Amazon's business model offering indie authors a platform for publishing their works has opened a new world for both aspiring authors and readers. Until Amazon came along, the only chance an author had at being published was through the large, traditional publishing houses. As any author will tell you, getting your work published through traditional publishers was, and still is, very difficult. J.K. Rowling is a good case in point: she was rejected many times before a traditional publisher finally took a chance and published her first Harry Potter book. I can imagine that more than one publishing executive regrets not paying more attention to her after the worldwide success that is the Harry Potter franchise! Amazon has made publishing easy, and almost anyone can now write their story and make it available through Amazon's Kindle program. There are now literally millions of e-books that are available to readers that simply would not exist without Amazon. One of Amazon's offerings to their readers is a monthly subscription program called Kindle Unlimited. For a monthly fee, Kindle Unlimited members can "borrow" and read up to 10 e-books at a time. When you are done, you simply "return" the e-book and can then borrow another as long as you do not have more than 10 at any given time. This is a great deal for people who love to read e-books. The flip side of the Kindle Unlimited program for authors is Kindle Select. This is a program where authors can make their e-books available to the Kindle Unlimited members. Only e-books that are enrolled in Kindle Select are available to be read by Kindle Unlimited members. The downside for authors though is that they are only paid by the number of pages a Kindle Unlimited member has read (calculated by the Amazon computers) when the book is returned. Unlike a full sale of an e-book, authors who enroll their e-books in Kindle Select are paid by the number of pages that are read by the borrower. The average per page amount that is paid to the author is $0.0045. That is not a typo - less than half a cent is paid for every page that is read. To put this in perspective, my e-books sell for $4.99 - $5.25 for 290-368 pages; full length novels. When my books sell at these prices, I earn 70% of the selling price ($3.49 - $3.68). The same books pay me $1.31 - $1.66 when fully read by an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member. Most authors hate the Kindle Unlimited payment rate and feel it is unfair to them. Many authors feel that Amazon is the only real winner here, as they are collecting a monthly subscription from their Kindle Unlimited members while reducing payments to the authors who wrote the books that attract the subscribers. The author message boards of full of indie authors bitching and moaning about how unfair the Kindle Unlimited program is to them. Many threaten to "go wide", a term used when someone publishers their e-books with other online sellers, and pull their books from the Kindle Select program. Other retailers such as Kobo, Barnes and Noble and i-Tunes offer indie authors a platform for selling their books, but their market shares are simply not as large as Amazon's. So what's an author to do? Until someone comes along with a disruptive sales model that will knock Amazon out of top spot, there is not much an indie author can do. If you want people to be able to discover your books, you have to get the books in front of the largest audience possible. Right now that audience is with Amazon. No one is forced to enroll their e-book with Kindle Select and make it available to their Unlimited clients, but with millions of Unlimited subscribers who only borrow books (they don't buy them - why would they when they have millions of choices for a low, monthly subscription?), neglecting this program is choosing to ignore millions of potential fans. Sure, the per book payout through Kindle Select may only be a fraction of an actual sale, but isn't something better than nothing?

While the advent of e-books has been a blessing to authors who would otherwise never have been published, the competition to find readers is more difficult than ever before. Amazon, undoubtedly the largest online retailer of e-books, print books and now audio books, has literally millions of choices available to readers. A reader can choose from well known authors such as J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Dan Brown and dozens of others, or they can choose to read works by lesser known indie authors. Some indie authors have even managed to gain a significant following and their works are now mainstream. For most indie authors though, it can be a struggle to get your books noticed by potential readers, but it is not impossible! The first thing you must do is write a good story, one that will entertain your readers. Once that is done, spend some time and money designing an eye-catching cover; the old adage "never judge a book by its cover" doesn't hold true and most readers will decide whether or not to look at your book based on the cover design. I have discussed cover design in previous blog posts so I won't waste your time going over this issue again. The next, and one of the most important and potentially expensive things you will need to do is advertise your book. This step can be daunting to anyone unfamiliar with even basic advertising, but it is not insurmountable. The first piece of advice I will give is DO NOT waste your money purchasing advertising from people or companies that offer to tweet your book to thousands of their followers. This is generally an ineffective, and annoying, way to promote your book. I would also stay away from companies that offer to promote your book to thousands of people on their mailing lists.Why? One simple reason: this is a "shotgun" approach to marketing your book and in all likelihood your ad will get lost among dozens of other ads that are being promoted at the same time. The most effective advertising that I use is targeted pay-per-click advertising through Amazon and Bookbub. With both of these companies, you design a small ad showing the cover of your book and a small but attention grabbing sentence about your book. With Bookbub, you then set the genres which are applicable to your book (e.g. fiction, history, ghost story, etc.). These are the genres under which your potential readers would find your book. Bookbub then also offers a list of related authors that you can select that write genres similar to yours. Once done, you can then set a daily budget (I usually select between $5.00 and $7.00 per day) and then you set a "per-click" budget amount. The "per-click" budget amount is the price you will pay each time a potential reader clicks on your ad. Bookbub's per click prices are fairly high, normally $0.65 per click, but remember that you ONLY PAY if someone clicks on your ad. If you set a daily limit for your ad, you will always remain within your set budget amount. The other option that this company offers is a "per impression" fee, but I prefer paying only for the actual clicks on my ad. Amazon, the industry leader in online book retailing, has a similar form of advertising. With Amazon Marketing Services, you can design a similar ad showing your book cover and a quick blurb about your story, designed to catch a potential reader's attention. Amazon offers two types of ads, Sponsored and Product Display. I have tried both types of advertising and have found that the Sponsored ads are the most effective. With Sponsored ads, you set a series of key words that a potential reader would use to find your story. In the case of my novel, Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor, some of the key words I use are "ghost", "ghost story", "haunting", etc. When you select your key words, you also choose a price that you are willing to pay for each click on your ad by a reader, which can start as low as you want, and go as high as you want. Like Bookbub, Amazon offers you the choice of setting a daily budget for your advertising (again, I usually choose between $5.00 and $10.00 per day) and your ad will be stopped if you reach your maximum budget. Amazon also offers a choice of selecting a date range for your ad and also a maximum budget for that time period. With both Bookbub and Amazon, your ad will be placed where the company feels that they will earn the most clicks and thereby earn the most income from you. Clicks may or may not translate into sales of your books, but you will be able to quickly determine whether your ads are working or not based on your overall sales. Amazon even offers an estimated number of sales in their report which is helpful in determining whether your advertising dollars are well spent. I have been running my ads continuously on both Bookbub and Amazon and carefully monitor which key words, genres and authors garner the most clicks and the most impressions. An impression is the number of times your ad is actually shown to potential readers. Impressions are important even if not all impressions result in sales as it is getting your name and your books in front of potential readers. Remember that people do not usually buy something right away, but if they keep seeing your book over a period of time, they will be more likely to make a purchase. Since I have started using pay per click advertising through Bookbub and Amazon, I have seen my sales steadily increase for all three of my novels. Adding, or removing key words on a regular basis helps to refine the ad and garner more impressions and more sales. You may also need to play around with the cost per click that you are willing to pay as sometimes your bid may be too low to compete with other advertisers. Remember that even if your cost per click bid is high, you only pay when a potential reader clicks on your ad. A higher bid price usually results in more impressions. Just be sure to set your daily budget so you don't spend all of your advertising dollars in one day!

It is Spring...the trees are filled with bright green leaves, birds are singing, the grass is now a healthy green once again, and flowers are blooming. Everywhere you look, the world is quickly coming alive after a long, cold winter here in the north. It seems like everything is happening at lightning speed...except when it comes to my dealings with Fiberead and ACX. Fiberead is the translation and publication service I used to have my first two novels translated into simplified and traditional Chinese. Both books have finally been translated (in fact, the translation was done months ago) and approved for sale in Taiwan, but not in China; they are still going through the "censorship" review that all publications are subjected to in China. My latest enquiry resulted in a puzzling email response from the leader of the translation team: The censor of the publishing houses have tightened this year. Some books related religion or Mohammedanism have been stopped publishing. Fiberead and I are trying our best to push the project. Please do have some faith on our project, and they will be good. Although I have been conducting business in China since 1997, and I am aware of the censorship requirements, I find the response odd. Neither of my books have anything to do with religion or "Mohammedanism", so what's up with the delay? Frustrating, to say the least. Last Monday, May 14th, my second audiobook was finished, approved and submitted to ACX for their final quality control checks. My first book went through this approval process in six calendar days, yet my second book has not even been reviewed as of this writing. After four email requests, I finally received ACX's (Amazon's) canned response today: I apologize for the delay in response. We've recently experienced an increase in volume and have been working to address each inquiry in the order it was received. Thank you for your patience! I can see that you approved your audiobook on 5/14 and is currently pending review by QA. As it stated in the email you received after you approved, once it passes, we will let you know and begin distributing it on Amazon, Audible and iTunes. The whole process usually takes up to 10-14 business days, as long as there are no problems. The whole process meaning from the time you submitted the title. Currently, we are only on day five. Needless to say, neither of these responses are very helpful, and neither address my very simple question of "when will the finished product be ready for sale?" Customer service, it seems, is not something that either business understands. If they did, it would not take multiple enquires to end up with such inane responses. So, here I sit, wondering when both projects will finally come to fruition and be made available for sale in their respective marketplaces. Such is the life of the Indie author...

It can sometimes be difficult to remain upbeat and confident when you are an author, indie published or published through a traditional publishing house. I suspect this is true for all the arts, and a great deal of our lives in general. Speaking from an indie author point of view, sales are not the only measure of success for one's work. Reviews, believe it or not, can often play a big role in how an author perceives their success. Even with a myriad of glowing, or least constructive reviews, all it takes some days is for one nasty, critical review to dash the self-esteem of someone who puts themself in the public eye. Learning to focus on the positive feedback, and the positive sales accomplishments is the best way for an indie author to overcome the negativity which they will receive. Make no doubt about it, you WILL receive negative comments, no matter how accomplished a writer and storyteller you are. I have found a little trick I use when I receive what I feel are odd and possibly unjust reviews: I review the reviewer to see exactly who I am dealing with. The results are sometimes comical, if not downright sad. I can accept criticism of spelling errors, the occasional grammatical or punctuation error, or even a flub in the format of my books, but I draw the line at criticism of things that do not even exist. I have had several examples of such unwarranted criticisms which I found anger inducing at the time, but now I share them with friends and we laugh about it. There was the one critic who made reference to two of my characters, Alex and his frienemy, Connie, kissing each other passionately despite hating one another. This scene never happened in my books, electronic or in print - it only happened in the critic's mind. I was pissed at receiving the review which was a 1 star and completely negative. I then decided to check out who this reviewer was and, low and behold, they are anonymous! I love people brave enough to leave a negative review, but not even list their name, or at least a screen name. I then checked out his/her other reviews - they were the same. 1 star reviews and completely negative...except for a product called "HangoverX" to which they gave a 5 star review. Drinking problem? Maybe. My next annoying, negative reviews came back to back, and were for the 2nd book in my series. The first negative reviewer gave the book a 3 star review, saying the book had a good premise, but he found a spelling error. He then went on to say that the plot and character continuity was a problem. The book deals with multiple characters and flashbacks in the story line. There are also references to the 1st book in the series, and events that took place in the 1st book. I get the feeling that he did not read book #1, but still, book #2 is carefully written and most assuredly has a carefully crafted story to ensure continuity from start to finish. Needless to say, I double checked to ensure there were no continuity issues, and when I found none, I decided to check out this reviewer as well and what I found in his review history was certainly entertaining! My book appears to be in the minority as far as his preferred genres; he likes erotica and uses the same review for each of the other erotic books along with violence. There's nothing wrong with that, but my book is definitely not erotic! He also didn't like the movie "Ted", which, as anyone that can read knows, is a farcical comedy about a foul-mouthed teddy bear that comes to life and causes all sorts of mayhem. The reviewer rated it as a 1 star movie citing gratuitous foul language and stupidity (how does one take a talking teddy bear that hires hookers seriously?). I took pity on this reviewer as they seem to have a number of aches, pains and bladder control problems as well, at least based on their purchase review history. Oh well, next time maybe I will include some gratuitous sex and violence to keep him happy. My last, and most favorite negative review came from a lady that used a screen name (nothing wrong with that and definitely beats 'anonymous'). Her main complaints were the plot, the 'choppy-writing' and the fact that the cover didn't match the story. Okay, I can accept if someone doesn't like the plot, but if they preview the book, or read the cover excerpt the plot is revealed, but to say that the cover didn't match the story? That annoyed me. The story is about a noble English family (hence the picture of the estate on the cover), a murder committed by a family member in the 19th century (enter the dagger on the cover) and the confession discovered years later by another family member (the letter on the cover). What did she expect to be on the cover - rainbows and unicorns? This reviewer also has an interesting review history but the best review was a 5 star review she gave to a product called "Cell Shield" which does, well...read her review for yourself and draw your own conclusion: "I feel good knowing I have protection for my brain from EMF's. It is very simple to use and the price is right." I may not be a scientist, but I fail to see how some rubber doo-dad placed on your ear will stop electro-magnetic fields which, like gravity, are one of four fundamental forces of nature. Oh well, I guess it is more discreet than wearing a tinfoil hat! The point of my rant is this: don't let the haters get you down! If you receive honest, constructive feedback, whether it be negative or positive, accept it and learn from it. However, when you receive one of these really negative and most likely uncalled for reviews, dig a little deeper into the review themselves (or just ignore them) and you might just find a reason to laugh! I will admit that I have made mistakes with my books, but I have fixed those that I have found and continue to strive to improve with each new story. It takes more work to do this rather than give up, but everything worthwhile in life takes effort. Despite some critical comments, my 1st book remains at #48 on the Kindle best sellers list for Ghosts in Canada after more than a year on the market and my 2nd book is #218 in the paperback version of the same genre. Not bad for a newbie that writes like a 12 year old girl! Stay positive and keep working at your craft!

In early April of last year, while on a business trip to China, I had a number of my friends and business associates ask me when I was going to publish my new book in Chinese. The question was innocent enough - my friends simply wanted to be able to read my work in their native language, but the task of having my book translated to Chinese seemed like quite the challenge. Never one to walk away from a challenge, I started looking at the possible ways to have my novel translated from English to Mandarin. I could have hired a translator, but there were two significant problems with that: 1) It was expensive. 2) I had no real way of validating the translation to ensure that the meaning of the story was not translated incorrectly. I started to research alternative ways to have my book translated in to Mandarin and found the website "Fiberead.com". Fiberead is a quasi crowd sourcing site that uses several Chinese students who are well versed in English to translate author's works into both Traditional and Simplified Chinese (the two forms that all Chinese can read and understand - there are many different dialects in China). The students work together as a team along with the author as they translate the original English book in to Chinese. Along the way the translation team may ask questions of the author to ensure that the translation is not just literal, but translates the meaning from English to Chinese. Fiberead acts as the broker, distributor and publisher of the work once it is translated to Chinese. The finished version is then distributed throughout various Chinese sales channels in an e-book format, as well as in Taiwan. The sales price is set by Fiberead based on similar works, and while the per book selling price in China is generally lower than in the US, there are over 300 million active e-book readers in China, and that number is growing every year. The Chinese e-book readers are hungry for Western writing translated to their native language. The payment of royalties is shared between the author, translation/editing team and Fiberead. The author receives 30% royalties, the translator receives 30%, the editor receives between 5-10% and the balance is paid to Fiberead. It has taken a little over a year for my first novel to be translated and distributed in China, so you have to pack your patience with the translation process! Communication is also sometimes less than stellar, but if you ask a question, you will get a response (though sometimes you may have to ask twice). My first book was only launched yesterday, and only in the Taiwan marketplace at this point, so it is too early to tell how profitable this venture may be. Then again, my only investment has been time, and most of that time has been spent waiting, not working on the translation, so any sales will be a bonus for me. The way I see it, China is a large market hungry for Western stories, and even if the per book sale royalty is small, the volume should make the exercise worthwhile. After all, isn't it better to have 30% of something than 100% of nothing? You can check out my Chinese version of Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor on sale in Taiwan at: https://www.pubu.com.tw/ebook/122077

Indie authors go to great lengths to ensure that what they publish is written, formatted and grammatically sound. Still, mistakes get through, and when an error is found by the author, or by a reader, it can cast doubts on the author's abilities. Self doubts. When self doubt starts to creep in, it can paralyze the creative side of a writer, bringing their projects to a standstill. Self doubt is not unique to authors, and this inner voice saying "You're not good enough!" lives inside each of us, to one degree or another. You don't have to be an author, actor, musician or anyone in a creative field to have self doubt pay you an unwanted visit every now and then; it happens to everyone. One of the wonderful things about self publishing is that it gives a voice to authors that would otherwise probably go unheard. Traditional publishing, until recently, had the final say in what the reading public had access to, and that usually meant authors who would be able to make a profit for the publisher. Just imagine how many wonderful and unique stories have been written over the years that went unread! With self publishing, indie authors now have a way to get their work out to the reading public. Our work may not always be perfect, but I can pretty well guarantee that it has been done with a passion to tell a wonderful story. A lot of readers accept the fact that our work may not be as seemingly perfect as those coming from large, traditional publishing houses (although don't kid yourself - even traditionally published works can contain errors!), and this is reflected in the sales figures of indie author's works. If you are truly passionate about your craft, don't let self doubt stop you from chasing your dreams. You may not always end up where you wanted to go, but at least you will continue to move forward and make new discoveries about yourself and the world around you.

If you are an artist of any kind, musician, singer, dancer, actor or author, you are a risk-taker. Whether you believe this or not, it is true. I never would have labelled myself as a risk-taker, even though some might. Sure, I've driven on a race track at 130 mph, I've traveled to dangerous countries, I speak to strangers and pet strange dogs, and I am an indie author. How is an author a risk-taker? It's quite simple, really: an author is someone who has written a story, putting their heart and soul in it, and then publishes the story for the world to read. Some readers may love the author's story, while others may not. Either way, the author is putting themselves out in the world, and will be subjected to criticizm. Subjecting oneself to criticizm - intentionally - takes courage. No matter what anyone says, criticizm is never easy to accept, athough some people are better at masking their emotions than others. Some criticizm is definitely helpful, and that form of criticizm is a lot easier to accept than purely mean, destructive criticizm. With the advent of the social media, it is unfortunate that the latter form seems to be more prevalent than the former. I have received all sorts of criticizm about my novels and, luckily, most has been quite positive and helpful. I know I am not perfect, and neither is my writing, so receiving helpful criticizm about how to improve my stories or my writing, is always welcome. I have also received downright nasty and generally unhelpful criticizm, and while the intellectual side of me says to laugh it off and ignore that nasty comments, the 'human' side of me cannot help but feel annoyed and even hurt at times. This seems to be a common issue for all authors, indie or not, and I read about how these negative comments impact the author's psyche on all sorts of author message boards. An author may receive a hundred positive comments, but it only takes one negative comment to bring insecurities and self-doubt to the surface. I would imagine the same holds true for anyone who dares to follow their dreams and put themselves "out there". With the advent of social media, just about anyone can become a critic about almost any one or any thing. In some instances this can be a good thing, but a lot of times the internet and social media just gives negative people a stage in. While criticizm of one's work is sometimes difficult to accept, there is one thing that I can think of that is much worse: never having the courage to chase one's dream in the first place. This results in regret, and regret has to be one of the most destructive emotions to one's mental well being. There is no reward without some risk. It has been said that the only thing worse than failure is never trying in the first place. I believe that saying is very true, so even if I fail at every becoming a writer who's stories are considered entertaining, and good, at least I will have tried.

For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about good stories. It doesn't matter if the story is written, acted out in a TV show or movie, or simply told to me; if the story is good, I find myself captivated. So what makes a story good for me? It could be a number of things, but generally if a story catches my attention, entertains me or causes me to pause and think, I like it. As an author it is important for me to tell a story that draws the reader in and holds them captive from cover to cover. I strive to write so that the reader wants to read what happens next, and the greatest compliment I can receive is when a reader tells me they simply could not put down the book. So what drives me to write? The answer to that is complex, as I have a number of reasons for writing: I like to entertain people with my stories and have since I was a child; I like taking everyday situations and making them extreme, mixing in some humor and even otherworldly happenings and seeing how the characters in my story react; I like to lose myself in my own writing as a break from the everyday world, and in doing so, provide my readers with a temporary escape as well; I like to live my life vicariously through some of the characters I create; I have an over-active imagination! In short, I write because it is a passion of mine, and I have always dreamed of publishing books. I don't however, write simply to try and earn a profit. There is nothing wrong with writing for profit, and if any of my books ever hit the big time and made me rich, I would not be upset, but it is not the driving force behind my writing. Reading author blogs and discussion boards, there are a large number of "authors" who seem to think that writing a book is their path to easy money. For most authors, nothing could be farther from the truth. Good writing is hard, and even if you do write an excellent book, getting your book noticed and turned into a best seller is very difficult. Quite frankly, if you want to earn extra income, get a part-time job as you will probably make more money working for minimum wage than you will as an indie author. For authors who are passionate about writing, who love to tell stories that are different from the thousand of other stories already written, indie publishing is a blessing. Not only do authors now have a real way of publishing their works at little cost, there are literally millions of readers around the globe waiting to discover their writing. This new, disruptive way of publishing books has turned the traditional publishing world upside down, and I think that is a good thing. No longer are readers forced to purchase only what traditional publishing houses decide to publish. Readers now have unprecedented choice in what they are able to purchase. Whether you write for profit or because you are passionate about story telling, write the best book possible, spend time on designing an excellent, professional-looking cover, and market your books. Who knows, you may just be the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling!

Your masterpiece is written, spelling and grammar has been checked, your blurb is perfect and your cover design is out of the world. All you have to do now is sit back and watch the sales roll in, right? Not by a long-shot! Indie authors have some advantages over traditionally published authors - we have complete control over the content of our work, we can control the cover design and even how quickly we publish our works. However, unlike traditionally published authors, most indie authors do not have a large marketing and distribution budget behind us. In reading many author discussion boards, this sometimes even holds true for traditionally published authors (with the obvious exception being the big names in the industry - Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown, etc.). Even if you have written a story worthy of a Noble prize, what good is it if nobody knows the book exists? Not much, that's for sure! There is an enormous number of "advertising" companies that target Indie authors and that are more than happy to help you part with your hard-earned dollars. The number of truly effective Indie book markets however, is up for debate, and based on my personal experience and the experiences of other Indie authors, not many are all that effective. The most effective advertising that I have personally found for my print and e-books is through BookBub and Amazon Marketing Services. Each company offers a pay-per-click advertising service which can be as inexpensive or as expensive as your budget allows. Each company caters specifically to print and e-book readers, which is a significant advantage when you are trying to sell your books. Other companies that simply send out mass emails and tweets to everyone on their mailing list may be less effective. As with all advertising, you want to target your reader base as much as possible. There is no sense trying to sell a woman's romance book to a middle-aged man who's interest only lies in 4x4 off road mud bog races. It is highly unlikely he would buy your romance book (but hey, anything is possible!). For me, BookBub and Amazon have been effective forms of marketing. I can set my own key words that help zero in on the readers that would be interested in my books, set a cost-per-click bid amount, and then set a daily or monthly budget limit for my advertising. If I find that I am paying for clicks but not receiving any sales, I change my ad, keywords and budget accordingly. Since I began using both of these advertising services, I have seen a steady increase in my print and e-book sales. While I am still not a best-seller, I am pleased with the return on investment for the advertising. In the past, when I have paid anywhere from $5.00 - $250.00 for other advertising (usually mass emails), I have not been pleased with the results. BookBub is a website designed for authors and readers, so the target market is perfect for an author. Amazon's marketing also targets readers including the increasingly important Kindle Unlimited members which also makes this a good advertising investment. However, both forms of advertising can become very expensive, very quickly. When you decide to use pay-per-click advertising, I strongly suggest that you always set a daily budget limit so you don't end up with a nasty bill at the end of your advertising campaign. I normally set a budget of $5-$7 per day and then closely monitor the results. It is important to remember that you ONLY pay when a potential reader clicks on your ad, not by the number of times your ad is shown to potential readers. As with any advertising, exposure is key, and the more times your ad is shown, the higher the possibility that you will make a sale. Both advertising formats allow the advertiser to monitor the number of impressions (meaning the number of times your ad is shown), the cost per click (amount you pay when a potential reader clicks on your ad), and the number of estimated sales. If you find that your number of impressions is very high, but the conversion rate to sales is very low, you may want to redesign your ad, adjust your keywords or even adjust your book's price. Advertising your Indie books takes time and effort, but as you see the sales start to grow, it quickly becomes a worthwhile exercise.

A little over a year ago I published my first novel, Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor. I then followed up several months later with my second novel and then, earlier this year, my third in the Bloodlines Series. When I began my self-publishing journey, I had initially considered publishing only a traditional print book. I soon realized that electronic books, or "e-books" are now the most popular version of book publishing. Ignoring this new electronic publishing medium would have severely limited my potential audience, so I published my books electronically as well as in print. I also joined Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program where Amazon subscribers can "borrow" the electronic versions of my books and I am paid by the number of pages read ($0.0045 per page). Sales started to come in and slowly but surely, the sales started to increase each month. By the time I published my third book, sales were increasing each month for both the e-books and the print books. The page reads through Kindle Unlimited also continued to grow (and now account for 50% or more of all my monthly revenue). With the publication of the third book in my series, sales shot up and are continuing to increase every month. This made me happy! I then began to consider making my books into audiobooks and, after a lot of research, I found a narrator and contracted to have my first novel made into an audiobook. This process was a learning experience, but a lot of fun, and after a few months the finished version was done and launched. Sales have been steady and reviews positive for the audiobook. My second novel is now in production to become an audiobook (it promises to be great!) and I am searching for a narrator for the third. In addition to publishing my books in e-book, print and now audiobook formats, I have also been experimenting with foreign language markets. I had my first book translated into Spanish and it was launched in October of 2017. Sales have been somewhat disappointing compared to the English version, but I am still selling some copies. I also have had books #1 and #2 translated into Chinese and these books are currently in the final production stage (warning: it takes a LONG time to have the translation done and then receive approval to publish your work in China...patience is a must!). So why bother to publish your novel in so many different formats and in multiple languages? Simple: if you want to reach the largest audience possible, you need to make your books available in the languages and formats that your readers or listeners want. If a potential readers want to read your book on their smart phone or tablet, then you need to have an e-book. If your readers prefer a traditional print book, you need to have it available. The same holds true for people who like to listen to stories rather than read them; you publish an audiobook. Offering your books in several formats, and possibly in multiple languages can increase your exposure as an author. It does take some effort, and you still need to write a good story that is in a genre that people want to read, but it is a worthwhile exercise when you see your sales increase and receive positive feedback from your readers or listeners. Publishing in multiple formats and in more than one language may not be for everyone, but my personal experience has been satisfying. I will continue to look for new ways to introduce my writing to new audiences and hopefully continue to entertain as many people as possible. Afterall, isn't that what every author wants?

Foolishly, I am attempting to write my own screenplay from my novel, Bloodlines: Cove Point Manor. It is about as difficult as I thought it would be, although things are coming along. Unlike writing a novel, where a character’s thoughts can be written and very descriptive scenes described, a screenplay is more of a bare-bones piece of work. When a screenplay is turned into a movie, or TV program, the background is contained in the shot and is not described, and in most cases, the thoughts of a character remain hidden in their minds, revealing themselves only in the body language, facial expressions and actions of the character on screen. Writing a screenplay requires a different mindset from that used when writing a book. In both instances a writer needs to be able to visualize the scene, the characters and the action that takes place. In a screenplay though, a lot of what the writer may visualize may differ from what a director and producer visualize. This is where a movie can often let down a reader, and an author, and is the driving force behind me wanting to write my own screenplay: control over the final product. If I were to simply option my story and have a screenwriter interpret Cove Point Manor as they see fit, some of the key elements or characters may become lost. I may not be successful in writing a screenplay of Cove Point Manor, but it never hurts to give it a try. At a minimum I am learning a new skill; at best, I may just end up seeing my words brought to life one day on the big, or small, screen! It never hurts to try something new, and the only real failure in life is not trying.

As an author, it is my job to paint pictures in my reader's minds using words. If I perform my job well, my reader will be able to form a picture in their mind of the characters, scenes and situations that I describe with my choice of words. The most memorable books for me are the ones that lead me out of the real world and into other worlds where I could "see" and "hear" the characters and clearly picture their surroundings; I felt I was inside the story that the author had written; the story pulled me in and didn't let go until I finished the very last page. If done well, written words can create a mood, evoke emotions and help paint a clear picture in a reader's mind of a scene or of characters. If written poorly, an author may only confuse and frustrate a reader as they attempt to understand the meaning behind the author's words. Some authors go to extremes when trying to describe something in their story, using words which are overly descriptive or unnecessarily complex when simpler, clearer words could be used. I personally find such over-complicated writing off-putting and prefer a more concise description when reading a story. My own descriptive writing tends to use easy to understand words, but that doesn't mean less effective descriptions. One of the greatest compliments I have received as an author is when a reader tells me that I painted such a vivid description of a place, character or event that they could picture it as clearly as if they were watching the story unfold in a movie. To me, that is praise at the highest level. However you choose to use descriptive writing in your stories, keep in mind the feeling or mood you are trying to impart to your readers. Don't skip over the details of the scene that is taking place, but also don't go into so much detail that you bore your reader. As an author, I act as a tour guide for my readers. I am taking my readers on a journey to new worlds, introducing them to new people and places. If I have done my job well, I will have entertained them as a reward for their investment of the time they have taken to read my book.