Some of you read along as I wrote Touched, earlier this year. I was pleased with how it turned out. Since we’ve been taking covers the last couple of nights, I thought I’d share one more. I don’t think it is quite perfect yet, but I’d appreciate feedback.

One thing I’ve done is changed the title. Feel free to comment on this decision, too. It has been a challenge to come up with something for that novel. All my previous attempts have resulted in amazing covers…for a romance novel.

While there is romance, it is more of a thriller. I don’t think most readers of the romance genre want a crazy serial killer running around in their books, so it is best I focus on the thriller aspect.

So, here is what I’ve got thus far. Again, please give your thoughts, as I’m open to anything.

Okay, so I’ve been still tweaking the cover. The responses have been all over the map. Many of the people think the color free version is more appealing, but think that children will prefer color. Some respondents thought the “The Challenge” was too pink, and would turn off boys.

So, I’ve added a third version to the choices. What do you think?

The comments on last night’s post spurred me on into action!

I set about looking for a royalty-free image on istockphoto that would make a good cover. As you see, I succeeded. I am pleased with the results, but I have two versions. I would appreciate feedback via the comments.

A simple I like the first one, or the second one made me want to stab myself in the eyes with a pointy halibut, you know, that sort of thing.

Also, I’m looking for beta readers. I’d like people (adult people) who are willing to read it and then force one of their children to do the same. Okay, maybe force was the wrong word to use. Strongly imply that Santa will never visit them again if they don’t read your middle-aged and bitter, social media friend’s book…yes, that is more the tone I was going for. (I will be ordering about a dozen proofs to send out, after I get it back from my uber cool editor Erin)

Also, I would like the adults to agree to give an honest review and, if they felt it was warranted, include a comment from their progeny. Something along the lines, “Little Betty-Mae, said she enjoyed the book so much that she felt her love for mommy had grown because of the opportunity to give it a read and that only bad parents wouldn’t immediately order a copy for their children…only really bad parents.”

Something subtle is what I’m looking for there. Not that I’m trying to write the review for you.

Let me know.

I just got the first draft for Secret Doors: The challenge. I’m underwhelmed.
I hired an artist to create something for me and she said she could get it down in a couple months tops. I hired her at the beginning of December. I’ve written two and a quarter novels since then and she’s gotten me one cover that looks like she spent about forty minutes playing around in DAZ.

It is really frustrating.

Cover design is hard and my vision for this one was rather specific, but then I didn’t think she could pull it off, so we changed to something much simpler. I told her to come up with something that would be right in her wheelhouse. I hoped that flexibility would yield magic. It hasn’t.

I even feel like the male character is a bit stiff.

The worst part is I paid her upfront. She’s poor, which I can understand, because I’m poor, too. There won’t be any getting my money back, as I’m sure it is long gone, but I doubt there will be a cover, either.

It has become apparent that I’ll be needing to hire someone else. I’m open to suggestions.
It needs to be an artist who can create from scratch, not just use a 3d modeling program and a few freebie models. I’d prefer someone who is willing to read the book before they start. My current artist said she would, and told me she has, but she doesn’t know anything about the story. I’m quite sure she lied.

Also, I don’t want combined photos. It should be an illustration.

If anyone has a cover artist suggestion, please let me know. I’m also sort of stuck on Touched, too.

Publishing is the best video game ever!

“Is writing and self-publishing a book really analogous to playing a video game? I’m not convinced,” I said to myself. Myself answered.

When one begins a new game, at least the kind I like to play, one builds a character. Often this is one of the best parts. One gets to pick the characters race, gender, proficiencies, how they will behave in battle, and usually a few bonus goodies. It can eat up hours just deciding between a mage with their magic or a ranger with his bow.

Starting out a new book is much the same. One must decide all sorts of things about their characters. Once that is done, then the fun begins and one goes on an amazing adventure, just like in the games.

The early part of the game is much like writing a novel. It isn’t very tough, the decisions one makes aren’t so challenging. It is just about the fun. When one gets past the easy parts, the writing of the novel, or the first few quests, then the hard stuff begins.

Editing is the first boss one must slay. You can’t continue if you don’t. Oh, some will try, but they will be ill prepared for the trolls that lay in wait. They will be crushed.

Next comes the cover art. This, too, can be a challenge. Many hours are spent puzzling through different choices, but often it leads only to sorrow. Still, to continue to the next level, one must slay the cover demon.

Okay, so you’ve made it through the first two bosses, great, what’s next? You must find treasure. Initially, the best strategy is to focus on building readerships, which is similar to gathering resources in most games. The real treasures are well beyond one’s reach at this point.

This is where I’m at in the game. I’ve got a couple of books in my party, but finding the dragon horde will require many more warriors. I’ll need a couple of more Henrys, an Arthur to keep the party entertained, and possibly an evil serial killer that needs to be watched. I might also add some halflings to add depth to the party (the halflings are my childrens book. I really need to get back to work on book two of Secret Doors, but I digress)

Even when one has a full group of warriors, there are many challenges. The biggest riddle of the sphinx that I’m facing now is advertising. We found one route that works this week, but that won’t be enough to get us to our treasure.

******

Okay, I’ve beaten the analogy to death. You get it. The point is that there are many moving parts in publishing. One must continue to ask questions of everything. If you’ve run out of questions, you’re probably dead in the water.

It is the questions that act as guides through the unknown. For instance:

• What percentage of people who download a free book read it?
• Is a person who pays for a book more likely to read it, even if it is only 99 cents?
• How long is the tail after a promotion? By this, I mean, the goal of running a promotion is to move up the rankings and land on the various Amazon lists. Once there, an opportunity to be seen by readers outside the author’s scope of influence exists.
• Is there a way to increase the length of this tail?
• What do I do if I get a review on my print book and it doesn’t show up on the Kindle version?

This last one was a question I thought of today, as I had a very nice review show up for Time and Again, but it was on the print version. Not that having a review over there is a bad thing, but the reality of self-publishing is that the only sales that matter are the Kindle ones. I can push my books onto Kindle lists, but I’m not going to be able to do the same with print. I need my reviews to show up on Kindle.

It turns out the system is supposed to link the two, but sometimes doesn’t. If this happens, one can submit a request to Amazon through their help section of the KDP dashboard and they will get it sorted within 24-hours.

That is what we call a side quest, but the prize is important and one really can’t hope to slay the dragon without using all of one’s weapons.

Okay, I’m going to get back to the editing part of the game. Do you have any questions?

It was another good sales day with around 50 for HWDA and 2 for HWT&A. As I suspected, the sales did slow down to a trickle when the 24-hours of my ad ended. I’m thrilled with the results. (153 total)

The sales were enough to drive me onto the paid mystery>crime list. Being on the list, if only for a short while, gives one a chance at being seen by a few more potential readers. I took a screen shot of my highest ranking, 22, but am currently 31st, which is still freaking awesome!

I have to admit that I let the excitement completely wreck my productivity for the last 36-hour. Mostly I became obsessed with checking the updates. I should have been doing more editing. I did better today, but only by a small margin.

The top priority is to get the cleaned up version of Perception into Scrivener. I’ve still got five or six hours of edits to go through from Erin. Once that is done, I’m going to teach myself how to compile to make the book ready for Kindle and print.

Last month, I paid someone to help me with this step. It is time I learn it for myself, because it is one of the keys to being able to handle self-publishing.  In truth, it is the last publishing step I need to master.

I don’t know why, but I tend to fuss a bunch when I need to undertake something unfamiliar. There are videos that walk one through the compile steps. It is really not at all difficult. I just need to suck it up and get it done…but first, I need to get the editing done.

I better get back to it. Thanks again for all the cheers over my recent flurry of sales.

Thirteen months ago I took up playing Lumosity games. If you haven’t heard about them, they are designed to exercise the old brain. It seems like it works.

I got away from playing the games until last week. Now that I’m back into the exercises, my little grey cells are happy again.

What I’m wondering is if anyone has tried switching hands. I have a gamer keypad for my left hand and I’ve started using it. Initially, it was harder, but now I’m doing okay.

I wonder if there is any advantage to switching hands?

Many years ago I became obsessed with chess. I was 28, back in college, and finishing up my Economics degree. The last year of school I spent a huge about of time studying opening theory, tactics, endgame, and playing blitz.

Blitz is five minute chess where one must complete all their moves before their clock runs out. Even if you are winning, if you are out of time, you lose. I had a couple of buddies who hung out at the Iowa State Union and we would play for hours.

It was the first time I experienced what it was like to have an exercised brain. Everything in my life was sharper. If I had to run errands, I factored in all sorts of details that would not have occurred to me previously. I was an efficient machine.

It makes me wonder what is possible. I had a discussion with a friend who is dyslexic. We talked for about 90 minutes and he told me all about how he took in the world. I’m not so sure that dyslexia isn’t an evolutionary advancement and NOT a handicap like some believe.

Bottom Line

What I’m really looking for is to suddenly wake up with a super power. Something like being able to see into the future, even if it was only fifteen minutes or so. I would then use my power to become a day trader, make billions, and ultimately rule the world…duh.

First order of business, more guinea pig videos where talking is dubbed in.

See, this is what happens when I start using my brain…silliness. And that can’t be all bad.

I got a three-star review for Time and Again. I’m thrilled. It was fair and most of the points that the reviewer made and were the reason he scored it as such, were reasonable, and I can understand why he was bothered.

What was great, though, is that I wouldn’t change the book at all. There were references he didn’t get. I’m okay with that. It means I’m writing the novels the way I intended, with hidden bits of stuff that some will get and others won’t.

He was really bothered by my correct spelling of hand planing, as he assumed for a while that it was an errant spelling of “planning”. Woodworkers know that it was spelled correctly. He didn’t get the music references, either, and that bothered him. I’m okay with that.

I love books that make me look stuff up. His point was I should have done a better job of making it more accessible. It is a fair point. I’m not going to change, though, because I like words. I like how they sound, how some of them are obscure or not oft used. (No, I didn’t misspell often just then, but I said the same thing)

I don’t believe a few obscurities will doom my writing career, because for every 100 people who don’t like to look up a word they don’t know, there will be one who does…oh wait, that isn’t a very good ratio. Okay, maybe it will doom me. So be it.

The point is, one needs reviews that aren’t four and five stars, because without them potential readers assume one is gaming the system. He said some nice things, too. It really was a fantastic three star review, because I don’t think the negatives for him will necessarily dissuade someone from buying.

Don’t get me wrong, I love four and five star reviews and I certainly want more of them than the others, but the point is, the reviewer was honest. It comes across in his assessment and that is all I ask.

If there is anyone else who has read Time and Again, I’d love it if you could pop over to Amazon and put down your thoughts in a review.

Oh, and I also got another 5 star review on Henry Wood Detective Agency.

I also mowed the lawn. So, I’m having a pretty good day.

I don’t care how old one gets, and I’m forty-six, tiny furry animals that will eat from your hands are awesome. Today, across from where I work a couple days per week, there was a travelling petting zoo.

They started setting up around 9:00 am and when they opened at 10 am, I decided it was time to take a quick break. From across the street I could tell there were lots of goats, an alpaca, and a donkey. I was almost giddy. (Note: I was actually really giddy. Goats!!!)

Donkey and Goat

A couple of years ago my Mom and I went to a farm where they sell lots of fun Halloween related stuff. Mom had heard that it was a fun place.  She was right. Ever since then, I’ve been a big fan of goats, because the ones at the farm were delightful.

This week, someone made a reference to the screaming goats on Youtube. I hadn’t heard of the screaming goats. She said that Gini Dietrich had gotten her hooked on the videos. That was all the endorsement I needed. I watched about a half dozen.

Baby Goat

The petting zoo goats didn’t scream, but I did! Every time I saw  awesomeness. There was a pig running around. I screamed, “A pig!”. I was more excited than a six year old girl…specifically the six year old girl who was petting the donkey. She seemed to be enjoying herself, but didn’t give off any sort of squee vibe like I was rocking.

Then, a little grey critter caught my eye. “A bunny…a giant bunny!” More squee from me. I felt sorry for the little girl who didn’t appreciate the greatness of the petting zoo. “Duck!!!”…”Chickens!!!”

Everywhere I turned there was cuteness.

Giant Bunny

I had to get back to work, but two hours later it was time for lunch. I went to the petting zoo again…both before and after I ate. I’m sure I was the only triple visitor.

There is an old saying, “Life is too short not to stop and pet the baby goats.” I’m pretty sure Ben Franklin said that. He was right. Did I mention the giant bunny! Squee.

Duck!!!