Writing, Reading, and the Distractions of Summer

Spring seemed quick, we are now into some summer-like temperatures, and it feels wonderful - until it gets too hot.

Yard Work - At one time, not so long ago, I enjoyed mowing and trimming the lawn. The lawn care only took a few hours a week, not much, but now I look at mowing as a chore that has to be done more than something I really like. In that vein, we do have some nice flowers started to show off in the yard, and that I like.

Writing Outside - I am writing churning along at five to seven hundred words a day. Right now I am doing most of my writing sitting outside on our deck. Writing outside can be a bit of a distraction watching birds at the feeder and the squirrels arriving to get their share. Living in a military town I also like to watch the helicopters, C-17s, and 

C-130s, as they circle practicing touch and goes and helicopters practice their version of the bucket brigade, for the fire season in the west.

Book Sales – My KDP pages read are way down, sales of both eBooks and soft cover books are down some but not nearly as much as the pages read has dropped. Not sure why thinks have tumbled so far on the financial side of my writing, I can only speculate.

10 Reasons Book Sales are down – My best guess

1.     People are spending all their free time mowing and trimming their lawns leaving no time to read.

2.     Fishing is picking up

3.     It is the start of picnic time

4.     School is out and adults, along with their kids, decide they will play video games on their phones instead of reading during their summer off.

5.     Too many baseball games to watch and not enough time

6.     Readers are turning to, summer romance on the beach books, instead of what they normally read

7.     Invaders from another galaxy have entered reader’s brains, and have them reading endless political and royal wedding articles online.

8.     Sunstroke

9.     Everyone has decided to reread old books

10.   Summer reruns have started on television and are too captivating to miss.

What Am I Reading? Mountains and Molehills, by Frank Marryat. I am also beta reading a book, far out of my normal genre, for an indie-author, so far it has been a fun read.

Enjoy the rest of the week, and please, keep on reading, even if the yard is calling.

Best Selling November

It’s almost the end of another month, not sure I am looking forward to cold weather, but with December, we know it is coming. I can still remember as a kid what fun it was to play in the snow. We skated, sledded, played our own version of hockey, fox and goose, snow forts and so much more. Now, I stay inside mostly. 

No snow here yet, but like a movie promo - It's coming soon

Remembering back - That's why I am still working on the fourth of my Mike and Moose and Me, series. Books for kids and about kids growing up. I have been pleasantly surprised to have found an older readership for this series also. Seems that lots of people who grew up in the 50s, 60s, and 70s have found a kinship for these books.

Winter - The third book was set in the winter, and I wrote it in the winter, remembering the fun those times were. The others in the series are set in the summer, the best time, out of school time.

Dinner time

Free Read - Take a look and read a free sample from the first of my three kids, Mike and Moose and Me, books HERE.

For a peek at all of my work CLICK HERE to go to my Amazon Author Site.

Meanwhile - Yesterday was a picture perfect day in our little part of Wyoming

Book Sales - Thanks, for making November my best month ever! It is both fun and rewarding to watch my sales continue on an upward trend.

Keep on reading and keep on writing.

Books and EBooks

Looks like January has flat lined my book sales. I remember when television medical and murder mysteries used to show a machine beeping and flashing and then a solid beep and solid red line when the patient/victim died. That is what my KDP sales look like right now. Flatlined for nine days. Looks like the New Year is off to a slow start.

Sales are as slow as this old bull in the January snow

I did sell a couple of books yesterday, books not EBooks. The sale of EBooks brings on something that still bothers me. Why are so many traditional publish houses charging so much for EBooks? I wanted to read one yesterday and it was $12.99 – too much for me. I put my name on the list at the Library and should get it next week. FREE to read.

My books are all available as EBooks or softcover books - check them our today

Often I look for older books to read as EBooks, but if they are with a big publishing house, the price is still at the original, usually over $10.00. The same book, after a couple of years, can be bought from dozens of online used book dealers for a few cents. These sellers always tack on $3.99 for shipping, which is how they make their money. I send books out for less than $3.00. Seems to me if the big publishing houses would lower their client’s EBooks to three or four dollars, after a year or two, they and the author would continue to make money. 

Hoping my sales take off soon

Book Sales Looking Up

Not sure I will ever figure out Amazon book rankings, but they are fun to follow. Actually I do understand that they are based on the old, “what have you done for me lately,” principle. That means that rankings are by both total sales and sales today, yesterday and this week.

My books have stayed pretty consistent in the top million. Doesn’t sound like much but there are 14,000,000 books for sale on the site. Of those 2,000,000 are eBook only, the other 12,000,000 available as books and many as eBook’s also.

Today I have all three of my books that are available as print books in the top 130,000 on Amazon – wow three books in the top one percent of all books sold on Amazon.

What does all that mean? Not much unless they are your books, then it can get really depressing or really exciting. Today it’s exciting, in a few days I will be back to 800,000 or so, but it is still fun to watch.

In other news, still working on revisions for my historical western, Commitment, wasn’t happy with the original eBook. That book is still available but wait for another week or 10 days and the new revised copy will be available and the book should also be available for the first time.

Still looking good to get my book of Christmas stories in the West published by November 1.

Below see screenshots from today’s rankings. I am saving these until I see better ones, hope it is not too long.

Many thanks to all of you who have taken a look and purchased my books.

Blessed and Thankful.

Product Details

·         Paperback: 258 pages

·         Publisher: Old Trails Publishing; First edition (May 18, 2015)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0692394885

·         ISBN-13: 978-0692394885

·         Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches

·         Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

·         Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item

·         Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#1686 in Books > History > Americas > United States > State & Local

Product Details

·         Series: Mike and Moose and Me Growing up Novels

·         Paperback: 136 pages

·         Publisher: Old Trails Publishing; First edition (April 16, 2015)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0692434070

·         ISBN-13: 978-0692434079

·         Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.3 x 9 inches

·         Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

·         Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item

·         Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

o    #4185 in Books > Children's Books > Humor

o    #4945 in Books > Children's Books > Action & Adventure

Product Details

·         Series: Mike and Moose and Me Growing up Novels

·         Paperback: 132 pages

·         Publisher: Old Trails Publishing; 1 edition (April 16, 2015)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0692432965

·         ISBN-13: 978-0692432969

·         Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.3 x 9 inches

·         Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

·         Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item

·         Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

o    #1975 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > Humorous

o    #4948 in Books > Children's Books > Action & Adventure

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