Oh No She Did-ent!

Oh yes I did! I pay a monthly fee for Adobe's Indesign and I'm learning it inside and out while creating my own E-pubs complete with illustrations and Drop Caps and autographs. And now I've found a way to digitally deliver these E-pubs myself!!! I know, right? I can now supply my readers with an ebook and I DON'T EVER, EVER, EVER have to deal with Amazon KDP. How utterly cool is that??? VERY COOL! 

I actually didn't think it was possible for a publisher to operate this way since no publisher has, at least none that I knew of. Turns out that it's quite possible. And these E-pubs are readable on ALL e-pub readers. Nooks, Ibooks, Calibre etc . . Also I can create books specifically in the archaic Mobi format that Amazon KDP uses even though I have NO desire to do this. 

Bottom line, I did it and can deliver my e-books at the best price around. Actually, the only price around because why would I PAY a distributor or allow Amazon KDP to take over publishing rights when I can do it all myself?

So visit my store at www.authorsuedent.com and check out the free downloadable samples and then purchase a copy if you like what you read. 

Eric Wilson of Fireproof gives Never Ceese 4 Stars!

Say it ain't so? Yep. Some time back I earned a grand review from New York Times Best Selling author of the novelization of "Fireproof" Eric Wilson. He posted it on Amazon one day out of the blue. I didn't expect it and was quite surprised to even see it there. Why would a New York Times Best Selling Author of anything leave a review of one of my books.

Well as luck would have it, he posted it on Amazon who recently started removing reviews by authors on other authors books. Good thing I copied the review before they deleted it so here it is in all its glory!

Eric Wilson
September 6, 2007
4 Stars

Circling the Camp

Sue Dent has done the unthinkable. She's pushed the boundaries of Christian fiction, circling the camp with a small publisher, howling for someone to take notice. And it's working.

"Never Ceese" is a blend of traditional vampire themes and modern smart-mouthed characters. Ceese is a werewolf on her way to a British castle, where she will rendezvous with Richard the vampire. Ceese is in a constant struggle with "the wolf" inside, while Richard is trying to maintain a modicum of control over his fang-toothed desires. This unlikely pair, united by an old woman named Penny, discover they have mutual childhood links. As they travel to meet a young college-age researcher, their pasts come to light. Romance flits about in unexpected places. And a self-seeking professor angles to take their immortality for himself.

The standbys are in play--garlic, crucifixes, wolfsbane, etc--but Dent adds a few of her own elements to this classic battle between the old ways and new. There are few surprises, but the story moves at a quick pace, leavened with humorous dialogue and clever insights. Dent's characters struggle with their cursed sinful natures, seeking release--if such a thing is possible.

In the end, all is resolved--if not a bit suddenly on some levels--and possibilities are left open for the sequel, "Forever Richard." I guess I know what book to add to my Christmas list. With Dent circling the camp, someone's bound to wake up to this genre's possibilities.

 
Actually I've not done the unthinkable at all. In fact, as far as what he's talking about here, I've done nothing at all. I'm not circling any camp and no one in that camp cares at all that a puny little POD author even wrote a book. Ah but thanks for the kind words Mr. Wilson.

I promise, I'm working on it!

Just had to stop writing long enough to to tell yet another fan that, "I promise, I AM working on the third book in my Thirsting for Blood Series." I gave this reader, (a local fan,) a copy of Electric Angel to hold them until I could get the third book out. Not good to have fans who work on your vehicle. They tend to want to hold things for collateral. "You don't get your car back unless I see evidence that you're writing." And yes. That was their threat. Fortunately I had my laptop with me and could prove it. ;D

Love each and every ONE of you! And y'all know it. 

Group hug! ((((((HUG)))))))

Lighting Source's definition of "Return Policy."

Let's begin.

From LSI's contract

BACKGROUND ON RETURNS

Typically publishers grant booksellers the right to return unwanted and/or overstocked copies ofbooks. These books are considered “returnable”.

Sue's thoughts: Pay very close attention to this. The ONLY publishers who grant booksellers the right to return unwanted and/or overstocked copies of books are large publishers AND not only do they give bookstores that privilege but grant them other privileges as well. It is part of that warped "industry" standard return policy Simon & Schuster [and soon the other few large publishers] set up during the depression to keep bookstores from going under. The problem: once the depression ended and bookstores were able to stand on their own again, no one changed the blasted return policy and in fact, it became the "industry standard."

As books are returned, booksellers charge publishers for the cost (i.e. their purchase price) of any books returned and expect to be reimbursed. The cost of returned books is either deducted or netted against the proceeds of book sales of the publishers’ titles in the month returns are shipped to the publisher.

Sue's thoughts: If only that was how it worked. It isn't and you can research for yourself to see that there is WAY more to it than that. What's listed above is only a very, very, very small part of how it really works. Keep in mind it's part of that "warped" industry standard return policy. The only part that makes a modicum of sense.

Some booksellers will only purchase books on a returnable basis;

Sue's thoughts: Let's go ahead and say it right now. No larger bookseller such as Barnes & Noble will purchase your book unless you make it returnable by that warped "industry" standard return policy EVER, no matter what. MOST small booksellers will which is refreshing as this means a very workable "return policy" is used.

therefore, there is a probability that sales may be reduced if a title is designated as non-returnable.

Sue's thoughts: LOL You bet sales will be reduced. No large bookstore will ever order your books period! But then, when you make your book returnable according to the "industry" standard, even when a large bookstore buys your book they aren't technically buying it because they get to send it right back whenever they want to and they get to do so for FREE! They don't even have to pay shipping, according to that warped "industry" standard return policy.

Publishers must weigh the risk of returns against the potential for increased sales and be prepared to reimburse booksellers for the cost of returns as they occur. Publishers who make their titles returnable typically place a designated percentage of their proceeds from sales into a fund (or reserve account) that is used exclusively to pay for the cost of future returns.

Sue's thoughts: For the publisher, and I'm not talking about the large publishers who that warped "industry standard return policy works I mean the small publisher, there is GREAT risk of returns and the absolute unbelievable hard truth is that small publishers typically NEVER get their returned books back so they're out the print cost of the book. More on that in a moment. Needless to say, the above statement is only speaking about larger publishers.

Having said that, here are the choices you get to make as a publisher if you use Lightning Source, Ingram's POD distributor. Pay very close attention.

Returns Designation Meaning

No - Select this designation if you do not want to allow your titles to be sold on a returnable basis. LSUS will not accept returns from booksellers for any title so designated.

Yes-Deliver - Select this designation if you want to allow your titles to be sold on a returnable basis and you would like to receive a physical copy of the book upon its return. If you select this option, you will be charged for the current wholesale cost of each book returned, plus a $2.00 per book shipping and handling charge. LSUS does not guarantee the condition of the book being returned

Yes-Destroy - Select this designation if you want to allow your titles to be sold on a returnable basis and you would not like to receive a physical copy of the book upon its return. If you select this option, you will be charged only for the current wholesale cost of each book returned. No shipping and handling fees will apply. LSUS will destroy any returned books that it receives if this option is selected

Sue's Experience with Lightning Source: No matter what option you choose, you NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER will see your "returned-from-the-bookstore" book. I chose Yes-Deliver and expected to see my returned book sent back to me. Hahahahahahaha! Yeah right. I thought this because of this statement " and you would like to receive A physical copy of THE book upon ITS return."

I'm going to give you a few seconds to decide what YOU think that means . . . . . . . . . . okay, times up. If you thought it meant you will get your "returned-from-the-bookstore" book back, guess again. YOU WILL NEVER SEE IT AGAIN! It isn't even an option. When I contacted LSI to ask them "what up" they had this to say. And yes, I have the emails:

"No you don't get the book back, what we do is print you a NEW copy and charge you $2.00 shipping for it."

I said, "where is my returned book?"

"Oh we destroy that."

What? What? What?

"I didn't choose "Yes - destroy" so I want my damn book back like your contract states."

"Well, that wording really needs to be changed."

At this point I just sit in silence thinking WOW! And this is legal. They've no fear whatsoever. Their contract is full of wording that infers one thing but means another. Unbelievable. I did tell them at that point that I felt this was illegal and they blew me off. I told them to tell me where it was they destroyed the books as I wanted to "see" my book before it was destroyed as I didn't believe it ever came back to them as they "inferred." Their response, "oh trust me. We take care of it." I never did get a location I could visit.

Bottom line is, LSI never sees the returned books. They don't want to pay to have it shipped back and neither do they want to pay to destroy it. Since they won't divulge the location were the destruction of the book occurs, I'm going to assume they don't destroy them either. Were do said books go . . . hmmmm . . . there's lots of money to be made selling returned-from-the-bookstore books to wholesalers who dabble in such things.

Now before you go on and think I've got it "in" for LSI, ALL POD distributors operate this way and it's due to that warped "industry" standard return policy. LSI is so bold about it because apparently they think the well-they're-doing-it-too mentality will protect them. So far so good.

If you're a publisher and you make your books returnable according to that standard then you're basically sunk. I've asked my publisher to make ALL my books non-returnable according to that "industry" standard. But basically my books aren't non-returnable at all. If you'd like to work out a return policy that benefits both the publisher and the bookseller he'll be more than happy to work with you. Hopefully my decision will help keep my publisher alive and kicking for a LONG, LONG WHILE.

But to be so bold as to sit there and tell me that I don't ever get my returned book back when the contract clearly read that I will . . . wow, just wow!

WTF2!

A little bit more abut just what WTF2 means!



WTF2



Click above if you dare. ;)

Someone is reading Electric Angel. ;)

. . . and this is what they have to say:

I'm three chapters in and I really am enjoying this story!I love how descriptive your writting is.I feel like I'm right there walking into Mountain View Inn and talking to Martha and Anna! Love THIS!!!!

Go get your copy now at Black Bed Sheet Books for only $10.00!! On sale for a limited time. You'll be able to get it everywhere else in a couple of days but I wouldn't wait if I were you. They can't offer you this kind of price!!!

Don't forget you can also purchase a NON-AMAZON kindle version and a NON-Barnes & Noble Nook DRM free version at the same place. And those have three additional pictures in them taken by Jim Sorfleet of SnS-Photo.net of Ron Fitzgerald the cover model. Enjoy!! My Kindle will NEVER be available on Amazon and my Nook will NEVER be available through B&N as both GIVE kindles and nooks away via their lending library PLUS they actually allow for RETURNS!! WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? Aw, they make me laugh.

Electric Angel Book Trailer

I give you the official book trailer for "Electric Angel." The book should be sent off to be printed in about a week. You may still pre-order here or at www.downwarden.com/blackbedsheet. If you pre-order by clicking on the "Electric Angel" tab on this page then you will get a signed copy. ;)

Now on with the trailer.

Enjoy! I know I did.

Do you wanna say some good stuff about Electric Angel?

Do you wanna say some good stuff about Electric Angel, I know I want you to!

Yep, that's my way of asking for editorial reviews. I've got an ARC or whatever you want to call it for anyone who is in the business of reviewing ARC's. Since I'll never get to Publisher's Weekly, (don't qualify. Not with a big publisher and not going to be strung out by their tall-tales that they review as many folks as they can get to . . . yeah right?) I instead look for anyone else. Actually I don't have to look far, I've already have one ARC sent off to the British Fantasy Society and will send a few more out shortly.

If you're interested though you can contact me at suedent@neverceese.com and I'll see if you qualify. I'll only send the ARC out to qualified reviewers. ;)

Also for any of my "Christian" reviewers, meaning those who review work for those publishers who write exclusive denominational fiction, Electric Angel will be submitted to Spring Arbor for distribution for all the good that does. But hey, it does make it AVAILABLE for sale in places where it wouldn't be even if it doesn't get it in the door of ANY "Christian" bookstore as they claim it does.

Okay, yes so anyway. Book should be out shortly to buy. Pre orders can already be made on this site. Just go to the Electric Angel tab at the top of this page. No. It's not showing up on Amazon yet but don't look for a bargain there. I'm not going to allow it. If you want the book the best price will be from me or Black Bed Sheet Books. That includes Kindle, Nook or whatever format you ask for. Yep, yep!

VM Underground Interview with Sue Dent

Listen live Monday July 11, 2011 at 11 P.M. EDT 10 P.M. CDT and MDT And 8 P.M. PDT as Vic Mendoza interviews Sue Dent on the VM Underground Show. You may also listen on http://wflmradio.com and http://nvasionradio.com

A Book That One Must Never Ceese To Read.

Here's a five-star review for Never Ceese I found on Buzzillion.com posted on September 25th, 2010. Thank-you Bookworm from Maine!

A Book That One Must Never Ceese To Read

★★★★★

5.0

Pros

• Compelling characters
• Deserves multiple readings
• Easy to read
• Innovative ideas
• Original story
• Well written

Cons

• 
  

Best Uses

• 
  

"Absolutely fantastic. A truly original idea, and truly captivating characters. A must-read."

Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

Simon and Schuster are the ones to blame!

*****Reposted with today's date specifically for Kristy Tallman =)

Well after continued research I now have the smoking gun and it lies squarely in Simon & Schuster's lap. Whose responsible for the outlandish return policy that sinks all small publishers eventually--Simon and Schuster. Here you go:

. . . The Great Depression of the 1930s hit the book publishing industry as hard as it hit every other sector of the American economy. Booksellers at that time were mostly small local businesses, and to help them survive the economic hardships of the depression, Simon and Schuster invented a system allowing booksellers to return unsold copies of books for credit against future purchases. Other publishers quickly had to follow Simon and Schuster's lead, and the practice became the industry standard. At times booksellers have been able to use this system to their advantage to clear inventories or to "pay" for copies of new books by returning unsold copies. Publishers have adapted to the system of returns by adding costs of shipping, warehousing, and recycling returned copies into the price of books. . .

Always nice to have facts. ;) 

So a system designed to help small booksellers survive the depression has become the Industry Standard and we have Simon & Schuster to thank for it.  

It says that publishers have adapted to the system of returns by adding costs of shipping, warehousing, and recycling returned copies into the price of the book. This means larger publishers. Smaller publishers haven't adapted to anything. They were never a part of the scenario. There is no costs for recycling books for them. Returned-from-the bookstore-books are never recycled and I doubt they ever were. My understanding is that today returned-from-the-bookstore books are sold to wholesalers who dabble in selling such books. For instance  Books-A-Million's two main wholesalers only sell returned-from-the-bookstore books. Going into a Books-A-Million you'd never know the books weren't actually new. For us small-pubbed authors those are stolen books. In other words we never see any money from them and our publishers never see any money from them. Our distributors tell us these books are destroyed.

Anyway I just wanted to add that little tidbit for all you new authors who wonder why things happen the way they do.

I particularly liked this clip as well which sort of sets the tone for how larger booksellers operate today.

In the 1970s, national chain bookstores such as Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks began to open retail outlets in malls across the country. By buying in volume, chains could earn more profit on each copy of a book sold, allowing them to pay higher rents. Buying in volume also meant that they could negotiate deeper discounts from publishers. By passing this discount on to book buyers, the chains were able to attract customers away from the smaller independent bookstores. 

Well would you look at the bolded text! And one wonders why I detest Barnes & Noble and ALL the larger chains. I'll never make my books returnable again. Everyone makes money in this business but the producer of the product. Lovely.

Being remembered on Friday the 13th!!!

So very elated to see bloggers remember and post about me on Friday the 13th! Especially those bloggers wh0 recognize that "Christian" readers deserve a good story as much as the next guy. Though this blogger and I don't see eye to eye from time to time, we do both agree on the issues that matter or at least we seem to.  ;)

So check out this blog post:

http://davidbrollier.blogspot.com/2010/08/august-cfrb-tour_13.html

Oh and happy Friday the 13th!

PuritanWorks.com in da house!!!

Buy Never Ceese and Forever Richard here if you don't want to click on my links instead!!! Yep. As of today, this wonderful bookstore orders directly from S D Enterprises and gets the same discount that Ingram's Spring Arbor offers. At least they will very soon--as soon as the link is fixed. Either way this is one book selling site where I actually SEE the money that is made.

All you other bookselling sites should take note. You really should. I've [S D Enterprises] "gots" books and I ain't afraid to sell them.

Let's make a deal! Let's make a deal!

That's what the publishing industry has been reduced to anyway. Everybody makes money but the bookstores and the authors.

Thanks Thanie for hanging in there and helping me out. You RAWK!!!!

Just remember if anyone is selling Never Ceese the paperback as used that the chances are I don't see that money. Never Ceese is now a non-returnable POD available through Spring Arbor via Ingram's POD. That means it's printed when an order is received. No big on-line seller can have used copies unless they acquired them during the short time I had them marked as returnable. And of course that would mean that LSI is lying that they actually destroy all returned books but instead resell them to companies that deal in returned-from-bookstore books. And no, I did not just call LSI a bunch of liars. I'm just saying that this is the only way ANY bookstore can have a large number of actual USED copies of the paperback. And by large number I mean greater than five.

Did I mention they were local? At least on the state level.

Support 'em!

Another local on-line and physical bookstore is The Book Shelf in Ridgeland. You can go there or shop on-line here. They have copies and can provide copies of Never Ceese the hardback [my remaining stash] Never Ceese the paperback and Forever Richard.

The local Barnes & Noble doesn't even offer this even though you can order from ANY B&N on-line. So sad to have accomplished so much as a local author but not be supported by your larger local bookstores. Yes. That's right neither myself or the other author have yet to be paid for the booksigning we did at the Renaissance B&N OVER A YEAR AGO. Hey! I could've bought a Starbucks coffee with that money!!!!

The local Books-A-Million still has some copies of Forever Richard you can run and pick up but I'd prefer you not buy from them on-line as that money I'll probably never see anytime soon if ever. I'll continue to provide you with venues that are selling my books where, I, the author actually make money and keep you posted. Because after all, I'm pretty sure not making money is out of the question. HA!

NEVER CEESE ebook download Dent $4.06

Check out that HOT price! NEVER CEESE ebook download Dent $4.06

Christian Horror - Where is it?

I'm not kidding. Where is it? I went to input information for my E-Book version of Never Ceese. Went to select three subjects it fit under and WoW! no subject for Christian Horror. What's that about? Never Ceese was approved for distribution to the Christian market. Spring Arbor had to know Never Ceese was horror. It's right there on the cover, short-listed for a Bram Stoker award. Bram Stoker . . . Dracula . . . horror . . . sort of figured they wouldn't approve a book they didn't have a subject category for, right?

Wrong.

Same at Amazon. No category for Christian Horror.

Want to know why?

Of course you do. ;) Even though Spring Arbor is no longer run by the Christian Booksellers Association (technically anyway) Spring Arbor seems not to humor much more than what CBA will tolerate. The Christian Booksellers Association never had plans of putting out horror as such (because their core market readers think it's evil for the most part) and so there has never been a Christian horror category added. This is in spite of there being general market horror books out there already that appeal and deal with very Christian material (non-overtly of course. Just part of the story.)

That should change soon though because CBA and ECPA are now publishing HORROR or so they claim. It's actually CBA/ECPA highly targeted, and standardly overt fiction. Rest assured though, as soon as a Christian Horror category is created (of course because I won't shut up about it,) CBA will push their non-horror titles right in there. Even though, by their own admission, they don't plan on publishing horror stories--as such and never have planned on it.

So for now you get to dig through the Horror section, there're certainly some fine books there, instead of going directly to ones that would most likely not offend your Christian sensibilities.

It's actually the result of a much larger problem in the publishing industry IMO. There are no "publishing police" out there to direct who actually qualifies to go into a particular slot. It's up to each publisher period. That's why we have the young adult section cluttered with literature that might best go into adult erotica and also the reason why anything labeled Christian will only ever point to work put out by an affiliation that is exclusive and only represents what some Christians want to read.

Aspiring author question.

I always enjoy being asked questions about my journey thus far and I'm always surprised as well. It's not like I've made any kind of an impact. Good grief. Set your goals higher! LOL Anyway, here's the question with identifying information left out.

Dear Ms. Dent,

I have a completed Christian speculative fiction novel, "{name of book}" which I am sending out to agents - could I ask the name of yours, and if s/he is accepting unsolicited queries?

Thanks so much!
{Seminary Professor}


My first suggestion would be to hire a professional editor to have the MS edited. This is what your competition will be doing. And prospective publishers (small traditional houses as you won't get the attention of a large house not even with an agent should you manage to snag one of those)will greatly appreciate the fact that you cared enough to put a little money (make sure editor's quotes are competitive)into your venture. Plus they'll actually look at you should they be interested in the genre or story you've submitted. Rejections will simply be based on whether they're taking new work at the time. I'm speaking from experience here.

You can ask for the name of my agent but you already know it. It's Sue Dent. You can look for an agent if you like, but you'll just be adding to the rejection letters you get and time you'll waste. And agents aren't even publishers.

Also you might call your work something other than Christian Speculative Fiction. This isn't a genre recognized by publishers and there isn't really an audience for stories labeled as such. My work has been called Christian Speculative Fiction but I never called it that. If I had, I'd never have been published unless I self-published that is.

Don't fall into the trap of looking for CBA affiliated Christian agents either, or rather agents who will only show your work to CBA houses. Sadly it's hard to tell them apart from the other agents out there who gladly take work written by Christians and actually call themselves Christian agents as well. Affiliated houses won't even look at your MS if it's called Christian Speculative Fiction. I contacted several Christian agents not understanding that the CBA publishers they submitted to ran from this genre like the plague, when it seemed most of my readers were from the "Christian" market and I was told by every one of them that none of the publishers they submitted to would look at my work.

When I suggested to one of the largest "Christian" agents out there that I felt CBA publishers would take a look at my MS, he still refused to represent me. His words of encouragement were, "what do I know? I turned down Dekker." On a side note, Dekker's work isn't Christian Speculative Fiction either. Like I said, the genre is new and not really a genre at all. It doesn't make sense to call your work this if you're trying to get a publisher to look at you. Dekker wrote very safe CBA oriented work initially. After all, he was and is published by an affiliated house . . . well except for his latest book. That was published under another non-affiliated imprint that to date hasn't published anyone but affiliated publishers. Sort of a non-affiliated, affiliated imprint. I know, right?

For those of you who don't know who Ted Dekker is, perhaps because you don't care anything about the CBA market, he's one of their bigger named authors. Like many affiliated authors his work now shows up in general market bookstores even though the association his publisher belongs to doesn't allow non-affiliated work into their stores without extremely heavy scrutiny if at all. His work is still completely CBA friendly though CBA seems to be content to let him step outside their boundaries every now and again. I suppose so he can pull over potential customers. Who knows?

Bottom line, even if you think your work fits the criteria for Christian Speculative Fiction, don't present it as such to a publisher. General Market publishers (yes I mean non-affiliated Christian houses too) will drop you faster than a hot potato if they pick your query up at all. And CBA affiliated Christian agents and publishers will reject you even faster. There are smaller publishers accepting work called Christian Speculative Fiction but they are few and far between and most are ex-CBA affiliated publishers or editors who still only know how to write for a very closed and exclusive market and well, they know how to work that market.

Good luck though. I wish you well. ;)

Question from reader.

Many of my readers are budding authors and so I'm excited to hear any questions. I've not had a lot of experience myself but I can speak from what I've learned. So here's the question.

I'm working on a couple of different books (vampire novel and sci fi-romance.) I'd like to put my faith into my writing, but I honestly have no clue how to do this. (I'm not even sure I should be doing the vampire one.) I've never gotten an idea for a faith based plot or even a plot where I could put in something about the character's faith. How'd you do it?

I believe that most writers inherently weave pieces of themselves into their story and this includes things that point to a belief system they may have. I absolutely did not go into this story thinking how shall I work my faith into it. Nothing about my work is scripted in that way. I suppose if it were that would ruin the creative process for me. On the other hand I will never write a story that has me compromising what I believe to be true. That being said, I could write a story where no character's faith is revealed or even considered as important to the outcome. I just don't have a problem adding faith to a story if it's important to the character(s) rather than ignoring it because I'm afraid someone might throw the book and dismiss it as propaganda. It just so happen that my main characters faith was important to who they were and so it was part of the story.

I'm still amazed that my story rang true with many readers from an exclusive Christian market whose publishers only put out narrowly targeted fiction but I'll take them where I can get them. ;)

I wish I had a better answer but I simply write to write. There is no real agenda. I am a Christian (garden-variety) though and again, I'd never write anything to compromise that.

Gonna have to settle for making the finals. ;)

Oh but what an interesting turn of events for me. First Never Ceese and Forever Richard are nominated for an award created to give authors who are Christian but not affiliated with the exclusive market CBA or ECPA serve specifically. Then Never Ceese moves on to be one of the three finalists.

Even more impressive, The Pluto Award is a sci-fi award. Well, I suppose Never Ceese and Forever Richard qualify in that they are "out of this world!(who me, bias?)" LOL Other than that I was left happily scratching my head. Nice to get some recognition along the way though. Very nice indeed. Especially when one considers that my work will never qualify for any award CBA or ECPA offer and that's even if I continue to appeal to their readers in a way they won't. Tell you what though. Just having their readers is good enough for me. ;)

Oh Ha! Like I'd ever quit writing. ;)

What a telling message sent to me via e-mail after my last post. A fellow author, possibly the next big thing, (but you readers will never know because his money and ambition will dry up long before you ever see one of his novels) reflected on how my blog about my career so mirrored his.

I would like to emphasize that sales through my traditional publisher seem to be doing just fine, I just won't know how fine until it's time to see who actually bought books and who didn't so I've no reason to believe things won't keep moving forward. I suppose if there were a point to my last blog it would be that readers will never be able to support small publishers enough so that they can compete with larger publishers, (yeah, the gap is THAT big) so we have to scream extra loud. In case you didn't know it most authors don't like the marketing aspect at all and really don't enjoy talking about their work and what it is or isn't doing. I'm a loud-mouth exception so get used to that.

On the other hand, Never Ceese has already been nominated for a second award and Forever Richard it's first. So there are a few others who think what I write is worthy of sharing/buying/supporting. Just know that us small authors usually have to do writing as a part-time job and sometimes even less than that as for the first few years we're having to put money out and that's even if you have a traditional author who does help!!! Egads!

Sooooo, if you want to see Cyn No More sooner, just buy more of Never Ceese and Forever Richard. ;) Then I can dedicate more time writing and less time finding other ways to make a living.

So there ya go!

Local Books-A-Million - RAWKS!!!

Updated 11-12-10

The copies of Forever Richard my local BAM has are actually just returned-from-the-bookstore books that were sent back to the distributor (most likely Ingram) after BookMasters, my publishers distributor, oversold my publishers books for a commission. BAM's only sell returned-from-the-bookstore books. These book were supposed to come back to my publisher. They didn't yet my publisher had to pay for returns they never saw and are currently be sold at BAM. Buy them if you like but until Black Bed Sheet Books puts out the next copy of Forever Richard I prefer you simply buy the book from me here on this blog. If you see any of my books in any BAM just understand I don't ever see any of the money and surprisingly neither does my publisher or rather ex-publisher though I only call them that because they returned the rights of Forever Richard to me. Love them. But no, I'm not about to beg for a booksigning at a store when I make nothing off the books sold and never will.

**************************************


Local Books-A-Million - RAWKS!!!

OMG! Back in September I think it was, I walked in to my local Books-A-Million on I-55 North in Jackson, Mississippi and spoke with Jonathon, curious about what it would take to get them to shelve my books in the regional section. Before I could finish asking, Jonathan informed me he'd ordered 20 of Forever Richard. I threw my hands up. "No!" I said. Five or six but not twenty. If they don't sell you'll send them back to the distributor and my publisher will actually EAT the books." He smiled graciously and told me they never send books back but he did cut the order to ten.

I went back to that Books-A-Million two days ago and looked for my book. I couldn't find it. Had Jonathan lied. But I checked with Ingram when he said he ordered and sure enough there was an order of ten. I spoke with Jonathan yesterday. All ten copies had sold. PLUS he'd ordered ten copies of Never Ceese at the same time and they sold. My local Books-A-Million sold twenty of my books in less than two months time!

Needless to say, I think a book-signing is in order.

I'm setting one up now and will let you know more when all the details are worked out.

What a Merry Christmas!