Draft 2 Digital - Update

I'm pleased to say that I'm getting some results from Draft 2 Digital.

I've had books on the site for two years now, and had ZERO sales. But I'm a bit more than frustrated with Smashwords. Half of my frustration is their content, every pornographer in the world uses them, the other half is the fact they hold earnings for 3 months before they pay.

So I switched over to D2D. They post faster, and the books appear to have better visibility. (They aren't being filtered for content, which helps.)

The results are encouraging.

My B&N downloads of free books are double what they were from Smashwords. Or at least the reporting is twice as fast. On Smashwords I get one or two d/l of Impressive Bravado a day, but The Emissary might as well be invisible.

On D2D, I've already had 20 d/l of The Emissary this month.

Why the difference?

Content filtering, is my guess. As Smashwords panders to the pornographic, B&N is forced to blanket filter their content - it all goes into the mulch layer and stays there. They don't have time to sort it, so it all gets about 10k 'points' added to the rank to keep it from dominating the charts.

Since D2D doesn't carry that content, the files have an even chance of being seen, which is a BIG boost to a small-fry like myself.

Why do I say this? Impressive Bravado (via Smashwords) has been a steady give-away on B&N for 3 years, it has a rank of 113k. The Emissary, Smashwords version, is invisible. I can't find it with a simple search. However, the D2D version is sitting pretty with a rank of 101k.

My work has always sold better on B&N than on Amazon. Smaller venue, better chance to be seen. But the NookPress website offers no advantage, and is being curated by Author Solutions; of all the drek vanity publishers in the world, Author Solutions, under all it's aliases, is the worst.

Unfortunately, I can't close the NookPress account, just like with KoboWritingLife, there's no way to close the account as an author and no way to get your money out if you have them do it. (Both sites have owed me $9 for years, I'll never see that money.)

In case you are curious, I'll clarify my methods. I uploaded all my short fiction to D2D two years ago, where it did nothing. I've been getting a smattering of d/ls of freebies on Smashwords, but only about $10 of sales per year. (Most of those were Sony Sales.) This February I uploaded Mom's short stories to D2D, made a couple of hers free and one of mine (Impressive Bravado) her's started to get some action when I re-did the covers.

The Emissary started getting hits on B&N via D2D with the new cover. I couldn't even FIND the Smashwords version on B&N, so I pulled it. They report 2 months in arrears on Smashwords, while D2D has promised to report daily starting yesterday.

Oh, what a difference a day made.

I'm showing 11 d/ls of The Emissary in May and 10 for June. The Emissary has FINALLY been discovered on B&N!

I'm handling the switch-over very carefully. First, I've raised all Smashwords prices to $.99. I'm handling all the freebies via D2D. Then I started pulling all the Smashwords files from vendors who have hooked up with both companies.

The wild card is Apple, currently my best vendor for Impressive Bravado. Switching over to Apple has proven trickier. First off, they require ISBNs from Smashwords. However, they do not appear to require ISBNs from D2D.

I may not switch over on Apple. Upsetting the Apple-cart is not in my best interest. We'll see what happens with freebies vs dollar-dreadful on Apple.

If I can start making money on Apple, I'll leave Smashwords alone.

IMO Kobo is a black-hole. Kobo is a black-hole even if you have an account in Writing Life. I've found it impossible to get any ACCURATE sales information out of them since Day 1. (Shrug) They never update covers, or files, or prices and they never pay.

Meanwhile, I earn a dollar or two from Amazon each month.

I suppose this is as good a time as any to make this announcement: I'm pulling out of the e-book business at the end of 2015. 

I had two books hit the Best Seller's List - it was fantastic - but it didn't last. Since 2012 my best month was $14 last year. I can't justify all the time I spend online for zero return.

I'm going to finish up all the current projects in time for the Winter Reading Season, in my spare time. I'm pulling e-books from every market that has zero return at the end of 2015.

I intend to get rid of The Hoard, get Talbot Hill sold and get a Real Life.

'The Emissary' - Finalist for Best Novella of 2014

I need your vote!

'The Emissary - Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse' needs 20 more votes to win. Right now, it has 5 votes. 

In order to vote, you'll have to register, and sign in here: e-Festival of Words, Welcome, Award Hall, Best Novella.

You are welcome to go to Smashwords, pick up a free copy and read the story before you decide if you want to vote. 

Like all my stories, 'The Emissary' is entertaining and a quick read. But, if you want something a little 'chewier' then you can read it slowly, or re-read it.

"The Emissary" is a horse story as well as an adventure tale. The McLeod sisters use their horses to fight, as the Roman's did, and as sentries with a keen sense of smell. I have always thought that horses were a better choice for the Zombie Apocalypse because of their instincts and the fact they eat grass not gasoline. The bow is the weapon of choice for the McLeod sisters because bows are quiet and arrows are reusable. The McLeods prefer stealth and agility over loud engines and bullets. 

"The Emissary" is about how women could survive the Zombie Apocalypse - without the sterotypical roles of helpless-female or heartless Amazon. It's my way of exploring the Apocalypse from a completely female point of view - cooperation, team work, empowering the weak and protecting the helpless, with a touch of humor. 

The McLeod sisters are down-to-earth girls who have complete confidence in their training, their horses and each other. The Davidson clansmen who think they're superior with their trucks and machine guns are in for a surprise.

Please feel free to get the e-book here: 

The Emissary: Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse it is free on Smashwords.

The Emissary: Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse - Amazon US The e-book is $0.99 here.

The Emissary: Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse - Amazon UK The e-book is 0.77 here.

In a world where the dead walk the land, Bethany McLeod must leave the safety of her fortress home to take her sisters Alexis, Dani and Julie cross-country to Fort Chatten, Kentucky. Alexis McLeod is a healer, nurse and pharmacist, eager to prove herself at Fort Chatten. Led by Bethany, the four sisters risk their lives to help the struggling Davidson clan.

It's just three years since the Zombie Apocalypse. The McLeod and Davidson's clans survive in a world where the muerto viviente - walking dead - infest the cities and towns. Armed to the teeth, the sisters are horse archers, a light cavalry quiet enough to avoid the muerto, or fast enough to outrun them. Militia, marauders and mad-men abound, the stinking dead walk the land, eating everything in their path.

Can four women and six horses make a hundred mile journey through the Zombie Apocalypse and arrive alive? What will they find if they get to Fort Chatten?

This story is suitable for all ages.

The Fabulous World of Backlist

Sometimes it is highly amusing to be old enough to remember ‘the good old days’ of certain genre. “YA” as a genre is very, very old.

The only thing new about Today’s YA is the names of the people writing for it – many are far too young to recall the old, glory days.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was an author named Robert Heinlein who wrote something called “Heinlein juveniles.”

According to Wikipedia these were “aimed for what would now be known as the “young adult” market. The core group are the twelve Heinlein novels published by Scribner’s between 1947 and 1958.”

Many of these novels were written for young males and were also classified as ‘space opera.’ The Fabulous World of Backlist contains jewels that have been out-of-print for years. I’m thrilled to see more and more of these jewels making their way to e-books so modern readers can find them.

Since ‘YA’ can be traced back to the 1940′s there ARE classics out there. Books worth re-discovering and cherishing, even though they are no longer to be found, in print, at affordable prices.

It seems to me that anyone who loves ‘Hunger Games’ might also enjoy Andre Norton’s books. If not her, then dozen of other ‘YA’ authors of years gone by.

Modern ‘YA’ writers (self-include) are in competition with the life’s work of writers like Heinlein and Norton – not just with ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Twilight.’

As a Reader, I’m stocking up on ‘the good stuff’ as it becomes available. As a Writer, I’m looking at all my favorites, thinking ‘I’ve got some serious work to do.’

So I agree that there are some classics out there that “adults should be reading.” I don’t agree with how she PRESENTED that conclusion.

There’s nothing wrong with today’s ‘YA’ – just don’t miss the classics!

Andre Norton 

Robert Heinlein

Issac Asimov

Anne McCaffery

E. E. "Doc" Smith

There are more, I'll add them as I think of them.

Book Review - Soulless

Soulless by Gail Carriger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nice, light-hearted steampunk. A good weekend read that isn't boring or stuffy.

The heroine was drawn in the Amelia Peabody tradition - complete with parasol - and her amusing commentary made me smile.



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Iditarod - The Last Great Race Reviewed

Iditarod by Andre Jute
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rhodes and William take on the wilderness of Alaska during the Iditarod, the 'Last Great Race.'


A very good read - the imagery was wonderful. I found myself yearning to see Alaska, in spite of my better judgement (I hate snow and cold.)


I got a very real sense of the depth of the dangers Rhodes faced. I found it hard to believe she would go on the race without being armed to the teeth. That's just me. I get the creepy crawlies from listening to coyotes howl and yap. I'd want a high-powered rifle if there was a rumor of wolves.


The other characters were also well-drawn, everything fitted together very well.

I found it curious the characters hallucinated during the race. I didn't understand that at all. However that didn't detract from the story.

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Book Review - Iron Shoes

Iron Shoes by J. Kathleen Cheney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good story about the Irish Fair Folk in the USA. A clean, well-written romance I enjoyed reading.


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'The Help' A Book Review

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a great look at the Civil Rights Era from the inside of a small town.


I lived in Huston Texas in the early 1980's and I was floored by the attitude of the people there.


Reading this book reminded me of how far we have come, and how far there is yet to go.


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Another Cover for 'Lets Do Lunch'

This is a cute little cover that Bradley Wind did for LDL that I have never used.

I thought I should post this and see what people think.

I think my name is too small, but I like the rest of it.

 I think it captures the theme of the book very well.

"A Snake in Paradise" by Brenda Sedore

A Snake in Paradise by Brenda Sedore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a cold snowy weekend.


So a light romance about sunny Italy, and hot Italian men, was the perfect escape. Brenda Sedore has a good touch with characters, and a great feel for the setting.


I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. 





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Blood Price by Tanya Huff

Blood Price by Tanya Huff

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As the opening book in a series from 1991 - I enjoyed reading "Blood Price." Like many other reviewers I found out about the books from the TV series.

Huff does a good job of pulling the reader into the story. I liked her 'regular' characters enough to keep reading the rest of the series. While Norman came off as uninteresting, she makes up for it with her later villains. 

Looking only at the first book, after having devoured the series, it is difficult to keep from writing spoilers. Henry is my favorite vampire character - bumping the Vampire Kitty-Cat Patch off his throne. Vickie holds up well, now and in the rest of the series.

Finding the entire series was difficult. I had to buy the books used. I was disappointed that Huff has not released the series as e-books. I would liked to have bought them for my Nook, instead of paper copies that I don't have room to keep.

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Book Review: Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson

This man is my hero.

He has the simplest plan for world peace that I've ever encountered: "Educate a girl, change the world."

His Central Asia Institute builds schools for girls in two of the poorest countries in the world, Pakistan and Afghanistan. CAI buys the materials and pays the teachers, all for only a few hundred dollars per school, per year. That is a fraction of the cost of ONE missile, tank or airplane.

Think of the money we could save if we donated .001% the Pentagon budget for building schools in poor Muslim countries. The entire world would be a safer place to live if all Muslims could read the Koran for themselves. It would be the end of jihadist lies.

There is no other cause that touches my heart like this one – educate the children in these war-blasted nations to make the world safer for all of us.

Education makes everything possible.

I'm going to recommend this book, and the first book "Three Cups of Tea" to everyone. This one deserves a place on New York Times Bestseller list.

Hollowing out the Middle – a book review

The entire country is becoming more and more polarized to the seacoasts and the big cities. This is not the figment of our collective imagination. "Hollowing out the Middle" is a book that explores the plight of the small towns in America's Heartland.

Written by Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas, "Hollowing out the Middle" discusses a phenomenon called 'Rural Brain Drain' where the Achievers, the best and brightest of a given class, are groomed by their teachers to leave home, never to return. The others are Stayers and Seekers. Stayers are mostly ignored, though the future of the small town actually rests with them. The Seekers are self-motivated to flee the crushing grip of small town sameness, many of them join the Military. (There is a class of 'Returners', but most of them are Achievers who don't make it in the big world.)

What I liked about this book is their honest assessment that this sorting process plays out in high school. That validation should make many of us sigh with relief. We weren't hallucinating, high school WAS rigged! The whole community operates in the favor of the 'Achiever' class, grooming them to leave home. As these people do leave and never return, they take all those resources with them, weakening the community left behind.

For a town like Ashtabula the result is clear – the Achievers leave – the Stayers stay – completely unprepared to handle the problems of their home town. So things get worse because the people who stay behind are brainwashed into believing 'they will never amount to anything.' They are not educated to take on the roles most needed in their communities. There are no 'Stayer' doctors, lawyers, dentists, engineers or politicians. The Stayer students are left to rot – the compost heap that provides the next generation of High School students.

I wish this book would be useful to solve the problems of Ashtabula. It may not be possible for that beleaguered city to turn around. Main Street is a ghost town, with weeds growing in the cracks of the road. Like the rest of the country – the Brain Drain coupled with the weak economy has put many a small town or city on death row.

It appears that Ashtabula did one thing right – they rebuilt the school system. It was an effort to attract a big manufacturing plant that would put the unskilled Stayers to work. Unfortunately 'elephant hunting' as the authors call it, is not the answer.

Most towns and small cities are content with trying to attract the 'Returners,' those who miss their small town safety net. The real solution is twofold. First to encourage immigration – which means a small town would have to open itself up to strangers. Not likely to happen without a fight. The second is to cultivate what is already there – the Stayers are the town's most precious resource.

Even if the sorting process stopped tomorrow (not very likely since this has been going on for 20 years) there is little left of the middle class anywhere in rural America, let alone in Ashtabula. The poor (for the most part single mothers and their children) are well and truly damned by the dysfunctional system that offers no hope from cradle to grave.

This means, EVERY town needs implement alternative education in order to survive and thrive. Get the people who missed out on education the first time an opportunity to upgrade their education to a skilled trade. That means GEDs for the dropouts and then true education can take place. Not a second sorting meant to send others off into the world, a chance for people to become who the town needs them to be – the parents of the next generation AND the leaders and developers of the local economy.

Education is the answer – though Schools are the source of the problem.

Ironic, isn't it?   

What’s Wrong with First Person? – A Reader Writes

Yesterday on the ABNA forums there was quite an outcry when our ‘insider’ posted that the reviewers were not happy with the plethora of excerpts written in first person Point of View.

Here are the Reviewers comments on First Person, quoted on Amazon.com:

~”Has anyone noticed that the vast majority of the excerpts have been written in the first person?”

~”The most egregious hazard? Submitting excerpts which were written in first person...The bulk of these "authors" quickly lost control of their writing.”

~”…had a very large number of first person narrative style. This is DEFINITELY not my favorite form of story to read.”

~...thinking "Please don't le t this be another...1st person story".

~”...when you don't set the stage properly, you're basically putting a blindfold on the reader. Just really starting to bug me after about 7 excerpts in a row that all have had that problem...” (in reference to use of 1st person)

Well, why is 1^st person POV undesirable?

The first problem with 1^st person PoV is that it appears both easy and personal, so ‘newbie’ writers are attracted to it. This is an issue in itself, as first person is often synonymous with ‘amateur writer.’ While there are many ‘popular’ writers who use first person, the bad tends to out-weight the good.

Second, it is a whole lot harder to write in first person than most people realize. It is harder to ‘see’ the character, unless they spend a whole lot of time looking into mirrors. It is easy to get carried away – remember Overkill? – give ‘too much information’ about the character, so they appear whiny, petty, bitter, stupid or just plain obnoxious. Setting the stage is much trickier, if not done right, as one reviewer c! ommented: “it is like putting a blindfold on the reader.”

Third, the “I” becomes monotonous, often monotone, like too many ‘he said, she said” passages. The reader becomes indifferent or hostile to the character, so the book goes back on the shelf, or in the ‘donate’ pile. Or in the online world, the story is deleted before it is read.

Fourth the breezy chic-lit “I” voice is prone to petty snarking; which is not engaging to an emotionally mature reader. After a few pages it starts to sound like the prattling of an empty-headed, vain, child, not an adult female. (Chic-lit has become a publishing leper, which also contributes to the problem.)

On ABNA I read far too many stories that would have been gems but the writer didn’t know when to make the main character shut up. Some characters had voices that didn’t fit. Many sounded far, far too young to be the voice of the character as presented. Some, well the character wasn’t likeable, I did not want to BE in that character’s head, not for one second.

The only good thing that I can say about First Person PoV is that – tada – the writer can’t head hop.

The Trouble with "Paranormal Romance"

I've been reading everything I could get my hands on since I was itty bitty. Now I'm attempting to write and get published, so I'm reading what's popular. The current standby in women's fiction is Urban Fantasy aka Vampire Sleaze, or as one honest editor called it: Vampire Porn.

The allure of the Vamp, beyond the obvious titillation factor escapes me. Call it what it is: thinly disguised hardcore porn B+D, S+M. It's all about power, domination, anger, spiced with kinkiness and some bestiality. To call it a "Paranormal Romance" is an ironic play on words. One of these books should keep a Freudian shrink chortling for many years.

I get that the writer is doing this for money. Sex sells in mass-market woman's fiction. Okay, sex sells everything from cars to beer to toothpaste. At least the 'dominate' in most of these books is female. Angry, ass-kicking female in tight leather pants and a libido to make a pony stallion very, very, proud.

Still if you delete the sex from one of the latest 120k word novels by a 'best selling author,' there is about 60k words and very little plot. Delete the discussion of, and angst about, the sex and there is one chapter of plot. The last chapter, by the way, is the only chapter where the title makes sense. Ironically it is a very short chapter.

One chapter is hardly enough for a short story.

This all dates back to Rice and her vampires. Of course, in Rice's books the vampires didn't have sex. There is something deeply ironic about these books 'coming out' around the time of the Aids epidemic's first wave. Rice's vampires were all gay men, at a time when sex with a gay man could indeed be the 'kiss of death' between the 'undead' and a living victim.

While Aids has spread beyond the gay community, world wide, I wonder if Rice had a lot of gay friends when she wrote the books? The parallels are there, my morbid imagination may be running amok, but I wonder.

For teen Vampy Sleazy the vampires 'sparkle in the sunlight.' All the 'after dark' is gone, so little Mary Sue won't miss curfew and can be up for school. Mary Sue never misses a day of class. She is, by definition, a perfect teenager who doesn't have sex until the 3rd or 4th book. Imagine 500 pages of teenage angst and hormones but nothing to show for it for four books. The plot gets sillier from there. Again, remove all syrup and we have only a chapter or two of plot.

Where is the lyrical darkness of Rice's work? Where are shadowed places in New Orleans, where the Spanish moss drips thickly from the trees? Where are the garish streets and the flavor of the nightlife? Missing, all the atmosphere is missing. Instead we get rain and a prom night. Where is the freaking horror?

The feeling that the dreaded Undead are truly undead is also missing. They just have dietary challenges, like meat-eaters in a vegetarian world. There are no bloodsucking monsters.

I suppose the Vampire is the ultimate bad-boy. The 'demon' with the 'heart of gold' who sacrifices "all" for the love of his (undead) life.' Kinda like a reformed gang-member without the drug habit.

Maybe what is missing from the vampire in this genre is the evil. The vampire no longer cringes from the cross, because faith has been lost to the world? I wonder sometimes if our society has lost its belief in evil as well as good? We can have the most vile of bloodsucking myths scrubbed squeaky clean and marketed to teenagers with nary a qualm, since little Mary Sue never misses a day at school, and doesn't have sex for 2 thousand pages? The soulless undead who has traded humanity for eternal damnation, is a now rich kid in a Mercedes, the perfect date to take home to Daddy, 'cause he's got money.

Gag me.

Vampires may be the archetype of the jaded nobility who preyed on the young girls of the villages. England had some really strange customs at one point. Girls spent their wedding nights with the old lords, in the castle, not with their husbands.

Even the werewolf, the mythical beast in the human soul, is no longer the rabid wolf who kills all it sees, raging with killing lust. Instead it is little more than the pet dog on the rug. Complete with fleas.

Poor buggers, is there nothing scary left in the world?

(This post was published previously, it has been edited and expanded.)

The Company We Keep

I had one of those "Oh Shit" moments at the library the other day. I ran across a Holly Lisle book in the romance section.

I was surprised.

I didn't know that she had anything in print. I read the novel, and found it to be a nice tense romantic suspence.

When I looked I was able to find four titles with her by line. The one that gave me the "Oh Shit" moment was the one co-written with Zimmer-Bradley. To say I was taken aback would be an understatement. The mental dominoes fell and a pattern was revealed, Forward Motion is a direct offshoot of the Darkover fan fiction "fanomina."

Which explains many things. I understand the 'whys' of the site. Why the majority of the writers are fantasy writers. Why the site was put up in the first place.

My hat is off to the departed great lady for the opportunities she had provided, and the 'pay it forward' legacy that still exists.

I will forever see Forward Motion in a different light.