An Interview with Jo Mayweather

Good morning, Everyone.  I decided to sit down today with Jo Mayweather - co-owner of Mayweather Antiquities.

Hello, Jo.  :passes her a large mug of coffee:  Thanks for taking a moment to chat with me this morning.

When you said you wanted to do this, I had no idea you meant this early. :guzzles coffee and magically refills her own cup: So how does this work? What do you want to know?

Is it true you're a genie?

Djinn.

What?

Sorry. Old habits die hard.  The olde guarde prefers to be called djinn.  Genie works for me.  And yes, I am one. 

So you have to grant me three wishes?

:cringes:  No.  You're not a Master, so the Rules don't apply.  If you're nice and I think you really need it, I might nudge a little somethin-somethin your way, but there's no guarantee.

You say 'rules' like they're something special.

There is.  The big R rules were crafted by the gods who created us to keep us in line and stop us from unmaking the universe.  You can't break them even if you want to.

And they are?

Stuff like 'no altering time', 'no bringing people back from the dead', 'no harming mortals'... 

But that last one isn't hard and fast, is it?

Pretty much. I mean, it's generally frowned upon, but a genie could still get around it if they had a mind to.  It's like this.  I can't use a wish to cause harm to someone.  However, I could use a wish to light a fire that might harm someone, or drop a building on them which would cause harm, or create a sudden lightning storm that might fry someone's ass, but I can't say "I wish your head would explode".

What would happen if you did?

Nothing.  The gods would laugh maybe.  I'd look like an idiot.  If I really wanted to hurt someone, I'd have to use the old-fashioned way.  By hand.  Or weapon. 

Would you?

Do I look like a bully?  Genie versus human would not be fair.  We're faster, stronger, etc. Plus nothing hurts us for long.  Super mad healing skills in the djinn world.

Good to know. But enough about that. Let's talk about Jo the person. So, what kind of music do you like?

I listen to just about everything.  It's one of the quirks of living this many years.  I roll with the musical tastes of the age.  It'd be easier to tell you what I don't like. 

Okay, so what don't you like?

Death metal.  My creator, Stavros, was into that shit before humans even conceived of it.  I wouldn't be surprised if he started the whole genre of music.  Asshole.  I also can't really listen to music from my human life. 

Hits from the 1920s? Why?

They make me homesick and a little wistful.  Who needs that?

Dog or cat?

Dog.  Cats and genies don't really get along.  I think they know we're not natural.

Favorite libation?

Libation?  What are you, a writer or something?  I drink gin.  It's a throwback to my humanity, but a gal's gotta stick to what she likes.  I also drink coffee. Lots of it. :a large coffee maker appears beside us:  Want some?  It's hazelnut.

Don't mind if I do.  Quick question.  Do you wish for everything or is this just a coffee thing?

I try to work for what I have.  But when the need arises, I'm not above using a little power.  This? :she waves toward the machine:  I'll unmake it when we're through.  I already have one of my own and wishing isn't about how many goodies I can clutter my home up with.

Then what do you think wishing is about?

I'm not quite sure.  All I know is the gods put us here - probably for their own amusement - and we should do more with our immortality than simply fritter it away.  Put in a little effort.  Enrich our minds rather than just our bank accounts.

So you're against wishing for money?

Totally.  Besides, the Council would have a genie's ass if they caught him.  Nothing alerts humanity to our existence faster than things that shouldn't be there suddenly appearing.  Money is one of those things that gets tracked by the human world.  And when humans start sniffing around, the djinn-world gets pissy.

Can't you just wish up some gold?

And upset the world's financial balance?  Yeah, that's a good idea.  Right.

Favorite food?

Wow, talk about a topic shift.  Waffles. I love waffles.

Yeah, I spend a lot of time at Short Attention Span Theater.  Sorry about that.  I just have questions I'd like you to answer, but I keep getting distracted.

No problem. What's next on the list?

Favorite book?

All of them.  Nearly unlimited lifespan equals a lot of reading time.  I remember once, in the 1960s, I spent a month reading 24/7.

Hey, listen, this has been fun and all, but I have to scoot.  I have a stack of papyrus I need to sort through, Major needs a walk, Basil and I have a meeting at ten that I'm not prepared for... something about a new masterless djinn with an attitude problem...

Life as a genie isn't one of leisure, I take it.

Not hardly.  I have a business to run and genies to rescue.  

Well, thanks for joining me today.  I hope you'll come back soon and chat some more.  Oh, she's already gone.  

Do you have any questions for Jo?  I'm sure I'll get her to stop in and answer them at some point.

And if you'd like to know more about Josephine Mayweather, her business, her mission, and her stories,  Wish in One Hand is available for pre-order and launches on the 18th.

Silence Signifying Something

Hey all.  Sorry I've been silent.  I really had intended to fill this week with stuff leading up to my launch next week.  Problem is there was more to be done to the manuscript than I thought, so I've been busting my hump like a crazy woman - which hasn't left a whole lot of brain space for anything else.  However, I finished the last of that tonight and now all that's left are the proofy-bits.  Should have those knocked out tomorrow maybe - Wednesday at the latest.  Then I can ready this for pre-order and junk.  THEN I should become a rational, thoughtful human being again.

Look for something fun on Wednesday and again on Friday.

Thanks for your patience.  :hugs:

-B.E.

The Production Schedule

Yesterday, I went out and about in the world with my swag to see how my local fans responded to news of the next book.

There was some squeeing, some yaying, and a couple curious responses.  The first makes me wonder if I have a typo on my postcard somewhere.  "How many of these do you get printed at one time?"  I'll address that one after I've had some more coffee.

The next made me wonder how the average person is perceiving my books with this production schedule I've created.  "Wow.  Another book?  Already?"  The look in her eyes seemed skeptical to me.  Like 'how it is even possible' and had me wondering whether she was thinking I couldn't possible put out this many books in one year and have them all still be good.  (Yeah,  I might've read more into that than was there, but I do tend to overthink interpersonal interludes.)

Of course, I explained that since I have been writing books for ten years, I have a lot of books in the hopper ready to move forward - with professional editing and cover art, of course.  She didn't seem convinced.  Especially after I told her I plan on a fourth book this year. :shrug:

If you received my newsletter*, you know the upcoming production schedule.  It's at the end of the email - right above how to contact me.  Anyway, here's this quarter's 'Future Stuff' section:

In near future stuff, my fourth book - the one I am currently referring to as Bloodflow - is under way and should be ready for a November launch.  It's another suspense, but more in the techological / political vein.  Government conspiracies, kick ass good guys, evil villains.  I can't wait to share it with all of you.

Further down the road, the production schedule still looks something like this in 2016:

Winter: Fifth book - In Deep Wish (Djinn 2) (paranormal suspense)

Spring: Sixth book - SCIU 2 (suspense) or Dennis Haggarty 2 (mystery)

Summer: Seventh book - Up Wish Creek (Djinn 3) (paranormal suspense)

Fall: Eighth book - Whichever book didn't go live in the Spring.

You see, of the books in the future schedule, two are already written.  This year, all the books were already written and simply needed to be edited.  That tends to make things a lot quicker.  The other two books for next year are each started and written partway through.  Those should be easy enough to complete and slide right into the schedule. 

So no worries about me rushing, or the quality of the work taking a hit.  K?  This is just how I roll.  I will not put out work I don't feel is the best possible work I can offer you.  Hopefully, you'll agree.

*If you have signed up for my newsletter, but did not get a copy on Saturday morning, please let me know.   If you'd like a copy, ask.  I can forward mine.  If you'd like to sign up for the next newsletter - due in November - go here.

Thoughts on Book Piracy

Over the weekend, I discovered that Dying Embers has been pirated.  I spent a chunk of time on Saturday contacted sites to get it removed.  I searched again on Sunday and found more sites where you can now download the PDF of my book for free.  One place showed over 600 downloads - which is more copies than I've sold to date.  If those had been paid for, I would now have $1200+ and be able to fund another book's art and editing without having to dip into our retirement funds or cut back on the grocery bill. 

But let's forget that for a second.  Let's say, for instance, that those people would not have purchased my book anyway.  I mean, I had a free day back in March and way more people snagged a copy on that one day than bought the book in the first three months of its existence.  People like free stuff.  Hell, there've been times in my life when I wouldn't have read a new book if it hadn't been free.  You know, times when I was scraping by, hoarding my pennies so I could afford to pay editors and artists and... Never mind.

The thing about giving a book away for free is that there's a certain level of hope that those free copies will generate buzz, and book reviews, and boosts in the rankings to help sell books.  It's the reason we do it.  We give, you give, it's all good.

But then you take what was a free book for one day, you upload it to a site where it's free all the time.  And those readers don't even bother to give a little somethin-somethin in return.  No buzz.  No reviews. No boost.  How is that equitable?

Now, some people get their undies in a bunch over piracy.  Personally, it depresses me, but I look at it as part of doing business on the internet.  You put stuff out there without lock & key, and someone somewhere will steal it.  Others actually say it's good for business.  They claim they see an uptick in sales after a book's been pirated.  I don't have sufficient data to back up or deny that claim.

You know, folks, I ain't rich.  I don't do this writing thing for my health.  Sure, I want people to read my books and enjoy them.  The more the better.  But I deserve to get paid for the effort.  Just like you wouldn't want someone coming up to you and making you work endless hours for nothing, writers don't want that either.  If you're unable or unwilling to purchase books for whatever reason, at least leave a dime on the dresser by writing a review, chatting up the book to people with money, or whatever.

Don't worry.  I'm not quitting.  There are enough conscientious and honest readers out there who are willing to save their pennies and buy my stuff that those others are a blip.  Still, that $1200 would've gone a long way to putting more books out there for the world to enjoy.  No income = no new books.  I can't keep funding this cycle any other way.

Sidenote: Oddly enough, Accidental Death isn't pirated as far as I can tell, but I haven't offered that one for free.  As such, I probably won't offer another one of my books for free again.  If you were one of those honest people who would've liked to read my books, but couldn't afford it, thank the pirates for that decision.

I mean, it's three freakin' bucks, people.  If reading is important to you, find a way to buy a book rather than download it from some site where the author isn't getting paid.  And FYI, as of 8/1/15, no site other than Amazon has any of my ebooks - not with my permission anyway.

'Nuff said.

Make Money to Have Money to Spend Money to Make Money

By now, I'm probably boring the shit out of you, but since I have marketing on the brain - and very little will to do any of it - I thought I'd ramble here a little more about it.

A few days ago, I read a blog post asking what kinds of services indie authors might be interested in paying to receive.  Just a sort of informal survey, I guess.  This morning, I read the comments.  Pretty much most of the commenters seemed to be in the same boat I am.  I'd pay for services like tweaking my marketing plan, getting better keywords, targeting where to advertise and how to do it effectively, etc. - over and above paying for cover art and editing - but I don't have the funding to do it.  AND I can't afford to pay for something that I'm not reasonably certain will work. 

I know I have to spend money to make money.  That's sort of a 'Duh'.  I also know that advertising works.  It just brings me back around to how much money I have in the budget, and I'm much really wowser advertising costs.  Suggesting a marketing consultancy service - where you pay them and you pay for the ads, too - at around $500-$1000 makes my miserly heart weep.  I just can't see it happening in the near future. 

But I know I'm not cutting the mustard as it is now.  I'm terminally lazy.  I'm also dancing along the fine line of 'effective marketing' and 'annoying the shit out of customers' - totally in fear I've fallen on the bad side of the tightrope with every tweet I post.  My sales are suffering because of it.  I know. 

You have to spend money to make money.  But you have to have money to spend money to make money.  Which means you have to make money to have money to spend money to make money. 

Dizzy yet?  I know I am.

But here's another wrinkle.  You have no way of knowing if the money you're spending is actually making you money in the long term.  Sure, if you shell out money for an ad, you might see a spike in sales.  That's pretty obvious.  If you shell out money for a better marketing plan... Will there be a spike?  Will it dribble in over time (which wouldn't bother me either, frankly) and how will you know it has to do with the marketing plan?  It could be coincidental because one reader told all her friends about your book over coffee on the same morning a piece of the plan went into effect. 

It's the not knowing that kind of makes me crazypants, ya know? 

Anyway, I'll keep chugging along - marketing where and when I can.  I will force myself to get back into the swing of cheerleading.  I mean, I kinda have to since I have another book coming out in less than a month. 

Speaking of which, the newsletter is about 75% ready and there'll be some exclusive things, free stuff you can win, and something to read (a little WIOH appetizer, if you will).  If you aren't signed up yet, the linky-loo is up there under the header pic. 

Yeah, that's about the speed of my marketing today.  Didn't cost me a dime.

Wicked Wednesday - Abuse

You talked back again.  You didn't wear the right dress.  You looked foolish in front of his friends.  You made him look foolish in front of his friends.  You were too slow.  You weren't slow enough.  Dinner wasn't cooked enough... or too much... it was overseasoned or underseasoned... it was late... or it was on-time but he was late and now it's cold.  And it's all your fault.  Whatever it was that pissed him off, frustrated him, or just generally put a crimp in his day.  So he hit you, knocked you down, yelled, shouted, screamed, made you feel ashamed, stupid, ugly... worthless...

And you deserved it.  So you took whatever he dished out and accepted that it was your due.  And you'll take it again tomorrow because he did apologize for hurting you and he promised he won't do it again.  Or he didn't apologize, but you know he's sorry deep down.  It wasn't him talking.  He had a bad day.  It was the booze or the drugs or the chemical imbalance caused by whatever.  He didn't mean it.  He was just playing around.  He's really a nice guy.  And he loves you.

Sound familiar?  It's either happening to you right now, has happened to you in the past, or you know someone it's happening/happened to.

Physical abuse. Mental abuse. Emotional abuse.  One of them or another, or a combination of all three.

The first time I remember hearing about it was 1987 - I was in high school and everyone knew R's boyfriend was whoopin' on her. And I knew then no man would ever be allowed to whoop on me.  And they didn't.  I didn't take that kind of abuse. 

I had a boyfriend once who slapped me across the face... but he was kidding around.  I was 18.  Took me about a year - and our engagement - before I broke up with him.  I ran into his next girlfriend years later.  He broke her arm.

I had another boyfriend in college who was joking around with me one day, acting like he was going to hit me.  I told him "If you ever hit me, it'll be the last thing you do."  To which he replied, "What are you going to do about it?"  A smiled slowly and said "I don't have to do a damn thing." then proceeded to name off all my really large male friends who would happily pound him into something resembling porridge.  We broke up a couple weeks later.

No, I never endured the physical abuse, and I thought I was wise.  I never saw the mental abuse coming except in retrospect.  Sometimes, looking back, I think it would've been better if Mr. X had pounded on me.  Then I would've had an excuse to leave him long before I did.  Perhaps someone would've seen the bruises and stopped him, or made me see that I didn't deserve that kind of abuse.  Perhaps if I'd still had my really large male friends, they would've crushed him into paste for me.  Except he made sure I didn't have any friends, so I'm not sure how that would've worked.  I tried to end it once, but he sucked me back with promises of counseling and therapy and love.  I finally did end it 8 months later.  And I learned.

Not well enough, apparently, because he wasn't the last to make me feel like shit for just being me, but eventually, I got the point.  I didn't deserve that.  No one does.

No one has the right to hurt you.  Most especially, the people who claim to love you do NOT have the right to hurt you.  Not physically, not mentally, and not emotionally. 

Get out.  Get away.  Remove yourself from the situation, and if you can't, find someone who can help you.  And if you're staying 'for the kids', think about what the abuse is doing to them.  They see, they hear, they know.  Your kids will grow up thinking that kind of behavior is acceptable.  Your girls will allow it to happen to them, and your boys will do it to their women.  Because if it was okay with Mom, it's okay. 

Get out.  Don't endure years of it until you're finally so fed up you're this close to either killing him or killing yourself.  Don't endure it so long that when you finally get away, you spend years afterwards with a kind of PTSD - so that twenty years later, you still have occasional nightmares about it (even though you're safe and happy with a real man who knows what love is and shows it daily).

Get out.  Because you deserve better.  You always did. 

Amazon Love, a mini-Rant, and Some News

I know there's a section of the populace that can't stand Amazon.  I honestly don't understand it, but I get that people have preferences and I respect their choice to hate Amazon. 

For me, Amazon is my happy place.  Has been for years.  Whatever I want, whenever I want it, Amazon.  I want a book - I can get one in a flash.  I want new pots and pans - I can order the exact set I want right now and have it delivered to my door in like two weeks. 

I detest driving around looking for stuff.  And even if I find Widget A at Ace, how do I know their price is better than further up the road at Sears or Walmart or Meeks that indie store across the way?  Stop at every place and then find out the widget was only at the first place?  And forget calling all those places.  Half the time they don't know whether something's actually in stock at any given time.  Oh, when you call, the computer says they have 4, but when you get there, they really only had two and you needed three, or some such thing.  But hey, they're pretty sure their location in the next town over and an hour away has 4 in stock - do I want to order them and have them shipped to the location I'm currently standing in so I can pick it up in three days??

Umm, yeah, I'm not bitter.  Ri-ight.

Anyway, I don't run into that problem with Amazon.  They generally have what I want, and if they don't, it's right there on the product page - 'out of stock' - with suggestions on other products that might do me just as well as the one I can't order right now.  Yay.

But setting aside the buyer portion of Amazon, I love Amazon for the fact that without them, I would not be published - or, if I was, it wouldn't have been so easy and I wouldn't have nearly the number of sales I have today.  Case in point, for roughly 2 months, I had Dying Embers up everywhere ebooks are sold.  In that time, I sold 5 books outside Amazon - and those were one day back in May when I ran the ENT ad.  Meanwhile, Accidental Death was only at Amazon, and enrolled in their Select program.  I wasn't making huge sales there either, but they were steady, and the borrows alone outstripped Dying Embers at other sales venues. 

So, yeah, I love Amazon.  And it totally pisses me off that some people calling themselves 'Authors United' - as if they speak for us all - are attacking Amazon.  Well, screw them.  They don't speak for me.  I'm making 70% commission compared to their 15% (minus 15% to their agent), and I'm loving it.  You know, I hope to hell they don't get their way, because then authors like me will be screwed hard and ain't no one even going to leave a dime on the dresser. Of course, they don't care about me - and I don't want them to - but they shouldn't act like they do either. 

Basically, I made the decision over the weekend to stick with Amazon exclusively from here until things change more favorably outside Amazon.  Dying Ember is no longer at any other sales venue and I won't be putting Accidental Death out there either.  I had thought I would send Wish in One Hand out into the world across the board to see what happens, and then take WIOH through the KDP Select program, but delisting books at those other venues is such a pain, I think I'll just save myself the hassle.

To those of you who are staunch Amazon haters, I apologize.  Let your venue of choice know that because of their policies, you're losing out on some quality work (not just mine, but other authors who've also made the same decision).  To those of you who don't hate Amazon, but still have some other ereader, Amazon has apps for pretty much everything.  And a recent informal poll shows that other ereader owners typically buy through Amazon when the books are only available there, so no biggie for them.  If this causes any of you distress, I apologize.  I have to do what makes sense for me in the long run.  And hey, the books will still be available in hardcopy through multiple non-Amazon sellers. 

I hope you'll stick around and buy some books.  Once I'm sure Dying Embers is free of encumbrances at those other sales sites, I'll be putting it into the KU program to see what this new 'pay per pages read' thing can do for me there.  (Accidental Death has 13984 pages read so far this month.  Pretty cool stuff to watch, and I recently heard that we might be paid something like .006 per word, which would totally work for me.)