SONG is Now in Paperback

I received the paperback proof yesterday.  It's very pretty and everything looks good, so I approved it for sale.  Yay.

Here's the social media release verbiage I just posted:

SONG OF STORM AND SHROUD is now available in paperback (as well as being an ebook from many fine retailers - see comments for the universal link). Sorry it's not easier on the wallet, but it's 422 pages. I made it as inexpensive as I could while still leaving a little scratch for me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WZBBMHM

Of course, you don't have to go to comments here to get the universal link.  Click there.  And it's also available by clicking the image in the sidebar.  

It's pretty much everywhere Draft2Digital can make it be.  Except for Hoopla.  Nothing of mine has posted to Hoopla yet.  Derp.  

A quick note... I removed all the chapter-beginning wyverns.  I had a nightmare about being sued over use of a clipart image, so after I woke up, I did a bunch of research and since I was no longer 100% certain it was kosher to use those - even if I did change the original image - I ditched them when I woke up.  There are only four copies of it in its original format, and I own two of those (ebook and paperback proof).  It's all good.  I left the arrows.  They're mine.  

For the record, I get my cover images from Morguefile, and their terms state that as long as you change the image in some way and don't try to sell it as is, it's kosher.  I don't think anyone can say the images I've incorporated into my covers can ever even be recognized as the original photos.  Although, I think it would be kind of neat for the dude who owns that lizard to see his pet as a dragon on the cover of SSS.  I got the wings off a pic of a flying fox.  Cut, paste, delete on a microscopic scale, change the aspect, recolor, paste some more, add a bit of artsy so it doesn't look like a Franken-photo... tada, dragon!  Took me FOREVER, but I did it.

Anyway, the paperback is black text on cream paper and the cover has a nice matte finish.  The font size is 11pt, so it's easier on the eyes.  It's $17.99, but like I said, it's a big book, so it's about as cheap as I can make it and still make money.  Wish it could be different, but that's the way of the world right now. 

I'd really appreciate it if you could pick up a copy (print or ebook) and leave a review wherever you buy books.  Thanks.

Formatting for Print

I'm formatting for print today.  Fun fun fun.  

In case you weren't aware, I almost never use smaller than 11pt font in my print books.  I think I did 10pt once to try and keep the price reasonable, but that's it.  If I don't want to go blind trying to read tiny print, I'm sure as hell not going to subject you to that either.

It occurs to me that if I am going to venture into young adult, I probably shouldn't swear so much on my blog.  :shrug:  There are no swear words in SONG, except for the curses they use in that world.  Blast, blaze, etc.  Nothing you wouldn't want your kiddies reading in there.  Here?  Umm...  Parental Guidance is suggested for this blog - language, sometimes violence and adult themes.  No sex.

Chances are that the kids reading this particular book are old enough to have seen and heard many nasty words by this point in their lives.  Probably said a few, too.  Still, I didn't want that for this book, so it's not there.  I might've used damn... :shrug:

Anyway, I should be done with the print formatting and uploading today.  Then I have to wait for my proof copy to arrive and verify it's all good.  Then it'll be available for sale.  Right now, it's looking like it's going to be 424 pages.  Probably like $14-$17 a copy US and near to that elsewhere.  I try to keep them as cheap as I can and still make it worth my while to make print copies available.

Anyway... back at it.

What are you up to today?  How do you feel about print copy books?  Do you think I should try out Amazon's new 'hardcover' option?

International Paperbacks and Pricing

Recently, I received an email from Amazon that my paperbacks would now be available in Australia, and if I didn't go in and specify what I wanted those books to sell for, Amazon would choose a price for me.  When I went into each book to see what Amazon thought was a good price for my paperbacks, I saw that in each case, the amount they'd chosen would leave $0 for me.  

Umm... no.

So, I went through each and every book to change the price of the Australia paperbacks.  But in doing this, I noted that the prices I had let Amazon choose for all the other countries where paperbacks are available (based off my US price, supposedly) left very little meat on the bone for me. 

Noting this, I changed the prices for all international paperback copies.  I mean, come on.  I should be allowed to make a little somethin-somethin for the effort, eh?  I tried not to be greedy.  I mean, I make less on each paperback copy than I do on the ecopies of the same books - no matter what country it sells in.  

Unfortunately, with the amount Amazon takes for doing the job of printing and distributing, my paperbacks are not as cheap as I'd like them to be.  When you see the prices, don't curse me.  If I could give you all the same prices the trad pubs offer, I would.  I've got them all as cheap as I can make them - which is also why they aren't available for wide-distribution.  To give all those other sellers a cut,. I'd have to add even more money to the price just to eke out my dollar and change.  

It's the curse of being self-published, I guess.  :shrug:  There are quite a few of us self-pubs who don't even bother to offer hardcopy books because the expense versus the profit just isn't worth it.  I don't blame them.  But I wanted all of you to have a choice.  There it is.  

And, like I said, they're ALL now available as paperbacks in Australia.  Yay!  

And, if you're an author with paperbacks being printed and sold through Amazon, get in there and check your prices before you end up selling books and not getting any money for you.  Jus' sayin'.  

All Sixteen Now Available in Paperback

All sixteen of my novels are available in paperback now.  Mission accomplished.  Now I need to get off my ever-widening ass and write another book.  (Yes, the proofs have their own table and are held in place by two gnomes.)

Serial Crime Investigation Unit (S.C.I.U.)

Dying Embers

Fertile Ground

Early Grave

Dennis Haggarty Mysteries

Accidental Death

Natural Causes

Duke Noble, P.I.

Rumor Has It

Once Upon a Djinn

Wish in One Hand

In Deep Wish

Up Wish Creek

Wish Hits the Fan

A Model Curse

Sleeping Ugly

Ugly and the Beast

Cinder Ugly

Single Title

Project Hermes

Blink of an I

Unequal

Dystopian Novels to Hold in Your Hot Little Hands

First off, I'd like to say that the print versions of Blink of an I and Unequal are gorgeous.  Big, beautiful books with loads of awesome inside. 

And I'd also like to say that both of them are available for sale at Amazon*.  So if you want one in your hot little hands, click one of those links up there.  If you want to know more about them, click this link that takes you to my blog page devoted to those dystopians.  

If you enjoy books like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Anthem, 1984, etc., these are the books for you.  Unlike some of the newer dystopians, these end well.  I promise.  I am unable to write a book without some kind of happily-ever-after. doncha know.  I like to think readers will be cheering at the end.  I know I was.

Of course, they're both still available in ebook form.  Buy them there, or read them through your Kindle Unlimited subscription.  

If you do, I'd appreciate it if you dropped a review, too.  It would really give me a happy.  (Well, if it was positive, I'd be ecstatic.)

*They're only available at Amazon because in order to make them available elsewhere, I would have to jack the price up another couple dollars and I just can't bring myself to do that to you.

Why Print Books? And Other Fun.

My proofs for Blink of an I and Unequal are supposed to arrive today.  Umm... I'm not really sure what's going on with UPS here...

I looked up Monee and Hodgkins.  They're both suburbs of Chicago.  Earth City is a suburb of St. Louis.  So, according to this, my proofs went from Chicago to Chicago to St. Louis, back to Chicago, over to Bloomington (in the middle of IL) to St. Louis again and then spent the day there.  Seeing the sights, I assume.  (Note: Checked again after this posted and the package arrived at the closest UPS location at 4:19am.  They'd better get cracking and get it on a truck because our driver leaves out of there pretty damn early.)

As soon as they get here, I'll check them out and if everything is kosher, I'll approve them for sale.  Not that I expect sales, but it's nice to have them available.  It'll be nice to finally hold these books in my hot little hands.  Hopefully, decreasing the font from 11pt to 10pt doesn't make them hard to read.  (All my other paperbacks are 11pt.)  I want them to be legible but I also want them to be cost effective... ya know?

Meanwhile, the author copies of RHI that I ordered back on the 30th of March haven't even shipped yet.  Not sure what the hold up is there.  Those are supposed to be here by the 16th, so they'd better get a move on, eh?

Why print books?  You know, I was thinking about this the other day.  Other than giving readers another way to access my books, print books are physical proof those books actually exist.  Files get corrupted, the grid goes down, all electronics suddenly are kaput... those printed books remain.  Even if Fahrenheit 451 becomes reality, they can't burn every copy.  Especially if more people buy them.  

So, yeah, soon I hope to have all my books in print as well as ebook versions.  I should've done this a long time ago, but you know things go.  

How about you?  If you're a writer, are your books in print and ebook?  If you're a reader, which do you prefer to read?  Personally, I read both.  

Additional note:  It's entirely possible the books shipped in two separate packages under one tracking number which could be why it looks like the package was bouncing back and forth.  If so, that's profoundly stupid.

The Fun of Creating Paperbacks

Okay, it's after ten and I'm up working on formatting UNEQUAL for paperback.  I actually went to bed at eight.  Laid there for a half an hour and gave up.  So now, I'm sitting here working on creating a paperback* because, hey, if I'm not sleeping I might as well be productive.  Right?

It took me about 45 minutes to format the manuscript for print.  I'm not sure if I ever gave you my checklist for formatting print books, so here it is (all of this is done in MS Word):

1)  Type THE END

2)  Find and replace all double spacing between sentences with single spacing

3)  Remove all Bookmarks.

4)  Make sure everything is the font you’ve chosen for the book.

5)  Format all chapter headings as Headings.  Including THE END.

6)  Apply print font for Headings to all.

7)  Format all scene breaks for continuity within book and within series

8)  Create title page

9)  Create Copyright and Acknowledgements page

10)  Add in About the Author Page at the end

11)  Add in back matter.

12)  Create Section Breaks after Acknowledgements and after THE END

13)  Add Pages Numbers to manuscript section centered bottom

14)  Verify ‘Link to Previous’ is unchecked

15)  Format Page Numbers to chosen look

16)  Set to ‘Different First Page’ in manuscript section

17)  Delete page number from first page of manuscript section, if necessary

18)  Verify no page numbers in front matter section or back matter section

19)  Set page size to 5.5” x 8.5”

20)  Set margins to Top .88”, Bottom .88”, Inside .75”, Outside .63”

21)  Make sure margins are ‘mirrored’

22)  Verify all chapters start on right hand page.

23)  Print a few pages to verify it will look how you want it to look.

24)  Upload to Amazon

Generally, most of the first 11 are taken care of during formatting for ebooks - except removing the bookmarks I need to have for e-publication.

So, I got all the steps through 23 done in, like I said, about 45 minutes.  It took another 45 minutes to complete the last step.  Part of that was because I had to tweak the cover - if I centered the title, my name went off the page.  If I centered my name, the title went over the spine.  Stupid thing.  I went back into my cover creation program and shuffled the placement around until I could have both of them where I wanted them without looking all centered and junk.  

Another part that hung me up was after I'd set everything up and was previewing the blasted thing, I noted that a pretty little line of ~~~~ after THE END had jumped over to the left side instead of being centered.  Stupid thing.  I deleted the pretty line.  It wasn't necessary, just pretty.  Re-uploaded the manuscript, re-previewed it, and huzzah, at about 10pm, managed to send a proof through to be set up for ordering.

I did almost all of this already once - when I set up Blink of an I this... err... yesterday morning.  I wasn't actually going to do UEQ until today.  But hey, insomnia.  If I can't sleep, I might as well tackle stuff from my to-do list, eh?

Like I said, my cover artist is working on two other books right now.  When those files get here, I'll be back at step 24 for each of those.  Woohoo.

In case you're new to this game, book proofs cost me about $10 each - the book plus shipping - and I can't sell them to recoup that cost.  (They're stamped across the cover with NOT FOR RESALE.)  Good thing I squirreled away some acorns, eh?  The book cost to readers usually depends on the size of the book.  I do try to keep them as low as I can.  Blink will be $12.99 and Unequal will be $11.99.  (Decreasing the font to 10pt got the price more reasonable.  Blink would've been a behemoth.)  Get your order over $25 and shipping is free (usually... can't always depend on Amazon to not screw things up.)

Anyway, I hope this makes sense in the morning when you see it.  I think I'm finally tired enough to give sleep another try.

Any questions?  Comments?

* I started this post while I was waiting for files to upload or something, and finished it after I finished the task at hand.

Paperbacks

Monday, I received the paperback proof of DUKE NOBLE, P.I.: RUMOR HAS IT and it's a beaut.  So, I approved it and yesterday morning I got the email letting me know it's now available for sale on Amazon.  I set it up at the price of $9.99.  It's the best price I can set and still make a little scratch for myself.  A little somethin' for the effort, eh?

I have 5 author copies due to arrive here April 14-17th.  One will be a gift to a friend.  One I've already got a buyer for.  

You know, I didn't realize it until now that I missed having paperbacks.  There's nothing quite like holding a physical copy of your books in your own hands.  Prior to this, the last book I published with a paperback version was Sleeping Ugly - which went live in August of 2018.  :sadface:

To rectify that, I will be creating paperbacks for the remaining books that don't have them - Ugly and the Beast, Cinder Ugly, Blink of an I, and Unequal.  Not sure of the time frames on those.  I have to format them for print and then I have to contact my cover artist for UatB and CU, to see what her schedule looks like.  And whether she'll want more money since it's been a couple years.  She shouldn't but I wouldn't blame her.  Then I have to create covers for Blink and Unequal.  Busy busy.  

If you've been waiting on these, I apologize.  Paperbacks cost money up front and I just haven't been able to part with it.  I'm going to try to do better this year.  

As to the paperbacks being only available on Amazon, well, you see, in order for me to make a paperback widely available, I have to jack the price.  If I made RHI a $10.99 book, I wouldn't make any money when it sold at any other vendor.  $0 to me, so what's the point of that.  I could raise it $11.99 and make a little money out there in the world, but I don't want to pay $12 for a paperback so you shouldn't have to either   So I took it out of wide distribution and set the price lower.  At $9.99, I'm making a little over a dollar per book at Amazon.  If you hate Amazon and still would like a copy of any of my books, contact me directly and we'll see what we can do.  

Of course, it's cheaper for you and more profitable to me if you buy ebooks, but I understand that sometimes you just have to hold a real book in your hands.  I do the best I can to make these books as cost effective for you as I can.  And still make money for me.  

Thoughts?  Opinions?  

Additional Note:  While I was checking to make sure all my paperback books had the proper pricing, etc.  I noticed a couple things that hadn't been moved over properly from Createspace all those years ago.  Total faceplant on my part, I assure you.  I assumed everything was fine, so I didn't bother to check.  Unfortunately, that meant I didn't have all the metadata and keywords I could've had.  AND it didn't have me listed as having 'worldwide rights', which I most definitely do.  AND when I scrolled through the pricing for other countries, I discovered I was making ZERO profit for any books I sold in Japan.  Derp.  I haven't actually sold any paperbacks in Japan, but it could happen and I would've gotten ZILCH for them.  If you were like me and assumed everything would be fine from the great Createspace migration, go check everything now.  Seriously.

Paperback Update Stuff

Here's an article on Moving From Createspace to KDP that explains some things.  Mainly, I learned why I can't find the easy way to port my books over.  They don't give you the option, I guess, until they send you the letter.  And I haven't gotten mine yet.  I expect they're doing all the more important, better selling people first.  :shrug:

My proof for Sleeping Ugly arrived yesterday.  It's gorgeous.  Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the Createspace system and I had no way to approve it.  I wrote them a note and they fixed it.  I approved the paperback and it's available for purchase now at CS.  It'll be available on Amazon in 3-5 days.

Here's the paperback cover...

Pretty, eh?  She sends it to me only in PDF, so I had to screen capture the above, but that's basically it.

I'm waiting on the proof for Early Grave.  Here's the print cover I came up with for that...

Fingers crossed it looks as good in person.

Every finger crossed that my paperbacks work out with the Amazon printing process.  If I have to buy a new set of proofs for 12 books, it's going to put a dent in my budget.  And if I have to buy all new proofs, I'll be giving away old proofs.  My friggin' proof shelf is overloaded as it is.

Oh, and I ordered copies of Sleeping Ugly.  When those arrive, I'll do a giveaway or something.

Don't expect a paperback of Blink of an I any time soon.  I had planned to start that process after I did Early Grave, but then the CS thing became real.  It's gone this long without a paperback, it can go a little while longer.

Meanwhile, it's back to manuscript polishing on Unequal for me.  I have about a hundred pages left to go before I send this to AWE tomorrow.  And after I finish this, I will be back to writing new words on Ugly and the Beast. 

Have a great weekend, folks. 

Paperbacks and Formatting

Hey All. 

Since I'm hip deep in stuffs, and part of that is formatting books to become paperback copies, I thought I'd talk about that again. 

Sleeping Ugly is formatted and uploaded and the proof copy is on its way.  It's supposed to be here Thursday.  If all goes well, I'll approve the proof and it'll be available for purchase shortly after.

Yes, I used Createspace again.  Yes, there is a strong rumor that Createspace will be going away as Amazon (who bought Createspace a while back) tries to move everyone over to their print publishing.  I opted to go Createspace again because I am not interested in reinventing my wheels right now. 

I also spent the better part of yesterday formatting Early Grave for print and creating a print cover.  It's uploaded and I should be hearing later today if they accept the files.  Since I made my own cover here, I expect they'll grouse about something.  But I don't expect it to be too awfully bad and I should be able to order a proof shortly.

Next up is finally getting a paperback started for Blink of an I.  Then all my books will be available as paperbacks and all will be right with the world again. 

Once those three are approved and up for sale, I'll started the process of putting all the titles through Amazon print publishing.  The process is supposedly easier if you already have the books up on Createspace.  :shrug:  We'll see. 

I'm still leery of printing through Amazon because they're new and I'm unsure of the quality of their print books.  Then again, Createspace's quality ain't always the best either.  One of my books, they sent the wrong cover on the proof.  As in, the cover for someone else's book was on my proof.  A Christian Romance, if I remember correctly, wrapped around my proof of Fertile Ground.  I'm sure the cover was as shocked as my manuscript.  In another case, the manuscript pages were all printed slightly off.  They said the 'off' was within acceptable parameters.  Acceptable to them, maybe.  :shrug:  I guess, right now, it's 'better the devil you know' for me.

As for formatting, I know it sounds scary. But once you have a system for doing it, it's not really all that bad.  More tedious than difficult.  Which is why I dragged my heels on EG and Blink.  I hate tedium.

Here's my checklist for formatting a print copy:

1)  Type THE END

2)  Find and replace all double spacing between sentences with single spacing

3)  Remove all Bookmarks.

4)  Make sure everything is the font you’ve chosen for the book.

5)  Format all chapter headings as Headings.  Including THE END.

6)  Apply print font for Headings to all.

7)  Format all scene breaks for continuity within book and within series

8)  Create title page

9)  Create Copyright and Acknowledgements page

10)  Add in About the Author Page at the end

11)  Add in back matter.

12)  Create Section Breaks after Acknowledgements and after THE END

13)  Add Pages Numbers to manuscript section centered bottom

14) Verify ‘Link to Previous’ is unchecked

15)  Format Page Numbers to chosen look

16)  Set to ‘Different First Page’ in manuscript section

17)  Delete page number from first page of manuscript section

18)  Verify no page numbers in front matter section or back matter section

19)  Set page size to 5.5” x 8.5”

20)  Set margins to Top .88”, Bottom .88”, Inside .75”, Outside .63”

21)  Make sure margins are ‘mirrored’

22)  Verify all chapters start on right hand page.

23)  Print a few pages to verify it will look how you want it to look.

24)  Upload to Createspace

Feel free to borrow the above, but remember, your process may vary with regard to page size and margins.  There are also reasonably priced formatters out there, if you're not interested in the DIY.  The price I usually see quoted is $50.  I'd rather save the $50 and do it myself, but that's me.  And I have the time to do it, when I actually set my butt down.  Like I said, it takes about a day for me.  (Okay, not a whole day.  Maybe a couple hours over the course of a day.  Again, tedious but not hard.)

I print out the above for each book and then check the items off as I get them completed, so I don't miss a step.  (Like with UWC, which had no page numbers.  Derp.)  And I do all of this in MS Word.  The first 11 items should already have been done during the 'format for ebook' phase, but I like to have them there anyway, just in case.

Woo, that's a long post up there.  Thanks for reading all the way down, or for scrolling all the way down to here, if that's the case.  Any questions?  Comments? 

Oh, and it's not in the checklist, but if you're formatting for print, get rid of your Table of Contents and any hyperlinks.  They're not necessary and totally not clickable in a print book.  ;o)

Short Stuffs and Mini Updates

I had an idea for Ugly and the Beast the other night.  I didn't get up and write it down and now it's gone.  All I'm left with is the memory of thinking it was really awesome.

Sleeping Ugly should be back to me tomorrow for final edits on my end.  As long as they aren't numerous or lengthy, I should be able to put this up for pre-order sometime before the 25th.  Or would you rather I just put the book up for sale when it's ready?

Part of me wants to put books up for pre-order.  Another part doesn't see the point. As a reader, I rarely pre-order books.  I don't like buying something and then waiting for the cost to come out of my bank account at some future date.  Cuz I might forget about it. 

Obviously, I am not going to have Ugly and the Beast ready to send to AWE any time soon.  So, I'm going to send her Unequal next, in order to have a fourth book come out this year.  From a sales standpoint, I probably should've buckled down and busted my ass to get UatB out next, but apparently that's not how I roll, baby. 

If you're keeping track, Sleeping Ugly will be my 12th published novel.

I had planned to do some marketing for the Once Upon a Djinn series this month, but since the stuff I had planned fell through, I scrapped the idea and went ahead and raised all the prices for those books to $3.99.  Now I have to wait 30 days to hold any kind of sales for those, so maybe next month I'll do something sparky. 

I still haven't done paperbacks for my last two books.  Do any of you care?  Cuz if I thought anyone cared, I'd be more motivated to get that stuff done. 

My cover artist is doing a paperback cover for Sleeping Ugly.  I'm still not sure if I'll go paperback with that book yet, but I'll have the option. 

Okay.  That's it.  Does anyone have any questions?  Comments?  Wisdoms?

Stuffs

Hey All.

I'm hip deep in a project for the other job, so pretty much everything else is on hold until this is done.  Which is kind of good since nothing else is expected of me for a little while yet.  Early Grave isn't due back from the editor until the 12th and release day isn't until probably the 23rd.  (Shooting for the 20th, but we'll see how it goes, ya know?) 

I got the proof copy for the printed version of Project Hermes (formerly Blood Flow) back from Createspace.  It isn't perfect, but it's pretty good, so I approved it for sale.  It'll be $12.99.  I'll work on getting the old print version of BF to go away, but right now, it's not for sale anywhere (I deselected all the sales channels), so it's not that big a deal.

I redid the blurb for Fertile Ground and put that on sale for the month of April because April is National Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.  If you've read FG, you'll understand why it's on sale now.  If you know me, you know the bad guy gets what's coming to him. 

Once I release EG, Dying Embers will go on the Free bandwagon for 5 days. 

Well, that's about it for the stuffs right now.  Time to get back to the spreadsheets.  After some more coffee.  Loads more coffee.  With extra coffee added. 

-B.E.

To Print or Not to Print?

Ah, therein lies the rub.  Whether it's more marketable to offer works in paperback or to suffer the slings and arrows of only going ebook.  Or something.

As I approach release day for Blink of an I, I'm once again questioning whether to offer a work in hardcopy as well as ebook.  Supposedly, having a hardcopy version available lends validity to the ebook.  I'm not sure about that.  I know plenty of people who only have their books in eversion and they don't seem to be hurting for sales.  And I have hardcopies of all my books so far, but they don't seem to be doing much for my sales. 

It'd be nice to have some hard data on the subject, and there might even be some somewhere, but I'm not in the mood to go looking for it.

It's not like putting a hardcopy version out there is that hard.  A pain in the butt sometimes, but not hard, per se.  A little more formatting, a print cover.  It's a little more expense, too, with purchasing proof copies, etc.  But not enough to make it totally out of the question.

Which still doesn't answer my question.

If I put out paperbacks, I could offer them as contest prizes.  But so few people enter my contests, I'm not really seeing any good come out of those.  The one person here who regularly enters has already won a copy of this book anyway - in eversion.

If I have paperbacks, I can hand sell them.  Except my hand sales are so down, I don't even bother trying anymore.  I could give them away to people I know...  Yeah, that's not really happening lately either.  Being a hermit has its downside.

Lazy me says 'just put this one out ebook only'.  Publisher me says 'put them both out so you cover all the bases'.  Not sure who'll win.

What do you think?

If I do put out a paperback version, it won't be out for at least a month after the ebook, because of shipping proof copies, etc.  

Books in the Trunk

I keep a box in the trunk of my car filled with paperback copies of my books.  It's there in case I run across anyone who actually wants to buy a hardcopy of one.  To be honest, it's been a long, long time since I hand sold a book, though. 

Every once in a while, when I'm pushing the box aside for groceries, I tell myself I really should get that out of there.  It's just taking up space and every time I see it, it reminds me that my paperbacks aren't selling.  (Of course, I'm not really doing anything to sell them, so that's on me.  And a story for another time.)

But it's still there.  And Friday I was reminded why I need to always keep it there.

Hubs and I went to town Friday.  He needed a haircut and while he certainly could've gone alone, he asked me to come along for the drive.  It was a beautiful day, so why not?  Anyway, I dropped him off at the barber and went across the street to buy cigarettes. 

I've been patronizing this smoke shop slash liquor store slash bait & tackle place for about 4 years and I like to chat with the employees.  They're great gals (and just recently guys).  And most of them are readers.  The one who was working yesterday is always cheerful and nice.  We've talked about her and her family.  She's a hard working gal who busts her butt. 

So, anyway, I was there talking to her and she asked me how the writing was going.  (Not a question I get too often out there in the world.)  I told her and then gave her a new bookmark and a new postcard.  She was really excited for me, which kind of made my day.  And I told her all of the ebooks are available for $2.99.  Then she confessed that she prefers to read hardcopy. 

Totally cool, but I could tell she wasn't going to go online and order my paperbacks, and that she was disappointed about that.  I mean, I keep my paperbacks as inexpensive as I can, but they're still way more than $2.99. 

Another customer was waiting, so we said our goodbyes and I went out to put the cigarettes in the car.  And there in the trunk was that box, filled with books that haven't been going anywhere.  I grabbed a copy of Wish in One Hand, whipped out a pen and signed it, then took it back inside.  When I handed it to her, she lit up.  And then she opened the front and saw the signature and squeed. 

I made her day.  And she made mine.

So, the box will remain in the trunk and I will add more books to it.  Just in case.  You never know.  And hey, she might buy the others now, or she might opt for the ebooks (she does have a Kindle), and she might tell other people about them.  But if she doesn't that's okay, too.  Because she already made my day.

One more thing.  I had been debating on whether to continue to produce paperback copies of my books.  I was leaning away from future books having hardcopy versions.  Now I'm leaning back.  If I don't have the paperbacks, how can I hand one out?  They're an added expense to my publishing budget, but they really are worth it.

What about you?  Do you prefer ebooks or paperbacks?  If you're a writer, do you keep copies of your books in the trunk of your car?

The Paperback Cover

Good morning, Everyone! 

One of the last things I did last night before bed was to check my email and discover my brand new, totally awesome print cover for Wish Hits the Fan.  So pretty!

The ebook cover was super cool, but the print cover gives the full effect I was going for (that Jessica Allain of Enchanted Whispers Art made real for me).

Today, I'll build the paperback over at Createspace and go through that process - which will take a bit of time what with approving proofs that have to be shipped and all.  If everything goes well, this should be available by the end of the month at Createspace. 

In case you missed it, the ebook is available for pre-order now and will be on your Kindle on the 15th. 

I can't wait to get my proof copy.  Then I can put all the books next to each other and they'll be so pretty together. 

Once I have buy links, I'll add them to the Once Upon a Djinn page up there and probably post about it, too. 

So much to do so little time. 

Chicken. Head. Off.

It's pre-release week.  So, basically, I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off.  Not literally, of course, but in my head, that's about what it feels like. 

My last to-do list was a full page of little notebook paper.  Right now, all but two things have been crossed off.  I started a new to-do list - moved those two items and added two more.

I'd forgotten how much stuff has to be done around a release. 

Last night, I got WHTF formatted for print.  Then I went through all of the Once Upon a Djinn ebooks and adjusted the back matter so they all have WHTF info on them along with links.  Meanwhile, I found an error in the print copy of Up Wish Creek which needs to be corrected in case anyone should want to buy a print copy.  (Not likely, but still.)

I also firmed up and paid for some advertising last night.  And contacted my cover artist with a page count for WHTF so she can do the paperback cover. 

Today, I have to work on bookmarks, updating the back matter for all my other books, more advertising stuff, work on the Createspace stuff for WHTF...  Argh.

It'll all get done.  It has to.  And since there's no one else to do it but me, I guess I'd better quit ma bitchin' and get to work.

What are all y'all up to today?

A Little Marketing Update

Hey all.  Time again for a little marketing thing. 

May was a busy month, what with Fertile Ground releasing and all.  And with the Kid's visit, I spent more time preparing for her than preparing to sell books, so I doubt things went off as well as they could've.  Still, I placed a couple ads, got some other exposure, and May didn't turn out too shabby.  (Not as bonza as last May,  but beggars can't be choosy.)

I placed a paid ad ($5) with Authors Billboard for the 'new release' section for Fertile Ground.  Crickets.

I placed a free book excerpt of Fertile Ground with Omnimystery News and made some sales.

I placed a paid ad ($40) for Dying Embers with Robin Reads and saw a really nice jump on the day of the ad, plus some residual sales afterwards and an increase in pages read for Kindle Unlimited.  That ad also catapulted DE into the top 100 in Serial Killer suspense ebooks, so that helped.  It fell out of the top 100 last night, but it's hovering at 107, so no too shabby.  Now I'm hoping all those people who read DE will snag a copy of Fertile Ground, too.  One can hope.

 In other news, the paperback release of Fertile Ground has been delayed due to issues at the printer.  I hope to have a new proof with all issues corrected late this week.  Then I'll be able to approve it for sale and order a bunch of copies for stock to give away or hand sell.  :fingers crossed:

Any questions?  Any comments?  Any thoughts?