Month: October 2011

Sneak Peek: Vickie Johnstone’s “Kiwi and the Living Nightmare”

Today, author Vickie Johnstone offers us a sneak peek at one of her new books in her acclaimed “Kiwi” series.

In book three, “Kiwi and the Living Nightmare,” the story begins with Amy, James and their little black cat tucked up in their beds on the week of Halloween. They all dream of a strange house in the woods in which resides a grey, three-legged cat, who begs them to help her. So, off the budding detectives go in search of the place, but inside they encounter something spooky… something that will do anything to stop them leaving.

This delightful book is for adults, teens and children aged 10 up. Here is an excerpt from Kiwi and the Living Nightmare:

“Let’s try upstairs,” suggested Kiwi.

“Ok,” said James, looking back at the window. The animals in the stained glass remained still. Cats, a forest, birds and a lake. Very colourful and beautiful. The cats had happy, smiling faces, the forest was very green, the lake sparkled in the sun and even the birds looked happy. All of them were robins with little red breasts.

“Come on,” said his sister. “We’re probably just a little bit tired. Maybe we can have a nap upstairs. There are bound to be lots of beds in this big house.” Continue reading “Sneak Peek: Vickie Johnstone’s “Kiwi and the Living Nightmare””

Print is Dead

Dr. Egon Spengler – Visionary

Remember all the tumult and furor generated when humankind moved from cave paintings to stone tablets, and again to scrolls before settling comfortably on bound-paper books? No? Well, I don’t either, but I’m sure it was quite a to-do at the time.

If Moses had carried the commandments down from the mountain on a Kindle or Nook, we might have ended up with 15 commandments instead of ten (as Mel Brooks suggests in his movie, History of the World, Part I ). Considering the struggle we have with the ten we know about, perhaps it’s for the best. Continue reading “Print is Dead”

Meet the Author: Kristina Jackson

Author Kristina Jackson

This may alarm the stodgy crowd at the writer’s workshop, but poet and author Kristina Jackson is about to shake things up. Her soulful poetry and her avante-garde writing offer readers something fresh and different. “I try and tell the story rather than write the words,” says Kristina.

Kristina believes a book should sing, not merely speak, and that it is a mistake to pursue technical perfection at the expense of good story-craft.  “Too many writers are getting caught up in believing a well edited book is the same as a well written book. Sometimes editing takes over the storyline. As such we need to be aware of both,” she says.

“I want people to be transported to where the story is, see, smell, touch, experience,” she says. Her writing achieves that effect in an unusual way. Speaking from my own experience in reading her work, I felt very much as if I were sitting around a campfire and hearing her tell the stories. This is an effect I think many writers would find difficult to pull off, but Kristina does it well. Continue reading “Meet the Author: Kristina Jackson”

Pricing Your Work – by Special Guest Author, Anastasia V. Pergakis

Author Anastasia Pergakis

How do you know if your book is priced correctly to move the maximum amount of copies? For some this might take some time and a little experimentation. One of the best things about being an indie author is we can set our price – and change it when we like.

How can you tell?

Authors, like J.A. Konrath as one example, are willing to share their numbers on their blogs. In one post J.A. Konrath did in June of 2009, listed the numbers for his books, and came to the following conclusions:

“1. Publisher releases vastly outsell author releases. This seems obvious, but a publisher can buddy-up with Amazon and get primo placement. Authors can’t do this on their own.

2. Price matters. All of my ebooks (even the poetry one) are on the genre bestseller lists, outselling name-brand authors. I’m sure this is because of price.

3. Being active on the Kindle forums, in newsletters, and on Amazon, may do more for sales than your cover, your description, your reviews, or even your writing. The key is to make people aware of your books. The more awareness there is, the more you’ll sell.

Once you’re on a bestseller list, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People browse the lists, see your book, buy your book, you stay on the lists.

4. Novels outsell short stories. It’s like this in print as well, but my numbers confirm it.

5. No one buys poetry. Even outrageously funny poetry.

6. My technothrillers are doing much better than my medical thriller and my crime novel. Is this because more Kindle owners like technothrillers? It seems so.” Continue reading “Pricing Your Work – by Special Guest Author, Anastasia V. Pergakis”