The Crime Time Cafe

Free E-book

2012-02-09T08:00:00.004-05:00

I put up one of my short stories as a Kindle last year. It's called The Devil's Snare: A Comedy - kind of a Screwtape Letters story. You can borrow it now if you're one of those Amazon Prime members I hear about. Or you can download it free today, Feb. 9th and tomorrow. Just click here.

Here's a brief description: The Devil himself narrates about his deal with 72 year-old Edith Porter.

The Free E-book Ploy, Part III

2012-02-03T16:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, there's my free e-book, KILLING WAYS 2 (get it now before you forget - I might extend the sale, but technically, it ends today) and if you like that (or just gritty, noir type stories) there is also my full-length novel THE CONCRETE MAZE. I've dropped the price on it to $.99.

So, right now you could get two books for less than a dollar.

So, America is a great country. What else is new?

Cracking the German Market

2012-02-03T11:35:00.002-05:00

Finally. I reported my first reader from Spain. Now I can report the first download by a German customer. Could it be the irresistible price of KILLING WAYS 2? Yes, probably. Still, neat to know at least two people on the continent know my name.

Not to mention I've made nine regular sales - Will I double the twenty-seven sales I wound up making in January? I think I will.

The Free E-book Ploy, Part II

2012-02-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

All day today, some of my best stories are free to you if you have a Kindle device or a Kindle app for your PC, Mac, phone, microwave or wristwatch. These are the six stories collected in an anthology I called KILLING WAYS 2 (because KILLING WAYS was already taken - by me. It's also a fine collection, just not free. Less than a buck, though...).

Here's a description taken straight from Amazon:

Hard luck, hard knock, hot and cold blooded killers, criminals, and the people they collide with.

1 - The Biography of Stoop, the Thief - Chapter One: Stoop and Clyde. Stupendous Jones has had a hard life from the day he was born, but can he (as a twelve year old) save the life of the only guardian he's ever known? Should he even try?

2 - The Biography of Stoop, the Thief - Chapter Three: Stoop and Elizabeth. Stoop finally finds the woman he thinks is his mother, but will the cost of saving her from her own demons be too high for a young boy to pay? Publisher's Weekly called the story "moving." I challenge you to disagree.

3 - Bronx, Summer, 1971 - Ray Cruz hurts people for a living. When family members are found murdered, it's a race against the police to find the guilty and make them pay.

4 - Padrino - Ray Cruz is back, and his goddaughter has been brutally attacked. She's not sure who beat her, but Ray makes it his mission to find out.

5 - Elena Speaks of the City, Under Siege - It's a city under siege and you are young, beautiful and smart. But can you make it out of the city before your sanity crumbles like the infrastructure? And what would you do once you've left?

6 - Early Fall - Yolanda Morales comes across a young runaway who calls herself "Jasmine" and tries to save her from a life on the streets even if she doesn't want to be saved. But what can one determined woman do when the rich and reckless come to the city looking for prey?

Note that the second story in the group was nominated for a Derringer by the Short Mystery Fiction Society. The fifth story won a Derringer. The sixth story was included in BRONX NOIR, edited by SJ Rozan. Stories one and three were published by Crimespree Magazine. Story four ran in PLOTS WITH GUNS.

Every story has a pedigree, so it's not like I'm asking you to clog up your Kindle with crap...

Just so you know, the second story was published in an anthology - UNCAGE ME! edited by the lovely and talented Jennifer Jordan for Bleak House. Publishers Weekly called my story "the most moving." And they meant it in a good way.

Winning!

2012-02-02T23:00:00.002-05:00

Since putting KILLING WAYS 2 up for free on Amazon, I've gotten a fair number of new readers which is, of course, great, but there's one reader in particular I wish I knew more about. Somebody in Spain downloaded the book. I've never had a reader in Spain. Of course, for all I know, this might be a person who happens to be passing through Spain with their Kindle - the world is funny that way now, everything being digital, etc. In any event, glad for the new readers. Ole!

Hope this means good news for when I get the rights back to my PRECINCT PUERTO RICO series...

Also a half dozen downloads from the UK.

The Free E-book Ploy, Part I

2012-02-01T09:11:00.004-05:00

Here's a free E-book for you (as long as you have a Kindle or Kindle app...). Download it. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell those of your cousins you're feeling ambivalent about. Free until Feb. 3rd. Not free after that.

Cover to follow on the next post. And, yes, descriptions of the stories, etc.

Unless this actually works... Then maybe free a couple more days later in the year.

The Anti-Konrath...

2012-01-31T11:32:00.003-05:00

Well, it's the end of the month (just about) and I got achingly close to my sales goal. In case you haven't been following closely (and really, what's wrong with you?) my goal for the month was to sell twenty-five Kindle e-books. That's twenty-five copies total, not twenty-five per day or per minute. Nor is it twenty-five of each of my titles (I have a total of seven titles available - two novels, two short stories, and three story collections). Just twenty-five. There are still a few hours left in the month, but I'm stuck at twenty-four. I've been there for a few days. Ah well. If I do my maths correctly, that's a total of $10.50 in my pocket that wasn't there before, so that's not so bad, but...

I'm not sure how to increase sales. There are a lot of things that I'm not doing yet - for instance, some writers say that if you're active on Facebook, you get greater sales. First, I can't imagine how that works. How would people find me there unless I tell tham I'm on Facebook? And if I have their ear for that long, why wouldn't I just tell them where my books can be bought? (Amazon... That's pretty much it.)

Still, there are a lot of things that I have done througout my writing career and now with the Kindles. It's just that absolutely none of it has ever helped. Years ago when people were giving away free stuff (bookmarks, pens, baseball caps, etc.) I gave away a ton of stuff. Sales sucked. When the advice was "get short stories published to boost novel sales," I published a couple dozen stories. Paying markets, non-paying, online, in print, anthologies, you name it. Sales sucked. I did signings at bookstores, booktalks at libraries, other speaking engagements. Nothing. And, by the way, I'm not saying the uptick in sales was small, I'm saying there was literally NO uptick in sales. I wrote articles for magazines, even one for the New York Times. Nothing. Conference panels? Nothing. Getting blurbs from all the best authors (except you, of couse)? Done. Sales? Unchanged.

Then Kindle came along. I could be in chrage of my own lack of sales for once. Nice covers? Some of the e-books have really nice artwork, I think. Here's an example:

I like it.

High quality content? yes. Some stories nominated for awards. One was a winner. Great reviews. Not sure what else I could do on that score.

Formatting? Certainly adequate though I can't say I'm an expert. No glaring problems that I can tell.

Haven't done the social media thing (though I blog as you see and I'm on several listservs - not terribly active perhaps).

My website is not as up to date as it should be.

I don't have a mailing list at all. Wouldn't know how to construct one though I'm sure it's easy. There's a fault. People who have shown an interest in my past writings aren't automatically told about future writings. Of course, Dickens made a bundle without a mailing list, but....

What else am I doing wrong? Tell me. I want to know.

The Drive for Twenty-five

2012-01-25T13:15:00.002-05:00

Okay. If I sell a total of twenty-five kindles this month, I'll be quite pleased with myself. So far, I'm at nineteen. That's total sales. Mind you, that's more than any other month since I've been flogging kindle files. Anyway, I've got a few days left before closing out the books on the month. Here are some titles in case you're interested in killing two birds with one stone*:

1 - The Precinct Puerto Rico Files - a set of stories about the characters from my Precinct Puerto Rico series of novels.

2 - The Concrete Maze - a hardboiled, noir novel set in New York City in the 1990s when the city averaged more than a half dozen murders a day. A father loses his daughter to the mean streets. What will he do to get her back?

3 - Killing Ways 2 - Adequately described at Amazon: "Hard luck, hard knock, hot and cold blooded killers, criminals, and the people they collide with."

* The two birds are, of course, helping me reach my goal and getting yourself some very fine reading material.

Justin Beiber Singing Toothbrush...

2012-01-23T12:38:00.002-05:00

You might be tempted to think I'm making this up. Justin Beiber sells a singing toothbrush.

I know about this because Groupon sent me a coupon for it. This is how I know Groupon is NOT tailoring their promotions for me.

The slogans write themselves I think: "I can't get that song out of my head..." "Now I've got a little Beiber in my mouth..." Actually, that's about it for me. Feel free to write your own.

My Precinct Puerto Rico Stories

2012-01-22T19:24:00.003-05:00

Well, they're out and about and sales are strong - that is, I've sold four copies. Which is strong for me. The Anti-Konrath, me. In any event, the collection is called The Precinct Puerto Rico Files, and I've put up some artwork for the cover finally, but I'm not very impressed and will probably be switching it out for something I like in the near (meaning distant) future. Take a look for yourself:

Of course, the print isn't readable at thumbnail size (I think). I could correct that, but honestly the image does little to inspire me. Let me know if I'm too critical. If you think it is fine, I'd like to hear.

Of course, the quality of the stories themselves remains unchanged. One of them was nominated for a Derringer Award, and that's no mean feat. Don't believe me? You try getting nominated for a Derringer.

The Concrete Maze Artwork

2012-01-21T16:19:00.003-05:00

Okay, yes, I did it myself. With help from Shutterstock. And, yes, it took me about 700 hours of work (698 to find the image, one to figure out how to use Paint, one to do the rest). But I think it looks very nice. See for yourself:

Of course, I'm even prouder of the novel behind the cover. It's my best work. You can go here and sample (or buy... I wouldn't stop you from buying...)

Of course, you might be waiting to hear what Ken Bruen had to say about it. Here's a snippet: "A dark wondrous jewel of a novel." He said a lot more, but I assure you it was all good. I'll prove it later by quoting him in full.

Snooki without makeup...

2012-01-19T13:23:00.002-05:00

Full disclosure: I've never seen an episode of Jersey Shore. This is not a point of pride with me. I just don't have cable TV. I've got rabbit ears. That means I get PBS and CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX. A couple of local channels when it's not raining. Or cloudy. Or windy. Still, I know of Snooki and her friends.

But...

Wait. A) Why is this news? and, not to be snarky, but B) If you don't want to see Snooki with her makeup on, will the lack of makeup make you change your mind?

That said, she's much better looking without the mask.

The Concrete Maze

2012-01-18T11:58:00.002-05:00

If you don't care what the cover looks like, you can get a copy of THE CONCRETE MAZE as a kindle right now. What is THE CONCRETE MAZE, you ask? It is a hardboiled and noir-ish novel I wrote some years ago and which I'm making available for the first time in a year or two.

What did Jennifer Jordan have to say about it? This is a solid novel that shows that Torres can write excellent hard-boiled mysteries.

What did Kevin Tipple have to say about it? a read full of intriguing characters, plenty of action and a twisting case which ultimately results in an intense and suspenseful novel.

Did others like it? Absolutely. I'll say more in the next post.

Marta Argerich... Greatest Ever?

2012-01-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, this isn't mystery related unless it is the mysteries of the human soul and the limits of human capabilities you're seeking. Marta Argerich is considered by many to be the greatest classical pianist of our age and conceivably the greatest in recorded history. Here's a snippet of her at work on Prokofiev's 3rd Concerto, a knuckle breaker.

Not for the faint of heart... And I'm just talking about watching it. It's a part of a much longer movement. The pyrotechnics aren't easily surpassed.

Ranked # 352,654...

2012-01-11T17:12:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to my newest Kindle collection, The Precinct Puerto Rico Files.

And here is a description of those stories:

Ten tales featuring heroes from the Precinct Puerto Rico series of novels.

UFO - When a senior citizen reports a UFO has crashed into the woods behind his house, Sheriff Luis Gonzalo isn't in too much of a hurry to investigate, but it isn't long before the town begins to change, and it seems Gonzalo is the only one who isn't in on the secret.

Rolling Rivera - Wheelchair-bound Rivera was a nasty piece of work. Now it seems someone may have used the chair against him.

The Inspector - When a meat inspector goes missing in town, Sheriff Gonzalo learns the man had cultivated more than his fair share of enemies.

Caring for Jose - Rachel Matos claims to have killed her husband, Jose, with one swing of a frying pan, but Sheriff Gonzalo had tussled with the man often enough to know it would take more than that to bring him down.

The Driver - What could have been a routine stop, turns into an all out chase.

Fiesta - One of Sheriff Gonzalo's colleagues notices a suspicious pair of young men at a town party, but how can she get them to talk before the last song is sung?

The Tent of Babel - This story takes one of Sheriff Gonzalo's colleagues back to his time as a prisoner of war in the Korean War.

David - A little boy goes missing just as Hurricane David approaches the island, and Sheriff Gonzalo and his team race to find him.

Angustias, Puerto Rico, 1970 - When one of the more venerated ladies of the town is brutally murdered, Gonzalo races to catch the culprit before it happens again.

The Valley of Angustias - In his very first case, even before becoming sheriff, Luis Gonzalo tries to figure out why citizens of Angustias are being beaten when they don't seem to be connected.

And here is my personal evaluation: I like UFO and THE VALLEY OF ANGUSTIAS the best. For one thing, they earned me the most money having been published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. The latter story is, I think, very well-executed and earned a nomination for a Derringer Award that I'm quite proud of.

Rolling Rivera and The Inspector are based on people I've known -a girl who was married off at just thirteen years of age and a meat inspector who was actually a nice guy, but carried a gun.

Angustias, David, and The Tent are attempts at history. The Tent goess all the way back to the Korean War to show one of the characters from the series and how they made it through a rough patch.

Story Time

2012-01-11T13:57:00.003-05:00

If you've been wondering where my collection of Precinct Puerto Rico short stories is, wonder no more. It is here.

Right now it has the plainest cover Amazon can muster, but I'm hoping for pictures from Puerto Rico momentarily in case you're one of those ebook cover hounds who won't buy a book without just the right ebook cover.

Is there more coming? Of course. A collection of oddball stories for one thing. THE CONCRETE MAZE for another.

Oh, and descriptions of this collection in just a little bit.

Take the Test...

2011-12-16T17:30:00.000-05:00

Merriam-Webster has a ten question vocabulary quiz. The faster you answer, the higher the score. My best score? 3320. Only tried it twice.

About the Sandusky Thing...

2011-12-16T14:16:00.002-05:00

Here's what I don't get - supposedly one of the flunkies at Penn State caught Sandusky in flagrante delicto with a ten year old (who couldn't possibly, therefore, be confused with a consenting adult). He says he shut the door on them then opened it some time later, and Sandusky and the boy were now standing apart. That ended the matter as far as I can tell - that is the flunky didn't say anything to Sandusky at the moment or do anything else.

Why didn't the flunky (who appears to be a large man) go into the locker room, get a helmet and beat Sandusky until he stopped moving?

He says he didn't use the word "intercourse" with Joe Paterno because that would have been too rude a word for Paterno's ears... Not too rude for the boy to be forced to endure, mind you.

I'm no fan of football and certainly no fan of amateur football, but from this example (and apparently there are other examples waiting to be discussed at Syracuse, no?) I would tend to think that while college football might turn out fine young men of good character, it is run by weasels.

Maybe I'm Next...?

2011-12-12T22:51:00.002-05:00

Steve Guttenberg is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Not sure how to feel about that. Loved Short Circuit. Boys from Brazil. Police Academy (the original, not the sequels which all seemed to lack the spark of wit and invention that... Oh, never mind.) But I have to say I would not have guessed he was due for a star. I guess this would have made more sense to me twenty-five years ago.

Anyway, congrats.

La Lohan

2011-12-12T12:13:00.002-05:00

Wait. She says her purse went missing and when returned, it didn't have the 10k she was carrying around in it. So... Why is she carrying ten grand? That should probably be a parole violation right there, no? Something like "solicitation of trouble".

Or is this how movie stars make their drug transactions nowadays? Since it's going to be in the papers anyway, might as well make it a real story.

Mean spirited of me? Well, yes. But then, on the other hand, no. I'm not the one leaving a purse with ten grand in it unattended. Believe me, if I had to carry $10,000 in cash, no one would be getting that from me without a weapon or a pair of bloody fists.

Crimespree and Me

2011-12-09T16:08:00.002-05:00

Being published in CRIMESPREE MAGAZINE has always been a thrill for me. The editors there take mystery quite seriously and if they give you the thumbs up, then you've really done good.

Well, I've done good again. This time, it's an article on Kindle's impact on the short story market called "Kindle Shorts." In it I interview Jonathan Santlofer and Iain Rowan and have a few (kind) words to say about Steve Hockensmith's collection of stories and articles called "My Dog Needs Surgery."

Will there be more articles of this type in the future? Apparently. Jon Jordan more or less gave me carte blanche in this regard during the last Bouchercon. Of course, the party was pretty loud so it's possible one of us misheard...

Oh, and I'm listed as the fiction editor now which is cool. Stories I'm selecting will start appearing in the March issue (if I understand correctly).

More articles to come...

The Pujols Move

2011-12-08T17:34:00.003-05:00

I love Albert Pujols - think he's a monster hitter, great player all around. But a 10 year contract for a quarter of a billion dollars? No. Why not? Not because that money is ridiculous for a guy to play a game. I think there are players who might be worth it. I just think Pujols is probably not one of them. My guess is that his ten best years are behind him, not ahead. They're in St. Louis, not Los Angeles.

Don't get me wrong. He's worth a lot. But would the Angels have ponied up that cash if they thought he'd do what he did last year (.299 / 37 / 99) for the next ten years? Those are great numbers, but not Pujols of old. And speaking of old... At his age, they're basically paying him for the next five years of production and would have to consider anything beyond that as gravy.

Of course, if he rebounds and gift wraps a couple of playoff appearances in the next couple of years, that mighht satisfy, no? I'll be interesting to watch. I'd love to see him return to form.

Crocs and Nukes...

2011-12-06T10:15:00.002-05:00

If there's not a story here, then I just don't know stories. And let me tell you, I know stories...

Eat More... Kale?

2011-11-29T10:52:00.000-05:00

So a man in Vermont sells kale. And he has a slogan "Eat More Kale." And Chick-fil-A wants him to stop using the phrase because they have a similar phrase: "Eat More Chikin" (spelled just that way, without all those pesky correct letters...). They think Kale-Man's message will dilute their message, and they'll suffer financial harm from people who choose kale when they really wanted chikin.

"David versus Goliath," the man says. Indeed. Kale versus chikin. Suddenly, I'm hungry for a steak...

Steve Hockensmith

2011-11-28T16:30:00.000-05:00

I've blogged about Hockensmith before, of course. Who hasn't? just thought I'd let people know he is blogging about himself as well. (See? Everyone blogs about Hockensmith. Even Hockensmith...) Most recently, he's writing about his e-book experiment/experience. Apparently, he's now paying for groceries based on the welath brought in by self-published e-books. You might think "big deal. That Hockensmith eats like a bird," but you'd be wrong. I've seen him eat.

Anyway, if you don't have a Hockensmith title yet, or if you haven't found a way to blog about Hockensmith, I'd say take a look at the stories in his cheapest collection, My Dog Needs Surgery. Essentially, Hockensmith won't get his dog medical attention until he's made enough sales. Poor dog? Yes. Good stories? Absolutely.

Alternatively, of course, you can buy one of my story collections. I recommend this one.

Akitada Stories

2011-11-28T08:57:00.002-05:00

If you've followed this blog, then you know I'm a huge admirer of IJ Parker's short stories. Also, if you follow this blog, then you are one of a select few, but that issue can be dealt with later.

For years, I've told her she should get her stories together and I've finally been listened to. The collection is called Akitada and the Way of Justice, and it is available as a Kindle. Probably other formats as well. Sadly, it seems like this is not a COMPLETE collection, but I believe it is every story that has been previously published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

I've read most of the stories. Will I get this collection? Absolutely. Will I try to interview the author and find out more about the background and composing process? No doubt.

Now, the product description at Amazon is a bit too bare, of course, but that can be changed, I'm sure. Anyway, whatever the purchase price, you won't be disappointed.

Billie Jean is not....

2011-11-22T19:53:00.001-05:00

Justin Bieber will take a paternity test to prove he's not the father of some lady's child. I take it as a sign that he really isn't since he doesn't have to offer.

Not sure how this affects his squeaky clean reputation (is it still squeaky?). In any event, I wish him good luck with his test, especially since you can't really study for this one...

Writing, Now with Cannibalism...

2011-11-22T15:39:00.003-05:00

I'm not taking part in NaNoWriMo but only because I can never remeber to start. Also, I don't know how to make one of those cool word-o-meters to show every blog reader how far I've gotten. Since the start of the semester, I've written 50,000 words on a project that will probably wind up at twice that length. About 15,000 of those words have been in November and I suspect another 5,000 will help me finish out the month and inch toward completion.

The book is a sword and sorcerer type. Strange as I've never read one of those. I have, of course, seen the movie. Which movie, you ask? Lord of the Rings, of course. Not exactly sword and sorcerer, you say. Well. Aren't you full of yourself?

In any event, it is set around the time of the Crusades. The first ones, not the others which were unifomly crappy. Note about the First Crusades - cannibalism at the Siege of Ma'arra. Look it up. Apparenly the Christians literally started chomping on the Muslims. No salt. No pepper. Nothing. And it wasn't just one deranged guy. It was a group derangement.

Anyway, I figured that had to be novelized for purile entertainment...

Should be done in a couple of months.

This Just In...

2011-11-21T11:13:00.002-05:00

ABC has apparently ordered fewer episodes of Cougartown; fifteen instead of the normal twenty-two. My reaction? "There's a show called Cougartown?" There is. It stars Courtney Cox as a woman who... Not sure I can summon the energy to continue work on that sentence.

But here's the thing - I don't have cable (so please don't tell me to watch whatever exciting new show can't be captured by rabbit ears) and there simply isn't enough watchable TV on the networks. You might say "But it's been that way since forever." True. True. But I have really low standards. I'll watch any old crap. But in the past couple of years I haven't even been able to do that. There are days when only Netflix lets me watch anything (including old crap) that and a channel I get called "Antenna TV" that shows re-runs of shows like "Good Times" and "Maude." MAUDE, for goodness sake!

Is it just me or did the CSI type shows (including NCIS and HOUSE, MD) all get old and stale?

Clue me in about Network TV. What am I missing out on? Is there MUST SEE TV?

Here's what I'm watching: FRINGE on FOX, TERRA NOVA on FOX. THE AMAZING RACE on CBS. That's pretty much it.

Waiting for the DVD release of the last season of MI-5 from the BBC, the second season of THE WALKING DEAD from whatever channel that's on.

Rosemary Harris

2011-11-17T16:29:00.001-05:00

This just in from Rosemary Harris. If you haven't read one of her books, I can't imagine a better way to start.

I'm busy now working on a fifth mystery but I wanted to thank all of you for a great 2011 and I want to offer each of you a free copy of Dead Head (hard cover.)

If you've already read it, share this copy with a friend or donate it to your local library so that other readers can discover Paula Holliday. Just send your snail mail address to rosemary@rosemaryharris.com and put Free Dead Head in the subject line. And feel free to pass this offer along. Just my way of saying thanks!
Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving,

Rosemary

www.rosemaryharris.com

(Offer good while supplies last.)

An Interview

2011-11-17T11:22:00.001-05:00

Theresa Varela has been gracious enough to show interest in my writing and my self, so I've answered a few questions for her at her blog. If you're dying to know what I'm working on at this moment, or how religion inspires what I write, check it out here.

Leave a comment, good or bad. Hopefully good, though. After all, what have I ever done to you? Sheesh.

QR Markham

2011-11-10T10:05:00.003-05:00

One blog post (at least) talks about the quality of Markham's book, trying to step beyond the now famous plagiarism issue. BOINGBOING says the book didn't stop being good when the plagiarism was discovered, but the site makes a mistake in attributing the book to Markham. The quality (and I read the first dozen pages and found it very put downable a few weeks ago) didn't change, but this phrase, "Debutante plagiarist Q.R. Markham's temporarily-lauded spy thriller, Assassin of Secrets, is in fact a string of passages lifted from other books" nesses things up royally. The problem is with the use of the possessive. The problem is this isn't Markham's spy thriller. The book isn't his at all really. Not the ideas, not the words and phrases, and, not to be too snarky, even the author photo looks suspiciously like Roy Orbison.

Reluctant Habits has a good review of the cut and paste job Markham carried out. Frankly, I've written novels. I know how difficult it is. I'd rather write one that try to piece one together like this. Can't imagine how it was done. Seems like so much work. Actually, I'd rather write a novel than read all the info gathered on this site on the matter.

And the Winners Are..

2011-10-13T10:12:00.003-04:00

The Simon Toyne title (as well as the rest of the book) goes to Cindy Kerschner.
An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas will be heading off to Randy Rohn.
Choke Hold by Christa Faust:

will be going to Bill (He who needs no more books...)Crider .

Sorry I flaked out and failed to post this (or tell anyone other than the gremlins in my rotting mind) but there. I hope you're all satisfied.

Will there be other giveaways? Of course. Will they be similarly disorganized? I guarantee it.

Wednesday Giveaway - Sanctus by Simon Toyne

2011-09-28T11:17:00.002-04:00

This is another ARC I got at Bouchercon. See? Winning these things at this blog is almost like being at B'con yourself. Except without the hassles of travel*.

Sanctus by Simon Toyne (pronounced TOYNE) is a thriller with such shocking global implications that it will literally kncok your socks off to say nothing of your shoes. Forget the shoes. They're gone.

Have I read it? No. Again, my TBR pile is bigger than yours. Guaranteed. But listen to what the publisher has to say about it:

One man’s sacrifice shocks the world . . .

One woman’s courage threatens a conspiracy as old as humankind . . .

And some will do anything—anything—to keep their secrets in the dark.

Sanctus

A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey. But this is no ordinary ascent. It is a dangerous, symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is an event witnessed by the entire world.

Few people understand its consequence. But for foundation worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others, it’s evidence that a revolution is at hand. For the Sancti, the cowled and secretive monks who live inside the Citadel, it could mean the end of everything they have built. They will stop at nothing to keep what is theirs, and they will break every law in every country and even kill to hold it fast. For American reporter Liv Adamsen, it spurs the memory of the beloved brother she lost years before, setting her on a journey across the world and into the heart of her own identity.

There, she will make a discovery so shocking that it will change everything. . . .

See? Not a Dan Brown ripoff at all...

Note that it's being published in fifty countries. My PRECINCT PUERTO RICO books aren't even available in Puerto Rico...

Anyway, it's free. Leave a comment expressing interest. Drawing a week from today.

* Or those damned annoying witty conversations.

Kindle Sales, Redux...

2011-09-26T14:37:00.000-04:00

Perhaps I should stop using words like "redux." Anywho, I thought I'd report on the Kindle sales I'm making since I'd been kind enough to whine about them earlier in the month.

I'm happy to report that though I had projected a total of 4 (four) sales for the month of September, and though I'd later reported that after hundreds of dollars in giveaways at the latest iteration of Bouchercon (fabulous event, by the way) my sales had jumped to 5 (five) for the month, I am now at a total of 8 (eight) sales for September and think I have an outside chance at 10 (yes, ten).

Strange, however, that not a single one of all those sales is of my best collection - Killing Ways 2. Note that this collection isn't just the second collection I put out. It is also as much better than Killing Ways 1 as 2 is greater than 1 - that is, one hundred percent better. Not to discourage you, however, here is a link to my first collection. Not as good as the second, but probably better than anything else you'll spend 99 cents on this year. Except for the second collection, of course...

Monday Giveaway - Choke Hold by Christa Faust

2011-09-26T09:15:00.000-04:00

Well, the subject line says most of it, but here's the whole deal. Hard Case Crime is coming back and I've got one of their new releases - signed, no less. Faust's Money Shot was nominated for an Edgar so how bad could this sequel be? I'm guessing "not very." Anyway, it'll cost you nothing but a comment here and a week's worth of patience to find out for yourself. Next Monday, I'll pick a winner.

( Meanwhile, of course, you could keep yourself entertained by running out to get a Kindle copy of Killing Ways 2. And if you're really bored, you could even review it for Amazon and give it two thumbs up or ten gold stars or whatever the wacky kids at Amazon are doing nowadays...)

Mind you, had a very interesting lunch conversation with Christa and Russel McLean about the background for her main characters - fighter and porn star - at Bouchercon a week ago.

Bouchercon 2016: Glasgow?

2011-09-22T17:48:00.000-04:00

I'd go. This is a possibility if certain Scotsmen worked hard and present a killer proposal. Never been to Glasgow, but I've heard they have the hotels, the airports, and the haunted castles, so count me in if it materializes... The convention, not the city. Pretty sure the city's there already.

Guests of honor would be no problem: if Rankin or McDermid won't do it, I'll volunteer... McTorres?

Of course, if I go, I have to design a tartan for my family, no? And a crest and motto. Perhaps something like: No Jodas Conmigo...

It would be a great way to meet a lot of British and European authors who don't make it to Bouchercons on this side of the world.

Some might scoff that no American would travel that far, but that's hardly true of the B'Con troop. They went to Anchorage Alaska in droves. I was there. I saw it. The droving, that is. Glasgow would be an easier trip for me.

Can't wait.

Thursday Giveaway: An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas

2011-09-22T09:41:00.002-04:00

Besides the Sue Grafton arc I'm giving away*, I have another novel (actually quite a few) that I won't get a chance to read until I hit retirement age in 2031. Fred Vargas' latest, An Uncertain Place, was presented to me in ARC form and I'm willing to part with it. Drop me a note here and if there are many, I'll put names in a hat next Thursday (September 29th) and announce a winner. No strings.

I suspect I'll be running contests everyday for a week since I got many more books than I can read at B'con. Keep stopping by. You might find something you like.

* Scroll down...

Bouchercon Advertising...

2011-09-21T16:45:00.000-04:00

When you go to Bouchercon, you must not go expecting any big boost in sales from anything you do - except possibly getting arrested... or dying. All the doo-dads go on a series of doo-dad tables - pens, postcards, bookmarks, fliers, buttons, etc. They get picked over and maybe a sale or two is generated. Certainly the author can at least say "hey, I tried."

I tried.

I put my doo-dads on the tables - twenty shirts, embroidered and screen printed. All meant to drive traffic towards my Kindles. Mind you, shirts are expensive. Imagine the cost of buying a shirt at a retail store (as opposed to say, a gas station) and multiply that by twenty.

So how did that turn out for me?

Well, you recall (if you read this blog slavishly and have pretty good recall...) that I was on track to sell four Kindles this month for a total of about $1.40 in my pocket. I checked my numbers before leaving for Bouchercon, and I had already sold four. Now, several days after the end of the convention, I find my efforts and investment have indeed paid off.

Amazon reports that I have now sold a fifth Kindle, netting me 35 more cents. I've now surpassed my expectatios for the month of September and, in fact, were I a more numbers oriented person I'd say I'm running at 125% of early projections. I'm not sure the math is right, but it certainly looks impressive.

Oh well.

V is for Vengeance Giveaway

2011-09-21T09:19:00.000-04:00

Sue Grafton's latest comes out in November. I got the ARC at Bouchercon. Have I read it? No. Frankly, I won't be able to read it until the technology is in place to download books directly to my brain. (Trust me, this is why Steve Jobs left Apple.)

So I'll give it away. Leave a comment right here at this blog. If there's a bunch of names, I'll put them in a hat and pick one a week from today (That is, on September 28th) and announce right here. No cost to you. Sounds fair, I think.

Will there be other giveaways? Absolutely. Came back from B'con with two dozen books I can't possibly read on my own. Somebody he'p me, please...

Paying Market?

2011-09-20T17:38:00.000-04:00

Whenever there's a paying market in the crime fiction world, I pay some attention. In any event, it seems like there is a new one that'll be opening for business in a couple of weeks: Noir Nation. Here are the guidelines.

Too good to be true? No idea. Sounds lovely though.

Muppet Parody Trailer

2011-09-20T12:10:00.001-04:00

It's probably been around the block a few times, but if you haven't seen it, click here.

The Lost Sister by Russel D. McLean

2011-09-20T09:55:00.002-04:00

Ah, Russel McLean... What can you say about a man who grew up in a poverty so severe his family could not afford a second "L" for his first name? Only that he's a brilliant writer. I'm not a quick reader, but the latest by Mr. McLean kept me reading (not just "turning pages"...).

J. McNee is the protagonist. A Private Investigator in Scotland (where, apparently, there's only a long tradition of saying "Private Eye? No such thing in the real world...") who is asked to look into a missing girl case. Problem. The girl's godfather is also a crime godfather. And is that the main police investigator having drinks with this man?

And is one possible suspect in the disappearance a person who doesn't otherwise seem connected to the girl? And is that person mentally and emotionally unstable? In fact, there seem to be plenty of emotionally unstable people running around McLean's Dundee. In any event, it isn't too long before finding the girl involves knocking on doors the police would like him to leave alone and otherwise stepping on police toes. (Never a good idea... I dare you to try it with the next cop you meet...)
Will he find the girl? Never any question of course. What state will she be in when he does is the better question. The clock ticks and McNee launches himself into the investigation with concussion-inducing abandon*.

* He gets the concussion, not readers.

A B'Con Conversation

2011-09-19T11:22:00.002-04:00

Of course, many conversations at B'con, but possibly the best was with a cab driver. I saw he had a stack of Harlen Coben books on his passenger seat, so I told him Coebn was at the conference, and he said he had Coben's signature, but hadn't met the man (I assume he got a signed book at one of the bookstores in town). Then he mentioned that his absolute favorite authors weren't at the conference Lee Child among them.

So I said the little I know of Lee (we've met a couple of times, but he'd be perfectly within his rights to not recall, the meetings were so fleeting). And I mentioned that Jack Reacher was destined for the big screen. The driver was happy to hear it and was about to specualte upon who should play Reacher when I told him Tom Cruise had the role (I'm pretty sure that's true). He reacted with some vehemence which is not such a great thing from a cabby.

"He's too short! He's not believable in that role. You need someone bigger, you need someone people can believe is crazy enough to do what Reacher does!"

I agreed that Tom Cruise might not work well for the role except for those who haven't read the books (which is not a small number).

"Nick Nolte!" the cabby said. "Him I would believe. He's big and he's crazy. You see him on the screen and you believe he can blow things up if you mess with him!"

I guess I'd have to agree except that Nolte is a bit long in the tooth for the role, I think.

"Or Gerard Depardieu!" the cabby continued. "Big, and I believe him. Much better actor than Tom Cruise."

True. I pointed out the accent (I couldn't tell what type accent my cabby had, but it was pronounced). He agreed, but pointed out the crazy factor was there: "You don't let me go to the bathroom? I piss on your plane..."

The rest of the ride (and it was fairly short) the cabby made an impassioned plea for Nick Nolte to play Jack Reacher. Not that I have that kind of sway...

Hockensmith Sale

2011-09-17T10:28:00.000-04:00

Steve Hockensmith is one of the great mystery short story writers. Note that there is no qualifier like "living" or "of our generation." I do not hesitate to put him up there with Chandler or (Horrors!) Doyle. In fact, those guys should consider themselves lucky if they could lick his boots... Mostly because it would mean they'd returned from the land of the dead, but still...

Anywho... Hockensmith has a new collection of short stories out there and it's at a bargain price. If you've never read Hockensmith before, now's your chance to do so on the cheap. The collection is called My Dog Needs Surgery: The Book and costs only 99 of your human cents and is worth every penny and perhaps even several more pennies besides.

Here is part of his description lifted from Amazon:

oes your dog need surgery? Yes? Oh, wow -- sorry to hear that. Because this book isn't really for you...unless you're looking for a way to escape from your (and your dog's) sorrows for a few hours.

You see, Steve Hockensmith put together this collection of mystery short stories and humorous essays because HIS dog needs surgery. Her name's Amy, and she has luxating patella. That's trick knees to you and me. Poor little thing. She's on the cover of the book, by the way. Just look into those eyes. Do you want that little cutie to develop arthritis? (That's what can happen if the knee thing isn't fixed.) You want her limping the rest of her life? Of course not! Because you're a big, pet-loving softie, just like Steve.

So what do you get for your 99 cents, aside from the satisfaction that comes from knowing you've done a deserving dog a solid? Well, how about seven mystery short stories AND seven essays about the writing life AND an introduction AND a copyright page! (O.K., the copyright page probably isn't much of a selling point. But this one's really pretty entertaining, as copyright pages go.)

It all adds up to 48,596 words of entertainment, with a guaranteed chuckle at least once every 57.9 words. (Guarantee not valid or actionable in Hawaii, Alaska or the continental U.S.) So what are you waiting for? That dog needs surgery!

Go out and get one already...

IJ Parker News...

2011-09-16T16:16:00.000-04:00

If you've followed my rambles for any length of time, then you know I admire the writings of Ingrid Parker (IJ Parker if you're searching Amazon). She writes the Akitada mysteries (Shamus award winning if memory serves) and her sleuth is a brilliant character. "Alive" is a word that comes to mind - Akitada is alive as few characters ever get a chance to be. You feel for him, and the machinations of his mind are lifelike.

Anyway, the series has suffered from a variety of troubles at the hands of publishers - I'm thinking they simply don't have a good handle on what to do with a 10th century Japanese detective. Now, however, Parker has begun taking matters into her own hands. Kindle (and other ebook readers) allow this modicum of freedom. Here is news from Parker in her own words:

"Four of the Akitada novels (RASHOMON GATE, THE HELL SCREEN, THE MASUDA AFFAIR, and THE FIRES OF THE GODS) are now available for Kindle at a modest $ 4.99 each.

Two new Akitada stories (“Fox Magic” and “The Water Sprite”) are available for all applications at 99 cents each.

I have also released a historical trilogy, THE HOLLOW REED, on Kindle. It is set in the Japan of the Heike Wars of the late twelfth century and traces how the turbulent events of that time affected three young people. These books are available on Amazon at very modest prices.

Lastly, another new Akitada story has gone off to ALFRED HITCHCOCK MYSTERY MAGAZINE. I hope to hear something shortly.

I've read just about every short story. They are absolute gems. I'm looking forward to digging into the new material.

Headed Bouchercon Way...

2011-09-16T10:08:00.000-04:00

Bouchercon has already started though I'd been promised that this time it wouldn't start without me. Ah well. In any event, I'll be there starting Friday morning. St. Louis is a great town from my one visit, and I hope to see a sight or two. More importantly, I hope to see a good number of my fellow writers including some I only know from blogs and such.

The panels will all be diverting, I'm sure, and I will definitely learn a thing or three about how to put together a story. I always have in the past. Can't wait for the auction either. Always a ton of fun though I've only ever bought one thing. Paid $350 in 2002 and still waiting for my wife's name to be used in one author's novel...

Anyway, this ought to be a blast. Let's see if St. Louis survives...

If You're Going to Bouchercon...

2011-09-15T10:21:00.002-04:00

And you happen to forget to pack a shirt, talk to me, and I'll hook you up with one of mine - Promotional, yes. But also nifty.

I'd show you a picture, but then I'd have to kill you... Actually, I'd show a picture, but then I'd have to learn how to upload a pdf file to blogger.

The Very Worst Fan Mail...

2011-09-09T09:15:00.001-04:00

Okay. How many authors you know get hate mail from terrorists? Just one.

Got an email about three months or more back from someone who used to like my writing. He represents (or used to represent) a Puerto Rican group called Los Macheteros (that is, Those Who Handle Machetes - a sort of rustic terror, I suppose). The FBI considers this group to be a terrorist organization, some Puerto Ricans consider them freedom fighters, but, to be clear, they have killed for their cause, they've set bombs, shot people down, violently destroyed government property.

I mentioned them in my fourth PRECINCT PUERTO RICO novel. In fact, much of the novel is taken up with the inhabitants of Angustias scared out of their minds that LOS MACHETEROS might launch an attack on the children of Angustias. Someone has kidnapped a child in a neighboring town and killed her. LOS MACHETEROS supposedly claim the act as theirs, children in Angustias go missing, tensions rise, etc.

Now it is true that in their history, LOS MACHETEROS have never been accused of kidnapping or harming children. On the other hand, they've left bombs in public places so not harming children is by the grace of God, not due to the scruples of LOS MACHETEROS. Anywho...

So I get this email from a lawyer accusing me of libel. Essentially maliciously hurting their reputation in print. Now, clear works of fiction are often exempt from charges of libel, though I suspect not always.

I was also told I was "beneath contempt." Not really news to those who know me, but it stings a little when it comes from a lawyer... I was told I was pretty much a traitor to the people of Puerto Rico (an island and a people I dearly love).

I responded. Maybe not a good idea. I pointed out how difficult it is to damage the reputation of an organization the FBI considers to be a terrorist organization. Not to mention the very few people who will have read my book. I offered the lawyer a copy of my latest PRECINCT PUERTO RICO novel. Free. I await a reply, but it has been some months now...

Crimespree and Me

2011-09-08T16:40:00.000-04:00

Yes, yes. The rumors are true. I've been co-opted by the powers that be. Which powers be they you ask? The powers of CRIMESPREE MAGAZINE.

In the past, I've been content to read the magazine, to be published in the magazine (more times than I can easily recall, but at least three short stories) and even to advertise in the magazine. Now I will be an editor. And not the looking for comma errors type of editing either. I'm editing fiction... Making sure even the most hardboiled and noirish stories have happy endings... Okay, maybe my powers don't extend that far.

In any event, the Jordans are all packing for St. Louis as they'll be hosting the Bouchercon this year, but I suspect I'll be added to their contact page later this month. Then, if you have a highly polished crime based story, you might send it my way. Not that you can't send it now, but the contact info at the Crimespree website will have it go to the lovely and talented Jennifer Jordan first. That works.

More later.

Anyway, thought I'd mention it here since I'm not doing anything else...

My Kindle stats

2011-09-08T10:27:00.002-04:00

I wish I could do one of those nifty screen grabs and show precisely how much I've made from Kindle just so far this month. I'm pretty sure it would require using the right mouse button, no? But then my laptop doesn't have a mouse so I'd just be lost. In any event, I can certainly sum it up in layman's terms. So far in September I've sold one (1) Kindle. It was a copy of Killing Ways.

From this bit of raw data I am forecasting that I will sell a total of four (4) Kindles for the month. This is down sharply from the six (6) Kindles I sold in August and continues a trend since I did sell about ten (10) in July and (I believe) fourteen (14) in June.

If I do, in fact sell four Kindles this month, they will bring me in a total of about $1.40 for the month. On the bright side, Joe Konrath would remind me that Kindles will earn me $1.40 every month for the rest of my life, which if I live to be 90 means I'll get a total of about $806.40. This doesn't count interest I'll be earning along the way, of course.

Writing Now

2011-09-07T10:56:00.002-04:00

Not much, really. I mean I have something like seven novels started and one being rewritten. The rewrite is taking way too long as I've pretty much fallen out of love with the book. Ah well. And finding an hour to write is near impossible. I know. Make time. Right. Let me put that on my list of things to make...

And I need to turn THE CONCRETE MAZE into Kindling. That'll take me about forty hours. (Rough estimate.)

Here's what's on deck:

1 - Viktor Petrenko novel (53k done; out of 70k?)
2 - Another Viktor Petrenko novel (43k done)
3 - Isaac Newton novel (30k out of 70k done)
4 - Female serial killer (30k out of 60k)
5 - Ray Cruz novel (10k out of 70k)
6 - Medieval Fantasy (5k out of God knows how many, but I'm liking it this week...)
7 - Can't remember... That's not the title, I just can't recall.

2012 ought to be awesome...

Joining the Not-Ready-to-Die Club

2011-09-04T15:57:00.002-04:00

Or more properly, the not-ready-to-die-but-never-going-to-eat-right club. That is, jogging. My goodness it's tremendously difficult. Not really a surprise. I wasn't avoiding jogging because I thought it was too easy. I had heard rumors that it made you sweat. True. And that you could come away all achy. Also true. I haven't yet tested the "serious injury" rumor.

I've also heard of "runner's high" or "runner's euphoria." While I don't think you can properly call what I do "running," there is a chance I've experienced this especially if "runner's high" is something like gasping for air until you feel almost ready to vomit. If that is, in fact, the case, then I've been there a few times. Don't see the attraction really.

On a serious note, however, I'm 230 pounds and have been for years. I've been jogging thrice weekly for about two months and while I know I'm healthier and I fit into my clothes better (tent-like as most of my wardrobe is) I haven't lost an ounce. Not if you can trust the little Wii Fit gremlin that tells me I'm obese every week. Last few weeks I haven't bothered to ask his opinion on the matter. Like I said, I'm healthier.

Signs of health:

* I "ran" two and a quarter miles on Friday without pausing for water or air or to check over my shoulder to see if the Grim Reaper was still behind me. I've never in my years jogged a mile let alone two before this past Friday. I'd never done more than a half mile in my first two months of working at it, then I just decided to see how far I could get and I surprised myself.

* The flights of stairs at work are much easier to handle. Still not as easy as taking the elevator, but getting there.

* My tinnitus is much reduced. Could be unrelated since my former doctor thought it was Psychosomatic anyway, but it is improved, that I'm sure of.

In any event, I contemplate running in a 5 mile race later this year. We'll see.

About Lucy Cruz

2011-07-26T16:45:00.000-04:00

By the way, I forgot to link to this earlier. Carole Goldberg wrote up a piece on Connecticut's mystery authors. My bit's here, just scroll down.

Here's part of what I had to say, the relevant stuff really:

"Lucy Cruz is a young freelance photojournalist who gets herself into trouble because of the assignments she takes. She stakes out a farm where the Chupacabra [legendary monster] is expected to appear; what she witnesses (and photographs) instead is murder. Though threatened, she digs until the case is solved.

In any event, there's a bit more about me and the book, and I'm grateful that Carole included me though the book I wanted to talk about was an ebook. There are also eleven other authors profiled in brief so it's worth your while to look up the whole article.

Lucy Cruz on Sale

2011-07-26T12:09:00.000-04:00

In the interest of garnering new readers and, to be honest, since I could make zero sales as easily with a lower price as with a higher price, I've dropped the cost of my latest: LUCY CRUZ AND THE CHUPACABRA KILLINGS all the way to 99 cents.

Will the price stay low forever? Of course not. As I said, I can just as easily make no money with a high price, and a high price does afford me the comfort of thinking there's a monetary reason for the lack of sales... On the other hand, I had thought of making the book 99 cents at the end of June and just got around to it today. So you can expect I won't recall the need to bounce the price up until the summer is over.

Despite the title, the book is an amateur sleuth novel with a female protagonist and not so heavy on the little mythical beastie. It's a good book if I do say so myself, and I'm usually quite willing to bash my own books... Just ask me. Anyway, it'll cost you a buck to find out if it's to your liking.

No Time Travel For You!

2011-07-26T09:20:00.000-04:00

Hong Kong scientists say they've got it all figured out. Nothing travels faster than light therefore there is no time travel (leaving aside the normal travel through time of one second per second, I suppose). This is a bit of a bummer. I'm so far behind on some of my writing projects that I was hoping to build a time machine this weekend to see if I could catch-up. You know. Just a basic model, nothing fancy.

But seriously, the comments on the article I linked to are priceless. Some of the people seem to know less about relativity and, hell, even about sun dials and such than a cocker spaniel might. I swear. One guy seemed to really think that flux capacitors and a Delorean were a solution to the problem...

Not that I know how to reach into the future or the past myself, mind.

Things my Daughter May Never Know About...

2011-07-24T09:20:00.001-04:00

Beatrice turns three later this year and Wired Magazine has provided me with a list of 100 things she pretty definitely won't know about except through movies and the fact her father's about 40 years older than she is. Frankly, some of these things are already pretty much gone - Beta, televisions that were serious furniture instead of wall hangings, rotary telephones. Oh, and phones with actual bells inside of them.

No mention of whether any actual books will be available in ten years time.

Interesting that the Star Wars prequals serve as spoilers now. Hadn't thought of that, but then I saw Star Wars in the theaters when it first came out...

Got to admit that some of the tech references mean nothing to me. SCSI?

I did have a video game for Commodore 64 that required you to takeoff and fly about on one floppy disk, then, if you went too far, you had to insert another disk to continue flying, then if you wanted to get back to your aircraft carrier, you had to reinsert the first disk. And, of course, you could do your homework while waiting for each upload.

Amy Winehouse

2011-07-23T13:03:00.002-04:00

I can't really claim to have been a fan though I recognized a good voice and an appealing stylist in her. Of course, the world recognized a tortured soul though it was often easier (given comments and gossip, etc) to deride her failings than feel any better emotions for her.

I don't know anything about her personally - didn't follow the stories except to know there were stories. Don't even know how she died though everyone will suspect overdose - but intentional? Unintentional? Hard to say unless police find a note.

Allow me a moment of pomposity.

The world lost more than a talented young woman. It lost a chance to be kind to someone who desperately needed it. What an opportunity has gone by.

What I'm Doing Wrong, The Kindle Edition...

2011-07-23T08:55:00.002-04:00

At this time, I have five titles available via Kindle. More if you count what's offered by St. Martin's Press. Still, this may be the first thing I've done wrong. I have two more short story collections and two more novels I could put out there, and I hear you need a critical mass of products out and about before you can get traction. Five in the first half of 2011 seems like enough, but apparently not. If I can complete one project - a Viktor Petrenko novel - I could have a total of ten products out by the end of the year.

Secondly, I haven't really announced my work to the world. People at a couple of listservs will have heard the news that I'm on Kindle, but most of the people who have bought my traditional books are not on those listservs. In fact, those lists are mainly for writers, not readers. I plan to begin remedying this situation by going to a couple of conferences including Bouchercon in St. Louis and giving out some promotional trinkets and, of course, talking up my Kindle stuff, but I've also gotten some invitations to guest blog, so I'll start following up on that. I would like to put up at least one more novel before I do that, but we'll see. It takes me forever to make long works Kindle ready.

Thirdly, but related to secondly is the fact that I have a low profile web-wise. No Facebook or Twitter for me or any of the Kindle related forums/boards. Not yet. I've visited some Twitter pages, but I can't understand what's going on. Facebook seems like an extra job - it's not creating the Facebook page, but getting people to go there. I can't get people to come to my blog, why/how would I get people to go to a Facebook page? My website was updated a few months ago, and I'll have it revised again next month, I hope. There's one Kindle title that's not mentioned there yet, and I hope to have another up and running in a couple of weeks.

Of course, I haven't even bothered with the other ebook formats just yet. Everyone says Kindle is far and away the leader in the field, but it might be useful to have works on the other formats - people might read something on a Nook and comment on it at Amazon, for instance.

Anyway, much to learn.

Joe Konrath vs. Reviewers

2011-07-19T07:16:00.002-04:00

Joe Konrath, whose blog is nothing if not interesting, has a post today that I think starts off well and ends poorly. The premise at the start is that writers should write deliberately. I've preached this to students for almost two decades now. I start the semester off explaining that for 14 years in a row I had at least one student each semester who misspelled their own name. Not much I can do to help that student at the college level... Except tell them to be deliberate about what they write (and if you're misspelling your own name, we can be pretty sure you weren't being deliberate).

So far, so good.

Then he goes on to discuss things that might make you an idiot, and he includes "If you've ever given anything a one-star review..."

Here is my response posted in the comments to his post:

Sorry to say it, but I think that you're contradicting yourself.

By saying (to paraphrase) nothing deserves a one-star rating, you seem to be saying that nothing that has been written and published is crap. The mantra "Don't write crap" doesn't make sense if it is impossible to write crap.

Plenty of stuff has been written without deliberation. From what I can understand here, you're saying if I find one of those books and give it a one-star rating, I'm probably an idiot. And if what you're saying is that one-star reviewers really can't judge the author's level of deliberation, that might be true, but no reviewer can judge that unless the they happen to actually BE the author.

In fact, if one-star reviews are going to be discouraged, we should discourage all reviews - by definition the star rating system is about subjective responses.

I really think Joe has stepped in it with this post. Not that he has to love one-star reviews or the reviewers, but he has preached quite a bit over the years about how the public can judge the quality of books for themselves without a need for gatekeepers like the traditional publishing industry. Good books will rise, bad books will sink especially when it comes to sales. Now it seems like he doesn't want readers (the new gatekeepers) to share their opinions... if the opinion is that the book is bad. Presumably, he's still okay with five star reviews.

True, it is just an opinion and some are not nearly as well informed as others, but if we're going to call readers idiots for saying they didn't like a book, then the whole idea of "New Gatekeepers" goes out the window and all we have in the marketplace is the shrill cry of "Buy MY Stuff, You Jerk!"

Anyway, read the article, read the comments, judge for yourself. And if you feel the need to give me poor marks, feel free. I won't be calling you any names.

In TV News...

2011-06-17T08:08:00.002-04:00

Ashton Kutcher to go to Law and Order: SVU. Christopher Meloni to fill in at Two and a Half Men. It appears that because of really complicated contractual obligations, Christopher Meloni cannot be left jobless by NBC. So, in essence, they have traded him to CBS where he'll work for reduced wages (That is, only a quarter of a million per episode). Chuck Lorre has expressed an interest in having Meloni work on 2.5 Men. "I think he'd add a certain edge to the show..." Lorre was heard to say in what might be the understatement of the year.

Ashton Kutcher won't work with Meloni (I think everyone in Hollywood knows that) and so he is apparently headed to fill the spot Meloni abandoned on L&O:SVU. The only response from Mariska Hargitay, Meloni's long-time partner (on-screen, not in life) was supposedly a husky laugh. Not sure how that should be interpreted. Richard Belzer, however, thought it wouldn't be such a bad move for Kutcher or the show. "It'll add some pretty-boy factor to the show. We've been missing that."

Of course, Charlie Sheen was asked about this, and, of course, all he had to say was spiteful. "This will spell failure on an epic scale for both networks. This is napalm. I said I'd drop the ordinance on them. NBC is collateral damage. This is my nuke for CBS, Chuck Lorre, Bruce Willis Junior, all those people. I don't know Meloni, but he'd better run for the hills on this one."

Before anyone looks up any part of this, I didn't do an April 1st post, so here it is.

Race Writing...

2011-05-17T12:49:00.002-04:00

Tess Gerritsen, MD and author of too many books to count has posted a very nice and painfully honest column over at Muderati about race, writing, and readers. In essence, the question is asked whether a non-white protag will do worse in sales than a white protag.

My experience, so far, is that anything I try to write (as a non-white) is bound for financial failure... That could just be me. Certainly, some have made this work for them - Walter Moseley comes to mind. Alexander McCall Smith, too. Tony Hillerman. Still, I do have some questions that I'll repeat from my comment on Tess's blog:

There might be a difference also between people of color among their own kind as opposed to out and about in the white world. Also, people of color who don't raise a fist - Mma. Ramotswe, for instance. A black detective in Harlem? No problem. A black detective raising a gun at whites in Westchester County? Maybe not so good. Again. I don't know. I wouldn't doubt you if you said there is a successful, serious series with a black detective in Beverly Hills. Eddie Murphy already did the comic side of things.

What thinkst thou?

Now That I Have the Kindle App...

2011-05-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

I just downloaded the free Kindle app for my PC, and it certainly is pretty. Can't take my desktop to the beach or anything, and I don't think I'd take a real kindle there either. Rogue waves you know... But I don't mind reading some things on the computer screen - short story collections sound especially tempting. So far, I've added three titles to my "to be bought" (tbb*) list: Iain Rowan's Nowhere to Go, IJ Parker's The Masuda Affair and Steve Hockensmith's Dear Mr. Holmes.

Two collections and a novel. Cannot wait for Parker to get her short stories on Kindle. Those stories are absolutely fabulous. I've reviewed all three authors before and thoroughly enjoyed their work.

Learn more about Rowan here. More about Parker here. And if you don't know about Hockensmith yet, try looking here. Hockensmith's blog is particularly funny, so if you're looking for a smile, it's not a bad place to go.

* tbb - I think I've coined a new acronym - I call dibs - registered trademark... Patent pending...

Osama's Dead?

2011-05-01T23:53:00.002-04:00

The President announced that Osama Bin Laden's been killed. Hard to believe. Apparently the US Army has the body? Good news since nobody would believe Osama was dead without a body. Maybe not even with one.

Unbelieveable. Hard to say what I feel now. I've known so many people who've done their tour in Afghanistan - we all do. And sure, the war on terror may have helped keep terror from our shores. Wonderful. No sarcasm. But now it seems like a long held goal has been achieved, and I can't help but hope the world is a better place now. Now it feels like so much sacrifice by so many good people has been rewarded with a tangible reward.

I'll have a joke or two tomorrow. Tonight I go to sleep in an Osama-less world, and, strangely, I thank God for it.

The Great Grammar Debate

2011-04-28T08:35:00.002-04:00

Dave White at Do Some Damage has rekindled a longstanding debate (I'm sure I responded to this years ago at his old blog...). The question is how important grammar is in the process of learning how to write. He correctly notes that meaning is paramount, but I think he incorrectly wants to make a division between meaning and the grammar and word choice and spelling issues that plague student writing. Anyway, here's his post. Read the comments for our back and forth.

In Which I Answer Questions for Al Guthrie...

2011-04-27T08:31:00.000-04:00

Al Guthrie, Scots writer of Kiss Her Goodbye among other titles has asked me questions and I've answered.

Here's a link.

All in reference to my latest effort, Lucy Cruz and the Chupacabra Killings. Take a look at the interview. It won't cost a thing. Unless you buy the book... Or one of the others on the site...

My Chupacabra Novel

2011-04-26T16:06:00.003-04:00

I forgot to give any description of my goatsucker book. I figured I'd correct that with a look at what I wrote up for Amazon:

Photojournalist Lucy Cruz, young, beautiful, talented, and poor, spends her nights sitting outside a farm waiting for El Chupacabra - Puerto Rico's legendary livestock killing beast. The group that hired her want only one clear photo of the animal, but what her camera captures is not one animal killing another - it's murder. When she hands police her photos, she's thrown into a fight for her life against a killer who's only getting started.

When the man she loves is nearly murdered, Lucy races to piece together the clues before the killer's aim improves...

A little cryptozoology tossed into a perfectly good mystery... In fact, while I don't have my main character actually photograph the little beastie, I do have someone offer an alternative explanation of the sightings. Note, however, that cryptozoology is not what the book is mainly about. That's a side issue. What the book is about is murder, plain and simple (if murder ever is such a thing) and what it takes my heroine to stop the murderer before others die. It takes a lot. Just saying.

Anyway, here's what the book looks like (for in case anyone tries selling you a cheap Taiwanese knock-off...):

And here is a clicky-thingy so you can buy it...

Top Ten Movies People Pretend to Have Seen

2011-04-25T13:19:00.002-04:00

How do you find out about this stuff? Here's the list:

1. The Godfather (30 per cent)
2. Casablanca (13 per cent)
3. Taxi Driver (11 per cent)
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (9 per cent)
5. Reservoir Dogs (8 per cent)
6. This Is Spinal Tap (7 per cent)
7. Apocalypse Now (6 per cent)
8. Goodfellas (5 per cent)
=8. Blade Runner (5 per cent)
10. The Great Escape (4 per cent)

A tip of the hat to Bill Crider.
I've never pretended to see these films. I've seen 1, 2, 4, the tie for eigth, and 10. 2001 is a film I did not enjoy. Blade Runner was marginally better. The Godfather was long but good (Godfather 3 was terrible, I thought). Casablanca is a keeper.

Why would someone pretend to have seen Goodfellas? How does that come up in conversation in such a way that one feels compelled to say "Oh, yeah, that one. Yeah, I saw it..."?

For the ones I haven't seen, let me know if I'm missing much.

SJ Rozan Stories

2011-04-23T15:03:00.003-04:00

Just heard about Building and Other Stories out as a Kindle from SJ Rozan. Rozan is a multiple Edgar nominee (including twice in one year) and an Edgar winner. The stories are fabulous - haven't read all of them, but I've read some and I've read Rozan's work. Trust me.

Many thanks to the Short Mystery Fiction Society for the info.

Lee Goldberg says...

2011-04-21T11:34:00.005-04:00

Over at Lee Goldberg's most excellent blog, he speaks of the enormous money being made by some self-pubbed e-book writers. Mind you, I'm not one of the success stories just yet... Anywho, he quotes one agent. She "sums up the whole ebook marketplace very nicely: "This is a Wild West of a world."

This is something I'm a little afraid of. I think I write good books. I've gotten good reviews, and good feedback from fans (though I will share one quite angry email in the near future).

What I can't do is turn out four books a year. I probably could if I didn't have a full-time job. I have a couple of good novels not otherwise engaged. I just put one out a few days ago.

I think I'll be putting out another one next month. At the end of the summer, I expect to put out another one. That's three novels in one year and three more than I would have published even if I signed a contract today with one of the NYC publishers. It takes quite a while to bring a hardcover to market. And I do have couple of short story collections out now

and a couple more to come by June. These are mostly previously published stories that I was probably never going to see another dime from.

But I think that in order to start seeing real money*, you have to have a good number of novels out - say at least six or seven. I could be wrong. Maybe two or three novels will be enough to drive sales of the collections and so on, but I don't think so.

Not that I won't have six or seven or more novels out. The three for this year won't be my only three. I expect another two or three will be turned into kindling next year. It's just that in the Wild West, I'm not ever going to be "quick on the draw." I guess that means I'd better make my shots count.

* Define, if you will, real money... I have numbers in mind, but that's another post.

Declan Burke says...

2011-04-21T07:36:00.003-04:00

Over at Crime Always Pays, author Declan Burke says, in part:

I’d further suggest that an editor isn’t the only requirement: if you’re going to successful at self-publishing as an e-author, you’ll need (among other things, including a bloody good book) a professional to design your cover, another to format / typeset the work, and you’ll also need to invest heavily (time or money) in promotion. In other words, readers are fully entitled to expect the same quality from their ebooks as they would from a conventionally published title. Any writer who believes epublishing is a cheap shortcut to getting published is taking a cheap shortcut to oblivion.

I'd have to agree with Declan that there's not a "Cheap and easy" way to self-publishing success. The first rule is as it always has been: write a good book, and that's not easy though not financially expensive. (Unless you count your hours working on the book as billable hours.)

I spend dozens of hours editing and formatting and making the covers for my ebooks. Let's say at a minimum 50 hours (after the writing which involves a lot of editing as well) and if I were to be paid $10 an hour, that would be $500 invested. And I would not say I've achieved "success" yet. ("Ever hopeful," says the man with the betting slip in hand...)

And I'm an author who generally produces clean copy and has been through the editing process a bunch of times and who works as an English professor so I'm used to reading with an eye towards finding textual problems.

Amanda Hocking has made a million or more, but as Declan points out in the comments, the amount of promotional work alone was enough to make her want a traditional publishing contract (though I don't see this as a cure since her publisher will want her to ramp up her promotional efforts, not scale them back).

In the comments, someone pointed out that Hocking has achieved her success with bad editing, bad cover designs and generally a bad product. I suppose it depends on how you judge success - Will she win a Pulitzer? No. Will she make a million dollars? Done. I would just point out that Stephanie Meyer has pretty much done the same thing - I don't like her covers, I don't like the little bits of the writing I've read, and I don't think the storylines (I saw the first movie and won't see the others unless it's midnight and I can't sleep and there's nothing else on TV and Netflix is broken and I'm too sick to walk to my dvd player...) are particularly good.

And just to end my tirade, if you want a good book, well edited, try mine.

My Latest Book...

2011-04-18T09:39:00.004-04:00

As announced last week, I've put out a new book this weekend. I don't really know about ebooks much, but my Chupacabra book is out in the cold, cruel world. It's called Lucy Cruz and the Chupacabra Killings and I did the cover myself. I did the rest of it myself as well. And I prepared it for Kindle myself too. Tell me what you think.

Choke On Your Lies, Part IV

2011-04-13T16:13:00.001-04:00

I've been writing about the fact that Anthony Neil Smith is trying to sell a measly 1500 ebook copies of his latest novel, Choke On Your Lies. I just have one final word on this issue. Smith says that if he gets 1500 orders, he'll start work on a second novel featuring his main character, Octavia. He has the ideas for the second book, but wants to be sure he has the readers. Fair enough.

I just thought, however, that Octavia is now being held hostage by Smith. Will she die if Smith doesn't get to 1500? Perhaps in a short story featured on Plots with Guns? It would seem that Octavia can take care of herself, but Neil is really in charge. Sounds strange, no? But then this isn't much different than what's happened since the beginning of time. You bring back the characters the audience loves and you ditch the ones they don't support. Dickens did it - characters that got strong support got extra chapters. Characters that broed the public got onto trains to Wales and never came back.

Shakespeare did it. Falstaff was beloved and came back and back and finally made it into Henry V as an unseen force that haunted the story if not the actual stage.

So if it's good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for Neil...

Choke On Your Lies, Part III

2011-04-13T09:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I alerted my dear readers about Anthony Neil Smith's desire to sell a paltry 1500 copies of his latest novel, Choke On Your Lies. I don't know if he's getting any closer, but if he isn't inching along toward that goal, it wno't be because I failed to quote a couple of the reader reviews:

Matt Funk wrote:"Choke on Your Lies is a model of Smith's peculiar spirit. It's a swift, sordid piece featuring flawed people who flail toward happiness at murderous expense, only to find themselves worse for the effort. The twists are plentiful, rendered in the slim borders of punchy chapters that speed to a grim conclusion. All of this is soaked in the sultry atmosphere of the South, a place Smith knows well and evokes without being overdone."

Stephen Blackmoore said:"This book is a cozy the way that Genghis Khan was a people person. We're not talking scrapbooking and knitting needles, chefs who die off-stage and discussions of Gramma's apple pie.

This is Gonzo Cozy and is so full of awesome you won't know what hit you. This is Agatha Christie with a strap-on. If Rex Stout and Hunter S. Thompson did it doggy-style on an ether-binge this would be the result."

J. Strupek said:"This book is an all you can eat buffet of crime, passion, deceit, wounded souls, and bruised emotions served up with a side dish of dark humor. Anthony Neil Smith has once again offered up a story that turns crime fiction on its too often tone deaf ear. Page turner might not apply to an ebook, so lets just call it a screen burner."

Choke on Your Lies, Part II

2011-04-12T21:05:00.001-04:00

I wrote about Anthony Neil Smith's desire to sell 1500 ebook copies of his latest novel, Choke On Your Lies. No idea where he is on that particular quest, but I figured I'd offer the product description if nothing else. Here goes:

"A new novel by the author of PSYCHOSOMATIC, YELLOW MEDICINE, and HOGDOGGIN'. Smith presents his homage to one of his favorite detectives, Nero Wolfe, but written for the "internet porn" generation.

Octavia VanderPlatts is wealthy, powerful, and "comfortable with her weight"--or to hear her say it, a "rich fat b****." Her IQ is at the genius level, and she uses it to manipulate and frighten anyone who tries to get in her way. She controls an empire built on discrimination lawsuits won against some of the nation's top companies. On top of that, Octavia doesn't care one wink what people think of her.

So when she offers her old friend poetry professor Mick Thooft some help in his impending divorce, he smells an ulterior motive. Maybe because Frances didn't invite Octavia to the wedding for fear of her clearing the buffet. Not only does Octavia want to help, but she's got evidence--plenty of scandalous photos. That's not Mick's style, so he turns her down flat...until he discovers that Fran's trying to take their home based on a near-perfect forgery of his signature. After that he and Octavia charge forward, but soon find they're in deeper than they realized--robot pens, swinger clubs, and a blackmail scheme that holds an entire college faculty hostage.

Just when Mick and Octavia are on the cusp of victory, it all goes terribly wrong. Mick is framed for murder and someone targets Octavia's immense wealth and secret backyard greenhouse full of exotic marijuana. With no one on their side except Octavia's butler Jennings, her new personal chef Harriet, and their "Amazon Warrior" lawyer Pamela, Octavia and Mick must find a way to turn the tables before they end up broke, humiliated, and in prison."

Anthony Neil Smith...

2011-04-12T15:49:00.002-04:00

Here's th deal. AN Smith writes about seriously screwed up people - usually violent people - victims and perpetrators. Nobody gets out alive kind of stories. I haven't read his latest. I'm man enough to admit that. But I have great faith that it is a worthwhile read if you're into truly hardboiled fiction... If you seek a Miss Marple ripoff, you won't enjoy Neil's work. His Miss Marple uses a riding crop for business and pleasure...

All that said, Mr. Smith has put out a new book called Choke on Your Lies. He has a new character in it, Octavia - again I haven't read the book - and he's got some ideas for a second book concerning Octavia, and he's willing to write that second book if he can get 1500 buyers for the first book. No point in writing a second if no one is reading the first.

Now I tend to think that 1500 is a low bar for a writer of Neil's overall quality. Especially since the book is to be had for a mere $1.50. Please help this man reach his goal.

The Kindle Novel

2011-04-11T19:15:00.004-04:00

A long, long time ago at a Bouchercon far, far away, John Rickards had a lot of fun mocking, yea, verily, mocking my goatsucker novel. He misheard the name and then said things filled with wickedness... I think he did not believe that such a book existed. He thought that the book was as mythical as the beastie.

BUT THE GOATSUCKER LIVES!!!

Okay, maybe not the goatsucker (though maybe; stranger things have happened). But the book certainly does live. I call it Lucy Cruz and the Chupacabra Killings. It will be a Kindle by the weekend. Just reading through a final pass of edits. I changed the book I unwisely mentioned to Rickards from a setting in 1991 to a setting in 2010. That means my photojournalist shouldn't talk about film - instead she talks about memory cards.

You may disbelieve if you like. Chupacabra is coming...

Sing a Sad Song

2011-04-07T15:39:00.003-04:00

I'm beginning to think that readers don't want to be saddened. Crazy, no? It seems like readers don't mind being scared - horror writers can do well financially. And they don't mind being puzzled - traditional mysteries don't sell too badly. But if your book is a heartbreaker - a tear-jerker - then it may not do so well? I'm not sure of this. I happen to have written a couple of heartbreaker type stories in my time. They haven't sold. From this scant evidence, I surmise that the market doesn't support weepers.

Personally, I love the gut-wrenching type. I love it when I invest a lot of emotional capital into a character who fails, actually fails. It doesn't happen often in literature. Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor comes to mind.

Don't get me wrong. A happy end can be a good thing too. Hollywood loves that end, no? But always?

Also, don't get me wrong, I've written novels that end Hollywood style. But when my heroes fall, they fall hard.

This type of story has its own emotional life. Why is it that people liked being scared, but don't like being saddened?

Or am I mistaken?

Glenn Beck Moves Out... Steven Torres Moves In

2011-04-07T08:37:00.002-04:00

FOX talk show host Glenn Beck is leaving his job and moving on. One assumes there is a brighter future for him somewhere. I don't have cable, so I've never seen his show, but I've seen snippets on broadcast channels (yes, with rabbit ear antenna) and that's enough... Enough to know that I want his job. Not sure if it's open audition or what, but wouldn't that be sweet. If I understand correctly, he bashes people for a living. I could do that*.

Am I conservative enough? I believe in God and think America is a nice country.

Do I know enough about politics? There are two parties in this country, the right one and the wrong one. There's also the Tea party, but it is still in its larval stage.

Do I know enough about economics? Recession bad, depression worse. "What are your plans for fixing the economy? YOU'RE WRONG!"

Do I have the slogans? AMERICA FIRST! Give me a break! That's UnAmerican. What are you? A Francophile? "We gotta neuter and spay them before they breed!"**

* Some my say that as an English professor, I do that already...
** So many uses for that one.

The Smartest Blog on Earth...

2011-04-06T09:18:00.000-04:00

Megan Abbott and Sara Gran have a joint blog... Okay, that sounds like it's about marijuana. There might be the odd reference, but really it is about the highly literate musings of two of the most powerful writers working in the English language. Think I'm exaggerating (about the power part, not the fact that Megan and Sara are two writers...)? I dare you to read Dope by Ms. Gran or Die a Little by Ms. Abbott and not come to the same conclusion.

Anyway, just thought I'd make this blog known to the four people who stop by here everyday. Hi mom!

Iain Rowan, Part I

2011-04-05T12:30:00.003-04:00

Iain Rowan, who puts together wonderfully wicked short stories, has put together a collection of them - a bouquet of evil... It's called Nowhere to Go, after a short story I read and much admired last year. You can see my review over at Nasty.

I said, in part, "Mr. Rowan has put together a tricky story and made it run like clockwork. "

If nothing else, you should mosey over to the Amazon site to see the cover art. Simple and clever.

I'll say more about the collection in coming days.

What's Coming Next...

2011-03-30T19:28:00.004-04:00

El Chupacabra!

That's right. My long awaited "goatsucker" novel is coming. You might think science has cleared all that up with a diseased coyote or two, but they haven't explained a thing... There are no coyotes in Puerto Rico - never have been.

Mangy dogs? Certainly. But they don't exsanguinate livestock nice and neat. They tear them to shreds. I've seen their handiwork. It ain't pretty.

No. Chupacabra is out there. AND HE'S COMING FOR YOU!!!!

Amanda Hocking Fumbles at the One Yard Line!

2011-03-25T09:41:00.002-04:00

It's all over the net that Amanda Hocking, Kindle's first million seller (I'm pretty sure) has signed a deal with St. Martin's Press. Two million dollars for four novels. Sounds great. Would I take that money? Absolutely. Wouldn't think more than twice. But what would be right for me could be wrong for her. Two reasons for that: 1 - I've never sold a million in any format or at any price. 2 - I know I can write more novels. Stacks of them if need be.

First, a few assumptions: that St. Martin's Press, part of Macmillan, will continue to insist that they get 75% of ebook revenue and that they continue to insist that their ebooks sell for $10.99 and more, never less. If either of these assumptions is wrong, then maybe this wasn't a colossal mistake.

Why is this a fumble for Hocking? She was on the cusp of becoming a household name and getting 70% of her sales for her troubles. Now she'll be submitting to the traditional publishing process which means if she has a novel ready to go right now, we'll see it early next year at the earliest. Or an editor might say, "Can you rewrite this for a slightly older market?" In that case, 2012 is probably out of the picture... And when the book hits the stores, she'll be seeing $2 on a $25 book (because in the normal contract, there's a penalty if your book sells through a place like Barnes and Noble...Or maybe that's just my contract...). And what are the chances that she'll actually earn out that $2 million? Especially when her Kindle/Nook following is pretty much bound to leave her in droves? Imagine the teens who buy her stuff now and will be shocked to see her next offering out at a $10 markup. All because St. Martin's has to prop up their paperback sales. Which wouldn't start until some months after the hardcover comes out.

What a mess for her current readers. And is it likely that she'll replace those readers with print readers? Don't know. Maybe St. Martins has a plan for doing that... One they haven't yet shared with me.

Of course, if she really hasn't been able to write for all the promoting she's had to do, then maybe this isn't so bad a deal. I'll point however that the promoting work doesn't stop just because she's signed with a traditional publisher. Also, there's a sense in which the effort she's poured into building her name will be partially wiped away. She won't be dominating the Amazon Kindle bestseller's list, for instance. And probably not the other lists for traditional books.

In any event, I've made $15 off of Kindle. Haven't started promoting my stuff yet. Hope to get to that in the Summer. Expect to make at least another $15...

Website Update

2011-03-21T09:33:00.001-04:00

For the first time since 2007, the steventorres.com site has been updated. It now includes references to my last few publications - four Kindles and a hardcover (or "real") book, BLACKOUT IN PRECINCT PUERTO RICO, which came out to some pretty good reviews last year.

A bit more on the website later.

An Amazon Review

2011-03-17T09:47:00.000-04:00

VJ Banis was kind enough to take a look at my second collection of stories, Killing Ways 2. He liked it and I thought I'd share a snippet of his review up on Amazon - the only place the stories are available so far.

"priced at .99 for the Kindle edition, it's a steal for readers who like well crafted prose and especially gritty, hard boiled fiction with unique and intriguing characters."

Reviews don't get better than this, but if you don't trust his judgment, it'll cost you a buck to see for yourself.

Killing Ways 2 - The Descriptions...

2011-03-16T11:56:00.002-04:00

Here are some descriptions for the stories in my second collection of stories called Killing Ways 2: Urban Stories. As you can see from the subtitle, the collection hangs together on the urban angle. The Killing doesn't happen in every story though every story is noir-ish.

The original publications were Crimespree, Uncage Me!, Crimespree, Plots With Guns, Crimespree, and Bronx Noir.

Hard luck, hard knock, hot and cold blooded killers, criminals, and the people they collide with.

1 - The Biography of Stoop, the Thief - Chapter One: Stoop and Clyde. Stupendous Jones has had a hard life from the day he was born, but can he (as a twelve year old) save the life of the only guardian he's ever known? Should he even try?

2 - The Biography of Stoop, the Thief - Chapter Three: Stoop and Elizabeth. Stoop finally finds the woman he thinks is his mother, but will the cost of saving her from her own demons be too high for a young boy to pay? Publisher's Weekly called the story "moving." I challenge you to disagree.

3 - Bronx, Summer, 1971 - Ray Cruz hurts people for a living. When family members are found murdered, it's a race against the police to find the guilty and make them pay.

4 - Padrino - Ray Cruz is back, and his goddaughter has been brutally attacked. She's not sure who beat her, but Ray makes it his mission to find out.

5 - Elena Speaks of the City, Under Siege - It's a city under siege and you are young, beautiful and smart. But can you make it out of the city before your sanity crumbles like the infrastructure? And what would you do once you've left?

6 - Early Fall - Yolanda Morales comes across a young runaway who calls herself "Jasmine" and tries to save her from a life on the streets even if she doesn't want to be saved. But what can one determined woman do when the rich and reckless come to the city looking for prey?

Selling Like Hotcakes...

2011-03-15T16:03:00.003-04:00

Sold my first copy of Killing Ways 2: Urban Stories. It's a collection of badassery not to be found between other covers...

Anyway, get them now while they're still only .99 cents.

Killing Ways: Stories, my original collection of ten stories is also at .99 cents.

That would be 16 stories for a little less than two bucks. I ask you, where do you think you're going to get a deal like that?

New Kindle Book

2011-03-15T09:24:00.001-04:00

For those who have been waiting anxiously for my next collection of stories. It's finally here: Killing Ways 2: Urban Stories. One of these stories is a prize winner. Another is a nominee. They've all been published before. One story was praised by Publisher's Weekly. How many short stories get praised by Publisher's Weekly? No really. I have no idea. Maybe all of them. but you get the idea. If you want to read sad stories about bad people, your .99 cents will go a long way here.

Descriptions coming soon.

Book Cover

2011-03-14T16:43:00.001-04:00

Here is a look at the ebook cover Graham Powell was good enough to conjure up for my second collection of short stories called... Wait for it... KILLING WAYS 2: URBAN STORIES.

It will be on sale soon to the delight of millions. Of course, the first set of stories sold like hotcakes. Amazon is nearly out of KILLING WAYS: STORIES. You'd better hurry...

Descriptions for the second compilation coming soon.

Ebook Apocalypse...

2011-03-14T09:12:00.000-04:00

I was reading JA Konrath's blog the other day and came across something I thought might not actually be true. Konrath assumed (and he's said this before) that there is nowhere for his Kindle money-making power to go but up. The reasoning is that more Kindles are sold each day, adding to the number of potential readers, and, without too much of a leap, more actual readers/ebook buyers. This part sounds right.

But maybe I'm just a little too nervous. I see a potential problem. Assume that Kindles keep selling at an amazing rate. Assume they win the lion's share of the ereader market. Then wouldn't Amazon be smart to lower the royalty rate that they pay out to authors? And if every ereader were a Kindle (or if most were) then what could author's do but accept the new rate? And by offering a high rate now, Amazon encourages writers to flock to them (not exclusively... yet) even leaving behind the until recently coveted print contract.

And if Amazon does get the lion's share of the ereader market (once the dust has settled in a couple of years) it's not like there would be easy alternatives for writers. Unlike products put out by print publishers, the technology of ereaders is not compatible. If I have a Nook, I can't read a Kindle file (I'm guessing). So if I get a Kindle following (complete with groupies) and I don't like Kindle's new rules, it's not like I can just tell the fans to catch my next book on Nook or iPad. I mean would Joe Konrath be willing to tell Amazon to take a hike if they lowered his royalty rate from 70% to 40%? He might. I don't know Joe well. But he'd be losing a lot of readers. Most writers making as much money off of Amazon as Joe makes (or, to be real, even 10% of what he makes) would take the cut and still put up their wares for sale with Amazon. And if the royalty rate were cut to, say, 20%, how many writers could pass up making that number of sales?

Of course, my worst case scenario is for a future that's still a few years away and may never actually appear. Amazon may be fighting it out with the other ereaders for decades. In fact, the fight may never end as new technologies replace what's cutting edge today. I have a two year old daughter and I know for a fact that she won't be taking a Kindle to college.

It's probably nothing. Don't worry. Think of me as that man standing in the middle of the street screaming about pod people and drive on by, honking your horn. You're right to ignore me. I haven't slept in days...

My UK Sale

2011-03-10T09:22:00.001-05:00

Somehow, I made a sale through Amazon.uk. Somebody in the UK now owns a Kindle version of Killing Ways. They got it for 70 pence. I've never made a sale of any type in the UK (as far as I know) so this is exciting.

Figured out how to upload photos to blogspot too. It just takes the click of a button, but I hadn't recalled that so it's been two years since I uploaded a photo. Sad, no?

Now. Is there a way to turn a photo into a clicky-thingy?

New Fall TV Schedule

2011-03-09T11:04:00.005-05:00

TVGuide.com has a listing of the TV Fall pilots and series under development. Here's the one I'm hoping is good:

Poe (Drama)
Edgar Allan Poe (Chris Egan) is reimagined in this period crime procedural as a sleuth who uses unconventional methods to investigate dark mysteries in 1840s Boston. Chris Hollier (Alias) wrote the pilot and will produce along with Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes). Natalie Dormer, Leslie Odom Jr., Tabrett Bethell and Kevin McNally also star.

How could that not be awesome?

Well, for starters I don't think I've heard of any of the people involved. That may not mean much, but it's also on ABC which is going to present Good Christian Bitches and an untitled Tim Allen Project.

I'm hoping the actor is of slight stature as Mr. Poe evidently was. Have you ever seen his house in the Bronx? Tiny.

And supposedly the Edgar award handed out each year by the Mystery Writers of America is lifesize*...

* CJ Box with his Edgar.

Reviewers and Marketing

2011-03-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

In trying to figure out how to market ebooks (another steep learning curve) I've been told that the way to make sales on Amazon is to get Amazon reviewers. Fair enough. Not sure how that works (That is, having a bunch of reviews up doesn't drive people to your book's page, does it?) but I'm willing to give it a go.

My new collection - Killing Ways 2 will be seeing the light of day within a week or so and I'd like some reviews. It is six stories long and totals about 22k words. The stories are all noir-ish type stories, all previously published; one of them won a Derringer award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and another story was nominated for a Derringer, so they're not bad.

If you've got a blog that you're willing to review the book on (good, bad, or indifferent - it's your blog) or if you're willing to type up a few words for Amazon when the book goes live, let me know and I'll send you a pdf file with the stories.

Again, I'm not looking to control the outcome of your review, just trying to ensure that there are some reviews out there. I think the stories are quality stuff and you'll be happy (unless you don't like noir/hardboiled).

If you're wondering whether it would be worth your time, you can, of course, splurge on my first collection Killing Ways:Stories. It's $.99 until the end of the month.

Kindle Sale

2011-03-07T09:34:00.001-05:00

Time for my first ebook sale. Killing Ways: Stories is down to 99 cents. Two reasons. One, I'd like some sales. Two, I'll be debuting Killing Ways 2 soon, and it seems like a logical thing to discount the first set of stories for a week or two - I really haven't decided yet.

In any event, if you were looking for some hardboiled and noir stories, try my set for less than a buck.

Sold another The Valley of Angustias so that's another 35 cents in the piggy bank.

Kindle Questions

2011-03-06T09:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, I still don't have a Kindle, and I haven't yet downloaded a Kindle "app." I'm planning on it. Just wondering if my home computer can handle it... And I haven't read up on what the restrictions are. If I buy a kindle book and download it to my desktop, can I email it to myself so I can read it at home?

And if I buy a Kindle today, won't it be obsolete in a year or two? Then what do I do? I'm sure Amazon's website can answer this for me, no?

And if I download books to my hard-drive, won't I eventually fill up the hard-drive? And by eventually, I mean quickly. How do people use their phones as Kindle machines? I mean, how many books can a cell phone hold? Or are you supposed to discard the books after you read them? Not sure I'd be happy about that.

Of course, it's not like I have unlimited shelf space either.

Anyway, time to do some downloading.

Kindle Advertising...

2011-03-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

If anyone knows how to do this, please leave me a message... I have my own plans, but I'm not sure they amount to much and I honestly can't say that I've noticed the efforts by other authors, perhaps because I don't have a Kindle myself (those things cost $139!!!) I know, I know, I'm getting one. Just waiting for my bank account to catch a break.

Here's what I've seen so far from other authors:

1 - Hit and run visits to everyone's blog to say something like "That's so interesting! It's what happens in chapter seven of my new ebook "Mr. Perriwinkle's Twinkle and Whirligig He Drove In On" available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iBook..."

2 - Blog tours. Okay, I haven't actually seen this since the announcement of a blog tour leaves me a bit cold. It's one thing to flog your book on your own blog. That's (part of) what blogs are for. but to give essentially the same message at a variety of different spots seems somehow strange to me. Maybe I simply don't have the marketing mind...

3 - Postcard advertising (and other advertising) through CRIMESPREE. I can't claim to have taken close look at the insert ads, but I know they're there.

4 - Being befriended by Joe Konrath.

Here's what I have planned for myself this year:

1 - The postcard thing since I intend to go to a couple of conferences and I figure I might drop a hundred cards at those conferences.

2 - Maybe an ad at CRIMESPREE.

3 - Some sampling - either print up a sample page of each book or maybe do a youtube video of myself reading the first page. I really can't think of anything more electrifying that Steven Torres reading, but if I can inject some humor into it, that might get some interest, no?

4 - Well, I don't really have a fourth idea. Anyone have Joe Konrath's number?

My Kindle Renaissance...

2011-03-04T12:45:00.004-05:00

If you've dropped by the past month, you know I'm putting stuff up on Kindle and hoping for sales - I haven't advertised my wares yet, I the first wave of products, my short story collections, isn't completely out the door, though I think I've made a good start: One collection, a Precinct Puerto Rico novelette, and a stand alone short story about the Devil. Still, before this month is over, I'll have another collection or three up and running and will have started work on getting some novels up - a couple of previously unpublished novels and possibly some of my backlist. It's my understanding that novels are where the money is and since I can attest that it certainly isn't in the short story side of things, I'm inclined to believe it.

This is an interesting development for me. I have five half completed novels that I had stopped work on. I didn't stop work because the books were bad or because I lost interest. I stopped work because my agent and I agreed these books weren't as marketable as other projects. And by marketable, I mean that editors at publishing houses didn't think they could make tens of thousands of hardcover sales at $25 a pop. They're probably right. Especially during hard economic times plunking down that kind of cash for someone you've never heard of has got to be hard. And for a publisher to front me that kind of advance would take a great amount of faith on their part - not faith that the book is good since they have the entire ms in hand when they decide, but faith in consumers.

So not meeting the sales threshold a traditional publisher needs me to meet means I've got to find another way to get good stories out to readers and Kindle helps me do that. Knowing that I can get my novels out to people (and get paid for the enormous effort that takes) means I'll be finishing up those novels I had put aside. I'm glad of it. I hate writing 40,000 words only to set the ms aside.

Not to mention that among the five books I'm talking about are two straight-forward science fiction books. That's a stretch for me. Will I sell a hundred thousand copies? I hope so. But will I write books that I previously never thought I'd get an opportunity to finish? Absolutely.

The Kindle Novel

2011-03-02T12:58:00.002-05:00

Unlike a lot of other writers, I don't have a huge number of finished novels that need a home. I pretty much have two. One is a Ray Cruz novel. Ray Cruz is a meanie - he hurts people as his profession. Either that or he kills them outright. It's a story of the streets of the Bronx. Just imagine what happens when someone attacks Ray's family and you get the overall picture. Who does the attacking is a mystery to him, but how he goes about solving it and what he does with the information is all dark stuff indeed.

Then I have a novel about a young lady photojournalist and her quest to get evidence of El Chupacabra (The Goatsucker). What happens when she captures a murderer on film instead of the dreaded little livestock killing beastie?

I'm hoping to be able to bring the Chupacabra to Kindle by the end of this month and the Ray Cruz story by the end of May. These projected dates coincide with Spring break and the end of the Spring semester when I'll have some time for fiddling around with making Kindle-ready files. If I can stick to this schedule, I'll be able to finish a novel in June and have it ready for Kindle - that'll be a Viktor Petrenko novel. Then I teach Summer school...

I hope that the summer will give me an opportunity to finish another novel - Isaac Newton or female serial killer? Not sure yet.

Screwtape...And Marketing

2011-03-01T12:22:00.003-05:00

I was thinking about my story "The Devil's Snare: A Comedy" yesterday for no particular reason and at some point in my cogitations I thought the story was similar to C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. I Lewis's book, a senior demon writes letters of advice to a junior demon who is trying to subvert his assigned human. The skewed point of view lends the book some humor amid some serious theology.

My story is told by the Devil himself as he tries to tempt an elderly lady. Things don't go exactly as he plans, but then, he's the Devil, so how bad can things get? Like Lewis, some humor, some serious thinking. I figured, if you like Lewis's effort, you'll like mine, so I went to Amazon and added a "tag," a label that buyers can use to find books in a category. I put down "Screwtape."

Now, Lewis is a popular author and outside of the Narnia books, Screwtape is probably his most popular work. When you go to the Kindle store at Amazon and type in "Screwtape," you get my short story 8th and I'm wondering about that. While I think there is a similarity and the actual titles of the two works share nothing in common, I wonder if I'm misleading readers. For instance, might someone think my story is some sort of C.S. Lewis fan-fiction that actually uses Screwtape as a character? Nothing in my description suggests that, but what if?

Well, I don't think I've done anything wrong - the buyer who thought they were getting Lewis fan-fiction would be making that assumption based on very little. But I don't know if there is a "tag" etiquette. If I haven't, then this seems like a good way to "position" one's work - look for similar authors and use their names/titles, etc as tags. Let me know. I'm curious to hear from more tech savvy readers.

Competent Prose and Clean Copy

2011-02-28T16:49:00.000-05:00

I have read short story submissions for contests and magazines as well as mentoring new writers. The biggest complaint of this reader? Getting what is clearly a too-early-draft. Plot holes or plots that clearly fizzle out into nothingness, grammatical troubles of the fourth-grade order. Misspelled words. Writers who misspell their own names (think it doesn't happen?).

The occasional mistake is nothing of course. We all make them. But if I read a dozen clear problems in a thousand words, I begin to think the author didn't care or is infected with texting and twittering, and the general "I don't care" of the ephemera we all produce each day. Hard to fight that. My own blog posts have their maladies.

Still...

The reader who is afraid to buy a self-published work might be afraid because of this. People don't edit themselves as well as they edit others. Happens to my students all the time - a student may have a dozen errors on a page and not see any of them. Ask them to trade with the student next to them and suddenly the red pencils find employment.

If you are a writer, please consider that editors* and readers are hampered by what a less generous soul might call sloppiness. They simply can't enjoy the story if there's a pothole in every paragraph. Let alone plot holes.

* You might ask "but isn't it the editors job to edit? Put in the missing commas, fix spelling and such?" In short: No. If the writer can't be bothered...