Busy and Exciting Week

Sorry that I haven’t been around much, but it’s been a very busy week.  I’ve been out on the loops promoting my latest release ‘Some Kind of Hero’.  Available now at Samhain Publishing.  And as you guys know, I got a new cover for my latest contracted story ‘Best of Intentions’.  Plus I had galley proofs for my soon to be released full length romantic suspense novel. ‘Ransomed Heart.’  And I just received first round edits for ‘Best of Intentions.’   AND I just got my author copies of the print book ‘Sand, Sun and Sex’.  Which is an anthology thats part of Samhain Publishing’s Midsummer Night’s Steam series.  They’ll be available to purchase May 29th.

It’s funny, April was such a quite month that I was beginning to worry and fret over my future as a writer.  Then the 29th hit and it was like somebody opened the flood gates.  Now I’m so busy I can barely think and I’m loving every minute of it.  Stay tuned folks.  When it gets a little closer to the print release for Sand Sun and Sex I’ll be setting up a contest to win a signed author’s copy. 

Kentucky Derby

Yesterday I watched the derby, as I do every year.  Steeped in tradition, it’s an event like no other.  I watched the horses do their pre race parade and wondered what kind of race it would be.  Did Big Brown have the power that they said he did?  Would the race be accident and injury free.  A few minutes later I had my answer. Yes Big Brown was everything they’d touted and more.  I couldn’t help but make a correlation between him and Barbaro.  Unfortunately, Eight Belles,  the only filly in the race and one of the crowd favorites fell victim to horse racing’s curse.  After finishing second, she collapsed on the track with two broken front legs.  Both compound fractures and not a hope of surviving it.  Much like Barbaro and hundreds of horses a year she literally gave her life for our enjoyment.

To me, it seems as though the industry will soon have to take a good hard look in the mirror.  Bred for speed over stamina, many of these horses are running on legs as fragile as glass.  By the age of 3 years old they’re expected to race, putting thousands of pounds of weight on the bones in their legs.  If this trend continues, more horses are going to needlessly die.

The most recent quick fix for this has been the introduction of artificial surfaces, poly-tracks if you will.  I don’t believe that changing the track surface alone will solve the crises facing the industry as a whole.  More needs to be done, including, in my opinion changing the derby from 3 year olds to 4 year olds.  Whose to say that extra year of training wouldn’t make all the difference in the world?

As I begin my next story, or should I say revisit a story started and filed away, I’ll be pondering the derby, Preakness stakes and Belmont for some time to come.

How Cluttered is your Mind?

Your Mind is 57% Cluttered

Your mind is starting to get cluttered, and as a result, it’s a little harder for you to keep focused. Try to let go of your pettiest worries and concerns. The worrying is worse than the actual problems!

How Cluttered is Your Mind?

Back to Work

Yep, the time has finally come for me to return to work.  With my seasonal break over, I have to get up early in the morning and join the rest of the masses as they head off to their day jobs.  I’ll also have to wrangle two kids.  It’s a bittersweet moment.  On one hand, it means Summer is comming and it will be warm for awhile, on the other, it means all the free time I’ve had to write is coming to an end.  So much for living the fantasy of being a writer…LOL!

Not giving up on Borders yet!

With the backing of Pershing Square Capital Management, apparently Borders will try to emerge from their financial woes still intact.  If I am to understand my sources correctly, after some concerns over the somewhat large interest rate attached to the 42.5 million dollar loan, an agreement has been reached.  Even as the loan is finalized Pershing has apparently upped its offer to acquire Borders international subsidiaries.  What does this mean to you and me right now?  Nothing except that our favorite book seller and champion for the underdog for now has a new lease on life. 

With this new information fresh on my mind, I took doll baby to the local mall to get an Auntie Anne’s pretzel.  I love their pretzels and all the buttery fat that comes with them.  Mmmm….yum!  Oh, but I’m getting off topic here.  Anyway as I was sitting in the food court enjoying our warm doughy treat, I spotted a Border’s express mere feet away.  Once finished, we took a stroll into the store where doll baby immediately found about a dozen books she begged me to buy and I scanned the shelves of the romance section for my publisher’s titles.  I found three Samhain books among the hundreds of titles.  Not great, but not bad considering the economy and the fact that this store was in fact an express and on the small side.

After talking doll baby down to just one book (some interactive DVD Thomas the Tank Engine story thing) and finding a birthday gift for a friend, I went to pay where I ran into the store manager and had a little chat.  Turn’s out this Borders is all about supporting local authors and I’ve been told to come back the beginning of May to talk about setting up a book signing for my late May release.  BOOK SIGNING?  ME?  I never thought the day would come when somebody would actually take me seriously and consider me to be a real author.  Well let me tell you, that Border’s store will forever have my business and I for one will not give up on Borders yet!

 

 

Changes are comming to book publishing…

And it’s about time.

After years of being talked down to, sneered at and told e-books aren’t real books, the industry is starting to change.  HarperCollins a relative giant in the publishing world is about to go under a major overhaul that I think has everything to do with e-books infiltrating the mainstream market.  Check out this link…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/new-harpercollins-book-un_n_94991.html

I applaud Mr. Millers ambition and foresight to attempt such a large overhaul and I’ll be watching closely to see how well it pulls it off.  I imagine that if he can make his vision work, it will represent a paradigm shift in the industry and many other well known and firmly established houses will follow.  The future is starting to look brighter and brighter for e-publishing as a whole and the authors it supports.

 

A way to help stop Amazon.com

One of my fellow authors posted this link on my author loop.  I signed it and now I’m asking you sign it too.  Let the government know what’s going on and that we want them to get involved and stop Amazon.com’s illegal activies.

http://www.amazontroopsurge.com/

 

Boycott Amazon.com

Very rarely do I feel the need to comment about the business side of publishing.  I like most authors in the business know exactly how it works and like it or not accept that way as fact.  However, late last week rumors started surfacing around the author loops for my different publishers regarding amazon.com and they weren’t good.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that they were in fact true. 

In many ways Amazon.com is the Wal-mart of the Internet.  It’s a giant among it’s peers and apparently because of their status have decided they no long have to follow the rules of fair trade.   For those of you who don’t necessarily understand how the whole publishing process works, let me explain.  When a publisher decides to put a book in print, they enter into an agreement with a printer/distributor.  Now Lightning Source has been the big dog for distribution in the print world for a long time.  They have a good reputation for being reliable and fair and if you’ve ever ordered a new book from Amazon.com chances are you’ve received the book from Lightning Source as they are the ones who fills the orders and many times drop ships them from the closest warehouse so you can have your book delivered as quickly as possible.

Well, a couple of years ago, Amazon.com bought Booksurge, a printer/distributor that was in financial duress and didn’t have a great reputation.  Anybody see where this is going?   Yep, while amazon.com has an agreement, dare I say contract with Ligtning Source, they have decided they no longer want to share the profits and have begun the immoral and possibly illegal practice of approaching Lighning Source’s publishers directly with a proposal.  Drop Lighning Source and use our printer/distributor or we will shut off your buy buttons.  They’re also being very sneaky about it by not putting anything in writing, which tells me that what they are doing is probably illegal but certainly immoral. 

Those publishers who refuse to be bullied by Amazon.com have had their buy buttons turned off and now their author’s books are only available through third party sellers.  Which means longer ship times for the consumer, no free shipping for the consumer, money in both Amazon’s and the third party seller’s pocket and the author (who has slaved over the story making it the best it can be) is left with nothing!  Don’t believe me?  Go to amazon and do an advanced search for authors of Whiskey Creek Press or Publish America.  Both suffered this fate last week.  At lest one of my publishers Samhain Publishing has also stood firm and I fear will be next.  Still, I stand behind them in their decision and would rather lose what little sales Amazon would generate than bow to the corporate bully. 

But don’t for one second think that this doesn’t effect you as the consumer.  Because if Amazon gets their way you’ll be looking a longer ship times and potential problems with correct orders being shipped as Booksurge has a horrible reputation for customer service.  I say stand up and tell the corporate bully NO!    There are other alternatives out there for buying books on line who would be happy to provide you with fine customer service.  Start with Barnesandnobel.com.  They carry a lot of the same titles that amazon does and if you’re a B&N member you can qualify for discounted rates and free shipping.  As an author who could lose tons of future sales because of Amazon.com’s unfair trade practices I ask you to boycott Amazon.com.  JUST SAY NO!

Want more info on this subject…check out the links below.

http://depravedduchess.blogspot.com/

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6545772.html?nid=2286&source=link&rid=1817936174 

Borders Financial Woes

With rising cost of fuel and the residual inflation that trails in it’s wake, consumers have chosen to forego luxuries for basic need items.  Unfortunately for small time authors like me and many of my friends we’re now left to worry about where those decisions will leave us.  With fewer sales last year and this year looking even bleaker, Borders, the book store chain who takes chances on new faces in writing is facing a financial crises, one that unfortunately will probably effect thousands of authors.

The most recent rumors include a possibly buy out by rival B&N who not only has a horrible romance department, but carries very few titles from publishers such as Samhain Publishing and The Wild Rose Press, choosing instead to work with the larger and more established NY publishers.  If B&N ends up controlling Borders most of us small time authors can kiss any chances of seeing out books in stores goodbye.

But even if the rumors aren’t true, Borders is in the process of revamping their stores and trying a new selling practice by facing their titles out on the shelf with the cover showing.  This means less shelf space, less stock and less selections to choose from.  For us smaller authors, it also mean our titles will be passed over in favor of more established authors with established track records for sales.  Financially, it’s a smart move, but again for the small time author, just trying to make it, without the support of the big boys like Borders, having any chance of breaking into the print market without selling our souls to the devil and becoming part of the NY publishing conglomerates is slim.  For authors like me and my friends, it truly is a scary time.

Vegas Day 3

Okay, so I’m finally getting around to posting our third and last day in Vegas.  This picture was taken standing on the hoover dam looking out over Lake Mead.  The white line you see is lime deposits left behind after the flood of 1983.  The level rose so high that the spillways were used for the first and only time in the history of the dam.  We spent most of the day here in absolute awe of the sheer magnitude of the structure.    On our way back we stopped at a sad little casino, sitting on a mountainside bluff just outside of boulder city.  We ate dinner at the buffet then headed back to Vegas where we drove the strip before returning to our hotel to pack and prepare for the flight home the next day.  If you’re ever in Vegas, the Hoover Dam is a must see!