All Blog Posts Tagged 'spaceships' (87)

Wanted to let everyone know that my novel, DROP OUT is today’s Kindle Nation Daily’s sponsor. Please check it out. It’s a powerful read. Thank you.

http://kindlenationdaily.com/2012/06/kdd-june-29/                                     

So it finally happened, ebooks have surpassed regular books in sales for the first time ever! What does that mean to the 21^st century writer? It means that the future of reading is here. It means that the stigma of reading ebooks has passed. It means a world-wide audience can download a book in seconds. It also means we will probably be seeing the end of traditional bookstores. Though it had been a lifelong dream of mine to see the cover of one of my books prominently…

Just wanted to announce that PULP is officially an ebook and available globally as of right now! I started the first draft of PULP back in 2002 after receiving a rejection notice for my other new ebook release FROSTPROOF. The agent liked FROSTPROOF but said he was looking for something a little weirder and more pulpy in style. Fueled by the adrenaline of rejection I started writing. I wanted to create a story that would keep people turning the page, not so much because of non-stop action,…

My newest KND sponsorship for SILENT INVASION was a total disaster. http://bit.ly/LQTPrL. As I predicted after I booked it, having a sponsorship for a middle grade novel the week schools let out was a HUGE mistake. The sponsorship yielded almost no increase over my usual daily sales. If I can offer any advice to promotional efforts for books is to make sure you take into account the world’s events when you schedule. I do have another sponsorship on…

The promotion for SILENT INVASION is going on right now. I haven't noticed too much of a bump in sales but the forums tell me that sales usually bump up later in the afternoon. I guess we'll see. I'm trying not to think about the cost of the promotion vs. the amount of sales and am spending the afternoon marketing PULP onto the various writers sites that I belong. I'm starting to think that the fact that this is the first week of school being out that the kids are not ready to sit inside and…

As I watch the price of ereaders drop, I feel the excitement of a bright future for indie authors much the way musicians must have felt when the first Sony Walkman came into existence (I know I’m showing my age). Readers can now take thousands of books with them anywhere they go; on vacation, in a plane, in a car. And now with Nook and Kindle introducing the backlight, people can read in bed while their significant other sleeps with the lights out. Just a few short years ago, seeing someone…

I’m very happy with my new cover for PULP. I’ve contacted my editor and formatter, so the process is underway for my eighth novel to be published electronically. It’s been a long, twenty-year road to get these books complete but now that I’m nearing the end of my backlist of previously written novels, I can now concentrate on future projects, namely my latest, IMAGINATION. It’s been seven months of work and I’m about seventy percent complete. The book is written and the characters and plot…

It was announced that Amazon.com has acquired Avalon books. While this move by Amazon proves that the digital publishing revolution is gaining strength, it hits me personally for two reasons. One, I think it will give new respect to indie writers who are publishing through Amazon, and two, I almost had a publishing deal with Avalon many years back. Well, kinda. It was for my novel, FROSTPROOF and it was a very exciting time. The internet had just begun to develop into the huge creature it…

Being a writer means experiencing dizzying highs and terrifying lows as a novel transforms 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. This is also true when it comes to sales. Unfortunately, I’m obsessed with checking my sales numbers so my emotions can swing greatly from one day to the…

As I write this, I’ve reached a milestone in my writing career. As of last count nearly 10,000 of my books have been downloaded. Not all were sales as some were free promotion giveaways, but enough of a percentage of them were purchased that it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something. As I’ve always said, it’s all about exposure. The more people who read my books and talk about them, the more grassroots, word-of-mouth sales will grow. I just contacted my cover artist and formatter…

The Kindle Daily Nation sponsorship for DEGENERATES yielded okay results. I was hoping for a few more sales than I actually made, but at least the exposure was good. It caused several dozen more hits on my blog than usual and I have now surpassed the 170,000 hit mark. That’s a lot of hits, but even with that I didn’t reach my total sales goals for the month. Though I did have enough that I’m pretty satisfied a momentum will build over time. I’ve also discovered that posting on Amazon.com…

As summer approaches and the breezes grow warmer, I find myself more immerse in the reality of life than the fantasy world I create while sitting at my desk. The job that pays my bills gets busier this time of year and I find myself with less and less hours to write, and a miniscule amount of time to market and promote my books. Thus, the dismal May sales. We are an impulse society and without a constant web presence, you’re quickly lost in the ocean of advertisers. Though collectively my…

When it comes to indie publishing on Kindle I’ve learned to expect the unexpected when sales are involved. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to why books sell on some days and don’t on others. The key is to market and promote on a regular basis. That said, I’ve been feeling frustrated with my sales lately, having set sales goals that far exceed what my actual sales are this month. I set these goals several months ago when it was colder and my books were selling, and it seemed like…

The other day as I was writing I heard a sudden, loud knocking at my office door. I turned my head to see who could have caused such a ruckus and behold, it was my wife.

“Didn’t you hear me?” she asked.

“Uh, no,” I replied, somewhat in a daze from being pummeled out of my imaginary world.

“I thought you were ignoring me,” she grumbled. “The trash stinks. It needs to go out.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you,” I replied. “I’m working on my latest novel. I was in the…

I’m often asked how I create my characters. At last count I have somewhat in the neighborhood of seventy-five to eighty relatively strong characters. By strong, I mean these characters actually have back stories and personalities that come across on the page. Some are absolutely terrifying, like Cody Larson in FROSTPROOF and Tommy Fielding in DEGENERATES. Some are adventurous, like Tim Madison in SILENT INVASION, and Jamie Richards in DREAM TRAVELER, and some are tragic, yet beautiful, like…

Another fresh month is upon us and that means another start at zero for my books sales count. Last month ended pretty well with a last couple of days blitz that netted enough sales to reach my goals. However, it was a tough struggle, not helped by the fact that I was on vacation for nine days and did little in terms of marketing and promotion (not that I’m complaining). My sales goals for this month may be unreachable since I don’t have any sponsorships planned for this month. It’s going to…

I love the new cover for my Kindle version of FROSTPROOF. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m slowly taking back all my rights to my paperbacks and republishing only electronically. I believe the traditional book is going the way of CD’s and I’m excited to be at the threshold of this new medium. With my seventh novel soon to be published electronically, I’ve now got more than half of my books out there for the entire world to purchase. It’s a pretty cool feeling. Once I send the new FROSTPROOF off…

Every once in a while I come across something that makes all the hard work trying to make it as a writer worth it. I’ve had these moments in the past, like when I discovered an article about me written in Italy and I had to have it translated just to read it. http://sftech.blog.tiscali.it/2012/01/16/vendere-ebook-un-caso-su-amazon/

Another was when KND praised DROP OUT as a sleeper hit.…

That’s what Kindle Daily Nation called DROP OUT. http://fireapps.blogspot.com/2012/04/drop-out-kindle-book-of-day.html But then again, I’ve posted this many times and guess what… it’s still sleeping. Though the book is my best seller out of my six novels, it still hasn’t reached the great heights I had hoped. Right now I’m a few dozens copies behind my sales goals for this month, so for the next three days…

Back from vacation and had a great time. Too bad taking a vacation from writing and marketing didn’t do for my sales what it did for my soul (raise it to a higher level). As I mentioned before, it’s amazing how quickly your literary presence drops off when you’re not posting and promoting your books every day. While in the Florida Keys, I watched my blog hits drop like lead balloons and my book sales drop to November levels. Especially, in the U.K. which for me, sales this month have been…