Hardcopies, Etc.

All of my paperbacks should be good to go now.  If there are errors from here on out, blame the printer.  If you didn't already know, all 17 of my books are available in paperback.  

Amazon now offers the ability to make hardcovers of them all, but I don't see the point of creating hardcovers for them.  I mean, there are probably people who prefer hardcover to paperback, but I have a feeling none of those people would prefer my books anyway.  Generally speaking, most of my books are in genres that don't necessarily lend themselves to hardcover - paranormal mystery, crime noir, etc. are not what one would think of getting in a hardcover.  Am I right?  Perhaps Project Hermes would do well as a hardcover, but I'm not going to go through the process of creating a hardcover version and buying an author proof just to find out I'm wrong and no one wants it in HC.  

To be honest, I can't remember the last time anyone bought a hardcopy of any of my books that I didn't personally hand sell.  Which reminds me that I need to order copies of everything for stock, just in case I run into someone who's interested.  It could happen.  In fact, it happened last month.  Woot.

I used to keep at least one copy of every one of my paperbacks in the trunk of my car for just such occasions.  I'd be somewhere, chatting with someone and the subject of my books would come up.  If they seemed really interested, I'd walk out to my car and come back with the book they were interested in.  Something for them to hold and touch, which they would then buy - signed, of course.  It didn't amount to a lot of money, but it's a nice feeling to hold your own book and then hand it over for cash.  

Of course, they're also all available as ebooks.  Right now, Kindle only and Kindle only for the foreseeable future, but they are available.  I ran into someone who seemed interested, but she didn't own a Kindle.  I just let her know that Amazon has apps for most any device to be able to read Kindle on them.  She didn't know that, so yay.  I'm not sure if she's actually bought anything or if that was just an excuse.  :shrug:

They're all also available in Kindle Unlimited, which is garnering me some $$ here and there.  I am making more there than I was having my books under wide distribution, so I'm glad I did that.  

Speaking of wide distribution, I also don't have any of my paperbacks available wide.  The various outlets for wide distribution make it so that I would have to charge an exorbitant amount of money for my books to clear any money at all through those outlets.  I'm making very little money on my paperbacks as it is, just to keep the prices as low as I can.  

Jus' sayin'.

The Formatting for Paperback Saga

Time for another round of Writerly Tasks that do not involve writing.  Today's topic: the Formatting For Paperback Saga*.  

I know I mentioned something about this a couple months ago, but my paperback formatting was all fudged up and I didn't even think to check it until recently.  I assumed (ASS-umed) that when Amazon took over Createspace that all of my books would be just as well-formatted as they had been when I originally did all that crap with CS.  Nope nope nope.  Oh, the internal stuff seemed like it was fine.  The covers, however, were a disaster.  

And the thing was that all my covers appear to be fine at first glance.  I scroll down the list and they all look hunky-dory.  When I go into the paperback setup portion and scroll down there, they looked pretty okay, too.  Until I noticed that the graphic was only showing the front cover and it was the cover for my ebook.  Ummmmmm.  Then I'd go into the preview thing and the covers were farqed up.  Blerg.

Now, this wasn't really a pressing issue because I don't get more than one or two paperback sales a year.  Then it occurred to me that anyone wanting to purchase a paperback would look at the preview and plainly see the cover was toast and then not buy, because who wants to chance paying for a book when the cover is fucked.  

Even then, though, I dragged my feet.  It takes about ten minutes per cover to just get it uploaded.  Then I was running into fresh hell after uploading my cover PDF.  It would be the exact same file I used for Createspace, but Amazon wasn't sizing it down to fit, so my preview would show like one CORNER of the whole cover as the whole cover.  Back out of that, go into the cover creator, upload the cover again (another ten minutes), work with all that, and then finally submit.  Lather, rinse, repeat - 17 times.  Frankly, it was more of a hassle than I was ready to deal with.

Until yesterday.  Yesterday, I sat down here and got to work.  I got all but the genie books done.  Those will get done sometime today, good lord willin' and the internet doesn't go down entirely.  

So, anyway, it'll get done.  Once it's done, and all my books get approved by Amazon, I'll be back in business.  For now, though, I'd hold off on buying paperbacks from me.  (Except for Accidental Death, Natural Causes, Project Hermes, and Song of Storm and Shroud - I did those back in June and they're good to go.)

I think I said this before, but it bears repeating - if you trusted on the transition from Createspace to Amazon to go smoothly, check your books.  They might be fine.  Then again, they might be tragically un-fine.  Either way, it's worth a look.

*Please bear in mind that you experience is probably not as much of a PITA as mine because I'm guessing you have better internet than I do.  

Sunday Update - Week 50

Well, hello again.  Only two weeks left of 2021.  Yay.  I'm trying not to get my hopes up for '22.  Don't want to jinx it, doncha know.

Anyway, I got some editing done.  Got through 46 pages and added about 500 words.  No clue how many I deleted, so that's a net number.  The book is now 348 pages and 102174 words.  That'll change.  Of course, I've only edited through pg 79, so there's a long row to hoe, there.  Eh, it's worth the effort.

I didn't get the genie books uploaded to D2D yet.  And now Duke has dropped out of KU, so I've got that to upload, too.  Blerg.  Maybe today. 

In reading news, I made a little progress.  I read two books (sorry I forgot to detail them in the wrap-up before I posted it yesterday) and DNF'd a few.  I finished Anthem yesterday, so there's one more.  I'm still 11 books away from reaching my goal and with only 13 days left in the year, I doubt I'll make it.  Especially since I received and started reading Silence of the Lambs in paperback yesterday.  Never read that one before.  I won't finish it today unless I spend all day reading and I have other stuffs to do.  Oh, and I also bought a paperback copy of The Big Sleep.  I've been trying to find that one locally, but I finally gave up and just ordered it online.  It's not an old copy for my collection, but at least I'll finally be able to read it.

On the baking front, I did a batch of pumpkin pie bread earlier in the week and cake cookies with mint patties yesterday.  Damn those cookies are good.  (So's the bread, btw.)  

It wasn't a banner week for activity.  Only three days worth - one in the woods and the other two working on a gardening project.  Don't talk to me about my weight right now.  Let's just say, it ain't pretty.  

The project?  We're redoing the front flower bed.  We're digging the whole damn thing up, turning the earth, added more dirt, and removing all the rocks bigger than an inch or two.  Hubs and I made some good progress.  We've already pulled a wheelbarrow worth of rocks out and we're only about 2/3rds done.  But then it rained and we had to put the project on hold.  All the plants I want to keep are in pots now, sitting in the garage.  Hopefully, they're all as dormant as I think they are, so they won't die between now and when I put them back in the ground.  Digging up those established peonies was a bear.  Hopefully, I didn't kill them.  Ever higher hopes that the roots that broke off, which I saved, will grow into their own plants.  You know, like irises do.  If so, I may have a ton of peony plants around the property.  Yay.  If I lose plants, I'll have a sad, but we'll buy more.

Speaking of buying stuff, we're working on something that I can't talk about here until after it's done.  It was supposed to be done already, but due to issues and because of events, it got pushed back.  Maybe this week, if all goes well.  Needless to say, a lot of brain space has been devoted to that lately.  It'll be good to have it done and finally be able to stop thinking about it.

As for rain, we got 4 inches worth on Friday.  That put everything outdoors on hold because the ground is like mush for both digging and trying to walk around in the woods.  

Yes, Christmas is only 6 days away.  I don't want to talk about it.  Maybe I'll be in a holly-jolly mood come Friday.  We'll see.

Oh, and I FINALLY got the replacement paycheck for the one that went missing.  If showed up two days after I called the post office and bitched, and one day after I cornered the postal gal at the mailbox.  Huzzah.  The original check?  Who the hell knows where that one went.  I know I got a piece of mail yesterday that looked like it had been folded, spindled, AND mutilated.  Maybe the USPS machinery is eating my mail to the point where it's no longer mailable.  Turds.

And that's it for me.  Whew.  How was your last week?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/12/21

Well, hello there.  Welcome to the Saturday Reading Wrap-up.

No new books of any kind this week.  I need to rectify that, especially since I knocked a few books off my Kindle this week.  I do still have 2 unread ebooks, though - UF and SF.  And, as always, scads of hardcopies to read.

Books Read:

41) Longshot by Blake & Truant (6/11/21) - SF*# - 4 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Free off the Book Doggy newsletter.
Review: "Interesting and definitely different. Not what I expected when I began it, but it kept me flipping through the pages quickly, adjusting my preconceived notions as I went. I wish I'd known this was a prequel type story with a long series after it before I began. Worth the read, but I don't have the time or the patience for a long series right now. If you do, you'll probably be in for a wild ride."

40) The Silent Speaker by Rex Stout (6/8/21) - Crime Noir - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Got this in that box lot.
Review: "I had a little trouble getting into this one at first, but once I settled in, it was a helluva story."

39) Ghosts & the Ancient Stones by Silver James (6/6/21) - Paranormal Romantic Suspense* - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but a new release so it's definitely not appreciated nearly enough yet.  This a series I love and an author I fangirl over who's also a friend of mine, so I paid full price - $4.99.
Review: "This book is wicked awesome! From start to finish. And may be Ms. James' best work yet. Sade and Sinjen and all their favorite friends/frenemies are in fine form. The romance and the tension between Sade and Sinjen is delicious. The plot is enthralling. The premise is wonderful. I loved it all. Then again, I love all of the Penumbra Papers books."

DNFs:

6/9/21 - free - paranormal something.  A little banter goes a long-long way.  This was banter to the max with a side order of snide.  I don't need that.

6/9/21 - free - romance.  Gah, so many adjectives telling me how everything is.   And I don't really care about every stitch of clothes everyone is wearing and every item of furniture they own.  Not his dark blue jeans, his faded team baseball shirt, his scuffed boots, his cowboy hat...  Not the red silk sheets against her milky white skin on the black lacquer bed.  Dude just walked in his woman with another man in his bed.  I don't think he cares about the vivid descriptions of his furniture and neither do I.  The scene had the emotional impact of a bowl of plain, cold oatmeal.

Currently reading...  I finished that SF not long before bed last night, so I didn't have time to start something else.  Maybe I'll pick up a Zane Grey today.

What was on your reading list this week?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 5/22/21

Good morning, Everyone.  It was a pretty good reading week for me, so let's jump right into it.

Since I was almost out of new ebooks, I picked up 4 new ones this week - romance, mystery, UF, and paranormal.  I'm on the last ebook from before this week right now.  No new hardcopies.  

Books Read:

26) The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (5/18/21) - Mystery - 5 stars.  Not new to me or underappreciated.  Picked this one up in that box lot I've been working my way through.
Review: "I've tried other 'Tommy and Tuppence' stories and couldn't get into them, but as I had finished reading all my other Christies and only had T&T stories left, I figured I'd give them another go with the first book in the series this time. Wow. This book is so awesome I stayed up late finishing it. Ms. Christie set me up but good this time, so I was totally surprised when the villain came to light. So good. Now I can read the other ones."

25) Dead Wrong (Cree Blue #1) by Kate Allenton (5/16/21) - Paranormal Mystery* - 5 stars.  New to me, but it has enough reviews to not meet my criteria for underappreciated.  (It could be more appreciated, though.)  Picked this up for free off the ENT newsletter.
Review: "I inhaled it. This book is too much fun! I loved the premise, the plot, and the characters. Interesting twist to the whole paranormal thing, too. Awesome backstory judiciously sprinkled throughout to give you enough info about Cree without boring the pants off you. I definitely need more Cree Blue in my life."

24) The Honeymoon Cottage by Barbara Cool Lee (5/15/21) - Romantic Mystery* - 5 stars.  New to me, but not underappreciated.  Free from the Book Gorilla newsletter.
Review: "I got this book thinking that it was a cozy mystery. Totally not cozy and leaning toward suspense with loads of romance. A romantic mystery, if there was such a genre. Still a very good book, though."

DNFs:

5/16/21 - free - Mystery.  Meh.  I think the author was trying so hard to 'set the scene' of a 'mystery novel', they'd missed what a mystery story actually reads like.  At least, what the mysteries I enjoy reading read like.

Currently reading...  A paranormal romance.  I'm not that far in, so the jury's still out.

What were you reading this week?  How'd you like it?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 5/1/21

May Day!  May Day!  Umm... yeah, I always get the urge to do that on May 1st.  Sorry.  Anyway, here's the skinny on my reading week...

No new books this week.

Books Read:

30) Curtains for Three by Rex Stout (4/29/21) - Hard-boiled crime - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but I think these books can never be appreciated enough.  Part of the box lot I received.
Review: "Nero Wolfe is always fun and this is no exception!"

29) Equal is Unfair by Don Watkins and Yaron Brook (4/27/21) - NF - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but not appreciated nearly enough.  Paid full price after an accidental one-click when I was trying to add the hardcopy to my cart.
No Review.  

28) Eye of the Monster by Andre Norton (4/26/21) - SF - 5 stars.  Not new to me but way underappreciated.  I've had this book for years.  I got it when I bought a box of Andre Norton's at a garage sale.  I'm still working my way through them and I hadn't read this before now.
Review: "This is probably my favorite Andre Norton out of all I've read so far."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... A fun SF/F anthology of chicken stories.  Yes, CHICKEN stories.  It's eggcellent so far.  ROFL

What's did you read last week?  Anything fun?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/24/21

 Good morning.   I didn't have the most exciting reading week, but here goes...

No new books.

Books read:

26) The Source of Magic (Xanth #2) by Piers Anthony (4/20/21) - Fantasy - 5 stars.  Not new to me or underappreciated.  Got this in the box lot of paperbacks.
Review: "It's been ages since I read this one. It's enjoyable. Not my favorite in some aspects, but in others, quite good."

DNFs:

4/18/21 - I set aside that Zane Grey I was reading.  I just couldn't get into it.  I'll try it again another time.

Currently reading...  I'm still reading that NF ebook.  It's slow going, but I'm up to 45% now.  And I'm reading an Agatha Christie in paperback.

What were you up to in your reading last week?

Sunday Update - Week 16

 Hello again.  Sixteen weeks into 2021.  The weirdness continues and we're holding our own.

I got back to work on writing Friday night.  Duke Noble 2 is on its way.  Between Friday night and last night, I got out just over 3200 words.  Yay.  Already has a twist.  Heh.

I really need to do some marketing and have a sale.  I'll see what I can do this week to make that happen.

In other writerly news, I received the last proofs and now all of my books are available in paperback form.  In addition to the Kindle form.  I'm still waiting on the author copies of RHI, but those should be here tomorrow.  :fingers crossed:  I have at least two people who want to buy a copy.  Maybe a third, but I haven't talked to her yet and I probably won't see her for another couple weeks.  

It wasn't a great reading week. Only finished one book.  And the Zane Grey I was reading got set aside for another time because I just wasn't into it.  I picked up a fantasy instead.

In baking news, I got a wild hair and created my own recipe.  Chocolate Walnut Upside-Down Cake.  It was awesome.  So I posted the recipe on FB.  Except I forgot to put down something when I wrote the recipe - mini chocolate chips.  Oops.  I bet it's still good without them.  (corrected recipe below.)  I also did a batch of granola bars.  And it's not baking, but I made a vat of beef stew yesterday.

On the activity front, I did something 5 out of 7 days - skipping Friday and Saturday.  The weather was chilly and wet, so I used that as an excuse.  the other 5 days, I walked, did gardening, did some windows, went shopping, and went fishing.  Weight: 185.2 - up 4/10ths of a pound.

When I was fishing I caught 3 little bluegills and a little green sunfish.  None of them were keepers.  

If you want gardening news, go over here.  

Hubs found an antler in the yard!  Eight years we've been looking for antlers and suddenly there it was.  It was only a spike, but hey, it's a start.  It's long past when deer drop antlers.  We're thinking a squirrel found it in the woods and was dragging it somewhere to eat when it dropped it where Hubs found it.  It's in the garage for now.  I'll clean it up and put it in the house eventually.

From the sounds of it, Hubs is killing a mouse in the garage as I type this.  Must've got one in the trap and it didn't die.  I hope it was the one chewing in the wall for the past hour or so.  It was driving me crazy.  (Update:  It was a mouse, but it wasn't caught.  It was running around.  He didn't get it.  Drat.)

Other than that, not much going on around here.  Hanging in there.  Watching the country I love circle the drain faster and faster.  Not much I can do about it.

Oh, I went to Wallyworld earlier in the week.  About thirty percent of the people weren't wearing masks.  So I took mine off.  Freedom!  I still stayed as far away from people as possible - it's ingrained in me now more than ever.  If I get the crud, you can say I told you so.  If I don't... neener neener boo boo.  

Okay, now that's really enough out of me.  How was your week?

Recipe:

Chocolate Walnut Upside Down Cake

1 stick butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/3 cups chopped walnuts

-------

2 cups white sugar

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup baking cocoa powder

2 cups water

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1/3 bag mini chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350F (175C).  While oven is preheating, put the stick of butter in a 9x13" cake pan (sliced for quicker melting) and place the pan in the oven.  Remove as soon as the butter is melted.  Stir in brown sugar until combined.  Stir in walnuts until all nuts are coated and then make sure they're evenly placed.  Set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, sift together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.  Add water, oil, and vanilla.  Stir until combined.  Stir in vinegar until smooth.  Pour batter over the nut mixture in the pan.  Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.  Overnight is best.  (If you don't let it cool, the still-warm cake falls apart.  Trust me on this.)

 

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/17/21

Well, it wasn't an exciting week in reading, but here goes...

No new books.

Books Read:

25) The Sound of Murder by Rex Stout (4/11/21) - Hard-boiled crime - 5 stars.  Not new to me but so old that it's underappreciated.  (Plus, it's not a Nero Wolfe.) - picked up in a group lot from a friend.
Review: "Wow. That was a twisty, turny, 'keep you guessing' book if ever there was one. Alphabet Hicks is a heck of a hero and I wish I'd discovered him years ago. Now I'll have to go searching to see if Stout wrote any others and finding them to snag as my own. FUN."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... and here we come to why I only finished one book this week.  I'm reading a non-fiction ebook and it's taking me a while.  I also started a Zane Grey to give my brain a break when it's overflowing with NF.  I rarely read two books concurrently and this particular NF is very thought provoking so it's taking a lot of attention.

What's on your reading list for last week?

Thursday This n That

Videos of police lip-syncing and dancing... I think they're awesome.  Those guys do so much for us and their jobs are so stressful, they deserve to have a little fun.  Every one I see makes me smile.  (I watched a new one yesterday morning where the lip-syncing was so horrendous it should've been a crime, but it was still fun to watch.)

I took pictures using my phone for the first time.  They didn't turn out too bad.  

This is of the new boulders they put at my favorite fishing spot and in the foreground is the approximate location where I fell on my ass.  (I took the pics so Hubs could see what they did to the place.  Note: I am not happy.)  You might not be able to tell, but some of those gray rocks are 2-3ft across/high.  

I have static in my phone.  Sometimes.  I thought it had cleared up and then I was talking to someone and it started back up again.  I really need to call CenturyLink.  But I hate calling them.  I really wish someone else in my neighborhood would make the call, but they don't.  It seems like I'm the only one who ever bothers.

By the way... if you ever talk to me on the phone or in person, I have this thing I do where I stop and start and pause a lot.  It's because my brain is searching frantically for the next word.  And sometimes, in its haste to get a word out, it inserts whatever word it came up with, even if it's the wrong word.  The longer I talk, the worse it gets.  Hubs and Mom are used to it.  To everyone else, I probably sound like a moron.  This is partly why I rarely get into long conversations.  

There's a new gal at the bank.  Okay, she's been there for a few months now.  Anyway, I took my RHI proof with me to the bank to show my BFF and happened to take the time to chat with the new gal.  Turns out she's a voracious reader and wants a copy of Duke, too.  Yay.  

Speaking of copies, Amazon said I'd have my author copies between the 14th and the 16th.  I got a shipment notification from the Big-A last night.  They sent one book and it won't be here until the 20th.  The other 4 books I ordered?  Who the hell knows?  I have three books already spoken for.  Dammit.   (Okay, I just looked at it again and NOW it says they sent 4 books.  Derp.  Where's the 5th?)  I wonder what they would've done if I'd ordered 100 books.  *

Anyway, I probably should go start my morning.  Hubs already has laundry going and I feel like a slug.  More coffee!  Stat!

What up in your world?

*Okay, I think I figured it out.  There are two shipment notifications.  One for one book and one for four books.  They shipped them all, but in two different packages.  Maybe.  I guess I'll find out Tuesday.  :eyeroll:

Sunday Update - Week 15

Gak.  Sorry I'm late here, folks.  I didn't finish this last night and then I got distracted this morning...

Well, we started out the week with Easter, which was just another day here at Sanderson Acres.  I didn't even make a special dinner.  Just threw a Stouffer's Grandma's Chicken and Vegetable Rice Bake in the oven and called it good.  

I didn't do any writing or editing this week, but I did format four books for print, get the two I'd done entirely myself uploaded, and get the proofs ordered.  And I contacted my cover artist for the other two books, got the paperback covers, uploaded those books and ordered proofs.  Then the proofs for the first two came in and I approved those for sale on Amazon.  The other two proofs should be here this coming week.

I really should set up some marketing for the paperbacks of Blink of an I and Unequal.  But I haven't.

I had a great reading week.  Right now, I'm on a Rex Stout - one that isn't a Nero Wolfe.  I never knew he'd written that many books.  I have a lot of work to do on that collection now.

No baking.  Maybe I'll make something with walnuts tomorrow.  I had a walnut windfall, so we're chock-full of those buggers.

In gardening news, stuff happened.  And I created a new blog to talk about that, so I'll let you go over there and see some stuff.  Including pictures!  Woohoo.  

On the activity front, I did something every day but one.  Some days I did more than one active thing.  All told, I walked almost 4 miles.  And did some garden stuff.  And went fishing, which was a bust, but I did gardening that day, too, so it's all good.  Weight: 184.8 still.  Better than up, though, right?

Speaking of garden stuff, my flower gardens are coming along.  Most of them were untouched by the deep freeze.  Unfortunately, my roses took a big hit and I had to cut them way back to remove all the dead stuff.  And I think my crepe myrtle is mostly dead.  Which is a bummer.  It has new leaves at the very base and not even a leaf bud anywhere else.  =o(

Since I'm late, I'll just leave ya there.  I can't think of anything else I did last week anyway.  How were things in your world?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/10/21

 Hello again!  It was a good reading week here.

I picked up one new ebook - a suspense.  And I received 9 old paperbacks from a friend who was weeding down her collection - 3 Agatha Christies, 4 Rex Stouts, and 2 Piers Anthony.  Squee.

Books Read:

24) Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie (4/9/21) - Mystery - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Paid a box lot price which included shipping.
Review: "Ooo, that was a good one."

23) Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony (4/7/21) - Fantasy - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Paid a box lot price which included shipping.
Review: "I repeatedly read this way way back when I was a teenager. I haven't read it since, until now. While some of the puns weren't quite as funny as when I was younger, it's still a pretty awesome book. And it now has a treasured place on my bookshelf."

22) The Case of the Perambulating Hatrack by Cedar Sanderson (4/3/21) - Paranormal Noir Mystery* - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but a new release so probably underappreciated at this moment.  Paid full price when Cedar let it be known that it was live on Amazon.
Review: "So much fun! A perfect blend of old P.I. noir and new urban fantasy. If Spillane and Butcher had a love-child, it would be Solly. Who would've guessed I could fall in love with an orc? Oh, I loved all the other characters, too. (Nettle was my favorite after Solly.) I loved the plot and the mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed the world-building. Definitely different in a totally good way. I can't wait to read another one of these."

No DNFs.

Currently reading...  Not sure what I'll pick up next.  Maybe the NF title I one-clicked by accident.  Maybe a Rex Stout.  Tune in next week to find out.  ;o)

What was on your reading list for last week?

Sunday Update - Week 14

:blink blink:  It's Easter, isn't it?  Happy Easter to them that celebrate!  Or Hoppy Bunny Day for those of us not into the religious side.  Eat some chocolate or something.  Personally, I totally forgot it was this weekend and even after I remembered, I couldn't figure out what to fix for dinner, so we're having a Stouffer's frozen meal of some sort.  Nothing special going on here.

Anyway... let's get back to the regular Sunday stuff...

On the writing front, I didn't write anything or edit anything, but this week was filled with writerly duties.  I updated the back matter for all 16 books.  I created a paperback version of Duke, got the proof, and approved it for sale on Amazon. Then I fixed all the print listings for all my books.  I also redid all the print covers for OUAD - to reflect the series title on each cover now.  Then I formatted UatB and CU for print and sent a letter to my cover artist.  (She replied this morning that she's ready for me, so I'll get the page counts and cover copies to her today.)   Today, I'll format Blink of an I and Unequal for print and get those covers done.  Whew.  I got tired just typing that out.

I did a little marketing for RHI on Monday, because I belong to one FB group that only allows self-promo on Mondays.  

I had a pretty good reading week.  Plus, I finished reading another awesome book yesterday.  That one will be on next Saturday's update.

In the baking/cooking realm, I was a busy little monkey - I made pizza dough, coffee cake, and oatmeal apple raisin cookies to bake, and also pot roast, chili, and leftover pot roast soup.  

It was also a busy week for activity.  I spent three days doing yardwork and garden stuff, one day walking and cleaning.  I'm up to just under 15 miles walked for the year, which is off where I should be, but still pretty darn good considering.  Weight 184.8. Up three pounds since the beginning of the year, but I'm not kicking myself about it.

Speaking of garden stuff, my lettuce is sprouting!  Yay!  No signs from the carrots or the tomatoes yet.  I planted zucchini in pots this past week, too.  The cedar seedlings I transplanted are doing well.  Oh, and the new peony is already sprouting up through the ground.  Yay.  No signs from the hollyhocks yet.  Spring is awesome.  Oh, and I created a spreadsheet to track my gardening.  (Quit laughing.)  I'll now be able to track everything from the time I planted it through to harvest.  

The deer are starting to show that they're pregnant.  At least 6 does are looking bigger around the middle.  Yay.  Lumpy must be pregnant, too, because she finally kicked her twins loose to fend for themselves.  

Oh, and lastly, eight years ago today we arrived at this place.  Yay!  It's been every bit as awesome as we imagined it would be.

How was your week?  Do you celebrate Easter?  How are things in your world?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/6/21

Hello again!  It was an interesting reading week here, so let's get started.

I only picked up one new ebook, and I'm reading it now.  As for hardcopies, I should have a box of old paperbacks in the mail.  I'll talk about those after they get here.

Books Read:

21) Death by Chocolate by Sally Berneathy (4/2/21) - Mystery/Suspense* - 5 stars.  New to me, but not underappreciated.  Free after seeing it on a friend's FB page.
Review: "Wow. That was an awesome read. I loved the characters, the plot, the cat... and the suspense was delicious. Plus, there are recipes in the back. So much fun!"

20) Northern Affair by DK Findlay (3/31/21) - Adventure - 5 stars.  New to me and underappreciated as far as I know, probably because it's so old.  50c at the thrift store.
Review: "I found this old paperback in a thrift store stuck in amongst the Westerns. It's definitely not a Western. It's a story of survival and adventure in the arctic. Definitely enthralling and very interesting. And it ends well. It's going on my keeper shelf."

19) Hot Under the Collar by Roxanne St. Claire (3/28/21) - Romance* - 5 stars.  Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Free after seeing it on Roxanne's FB page.
Review: "What a fun romance! And a great start to this spin-off series!"

DNFs:

4/1/21 - mystery.  Free.  It didn't take long to realize I didn't like the main character, and the author was trying too hard to make the MC witty.  It seemed like every sentence was a zippy quip.  You gotta sprinkle those judiciously, man.

Currently reading... a paranormal noir mystery.  It's pretty good so far.

What did you read last week?

Thursday This n That

I started the week with a massive to-do list, but I'm whittling it down.  And I'm adding to it.  But hey, stuff's getting accomplished.  For instance, all the gardens are weeded now.  Of course, the first one I weeded is already showing signs of needing to be weeded again.  Blerg.

If you read yesterday's post on Paperbacks, you'll see there at the end how I discovered issues with those of my paperbacks I migrated over from Createspace.  That alone added to my to-do list.  I think this is a neverending to-do list.  It just goes on and on and on.

Neverending should be one word.  Jus' sayin'.

Today is April Fools Day.  I don't do pranks.  Loathe them, in fact.  It is, however, the day I met Hubs in person for the first time.  Seventeen years ago.  Our wedding anniversary is in May.  About 6 weeks from the day I saw him to the day we got married.  When it's right, you know it.

When we got to the car that day, Hubs had a dozen yellow roses waiting for me.  I still have several of those, dried in a vase.  If I'd known how momentous the occasion was going to be, I would've kept them all.  I have every other rose he ever gave me, though.  

April 1st was also my childhood dog's birthday.  Or the day we assigned as his birthday.  We got him mid-May 1976 and he was 6 weeks old, so we walked it backwards.  Happy Birthday, you wonderful dog, you.

I don't say my dog's name online because it's frequently a security question.  I also never use that name as a security question because you never know when I'll forget and drop the name somewhere out in the world.  

It's amazing how many little things we have to do in our daily lives because some numbnuts did something no rational person would conceive of doing.  Can't buy effective cold medicine over the counter?  Thank the group of numbnuts who make meth with it.  

I just joined this group over on FB that's devoted to Crime Fiction.  But they don't allow self-promotion except on Mondays.  So it's just a bunch of people talking about the books they're reading and asking about books others have read.  It's kind of nice.  I did do a self-promo this past Monday and got one sale in the UK from it.  I think.  It's a UK group - a fact I discovered after I'd joined.  :shrug:  It's either that or my one Brit fan who used to hang out here found the book on the same day I posted.  Either way, yay.

I got my proof copy of RHI on Monday.  The Amazon proofs come with a banner all the way around the cover saying 'Not for Resale'.  Well, duh.  Except the banner covers verbiage I'd like to be able to read to determine whether it looks right.  Derp-heads.  The old Createspace proofs had 'Not for resale' stamped on the back page.  Heaven forbid someone wanted to buy one of those.  :eyeroll:

While I was out weeding, I found a wee, itty-bitty frog.  A baby gray tree frog.  So damn cute.  I mean, they only get to about 1.5 inches when they're full grown, but this one was maybe a half-inch, so a baby.  Yeah yeah, actual baby frogs are tadpoles, so let's say an adolescent tree frog.  Geez.

Well, this ended up being longer than I thought it would be, so I'll just leave ya there.  Got any this-n-that to share?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/27/21

Well, here we are again at another Saturday morning where I didn't schedule this ahead of time.  And it was even a good reading week.  Drat.  Luckily, I'd already done the Books Read part and the other parts are easy.  I need more coffee.

The only new book I picked up this week was my own.  I bought an ecopy and I have a paperback proof on its way here.  Should have that in my hot little hands Monday.  Those are for not actual reading reading, but more for scanning through to make sure nothing got messed up in the process. The ebook looks fine to me.  

Books Read:

18) Defending Free Speech By Simpson, et al (3/25/21) - NF Essays - 4 stars.  Not new to me but underappreciated as far as reviews go.  Paid full paperback price - $6.95. This will go on our philosophy shelf for later reference
No review.  

17) Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (3/22/21) - MG Literature - 5 stars.  Surprising enough, I've never read these books before.  Bought a new paperback copy - $4.99
Review: "Hard to believe I'd never read this one. It's a nice little book and i'm glad I finally took the time to read it."

16) Salt in the Wounds by Mark Richards (3/22/21) - Suspense*# - 5 stars. New to me and underappreciated.  Free off the Robin Reads newsletter.  
Review: "Interesting story with relatable characters, although I did have a problem with the daughter here and there getting away with things I wouldn't allow a 13-yr-old to do. But hey, maybe that's normal in the UK. It was still an awesome suspense and I thoroughly enjoyed it."

No DNFs.

Currently reading...  I'm in the middle of a romance by an author I'd read loads of before.  So far so good.

What did you read last week?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 3/20/21

Hello there!  It was a pretty dam good reading week... pardon the pun.

I didn't pick up any new ebooks this week, but I did get four paperbacks - suspense, fantasy, literature, and adventure.  I also accidentally one-clicked a NF ebook that I was trying to add to my cart in hardcopy.  Derp.  (Not a cheap mistake, lemme tell ya.)  And I ordered two paperbacks - a NF and a copy of Little House in the Big Woods - which for some reason I have never read.  And I still have 8 unread ebooks waiting on my Kindle.  Woo.

Books Read: 

15) Savaged Illusions: The Complete Series by Jennifer Lyon (3/19/21) - Romance - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but underappreciated as a whole.  Paid full price at the time of release: $3.99.  (It's $6.99 now.)
Review: "I read each of the books in this series separately when they were released and I loved them all. But this set... reading them all the way through from start to finish... is so much more awesome. I loved being able to read Liza and Justice's story from the moment they meet through heartrending parts to the incredible and satisfying climax and the wonderful ending. Okay, I did have to set it aside for a couple days because I had forgotten how intense the story is. But that made it even better. I usually don't buy box sets, especially when I've already read the individual novels, but this was so worth it and so totally worth the re-read."

14) Boulder Dam by Zane Grey (3/17/21) - Adventure - 5 stars.  Not new to me but probably could be more appreciated.  Picked this up at the thrift store for 50c.
Review: "A most excellent story. Not a western per se, but still had a western flair to it. I loved the characters and the plot and the premise. I enjoyed the history of it all and the action. There was also a nice romantic angle, which rounded the book out nicely. Unfortunately, the Epilogue was meh, but it was only a wrap-up and didn't effect the overall awesomeness of the story. It was just not as wow as the rest of the book."
Available in Audio.

No DNFs.

Currently reading... I finished Jen Lyon's book not long before bedtime, so I didn't have time to start anything new.  

What reading things were you up to this week?

Sunday Update - Week 37

Thirty-seven weeks into 2018.  What a ride.  And we're just about done with September.  How'd that happen?  Blerg.

Okay, so anyway, here's how the week went for me:

I rolled over 32K words on Ugly and the Beast.  Not dreadful, but also not awesome since I'd planned to be just about done with this sucker by the end of September.  It doesn't look like it's working out that way.  Those days I did manage to write, I'd type furiously until I was pretty sure I had a few thousand words out, only to discover I'd barely done a thousand.  Which is kinda disheartening.

Friday, my Createspace letter finally came and I transferred all my paperbacks over to Amazon.  More on that tomorrow at Outside the Box

Then Friday, I spent some drudge time working on my back matter and front matter for all my books.  More on that, too, tomorrow at Outside the Box.

On the activity front, I only managed to be active 4 days out of 7.  Wednesday-Friday I just couldn't muster the gumption.  I did manage to drop another two tenths of a pound, though.  I'm chalking it up to heavy-duty yardwork early in the week and managing to eat less than I was burning.

Let's see... What else went on?  I think I've already talked about the crock pot and the keyboard.

Oh, yeah, it finally rained yesterday.  We've been kinda dry here lately, so that was welcome.

We've been seeing some odd birds lately.  It's migration time again, so it's not surprising.  But a couple of them were birds I'd never seen before - a male and a female of what I think are black-throated green warblers.  Cute little buggers.

Speaking of birds, we had a hummingbird ditch into the picture window.  I looked out the window and was pretty sure he was laying there with a broken neck - head all cocked to one side with his wings akimbo.  I went out to give comfort in his last minutes, but he wasn't broken.  YAY!  He just needed some tender love and care for a few minutes.  Then he flew away to the redbud and sat there for a while.  He finally flew off.  All is well.

And that's enough out of me today.  What's going on in your world?

Sunday Update - Week 33

Well, it was a busy week here at Sanderson Acres (wholly own subsidiary of Sanderson, Inc. LLC.) despite the fact that I don't really feel like I did anything.

Writing... No new words, but a lot of writerly things were going on.  I did some polishing work on Unequal to get it ready for AWE (Awesome Wonderful Editor, for the new people).  I set up the print version of Sleeping Ugly, got it loaded and approved, and ordered a proof copy.  I set up the print version of Early Grave (finally) and got it loaded on Friday.  Yesterday, I got the notification there were some issues, which I addressed and then re-uploaded.  We'll see what the review is like today.  I'll either address them or ignore them today depending on their level of crucialness.  (Like a potential blurriness in cover details - which I intentionally made kind of blurry, so no big deal.  The fonts are clear and crisp.  The old lady in her wheelchair?  Hazy on purpose.)  We'll see how the proof looks once I get it.  :shrug:

I also began the slog to update all the backmatter of all my books to show that I now have 12 books published.  It's no big deal either.  Open the file, add in the back matter, save.  Go to Amazon, upload new file, go through their stuff, click publish.  DE, FG, and EG are done.  I was a toad yesterday, but I'll get to the rest of them today.

Amazon found one typo in FG that neither it nor I had found before, so it's all good.  I left the H out of enthralled in one spot.  Derp.  It's fixed in the ebook.  Print books do not get fixed.  The expense of new proofs every time I changed backmatter or fixed a typo would wreck me.

I read a bunch.

We went fishing one afternoon.  Nothing exciting to report.  I caught a little bass and Hubs caught a couple little punkinseeds.  It was just nice to be at the lake.

Now that my back is mostly normal again, I'm back to exercising.  I'm sticking to walking for the most part.  The other exercising, I'm doing a little bit of.  Don't want to push it.  Still, I managed to get back to the weight I was at before the back thing hit.  180.4.   Next stop, 179 point something.  I haven't seen a seven in that position on the scale in probably ten years.

The drought is over here.  Not officially because the weather people do love to clench onto their pet calamities.  But since it's raining just about every day, and the grass is all green, and the weeds are growing like, well, weeds, I'm declaring it over.  Hubs mowed and already it's almost time to mow again.  He also sprayed the driveway weeds with a vinegar and Dawn solution.  I really have to weed the flower beds this week sometime.

I can't believe the week ahead is the last week of August.  Where did all those weeks go?

Your turn.  How did your week that was go?

Overpriced Ebooks

Yesterday on FB, I saw someone I respect posting about how much they're enjoying a series of books I've been interested in reading.  Since I don't have anything new on my Kindle, I thought it would be a good time to pick up the first in that series.  Hopped on over to Amazon.  Looked up the first in the series...

$9.99 for the ebook.  $10.37 for the paperback.

Gah.

And I am once again reminded of why I don't buy traditionally published books.  (Except for the occasional Harlequin by a certain author I know).   The total screwing of the American reader really pisses me off.  Especially since it's me they're screwing.  Without even a kiss on the cheek or a twenty on the nightstand. 

Right now, I am in the position to buy a $10 book here and there.  (Not too often, though.  I have an editor to pay.)  If I really want to.  It's the principle of the thing, though. 

Putting out an ebook costs way less than putting out a paperback.  And if you're putting out both, some of the costs are spread over both - cover art, editing, etc. - so the cost of the ebook is actually less than if you were only putting out an ebook. 

Traditional publishers are using their ebook sales to prop up their dwindling paperback sales.  But not everyone who wants to buy books can afford $10 a pop, so fewer people buy the books at all.  And then the publishers bitch that ebook sales are down.  They're cutting off their noses to spite their faces.  One person buys a $10 book, they get $10.  Three people buy a $5 book, they get $15.  Why can't they see this?

Paperback sales are down, regardless of how they spin the numbers.  Fewer and fewer people want to buy and hang onto all that mass.  Shelves are overflowing as it is.  Luggage is no longer filled with books for vacations because one ereader can carry hundreds of books for a fraction of the weight.  Headed for an appointment?  Slide the ereader into your purse instead of a hardcopy so you don't have to lug around a heavy purse. 

Don't get me wrong.  I love paperbacks.  Old paperbacks.  They're cheap and they're made better to boot.  New paperbacks?  Not so much.  And don't get me started on hardcovers.  I love them, too, but I can no longer handle holding something that big for as long as it takes me to read one.  (Craptastic wrists, doncha know.)  Hell, sometimes a big paperback is too much and I need Aspercreme to finish the book.

Most of my books are available in paperback.  I almost never sell one.  Mostly, I have paperbacks available so I can hand them out as promotional things or occasionally hand sell one.  I haven't created paperbacks for my last two books because I'm beginning to wonder what the point of them is.  And all of my paperbacks are priced as low as I can make them and still make a tiny profit.

My ebooks are all still priced at $2.99.  I've been playing with the idea of raising the prices.  Not a lot.  Certainly nowhere near $9.99.  Maybe a dollar hike for most of them, with a $2 hike for a couple.  I haven't done it yet.  I might not do it at all.  And every time I see a $9.99 ebook, it makes me not want to raise my prices at all.  Just to stand my ground against overpriced ebooks. 

Like the stand I make refusing to buy overpriced ebooks.  Not that anyone notices.  I don't spend enough to hit anyone in the pocketbook by refusing to purchase their stuff.  Maybe if we all put our foot down and said 'No way am I paying $10 for an ebook', the powers that be would notice.

Eh, probably not.  They'd just use it as further evidence that ebook sales are down so ebooks are just a fad.  Meh.

And so, my money will be spent on reasonably priced independent authors for the foreseeable future.  There are loads of them to choose from.  Or I'll buy used paperbacks for super cheap.  Either way, I'm reading and I'm winning.

What about you?