Posts Tagged ‘publishing’


used under creative commons license from Flickr user midnightcomm

New Flash Fiction: Eleventh Hour Brother

Posted on

Two months ago, I discovered that some fellow indie writers were creating a “flash fiction” anthology that would span genres. I was very interested. The main stipulation: all stories had to be under 1,000 words. One thousand words really isn’t a lot. (The Lead Cloak is more than 100 times as long) It’s hard to do much in that short space, but that’s what appealed to me. I made the decision to do something I’ve never done before–I wrote the story on my phone. My thinking was that writing on my phone would help me conserve words (there’s a reason emails coming Read more…

Should you self-publish?

Posted on

I know a lot of authors who have self-published and a lot of authors who have traditionally published (and several who have found an in-between route). Brent Hartinger, my co-host on Media Carnivores, has done both, so together we were able to have a really interesting podcast discussion about this topic. We are definitely coming at it from two different sides–Brent thinks you should start by attempting to traditionally publish and I think you should start by self-publishing first. But we also both see real benefits to all options. The conversation went so well that we extended it into a Read more…

The Third Degree

Posted on

Here’s something fun I’m trying out. I was invited to work with two other authors to package our mysteries together into a single bundled download. We called it “The Third Degree Bundle.” The idea was that you get three books for the price of one. And maybe find some new authors to check out! It’s a low-risk way to fill your Kindle with 885 pages of mystery and thrillers! Here are the three books: The Saints Go Dying, by Erik Hanberg A computer hacker turned detective is hunting a serial killer in Los Angeles targeting modern day saints. Project Moses, Read more…

After all that …

Posted on

  Way back in 2011, I was putting the finishing touches on The Marinara Murders and didn’t have a new project to work on. I had an idea for the next Beautyman mystery, but my head was full of a science fiction novel. I’ve never written science fiction, but I couldn’t get it out of my system. So I took a leap and started writing. It ended up going really really well. The book gathered dust during my election campaign that year, and then I picked it up again. Hannah’s arrival the next year actually helped me pick up the pace, Read more…

Every sale still amazes me …

Posted on

The first day of every month is a hard one for an independent author. All your sales are wiped clean. However well you did the month before, all those sales disappear, and the counter resets to zero. This is what the sales report for Kindle looks like when you haven’t sold any books. No matter how good previous month sales were, this is the bar you see before you sell anything this month. Ugh. Back in 2010 and early 2011, there were some months when this bar wouldn’t go away until the end of the month. Now it usually goes away pretty Read more…

Sneak Peek

Posted on

Things are moving along with my sci-fi adventure novel! I’m thinking October, but the hard and fast date is not fixed yet. There’s still a lot to be done, which is why I’m not sure of the date. So until then I want to share a small slice of the cover art from Tacoma artist Chandler O’Leary. It’s just a small hint of what is to come. So very excited to share the rest soon!

The Little Book of Likes, now available!

Posted on

I’m happy to say that The Little Book of Likes is now available on all major book sites: Kindle Paperback Nook Kobo The Little Book of Likes is dedicated to helping small (and very small) nonprofits build an audience of readers–and potential donors and volunteers–on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This short guide leads Executive Directors and nonprofit marketing managers through the ins and outs of a simple social media strategy that is effective and sustainable. With real-world practical advice, it recognizes that nonprofit managers usually have better things to be doing than updating Facebook. Like The Little Read more…

Ask An Author: Are Audiobooks Worth It?

Posted on

For the last four months, I’ve had my non-profit fundraising guide for sale as an audiobook on Audible and iTunes. The decision to put it there was a bit of an experiment, and I’m happy to report that it’s gone quite well. Sales Report After four months of sales, I’ve paid for the upfront production costs of the book, which is–quite honestly–much faster than I expected. It’s been a high percentage of sales too. Since I do love making charts and graphs, here’s the last four months of sales of the book, by format. As you can see, the paperback Read more…