Oprah Made Me Do It!

Oprah LOVES the Kindle.

So, Under a Copper Moon is now in Kindle format and available at Amazon.com.

I usually don't follow Oprah or watch her, but I happened to see on the TV's guide that she was going to unveil her favorite gadget, so I watched to see what it was. She raved about the Kindle.

I have already sold some and the people I know that have a Kindle have nothing but great things to say. They especially love the feature to resize text and the portability. Plus it's easy to find and purchase books, newspapers, and magazines.

Here's a link to the Kindle version of Under a Copper Moon.

Let me know if you have a Kindle and what you like about it.

I might try to get the publisher of Devil's Bridge and Fingering the Family Jewels to create Kindle versions of theose books.

October is
Domestic Violence Awareness
month

I will donate all my proceeds from Devil's Bridge during October, November, and December to Williamsburg, Virginia's Avalon--A Center for Women and Children.


Please help support this effort either by buying a copy of Devil's Bridge or by donating to your local Domestic Violence Awareness organization.

Myra (the character in Devil's Bridge) struggles with her relationship with her husband Gil and his increasing abuse. She finds the power in herself and in the support of those around her to break free.

I hope that all women, men, and children will seek help when they feel abused.

Home is not a place for pain.

Matt & Me

Today, the "Today Show" broadcast from Colonial Williamsburg. I got up at 5:00 a.m. and hauled myself down there with a sign. It's almost a rule that the crowd members should have a sign to wave at the cameras. Since the program focused on "battleground" states for the presidential election (which Virginia is one), I thought I should do an Obama sign... But I am also an author with three books available and this was a national audience. I split the difference with a two-sided sign: one side had a large image of my historical novel Under a Copper Moon with my website address and the other side had an Obama poster.

By the time I found parking and walked almost a mile to the Colonial Capital building where NBC would broadcast, the crowd was four rows thick with giddy women and William & Mary students. I positioned myself with other Obama supporters and waited for the camera lights to flick on.

A wave of cheers and signs popped up every time a camera man (yes, they were all men) walked by -- filming or not.

Matt Lauer walked out of the Capital building and greeted the crowd. Okay, he wasn't dressed in his swim trunks, but I thought that was a good picture of him.

Here's a picture of how close I actually got. He's a great guy and very friendly to the audience.

Here's an image from the program. That's me circled in red.

And here's one of my sign. I doubt many people watching knew it was even there or that a great book graced the front of it. But, at least some of the crowd could see it, and as I told some of my mob buddies, "Where else could you spend $17.95 (less on Amazon.com) for hours of entertainment? Only a book can give that much value for the money."

One woman said she got to look at Matt Lauer for free. She was a McCain supporter.

A 5:00 a.m. adventure probably didn't snag any sales. My poster didn't get seen on national television -- except by me since I knew exactly where I was and what the sign said. But, I had fun and it was better than staying at home and watching the "Today Show" broadcast three miles from my house and not being there.

Not all promotional efforts pay off. Some are just an adventure.

BAM, BAM to Small Publishers

Here's a bit of advice to authors and small publishers and readers who appreciate the innovation of the independent presses: Stay away from Books-A-Million.

After over a month of sending e-mails and making phone calls, I finally was able to talk to "Kim" at Books-A-Million. She said that unless a book was in their warehouse, the stores could not sell it or have the author in for a book signing.

So, I asked, how do you get into the warehouse? She was sketchy, but looked up my three books. Then said they didn't warehouse them. Why? Because the independent publishers use Print-On-Demand (POD).

A quick word on POD: This is the technology of the future for publishing. And most small and independent publishers use it because there is no inventory to warehouse (or destroy if sales lag). POD is more expensive per book for the publisher, but the inventory costs are zero.

Both my publishers (Regal Crest Enterprises: Fingering the Family Jewels and Devil's Bridge, and Cherokee McGhee: Under a Copper Moon) use Ingram's POD printing company.

I couldn't get Kim to say why they wouldn't take a POD book -- they are returnable if books are left after the book signing. Amazon sells a lot of these books, and returns them if they get too many at their warehouse.

So, if you want to help out independent presses and authors, ask for the books at your local independent bookstore, Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble. These companies want to give you the full spectrum of books available.

"Books-A-Million" doesn't mean that they have millions of books to choose from, but that they only stock books that can make them millions.

If this book's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'

I finished reading a novel that I had bought from Amazon based on it matching up with one of my books – Amazon's way of affinity marketing.

I prefer not to mention the book's title, since I don't believe in criticizing authors. Now, I'm not really criticizing the author here; it's more of an open question about storylines. This book's plot was set in the 1800s in the west. The two heroes meet and fall in lust, then in love. Nice. But, the have sex on almost every page. I mean an unrealistic amount of sex in unbelievably fantastic ways. Guys of that era must have had a lot more energy. The book wasn't extremely graphic, but the number of carnal scenes distracted me from the plot.

There are many different types and styles of novels and that's what makes reading an adventure. Some writers gravitate toward sensual words and others like to use common slang, but the story can only be told by the author in his or her way. So, if two cowboys f*ck on every page in all conditions—great. If an amateur detective can't get laid for 300 pages, then he's in the wrong book.

So, as I work on the next Derek Mason Mystery, Derek is going to have some romance. I can tell you it won't be on every page because he would never find time to solve a mystery, but he isn't (or will ever be) a priest…Uh, let me change that to "a celibate."





Do frequent sex scenes detract or add to a story? (And the story is not about sex or the sex trade.)

Devil's Bridge -- Fireworks

Devil's Bridge received a wonderful review from Bethann Korsmi, author of Darkness Descending on her blog WryterReviews.

In part, here is what Beth had to say:

[Devil's Bridge] is truly a wonderful book. It is a page-turner that builds to a suspenseful climax... The plot is tight, the characters believable, and the dialogue is modern. I honestly couldn't put this book down, and therefore I give it my highest recommendation. You won't be disappointed with Devil's Bridge.

You can see the whole review on her blog:

http://wryterreviews.blogspot.com/
or
WryterReviews

Please take a look and leave her a comment to let her know (and me) that you visited.

Have a wonderful Independence Day!

Alphabet Color Quiz

Okay, here's a quiz for all you writers, readers, word lovers, and fashion/decorating/artistic experts.

In the Derek Mason Mystery series, Derek says that he can list ten names for red, but not ten football teams... So, I thought, can I name a color for each letter of the alphabet??

Some are easy, but a few are extremely difficult.

And I couldn't get them all. I had colors matched to 23 of the 26 letters.

Try it and see how many you can name.

Rules:

• only names of colors (nouns)
• only one word (so, D can’t be “dark green”)
• no variegations like brindle, stripe, plaid, check, dots

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

I'll post what I came up with later. Have fun.