Day: September 18, 2014

Featured Book: Profile of Evil

Profile of Evil by Alexa GraceProfile of Evil
by Alexa Grace
4.6 average star rating from 244 reviews
Available from Amazon

The online world can be a dangerous place for kids whose parents are unaware of their activities, especially when a vicious serial killer is on the rampage. As the body count escalates, the pressure is on for Sheriff Brody Chase and former FBI profiler Carly Smith to stop the terror.

Excerpt

“You need to get here fast, Brody. There are two bodies inside the car.”

Brody slammed the cell phone back in his pocket and raced to the front door. Nausea and fear filled him as he prayed the two bodies were not preadolescent females, like the two unsolved murder files on his desk. The last two years like clockwork, the body of a young girl had been found in his county. Both murders remained unsolved because of a lack of identification, but Brody knew that each girl had family members somewhere. Why in the hell hadn’t anyone reported them missing?

There was either a monster living in his county, or using it as a body dump site. Both options were unsettling, and people were getting nervous. He was sick of being asked why the murders hadn’t been solved, and how close he was to finding the killer. The avid crime television viewers watched every week as crimes were solved and tied up with a ribbon at the end of the hour. That it was taking two years to solve the girls’ murders was unacceptable to them, and they weren’t afraid to voice their opinions — to him, and to the County Commission President, Bradley Lucas, to whom Brody reported.

What others are saying:

“It will keep you on the edge of your seat up all night reading!” – Brandy Blackerby and 42 additional reviewers made a similar statement.

Choices for Publishing: eBooks, Part 2

publish buttonLast week, we talked about publishing your ebook by uploading your file to a distributor such as Smashwords or Draft 2 Digital. There are valid arguments for letting a distributor do the job for you. For one thing, you only have to upload to one place (well, two places – more on that in a sec), which means that you only have to prep one electronic version of your book. And when you need to correct the inevitable typos, you only have to upload the corrected file to one place.

But there are disadvantages, too. For example, a distributor won’t pay you for your sales until the merchant has paid them, and merchants don’t update the distributor in real time. For another, you are going to get a smaller royalty if you use a distributor, because the distributor is going to take their cut before they pay you. Let’s use Barnes & Noble as an example. If you upload your book directly to Nook Press, B&N will pay you 65 percent of your list price (assuming your list price is between $2.99 and $9.99). If you put Smashwords in the middle, B&N will pay Smashwords 65 percent of your list price; Smashwords will pay you 60 percent of list, and keep the other 5 percent for its trouble. And while Smashwords pays quarterly – and must wait for B&N to report sales to them first – Nook Press pays 60 days after you’ve made a sale (although, like Smashwords, you must accumulate $10 in sales before they’ll pay you anything).

You should also keep in mind that you’re going to have to prepare a separate file for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) anyway, because KDP doesn’t play nice with any distributors. So you may decide that it’s worth the hassle to cut out the middleman and prepare separate files for each retailer. Your call.

Let’s run down the Big Five: Continue reading “Choices for Publishing: eBooks, Part 2”

Thrifty Thursday: Stop Here for Savings

Stop Here for SavingsSTOP right there! I wanna know right now: Do you want some free books? 99 cent deals? We’ve got them right here on Thrifty Thursday.

Readers: look in the comment section below. If you see one you like, click over and buy it. How easy is that? (If you don’t see the book covers, adjust your browser’s adblock settings.)

Authors: if you have a book priced at 99¢ or less (that’s right, post your free eBooks here, too!), follow the instructions below and post it right in the comment section. Got more than one bargain book? Go ahead and post them all if you like, but only one book and ONE link per comment please!

We will convert your link to a clickable book cover. Do not attempt to insert an image in comments on your own. Just put the following information in the comment section:

1. Book title

2. Author name

3. A one sentence blurb (not a Faulkner sentence, either. Be reasonable.)

4. ONE link to download the book (only secure retail sites – Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, Kobo, Apple/iStore, or Sony)

5. Whether your book is free or 99 cents (and for how long/what dates)

Then let your friends and fans know your book is available here today. Use the share buttons below, or copy the link in the address bar above and share the news on your favorite social media platforms. The more, the merrier, right?

So let’s give it a try, shall we? Please make sure to follow the RULES above. Now, go ahead and tell the world about your cheap read. IU is a safe-for-work site. PLEASE do not post links to erotica, religious, or political titles.

(Post your FREE eBooks here, too!)

[Note: if the book cover images below do not display properly, please check your AdBlock settings.]