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I AM UNAVAILABLE (maybe you are too)

November 15, 2018 by in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as , , ,

This morning the wonderful author, Mindy Neff, forwarded a blog post by David Gaugrhran. I had to read it twice to understand that Amazon had a problem and it affected me. Somehow many of our books are now unavailable for sale in the European market. Most of these markets are very small and those readers access  Amazon through the U.S. portal. Granted I don’t sell many books in Malta, but I would like to have a presence there. But these weren’t the only markets in play. Australia – a huge market for me – is compromised. The UK, another market where my sales were solid is now nonexistent. Canada also is showing unavailability.

I had noticed the sad state of affairs on my dashboard in the last few weeks, but I put it down to a change in fashion. Perhaps people were tired of thrillers; perhaps another sub-genre had edged out my procedurals. Now it seems that – best guess – the new software Amazon put in place to comply with the EU’s demands to protect their population from information gathering and sharing might be at fault. I applaud the effort Amazon made for compliance, but I am disappointed in the lack of communication regarding the problem.

There is also good news to be gleaned from this. First, the community of authors is generous. Thank you Mindy for passing along this information. Thank you David Gaugrahn for explaining the situation as you know it. Both have allowed me to be proactive in contacting Amazon. I haven’t heard back yet, but through the grapevine I understand Amazon is working hard on the problem. Next, this was a wake-up call for me. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information coming my way. Like a reader skipping to get to the end of a book, I can miss things that are crucial to my business. I am recommitting to staying on top of things. Finally, such an ‘event’ reminds me why I went wide. While I have an aversion to selling my work to one outlet based solely on principal, this reminds me that there are also real reasons not to so so. With Amazon dark in so many markets I am still available through Smashwords itself and the platforms to which they deliver.

Maybe now is the time for you to take a minute to reassess your publication strategy. Selling only through Amazon might be a perfect match for you. As for me? I want to do everything I can to remain available.

Rebecca Forster started writing on a crazy dare, now she is the USA Today and Amazon best selling author of over 35 books. Her thrillers have been called “Perfect. . .Impossible to put down” by the CBS legal correspondent, Laurie Levenson. Rebecca is married to a superior court judge and is the  mother of two grown sons.

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Goodbye Kindle Worlds . . . or why I need a hug by Jina Bacarr

July 11, 2018 by in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Even the biggest bag of Godiva chocolates from my favorite warehouse club store doesn’t last forever . . .

Such a fate has also befallen Kindle Worlds.

As of July 16th, all Kindle Worlds books will no longer be available on Amazon Kindle.

It’s a sad time for those of us who fell in love with the worlds created by some great authors.

I wrote six Kindle Worlds books — five for “The Royals of Monterra” and one for “Vampire Girl.”

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On July 1st, I checked my KW books and they had already been taken down — or so I thought.

Then I discovered they were back up!! I have no idea why this happened, but I’m certain that by July 16th, the Kindle Worlds program will be closed across the board.

The authors get their rights back — but in order to republish them, we have to remove the “world” from our stories. Not always easy . . .

I’m not sure when I’ll do this — I’ve started another story in the same line as my Italian prince billionaire submission for a publisher. It will take a while to re-do six books, so as a tribute to the worlds I participated in, I decided to post the videos for five of my books and a graphic for the sixth.

Here they are.

Thank you, KW, for the opportunity to participate in this program! And yes, I could use a hug. It’s always sad to see your characters ride off into the digital sunset . . . but they’ll be back!!

Jina

PS — I’m excited to be a Featured Author this month!! Check out my other books, too, especially in you love Civil War time travel romance and my WW 2 time travel romance3.

The Royals of Monterra series:

Twisted Tiaras: Princesses with a Past

Book 1: Royal Dare http://bit.ly/1sAkoKJ

It ain’t easy getting clean . . . even for a princess.

Book 2: Royal Bride https://amzn.com/B01N3U44OH

Can a sexy prince give a girl a second chance at love?

Book 3: Royal Kiss http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MY91GBM

Even a goody two shoes princess can get lost down the rabbit hole.

Book 4: Royal Noel http://a.co/65GYfHH

A pretty con artist risks everything when she falls for a handsome duke


Fairy Tales & Magic:

Royal Magic https://amzn.com/B01I21TIF6

The magic is in his kiss . . . a Philly girl falls in love with a royal magician.


Vampire Girl series:

Princess Moonglow http://a.co/7MGyUqz

Can a girl with a weird superpower find happiness with a hottie vampire?


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Hop aboard The Magic Christmas Train — nominate my book & get a Free copy from Amazon if it’s selected for publication by Jina Bacarr

September 11, 2017 by in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Magic Christmas Train from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.

Ever since I could hold a microphone, I haven’t stopped telling stories. I used to record fairy tales on an old tape recorder when I was a kid . . . then later I went on to radio doing live commercials, news, voiceovers, interviews, talk radio, etc.

I love to tell stories and add pictures and music.

Which is why I couldn’t resist putting together this 2:00 video about my Kindle Scout book “The Magic Christmas Tree.” Imagine if you could go back to a special Christmas, see family and friends you miss, and change the course of your life . . . and save the man you love from being killed overseas during World War 2.

If you ever wanted to go home again . . . this is the story for you!

A hot, sexy hero, a spunky heroine who tries to save him, and the magic of a small town Christmas . . . and plenty of good food!

So hop aboard the Magic Christmas Train and meet the Arden Family doing their best to support the troops during that Christmas of 1943.

I’d really appreciate your nomination . . . part of the process is getting your book “Hot” and it’s not easy! So any help is much appreciated. Thank you!

You can check out The Magic Christmas Train HERE =

Jina

 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/JinaBacarr.author

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JinaBacarr

Once Upon a Story blog: http://jinabacarr.wordpress.com

Videos: https://vimeo.com/user216350

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/jbacarr

 

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News Flash: e-Books Older Than You May Think by Linda McLaughlin

August 16, 2017 by in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as , , , , ,

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about my preference for e-books over print. In it, I talked about reading my first e-book in 1999. Some of the commenters were amazed to hear that (so young) and author Alina K. Field suggested I write about e-book history. This blog post is a revised version of one I wrote in three years before.

News flash: e-books have been around since at least 1971 when Project Gutenberg started digitizing public domain works. The US Declaration of Independence was the first document chosen.

Janet reading

My dear departed friend Janet Cornelow reading on her eBookwise, 2006

I started reading e-books in 1999 on my laptop. I’d gone to the Romance Writers of America conference in Chicago and signed up to moderate a panel. By sheer serendipity, I was assigned to moderate the e-book panel presented by Janet Lane Walters and the late great Jane Toombs, two true e-book pioneers. I came away with an interest in e-books and a couple of samples on 3 1/2 inch diskettes. (Remember those?)

Back home, I read the books on my laptop using either Adobe Acrobat or an Internet browser, depending on whether the format was PDF or HTML. I’m a voracious reader and book buyer, and the house was already full of print books. The idea of being able to store book on my computer seemed like a godsend to me. A way to buy and hoard store books without cluttering my already cluttered house. I was hooked!

Commercial e-books were in their infancy, but dozens of small publishers sprang up, most of them no longer in business. Ellora’s Cave was the best known of the early small e-book houses. My publisher, Amber Quill Press, started in 2002 and closed its doors in 2015. Romance readers got hooked early, and small presses deserve credit for reviving the paranormal romance genre, which NY had lost interest in, for feeding the erotic romance craze and for pioneering gay erotic romance.

While e-book readers were a tiny minority at first, the growth became explosive, often 50% in a year, though sadly has slown since. The numbers didn’t start to hit critical mass until Amazon got into the game with the Kindle 1 in late 2006, though Sony gets the credit for having the first available e-ink reader. There were commercial e-readers available before the Sony Reader and the Kindle: the original Rocket e-book reader, its successor the RCA Gemstar 1100, requiring a stylus to make selections. (You had to press a lot harder than on a tablet.) Also, books could be read on the little PDAs, like the Palm Pilot and Pocket PC. I read a lot on my Sony Clie.

Kindle 1

Kindle 1

My RCA Gemstar gave out shortly before the release of the Kindle1. I briefly considered getting a Sony reader, but decided that Amazon had already shown a commitment to the book business which I didn’t see Sony making, so decided to order the Kindle, despite the $399 price. I loved it from the beginning. There was no touch screen, just a wheel for scrolling up and down plus the keyboard. It seems unwieldy now.

Amazon’s real innovation, the one that made it the leader in the industry, was the one-click purchase followed by wireless delivery directly to your device. No more having to buy from the publisher’s site–with different accounts at each site, were we dedicated ebook readers or what?–download the books to your computer and then side load your e-books using the USB cable. Sadly, one-click ordering tolled the death knell of many small publishers.

One-click buying took e-book reading beyond the limits of the technologically proficient among us. The ability to download a sample before buying was (and still is) another popular feature. I was an early adopter of the Kindle 1 and still have my device, though it’s no longer in use. I’ve moved on to a Kindle Keyboard and the iPad.

Do you read e-books? If so, when did you start and what device(s) do you use?

Linda McLaughlin

Website: https://lindalyndi.com

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The Long Hot Summer . . . and writing by Jina Bacarr

July 11, 2017 by in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as , , , , , , ,

Ninety degrees.

In the shade.

It’s been a hot beginning to summer here in SoCal. Perfect time to write . . . or maybe not. It’s hard to think when you’ve got a cold pack on your head, but it’s even harder when you’re writing about Christmas.

Oh, is it. I keep forgetting to put a coat on my heroine or remind her not to forget her gloves. One good thing. The year I’m writing about — 1943 — there was little if any snow in my heroine’s part of the world. Pennsylvania Dutch country. But it was cold. 17 degrees at night. So I fill her up with hot soup — and thank God, coffee wasn’t rationed as much by ’43, but there’ s no hot cocoa. Chocolate went to the servicemen in the form of a D Ration bar — chocolate and filled with vitamins.

The best part about writing this story about a second chance at love via time travel is the love scenes.

Plenty of hot kisses to go around.

So the morale of my little tale is: whether you’re writing about summer or winter, make sure the love scenes are hot!!

Jina


Speaking of hot, reenacting the Civil War during the summer months can raise the temps, too, especially if you’re thrust back in time to the Battle of Antietam in 1862.

Like my heroine in LOVE ME FOREVER.

Love Me Forever is a big family saga with lots of angst and sexy heroes…if you like Civil War time travel, two wild, feisty heroines and the men they love, it’s on sale through today, July 11th, for 99 cents!

I’ve worked on this book for a long time…in between other books, always hearing no publisher wants a Civil War book, but I didn’t want to give up on my two feisty heroines and the military men they love…a story that spotlights the women of the Civil War.

I didn’t give up and Love Me Forever was selected as a Kindle Scout Winner!

Family is the theme of LOVE ME FOREVER. Two very different women, Liberty Jordan and Pauletta Sue Buckingham, with different ideas are thrown together in a mad, crazy scheme of spying, lost love, and passionate desire for what they can’t have.

The men they love.

Do they get their men?

Well, it is a romance, but it’s also a wild dramatic journey based on actual events in the Civil War. Liberty and Pauletta Sue will make you cheer, then cry, then hold your breath when it looks like all is lost…

LOVE ME FOREVER is available on Kindle and KU and is 99 cents through July 11, 2017.

Ends at midnight!

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