Month: August 2013

Flash Fiction: Vote ’em Up!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time once again to choose. Who will be the next Flash Fiction Star? We had a number of great submissions this week. Kudos to all the entrants. Check out this week’s entries here. Vote for your fave then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

Remember, all our winners will be included in the next edition of the IU Flash Fiction Anthology. So, support your fellow writers and participate in this week’s voting, then spread the word, bang the drums, and share the link to let everyone know the vote is on.

Polls close tomorrow at 5 PM.

 

Who wrote your favorite flash fiction entry this week?

  • Matt J Pike (56%, 19 Votes)
  • Jon Jefferson (21%, 7 Votes)
  • Carol Wyer (12%, 4 Votes)
  • AL Kaplan (12%, 4 Votes)

Total Voters: 34

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NOTE: Entrants whose submissions exceed the 250 word limit are eliminated from the poll.

Like, Fer Shur

Facebook LogoThose of us who waste hours a day on Facebook have a hard time understanding, but apparently there are people who have lives away from their computer, smartphone, or other electronic tether. Maybe … wait a second, a notification just popped up on Facebook. BRB (that’s be right back, for those who aren’t savvy about all these new fangled acronyms).

That Rich Meyer is a funny guy. As I was saying before I got interrupted, maybe some of you are too busy writing to spend much time on Facebook. But you still have a Facebook account and have setup an author page, right? Apparently some of our less Facebook savvy readers (you know, those people I talked about who have a life) want to participate in the periodic Facebook like fests we have at IU, but aren’t sure whether they are “doing it right.” So, in order to put some of those wasted hours to good use, I’m going to show you. Continue reading “Like, Fer Shur”

Sneak Peek: Horded

Today we have a sneak peek from Horded, the second book in the Kingdoms Gone fantasy series by author Frances Pauli.

Maera is a woman torn between the debt she owes her people, and the selfish yearnings of her own heart. Tal is the lowest gobelin, the cursed brother of the horde’s greatest warrior. When he stumbles onto a legendary castle, however, he believes his luck is about to change.

Together, they are the only ones who can save Tal’s brother, the one person they both love and the only thing they can agree on. If they fail, the castle will fall into enemy hands. If they succeed, they’ll have to stand together against the full fury of the gobelin horde…

This book is available from Amazon and Amazon UK.

Here is an excerpt from Horded…

Continue reading “Sneak Peek: Horded”

How to Stop Selling Books Immediately

July 2013 was one of the slowest sales months I’ve had. I didn’t sell very many books last month. In fact, when the final numbers are tallied, it may turn out to be my worst month ever. There are excuses, I mean reasons, and I’ll get to those, but let me whine, I mean pontificate just a little while longer.

When I’m asked how many books I sell I like to say that I sell books every single day, and up until July that was almost always true. But, during the past month I had two days where the numbers on my sales reports did not change. Now, I realize I’ve been a very lucky guy and there are authors who haven’t been as fortunate as I have, but I’ve kinda gotten used to a certain consistency, and last month it just wasn’t there. For two days my sales dashboard remained dormant and no one downloaded any of my three books. As my author friends know, this also affects your rankings on Amazon. With each hour of non-sales, my rankings got farther and farther away from the coveted top 100, 1,000, 10,000 spots. My usual ranking for my most popular book, My Temporary Life, is in the 10,000 to 40,000 range but I watched as it fell all the way to the 80,000 mark. Fortunately, it didn’t last, and the numbers started increasing after the short delay, and my rankings climbed back up. Continue reading “How to Stop Selling Books Immediately”