Never let it be said that I, your intrepid reporter, won’t go to the ends of the indie author universe for you. To mark Indies Unlimited’s second blogiversary, I have done just that! Well, not exactly. But I did venture down into the bowels of our nuclear-powered Death Star to interview the man who keeps everything around here running tickety-boo: our chief engineer, Tavish MacTavish. Continue reading “LynneQuisition: Tavish MacTavish, Nuclear Death Star Chief Engineer”
Month: October 2013
Not One Stinkin’ Dime
I decided to try an experiment. What would happen, I wondered, if I set-up a crowdfunding appeal on either Kickstarter or Indiegogo? I had written a post, Kickstart Your Indie Project, on Indies Unlimited in favor of Kickstarter, and my fellow IU writer Rich Meyer had written one, Mendicancy – The First Refuge of The Modern Indie, critiquing the idea of independent authors asking for money to fund their book costs. What better way to prove my point that people are happy to fund novels, and to gain visibility for my book at the same time, than to put together a crowdfunding campaign? Continue reading “Not One Stinkin’ Dime”
Featured Collection: Mike Richan’s River Series
Seattle-based author Michael Richan has written horror fiction for thirty-five years. His book, The Bank of the River, was an extremely popular Kindle download during its promotional days, reaching #2 in Horror and over 5,000 downloads. He is most appreciative of his fans and the great reception they have given The River series, which consists of three books: The Bank of the River, A Haunting in Oregon, and Ghosts of Our Fathers.
Available from Amazon.
Steven is anticipating a quiet sabbatical at a new home. Instead, knockings and grisly apparitions begin to haunt him, relentlessly tormenting him at night. With a recent divorce and a son in college, he is left alone to deal with the ghosts lurking in the shadows of his house.
Steven is determined to find a rational explanation. His father Roy offers to help, and soon Steven discovers Roy has dormant supernatural skills. Steven’s natural skepticism clashes with Roy’s “gift,” but soon Steven finds himself assisting Roy as he battles the forces inside his home. Together they unearth something much more sinister and evil than either expected: ghosts are just the beginning of the problem!
The Bank of the River is a fast-paced and thrilling horror novel that explores evil, ghosts, disturbing creatures, and the supernatural gifts a father and son use to fight them.
A Haunting in Oregon
Available from Amazon.
Mason Manor, tucked away in the forests of Oregon – historic, beautiful, and completely haunted. The estate, built in 1850, is now a bed and breakfast run by Pete and Sarah. Once a wonderful place to stay, now it’s not so great – guests don’t survive the night, and are found the next morning in bed, in a pool of blood. Pete and Sarah turn to an old friend, Roy, who has “the gift,” but are they too late to stop whatever malevolent force is prowling the halls at night?
Roy and Steven jump into the mystery and find things are much worse than they appear. They endure horrific encounters with the ghosts of the manor and discover a sinister force at work. Roy and Steven will need to use Roy’s gift and marshal the help of others to save Mason Manor from the terrors within.
Ghosts of Our Fathers
Available from Amazon.
Steven is scared – he’s awakened in the middle of the night by a mysterious figure that threatens to kill him. Is it a ghost, or some other evil creature? Steven’s determined to figure out what it is and how to stop it. He would normally turn to his father, Roy, who is educating him on how to use “the gift” to deal with ghosts and other threats, but Roy isn’t available. Steven turns instead to his “gifted” friends Eliza and Daniel. Daniel’s an expert on time, and they all soon discover the true nature of the threat: it comes from the past and it’s worse than any of them realized. Strange ghosts and creatures stand between them and the solution. Time is running out as Steven, Roy, Daniel and Eliza dig into the past to learn of half-finished business that is coming back to haunt them all.
Is “Free” Over?
Before the rise of Amazon’s KDP Select, I had serious reservations about the merits of giving books away for free as a means to build readership.
Then the Select program came and shook things up in a big way. For what was likely the first time, indie authors were shooting up the charts on a par with authors who are household names. Numerous early adopters of the program reported post-free sales surges and sales in their back lists. Amazon had figured out a way to make “free” work.
Then they began changing it. The first thing to go was the impact of free downloads on the ranking algorithm. The freebies no longer shot up the charts, gaining and sustaining the visibility they once had.
The next bubble to burst was that downloads did not appear to equate to readership. People seem content to fill their Kindles with free books they never get around to reading, let alone reviewing. Continue reading “Is “Free” Over?”