On click bait

What bizarre internet algorithm landed my book cover in “FROM THE WEB “ alongside quick fixes for Swamp Girls with eye bags?

I couldn't resist clicking on it (click bait?!) and was stunned to find this ad occupying the top of this Scribd site touting their $8.99-all-you-can-read buffet.

I paid for no advertising. Does Scribd offer 49¢ worth of free ad time to new books to their site? I doubt it. All I can say is my branching out to seven new ebook outlets, along with this free marketing boost, have amounted to exactly zero (0) new sales.

We keep trying.

On ebooks

Over the last three years I've published my ebooks exclusively through Amazon Kindle in order to take advantage of their 70% royalty rate for doing so. Problem is I ain't sellin' any through them lately and have decided to expand to multiple vendors such as B&N, iBooks and others displayed in this post.

Today No Happier State is no longer under any exclusive contractual obligation with Kindle and will soon be available through these other outlets (as well as Amazon). The same will happen with The Cary Grant Sanatorium and Playhouse and The Adventures of Hank Fenn later this month, and the other three at the end of January.

Time will tell if this jump-starts my sales. One thing is for sure, your Facebook feeds will be deluged with links to these new outlets and for that I apologize.

Right...

On sale now!

The Adventures of Hank Fenn is out and available in paperback and digitally at Amazon. The hope is that Magers & Quinn will be carrying it by the end of the month (I'm not even due to receive my copies till Jan. 27).

2015 saw me publish three books which all started out fine sales-wise then fizzled over the last half of the year. Somehow I have to get beyond Facebook and business card word of mouth and move on to another level. All in all, the 103 copies sold were far more satisfying than the 100-plus rejections I likely would've received had I continued on the more traditional path.

There's talk of a trade show this spring (at which I may be the only writer) at the Union Depot in St. Paul. I'd have to figure out how to set up some sort of slide show (been watching Youtube videos) involving book covers and blurbs. And what if someone wants to buy one? Taxes, credit cards... And what if no one buys one? Then I'm stuck with a bunch of books... So much to learn.

Meanwhile I work on book #5, The Great American Scrapbook. It's the long-awaited sequel to Alice and Her Grand Bell. The much-anticipated sequel to No Happier State, too. And The Adventures of Hank Fenn, for that matter. Come to think of it, if you're worried about those quadruplets born on that train, it serves as a sequel to Bonus Man, as well. And a prequel to more...

FREE!

In the past weeks I conducted a bit of an experiment. Periodically I give away Kindle copies of my books. I think early on I once gave away thirty-some books over a two-day period; a couple months ago only three books were given away in a one-day promotion for Bonus Man. Three stinkin' books. For free.

Then I stumbled into a list of sites that'll promote your freebies for free. I signed up for eight of them. I also promoted the free dates on Facebook and two writers' forums, like I always do. One freebie site sent me an email that they had tweeted my free promo to 42,900 of its followers. Others sent emails and/or flooded my Facebook with their ads. With all this help I gave away 21 copies of Alice and Her Grand Bell. Five days later, using the same marketing plan, I gave away 15 copies of Bonus Man.

Unimpressed, I had another promo a week later, this time I used only Facebook—ignoring all the freebie sites and the writers' forums—and gave away 16 copies of No Happier State. Hardly worth the effort of dealing with all those freebie sites, though their ads are still all over my email and Facebook. Thanks. (Maybe I need to be on Twitter...)

On a related note, the good people at Cracked Walnut shared a review site called Emily Reads Everything. Seems she has a regular feature called “Awesome Indies.” Signed up, hopefully to get a review. Not sure about the term indie. It used to pertain to small, independent presses but lately has been taken over by self-published authors who don't wanna be called self-published. As a self-published author I hope I qualify. Seems like a great site. We'll see how it works out...

On bookstore shelves

Magers & Quinn Booksellers, that fine Uptown establishment, has agreed to carry my novels—two of each, for starters. Doesn't seem like much but I've probably exhausted my FB friends and those where I work. This means selling to strangers. We'll see how that works.

One thing I have discovered through this bookselling journey: The surest cure for writer's block is researching self-publishing, promotion and marketing. Twenty minutes of reading articles or opinions on Facebook ads or review sites is enough to drive anyone to write. Consequently I've made great strides in getting my fourth book done by the end of the year.

Until then, expect to be inundated with 'suggestions'—here, on FB, maybe even that Twitter if I figure the thing out—that you shop M&Q for my books. Promotion is part of our agreement. And it's a wonderful store.

On the Radio

NO HAPPIER STATE (Americana #2) is set to be read and recorded for airing on Radio Talking Book (a part of the MN Services for the Blind) by legendary Twin Cities' actor William P. Studor. RadioTalking Book is a network for people with impaired vision. They have special receivers which allow them to listen to books recorded by volunteers.

No timetable just yet, but I'm honored to have the book be part of such a wonderful program.

Also: Special thanks to Satish P. Jayaraj, Cracked Walnut and everyone involved in Fractured Fairy Tales at The Lift Garage (see May 21 post). I, for one, had a great time!

Paperback & Kindle

NO HAPPIER STATE (Americana #2) is now available in paperback, as well as Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UJW5FOA

While the menfolk carve Mount Rushmore above, Pêche Appleton sells her own tiny sculptures to the Depression-era onlookers below. Some find them offensive, particularly Taft-Stuck-in-a-Bathtub, the Cancan-Dancing-Presidents, and the whole Jefferson-and-the-Slave-Girl series. Pêche is married to Ernie, star shortstop for the town team, and NO HAPPIER STATE is their story of love, small town scandal and national political outrage.

Their love is at first sight when they're twelve. The scandal revolves around the baby. The outrage involves their friends: Steinke, a German-born Jew, sent to an internment camp because the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and Bad Glove Hand, a Lakota Sioux, heads for Hollywood only to be blacklisted as a Communist—but not before implicating actor Ronald Reagan in the same plot.

Despite their own personal burdens—and the Depression and a World War—love and friendship prevail in NO HAPPIER STATE (Americana #2).

On pre-order

My second novel, NO HAPPIER STATE, is now on pre-order here, with a release date set for March 18. The paperback will also go on sale on that date. It goes like this:

While the menfolk carve Mount Rushmore above, Pêche Appleton sells her own tiny sculptures to the Depression-era onlookers below. Some find them offensive, particularly Taft-Stuck-in-a-Bathtub, the Cancan-Dancing-Presidents, and the whole Jefferson-and-the-Slave-Girl series. Pêche is married to Ernie, star shortstop for the town team, and NO HAPPIER STATE is their story of love, small town scandal and national political outrage.

Their love is at first sight when they're twelve. The scandal revolves around the baby. The outrage involves their friends: Steinke, a German-born Jew, sent to an internment camp because the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and Bad Glove Hand, a Lakota Sioux, heads for Hollywood only to be blacklisted as a Communist—but not before implicating actor Ronald Reagan in the same plot.

Despite their own personal burdens—and the Depression and a World War—love and friendship prevail in NO HAPPIER STATE (Americana #2).

Also, ALICE AND HER GRAND BELL (Kindle version) is FREE March 12 & 13. Plus, we just received a new Amazon review!

On 2015

I believe I've posted about everything I've actually done over the past year—which is a sad commentary on my social life. I probably neglected a couple of Twins games and there was a ten-day stretch recently where I hit First Avenue three times: Lucinda Williams, Nick Lowe, and the Curtiss A Lennon Tribute. All worth getting out of the apartment for. I work till midnight tonight, so that'll be the end to my 2014.

2015 will bring the self-publication of three completed novels and at least one more now in the works. Alice and Her Grand Bell may be out as early as next week. My sister Susan Tinkham is at work on the cover. The plan is to pub No Happier State in March and Bonus Man likely in May.

I don't mind saying I've worked really hard on all three books and it scares the hell out of me to put them out there on a hope and a prayer.

When did I start praying?

* * *

Totally unrelated Twins prediction: Since I seem to be the only one who thinks it takes more than a few months to recover from a season-ending concussion (see Justin Morneau's recent 3-year recovery), I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that Joe Mauer will shake off that last lingering cobweb and contend for another AL batting title this year.

Happy New Year!

A good week

Okay, I know it's been nearly two months since my last post but nothing was going on, till last week: On Thursday I got a phone call from Tom Jenks (current Narrative Magazine fiction editor, former Esquire fiction editor) accepting me into a writers' workshop he runs in San Francisco. I submitted the first three chapters of No Happier State by way of applying for the course and we spent 35 minutes discussing that and other things. He said my manuscript lacked direction and perspective. (One could probably use that to sum up my whole life...) Anyhow, that happens in January.

Then, Saturday morning, I received an email from About Place Journal telling me that an excerpt from the same novel would be included in their “Peaks and Valleys” issue. Should be out soon and I'll post a link.

Another excerpt

As promised earlier, here's the link to another excerpt from No Happier State, published in the latest issue of The Fieldstone Review. It's the last one: “The Only Good Indian.” I could make a big deal out of them deciding to call me William rather than Will, but I won't...

On Another Publication

Just found out another excerpt from No Happier State will be published shortly in the 2012 edition of The Fieldstone Review. It's a wonderful publication out of the U. of Saskatchewan. My last four publications have been Australia, France, France and now Canada. Why can't I get pubbed in the US?

I believe the edition's theme is "shredded daisies" and I don't pretend to know exactly what they were after except that the stories should be political in nature. "The Only Good Indian" introduces Bad Glove Hand, a Lakota Sioux dealing with the contradictions involved with his working on Mount Rushmore. (More on Bad Glove on the left edge of this page.) Will post a link in the next few weeks.

On Being Interviewed

It occurs to me that I've forgotten to post an interview I was lucky enough to get over at Mary Vettel's blog. So here it is.

Novel excerpt accepted / published

In time for your D-Day celebration, I've had a novel excerpt (from No Happier State) accepted for publication in mgversion2datura, an online mag out of France these days (I believe). This D-Day 68th Anniversary issue will also be out in a print version soon. More later...

 

Well, that was fast. It's already out. Available in print here: mgversion2>datura. And online: D-Day 68thAnniversary Anthology.