Kindle Short Reads - Let's Write!

  Did you know you can write and publish short stories for Amazon Kindle? 

I've been hearing about the Kindle Short Reads for a while but finally investigated. And tested. 

As far as my research took me, these can be a few different lengths, needs to be approved, and just like every other Kindle book has to have a cover. 

Word count categories: 

15 min read: 11 pages
30 min read: 12 - 21 pages
45 min read: 22 to 32 pages
60 min read: 33 to 43 pages
120+ min read: 65 - 100 pages 

To test this I went through a few of my dozens of short stories. (All saved and filed all over my computers - someday I have to get organized.) 

I picked a creepy old story I wrote about a year ago. Went to Canva and did a quickie book cover, and popped it up on Kindle Short Reads. Took maybe twenty minutes to a half hour.  

Two things I wish I had done; 

Picked a better background picture. Done better font. 

This cover was done in five minutes. I should have slept on it. 😝  

Escaping Pigwell was 14 pages in a Word doc, double spaced, Courier New. (Yes, I should have used Times New Roman - the standard) On Amazon this story came up as 10 pages/1964 KB. I did put it through as a word doc and not a pdf. Keywords I used the basic read tags like Horror, murder, etc but also added "short read" so Amazon would tag it appropriately. 

Pricing is your choice, of course, but I opted for .99 cents. 

Since this went up so easy and went live just a couple hours later, I'm going to put up more. Sometimes I have an idea and it never makes it to book length. Now there is an place for all our stories and people who look to read them. 

In my search of these short stories I saw some shorts by Dean Koontz, Debbie Macomber, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult. So know, if you decide to publish a short, you'll be in good company. 

So if you want a dark creepy read check out Escaping Pigwell on Amazon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The Pitfalls of Admitting You’re a Writer

I'm a writer and proud to admit it. It never was that way, but it's okay now. I think once you accept you're who you are, writing gets easier. Talking about who you are and what you do gets easier, too. 

Any professions should be something to be proud of whether it’s sweeping floors or flying airplanes. It’s what you do, what puts food on the table and a roof overhead. However there is one profession where people think you should work for free or at least on their project for free.

“What do you do for a living.”

“I’m a writer.”

“I have a great idea for a book. You could write it and I’ll split the money with you.”

Yes, I’ve had the conversation many times and I used to bite my tongue every time. I used to say, “Sorry, I really don’t have time. I do have a book I’m working on now.” This reply has either brought no response or something along the lines of, “But this will be a best seller. You should still write it.”

Aside from the fact that most lay people have no idea how much work goes into writing a book. The late hours, pages upon pages of edits and revisions and when the book is finally done, searching for a publishing house or agent. Some writers are fairly prolific and others spend years perfecting their books. People outside of the profession just don’t get it.

So what do you do when someone insists you’re missing that best seller if you’d only write their book? You know, and do all the work so they can “split” the profit? And POOF! Have that magical best seller?

Here’s what works for me;

“Okay, give me an outline by chapter and character sketches. I’ll also need a timeline in detail to make sure I get it right.”

No one has ever given me any of this and most never come back asking. If they do, I reiterate how important it is getting the outline, character sketches and timeline is to create the book.

Next time they ask you to write that book, give them the list and watch that glint go out of their eye. Oh wait! Writing a book is work???? Who knew!

No Apologies

Indie Marketing & Podcasts

In my search for marketing ideas, (Yeah, I know I should spend more time writing...) I went to YouTube. You can learn anything on YouTube. My daughter learned to play guitar there and she's quite good now. So, I figured I'd see if anyone there had Indie marketing ideas.

I found Joanna Penn and you can see her wealth of ideas on this video.
She talks about a lot of things, but one that caught my eye was Podcasts. I have a few short stories I don't know what to do with. Not enough to throw into a novella, but I wanted to do something with them. Podcasts? Would that lure people to read my other books?

My other Podcast idea is to read a chapter or two of one of my books. Then add, "To read Soul Mates go to www.jeannedonnelly.com." I only worry that it might piss people off. Would they see it as an interesting hook or a feel cheated? The Podcast would be free. Maybe put a note that says, "First chapter of Soul Mates read by the author?"

History lesson; When James Patterson was a new author he wanted to do a commercial. His publisher/agent said he was crazy. It wouldn't work and would be a waste of money. He did it anyway and landed on the New York Times best seller list. It worked and look where he is now.

Anyone out there Podcasting?

Romance! Suspense! Old boyfriends! Add in one crazy Rescue Dog and the fun begins! 

Harmland Dark Tales - A Review

I picked up this book a while ago, but just got around to reading it. My only question is: Why did I wait so long? Harmland is definitely a 5 STAR read!

Harmland by Charles Allen Gramlich is a great collection of short and creepy tales that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Each story brings out both psychological and supernatural elements that will keep you guessing till the end.

If you've ever watched the Twilight Zone or enjoyed an Alfred Hitchcock movie then Harmland is definitely your kind of book. Hitchcock stories had you guessing till the end and would then slap you with a major twist, Gramlich hits you just as hard. His use of language and description had me jealous of his ability to paint vivid pictures with his words.

The parrot still haunts me.....go read Harmland and you'll be haunted, too.

I Hate Editing...is that so bad?

      Working on Threshold to Midnight. I wrote this 500+ page book a few years ago and since going Indie I decided to break this into two books, part one and part two.
      When I look for a book one of the things I look for is length. I read a lot so I love a long book that takes me away. I think longer books take you further into the world the author was building and you get to know the characters better. I loved King's Under the Dome and read it before I got my Kindle. It was a b*tch to lug around but worth the read. Now with Kindles big books get easier.
     Unfortunately, I hear a lot of people don't like to commit to a long book. I really don't understand this at all, but it is what it is. So that's what led me to chop this book in half. As an Indie I also have to wonder if this would be more profitable? Getting the reader to come back for more?
      After cutting the thing up, I suddenly got an idea for book three and a 10 page outline popped out of my head. One problem...I already wrote books 1 & 2 and want to dive into writing 3, but I'm trying to restrain myself to get 1 & 2 edited and up on Amazon.
     I hate editing! I so want to just move forward. I'm all excited about the ideas for number 3 and getting the rest of this story out of my head.

     Then there's the break for playing with book covers.... MaWahhahahahaha! I don't know if I'm any good at it, but I'm having fun.

Any input on covers if greatly appreciated.

 Book One;

     Diana sat down to breakfast with a madman. 

     Eggshells, she thought. This is what they mean when they say walking on eggshells. This edge of your seat fear that the wrong move, the wrong word, will set him off.

     She chanced a glance toward her husband and saw it. Right there in those Robert Redford blue eyes was the mania. That touch of insanity that crawled into their lives a few months ago was shimmering in her husband’s eyes. Like a gleam of another dimension. A place where madness grew like wild flowers. Or maybe weeds. Weeds that set their roots down deep in Luke’s brain and mangled his thoughts. Tightening on his brain cells and twisting them with fear, anger and confusion. She knew if she could get him to some kind of mental hospital they would tell her the fruit loops in his box were doing the jig right now, trying to escape. 

Alternate Universes in a Writing Career

Since the damn Sequester has but a sizable dent in my unemployment income (22.5% cut!)and the job hunt in New Jersey is like banging your head against the wall (one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation), I'm searching for other writing venues while I wait for my books to hit the best seller list.

8-)~

In my web wanderings I found this site; http://writingcareer.com/

One of the places I found here is; http://pseudopod.org/guidelines/ Which accepts the darker side of writing; horror, Poe-esq stuff and the weirder side of our brain train. (Charles? Would some of your stuff fit here?)

I mostly write spiritual, light stuff but every once in a while something dark and evil falls out of my head and I just have to get it down on paper. I think the way the human brain functions will always fascinate me. I wonder what drives people to do things or why a seemingly nice person would suddenly bat a complete stranger over the head with a shovel?
How can you not wonder about this stuff? The newspapers and evening news are full of these weird happenings. And sometimes stories form and just beg to jump onto the page.

I often wonder about a pen name. If I write about God, dogs and angels, should I put my vampire, bat-crazy-shit, and evil dark stuff under a different name so my readers are warned about the dark side of the brain?

Write on, my friends...I'll see you in the pages....

Fonts! Spacing! So many details in an ebook

On Kindle my book, Soul Mates, was an easy read. Now attempting to send it to Create Space for a paperback copy.

I have a ...what do they call it? Sample copy? Anyway I hate the font! Its very light and that alone makes it hard to read. So I know I have to change this. Do I make it Arial rounded? Times New Roman? Courier? Do I bold it?

What about spacing? I think it might be better double spaced or am I only thinking that because of the font issue?

Decisions, decisions....

A friend spotted an error in the ebook, so I'm reading it backwards (brain-drain!) to try and catch the typo. I wish she had noted the page number, but she said "next time" so that will help for the next book. I do see I sometimes miss little words like "an" or "the" when I'm editing my own work. I think my brain knows it so it tells me it sees things that aren't there. Weird.   Do they teach copywriter classes?

Still watching Zimmerman trial....It's addictive!

Favorite fonts? Do you bold?

The devil is truly in the details...

Indie Book Cover Trama

 Now that I've finished the manuscript and I'm waiting for the edits to come back, I'm playing with book covers. At this point as an unemployed, starving writer I have to do this myself. If any of my books actually take off, i'd definitely hire a cover artist, because I'm at a loss here.

Two covers ideas so far;
First the fire represents a fire the main character accidentally causes  that burns down the police station. The dog is a dog she finds that offers some comedy relief in the story.
The woman...well I really didn't want a yoga type woman but needed something to represent the main character.

Cover two; Depicts a scene from the beginning of the book. You'd have to read it to know but I thought it might entice readers to find out what it means. The "Not for Sale" tag relates to the human trafficking problem the main character encounters in the story.

Still not sure if I'm done figuring this out. But that's all I have so far.

Any preferences? I'm taking votes.

Back to the drawing board....

Free or Cheap Book Sales

Hoping my next ebook will be out shortly, I've made Soul Mates 99 cents. Also, I should have it in print soon. Not that I'm expecting any great increase in sales but I've had a few less tech savvy people ask for a paperback copy.

I'm researching marketing now. Book blasters (I'm not sure that's the technical term-places that send out emails of your book to their lists) and book bloggers. Holy Bejeebers! This is time consuming. I've been at it all morning and still don't know what the freak I'm going to do. Pay, don't pay, beg, steal, borrow, plead?

I'm cranking up my marketing strategy because from what I've read on Konrath and Amanda Hocking's blogs ...that's the thing to do to increase your sales. Amanda said her sales really took off after contacting book bloggers. That surprised me. I only wish she had told me who she sent her book to, which bloggers. But I guess I can google that. Right now I'm tired of all this market research. Its exhausting and I haven't written a word all day. Which makes me feel guilty. Since I'm unemployed I don't really want to pay a lot of money, but wonder if this is something that should be invested in for long term gains. I don't need to be a millionaire. (although I will be going out today to buy some Powerball tickets -->260 million<-- a=""> ) I just don't want to have to return to the cubical. 

Ok, Enough of a vent. I'm going to take my cranky-pants back into my office and write something worth reading. If anyone has any ideas for promoting ebooks PLEASE tell me!

Writer's Desk

 They may look like random pieces of wood, but soon they will be my new writing desk.
With pictures
and colors.

I'm going to burn it with images and words that will inspire me. Some just because they're pretty, some because they mean something.

Below is the rough sketch of ideas. It might or might not end up like that but only time and paint will tell.

I think writing is part creativity, part tools, part time. And mostly ass in chair.
Thinking about the old writers advice, "Ass in Chair" I'm thinking of burning those words into my desk in an inconspicuous place where I'll know they're there, but others might not notice. then I wonder if it would be too crude?

But first I have 50 more pages to finish editing for my new ebook, Disregarding Heaven. Hopefully it will be up on Amazon in a week or two.

And I need a cover. Unemployed, I'm probably going to do it myself. Something simple. When my books actually start making money, I'll hire a cover artist. For now, I'm all I've got. Maybe tomorrow we can talk about covers and how to figure that stuff out.

Book Review: Moon Dance by J.R. Rain

I just finished Moon Dance by J.R.Rain and I'm gonna give it 5 stars. This book kept me engaged and cheering for our main character, Samantha Moon, who is a mom, private investigator and a vampire. The story follows her investigation of an attempted murder while trying to balance everyday mom things. Clues are artfully dropped along the way as to how she became a vampire and what she's done to blend in with her old life. A skin disease explains why she avoids sunlight and her husband helped manage the blood issue. The story takes us through her struggles to earn a living, trying to save her marriage and manage her vampire cravings. Best of all -- I never guessed who did it. Clues were dropped, Samantha moved smoothly though the investigation and kept me guessing all the way.

From a writing stand point I'd say this is very well crafted and executed story. Characters are well fleshed out and believable, scenes are vivid and the story flows so well you forget reality and get sucked right into the world of Samantha Moon.

I don't seek out vampire stories and I'm not sure how this ended up on my Kindle. I am a bit of an impulse buyer so I often find surprises in my menu. However this was an excellent story. I loved the writing and I loved Samantha Moon. I would often find myself rooting for her and then feeling her pain as she realizes the life she once loved can never be hers again.

If you're looking for a good read check out Moon Dance. For more great reads by J.R. Rain click on his name to find his author's page on Amazon. I'm going back for the next book in this series!

Yay Kindle!

My wonderful hubby gave me a Kindle for Valentine's Day! Yay! Books beat out chocolate and flowers every time.
I've been surfing for a case for it because I'm so scared of damaging it. I'm afraid to bring it to work in case I bang it or crush it or drop it since I usually carry a backpack with my WIP (printed out), water, lunch, a book (Karen Slaughter's Broken), iPod & wire, notebook, magazines...What can I say? I'm really bored at work, I need to keep entertained.
Now I'm so excited to have a Kindle I'm surfing Amazon and scooping up some books. I'm not sure how to find the free ones yet but when books are only 2.99 my book budget is suddenly worth a lot more.
I don't think a Kindle can replace books. I still love the feel of a paperback in my hands. Something about cracking the spine of a new book and turning those pages is like comfort food. I read in bed and there's usually a book or two under my pillow. I don't think I can tuck my Kindle under my pillow. And what about the beach? Dare I take it to the beach? I worry enough about the cell phone and the sand.
:)
Later gators! I'm going to play with my Kindle!
My first purchase:

Do you Ebook?

I read Konrath's take on the new self-published ebooks and I'm curious, a little afraid of it, but curious just the same.
I have one story about a woman reincarnated as a dog and it's told from the dog's perspective...how would I ever sell this to an agent??? I don't know how to put a positive marketing spin on it so I was thinking of Amazon. (Actually it's a lot more complicated than a reincarnated dog, but it's hard to blurb)
I really like this story. It's based on the fact that a soul mate doesn't have to be a romantic interest but just a higher connection.
However what holds me back is the fact that to go up as an ebook it would have to be perfect...beyond perfect. Every word, punctuation mark, paragraph would have to be absolutely perfect.
I'm not sure if I'm up to that much perfection.
Anyone got any ebooks they did themselves? Where did you publish? How did it work out?

To E or not to E...

I've been reading a lot about authors who are now publishing their work as ebooks on Amazon and other places and it has me thinking that the face of publishing is changing.
Is this new round of self-publishing a good thing or bad?
Mr. Konrath has some very interesting thoughts on the subject. I've been reading his books since he published the first one and think he's an awesome writer. When you're looking over your shoulder at night as you read one of his books you know he has sufficiently creeped you out. And he's making money on his ebooks. We already know he's a good writer but his marketing and sales tactics continue to amaze.
We write because we love to tell the story, but for all those books that are sitting in a drawer right now, clean and ready to go, but without an agent who will take a chance on them maybe they belong as a ebook?
I have a book I love, I've written and rewritten and rewritten and now it sits there collecting dust. I'm not sure what genre it would fit in. What genre is the Marley and Me book in? It's kind of like that but from a dogs point of view. And it's more a novella size.
See?
It was a fun book to write and I love my characters, but under what label do you sell something like that?
I'm thinking .... maybe....ebook?
Do you publish your own ebooks? Would you? Where? How?
Have you reaped more problems or rewards from it?
This little pup is my new foster dog. He was found in the yard of an abandoned house. His hair was so matted they named him Marley.