Adventures in Publishing

So...I've got four stories up for sale on Amazon Kindle, and it's been quite a learning experience.

One thing I've learned is that anyone...and I mean ANYONE can publish a book on Amazon, so my initial pride at publishing my first book has been slightly diminished by this fact.

Since I started publishing my stuff on Amazon, I thought I'd check out some of the other material written by indie writers, and so much of it is complete and utter dreck.  Some of what I am reading looks like it was written by teenagers.  Here is a sample excerpt from a story I was browsing over called "Cupids Arrow Hits the Target"

"Jenn a grad school teacher, in a very poor neighborhood.  And yes she just loves her job.
Her folks were just working people, mom was a house mom and dad worked in a factory.
Threw all those years they were never well to do people.  So all of the children were more than grateful for whatever they got..."

This is exactly how it was written, word for word.  Unbelievably bad, and after getting two positive reviews (likely from relatives), it is now getting trashed by the legitimate reviewers.  Then there are other books where you can tell the author put absolutely no effort into.  I looked at one, 12 page book supposedly about Abraham Lincoln which was basically just a copy of (unreadable) news clippings.

I think it's great that Amazon is providing an opportunity for writers to publish their material without having to jump through hoops or pay money to agents, but when people who clearly have no idea how to write are publishing this sort of material, in a way it hurts everyone.  Readers will become reluctant to buy anything written by an indie author if this is the bulk of what they are being offered.  I do understand, however, that these types of books will likely fade into obscurity, and the ones that are good will somehow find an audience.  It's not easy, though.  Someone has to first buy the book, and tell others that it's either good or bad.  For indie authors, reviews will either kill your book, or push it to the next level.

So far I've been pretty lucky.  I've gotten almost entirely positive reviews, and my books are actually selling (slowly, but still selling.)  "An American Teacher in Taiwan" is currently selling the most, but my last book, the fiction book "Interstate 10" is gaining fast and is already second in sales.  "From Taiwan to Texas" is selling okay, and "The Reluctant Austinite" seems DOA.  Not that it's gotten bad reviews (actually it hasn't got any), it just probably has an extremely limited appeal.

I've learned that fiction seems to be where the audience is at on Amazon.  500 people downloaded my fiction story when I offered it for free for a couple of days, where the others were less than 200.  So that's likely what I'll be focusing on in the future.

So to anyone who is reading this blog who happened to buy any of my books, thanks. If you happened to leave  a positive review, thanks for that as well.

"GO FIGURE" Now on Sale for Amazon Kindle!

"Go Figure" is the first in a series of children's books by author/artist Dennis Young.

Dennis is known as the musician who played in the legendary 80's band "Liquid Liquid."  Recently, he has focused his creative skills on painting & drawing.  Along with his paintings in exhibits on record covers, he now has completed his first in a series of children's books called "Go Figure."

The book revolves around unique characters where kids can use their imagination to create a storyline each time they look thru the pages of the book.  Grown-ups are encouraged to join in the fun.  So, grab your kids and "GO FIGURE"

Here is the link that will take you directly to the book.

Legitimate Work at Home Jobs and Opportunities

Don't worry, my blog hasn't been hacked.  I'm going to be promoting a few websites and products to help some people out, so here's the first one!

This is a website called I'm Here For You.  It's got a lot of great advice on how to make money from home (and who doesn't want to make money from home?)

You can link directly to the website here

My First Fiction Book Now Available

My first short fiction story is now available at Amazon on the Kindle for only 99 cents.  It's called "Interstate 10" and it's a supernatural/suspense/horror thing around 40-50 pages (depending on the size of your Kindle.)

If you happen to pick it up, keep in mind that this is a short story, and that's the reason why events transpire rather quickly.  So please don't complain about it being too short.  It's supposed to be.

The same guy (idrewdesign) designed the cover for this.  It wasn't the image I was expecting, but I still like it.  It's still better than anything I could have done on my own.

I haven't gotten my nerve up to write a novel yet, nor am I even sure I can do it.  The time and dedication it takes to write a novel are daunting.  With continual interruptions from the wife and kids, it's difficult to even write a short story these days.  I'd have to be able to lock myself into a room for 8 hours a day to put the kind of effort into a novel that I'd like to.

My regular readers of this blog (assuming they are still around) are probably saying "Is that what this blog has become now?  Just a promotional tool for your freakin' books on Amazon?!"

The answer is YES AND NO.

I have no more books pending on the horizon.  My blog/books are finished, and that was the only short story I had been working on.  That's it for now.  So...eventually I'll return to the blog you once remembered, but of course I'll still my promote my stuff.  Who wouldn't?  :)

You can buy the short story here.

And Finally...The Third Book!

So...I have another book out, called "The Reluctant Austinite."  I've decided, with this book, I'm not going to go all out and try to promote it (other than this blog, of course).  This is just a simple, under the radar release for me.

When I was editing the 2nd book, "From Taiwan to Texas," I had realized that I left out a lot of the Texas and Austin stories, and I wanted to make a special book with just those stories (and several of my other stories as well.)  It's not like the other books at all.  It doesn't really touch any of the deep and dark sections of the other books.  This is more of a light-hearted thing, which means I'll be lucky to sell one or two copies (okay, maybe three.)

Speaking of sales, I was a bit surprised to see that my previous two books are actually selling.  I'm averaging about maybe one per day.  Okay, these aren't life changing numbers, but something is better than nothing, right?  Reading the "Author Forums" on Amazon, I've seen many writers complaining about not selling a single copy of their book, after months and months.  So I guess selling a dozen or so is something to celebrate.  I also had a few promotional days where I gave the book away for free, and several hundred people downloaded them.  The promotional days are supposed to encourage people to buy your other work.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Anyway, this is my final book (I promise!) that will be based around my blogs.  There won't be any more.  The next book I plan to publish on Amazon will be a fiction story that I'm working on right now.  It's a short story, probably under 50 pages, that I'll sell for around 99 cents when it's finished.  I'm hoping that some of my loyal readers (however few or many there may be) will follow me to the next genre.  We'll see.

You can buy the third book here

Second Book Now Available!

My second book is now available for sale.  Called (big surprise) "From Taiwan to Texas: Life in Mid-America."  Yes, it's based on THIS blog.  The one you are reading right now.

"Is the book an exact copy of this blog?" you ask yourself.

The answer is NO...it is not.  The second book is actually based on the second half of my first blog, "An American Teacher in Taiwan" and I chose some selected highlights in this blog as well (which have now been removed, per Amazon's policy.)  My first blog is still up, but now I'm using at as more of a promotional tool.

The new book does include a couple of stories that I've never told before.  Stories that, at the time they happened, they were just too personal for me to write in the blog.  They are only in the book, so...being the smooth capitalist that I am, you would have to buy the book to read them.  Hey...it's only $2.99, cheaper than a meal at McDonalds!

I hired the same guy once again to do the cover for this book, and again he impressed me.

I hope to have a third book out sometime this year, and I promise you it won't have "Taiwan" in the title.

So..here is the link for the new book should you wish to purchase it!