Day: April 28, 2014

Used Pixel Warehouse

warehouseDid you ever wonder what editors do with all the pixels from the text they delete from manuscripts?

In the bad old days, they were just deleted. In today’s economy, we can no longer afford such wastefulness.

Thanks to breakthrough technology, these unwanted pixels can now be harvested and re-purposed for use by other authors. At Used Pixel Warehouse, we make these pixels available for bulk purchase at discount prices. Why pay full price for the pixels you use?

Just wire us the purchase price of a box of pixels, and we’ll upload them to your computer. You won’t even know the difference. We guarantee it!

Isn’t it about time you did your part to save the planet? Call Used Pixel Warehouse today!

Character Profile: Jim Case

Mystery Guest
No file photo available. We just couldn’t find anyone quite handsome enough.

Jim Case is the main character of Bad Book, by K.S. Brooks. Stephen Hise, and JD Mader. According to Case, he is irresistibly attractive to women. The women have a different take on it.

Yet, there is little time to find out how long women can resist his manly charms, as Case is thrown from one adventure to another.

In Bad Book, Case is cast in various heroic roles, including vampire-hunter, spaceship captain, cowboy, swashbuckling swordsman, dragon-slayer, treasure-hunter, lord of the jungle, and more.

In each role, he may be in over his head, but what he lacks in skills, he more than makes up for in his lack of courage. As Case might put it, “I’m here for two things: to make love to sexy women and to seriously kick ass. Mostly, the first thing.”

Flanked in his many adventures by his rotund sidekick Norman and superhottie Elizabeth, Case takes on villains from every literary genre. The one thing he hates is when these villains try to play dumb with him. When they’re going up against Case, that’s a game they can’t win.

Here is a taste of Case in action:

The next thing I knew, I was completely naked, and staked to the ground. I didn’t understand what had happened. Last I remembered, I had been on good terms with the Apache. It seems things had changed. Maybe the chief was taking that “married to his daughter” thing a little more seriously than I had expected. But if that’s the case, where was my aggrieved soon-to-be widow? The chief walked away.

I looked around as best I could, though my vantage point was less than I would have liked. Also, I’m not going to say the fire ants weren’t a little distracting – or would have been for a lesser man. I’m sure in my case, each one who bit me probably curled up and died a horrible death. Probably.

Suddenly, an idea struck me. I yelled for the chief. He came over and I told him I had to go to the bathroom.

He got a sour look on his face and asked, “Can’t you hold it?”

“No, man. I really, really gotta go!” I feigned a look of acute distress, surely something the chief would find convincing on my otherwise manly and stoic face.

“Number one or number two?” he asked.

“Number two. And the last thing I ate was Caribbean jerked buffalo!” I said. That sold it. The look on his face made it clear that he feared the jerked buffalo. As well he should. He had some of the boys come over and untie me, then they directed me to a bush well downwind from them.

Want to learn more about Case and his adventures? Bad Book is available from Amazon, Smashwords, and lots of other places for just 99¢. That’s cheaper than the blue plate special at Sal Minella’s, and we’re not even counting the emergency room visit.

Featured Services: Indicated

IndiCated logo LargeWant to spend more time writing, and less time researching ways to promote your book?

At Indicated, we know your time is precious. We bet you’d much rather be creating fantastic new worlds and kick-ass characters, than sifting through the scattered bits and pieces of information to find solid tips on book promotion. That’s how Louisa Clarkson, Indicated’s creator, felt after spending weeks researching the basics of how to promote her first children’s book.

Armed with new knowledge about blog tours, book review submission, and precise audience building, Clarkson faced a new adventure: scouting bloggers who accepted self-published books for review. That’s when the idea to create an all-in-one resource for indie authors struck.

What is Indicated, and how can the service help me save time searching for information?

As the logo says, Indicated is the ultimate indie author resource for building visibility and exposure. To promote books, you need to find book review bloggers, journals/ magazines and other resources to help spread the word (exposure) and get readers, librarians and book store owners to buy/stock your book. If one promotional technique doesn’t work, you need to try another, and another until it works.

That’s why Louisa created a one-of-a-kind database housing thousands of publication services (editors, proofreaders, cover designers etc) and promotional contacts supporting independent authors (free and paid advertising sites, guest posts & authors interviews, blog tour providers and so much more).

Many authors tackle promotion the wrong way, and shout, “buy my book” all over Facebook and Twitter. Ick! Indicated’s book promotion guides cover topics to build exposure and visibility without turning off potential readers, such as:

• Getting book reviews, endorsements and testimonials

• Speaking at events (conferences, festivals and fairs)

• Doing a book blog tour

• Author interviews (media)

• Giveaways and competitions

• Building an email and newsletter list

• Entering books awards

• And so much more.

How is Indicated different from other services?

For one, Indicated saves you time from wading through blogs to fit all the pieces of information together, and from hunting through lists of potential resources to find those that accept your genre. Indicated’s database allows users to target resources that accept their specific genre, book type (eBook, print, ARC, audiobook, etc), cost, and country.

Furthermore, Indicated features a pay-it-forward book spotlight system, allowing authors to support each other’s projects, and gain some much needed reviews (possibly multiple!). No more asking other authors for reviews, giving them, and not receiving them!

Our forum connects authors to authors, where members can seek reviews, share information, collaborate, and more.

Most importantly, Indicated offers an affordable service with so much added value! An independent author first, Louisa Clarkson designed this resource for her fellow authors, knowing they already pay for every part of the publishing process. This is her investment in the success of your book.

Find out more or join Indicated today to see where things grow!

Indies Unlimited does not endorse or support any specific providers of  products or services.

Uploading Your Book to the Google Play Store

googleplay booksWhenever I visit various independent author forums, I’m bound to stumble across a handful of people who say they make most of their profits selling online with someone other than Amazon (Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc.). Most recently, a person posted that they earned 50 percent of their sales from the Google Play store.

So, I decided to head on over and set up my books for Google Play. (Surely my audience is over at Google Play; that’s why they’re not buying the books via Amazon).

There is one important thing you need to know before you sign up for Google Play: they heavily discount your price. Unless you set your book at 99 cents, Google Play will change the price. This wonderful Kindle Boards post gives a chart explaining what price you need to set your book on Google Play to get it to be one of the standard U.S. prices. For example, you must set your Google Play price to $3.94 if you want it to sell for $2.99. Continue reading “Uploading Your Book to the Google Play Store”