Stay Posted ... New Theme - Guest Authors

Just letting you all know that in a couple of weeks I will be having a guest blogger -- author, Michael Murphy, who has a published novel, Scorpion Bay, just released this month. I'm so excited for him! He will be writing about ... well, writing! And of course a bit about his novel, Scorpion Bay ... oh, did I mention that already? And that I'm excited for him?

Anyway, stay tuned for his visit, sometime around the middle of April. Until then ...

To Kindle or Not to Kindle - That is the Publishing Question

Hot off the presses .... Amanda Hocking's creations -- the Trylle triology, for one. If you've been following publishing trends in the news, you may already be aware of what's happening. Like it or not, self-publishing, especially in ebook format, is blazing a trail and aiming for the clouds or the heavens or however far up it can reach! With the creation of ebook readers, monster outlets like Amazon, easy to use tools provided by CreateSpace and Kindle Direct, an author can easily self-publish at little to no cost and be up and running on the Amazon website quicker than you can blink an eye ... okay maybe not quite that fast, but it's only a matter of weeks, not months or a year such as it takes with traditional publishers. And you don't have to "pass the gates of entry" to get by the agents and publishers who must approve you when taking the traditional route.
I know what some of you are thinking ... how good can those books be? Well, I had my doubts. Since the big hype, I've purchased a couple of self-pub books, ebook format, for my reader. I've been reading Amanda's Switched. It's for young adult readers and has the fantasy or paranormal element to it. It may not be great prose, but the story is engaging. At least as engaging as it can be for this adult reader! The thing is that her books selling. Selling BIG. I mean like 450,000 copies in the month of January alone. Now, at 99 cents a pop on Amazon, with the author's take of 30%? You figure the math. Not shabby. Right? Anyway, the whole new trend of this is something to think about ... for readers, for writers, for publishers, for agents ... everyone in the game!

Read much more about this interesting topic and phenom in USA Today ...

Authors Catch Fire