Tag Archive for: Kindle

Three Highlights of the 2012, Two New Babies and a New E-Book

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Justice

We were delighted to welcome two new great-grandbabies into our family. Brings the count to 13.

Aleena  

And near the end of the year I tried my hand at e-publishing one of my books. I was a dismal failure all the way around. First, I couldn’t understand the directions that so many people find so simple. I wrote a desperate email to a friend who was doing great with her self-published book on Kindle. She confessed she wasn’t the one who had formatted her book for Kindle, it was her husband. He took pity on me and formatted the book. My friend went through it and found some errors which I corrected. And of course I needed a cover–someone was recommended to me and I hired her.

Then despite great directions I couldn’t figure out how to put the whole thing up. (Are you beginning to get the idea that I might have a learning disorder?) What I have found is that the older I get the longer it takes me to get the hang of something new. Friend’s husband put the book up for sale.

Of course I promoted like crazy. Sales were just okay, nothing like people have been reporting all over the place. So, I decided to try the free route for two days only. Another thing to figure out. A good friend sent me explicit email directions and I managed to to do it.  Again, lots of promotion. The download numbers were okay, but nothing like others reported. And, I still had no reviews.

Several of my author friends said they downloaded it and I begged for reviews. Finally one appeared. Will all this result in sales like is supposed to happen according to all the successful souls doing this? Haven’t checked lately, but when I did, I had one.

This isn’t the kind of book most of the people who frequent this blog read, it’s what I call a supernatural mystery. It borders on horror and has strong Christian elements.  Here’s the first review:

By Pat
Browning
 
I sat up all night reading THE DEVIL’S FOOTHOLD. That always
happens when I take a “quick peek” at the opening chapter of a fascinating new
book. In a departure from her popular Tempe Crabtree series, Marilyn Meredith’s
new book tackles devil worship in a small town in the Northern California
foothills. The cult has pulled in members of the town elite, motivated by lust
for power, and a few teenagers who just want a little excitement.

The
book has some gruesome aspects and a distinctly religious tone. However,
Meredith is a thoughtful writer with enough experience to make it easy to read.
Fans of the Tempe Crabtree series will appreciate familiar characters — a
female deputy, a romantic pastor, and a lazy sheriff who looks down his nose at
the female deputy. The ending is a humdinger.


http://www.amazon.com/The-Devils-Foothold-ebook/dp/B009R7DZ1S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357568848&sr=8-1&keywords=the+devil%27s+foothold

And one more tidbit about this book. This began as the first book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. When I wrote the second one, I realized the tone of the book was much different and decided to change this one with a new setting and new characters. I missed one of the names–which Pat pointed out to me. Hopefully, I’ll have that fixed soon–if I can figure out how to do it.

Next up for me will be a new Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery called Dangerous Impulses. This series has been called a cozy police procedural which I write under the name F. M. Meredith.

Marilyn

The Brave New “E-Book” World

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Electronic Books? E-books. Have they arrived? I think so.

It wasn’t that long ago that electronic mail was new and strange – a novelty instead of a daily communication tool. Not anymore. I don’t remember the last time I wrote a personal letter. A note maybe to go along with a package. But a letter? Like it or not e-mail is the way of the world now. Just as I think e-books will be in less than five years. The number of e-books on the market is exploding. The number of e-readers (the devices and the people) is increasing every day. Publishing contracts today include electronic rights along with foreign and domestic print rights. Yep, e-books are here to stay…in one form or another. (Hey, I’m old enough to have lived through 8-tracks, cassette tapes, cds, and digital downloads for i-Pods – so I know nothing is forever!)

But not to be left behind on the e-book super highway, my co-author and I have recently published a short story collection – I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries and a single short story – Riley Come Home at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It was quite a learning experience. And we are still trying to figure out some of the formatting tweaks. My co-author says that learning how to do a clickable “Table of Contents” has become a point of pride with me – not something that we absolutely have to include in our e-books. She’s right (she’s right a lot of the time but let’s keep that fact just between us). I admit that I have developed an obsession with figuring it out. (Yes, I know there are people out there making a living whom I could pay to do it for me – but what’s the fun in that?) I will conqueror the problem as I do most things – through time, trial, whining, and error. Lot’s of whining and error.

On the bright side, did you know that on-line bookstores such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders have their own software applications that can be downloaded free to your e-reader and/or your PC (desktop or laptop)? You visit their site, search for e-book software applications (if you don’t see an ad for one staring right at you when you arrive on site) and click on the download button. It loads itself and all you need to do is set up an account (if you don’t already have one there for all those print books you’ve been buying for years) and start buying e-books. You can be reading in seconds on your computer without actually purchasing a Kindle (although the current price of $139 is becoming very tempting) or a Nook (Barnes & Noble’s popular e-reader). You can also buy e-books for the Apple i-Pad from the on-line Apple store. Tony Burton, publisher extraordinare, has an on-line store, The Digital Bookshop. You can find lots of great e-books and print books there (including Evelyn David’s Sullivan Investigations mystery series).

And here’s another surprise – there are free e-books to be had. Free! Amazon and Barnes & Noble have free e-books offerings. All you have to do is download them.

Now be warned, my co-author and I aren’t giving away our books. (Are you kidding after all that blood, sweat, and whining?) But if you’re counting your pennies, buying e-books can save you money. Our short story collection, I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries is priced at $2.99. Riley Come Home is a mere 99 cents. The Kindle versions of Murder Off the Books and Murder Takes the Cake are $5 each at Amazon versus the very reasonable just over $9 price tag for the trade paperback editions.

So here’s my question? Have you tried an e-book yet? If not, why not?

Rhonda

(Oh, and if anyone wants to give me some tips about that clickable “Table of Contents” thing, I’d appreciate it.)

Trying Something Daring

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My Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novels (rated PG) are available on Kindle. I suggested to my publisher that we sell the e-version of the latest, An Axe to Grind, written under the name F. M. Meredith for $1.98.

Granted, that’s much cheaper than most other e-books, but I thought it was a good way to acquaint readers with the police officers, their wives and families who inhabit the California beach town of Rocky Bluff. Maybe reading this book would convince them to buy the others in the series.

Will it work? I have no idea, but after doing a bit of promoting about the low price for Kindle owners, I’ve already received e-mails from people I know who have downloaded it.

Of course, the trade paperback version the publisher and I will be selling at its regular price of $12.95.

Promotion for that will be what I’ve always done: book launch (2 this time in separate towns), a blog tour in March, library talks, book and craft fairs, mystery and writers conferences and conventions. Of course I’ll promote on Facebook and Twitter and other social networks.

I’m always ready to try something new, after all I keep writing these books, I’d like more people to read them.

Marilyn who also writes as F. M. Meredith

http://fictionforyou.com

The Kindle

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Yes, I broke down and bought a Kindle. I love it.

Frankly, I didn’t buy it merely to read books. My main purpose was to have something to demonstrate while I gave talks on e-publishing. I’ve been doing that for a long time, and I had two such presentations lined up in a row. I was on a panel at the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena and doing a talk on e-publishing for the Public Safety Writers Association’s Conference last weekend.

I downloaded Gary Phillips latest book on the Kindle because he was the moderator for the first panel. He’d never seen a Kindle so obviously not his book on one either. He was tickled.

I also purchased a couple of my own books on Kindle to see what they looked like: No Sanctuary and an old romance, Lingering Spirit.

The Kindle is great, easy to figure out and nice to read on.

The one drawback is it is far too easy to buy books. I have about six on there now. I’m saving them for when I go on a trip and that’s all I have to take with me.

Because, I have a huge stack of regular books to read. I got three books from a publisher to read and review–and they are really big and rather literary, so they’ll take awhile. Then, while I was at the PSWA conference I bought way too many books. When the author is there and talks about his or her book, I can’t control myself. Oh, and that brings me around to one more drawback about the Kindle–you can’t get the author to sign them.

Most of the big publishers haven’t figured out yet that you shouldn’t charge so much for books. E-publishers who have been around for a long time, know that the cost should be low if they expect to sell a lot of books. All of my publishers are putting their books on Kindle as well as all the other e-book sites. Yes, there are lots of ways to read an e-book–iPhones, iPods, Sony E-Reader and others, Kindle is not the only one.

Over the years I’ve had several e-readers, but you had to connect to your computer to buy a book. The Kindle is magic–you can order the book through Amazon’s Internet site if you want, but you can just as easily go to the book store on the Kindle and order. In 20 seconds the books is there.

And that’s what I have to say about my new Kindle.

Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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One of my fondest memories is the one and only time I was in New York and while searching for a place to eat, came upon four rather inebriated Irishmen singing outside an Irish pub. Of course that’s where we chose to eat–great food and all the wait staff was Irish with wonderful Irish accents. On that same trip, an Irish conductor rescued me when I dumped my luggage when I was trying to get on the train. He scooped everything up and settled me in my seat. When I arrived at the D.C. train station, he had a cart waiting to deliver me and my friend to the taxi he’d called ahead for us. He also had a wonderful accent.

I’ve been really busy the last few days–gave a talk at a library. Fun and great crowd. While there, the librarian downloaded one of by books on his Kindle, took about 20 seconds. This weekend, we went to Camarillo and Oxnard (CA) to visit my youngest daughter and family, then the eldest and her husband. On Sunday, we had a booth at the Celebration of the Whales (I was the only author–that seems to work well), sold a lot of books, talked to many folks, and handed out lots of cards.) Great weekend–but tiring.

Marilyn
a.k.a. F. M. Meredith
http://valleygirlmusings.blogspot.com/ today’s stop on my blog tour–much easier than the physical stuff I do.

Preparing for a Virtual Blog Tour and Freezing

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Because I’m going to have a blog tour in March for No Sanctuary, I’ve been answering interviews and writing articles. Did some yesterday and finished the rest that I’d been given today.

Meanwhile our gas heater quit working on Sunday–that’s the main heater for the house. Fortunately for me, there’s another heater, down the hall and near my office, so if I close the door into the living room, it keeps the office fairly decent.

Sunday night, went to bed early to keep warm–did some editing and watched TV.

Hate to complain since the rest of you have snow and ice and all that cold stuff. It was 38 when I got up this morning and it’s been raining all day. Had some thunder and it got dark as night at 3 p.m.

The guy from the Gas Co. arrived a bit ago right in the middle of the biggest downpour. He fixed the heater–yeah, already warmer. And it’s stopped raining, at least for awhile.

We need rain desperately–they tell us it’s our(California’s) third year of drought. Hope all the rain we’ve been having lately (along with the snow in the mountains) will take care of the problem.

My new publisher has put an old romance of mine, Lingering Spirit, on the Kindle, wish I had one to take a look at it. I know some of my mysteries are already there.

Yes, I do love electronic gadgets, it just takes me awhile to figure out how to use them. When all else fails, I ask my 18 year old granddaughter and she always seems to know the answer.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com