Archive for October 2010

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