All Blog Posts Tagged 'ebooks' (389)

          Being a writer means experiencing dizzying highs and terrifying lows as a novel transforms from mere idea bubbling in the brain into reality on the page. There are times when you believe that everything you’ve written is total crap and there are times when a character reveals something or does something that you hadn’t expected and you find yourself on this emotional high.

          Emotions can swing greatly from one day to the next (sometimes hourly). Today is a good day…

Since I started this blog nearly four years ago, I never in my dreams thought that it would receive several hundred thousand views. My base of followers has grown steadily and my page views per day are increasing nearly every week. I would like to thank all of my followers and interested readers for that.

Looking back years ago at my first few posts, I can clearly see an old-soul writer trying to understand a twenty-first century technological world. Many of those first…

Nice new review for DROP OUT. The book is really affecting lives!

Read what Kindle Nation Daily called "the sleeper hit of the year" what Kindle Fire Department called, "riveting, touching, and deeply heartwarming, a book that will stay with you forever"; an Indie Book of the Day winner in 2012.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary, moving story of…

A few days have passed since my Kindle Books and Tips promotion for DROP OUT  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U  has finished and I must say the results weren’t that bad. Though I have said in the past that I don’t believe paid promotion on websites has a return on investment and are good for exposure purposes only, this one seems to have paid out.

DROP OUT sold several dozen more copies on that day than it usually does so I…

Wanted to announce that DROP OUT is being featured today on Kindle Books and Tips!  What would you do if you knew your life was ending? http://wp.me/p2b82w-69U Please check it out. Much appreciated.

Woke up this morning to the first frost of the year. It’s winter writing time. I always look forward to the cold and snow and the isolation they bring. Though I do enjoy the sun, swimming, and warmth of summer it is not my best season for being creative. I found there’s nothing more stimulating than punching out a story while a snowstorm rages outside.

Winter is also the time when I do my best and most prolific marketing and promotion of my books. It’s always hard to spend hours…

When you buy a book in a bookstore, what do you look for? Is it the cover that attracts you? The fiery description on the back? The author’s profile picture? With ebooks, consumers can’t take it off the shelf and feel its texture, skim through the pages, or get a sense of the thickness and how long it will take to read. They must rely on the ‘look inside’ feature, good unbiased reviews, a blurb that excites and entices, and the promise of a captivating story to make their…

If you follow my blog you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been posting about many promotions these days. Except for a few websites that have posted my books without informing me first, I haven’t been too visible for a while. Here’s why.

I’ve been writing ferociously for the last 35 out of my 45 years on this planet. Yep, that officially makes me a middle-aged man. You learn a lot about yourself and your needs and what makes you happiest as you get older. Things become…

It’s been a while since I posted about my latest project, so here goes. AS IT IS IN HEAVEN is nearly complete! Yeah! I call it an inspirational fantasy along the lines of DROP OUT, but with a more spiritual theme. I won’t kid you, some scenes are quite intense, but I believe it is crucial to the story to shock the reader enough to stop and make them think.

There are also a few more sites that I am placing my other books. I was informed about these sites from my awesome online writers…

Read an eBook Week was created back in 2004 to educate and inform the public about the pleasures and advantages of reading electronically. It helped raise awareness at a time when ebook reading was just in its infant stages.

In recent years, the popularity of ebooks has soared. Last year, 28% of adults aged 18 and older read at least one ebook, according to Pew…

I’m involved in a review program with Choosy Bookworm.com where DROP OUT was sent to @35 top Amazon reviewers who post their reviews on a number of websites reaching a huge audience. So far, so good. Here are just a few of the headers. Check out the rest at –

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U

Thanks.

5.0 out of 5 stars BELIEVE!!! Amazing!!, August 25, 2014

By …

It’s been an interesting week for me and my books. First, I’m involved in a review program with Choosy Bookworm.com. So far nearly thirty copies of DROP OUT and about ten copies of THE END TIME have been sent to anonymous reviews who promise to post an honest review on Amazon and Goodreads in exchange for a free copy of the book. The reviews are just now coming in and all I can say is “Wow”. It’s nice to know that and read how much people like the stories. Check out the new 5-stars for…

Okay, so I’ve unpublished all my books except two from Smashwords to concentrate on working promotions with Amazon and have been busy getting my stuff out there. Joining Kindle Unlimited and KDP Select is a risk and it does put small limits on my sales outlets but I still think it is the right move at the right time in book publishing today.

Here’s what I’ve got coming up in the next 30 days.

On August 18 – 25 both my five-book and four-book Omnibuses will be…

After almost a solid month of plotting, characterization, pacing, and creating setting, I finally wrote the last sentence to my new novel before I start the revision process. Feeling elated I sat back in my office desk chair and beamed, enjoying the pleasurable sensations of finishing this stage of the project. Then suddenly, I was stricken with horror. I had written the story to completion. There was nothing more I could say or add to the story. It was done in my mind.

But……

I’m sure if you’re a reader or author you’ve heard about Amazon’s new prime membership for books. For a monthly fee a reader can now purchase an unlimited amount of ebooks for as long as they remain members. I’ve done a bit of research and here’s what I’ve discovered.

Although Amazon Prime does sound ominous to the author when it comes to royalty payments it actually does have some pretty fantastic perks. For one, an author will no longer see that dreaded return unit in their…

Writer’s are transport machines. We put words on the page and transport reader’s minds to other places and times. But at what cost to a writer’s psyche?

A great author once said that being a writer is like having to do homework every day for the rest of your life. There is always something to do; editing, rewriting, better setting details, characterization, etc. Not a day goes by that I don’t spend time working on one of my books or upcoming projects. Tens of thousands of…

It never fails to amaze me how we have become such an instant society, a society in which entertainment, whether television, movies, or books can be had at the ready with the press of a button almost anywhere in the world and at any time. As a writer, you must have a constant presence in order to stand out among all the clutter.

I have been on vacation for the last few days and have not written any new posts to my groups or made my presence known on the internet. You would…

I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbie authors” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their book isn’t selling. When asked if they market and promote their books most do say yes, but often complain of the time it takes in a world where we all have limited time.

Well, here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie author you…

Thanks to everyone who purchased DROP OUT, the book continues to affect lives. For those of you who don’t know the origins of the story and its message, I thought I’d share a portion of a biography interview I did when the book was published. Then please decide if it is right for you.

I’ve been a thriller, sci-fi writer for more than twenty years and over that span of time my books garnered the attention of numerous literary agents and publishers. In 2005, I signed with a…

Touching again on the subject of unpaid reviews from unknown readers, I would like to point out just how personal taste is reflected in each review. I’m not going to mention the 23 – five star reviews I’ve gotten for DROP OUT, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U but mention quotes from the two worst reviews I’ve received. Why focus on the worst? Because they are perfect examples of opinion and preference.

The first quote is…