My Experience with Amazon's Kindle Select Program

I just posted this at Jon Guenther's Ctrl+Alt+Pub "a multi-author blog dedicated to providing information about self-publishing and inspire authors seeking to publish their own works through non-traditional venues"...and decided to post it here as well.

A few weeks ago, when Amazon announced their new Kindle Select Program, I was not in favor of it. My reason for that was the exclusivity required to enroll your book/books. I had even posted at a blog that I would not be taking part in Amazon’s new program. The idea of giving books away as a promotional tool was not at all my reason for declining the opportunity. Over the years I’ve given many books away: mine, those of my late husband, Don Pendleton, and ours.

From the Amazon Kindle site: “ When you make your book exclusive to Kindle for at least 90 days, it will be part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library for the same period and you will earn your share of a monthly fund when readers borrow your books from the library. You will also be able to promote your book as free for up to 5 days during these 90 days.” The monthly fund for December was $500,000, and for January it is $700,00. Sharing that amount of money should be enticing. I happen to be a Prime member of Amazon and have been for a number of years, and am now able to “borrow” many books free through the Lending Library.

I have over fifty books now published at Kindle, which includes more than a dozen of Don Pendleton’s books. A number of our books are also at Smashwords, and distributed to a number of ebook retailers, including for the Nook, Kobo, iPad.

But one of my books has been exclusive to Kindle, only because I had not gotten around to putting it elsewhere. I decided to give the program a try. On December 27 and 28, I gave my historical Civil War novel, Corn Silk Days: Iowa, 1862, away FREE. I was amazed!! Nearly 8,000 copies were downloaded. It was #1 on the Free Best Seller Lists, War Fiction: The # 2 book on that list was Tolstoy’s War and Peace! Other listings included, # 4 in Historical romance, # 4 in Historical Fiction; # 19 in Romance; # 77 in Fiction.

When the two-day promotion ended, it stayed fairly high on the Best Seller Lists, staying in the Top Ten of paid books under War Fiction. Today, it is listed as # 2 under Best Selling Historical War Novels in the Kindle Store. # 3 is War and Peace (a free edition), and War Horse is # 4. Obviously my sales and the Kindle Lending Library downloads are continuing.

I then added two additional books, one mystery, one nonfiction, to the Select Program. The results have not been quite as impressive, but my nonfiction, To Dance With Angels, went # 1 in Paid New Age Channeling, and # 1 in New Age Religion and Spirituality. Today, it remains in the Top Ten after a two-day promotion on January 1st.

So I’m happy! Sales have increased on many of my others books not in the program. I’d say this promotion may well be worth it.


~Linda

Interview With Author, Bill Craig

I’m pleased to have this interview with Bill Craig, who is author of the Jack Riley Adventure Series; the Sam Decker, Private Investigator Series; the Hardluck Hannigan Adventure Series; and a Joe Collins suspense thriller. His books are available in print and as Kindle e-books.

Welcome, Bill. You’ve been busy these last few years and have published now a number of books. Years ago, I know you corresponded with my husband, Don Pendleton. I believe you were just starting out with your writing career, at that time, or at least considering writing for publication, is that correct?

Bill: That is correct. I had been writing for awhile and reading everything I could but it was during that time that I actually began to seriously pursue writing. That was when the need to write really settled over me.

Linda: Bill, these are two of my favorite questions I like to ask of writers: Did you write as a kid? When did you know you wanted to write?

Bill: Oh yes, I can remember one of my first projects being a compilation of short stories for a third grade project titled: Things in the Night. I won an award for it. That was when I first realized I wanted to write.

Linda: If you would care to share, who has influenced you the most in your life? And why?

Bill: I was heavily influenced by my parents who introduced me to books at a young age. I taught myself to read at age four and have been doing so now for 47 years.

Linda: What books have most influenced your life and/or your world view? What books do you believe have influenced your writing? Favorite author/authors?

Bill: Well, when I was about ten years old when I was introduced to Doc Savage, which began a life-long love affair with pulp fiction. Then came The Shadow, The Phantom, and I picked up a copy of War Against the Mafia and was hooked all over again. Writers that have influenced me would Lester Dent, the author behind the Kenneth Robeson house name, Walter Gibson aka Maxwell Grant, Don Pendleton was a tremendous influence, as were Jerry Ahern, Robert B. Parker, and a comic book writer named Doug Moench.

Linda: I could ask if you have a favorite series of the three, or at least a character that you love more than one of the others, but I won’t ask that. I know how it is. We love all our characters, even the bad guys, huh? So, instead, tell us about your Hardluck Hannigan character and the series.

Bill: Hardluck Hannigan is just pure fun to write. It is a throw-back to the pulp novels of the thirties and forties with slam bang action and rollicking adventure. Hannigan is a bit of a soldier of fortune from the heartland and he is surrounded by friends that help him make it through his adventures due to the fact he has the worst luck imaginable.

Hannigan started his career when he left a tramp steamer in Africa and got involved in a race to recover the fabled Emerald of Eternity from the Priest King Prester John. He faced off against Nazis, the evil Dr. Ragnarok, and deadly River Pirates. Then he was captured by the Kondor Legion and battled the fabled Nazi pilots and their three flying saucers that had been recovered from a secret base in the Arctic circle. After that, Hannigan was sent to the Amazon to search for Colonel Percy Fawcett and a lost Atlantean outpost.

His fourth adventure began on an ocean liner that was sabotaged and set adrift in the Sargasso sea where he battled a several centuries old colony of pirates and a mad Russian Scientist that had set up a city beneath the sea and was plotting to destroy all life on the surface. A trip back to the States reunited Hannigan with his father and brought him face to face with a Nazi spy ring and a Demonic creature haunting Kill Devil Hills. Tragedy struck Hannigan during that adventure and sent him fleeing back to Africa where he was caught up in a search for yet another lost city and battling Nazis for the fabled Spear of Goliath.

The current book I am working on finds him in Egypt fighting desert nomads, a Chinese villain, and being a pawn in a battle between two ancient Egyptian goddesses. The Golden Scorpion will hopefully be out by spring.

Linda: I always like to ask writers how they receive their inspiration. Many writers feel the inspiration comes from beyond them at times as they are working with their characters. Do you experience that in your writing?

Bill: I would have to agree that it does come from beyond. Many times the characters just take over and I feel like I am just channeling them to get the story on paper. There have been times when I sit down to write and totally lose time, yet when I stop I have 5-10 pages written that are completely new to me.

Linda: Do you visualize your scenes as you write? Do you “walk” in your character’s shoes?

Bill: Very much so. For the most part I tend to write in a very visual style, but I love to do a lot with dialog as well. And yeah I am in there every step of the way. One of the more fun pieces I have done lately was an old west werewolf story for Six-guns Straight from Hell, an anthology put together by Laura Givens and David Riley.

Linda: I believe you have chosen to do what many of us are now doing—publishing e-books. What encouraged you to do so?

Bill: The potential to build my fan base with the advent of the multiple e-reader systems out there. And so far word is spreading and sales are picking up.

Linda: Tell us about your other series and about your next project?

Bill: I have about seven or eight books in the works at the moment, the next book out will be either The Golden Scorpion from the Hardluck Hannigan series of Smuggler’s Blues, the fourth Decker P.I. title. I have several more Hannigans plotted out, a fifth Sam Decker, and three more books featuring Joe Collins the hero of The Butterfly Tattoo which has been my best selling title both in print and on kindle. The Decker books follow an ex-DEA agent turned Private Investigator in the Florida Keys. Joe Collins is a cop on the Gulf side of South Florida who gave up part of his soul to find and stop the infamous Butterfly Killer who he suspected was behind the death of his wife. The subsequent books are about his journey back to being what he is: A good and dedicated cop.

I am also working on some stuff for Airship27 which includes a Masked Rider Western, and the lead off story for a south sea series I created called Tales of the Hanging Monkey. Plus I have a western novel in the works.

Linda: And my last question, Bill. What is your favorite quote?

Bill: My favorite quote. There are so many, however the one that carries the most important lesson for me comes from a western character I am working on named Hannibal Tucker. The Quote: “The most trouble I ever got into was because of a woman,”—Hannibal Tucker, from an upcoming western novel that is as of yet untitled.

Thanks so much, Bill, for taking time for this interview. Good luck with your books.

To read more about Bill Craig’s book, visit his Amazon Author Page.


~Linda

Don Pendleton's "Joe Copp Mystery Thrillers"

Finally! I now have all six of Don Pendleton's Joe Copp Private Eye mystery thrillers on sale as Kindle and paper with new covers. It has taken me much longer than anticipated to get those six books ready for publication again in print. I am happy with the new covers and I think they look great in print, and others have told me the same thing. I know Don would love them if he was still here--and as some of you know, he died in 1995. I work hard to keep his works available not only for his old fans, but for new readers.

~Linda

Free PC Kindle Reader and New Kindle Price

Amazon has recently dropped the price of their ebook reader, the Kindle.

It now sells for $189...an attractive price...

and you can now download FREE an app, A Kindle reader, for your computer, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad...



With Amazon's increased royalty rate for authors that just went into effect, it would be my guess that more and more books in the $2.99 to $9.99 price range are going to be available as authors choose to take advantage of the greater royalty.

~Linda

Lower Kindle Price, Don Pendleton's Joe Copp Thrillers

I have been working on the print format for six Joe Copp Private Eye novels by Don Pendleton. I had recently put them up at Kindle but in doing new covers and new trade paper I have to go through them again for the proper format for print. So it takes time.

I have lowered the price on the Kindle editions of the Joe Copp Thrillers. They are now going for $6.99 each. So if you want a good hard-boiled detective read, those just might be the books for you.

I'm so pleased with the Kindle sales of my books that I may just have to splurge before long for my own Kindle. I've heard from two frineds that they just love their Kindle.

The Joe Copp Mystery Series was Don Pendleton's first hardcover books, after many books published in paperback. The Copp books were published by the late Donald I. Fine, a longtime N.Y. editor and publisher. They were soon after realeased in paperback. I put them back in print through the Authors Guild Back in Print program about ten years ago. And now in the coming weeks they will again be released in print with new covers...the same covers my web desinger, Judy Bullard and I designed for Kindle editions.

If you need any Kindle, POD, ebook covers, check Judy's work out. She does excellent covers. She recently designed several for author Mark Terry.

Here are a few reviews of Don Pendleton's Joe Copp Private Eye Series:

“This Joe Copp adventure reads like an express train. A throwback to the vintage Spillane era, Pendleton knows how to keep us turning the pages.” ~Publishers Weekly

“Pendleton has a great new character in Copp. His style is fresh, the pace is brisk, and there are enough twists to please any mystery fan.” ~St. Petersburg Times

“Pendleton, author of the long-running paperback Executioner series, shows in his first hardcover that hardboiled writing can be insightful as well as action-packed.” ~Library Journal

“A fast-moving, even blurring, story of murder behind the floodlights.” ~Book World

"Pendleton mines another bestselling vein with the cases of ex-cop/private eye Joe Copp, the toughest operator this side of Mike Hammer."
~ALA Booklist

Read more about Don Pendleton's Joe Copp Kindle books Here

~Linda

Self-Publishing Debate

I’m beginning to find rather amusing these ongoing and, at times, heated discussions of self publishing vs. standard publishing. Oh, some refer to it as vanity publishing...a term I now consider to be misplaced in some instances. If you receive royalties, I believe that to not be vanity publishing.

More than ten years ago, the Authors Guild, Inc.(I’ve been a member since 1990) began to offer their members the opportunity to put there out of print books back in print. Many authors have done so. I did so with my late husband, Don Pendleton’s two mystery series, 12 books in all: the Joe Copp Private Eye Thrillers and the Ashton Ford Psychic Detective series. The Back in Print program was in conjunction with iUniverse.com (a company somehow connected at the time with Barnes and Noble) and apparently now under the umbrella of Author Solutions/Author House.

At the time I published Don’s 12 books with the Back in Print program, the set up cost per book was $99 and the royalty rate was 25%. I also published several other books with iUniverse over the next two years or so, at the $99 setup, and did my own covers, and had a royalty rate on those new books at 20%.

They’ve made profit...and I have heard from others, “but you didn’t get anything up front like you would with a publisher.” No, you do not get an advance when publishing this way, an advance against royalties. And in some cases, depending on the size of the advance you receive, it could be all you ever get, or if you earn out more royalty above the initial advance (usually part on signing, part on delivery of the mss), the publisher may distribute it to you over a long period of time while keeping some of your earned royalty money as a protection for them against returns by booksellers.

In the last few years since I published with iUniverse, their rates have increased significantly...about 500%. And things are not as good with this new company—they were slower to post royalties, and are not posting Kindle royalties (I paid $99 bucks recently to have two book put at Kindle by iUniverse). That was a mistake on my part as I could have done it for FREE myself, as I’ve discovered how easy it is to do. I’ve now put 31 books at Kindle myself, and I love that as I can watch my daily sales through my account at Amazon Kindle.

I have also ended my agreement with iUniverse on the Joe Copp and Ashton Ford mystery series, and will be putting them in print with createspace.com shortly. I did new covers for all 12 and put them at Kindle where they are selling nicely. Those same covers will be done soon for the new PODs.

I also published two books with createspace.com, my PI novel, Shattered Lens: Catherine Winter, Private Investigator, and The Cosmic Breath: Metaphysical Essays of Don Pendleton. That was quick and easy at $39.

So what I am so amused at is the apparent belief by many (agents, publishers, and authors) that books published in this way have no value. You can read what many are saying in their blogs, and in comments about POD and ebook publishing....if an author decided to bypass the agent—the mainstream publisher, then the manuscript must be “junk” and not worthy of publication. Why does a writer’s group disallow an author membership if he or she has published in this way? Why are some well-known writers against this kind of publication? Why do they care? They have made their money via their choice. (or have they actually gotten ripped off by mainstream publishers and don’t care to admit that—and believe me, it can happen).

Personally I prefer having control over my books, and if it means not having to go through the marketing process of a well-written manuscript, whether at the agent level or the publisher level, which can take many, many months or longer, it is well worth it to me. I get irritated when an agent takes months to reply, or will only reply to a query if interested, often leaving the author hanging will waiting a reasonable time, Yes, my books may suffer lack of distribution, but I have decided that I will do all I can to let people know of my writing and those who are meant to read it, will. The others who want to complain and prejudge the quality of work with a self-published tag on it, well, that is their problem.

Authors write for a variety of reason and expectations from publishing their work can be varied. And the rewards of writing have nothing much to do with bucks but with heart-felt feedback. Those are the things that stay with an author, the joy of sharing—the meeting of the minds, the author’s with the reader’s. The moment you learn you inspired someone with your words, that’s all that really matters. I’ve enjoyed that many times over in the last twenty years. And my husband, Don Pendleton was able to enjoy that for his long career, and even today, I still receive emails from his fans on how his books inspired them.

For some quality self-published works, take a look at Jon Guenther, H. Charles Dilmore, Summer Bacon, Stephen Tremp, Don Pendleton, Linda Pendleton, Greg Pendleton, and in the coming weeks, a memoir by Athena Demetrios. I’m sure some of you know of others who could be added to the list. I know the list of quality, interesting, and inspirational, self published books must be very long. It has to be as there is a lot of talent in this world.

Some mainstream publishers and booksellers who are getting in the game of offering publishing programs for a fee, now includes Harlequin, Thomas Nelson, Barnes and Noble (just announced), Hay House, of course, Amazon, and I would bet the list is growing day by day.

So why the negative reaction by some agents to authors who self publish? Seems obvious....they may be out a job one day.

What is not obvious is why another published author cares if one of his peers decides to self-publish....

Oh, maybe that’s it. They don’t consider self-published authors “peers” in their “elite” world? Could that be it?

All that said, do I believe in spending a lot of money putting your book out there? No, not really. Any aspiring author about to publish should carefully research, consider all alternatives, and not be “taken in” at a vulnerable time—vulnerable—yes, as it feels great to hold your book in your hand, or to see it listed for Kindle download or other downloads as ebooks.

It’s a sense of pride of doing what we love to do, and doing it well. As Joseph Campbell once said, “Follow your bliss.” And if that bliss is writing, do it!

~Linda