Andrew E. Kaufman on 'The State of the Indie"

Andrew E. Kaufman, author of the #1 Suspense Thriller, While the Savage Sleeps, has written an excellent and insightful blog on Independent Publishing and his attendance at the Left Coast Crime Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico last week, over at Ctrl+Alt+Pub Blog.

His views and those of others he mentions, reflect the dramatic changes taking place in publishing with many of us chosing to self-publishing and not rely on agents and publishers but to take control of our works.

It's an exciting and invigoroting time not only me, but for many authors and for readers.

Also read my interview of Andrew here, and hey, buy his book, it will give you goosebumps, that's for sure. LOL

~Linda

Fractured Image: Catherine Winter, Private Investigator Series

My Second Novel in the Catherine Winter Series
Now at Kindle and Smashwords. In print in a few days.

“Whenever I am confronted with death, I cannot help but be aware how fragile life is and how vulnerable we are. Everything can change in a split second.”
~Catherine Winter, Private Investigator


Private Investigator, Catherine Winter has seen it all in her many years as a Southern California PI. Widowed and in her sixties, she has no desire to retire. She frequently says she will not give it up as long as she can hit a target with a .357 slug. Determined, and dedicated, she often works alongside the Los Angeles police in investigating crimes.

On an early spring morning in Los Angeles, the badly beaten body of USC professor of astronomy, Frederick Holloway is found outside Griffith Park Observatory. In their hunt for his killer, Homicide Commander John Anderson and his detectives must determine if the professor is the victim of a hate crime, a random attack, or a premeditated killing. Found in Holloway’s wallet is a business card belonging to Catherine Winter, Private Investigator. Catherine does not know why this stranger has her card. The mystery surrounding his death begins to unravel as his significant-other, bestselling author Andrew Bartain hires Catherine Winter to locate Frederick Holloway’s son, and to find his killer. In the search for truth and justice, the images of the victim and persons of interest become fractured and must be meticulously and precisely put together into a solid pattern to find his killer.

“Linda Pendleton’s first private-eye novel is a brilliant debut. Shattered Lens is good enough I hope it becomes a series.” ~Richard S. Prather, Author of the Shell Scott Mystery Series

(Thanks Richard for the suggestion. At the time I did not know if there would be a series. Now there is.) ♥

~Linda

Author Barry Eisler Turns Down Half Million to Self-Publish

At first glance some may think best-selling thriller author, Barry Eisler is nuts to walk away from a half million dollar publishing deal with one of the Big 6 NY publishers. But I don't think he is. I believe he's smart and visionary in his decision to self-publish ebooks.

Many new or midlist writers, as well as best-selling authors are now putting their books at Amazon Kindle, Smashwords (which distributes to a number of retailers in various ebook formats), and publishing print on demand through Amazon Creatspace for -0- or $39. What is nice about all of these, is the author sets the price on his or her book, and can change it at any time. It appears the books that are selling the large numbers, especially at Kindle, are priced from .99 cents to 4.99. But you never know. It all depends on what someone might want to read, fiction, nonfiction, and the many subjects and genres. Lots of choices.

If you are an author, new or old, thinking of e-publishing backlist books, or new manuscripts, but still unsure about taking the leap, read what Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath have to say in this discussion of ebooks. It is possible it may remove any resistance you have to the idea of self-publishing. (Be prepared to have a cup of coffee at your side before you start reading as it is a long discussion, but well worth the read.)

Also you may be interested in this previous blog I did on Barry Eisler some time ago, and this one.

~Linda

Ebook Sales Continue to Rise

According to The Association of American Publishers, the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry:

"March 17, 2010, New York, NY – E-books and downloadable audio books continue to grow in popularity according to the January 2011 sales report of the Association of American Publishers. Figures for the first month of the new year show that E-book net sales increased by 115.8% vs January 2010 (from $32.4 Million to $69.9M). Sales of Downloadable Audio Books also rose by 8.8% vs the previous year ($6.0M to $6.5M). As AAP reported last month http://tiny.cc/obolv in its December 2010 monthly report and full 2010 analysis, E-book sales have increased annually and significantly in all nine years of tracking the category."

I know for my ebooks sales over the last decade, there has been a nice increase, especially since Kindle came along, and now Smashwords, which has given me the opportunity to pulish more of my books as e-books.

I'm sure e-book sales will continue to go up and up. I would imagne the ability to download mp3 digital audio books will continue to increase audio book sales also.

~Linda

Don Pendleton's Mystery Series Facebook Pages

I recently added Facebook pages for Don Pendleton’s two mystery series. The pages, which include information on the books in each series, videos of booktrailers on several books, and additional information, can be found at Facebook.

Don Pendleton's Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective Series of Novels

Don Pendleton's Joe Copp, Private Eye Series of Novels











~Linda