Farewell Kindle Unlimited–Hello World

I’ve been taking all my books from Kindle Unlimited, one at a time as their exclusivity runs out and they’re now all done. Kindle Unlimited, for those who don’t know, is an Amazon service readers can join, for, I think, a monthly payment, and then borrow ebooks rather than buy them outright. For anyone who reads a lot it’s probably a good deal and a good way to check out new authors. For the authors it’s not such a good deal and seems to be paying less every month. It’s not a set amount but depends on the number of readers. It worked out at less than half what the royalty was for most of my books and it seems to me that as KU became more popular my actual sales went down. Also if you want your books in KU they have to be exclusive to Amazon, which mine have been for years, and I decided it was time for a change.

I was particularly interested in making my books available on iTunes because I know lots of readers like the convenience of reading on their phones. Draft2Digital distributes to Apple, as well as Barnes and Noble, Kobo and many others, including Amazon. It’s all pretty easy although it took me a few attempts to get the formatting right. You have to make sure your chapter headings are different to the rest of the page–larger font and bold seems to work well–otherwise the computerised formatting doesn’t recognise them as headings. After the first two or three I finally got the hang of it and found it simple. I loved the options of creating different effects as well; depending on the type of book there’s little motifs you can use in your chapter headings, and drop caps, which make the whole thing look that little bit more professional.

It’s Spring here in Oz and I’m sitting in my office with the heater full bore. Much warmer weather is forecast for next week and I know it won’t be long and it’ll be too damn hot!

books2read.com/StonyCreek                                                    books2read.com/Karinya

Advertisements

Blasting Pirates

I don’t plan to start advertising businesses, apart from the unavoidable popups, but if I come across something I think is worth sharing, I will. There’s a company/program/app/whatever you call it, that’s still in the beta stage and is, I think free for now. It certainly cost me nothing, which will surprise no-one who’s been reading my blog for long! Anyway what Blasty does is find out where an author’s books are being pirated and then send alerts. All you have to do is go through the list and press the orange blast button. Fun! I was resigned to the fact that my books were vulnerable to piracy, but I had no idea how many there were out there. Blasty found over 100 and I blasted them all! This is my invitation link which is a little weird and I’m pretty sure I don’t get free Tupperware or anything else (if I do I’ll let you know–full disclosure!) but it might mean you get it free.

Please don’t assume I know anything about the safety of this or any other program/app or whatever. I did do a little research but you should do some too. I can tell you I haven’t had any problems: https://www.blasty.co/invitation/2DRw3RpU

In other news, I’ve decided to ditch Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited and am taking all my books off when their exclusivity runs out. I’ve already put several across to Draft to Digital, which makes them available on iTunes and Barnes and Noble, and more. They’ll still be on Amazon, for sale only on Amazon.com and Amazon.UK

 

Buying Reviews

I’ve recently come across this phenomenon via Facebook and personally I find it sickening: people offering to review books for self-published authors for money, guaranteeing 5 star reviews. I saw one a couple of days ago stating they could put several reviews on the one book on Amazon, using different names and addresses! I have no idea how long this has been going on nor how many authors actually buy such ‘reviews’, but it makes me think differently now about those books on Amazon with lots of 5 star reviews. I know Amazon pulls reviews they’re dubious about and, like most self-published authors, I complain about that, but I sincerely hope they can put a stop to this practice, which makes those of us who only have honest reviews at a disadvantage. As a reader I’ll disregard reviews now.

I’m not so adamantly against the common practice of authors providing free copies to readers in the expectation they’ll write a positive review but it still seems a little off to me. There’s also quite a lot of trading going on–review for review–and I confess I did that once, trading a review for an app with one for a book of mine. Never again! The ‘reviewer’ clearly read only the outline and while the review was certainly positive it was totally out of whack and I have asked Amazon to remove it. Like all self-published authors I very much appreciate hearing from readers, and 5 star reviews certainly help sell books, but I’ll stick to the honest reviews from those who actually read and enjoyed my books! For info on any of my books please visit my Author Pages at Amazon.com and Amazon.UK.

 

 

Fake News or Gossip?

Some of you will have heard about Rebel Wilson’s win in court against a magazine publisher, who apparently published an assortment of fake news, or gossip, about her, which damaged her career. I presume it’s not news to many of us in Australia that magazines publish complete garbage but for some reason people buy them and are entertained by them.

My 97 year old mother has been a loyal reader of at least two of the most popular magazines for decades and believes every word of it. I’m sure they weren’t always like they are now. I came across one last year that was around 30 years old and it was totally different–full of recipes and fashion, and photos of royals but very little in the way of gossip. Mum often tells me something she’s read about some celebrity and I have told her it’s probably not true at all, but I don’t think she quite understands. If it’s published it must be true, right? Ha!

I write mostly fiction myself, so I don’t have to check the facts, although writing historical fiction still requires a hell of a lot of research. My latest book, which will be out later this year, is set mostly in the mid 19th century and I constantly had to stop writing and check what people were wearing, what buildings were in Melbourne and Bendigo and what food was available on the goldfields. So many bits and pieces and although it’s hardly news, I do like to get my facts straight.

I only read magazines in doctors’ waiting rooms these days and they’re so old most of the gossip has already done the rounds and proven to be wrong, which is kind of amusing. Apparently most celebrities don’t take publishers to court because it’s not only very expensive but very time-consuming, so good for you, Rebel! If more celebs would stand up maybe magazines might be worth reading again.

Please visit my Amazon Author page for all details of my books: Amazon.com and Amazon.UK

 

 

 

Smart Phones–Agony or Ecstasy?

I’ve had my smart phone for something over a year–it’s a Samsung, which means an android, apparently, even though I still think of an android as being a kind of human-like robot. Which makes an android phone kind of sci-fi and cool, I guess, so that’s one good thing about it.

My husband talked me into getting a smart phone because I spend a fair bit of time on my computer, which is in my office, and he knew a smart phone would be handy to check many things while I’m not in my office. And it is of course–oh so handy. Especially in the lounge-room beside my recliner. I can Google the identity of which actor we’re arguing over in the movie we’re watching, for example, without leaving my chair. I can check Facebook in the ad breaks, again without leaving my chair. Since I have 5000 friends there’s always something to look at. Every ad break.

My last phone was one of those little flip ones–cute and easy to carry around, but one thing I did want from a new phone was a good camera and I have to say I’m very happy with that. It’s at least as good as my actual camera which I no longer use at all.

My little flip phone, though, never caused me any pain. Mind you, I used it only for phone calls and an occasional photo. My smart phone has become something of an addiction and I don’t think I’m alone there. My hands, and especially my thumbs, have been hurting quite a bit and I’ve realised it’s the way I hold the phone when I’m texting etc., so now I’m trying to wean myself away from it. Instead of leaving it next to my armchair I’m leaving it on the other side of the room, so when I do want to check it I have to actually walk over there and I can look at it without picking it up! Does anyone else have phone addict pain?

My Red Dust Series and most of my other books are available on Amazon.com and Amazon.UK as both ebooks and print.

Instafreebie

I’ve recently started putting stories on Instafreebie, which, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a site where, obviously enough, you can find free reads! It seems well organised and, from an author point of view, is another way of reaching new readers. Apart from the short stories I’ll continue to list as free on a permanent basis, I’m also putting books up for around a week at a time. If anyone knows anything I don’t know about Instafreebie I’d love to hear from you! At this stage I’m only using the free service; I know you can pay for different services.

These are my perma free stories at the moment and I intend to add another one very soon:

you never knew  You probably think this story’s about you, don’t you?

Brown Dog  Luke is flat broke and living in his car at the beach when an old mutt sidles up to him–the last thing he needs, or is it?

What Did You Say?  Not a short story but a small ebook to help with grammar and punctuation. Do you know the real purpose of the humble apostrophe?

I always tweet the temporary giveaways and you can find details on the right side of my blog posts or on twitter.

I’ve just been on my annual trek to my home town for my mother’s birthday. I do try to get there more often but never miss Mum’s birthday. She’s 97 now and still living at home (alone) and cooking her own meals. She does have some help with the housework as well as the garden but she still likes to potter around out there as well. There are lots of other family members who live much closer than I do, fortunately, including more grandchildren and great grandchildren than I can keep track of! It’s always nice to visit my old home town but it’s good to come back to the place that’s been my home for over 30 years.

Most of my books are available in print and ebook on Amazon.com and Amazon.UK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More on Self-Editing: Text to Speech

I’ve just discovered a new tool for self-editing which you may already know about; I tend to not go looking for any secrets my computer may have unless it’s not doing what I want it to. I’d heard of software that could turn text to speech but had never looked into it and assumed it would be something I’d have to buy and install and all that stuff that I just don’t want to bother with. I often read some of my book aloud, particularly dialogue, and I have suggested to others it’s even better if you can persuade someone else to read it to you, or record it and play it back. Probably not practical for an entire novel though and my latest novel has grown to over 80,000 words, quite a bit longer than my previous ones.

Someone mentioned on facebook that there was a Word option for Text to Speech and I still assumed it was an extra that I’d have to buy, install, etc., but it’s not! It’s just there and is super easy to use. It’s probably best that I don’t try to tell you how to use it because explaining technology is not in my list of talents, but if you have Word just ask the help button and they’ll walk you through it. Take my word for it, if I can follow it, you can.

Tex (I decided to call him Tex, because, why not?) and I spent the weekend editing my book. He’s American, but not hard to understand, and has quite a pleasant voice for a computer, even if he does have trouble pronouncing the occasional word. He doesn’t understand Mmm, or Hmm, or Mr and doesn’t understand I want a pause when I use an ellipsis or a long dash, nor will he point out any errors to you. BUT he also won’t skip over the typos we all make, like you and your friends will (maybe even your editor). It’s just the way our brains work; when we see the word ‘out’, in a sentence where it should have been ‘our’, we just know it’s meant to be ‘our’ and may not even notice the mistake. Tex doesn’t notice it either but when he says it out loud, you will notice it.

Tex is certainly not the only self-editing tool you need–he won’t tell you if you’ve written the wrong version of too, or to, or the wrong version of your, or their, but just because reading aloud is so much slower than reading silently I did pick up several things myself that I decided needed improving and he’s my new best friend. I don’t usually have a problem with spelling or grammar but typos? Absolutely!

For some of the things Tex can’t help you with I have a free ebook, ‘What Did You Say?’ on Smashwords. It’s just a little one but there’s some things that will help if you’re unsure about punctuation or grammar. Especially the correct use of apostrophes–do you know what they’re actually for? A lot of people don’t! For all my other books please visit my author pages on Amazon.com or Amazon.UK