for book sales, but why does the website even use amazon.ca? I didn’t specifically target it, and if I did, I wouldn’t use Amazon in Canada. I’d use a URL a bit closer to home. Maybe one day, I’ll figure it out.
Update November 19, 2019.
I removed a single link in my footer, referencing my latest released novel that Amazon inserted some code. Viola, I went from a load time of 4.7 seconds to 3.0 seconds, with an overall score of A [95%] up from a B [83%] The duplicate calls to Amazon.ca are gone.
Nice!
What I can control are the elements to the site, such as text, pictures, and other related objects used by the website.
What do you think about the fresh new look of my online presence? I’d like to know. Won’t you send me your thoughts? Just fill in the comment form immediately following this entry. I’d love to hear from you.
Have a great day and a better tomorrow.
~ Rich
Lisa August 24, 2020
What happens to Avril ? Does she ever get free ?
Richard Verry August 25, 2020
Lisa,
I hope this day finds you well. As for Avril, does she ever get free? That’s the idea. She’s living a double life in the hopes of getting permanently free. The only way she can do that is by taking down Sir and the Consortium.
Book 4 in the Consortium series is in the works. I hope to have it out this fall. As you can surmise, the intricacies of series is getting exciting and more complex. Figuring it out is one of the challenges in writing these books.
To keep abreast of my progress, check out my website and subscribe to my blog. I try to update it on a regular monthly basis, external challenges aside.
Richard