Amazon Select

I thought I would let everyone know that I've placed my books on KDP select in Amazon for a 90 day period. As a result I had to remove my titles from Smashwords. I was very happy with Smashwords, but the KDP Select on Amazon has an exclusivity clause. I'm sorry for the inconvenience this has caused anyone searching for my work through Barnes and Noble. I will, however, be launching my third book in the Colin series through Smashwords.



Thank you again to all my readers.

Author Marketing Club

I love to write, but I also love to when people read my work.  Writing is a peculiar art. It's done in isolation but has the potential to be shared world wide. True there is that inner need to be happy with what you are working on, but the joy comes when someone reads your work and they express excitement or gratitude. That's what makes it all worth while. The great advantage with ebooks is that there are a lot of them, and unless you have a way of differentiating yours from others, then your ebook is likely to settle at the bottom of some primordial, digital sea, never to be seen until someone digs it up. This is why I transferred my books over to Amazon Kindle and registered with Author Marketing Club. I need to learn how to market whether I want to or not.

I know the artistic refrain, 'maybe I'll be famous when I'm dead.' I never understood that. If I'm dead then it doesn't matter. It might matter to my children, but I'll have moved on. So, what I hope to do is document this journey with Author Marketing Club through this blog.

As a result of registering my digital books with KDP Select I can not longer offer them with via Smashwords.com.

Wish me luck.

Here's a link to the Author Marketing Club site:

Book Marketing Selling Tips for Authors

Queen's Gift

I've just finished watching the movie production of Shakespeare's "Much ado about Nothing."  There is a scene where Benedict and Beatrice are having it out. Beatrice wants Benedict to challenge Claudio, and when Benedict refuses and says "not for the world," she transforms. What I mean by that is Beatrice transforms into a queen when she exclaims what she would do "if" she were a man. Here, she is manipulating Claudio. Oh, my! This sounds like Queen Elizabeth herself.  She kept the Count of Anjou, Catherine de medici's son on the hook for eleven years. Phillip II of Spain, Elizabeth's sister's husband was held off until 1588. She played with Robert Dudley, his step son, The Earl of Essex and Walter Raleigh, and flew into rages when they all married women who looked like her.

I'm sure there are many learned men and women out there who have asked the question: "Why is it that Shakespeare has some of the strongest female characters of the age, especially in an age where women did not act on stage? If there had been no Queen Elizabeth, I doubt there would be no strong female characters on stage at all.

I'll even go so far to say, no Elizabeth, no Shakespeare (or whoever wrote those marvelous plays).

There are great women who come along and not only make life interesting, they define it. Queen Elizabeth was one of these women. It was said she love a soldier, and wit, and intelligence, and women (who reminded her of herself). It is strange to note that many of her maids were like her in appearance, rays emanating from the sun. Marvelous, just marvelous.

Oh, just another thought. Before The Earl of Essex got carried away and tried to revolt they paid to watch a private stage production of Richard III, a production that promoted replacing the monarch. Her furious response to that was: "Know you not that I am Richard III!"

I don't doubt that Elizabeth was excellent at "shaking spears."

Coupon

In anticipation of the release of the third book in my "Colin," series: "Colin and The Revenant," I'm going to offer a coupon worth 25% off on the second book in the series. "Colin and The Little Black Box." The First book, "Colin and The Rise of The House of Horwood," is free.

When you go to Smashwords.com and purchase the book there will be a coupon box, just punch in KZK84J (it's not case sensitive.)

Colin and The Little Black Box




Colin and The Rise of The House of Horwood

Blake

Why do I love Blake's work? Probably why I love Yeate's work. They both believed in inspiration of the writer tapping into the devine and being the conduit. Writing is hard work, but when it flows, it's marvelous. The one thing that I have noticed about my own writing, is that my characters are becoming more substantial. It's as though they are become as real as I am.

Now that's an idea, isn't it. A writer puts so much substance into their characters that their own substance is deminishes causing the paper creation to become real and the author to become the paper creation.

I thought I would include some pics that a marvelous artist, Natasha Lavigne drew up for "Memories of My Youth", by Bill Halkett.  Wonderful.

Rhetoric and climax

I don't know about you, but climax is really important, and people love it. I'm not trying to make a Freudian slip here, I'm just trying to extol the virtues of climax.  People like reason, they like order. Just think about it, there's always order in music, no matter what type it is. All music has rules, all writing has rules. Now, let's apply some of those rules. Shakespeare, or whoever he/she was, tapped into it in Macbeth. Remember the scene at the beginning of 'the Scottish play,' when the witches are brewing away. Here we have the Weird Sisters singing their sinister song: "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain?" Here we have pattern and we love it. We get all squirmy inside.  Try the same line with four: "In thunder, lightning, mist or in rain?" It just doesn't feel right does it?

Well, let's fit climax into the concept of threes: big, bigger, biggest, and watch the crowds go crazy. They love it.  Try this on for size. "After losing the love of his life sadness turned to grief which turned to inconsolable lamentation."

So, if you use Climax, do it in threes, because four is just a wee bit much.

There is also something for experimentation. Try working the climax backwards. "His terrible exhaustion took him from gasping for breath, to breathing harshly, to finally the realm of slow control breath where only defeat lived."

Climax rules!

Memories of My Youth

I just finished working with Bill on his Novel.  It's a great compelation of short biographical stories.  I remember him telling me about his project, and I said, "that's Mordecai Richler," and he said, "Yeah, we both grew up in the same area of Montreal. I even met him."

So, if you liked Mordecai's stories, you most likely will like Bill's.

Memories of My Youth: on Smashwords