The fourth book in my Detective Jackson series was the most challenging to write so far. I used parallel structures to tell overlapping stories. In the main story, Jackson investigates the deaths of a slain family. The parallel plot starts six weeks before the murders and tells the family’s story, with each victim narrating a POV section, leading up to the murders. Thus the name, Passions of the Dead.
The family’s story takes readers right through the final murder scene— Read more →
I’ve recently joined the e-book revolution both as a novelist and a reader. As a novelist, e-books are allowing me to make a living. As a reader, I’m trying new authors because Kindle lets me download a sample before I buy. The easy access, low prices, and lack of space constraints make downloading e-books a daily temptation. It will be easy to accumulate far more books that I can ever read. But when you can buy a great book for less than $2, who cares? Read more →
To celebrate the launch of my fourth Jackson story, Passions of the Dead, the first book in the series, The Sex Club is now only $.99 as an e-book. For those who have never tried the series, here’s the short blurb for the first book:
The Sex Club: A dead girl, a ticking bomb, a Bible study that’s not what it appears to be, and a detective who won’t give up. Read more →
With Borders getting into the act, there will soon be four platforms on which authors can self-publish e-books directly to readers. I summarized them for comparison and thought I would share my findings.
Amazon: Digital Text Platform
This venture has been around the longest, has a reported 76% of e-book sales, and publishes content directly to the Kindle bookstore. Read more →
In a post about how e-books are changing the publishing industry, Timothy Hallinan, author of the highly acclaimed Poke Rafferty series, said: “I’m writing two books I don’t even plan to try to sell through the usual channels; they’ll go direct to readers. I have a list of a dozen more I want to write. It feels as though I’ve been cooped up in a small room for years and the walls suddenly fell down. There’s space to swing my arms. I don’t have to reject exciting ideas because they’re not ideas I can sell.” Read more →
Yesterday, for a book signing, I drove 328 miles, spent $40 on gas, and was gone from home for 8 hours. I sold 20 books while I was in the store, at a profit of about $20 to me, which I won’t see for 9 months. And that’s assuming my publisher is still in business and bothers to pay me.
In August, I did a book signing here locally at Borders. They were unable to order my books (another story!), so they bought copies from me. I’m still waiting for the $350 Borders owes me. Read more →
