December 16, 2012
Writer's Resolutions
I'm a reader of Joe Konrath's blog, and while I'm not a writer who won't make a move unless Joe (or anyone else) says he's for it, I'm always interested in what he has to say.
Every year Joe puts out a blog about resolutions for writers, with the focus on indie writers in recent years. I looked back on his forecast for this year and was pleased to see that I followed all of his recommendations for 2012. I've experimented with both pricing and content of my books, I've shared information with other writers, and I haven't let fear get the better of me in this uncertain world.
I already have some goals set for 2013 and look forward to reading what Joe recommends. He'll probably have it posted sometime next week.
December 15, 2012
2-for-1 Deal!
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Now available for a limited time as a 2-for-1 special: Something Real with Save The Best For Last thrown in for free! This offer is only available through my eStore (where you never pay any fees other than the price of the book) and makes a great gift (gift option also available), so order today!
2-for-1 Deal!
.jpg)
Now available for a limited time as a 2-for-1 special: Something Real with Save The Best For Last thrown in for free! This offer is only available through my eStore (where you never pay any fees other than the price of the book) and makes a great gift (gift option also available), so order today!
December 13, 2012
Sales Resistance - Not!
I went Christmas shopping for the grandchildren last weekend. I ended up getting a pretty sweater dress for my very feminine 6-year-old granddaughter. I didn't see anything I liked for my grandson. The bulk of my purchases that day were for my own household. I bought towels and matching face cloths, plus a set of sheets that had been marked down.
I find that I can't resist bed linens (last weekend while Christmas shopping I bought a bed skirt, two sets of pillowcases for the extra pillows on the bed, more towels and face cloths, and dish towels). Nothing says comfort to me more than a bed with a lot of pillows, soft sheets, and a nice thick quilt to curl up under. This is especially soothing during the cold Wisconsin winters.
I also find handbags hard to resist. On my very first day of shopping, while looking for a pair of leather gloves for my mom, I found a gorgeous leather purse at Wilson's Leather, with that fresh leather smell and large enough for all the stuff I cart around, and with my two must-haves: a zipped outer compartment and a shoulder strap.
Some women can't have enough shoes, hats, little black dresses, or crisp white blouses. For me it's bed linens and handbags. What are your hard-to-resist items?
Sales Resistance - Not!
I went Christmas shopping for the grandchildren last weekend. I ended up getting a pretty sweater dress for my very feminine 6-year-old granddaughter. I didn't see anything I liked for my grandson. The bulk of my purchases that day were for my own household. I bought towels and matching face cloths, plus a set of sheets that had been marked down.
I find that I can't resist bed linens (last weekend while Christmas shopping I bought a bed skirt, two sets of pillowcases for the extra pillows on the bed, more towels and face cloths, and dish towels). Nothing says comfort to me more than a bed with a lot of pillows, soft sheets, and a nice thick quilt to curl up under. This is especially soothing during the cold Wisconsin winters.
I also find handbags hard to resist. On my very first day of shopping, while looking for a pair of leather gloves for my mom, I found a gorgeous leather purse at Wilson's Leather, with that fresh leather smell and large enough for all the stuff I cart around, and with my two must-haves: a zipped outer compartment and a shoulder strap.
Some women can't have enough shoes, hats, little black dresses, or crisp white blouses. For me it's bed linens and handbags. What are your hard-to-resist items?
December 10, 2012
Subject matters that filmmakers never seem to get tired of
The fact that these are all British themes is purely coincidental (maybe American legends, characters, and crimes don't seem as interesting?)
These are the ones that come to my mind right off. Just when you think you've seen the last of them comes the announcement that yet another movie about the topic is being planned. Can you think of any others? Share!
Subject matters that filmmakers never seem to get tired of
- Robin Hood
- Sherlock Holmes
- The Titanic
- Jack The Ripper
The fact that these are all British themes is purely coincidental (maybe American legends, characters, and crimes don't seem as interesting?)
These are the ones that come to my mind right off. Just when you think you've seen the last of them comes the announcement that yet another movie about the topic is being planned. Can you think of any others? Share!
December 7, 2012
Gone Blogging
This week I'm over at Shon Bacon's blog, Chick Lit Gurrl, along with Gen, Liv, and Cesca from Something Real. Also, Chicki Brown featured the first paragraph of Something Real on her blog, Sister Scribbler. Check me out!
Gone Blogging
This week I'm over at Shon Bacon's blog, Chick Lit Gurrl, along with Gen, Liv, and Cesca from Something Real. Also, Chicki Brown featured the first paragraph of Something Real on her blog, Sister Scribbler. Check me out!
December 3, 2012
Selling eBooks to the public with Ganxy
I first heard about Ganxy from a post on one of the blogs I read regularly, The Writer's Guide to ePublishing. I found the idea of selling to readers from my website, blog, and/or Facebook page and keeping 90% of the cover price intriguing. I decided to give it a try by setting up a test showcase (as they call product pages) at Ganxy.
It seemed daunting for someone like me, who knows squat about ePub and .mobi files, both of which Ganxy recommends be uploaded. About all I could handle was a PDF, which is the third and last format Ganxy recommends. I read their instructions, then did a search for a site that converts documents to ePub and .mobi formats. I found Online Convert, which does it for free (they do accept donations, and they are on my list of places to send funds to now that I have received my September royalties). I followed Ganxy's suggestion and named each new file with the book title, my name, and the format.
Once that was done, I was able to go back and create my showcase. I decided to take advantage of the function that allows me to list other retailers (because some folks will always want to purchase from Amazon or BN, and while I'd gladly trade lesser Amazon rankings for higher royalties, there's no denying that reviews still stand for something). Since I am an Amazon Associate, I had to include my personal ID in the linked product code so I get credit for any orders, which meant I had to get a product link code and only enter the part starting with "http" and ending with my Associate ID and skip the rest of it. It's a pretty quick process once the files have been converted (and because I forgot to take out some Kindle- and Nook-specific references in the front of the first documents I converted, I'll need to go back and re-do these).
I then embed the code on the main page of my newly re-designed blog for an easy purchase link. The showcase is pretty big, and since there's no way to fit six of them (and counting!) on one page, I skipped this for the page that lists my other titles in favor of linking each title to the showcase page. Take a look and tell me what you think!
This is still new to me, but I'm learning how it works. These are the pluses of hooking up with Ganxy for me:
I hope you found this column helpful! Let me know by leaving a comment!
Selling eBooks to the public with Ganxy
I first heard about Ganxy from a post on one of the blogs I read regularly, The Writer's Guide to ePublishing. I found the idea of selling to readers from my website, blog, and/or Facebook page and keeping 90% of the cover price intriguing. I decided to give it a try by setting up a test showcase (as they call product pages) at Ganxy.
It seemed daunting for someone like me, who knows squat about ePub and .mobi files, both of which Ganxy recommends be uploaded. About all I could handle was a PDF, which is the third and last format Ganxy recommends. I read their instructions, then did a search for a site that converts documents to ePub and .mobi formats. I found Online Convert, which does it for free (they do accept donations, and they are on my list of places to send funds to now that I have received my September royalties). I followed Ganxy's suggestion and named each new file with the book title, my name, and the format.
Once that was done, I was able to go back and create my showcase. I decided to take advantage of the function that allows me to list other retailers (because some folks will always want to purchase from Amazon or BN, and while I'd gladly trade lesser Amazon rankings for higher royalties, there's no denying that reviews still stand for something). Since I am an Amazon Associate, I had to include my personal ID in the linked product code so I get credit for any orders, which meant I had to get a product link code and only enter the part starting with "http" and ending with my Associate ID and skip the rest of it. It's a pretty quick process once the files have been converted (and because I forgot to take out some Kindle- and Nook-specific references in the front of the first documents I converted, I'll need to go back and re-do these).
I then embed the code on the main page of my newly re-designed blog for an easy purchase link. The showcase is pretty big, and since there's no way to fit six of them (and counting!) on one page, I skipped this for the page that lists my other titles in favor of linking each title to the showcase page. Take a look and tell me what you think!
This is still new to me, but I'm learning how it works. These are the pluses of hooking up with Ganxy for me:
- A 90% cut of the price of all eBooks sold, rather than the 65% and 70% offered by BN and Amazon.
- The ability to offer free eBooks to readers, choosing an end time by whichever is reached first: A maximum number of free downloads or an end date. Doing this on Amazon and BN is next to impossible.
- The ability to offer sale priced eBooks to readers, with automatic end dates/criteria I set (i.e., "The first 150 people to download this eBook will get $1.50 off the cover price"). I didn't have my current giveaway ready in time to offer a Black Friday or Cyber Monday special this year, but I can offer new releases at reduced prices for a temporary period to entice readers to buy from my eStore rather than Amazon or BN (I think that works better than saying, "Please buy from my eStore; I'll make more money," don't you?). Price changes go into effect immediately, another plus.
- A good payment plan.
- Superb and prompt customer service. I had many questions along the way, and they got back to me very quickly...even on Sunday.
I hope you found this column helpful! Let me know by leaving a comment!
December 2, 2012
Where do my ideas come from, you ask? Try real life...
My mom, who came up to Wisconsin a few weeks before our family reunion over Thanksgiving weekend and stayed a week after it ended, flew home to Florida yesterday. I'm happy to say that she, plus all the other family members who came, arrived home safely.
But the details of Mom's return flight were hardly routine. When we arrived at Milwaukee's Bradley Airport, the Departures board showed that her flight had been delayed by 65 minutes. This was concerning because she had to make a connecting flight. A chat with the ticket agent revealed that flights from her connecting city had also been delayed for the same reason, so there would be no problem with her possibly missing her connection.
But here's where it gets interesting: When we arrived at the gate (I normally turn her over to an airport employee with a wheelchair, but this time I went with her to make sure she got on the plane without additional delay) I noticed that the sign behind the gate agents said "On Time." I inquired about this and was initially told that it had been delayed, and when I asked why this wasn't reflected on the sign behind them, another agent informed me the delay had been lifted and the flight would take off on time after all.
This was fine for Mom, but my "what if" writer's mind started working overtime. What would happen if a passenger checked, found out that their flight would take off an hour past the scheduled time, and did some things before going to the airport, only to find that the delay had been lifted and the plane had taken off on time?
I'm already jotting down notes for a story...
Where do my ideas come from, you ask? Try real life...
My mom, who came up to Wisconsin a few weeks before our family reunion over Thanksgiving weekend and stayed a week after it ended, flew home to Florida yesterday. I'm happy to say that she, plus all the other family members who came, arrived home safely.
But the details of Mom's return flight were hardly routine. When we arrived at Milwaukee's Bradley Airport, the Departures board showed that her flight had been delayed by 65 minutes. This was concerning because she had to make a connecting flight. A chat with the ticket agent revealed that flights from her connecting city had also been delayed for the same reason, so there would be no problem with her possibly missing her connection.
But here's where it gets interesting: When we arrived at the gate (I normally turn her over to an airport employee with a wheelchair, but this time I went with her to make sure she got on the plane without additional delay) I noticed that the sign behind the gate agents said "On Time." I inquired about this and was initially told that it had been delayed, and when I asked why this wasn't reflected on the sign behind them, another agent informed me the delay had been lifted and the flight would take off on time after all.
This was fine for Mom, but my "what if" writer's mind started working overtime. What would happen if a passenger checked, found out that their flight would take off an hour past the scheduled time, and did some things before going to the airport, only to find that the delay had been lifted and the plane had taken off on time?
I'm already jotting down notes for a story...
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