Screwing Up Alexandria!

Screwing Up Alexandria is here! Click here to buy it.

Book three of the Screwing Up Time series is now live on Amazon. It went live late Wednesday night—two hours after I uploaded it, which was amazing.

Even more amazing, yesterday a writing friend emailed me a screen shot and said, “Have you seen this?” I hadn’t. Screwing Up Alexandria was #1 in sales in one of its categories.

I’m excited to see how sales go today.

Here’s the cover art and book blurb.

Time traveling has never brought Mark Montgomery anything but grief. And then, things get worse.

When Mark comes home from Babylon with a coded tablet, he never dreams someone would be willing to kill to get it. But they are.  So Mark and Miranda kidnap an ancient cryptographer named Nin and take her to the Library of Alexandria to decipher it.

The search for the truth of the tablet takes all of them to the most dangerous time on earth. And when Nin ends up on an altar surrounded by blood-thirsty crowds, only Mark can save her. But he’s blind.

Also, A. B. Keuser interviewed me about Screwing Up Alexandria. Read the interview here.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards 2013

In case you didn't know, Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 has begun. The entry period started yesterday and runs through January 27, or until they receive 10,000 entries. This year they have five categories: General Fiction, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror and Young Adult Fiction . 

Last year I entered Screwing Up Time and it was a Quarter-finalist. It was a wonderful experience. (Though not everyone has had positive experiences, a lot depends on the reviewers you get.) This year I debated whether to enter or not. I'm not sure whether books in a series like Screwing Up Babylon have a chance, especially since SUB is the second book in a series not the first. (I mentioned that it was a book in a series in the pitch paragraph, so there's no confusion later.)

In the end, I have nothing to lose by entering, assuming I'm not too discouraged if the book doesn't do well. (For those of you who are considering entering--read the small print regarding exclusivity, agents, etc.)

In the meantime, good luck to everyone entering! And if you're entering, leave me a note in the comments section--I want to cheer for you!

Number One

I got an email this morning telling me that Screwing Up Time was number one in the Amazon young adult fiction tags/list. And sure enough, here it is. Yay!!

Tags

Years ago there was a line of children’s clothing called Garanimals. Each piece of clothing was tagged with a particular animal, and the idea was that if you bought all “hippo” clothing everything you bought would be interchangeable. The ideal mix and match clothing line. Of course, I’m not sure why this would be important. I’m pretty sure most people can figure out how to match a pair of pants and a shirt. Perhaps it was so parents could be sure that whatever their kids picked out to wear would match. But honestly I like it when my kids chose to wear mismatched clothes. I’d say, “Just so you know, most people don’t wear plaids and stripes at the same time.” My child would say, “I like them.” And I’d say, “Fine. I just wanted to be sure you knew.”

Of course, not all tags are silly. Some, like Amazon’s book tags, are very useful. Lately, I’ve been talking to people and discovered that a lot of people who buy books from Amazon aren’t familiar with book tags. Here’s a screenshot if you’re not sure what I’m talking about. (The tag section is located after the "Meet the Author" and "What Other Items" sections.)

Those tag boxes can be checkmarked. (A single book can have lots of tags. And if you as a reader think it should have a tag that you don’t see there, you can add it.) When readers checkmark the tags it helps other readers and authors. It helps readers because they can search for books with those categories. For example, if you like time travel books, you can find a whole host of time travel books by searching for that particular tag. Tagging books helps authors because tags are part of Amazon’s algorithm to present books to readers. The more tags (as well as purchases) a book gets the more the book gets recommended to readers. So go tag your favorite books (and my book too).

BTW, a lot of people have been asking how the sequel is going and when it’s going to be available. I’m not sure when it’s going to be available. (I’m hoping for early summer. I was hoping to have it available sooner, but my family has had one nasty sickness after another since August.) But I’m over halfway through the second big edit. Next, it will go to beta readers. Then I’ll make more edits. After that, I’ll proofread it and it’ll be good to go.

Changes: Just When You Thought You'd Figured It Out

If you're an indie writer, you've probably heard about the latest Amazon offer. If you're a reader, you might not have. But this affects all of us, so keep reading. Amazon now has a  program to allow free "borrowing" of e-books to Amazon prime members. (Amazon prime members also get free 2 day shipping and the ability to stream movies.) It's a win-win for those who pay the yearly fee--two of my adult kids are Amazon prime members.

Of course, Amazon had to sweeten the pot for writers to participate. They have a pile of gold at the end of the rainbow--they've set aside a pot of money to be split by participating writers based on the number of times their book gets "checked out." However, there's a catch. In order to qualify for Amazon's lendability, you have to sell your e-book only through Amazon. So if you're book is available through Smashwords or B&N, you have to take it down.

Honestly, the money isn't that much of an issue. I don't have any illusions that I'd get a big chunk of the cash. But what attracts me is the publicity/promos associated with it. The most difficult thing for me as an indie writer is letting people know my book is out there and that they'd like it. (Maybe it's because I have a tendency to be shy. I don't meet people and say, "Hey, I'm Connie. I wrote a book and you should buy it because you'd love it." But I'm learning.) Amazon used to do more promotions for indie books, but that changed. And with that, writers saw their sales tumble. It's like being in a book store. It used to be that Amazon would put your book out on the display rack at the front of the store or on the endcaps. Now you get a couple of days there, and then you're shelved in the back corner where the lighting's poor--no one find you unless they're looking. (If you're a reader, you can help indie writers by telling your friends about books you love and writing book reviews on Amazon and GoodReads, etc.)

After thinking these things through and reading lots of opinions, every indie writer has a strong opinion, I've decided to take Amazon up on their offer. I'll be taking Screwing Up Time down from Barnes and Noble's site for three months. (If you've been planning on buying the novel for Nook, do it today.) During the three months, you can buy it Amazon (on sale for 99cents) or borrowing it if you're an Amazon Prime members.

So wish me luck and stay tuned, I'll let you know how it goes.