More audio books, and a new ebook release, Authorpreneur!

Two More Audio Books in Production!

I’ve commissioned new audiobooks for A Cowboy for Christmas (due out late this summer) and More than Memories (due out in January.) These will join the audio books for A Spy for Christmas and The River People. All will be available on Amazon, right off the book page, and Audible.com.

 

In Progress

I’m working on A Wedding to Remember, featuring Trent and Molly from More Than Memories. If you read the first book, you might have wanted to see their wedding! A summer wedding seems like a perfect idea, until the planning stage. Then Molly really misses her late parents, on top of the usual emotions and stress of such a special time.

It’s fun writing a summer themed book for a change! I have quite a few holiday books, and two set in late summer, so early summer is a nice change of pace–err, season.

If you want to keep up to date on my new releases and other big news, you can subscribe to my newsletter. It’ll be a once a month contact (or less) with news, and I’m planning to do some kind of prize or giveaway with each, pulling from the subscribed email addresses.

 

New Release for Authors

Authorpreneur: Making a Steady Income from Ebook Royalties  is out!

It’s a guide for anyone interesting in independent publishing, from Indie career phases to running the numbers. Of course there’s strategies to sell more books too. The focus is on developing your writing career and growing your readership, and not just spiking book sales for a month.

If you’re an authorpreneur (author and entrepreneur), or would like to be, this is the book for you.

Part 1: Where Are You in Your Career?
Writing Your First Book
What to Expect
You’re Feeling Stuck
You Have Several Books Published
Earning $500+ per Month and Growing
When to Quit your Day Job
Let’s Talk about “Success” and Numbers
Running the Numbers

Part 2 covers publishing, and Part 3 covers strategies to sell more books.

Check it out on Amazon or my website under Are You an Authorpreneur?

 

Authorpreneuring

I devote most of my blogs to readers, but today I thought I’d talk about what it means to be an author in 2013. I wanted to be an author from a young age and studied how to get published, so I’ve watched all the changed over the last ten years. Many people think the Indie Revolution began in 2009 when Amazon Kindle opened to Indie authors. Before that, however, there were many romance ebook publishers selling PDF downloads from their sites. You don’t hear about that much at all, but I think they had an important part in creating the ebook frenzy. All I can say is, I’m so thankful I get to be an author while all this is happening. So many authors are earning steady royalties and even an income from ebook royalties.

We’ve used terms like traditional author and self published author, and these days we have more terms to describe the different routes a writer can take. No matter which path an author chooses, it encompasses much more than just writing anymore. Being an author is like running a small business, giving rise to the term authorpreneur.

The Authorpreneur, or Author Entrepreneur, is:

• An Indie Author (aka self published)
• Hybrid author  (Indie and traditional)
• Even a traditional authors – think of James Patterson or J. K. Rowling

Authorpreneurs consider their career path, publishing options, marketing, networking and seeing their writing career as a business. These days, you could argue this term includes every author.

For a while, I’ve thought of myself as simply an author, not a certain kind of author. That’s becoming true for more and more authors – we’re all running a small business. This is been on my mind for a while, and I’m revamping one of my earlier books titled How to Sell More Kindle eBooks. The new title will be Authorpreneur: Making a Steady Income from Ebook Royalties.

I’m enjoying the process of adding to the book and realizing just how much I’ve learned in the last year. This new book will share all the useful information and advice that’s still applicable, plus updates, more resources, my experiences, and a section on what makes a sellable book. I’d call it a section on writing, but it’s more focused on building a novel with conflict, not the actual writing.

If you’re an author, would information would you want to see included?

 

Writing Point Hope

I constantly read, both novels and nonfiction books about how to write better. There are many on the craft of writing, and I look for anything that discusses how to tell a better story. Writing a novel takes good writing and good storytelling, which are two separate things. What’s the difference? I’d say at least 75% of the books out there have well constructed sentences, vivid description and correct grammar… you know, the things that make a piece of prose readable. However, a much smaller percentage tell a gripping story. You can write a well written paper about your fun day at the zoo, but that doesn’t mean the general public will pay money and spend time reading it.

Writing a page turner takes heart and passion for your storyline, your characters and your message. Yes, novels have a message! It’s that little thing that makes you stop and think after you finish the book. Often, it’s a simple but powerful message such as, “Yes, love does change us and help us through life.” It’s the human connection in the story. Some of this goes into the initial writing, and I’m finding the ‘message’ comes out more with the fine tuning and revising. More and more, I believe the stronger the message, the more successful the book will be. I don’t mean a preachy message, but just the feeling that the author has captured something about our experience and shared it. I can see it in the novels I love, and I can see how I’m developing that in my own writing. That’s what I’m aiming for now.

Some of the excellent writing books I’ve read challenge authors to look into why they are writing their novel. I used that to guide me in writing my current work in progress: Why am I writing this book?  Point Hope looks at what family really means, and what we’ll do for our families, and even what we’ll sacrifice for our kids and family. It can be about honor but you’ll find love there too. Family is the people who love you, the people you take in. This book, for me, goes even beyond that. I thought about, what can this book give people? What if people feel they missed something and are looking for it, like the characters?

Each character desperately needs something from the others – The Sinclairs are a close-knit family and depend on each other, even though things are falling apart. Trey and Rosette are on the brink of divorce, but they have kids depending on them. They’re also raising 16 year old Alex, Trey’s younger brother, before things get even more complicated. (Alex surprised me and became a very interesting character!)

I have more to say on the subject, but I don’t want to give the plot away just yet! I will say, I’ve put so much into this book that I almost worry I won’t anything left for the next book. I’m pouring in my heart and soul. But I have to trust that there are always new stories to tell and new characters to meet, so I can’t hold back while writing this one.

I’ll keep you updated with a firmer release date as we approach March!