Publishing A Book: The Surreal World

Many of my former high school classmates have read BAND GEEK. It's flattering that they're supporting my work, but I think that at least part of their reasons for reading my book are to see if they "recognize" any of my characters.

As I've said before, I did base some characters on real people, though most were a composite of people whom I knew. However, there were a couple of cases where I just out-and-out used a person's name. It's no secret that the character Principal Scott Muller is based on my friend of the same name. It's just a cameo role and I named him after my pal as a little joke; happily, the real Scott is pleased to be "in" the story.

Things got a little weird, though, when I had a discussion with his MOM about my story. I know his family very well and count them among my friends, but still, it felt strange to be talking about Book!Scott with the mother of Real!Scott. She was very encouraging, though, and went out of her way to tell me how much she enjoyed BAND GEEK. I didn't ask her about it or even if she'd read it; she sought me out, which was really sweet. I did ask her what she thought of Book!Scott, though, and she laughed.

I think that most authors name at least a couple of characters after real people in their lives. I'm actually a character in my cousin Barbara's ESL books; she wrote several books that are used to teach English and named her characters after relatives, including me. It's a fun way to give props to the people you care about and who encouraged your writing. I'm just glad that my real-life friends and family -- and their family members! -- like my literary shout-outs.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, just 99 cents!

Publishing On Kindle: KDP Select Pros And Cons

My 90-day contract with KDP Select ends this month, which means that I'll have to decide whether I want to renew with this service. It's a pretty big decision, so here are some of the things that I've liked -- and haven't liked about my experience with KDP Select so far.

CON: KDP Select asks authors to grant them 90 days of exclusivity. This means that you can only sell your books on Amazon -- not on Smashwords, Lulu or even your own website. This greatly limits authors who want to diversify their products.

PRO: However, 90 days isn't a very long period. It's not like KDP Select is asking for five years of exclusivity. And out of all of the indie publishing platforms available, let's face it -- Amazon gets the most traffic.

PRO: KDP Select authors' books can be borrowed in Kindle's lending library. Amazon Prime members can borrow your work for free ... but you still make money from borrows. So far, I've made almost as much money from borrows as I have from sales, so I really like this feature.

PRO: KDP Select gives you five days during a 90-day period during which you can give your book away for free. The idea is to put your name out there and gain publicity. I've had mixed results with this, but my last run was successful. Sales went up for quite a while after the promotion and I got several more reviews on my Amazon and Goodreads pages.

CON: I don't plan to do another free giveaway because, well, I want to make money from my book -- even if it's just 99 cents a download. I'd rather promote my work in a way which will encourage people to actually buy BAND GEEK. And 99 cents is about as cheap as you can get outside of getting it for free. Besides, Smashwords allows authors to giveaway books whenever they want; there's no limit on days. But again, Smashwords' traffic isn't as high as Amazon's.

CON: I find it very difficult to get visibility and a higher ranking on Amazon. When my book has sold well, my visibility goes up... but when sales slow down, so does my ranking. It's a vicious cycle and a system that's designed to reward already-successful authors. I wish that Amazon had some promotional options for indie authors (other than free days) to put their names out there and get their books on the most visible pages.

PRO: As I've said a few times now, Amazon gets great traffic. I've heard mixed things about Smashwords and authors' success on that site. It reminds me a bit of how I tried to sell my jewelry on Etsy and ArtFire, but didn't sell a thing on the latter, simply because ArtFire doesn't get Etsy's traffic. Still, it would be nice to have some more options for my writing.

As of now, I'm leaning toward not renewing my KDP Select contract. I can still sell my work on regular Kindle/Amazon and at least try Smashwords and Lulu. It can't hurt to see what happens since both sites are free. And if I don't like those results, I can always re-sign with KDP Select. In the end, I just want to do what's best for my book and I'm glad that indie authors have a few choices.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, just 99 cents!

Kindle Direct Publishing: Pricing Your Book

I published my novel with Kindle Direct Publishing almost three months ago, but am still trying to figure out what the best price is for it. Thankfully, Kindle makes it easy to change your book's information, including its price, so self-published authors can experiment and see what readers are willing to pay.

I initially sold BAND GEEK for $2.99 because several other indie pub YA titles that I like sell at that price. However, what I didn't take into account is that these authors are more established than I am and have had their work up on Amazon for a while. Readers know what they're getting with these authors so they're willing to pay a bit more for their work. New authors, like me, still need to prove themselves. That said, I did manage to sell a few downloads at $2.99, but it was mostly to friends and family members. After that, sale died down.

I decided to lower the price significantly and repriced my book at 99 cents. Sales went up tremendously! I guess people are looking for a bargain, especially when it comes to unknown names. I ended up making more on my book at $.99 because I sold so many more copies. I also sold a bunch of books in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

My last free giveaway was a success and gave my sales a huge boost. It was then that I decided to take a chance and raise my price back up to $1.99. And ... sales went down. I still did alright, but not as well as before. Plus, I didn't sell any copies overseas at that price.

I've kept my book at $1.99 for a few weeks just to see how it would do, but I've now decided to relist it once again at $.99. I'd like to eventually sell my work at a higher price, but as I said, I'm still a new author and I feel like I can make up for the cost with increased volume. It's now so easy for readers to get thousands of free books for their Kindles that I need to stay competitive and remember where I stand. I'm still at the bottom of the ladder in terms of author recognition. BAND GEEK is getting good reviews and readers are enjoying it, but it's not yet a bestseller. Until that time comes, I think I'm just going to keep it at 99 cents.

I'm not epxecting to get rich from my writing. I would like to make some money, but more than that I'd simply like to get my work out there. If pricing my book low is to way to do it -- for now -- then this is what I'll do to reach my goal.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now just 99 cents!

Book Review: The Alice Series By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

There are some books that I can read over and over again and enjoy, sort of like literary comfort food. Among these are the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

The books' premise at first seems simple: they follow Alice -- an average-looking girl with an average life -- from ages 12-18 (though Reynolds' wrote three prequels featuring Alice from ages 9-11 and her final Alice book will follow the titular character through her adult years). However, in reading the dozens of incredibly detailed and realistic books, you realize that almost everyone has an interesting life and a story to tell.

Most of Alice's trials and tribulations involve things that would worry a typical teen: she wants to fit in with her friends, find love, do well in school and figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. She lost her mother when she was four so a big part of the plot involves Alice's attempts to hook up her dad with her teacher, Miss Summers (which she succeeds in doing as they eventually marry). Naylor really makes you feel for the narrator, though, and at times, it's easy to forget that Alice isn't actually a real person. She's intelligent, introspective, kind and funny -- and though she's supposed to represent EveryGirl, she's the type of girl whom most teens would want to be. Still, she leads a life that girls could emulate; she's not the most beautiful or popular or special ... she's just hardworking and does her best to work with what she has. It's a big difference from one of my other favorite teen series, Sweet Valley High, where twins Jessica and Elizabeth were impossibly beautiful and hung out with the children of millionaires. That was pure fantasy. But Alice lives a life that's pretty nice and attainable.

I have to say, though, that I like the earlier and middle books in the series better than the later ones as I feel that Naylor is much better at writing tweens and young teens than young/new adults. The early books contained plenty of adventures, but most centered around realistic problems, such as Alice's friend Pamela dealing with her parents' divorce. Readers got a deep look into Alice's thoughts as she beautifully expressed her opinions and feelings on life around her. In the later books, however, the stories became much more plot-oriented. The main story in Alice In Charge, which takes place during her senior year, involves a group of teen Neo Nazis who try to terrorize the school. What? The latest book, Alice On Board, takes place on a cruise and most of the story is about the goings-on on the boat. I wish that these later books had involved more details about Alice's senior year with her friends and her feelings on college and potential careers. Instead, Naylor crammed these "episodes" with issues, making them feel like an After School Special. I don't know if the author was trying to make them more modern or had pressure put on her from her publisher, or what, but Alice always had plenty to say without these added obstacles. In fact, the best part of the Alice books was getting to know Alice herself.

Even so, I'm looking forward to Naylor's final Alice book, Always Alice, which is scheduled to be released this spring. I've enjoyed reading about the character and admire Naylor for not only writing one book, but an entire series! Having covered soaps for so many years, I can appreciate how much work went into crafting an entire LIFETIME for a character and her friends -- and for creating a persona who's so likeable.

I highly recommend that you check out the Alice books. No matter what age you are, you'll relate to her story. There is some strong language and a lot of talk of sexual situations, so younger kids may want to wait to read them or read them along with an adult. Meantime, please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing A Novel: Writing Character-Driven Stories

This New Year's Eve, I rang in 2013 by watching the SyFy Channel's annual 48-hour Twilight Zone marathon. No, I didn't watch all 48 hours, but I did catch a good number of episodes. Many I've seen before, but I still enjoy them the second, third, fifth, tenth time around. This is why TZ is such a classic program.

What I really like about The TZ's stories is that most are very character-driven. Yes, many are science fiction and involve aliens, space travel, etc., but because they didn't have great special effects in the 1950s, the show had to depend more on people's reactions to things than on actual action sequences. My favorite episode, for instance, is called "The Midnight Sun" and is about a group of survivors dealing with the inevitable end of the planet as Earth gradually moves closer to the sun. In many ways, this is very topical as we deal with global warming and climate change. But what I love about this particular episode is that every scene takes place in one woman's apartment. We never see shots of the Earth barreling towards the sun or of the oceans drying up. All we ever see are the reactions of the woman and her neighbor as they suffer from thirst, dehydration and fear. However, this approach is so effective -- and frightening. You can feel the ladies' pain and confusion, and I often think about this episode on really hot days.

That said, I try to make my stories character-driven. I love a good action sequence, but it's difficult to make readers feel emotions if they can't connect with the people whom the story is about. So for me, getting into my characters' heads is of the utmost importance; I make that my priority and then write the more plot-driven scenes.

I don't know if I'll ever come close to writing something that's as brilliant and thought provoking as The Twilight Zone -- but I can at least try to create stories that are deeply moving.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Publishing On Amazon: The Case Of The Disappearing Review

If you decide to publish with Kindle Direct Publishing, be warned: Lately, Amazon is really cracking down on getting rid of reviews that don't seem to be legit. The idea is to prevent authors from posting "sock puppet" critiques, i.e. reviews that they themselves have posted under fake names. In fact, authors are no longer even allowed to write reviews of other books (which I think is so unfair, but that's a post for another time). Unfortunately, whatever software Amazon uses is a little too sensitive and often deletes perfectly legitimate book reviews. It's happened to thousands of authors online (just do a Google search and you'll see plenty of write-ups) and it recently happened to me.

A few days ago, I received a wonderful five-star review of BAND GEEK on Amazon from a reader named Cornelia. She (I'm assuming this is a she) wrote:

"Band geek Melinda falls for the zany, popular trumpet player Josh. Every girl in junior high or high school who longs for a boy to see past her exterior appearance and fall in love with the real wonderful person inside (a.k.a. most girls) will relate to Melinda and fall for Josh. He sees beauty and creativity in Melinda and leads her on adventures that help her see herself in a new light. What starts off as a simple love story evolves into an examination of the morality of revenge. Is revenge ever justified? How much is too much? The stakes increased as the novel progressed leading to an exciting and satisfying ending."

What I really liked about this review is not just the fact that she gave me five stars (though that's nice!), but that she seemed to really understand my story and what I was attempting to say. Plus, it's flattering to know that I touched her enough so that she felt compelled to write such a lovely review. I so appeciated her critique that I copy and pasted it onto my Facebook author page to show friends.

Boy, am I glad I saved it because a few hours later, it disappeared. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I copied it and Amazon took it to mean that the review was already on another site. Perhaps the writer is an author hersef or had her Amazon account taken down. I guess I'll never know, but I'm disappointed that such a great review was removed. So if you're reading this Cornelia, I just wanted to publicly thank you for taking the time to read my book and write about it. I'm sorry that your review wasn't good enough for Amazon, for whatever reason.

For the most part, I've been happy with Amazon and think that the company is pretty fair. However, I'd like to see them have a less strict review policy. As an avid reader, I enjoy looking at others' book reviews and I'd hate to see too many legit ones get lost in the shuffle.

Speaking of which, please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing A Novel: New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year, everyone! It's been a crazy and fun December, which is why I've been so lax about blogging. But the holiday season gets a little nuts for me, as I'm sure it does for many of you. There were several parties, an illness, plus my jewelry businesses exploded just in time for the holiday rush so I was busy with orders. I'm back, though, and eager to return to my writing!

I don't really make New Years resolutions; instead, I'm constantly trying to come up with resolutions throughout the year. Still, it's impossible to NOT think about new beginnings at this time, so I've been thinking a lot about what I plan to do with my writing in 2013. So far my goals are:

To finish my second novel, at least a draft of it, by the end of April.

To blog more often.

To put together a book on making jewelry. (Yeah, this really has to do with my other businesses, but it still involves writing...).

To write SOMETHING every day, whether it's a blog post, novel chapter, article for HubPages, etc.

As you can see, my goals are pretty simple. I'm not looking to write The Great American Novel or some epic play; I just want to keep up with and finish projects that I've already started. I think that it's important to follow through -- and one of the best ways to improve as a writer is to well, keep on writing.

2012 was a very challenging year for me and my family for many reasons, but one of the bright spots is that I finally published BAND GEEK. I'm so glad that I finally put my work out there and am sharing it with the world.

Please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.