Dazed and Confused

Pretty Picture

There I was ... just sitting at my desk, minding my business when a friend told me that Amazon had posted the cover for the large-print edition of her book. 

Hey, we're coming out on the same day!  So I rushed to Amazon and there was the cover of the large-print edition of Murder Is Binding.

The question is ... besides libraries, do any regular readers ever buy the large-print edition of a book?  If so, where do they buy it?  So far Amazon is charging list price.  One never knows if or when they will discount it.  Barnes & Noble, however, has a very nice 25% discount for their members.  I'm even thinking of buying a few copies myself.  In the meantime, what do you think of the new cover?

My First eBay experience

I don't like the keyboard on my laptop.  It doesn't like me, either.  I'll be typing along and the cursor will jump up or down on the screen and all of a sudden I'm not typing in the same line any more.  The computer guy said, "I don't have a problem.  It must be you."

So I decided to get it a new keyboard.

I love the keyboard that came with my emachine.  It's the nicest keyboard I've ever worked with.  So I decided to get another one.  The only problem:  it's discontinued.

So I turned to eBay.  I have friends (and my brother) who are always buying stuff off of eBay and have been deliriously happy with their purchases.  I've used it to look for prices on collectibles when I had a booth at the antique co-op, but I never bought anything before.  It was time.

I found the keyboard I love, bought it on one of those BUY IT NOW! auctions. 

It was easy.  It was great.  The keyboard arrived 10 days after I ordered it.  It sat on the dining room table just waiting for me to plug it in.

Yesterday I got a note from eBay asking me to rate my purchase. Time to plug it in and start using it.

First, though, it was cruddy and I didn't want to type on it like it was.  Out came the Lysol wipes.  I couldn't believe the crud that came off of it.  Okay, I knew it wasn't new, but for $20, I figured it wouldn't be filthy.  (I was wrong.)  As I was wiping the keyboard, I noticed ... hey, this isn't the same keyboard I have on my emachine.  In fact, I took it into my office to compare.  It is definitely NOT the same keyboard.  Next, I plugged it in.  Guess what?  It doesn't work, either.

On any of our computers.

Yesterday was garbage day.  Guess where the box went?

Now they probably won't let me return a broken keyboard I can't use.

I are not a happy camper.

Lesson learned?  Test stuff out as soon as it comes. 

Next problem...the three copies of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  I bought ONE copy off of Amazon.  Got two.  Returned one.  The person (3rd party) misunderstood my e-mail and has mailed me a third copy of it.

I think I'll have to quit buying stuff online.

What kind of problems have you had with online purchases?

Another Worldcat blog

Until I had a book published, I never heard of WorldCat.  People on various author lists mentioned it like it was some mysterious international power.  Actually, it turned out it was--at least for an author. 

WorldCat keeps track of books in libraries.  You can track a book by title, author, ISBN, or year of publication.  (And/or any combination of the same.)

By the time I figured out how important libraries were to me, it was nearly too late.  My book had been out five months and was located in only 67 library systems.  It's also when I realized the power of a Big Four Review.  Librarians order books on the basis of these reviews (from Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus and Publishers Weekly).

My book did not receive a Big Four Review.  That is the kiss of death for a book whose publisher targets libraries.  I shed many tears, and had to figure out a way to turn lemons into lemonade. 

It was a librarian who came to my rescue.  Molly MacRae (also a published author) suggested that since I had no reviews, I send libraries a sample of my work.  I put together a chapbook (digest-sized booklet) of my first chapter, along with a cover letter, bookmark, and a list of online review excepts.  I sent them out over a two-month period to 200 libraries scattered all over the country.

A couple of times a week, I'd check WorldCat to see how the sales were going.  It took six months, but I gained another 30 library systems.  (Or the sale of about 70 additional books.)

Not a lot, huh?  But on the strength of that campaign, I got a (teeny, weeny) second print run, and my publisher bought the next book in the series. 

Today, Dead In Red will surpass that 97 WorldCat mark.  (I lucked out and the book got two Big Four Reviews!) It did this in about a month--not eleven months.  Hopefully that number will increase as the weeks rolls past.  (Because let's face it, it's a hardcover book, and a lot of people don't want to pay for hardcovers...but if you do, please click on the link above and order it -- Amazon has it on sale for 20% off right now, and Barnes & Noble offers it at the same price for their members.)  But if you don't buy hardcovers, I hope you'll consider asking your library to add the book to their collection.

Kate's on a Journey of a Thousand Books for her book Stalking Death, and I am, too.  And a big part of that journey is getting our books into libraries.

Will you help?  Ask your library to order the book(s), and then PLEASE take it out--and tell your friends about the book, too.  Libraries track how many times a book is taken out, so word of mouth is just as important as being stocked.

It's difficult to stay published, especially in today's financial climate.  It's all a numbers game, and publishers keep track.  Bad numbers = canceled book contracts/series.  When people can't afford to buy books, libraries can fill in the gap.  But it takes readers to keep their favorite authors in print--by buying books or asking their libraries to do the same.

Compost!

A few months back I bought my little kitchen composter.  I decided I'd like to leave a smaller carbon footprint (especially since I don't have all that many Green lightbulbs in my lamps.  There's something about the frequency of the fluorescent bulbs that hurts my eyes--especially when I read).

I've been very happy with this little composter.  I dutifully toss in my peelings and even corn husks (I do cut them up first, though).  Instead of throwing nasty lettuce leaves into the trash, they go in the little white cannister.  And let me tell you, the carbon filter does an excellent job of keeping odor at bay.  It's been a tad warm here, and when I went to dump it yesterday -- well, let's just say I've smelled sweeter vomit.

And that's what the big news is today.  I finally have a real composter.

Okay, it's not a commercial composter, because the ones I saw online were about $300.  But when I posted that I wanted to have a compost pile, my friend of many years, author Lee Rowan, suggested I get a black garbage can with a locking lid, drill holes in the bottom, and use that as a cheap composter.  So, off to Home Depot I went.

That was a bit of an adventure in itself.  "Where are your garbage cans?"

"Inside the main door, to the right," says part-time high school girl at the garden shop register.

There were none.

Ask again--this time someone a bit less bimbo-ish.  Find them, but they're kept outside, apparently in the bird poop zone.  I had to do a lot of searching to find one that wasn't covered in ... do-do.  I decided to get a smallish one, because I wasn't sure I could create a lot of compost; I got a 20-gallon model.  (And if I decide to move up, I can always just buy another one, right?)  Lee was right, it wasn't a huge outlay of money.  Just over $12.   

Home again, home again!  Drill holes in the bottom, fill with garden weeds (which I just happened to pull yesterday), empty into it the contents of the kitchen composter (and the really disgusting zuchini I found in the crisper drawer) and voila!  I'm composting.  Hubby is happy because there's no unsightly pile messing up the backyard, and I'm making use of my kitchen (and garden) waste.  Lee tells me if I leave the can in the sun and tip it around a bit, I'd have compost in a month.  I'm not that eager.  In fact, next spring will be soon enough for me. 

At least now I feel like I'm doing something really green.  And my veggies will thank me for it next year by giving me a stupendous yield of tomatoes, beans, and potatoes.

Well, a girl can dream, can't she?

No hope?

You can't watch this video and think there is no hope for our world.

To see the things we all love and believe in expressed in something so simple.

Watch it.

Unexpected promo

I got an e-mail from the company that prints books for my publisher.  They love the cover of Dead in Red, and would I mind if they used a copy of the book as part of their display at conferences they attend?

Would I mind?

Hell, no!

Of course, they aren't going to actually sell any copies of the book, but they felt it might be good a marketing opportunity for both of us.  I agree.

When you're published with a small press, any opportunity to push the book is welcome.  I'm back to tracking sales via Ingram and WorldCat, which is sobering.  The book has only been available for shipping via Ingram (who supplies for brick-and-mortar and online booksellers) since Wednesday.  (Which means that Amazon has started shipping copies.)  The library stats aren't as good as I had hoped, but are starting to stack up.  I should exceed the numbers I had for Murder On The Mind by the end of the month.

(Fingers crossed.)

Guest Blogging

Today is the second (and apparently last) stop on my blog tour for Dead In Red.  I'm over at Jungle Red talking about the cover of the book and the quest for the perfect red shoe.

The ladies at Jungle Red are a great bunch.  I've been lucky enough to meet and talk with Roberta, Hank, and Rosemary on more than one occasion.  And I caught a ride with Hallie to the Festival of Mystery back in April. 

Yesterday on Jungle Red, I read Hallie's wonderful review of her latest book, 1001 Books for Every Mood.  At the end of the post was this little advertisement for my blog today: 

PS: Tomorrow--the delightful (and very successful) Lorraine Bartlett!

 

Delightful?  Ah, how kind.  But successful?  I don't feel like I've reached that pinnacle just yet.  Okay, Murder Is Binding is having a wonderful run of luck.  But when I compare my third print run count with my friend Leann's third print run on her Shoot From the Lip, she's got many more thousands in print than me.

 

At any rate, if you're interested please check out my guest blog at Jungle Red.

 

 

Brag-a-thon

And, YES!  Lorna' MURDER IS BINDING remains on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's top ten list for yet another month--only going down from spot 3 to spot 6.

SNOOPY HAPPY DANCE!

But let us take a look a big-time, well known, bookselling web site.  Oh.  Dear.  A really awful, terrible, bad review of the book.  There is nothing good about it. It was god-awful with a twist of roadkill. It stank. It was skunk scent times ten.

And yet ... HAPPY DANCE ... the book is tied on the IMBA list for spot #6!!! It is in its third print run!  I'm not going to let one person's negative opinion mess with my head.  (Too much.)

Unless something terrible happens in the next couple of weeks (which is always possible, and don't think that isn't on my mind 24/7), I will be going to New Hampshrie in three weeks to finally do some on-site research, although the season will be wrong for the third book in the series.  I can only guess.  I can only surmise.  I can only do the best I can do and hope that good story-telling sees me through.

Isn't that what any writer hopes for?

Is it Tuesday already?

Well, according to the calendar, it IS Tuesday, which means I'm over at Writers Plot.  Sorry to be absent, but with a holiday week, I goofed off a lot--but I actually got a LOT of writing done as well.  (About time, too, eh?)  In the meantime, I've blogged about my crops.  Go forth and see! 

If this is Tuesday ...

...I must be on Writers Plot.  And today I'm talking about writer's cramp.  Not mine, but Janet Evanovich's. 

I hope you'll check it out

Not only that, but apparently with Dead In Red about to be released, I'm on another book blog tour. Today I'm guest blogging over at MURDER SHE WRITES talking about "my double life."

I'm busy, busy, busy!