Upcoming Free Download Days All Books

Since I've moved all my books off Smashwords and Nook and I haven't done any free days in a while, it's time to do some more free download days.  I tried to space everything out so that nothing is really running the same day but there ended up being two back-to-back (see below), which may or may not work to my advantage - lol.

Here is the lineup:

"Bride-and-Seek" - July 18-20 (3 days); September 24-25 (2 days)
"The Proposal" - July 23-25 (3 days), September 27-28 (2 days)
"The Tulip Kiss" - August 13-17 (5 days)
Finally Home - August 29-September 2 (5 days - this will run the Thursday before Labor Day through Labor Day)

Remember the free promotional days run midnight PST through midnight PST (3 AM to 3 AM EST).  If you are eastern time and look for the books at midnight the day it starts,  you won't see them listed as free. 

Also posted on the JGDS blog that "Train of Clues" would go free next week and then again in August.  The schedule will be July 11-12 and August 27-29 (which will overlap one day with Finally Home, but it will be okay since they are not related and shouldn't have any bearing on the other).  Check out my posting and let me know if you have any thoughts on gaining sponsors for the state series.  Thanks all - see you in the postings - Mrs. E :)

Price Reduction

I just decided to lower the price on all the print books available.  State books are now $8.50 across the board (Wilderness, Successes, Heights and Nature) as this is the price I sell them when I do in-person events.  Finally Home is now $9.99 and "Train of Clues" has been reduced to $5.99.  Hopefully sales will pick up with these price reductions across the board.

I've been thinking about this for a while now because I do generally well at in-person events with these prices and should be able to do well through Amazon with the same prices.  See you all in the postings - E :)

This and That

I haven't really posted a This and That posting in a while - mostly because I haven't had many sales and I've kind of been doing other things, trying to get my writing back on track.

Imagine my surprise when I was looking at my createspace dashboard, just kind of thinking of how many of each book I needed to order and noticed on my royalty bar at the top that I had some royalties from March.  The month is still young but to see 4 books sold off amazon on the same day, something big is coming my way - lol.  This was one of each of the four state books I've published.  Of course, I wouldn't know if the other two sold or not since the second book is actually out of contract and hasn't been republished yet and the third is still under contract for a couple more months with 4RV and I don't know when books are ordered from amazon.  I guess I should check with Vivian to  see if there had been an order for Reservations from Amazon or if she is aware of any sales. 

I also hope to get some more books written in the near future.  I'm anxious to get back to writing the state books.  I've got a campaign going on IndieGoGo to try to raise money to pay Heather so that I can get the state stories going again.  I'd really like to complete the series.  If you  are interested in helping fund my campaign, you can find it here and please pass the word on to your friends.  Ten days into the campaign and no funds yet.  Don't let the number scare you since the campaign is long-term -it will be used to fund the complete series plus allow me to do a few more events in addition to print the books as needed.  I do hope that some funds will come in so that I can at least get book 2 republished and work on book 3.  Paying Heather is the biggest expense for me to get the books published.  I wish I would see thousand print runs for each of the title at a time. That would at least verify me as an author and having a useful tool for classrooms. 

Check out the Writers on the Move blog tomorrow for an followup on ACX and my experience.  For now, signing off and will see you all in the postings.  E :)

SinC Meeting Guest Speaker

We had our monthly Sisters in Crime meeting last night and I felt so wanted and popular when I walked in the door.  First, I had to make my usual greeting to Barbara Williams who has been spurring me on with Words With Friends games - we've been pretty good about having a new game going about once a week or so.  I also chatted with our guest speaker, Chris Roerden, who remembered me from my volunteer time at the SC Book Festival eons ago, and who said that she didn't have my email address or she would have kept in touch.  We talked about what I've done since the volunteer time.  While I was talking with Chris, Tony came in and asked if I had a minute to answer some questions.  I finally got my stuff put at my seat and was going to chat with my good friend, Faye Tollison, trying to get her to listen to the auditions for the audio book as well as some of the first 15 minutes but the sound on the tablet was very low so that didn't work.  On my way around the tables to chat with Faye, Chris introduced me to her tour manager, Pat Meller, and was talking about my state series.  At the mention of children's books, Pat immediately asked for contact information and said she would come over to my seat and get the information when I was finished chatting with Faye.  She asked me what I was doing to get the books in schools and at the moment I'm not really in the schools which is where I want to be; she also mentioned that her niece was a "literacy coach" in Northern Alabama and so she was interested in getting the information so that she could pass it on to her niece.  When we were leaving, everyone tried to get me to talk again - Tony, Phoebe, and Pat - unfortunately, I was riding with Anita and we had to pick her DIL up from the airport.  So I do apologize to those who needed my wisdom - lol - for not sticking around and chatting.

The topic of discussion was voice and some other things crept in there including some questions about POV.  It was interesting that the these two topics came up in conjunction with each other as the past week and a half, I've been teaching POV to Mr. Hughes' 6th graders.  I'm glad I didn't get to go to the SCASL conference, although I really would have loved to have been there since that is right into getting my books in the schools, but Chris's presentation was worth it.  She gave me some new writing related thoughts to share with the class.  I can't wait for Monday's class session to share a bit of what I learned last night.

If you are interested in having Chris speak to your group or hearing one of her presentations, click here to see what she has to offer and where she will be; you never know when she will be in yourr neck of the woods. 

Off topic -  Last Saturday was the spelling bee at our local county library and Tuesday when I was just looking at my createspace dashboard trying to figure out what I needed to order and when I noticed my royalty bar showing over $15 in royalties for March.  I was surprised since I haven't had very many amazon sales or other online sales since going the route of self-publishing.  I think I've had maybe 6 books total in 2+ years sold through amazon or createspace's expanded distribution and Monday, someone ordered one of each of the four state books from amazon, which was like the moset in one sitting from a not in-person sale.  So who knows - maybe this will be the year I start gaining some attention with my books.  We shall see - for now, see you in the postings - E :)

Bookworm colors

Seems Walmart isn't carrying many of the colors of my previously made and sold bookworms, so there will be a few changes along the this year.  I guess the saying  for me is, if you have the money at the time and they have several skeins of the varigated colors you want then get them while you can.

I went to our Walmart yesterday and picked up a Monet, Watercolor, Heartfelt and Bonbon print.  This evening I decided to go to the Walmart in Greenwood and was confused because I thought for sure the last time I bought yarn from a different Walmart was this past summer when I was toting my friend Andi around to doctors' appointments and I really thought I had been in the Greenwood Walmart.  But when I walked into the Walmart I was thinking, not the right Walmart because the food center was where I remembered the crafts/yarn/seasonal type things being.  Well, after finding the craft/yarn/material department in this Walmart and seeing that their selection was even less than the Anderson Walmart, it dawned on me that I actually had purchased yarn at the Laurens Walmart this past summer and they had a pretty decent selection.  I did pick up one skein of Woodsy, another one of Heartfelt and a real  pretty one called Wildflower.

If you would like to see samples of the yarns, just go to Red Heart and click on their yarns and checking out the super saver yarns - as those are what I use for all the bookworms.  As soon as I get these made up, I'll post actual pictures of the colors that are new to the collection.  I guess I'll be making a trip to Laurens either the end of this month or beginning of next since I have a pretty big event planned for March and really need to keep my bookworm supply full.  See you all in the postings.  - Mrs. E :)

This and That

The online sales this week have been nil again. 

The Sugarfoot festival this weekend wasn't too bad but I don't think the crowds were nearly what they were a couple of years ago.  I did sell 3 books and about a dozen bookworms, no afghans though which I really needed to sell some of them to pay the car payment or get groceries but it will all work out. 

I sold 3 (really 6 since I had a 2/$1 special going on) chances for the red, white, and blue afghan and gave 15 chances for the book purchases.  This year's drawing will be a good one since I have quite a few chances in the bucket, compared to last year only having 20 but I didn't start the drawing idea until May and didn't do the drawing the same way.  Last year I didn't have rolls of tickets for the drawing but used the sales receipts so only those who actually made a purchase got their name in the drawing and only one time regardless of how many books on their purchase.  This year the chances are greater since you get several with the purchase of a book and you can buy chances without buying a book. 

The people next to me are starting their own "festival company" where they book festivals and invite vendors in to come display their wares and I've been invited to two fairly local ones in November and it may be a good thing as I didn't have anything scheduled in November this year secondary to finances.  I can't make the first event since it is a couple of weeks away (although I would love to go to that but I don't get paid until after the event so can't even pay for the booth rental right now).  The next one is the middle of November, the week before Thanksgiving, which I will probably do as that will be the Christmas shopping season.  I hadn't planned doing any events in November secondary to finances as well as wanting to write Imogene's story during NaNo, but if I can get to the point of being back on track from book sales, et cetera.  It will all work out as it is supposed to and if Imogene is meant to be completed next month, she will be. 

One of the ladies who bought a State of Successes book works in the museum in the next town over and asked me to contact the person in charge of the gift shop there to put my books there on consignment, which I will do this coming week. 

And then I had the 11-year-old who bought a copy of State of Wilderness and Finally Home who wanted to talk my ear off at the end of the day after having been there for over 12 hours.  She was sweet and had the heaviest southern accent I've heard on a child but then again she lives in the area and this is a very redneck/hick/southern town/area.  I hope I don't sound that southern when I'm talking to folks since I'm not a true southerner, having been born in Japan and lived in quite a few places, although admittedly I have been in the South Carolina/North Carolina area the last 36 years probably makes more more southern than not.  She told me jokes, about "kidnapping" her grandmother and taking her to Cracker Barrel for her birthday, about the place in Anderson where her cousin apparently fell in the hay like she was supposed to and hit her head on something and ended up with a mild concussion.  She is an avid reader, more than I can claim to read because she read over 17,000 pages during the summer (I think that is the number her mother said or maybe it was more than 1700 pages) so I gave her a bookworm for that accomplishment.  After all the jokes and what not, I pulled out a composition book that I had won as a door prize from an event I attended back in March and gave it to her to start writing all her stories down so that when I see her next year at the Sugarfoot festival she can share some of her stories with me.  I really think she needs to write down all her little ditties as she has some pretty good stories to tell.

Her mother also encouraged me to try to be at the Standpipe festival which is in Belton, the next town over, which the lady from the museum had also asked if I participated in the festival, because they do a thing called heritage days and that will help get me in the schools since they have local schools doing field trips and what not.  I have to double check and see when it is next year since I'm committed to Georgia COMO next year again and I can't have any conflicts - lol. 

Lastly, a man came up to the table right near the very end and does some work with one of the children's home in the area and was telling me about the event in December and so I'm looking at a possible book signing or author event there the first weekend of December. 

We had a good crowd late in the afternoon but most folks weren't even stopping at the tables - mostly just walking by and not talking.  I had printed off some Halloween coloring books for the COMO event to pass on to the librarians but no one wanted them (I think I gave out 2) so had those to pass out and I tried to give them to the smaller kids are into coloring and what not - so I did give all of them away. 

You all will probably see me at a few more local events next year with my travel being limited by finances right now, but if the distributors start carrying my books, then I could be at more events - see you all in the postings - E :)

This and That

The week has flown by but that's because I've been extremely busy with work, since my supervisor was supposed to be off all week and we had to do some of her work. It's all good though. "Train of Clues" (A Mystery Destination story) went on sale Friday both as an ebook and a print book. I haven't put it on smashwords or nook yet as my cover isn't the right size for nook, but it will get there. I did have an ebook sale already - woohooo - made all of 52 cents on that sale - lol. I also have an unreported sale from the week ending 09/22, a copy of "The Tulip Kiss" sold. I'm almost ready for the Georgia COMO event in that I've got all but one afghan completed but I'm not too worried about finishing it since I won't be taking my computer this week and can crochet Wednesday night while I'm chilling. I also need to make up some bookworms in the same color as the afghan and all the crocheting will be behind me. I'll have my tablet with me but that is mostly for taking credit cards and playing games while manning the SELA booth. But hopefully, I'll be so busy that I won't have to play games on the tablet (or read some books I'e recently acquired). I've printed out order forms for the librarians, offering them a 20-25% discount on all orders (some may be just under 20% but all titles are discounted). I've got my tote bag almost packed and ready to go. I'll do laundry tomorrow or Tuesday and pack my suitcase. The car is pretty much packed. Tablet and phone and kindle will be charged and ready to go. So I think I'm pretty close to being prepared. Don't forget that the chances for the red, white and blue afghan are still available through the end of November with the drawing to be held on December 1 and the winner receiving the afghan sometime during the second week of December. If you purchase any book, you get 5 chances for the drawing, so put your orders in now. Books make great gifts. Bookworms make great stocking stuffers and teacher gifts. My Curl Up With A Good Book afghans make excellent winter gifts as well. There are only 8 afghans available - Watercolor, Woodsy, Primary, Aspen, Mirage, Melonberry, Bonbon print, and Marrakesh. If you are wanting an afghan as a gift for someone special, please make sure to order early as I need a three week lead in time to get the yarn and crochet them. No orders will be taken after the end of October, so basically you have one month to place an order. See you all in the postings - have a great week. I may or may not post a WWYWWQ Wednesday but will past next Sunday about the event and everything else that I usually report on. See you all in Macon for the GA COMO - E :)

Train of Clues ebook

I'm in the process of fixing "Train of Clues" up and decided to publish it as an ebook until I can get printed copies available. I think it turned out pretty good for an ebook for an illustrated story. My paging is a bit off but it's okay. The illustrations being with the clues or on separate pages isn't as important in this story as it is in the state series. I've put it up on amazon for now and will work on getting it up on smashwords and nook later this week. You can pick up your copy of "Train of Clues" for the low price of $1.49 (I think it's longer than my short stories and it's illustrated so that should be a fair price). Hope you all enjoy it. See you in the postings - E :)

This and That

Well, the week ending September 1 was filled with anxiety for me but we have gotten over that. I spent last Sunday at the Mint Hill Art in the Park event and sold one book and 8 bookworms - barely enough to put gas in my car to get home, but it was a sale. One copy of Finally Home sold on kindle last week (sometime between Sunday and Tuesday).

So the anxiety came over how I was going to get to Decatur this weekend with no money, no gas and not much to go on. Since I'm posting this on Sunday, you can see I didn't make it to Decatur. Sybil had to come out of her way to get the two boxes of books I've had in my car since the last event and her mother had to come down from North Carolina to meet up with her so she could go help Sybil out in the booth. I had no choice and I really hated it because Decatur is where I got my start. When State of Wilderness was first published, I fronted the cost of booth and hotel for the most part for Vivian and Jacque to come from Oklahoma to meet up in Decatur for the event. It is a huge event and the crowd is always there and this would have been a 5-year celebration for me. I hope that books start selling soon so I can start doing these very large events again but as it is livig paycheck to paycheck is all I can do right now.

School has started back and Thursday was my second time in class with Mr. Hughes' classes and hopefully this weekend he will get a more definite schedule down for me to be with the students. My preference is that I meet with each class on a different day instead of all of them on the same day since that pretty much takes about 3 or more hours of my work schedule in a pretty tight chunk. More when I get that down from him.

I'm going to start my WWYWWQ column this week, and the first question is spurred from a question from one of the students in Mr. Hughes' class and a posting Faye Tollison did on her blog last week. I'm also hoping to get back on schedule with my blog postings this week. I may only post once a week plus the WWYWWQ posting every Wednesday.

I had a guest blogger this past week, Sandra Parshall, a mystery suspense writer, and only one comment was left. That is sad that she is a pretty well known author and not even her readers came over to leave a comment. I hope you all will stop by and read the interview and leave some comment love for Sandra - she said she is okay with answerig questions about her books, her writing, or pretty much anything else the readers might have - so come on over, she won't bite. Spread the word.

For now, signing off - see you all in the postings - E :)

Milestone

I've been on blogger since July of 2005 (7 years now) and I finally have made it over the 15,000 hits mark (15,007 this morning when I looked).

So thank you to everyone who has stopped by and at least looked at my blog. I wish more of you would leave comments so I'd know what was working and what articles were being read the most, but I'm happy that I've had that many folks stop by.

For my milestone celebration, I'm offering my crocheted kindle/nook sleeves or the tablet sleeves for $7.50 each. This offer is valid for one week only.

I'm still offering my afghan chances at $1 each and for every 25 purchased, you get 5 extra chances.

Today is the last day to comment on the JGDS blog to be entered to win a red, white, blue kindle/nook sleeve or tablet sleeve, as well as the last day for the afghan special deal posted last Sunday.

The details of all the special deals can be found in last Sunday's This and That posting. Hurry before the deals run out tonight. Thanks again for all who have stopped by and checked out my blog - see you all in the postings - E :)

Independence Day 2012

Today is July 4th and here in the United States we celebrate it as Independence Day. This is the day our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence giving us freedom from the overbearing King of England. Since America is the melting pot of the world (we come from many nationalities, having ancestors traveling far and wide for a better life than what they were used to and to pave the way for future generations), we are truly a land for all.



The Google Doodle is pretty cool today - if you look at each letter you will see that the words "This Land Was Made For You and Me" actually make up the doodle. So wherever you are in this land celebrating, just remember to have an enjoyable and safe holiday - E :)

This and That

Summer is in full swing across the country. This week will be very light due to the holiday coming up. I'm going to post a giveaway on my JGDS blog just to kick off the 4th of July week.

Not much to report sales wise - nothing that I can see has sold. Smashwords is having a site-wide Summer Winter Sale and we authors have the option of participating by either offering our books for free, or at a discounted price - 25, 50 or 75% off. I've put Finally Home at 25% off but am thinking of changing it to 50% off, so for $1.50 you can download my middle grade/YA paranormal mystery (which I've been told is written similar to a Nancy Drew mystery). Just come over to the Finally Home smashwords page and click on purchase and enter the promo code of SSW50 so when you check out, you will receive the book for 50% off. The other two stories, "The Propoal" and "The Tulip Kiss", are at the lowest price and I can only offer them for free regardless if I choose the 25, 50, or 75% off promotion, so enter the same code as for Finally Home to receive your copy for free. This promotion is good through 11:59 PM July 31. So if you like Nancy Drew mysteries and want a quick read, stop over and get your copy of Finally Home before the end of the month, or think about gifting it to the young reader in your life who enjoys reading mysteries like Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, or any number of books written similar to these.

I may have an interview this week with Jo Linsdell, author of "Out and About at the Zoo", but unsure at this time as I've not heard back from her yet regarding this.

I'm running a special code on my createspace books (these are print copies of my state books and Finally Home for discounted pricing similar to my in-person events. If you are interested in a print book not directly through me, email me for the code and the links for the books to order through createspace. I'm still running the special deal on my state books of buy 3 for $25 or get all 6 for $50 (that's buy 2 at regular price and get the third for for 50% or in the case of all six, buy five at regular price and get the sixth one free). This promotion is good through the end of the day Saturday.



Don't forget to purchase extra chances for the red, white and blue afghan drawing which will be held in December. Chances are $1.50, 5/$6, 10/$12 and 25/$25, but this week only I'll sell chances at $1 each with the best deal of 30/$25 (five free chances). The only way to get this special pricing on the chances is to go directly through paypal - using eeldering@gmail.com to send the money for the number of chances you would like - 10/$10; 20/$20, et cetera. For every 25, I'll throw in those five extra so it would be 30/$25; 60/$50, et cetera.

I've also found a new color for my afghans/kindle sleeves/tablet sleeves/bookworms called Watercolor and really like the way the colors fall on this. I've made up a Kindle sleeve and tablet sleeve and however many bookworms I could get out of one skein of yarn but haven't taken pictures of them yet. They will be taken and posted on the websites soon. For Christmas in July, I'll run a special deal on the afghan/tablet or kindle sleeve/bookworm combo for $60 plus shipping and tax ($70 total). This is a 20% savings. I have the bonbon print and melonberry completed, the primary is lacking 1 skein from being completed, and the Aspen is started (just startd yesterday). The Marrakesh and Woodsy need about a 3-week lead time for each to be completed and the Monet and Watercolor I need to get the skeins of yarn to work up the afghans but if you order any of the unfinished colors, that will be the priority for me to work on. This sale is good for the month of July only.

I think that's all the news and special offers for this weeks. See you all in the postings and stay cool - E :)

This and That

It's been a kind of crazy week here having to deal with insurance and towing and AAA and getting daughter's car fixed but overall, I think things have settled down and hopefully she will have her car tomorrow before she goes to work.

I totally forgot to mention Friday that Susanne Drazic, the person who leaves the most comments here and who bestowed upon me the RAOK on her blog, posted a review of "The Proposal". Part of forgetting this was that I was away from my desk most of the day and it slipped my mind. For the review, drop by her blog and leave a comment.

On the sales side, I sold one copy of "The Tulip Kiss" on kindle and no sales anywhere else. I am running a special deal on my state books through the 7th of July - buy 2 get 1 for 1/2 off ($25 for three books/$50 for all six which is like buying five and getting one for free, plus no shipping costs). For more information, you can check out the JGDS blog.

I do plan on getting back to my state stories soon but I'm waiting on some other things from Heather before I get back to writing anything. She's got one more fix on "Train of Clues" and I'm thinking of trying that one out as an ebook as well just to see if it will work in that format being that it is illustrated. I'm also waiting on the cover for "Butterfly Halves" so I can get that published. Of the two persons I shared the first cover with, I've had differences of opinion on several aspects of the cover. Things I like about it, they don't and things I'm not crazy about, they like. I've passed both opinions and mine to Heather and hopefully she will come up with the perfect cover.

If you are a horse lover or even a horse rider or know someone who is, my other blind friend, who is also an author, Andi Mills, has an article here about using mini horses as service or guide animals.

This week's guests will be Jen Wylie, author of the Ever series and several other short stories, Darcia Helle, author of many suspense stories, and a special appearance by Jo Linsdell for her "Out and About a Day at the Zoo" book tour. See you all in the postings - E :)

This and That

Not a lot to report on the book front this week - no sales across the board - kindle, nook, smashwords. No live sales. Giveaways have been stopped but did send out 3 bookworms finally to the folks who left comments on my birthday blog posting. (UPDATE: 06/20/201 - I checked my createspace and saw that I sold a copy of Finally Home via the expanded distribution on June 10, so that would have been 1 sale for the week ending 06/16/2012.)

On the family front, lots of stuff happening. My son, who basically has not been home for the past three weeks, texted me Friday night demanding I take him to the ER for impacted ear wax. Bear (that's husband and no he's not a teddy bear, more like a grizzly bear) said not to take him to the ER but rather to a doctor. So nothing was done Friday night for son since all the minor care places and urgent care or immediate care places (we have very few in our area) were closed. Saturday morning, daughter and two of her friends (sisters) headed to Carowinds (that is on the other side of Charlotte, NC - about 2-1/2 hours from where we live). They had been planning this little getaway for about three weeks. Both the other mother and myself had concerns and really would have preferred that they postpone it for a bit. There was something huge going on at Carowinds yesterday - something called "Rockin' the Park" (a Christian concert of some sort - lots of church vans/buses, and folks in general attending or just going to Carowinds). My daughter hasn't done much highway driving and had to be on two major highways to get there (I-85 and I-77). They left our area about 7 and got to 1 mile from the exit to the entrance to the park and were involved in an MVA. She called me at about 9:47 which I figured she was just letting me know that they had arrived safe and sound, but thought it odd when she called a second time (my voicemail isn't set up since I went through a semi-upgrade but had to revert back to my old phone for a bit longer) and then a third time (I was kind of indisposed when she called the first time). I did answer on the third call time. She was upset and I knew it was going to be a long day. On my way up there (I rode with the other mother and father as my van was low on gas and I have no funds until payday) I received another text from my son stating "Is no one going to do anything for this excruciating pain?" - I promptly called him and left a voicemail telling him I couldn't do anything and that he would need to call his father to have father take him to minor care as I was on my way to get daughter because she had been in a wreck and I wasn't even home. We made it to about 1-1/2 from the exit we needed when traffic literally halted. This was about 1 or so PM (we left my house about 10:15 or 10:30). The 1-1/2 mile trek to get to the exit took us over 45 minutes to creep through. The traffic was backed up from the entrance of the park to the highway for almost 2 miles, plus apparently there had been several other church bus breakdowns and accidents in that area during the course of the morning.

We made it to my daughter and her friends about 2:15 or so, grabbed a bite to eat, and then I called the insurance to start a claim since time is of the essence in situations like this. We left McDonalds and headed to the towing place so daughter could gather everything she needed out of the car. She was complaining of her shoulders hurting some and the girl who was in the front seat was complaining of her back some. On the way back, we stopped at the other mother's sister's house for a bit and by the time we left there (about half way between Carowinds and home) both girls - my daughter and the other front seat passenger) were complaining of low back, shoulder and neck pain. We had urged them to go to the ER before we got there but they wouldn't go.

Getting home about 10:30 last night, I had enough time to come in the house and go to the bathroom, plug my phone up to charge (forgot to charge it Friday night and ended up with a dead phone before leaving the Charlotte area (spent a long time with claims person), and grab my van keys. Left and went to pick up son from friend's house where he had been staying, went to put a few dollars (I found $3 in my wallet and daughter had $2) worth of gas and then headed to the ER. We got there between 11:15 and 11:30 PM. We got home about 6:30 AM - almost 7 hours in the ER for both of them to be examined and treated.

So it will be a long week in the Eldering home secondary to having to treat a severe ear infection with lots of ear drops and oral antibiotics and pain medications (not impacted ear wax as he thought originally) and trying to keep my daughter comfortable from her whiplash and pain and stiffness. She's hoping to go back to work Tuesday or Wednesday, but I hope they just bump her schedule at least until Thursday.

So this is what has happened in my little corner of the world for the week ending June 16. Happy father's day to all you fathers out there - Mrs. E :)

Pacing and Maggie Toussiant (discontinuation of the 50-day blitz)

Last night was our monthly local Sisters in Crime meeting and our guest was author Maggie Toussiant. She talked about pacing your scenes, chapters and books and how to catch some of those pesky pacing problems. We also had an interactive session where she gave us two characters and we provided a little bit of background information and then we formed several small groups and had to come up with a scene - either a fast paced action, slow paced action or fast paced dialogue or slow paced dialogue. Interesting what happens with the same background information, how each group came up with different scenarios. A fun exercise in pacing.

Anita rode with me to the meeting and as usual I was the talker all the way home. I did a little brainstorming about Imogene's story thinking about the pacing of the story. So far, the three pages I've written are slow paced, narrative, not much action but fitting for where the story starts. I know the prologue will disappear because I've got the scene in my head and unsure if I've put it down on the paper yet as to when the secret comes out. I don't know if I can pull off a slow-paced beginning with a faster-paced majority of the story or not but I'm going to try. One thing that did come from the brainstorming session with Anita is that I believe this story will call for a "postlogue", not so much an epilogue but more of an "author's note" explaining certain elements in the story. Don't worry it won't be long - a couple of paragraphs at the most and will be something to the effect of: This is truly a work of fiction because after my many hours of research and the findings of historical data and other information would not make this story happen in such a way. (I know it needs some work and there will be a little more to it than that but you get the gist of the meaning - Imogene is pure fiction and there are no facts to really base much of the story on other than possible places in a different time from when the story takes place.)

I'm discontinuing my 50-day giveaway blitz as I've had only three comments (six actual but only three answered the question) on the first day and I've tried to go to my social groups and post everywhere to stop by my blog and leave a comment to be entered for whatever the day's giveaway is. Since it seems no one is interested in leaving comments, it isn't worth my time to put out there my time or effort to get readers and followers and folks who will at least just leave a comment in order to try to win whatever I may be giving away on any given day. I'll go back to my posting schedule as before - Mondays and Thursdays with guest bloggers the 4th week of the month and an occasional review of books I've read on my kindle.

The end of this month, Jen Wylie and Darcia Helle as well as Jo Linsdell are my guest bloggers and there will be free ebooks during Jen's and Darcia's days. Jo will be a guest on my blog two more times as part of her 3-month blog tour and a free ebook will be given away on her last appearance. I will probably do some occasional giveaways during the next couple of months. I haven't really decided.

I hope you all will still at least read my blog and see what I have to say. See you all in the postings - E :)

Giveaways galore

Next week is my birthday and I'm not asking for presents but am going to do a half-century giveaway special. From June 5 (my birthday) through August 2 (no Sunday or holiday giveaways), I will do 50 giveaways. No purchase necessary. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog and correctly answer the question and be the number of the day to win. Tune in Tuesday for the first giveaway. (Hint: These cute little critters stole the show in Savannah in November of 2011; if you need to figure out what is being given away, you can check the JGDS blog under the Savannah Children's Book Festival postings).

So let's all celebrate my birthday and hope you enjoy the prizes.

Of note, no matter how many times you enter comments, once you have won a prize, you can't win again for ten days; so that's like giving you all five chances throughout the giveaway time to win something. Stay tuned and let the celebration begin.

Special End-of-School Bookworm price reduction

So, I was running a special deal on my bookworms, trying to really raise some money for my trip to the SC Book Festival this weekend (having already had to cancel my hotel, hoping a friend will put me up but still need gas and food and change money for the booth) and have had no takers at the 25 for $30 deal. I decided that now until Friday noon to reduce the price to $1 each, order as many as you want or as few with a minimum of 5. This is only good for the next 36 hours or so. Still free shipping. These bookworms make great student gifts, teacher, librarian and staff gifts. They also are a fun way to start off the VBS season. If you would like to order a batch of bookworms, please paypal to eeldering@gmail.com, indicate in the notes how many of each color you would like. Thanks - E :)

ASPEN

BONBON PRINT

CHRISTMAS (MISTLETOE)

MARRAKESH

MONET

OLD GLORY (RED/WHITE/BLUE)

PRIMARY

WOODSY (EARTHY LOOKING)

Numbers are limited of each color (between 10 and 15 right now) so may have to mix and match when ordering. Looking forward to hearing from all of you placing orders - E :)

End-of-School Year Bookworm Special

Teachers, are you looking for a small gift idea to give your students for the end of the school year? Librarians, would you like to show your appreciation to the teachers at your school?

I have a special deal on my bookworms for the end of the school year. The bookworms are normally priced at $1.50 each and for orders over 20 I've got them priced down to $1.25 each. For one week only, you can place an order and get 25 bookworms for $30. This is like buying 24 and getting the 25th for free plus free shipping. This is a $13.75 savings from regular price including the shipping. Shipping outside the United States is $5 for the completed package.

Colors available include Aspen, Melonberry, Primary, Woodsy, Marrakesh, Old Glory, Christmas, bonbon print and Monet. For pictures of the actual colors, please visit the JGDS website, gifts tab and check them out there. This offer ends at midnight EST May 17, supplies are limited so hurry and place your order. All orders must be paid for via paypal (eeldering@gmail.com) prior to shipping. Please indicate how many of each color you would like. See you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)

Followup on Joe Konrath's Cover Designer post

Last week I reposted Joe Konrath's posting regarding his cover artist's "fire sale", for only $150 you can have a premade cover. I also posted my covers along with that posting just to put them out there again.

What I wanted to share with you today is a couple of comments and followup comments on Joe's blog. I'm not being mean-spirited or anything, just felt I needed to justify some of what Joe said about my covers. (Warning this is a long post, so if you don't have time to read all the way through, please try to come back and finish reading and leave your comments. :) )

This first comment was posted three up from my original comment. There was another comment between Righter's block's comment and Joe's comment, but only these are pertinent for this posting. What it comes down to is this, a cover artist is offering "premade" covers at a discount. Why? Why would a professional even offer "premade" covers in the first place? The whole objective of finding a cover artist, regardless if you are just starting out or you've been publishing stories for ages, is to find someone who will meet the needs of your particular story, not the other way around. I never really said Carl's covers weren't good; I just stated they were generic and I can't see paying $150 for "premade" covers that wouldn't fit any story (even Joe posts in his original blog posting that if you want to change colors or what not that you probably could for an extra fee, even though this is a what you see is what you get sale - the covers are sold as is) I had written. I also stated I wouldn't pay $150 for something that was stock photos or "premade". Admittedly, I have changed one of my stories to fit the cover but only two lines in the story, not the whole story, because I felt the cover Heather did was perfect and that it really conveyed the message of what the story is about. More elaboration on this in Joe's second comment directed at me and trashing my covers and my illustrator/cover designer. This is not a professional way to handle the negative comments, and I never trashed Carl nor his covers. Just stated they were generic and I wouldn't pay the $150 price for stock photos.

Righter's Block said...
Are you serious? $150 for THOSE? Those are generic and awful. I'd much rather do one in MSPaint. This reeks of a scam. This is the first comment that led me to leave a comment on this particular posting (like I said, it was 3 up from my comment with 1 between this one and Joe's response).

Joe Konrath said...
@Righters - Please send me a cover you've done on MSPaint. I'll happily post it. Until then, I encourage you (and everyone) to back up their opinions with facts. It's very easy to confuse personal taste with quality. We all need to explain why we like or dislike something, and understand the difference between subjective and objective.

Carl has an incredibly acute eye for color, tone, lighting and shading, space, vector, and balance, among other things. He can evoke mood, genre, and setting with amazing skill. $150 is a steal. If you think otherwise, show us your stuff. Joe challenges Righter's block to show his stuff created in MSPaint (since Heather does all my covers and has her own programs, I can't comment on showing something I designed since I'm not the designer and have no art background).

This is the comment I left, agreeing with Righter's block about the covers being generic.

elysabeth said...
My thoughts were the same as Righters' - these are very generic and don't really evoke any reason for me to buy a book based on any of these covers. My illustrator, who also does all my covers to specs, only charges $75 for full covers for print books and the same for ebook covers. I have several of them that have evoked some very good responses from everyone - the covers are quality. I did a comparison of covers from a story that won first place and the publisher had done the original cover and having republished with my illustrator's cover and the response was overwhelming that the second cover was the preferred one. I posted this on my blog a while back (http://elyssabethsstories.blogspot.com) when the story was about to be published (so would have been late November/early December).

I haven't checked out Carl's normal prices but $150 for an ebook cover seems pretty pricey to me, but then again, I'm not earning $100,000 in three weeks like you did, Joe. I'll stick with my young, very talented, illustrator/cover designer, thank you very much. - E :) (No where in this comment do I trash Carl or the covers. Honestly, looking at these covers, I wouldn't have picked up the book because the covers didn't stand out, this is what I mean by generic. There isn't anything setting them off from several other books in any of the genres you could see them as. Doesn't mean that the covers aren't good, but jump off the shelf into your hands great they are not. I could see #11 as a possible fun, flirty YA or even a flirty romance but the colors alone and the generic look of the cover wouldn't cause me to take pause and read the back cover blurb or the description or even open the book to see what it was about, thus I probably would pass by this book and not purchase it.)

This is Joe's comment directed at me only where he trashes my covers and Heather. I've stated many times how my illustrator/cover designer is young (remember she just turned 18 not too long ago and she is going to school for the sole purpose of getting her graphic design degree and to learn about all the things a cover designer needs to learn) and very talented. So I'm going to break down Joe's comments and explain or justify things.

Joe Konrath said...
Elysabeth - Again, see my comment about the difference between personal taste and quality. (this is what he stated in his comment to Righter's block originally, and I know Heather does quality work because she doesn't sign off on a cover until the customer is 100% completely satisfied, even if after a few days or a month the customer decides that the cover needs changing)

I checked out your covers on Amazon, and though you may like them, they just aren't professional quality. And I'll go into some detail why:

Tulip Kiss, Bride and Seek, The Proposal, and Finally home appear to be nothing more than a single image with a name and title on them. A book cover is more than just a picture and some words. (the argument here is that these are definitely more than a picture and some words. I know, because it took me 8 tries to get "The Tulip Kiss" right, wording and depth of the color of the tulip, and I saw the many layers and depth of the cover as Heather developed it) If I took the Mona Lisa, and put "Masterpiece" by JA Konrath on it, it would not be a good book cover. Which is why The DaVinci Code cover was what it was.

The eye isn't drawn anywhere on your covers. No vectors. No shadowing or lighting. No blending of the font into the cover so it appears organic rather than slapped on. (again, I know with "The Tulip Kiss" that Heather did blend the font into the cover as I saw the many changes and layers it went through until it was exactly what was needed for the story) (as for the other covers, the fonts are the right fonts and I don't see that they look slapped on an image; again, I am not the artist, so most of this doesn't mean anything to me, but they all mean something to Heather and she works very hard to make sure the covers convey the story in a small amount of space and she is still learning a lot of what goes into the business, so for her young age, the covers have evolved into quality work and I've seen this since I've been working with Heather for 2 years now, well okay, almost 2 years) Much too much negative space. No pleasing composition. No color palates to speak of. The titles and author names are hard to read, especially at thumbnail (which is where most buyers see covers.) (I don't look at thumbnails and most of the time I have printed the covers for when I'm out doing a live event so that folks can see the covers)

None of your images convey the genre--in fact, I have no idea of their genre. Are these romance? Chick-lit? Lit-fic? One of them has a category listed as Humor (this is an amazon thing as I have it listed as romance and humor under that but amazon only lists it as humor. It is a humorous romance and the cover really does convey that - the setting of a romantic dinner with an engagement ring box and a frog in the box. This is an April Fools Day story and is riddled with practical jokes and the frog is very humorous and pertinent to the story. This is the only story I've ever changed anything in for my cover, because when I went back to read the story, I realized that I didn't have the frog in the ring box but the frog was background noise during dinner, so I rewrote the two lines about the actual time Henry proposed to fit the frog in the ring box. Normally, I want a cover that fits my story, not the other way around. I was very impressed with this cover and felt it totally conveyed the humor of the story that I couldn't not fix the story to fit the cover), and the cover doesn't show that at all. (I don't see how a frog in a ring box in a romantic setting can't be considered humorous, just goes to show that men and women will see something totally different. Joe sees this as not humorous and not romantic; all my readers and customers see the humor in this, being that it is a romance and all. This is also my second place winning story and if it didn't fit the contest I wouldn't have placed at all. Sorry, Joe, the cover is both romantic and humorous.)

(as far as the other covers conveying their genres, the only one I can say that isn't really up to standards is "Bride-and-Seek" and this is my fault as I was in a rush to get the story published so I could offer it as a freebie for Valentine's Day. Even before Joe's comment, Heather and I had already had a chat concerning the cover for "Bride-and-Seek". This is a paranormal romance (a ghostly romance story) based on a legend in the UK about a bridegroom who loses his wife to a game of hide-and-seek on their wedding night. I knew that the castle or the "haunted" manor needed to be on the cover. I've been through several changes with this cover but went ahead and published it without being 100% satisfied. Hopefully this will be fixed soon and I can show a new cover. I'm open to suggestions to pass along to Heather of what anyone, including Joe, feels should be on the cover, knowing the story of groom loses bride to a game of hide-and-seek (the attic thing that Joe references as being a coral in a goldfish tank is the trunk the bride got locked in and where she died, but how does one convey a man searching for his bride who was lost tragically in a silly game on their wedding night?). "The Tulip Kiss" is another paranormal romance story (again amazon only lists the story in ghosts & horror, which is not how I have it listed - romance first and then paranormal or ghost story). This is another tragic story of wife losing husband on a very frigid, cold winter day due to an accident on an icy road. The winter scene with the tulip in the background is exactly what the cover should be since it conveys a love for a person as well as a special flower. I don't think Heather could have done more to the cover, and if she felt she could do something differently, she would have voiced it which she never did. Finally Home is a YA paranormal mystery. The house that my protag is looking at from her bedroom window is where all the mystery lies. Finding the secrets of that house is what pulls my reader into the story. So, again, I do believe that the cover for Finally Home is exactly what is needed for the story. I had school librarians comment on the house on the cover saying that they knew that house (it was in one of the towns they were from) or they had seen that house before (either while driving from place to place or just happened on it), so the house was definitely the intriguing point of the cover, which is what I wanted. The house is actually what the story is about. The original cover for this story was the attic scene where Kelly and Emma find the secrets the house holds by way of a mirror (okay Kelly finds out things because Emma already knows but is only a device to help Kelly unveil the secrets the house holds); Heather had made the whole cover look like the attic boards and flooring with the mirror kind of propped up on the wall and Kelly looking at the mirror and the old woman looking back. I didn't really like that for a cover because I felt that it didn't highlight the house like it needed to, but I did love the mirror and felt it needed to stay, because the old woman in the mirror truly reflected who she is supposed to be. So, Heather came up with the now cover for Finally Home moving the mirror to the back cover and making the back look like the attic in a sense. The two main components - the house and the mirror - are exactly what the cover conveys and I think Heather did an excellent, professional job of getting those two things correct. Granted it, as Heather stated to me, she is young and is not going to be 100% perfect like others who have been in the industry for 20 or 50 years. She is still learning but she is also gaining on-the-job experience by having her own graphic design business going while trying to write her own stories, edit for several companies and go to school. She has a lot on her plate, but I know she will go make a name for herself eventually. I think my covers are professionally done and that Heather continues to rise to the occasion of creating, not "premaking" covers that do what they are supposed to do, sell books.)

And your State series--I'm not saying this to be mean, but they are among the most amateur covers I've ever seen. The drawing isn't professional, and the images look hastily done and cobbled together in a montage-type of way that is not at all flattering, eye catching, or professional. (oh boy, this one statement hit such a nerve with me and this is why I hadn't commented back on Joe's blog and decided to bring my comment dissection over here. First of all, Joe, these are children's books. The books are part fact and part fiction. They aren't supposed to be elaborate covers since there isn't really a plot to the stories. The characters are playing a game and trying to guess which state is being described based on clues the game is giving. The covers are supposed to be a montage of three of the clues inside the book and the titles tie the clues and state together in a different way. Since I don't want to give the state away immediately and want my readers to guess along with my characters, they have to come across the actual clues when they are reading the story and make their guess later. I do well with my state books at in-person events and hopefully will pick up online sales from other things - bookmarks, being connected with a small group who will be doing book fairs, freebies, banners, et cetera. My goal basically is to get the stories in the schools to be used as a supplement for a social studies curriculum geared for 3rd through about 6th grade. The covers are what the stories are about since they are about the individual states.)

If you paid $75 and you're happy with the results, that's fine. Were the people who liked your covers folks you know--friends, family, writing buddies, etc? If so, they aren't the best people to get advice from. Strangers are much more honest. (I've had three actual friends or family make comments on any or all of my covers that Heather has done for me. The rest have been from strangers and persons who have actually bought my books as well as folks from online.)

I could take any of your covers, put them up against any of Carl's (and he's done hundreds) in a blind poll, and his would be picked 100% of the time. (any of his generic, premade covers? Since my covers are custom made to fit my particular stories, I don't think that would be as accurrate as you think, but if you feel that 100% of the persons polled would pick a premade, generic cover over a custom made cover, then run a poll - but it wouldn't be a fair polling since you are biased towards Carl and I'm biased toward Heather, and it isn't like I haven't had other illustrators/cover designers because I've been published with a midlist traditional publisher before going the self pubbed route. If you can get a neutral party to run a poll of several of the covers on your posting versus several of mine, then go ahead and do it. I think the results will be less than 100% for Carl's covers, not that I would ever think I would get 100% or even 99% of the votes, but I do know that my covers are quality and strangers like my covers and have been purchasing my ebooks and I believe that I'm getting my name out there and that sooner or later I'll be making enough with my writing to support me instead of me supporting my writing.)

I'm really not trying to hurt your feelings here, or come off as a jerk. (but that is exactly what you did, come off as a jerk because you totally trashed an 18-year-old's work without knowing anything about my stories or the reason for the particular covers I have; my feelings aren't hurt because everyone has an opinion and is entitled to voice it) I don't even know what the image on Bride and Seek is supposed to be. Is that coral in a goldfish tank? Only after staring at it for 30 seconds did I notice that weird ghost profile coming out of the bottom. (see my previous comments above concerning this cover and no that isn't coral in a goldfish tank but the trunk where the bride died. I'm open to any suggestions from anyone, including you, on what you think the cover should have on it based on the background of the story now.)

Again, not trying to be mean. I'm trying to be constructive. If Carl had ever done a cover for me like yours, I would have rejected it after a three second cursory glance. (that's pretty impressive that you would just glance at a cover and reject it rather than making sure it fit your needs and the story; again, all my covers are custom made and the covers featured on your blog are "premade" generic, and several can be used for many different genres, which isn't the purpose of a cover. The purpose of the cover is to convey the story in a single image, so no author should be purchasing premade covers and fit their story to them.)

A professional cover artist working for a Big 6 publisher gets upwards of $1500 for cover art. (we aren't talking about professional cover artists by being indie authors using indie cover designers and artists who freelance and there is a big difference in being published by the Big6 or any other traditional publisher out there. They use their own illustrators/cover designers and you are stuck with whatever they decide is best for your book, even if it is the most generic worst cover ever imagined. You have to keep that in mind, we are talking about small fish in the vast ocean of the publishing industry by using indie cover designers. I'm not even sure why you would liken someone like Carl or Heather to the big publishing houses because that isn't what the original comment was about at all.) There is a reason for this. Professionals do quality work, and they understand the nuances of art, especially cover art. I've seen Carl make a cover from scratch. It can take many hours, and he'll use a dozen or more layers for lighting, texture, shading, blending, etc. (again, my cover designer is young and is still learning but for not having been in the industry for 20 or 30 or 50 years, I think she does very professional work and she will get better as she gets older and has more knowledge under her belt.)

These covers he's selling look like pro covers because they are pro covers. (the covers he is selling are pro covers but they are "premade" and being sold as-is, again asking an author to fit a story to Carl's covers; they are not custom covers and are therefore generic, several can be used for several different genres, which is not what you want your cover to say; you want a cover that speaks specifically to your story alone, to stand out and be different.) Your cover artist isn't. And your covers aren't helping your book sales. I know this because I once too had unprofessional covers. (I'm starting to see a shift in my sales but it doesn't have anything to do with my covers, it has to do with my marketing strategies, which is a never ending process. I also have not been in the industry very long, just barely 5 years, maybe 6, and I'm still learning things every day. I know over time, my cover artist will grow and change with the industry and she will be considered a pro like Carl but for now, I'm willing to give a young girl a chance to do custom made covers that suit my stories and are up to my standards.)

This is not meant to trash Joe, Carl or anyone else. This is something I had to mull over several days after reading Joe's comment directed at me personally and my cover artist. I think as a professional that common courtesy goes a long way. When leaving comments or replying back to someone's comments on your blog, if you can only say negative things, then please do so privately. Bashing people because they are young, too new in the industry or don't know what you know or do things the same way you do or can't afford to pay a cover artist the same that you pay yours is not the way to handle things. Grant it, Joe bashes the publishing industry all the time, but to take personal hits on something like covers he feels are not professionally created or whatever just really got under my skin. If at any place in my comment on Joe's blog I came across as trashing or being negative about Carl or Joe, I apologize because that isn't what my intent in was when I posted my comment. I commented based on seeing the covers (which I felt weren't jump off the page saying you need me, buy me now covers) and reading other people's comments. I only agreed with Righter's block that the covers were generic looking, not that it smelled of a scam or anything else. Again, if that is how Joe or Carl read my comment, I apologize. I think I've explained everything that Joe felt was wrong with my covers, but if I haven't, I'm sure I'll hear about it later from someone. See you all in the postings - E :)

This and That

i'd love to say it was a killer or stellar sales week with my ebooks but alas I can only report 2 sales of "The Tulip Kiss" this week. The past six weeks have yielded royalties of $4.55 of non-free downloadable stories. That's enough to buy a McDouble, order of fries, a large sweet tea and a sundae at McDonalds. Amazon only pays royalties once you have reached $10 (I think; could be $20) so I still won't see any royalties from these sales until May 1; Thursday evening my February monthly report will go up - showing all my downloads and what my actual royalties earned on those over 600 downloads of "Bride-and-Seek" and "The Tulip Kiss" ended up being since those are figured differently than actual sales.

I received an email this past week inviting us to the new office building for the "The Writer's Plot" (a place where we grow authors; formerly AnAuthorWorld) for an open house party and we were also invited to bring a piece to read if we wanted. As you all know I've been fighting a cold the last couple of weeks and the cough has affected my voice. Nonetheless, I invited Andi (a writer in my town who is blind (blindness due to a blood disorder she has and she lost her sight in a short period of time - less than a month's time)) and she was going to go but at the last minute responded that she better not since she was swamped with school stuff. This is understandable with mid terms coming up and tons of things to read and write about. I also invited Faye to come to the party but then found out the building doesn't have an elevator and Faye would have had no way to get to the second floor (which is where The Writer's Plot is located) since she uses a walker to get around. So with no one to go with me, I invited Anita, a good friend and although she isn't a writer, I knew she would enjoy herself and I would have good company - lol.

So we arrive to the building and mingle with a few folks that I already knew and met a few new folks. We had some excellent refreshments and then started the readings. Since my voice is going by the wayside and I really need to try to save it for my presentation Thursday (thankfully I won't have to talk too much at the SCASL conference as I'm doing a hands on presentation - yeah right, me not talk too much? - that's going to be one for the history books), I decided to be the first reader. I took in the first three pages of Imogene's story to read. Now I've read it out loud, it's in the universe and I have to finish the story sometime. Before going to the party, I called Faye and talked to her a bit and we talked about my story. Brainstorming is mostly what we did - shooting ideas of directions to take Sarah Beth's secret that I recently discovered that she doesn't even know about (yet).

After the party, arriving back to Anita's house, we just sat in the car and talked and brainstormed. Anita really helped give me some ideas that have put a few more pieces in the puzzle and I know have a prologue and have found that the story is no longer just about saving Imogene but it is also about Sarah Beth saving herself.

On the plus side of last night, I did sell a copy of Finally Home and a copy of State of Successes and I had sold a copy of Finally Home to a girl scout yesterday morning when I was out and about town. Overall, a fairly good day for physical sales.

I can't wait to get caught up with work and get some researching done to work on Imogene's and Sarah Beth's story, and I thank Anita and Faye for helping me brainstorm some directions for the story. I'm forever in your debt, ladies.

What's coming up this week: I've readied my WWYWWQ for Wednesday but am running short on topics to post on Mondays and Thursdays. I will try to get my Friday book reviews caught up before heading over to the SCASL conference Wednesday. I'm still open to topics - if anyone has an idea of things they would like me to talk about on the blog or a question they would like answered, just leave a comment and I'll do my best to try to come up with something.

So I'm off to do some work and will report back next week on the happenings in my corner of the world. See you all in the postings - E :)