I can't believe I'm writing 2012 on things.
The shopping season has passed and I’m so glad. I’m finally able to take a deep breath and think. Now I have to catch up with all that I’ve neglected since the middle of November.
I made no resolutions for the New Year. My only promise to myself is to stay busy writing and getting my books uploaded on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. If I’m diligent, I could write my whole trilogy this year. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. More overly optimistic thinking.
I coveted a KindleFire for most of the season, then ended up buying a Vizio 8 tablet for myself. It isn’t quite as sexy and powerful as an iPad, but it’s fine for me and cost half the money of an iPad. And I can download an app for the Kindle Store onto it.
Did you get a digital reader for Christmas? If so, have you downloaded books and started reading on it? And do you love it? The season was a blow-out for digital reading devices of all kinds as well as digital books. Amazon claims to have sold more than a million Kindles per week in December. That’s a lot. And that statistic doesn’t include all of the Nooks, the Kobo readers, the Sony readers and the iPads that were sold.
2011 will go down as the year the world of publishing and reading was forever changed. Only time will tell the future of traditional publishing and book stores. We’ve been discussing this revolution on the blog: http://annajeffreyauthor.wordpress.com. Surf over and leave a comment of your own.
As successful as digital reader sales were, Barnes & Noble apparently wasn’t helped much. Their stock has taken a 20% drop since Christmas and they’re considering spinning off the Nook. If they separate Nook from their bricks and mortar stores, the financial gurus predict they will follow the path of Borders. They already look more like a gift store than a book store. It’s very sad. I fear that in the not too distant future, you’ll be buying your books only online or at big box stores, which, by necessity, have a limited selection.
I finally have my Facebook professional page going in the direction I want. I would so appreciate if those of you who are on Facebook would go to Anna Jeffrey, Author and click on the “like” box. I hope to close my personal page in 2012 and just have the professional page where I will make announcements and discuss book-related stuff. I really don’t need two FB pages.
ANNA JEFFREY NEWS:
I’m getting closer to finishing the formatting for THE LOVE OF A COWBOY for Kindle, Nook and other e-publishers. I wanted to get it done by the end of December, but I didn’t make it. Now I’m shooting for the middle of January. Never set a goal too high, I always say. :-(
In the December newsletter, I asked about opinions of the title of the trilogy I’ll soon be self-publishing. The mail I received all liked “The Lockharts of Texas.” Meanwhile, I started to think about “Sons of Texas.” More dithering. But I'll settle on something soon.
THE BLOG:
The invitation to come and join me and others on the blog still stands. Here’s the link: http://annajeffreyauthor.wordpress.com If you’re on Twitter, please come and trade “follows” with me on Twitter.
I don’t say anything profound in either place, but I do try to keep abreast of what’s going on around us.
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING:
I started a romantic suspense by Roxanne St.Claire, “Kill Me Twice” It’s the first in a series she’s calling “Bullet Catchers.” If you like romantic suspense, you might like this one. I’m not a big fan of that genre, but Roxanne is a good writer and someone that I know personally, so I enjoy reading her books. Other than that, I’m catching up on reading articles in trade journals. Through Christmas, I got behind on that, too.
MEMORABLE WORDS:
Here are some pearls of trivia from a little book called “Who Knew? Things You Didn’t Know about Things You Know Well” by David Hoffman:
“If Jell-O is hooked up to an EEG, it registers movements virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult.” Is that scary, or what? So now if you say someone has a head full of Jell-O, you won’t be kidding.
“The original Twinkies filling was banana. It was changed to vanilla crème during World War II, when the United States experienced a banana shortage.” Hmm. Now I’m trying to imagine that.
“Peanut butter’s high protein content draws moisture from your mouth, which is why in the end, it always sticks to the roof of your mouth.” Well, I, for one, having choked on peanut butter more than once, am glad to know that explanation.
“The largest McDonald’s is in Beijing, China. It measures more than 28,000 thousand square feet, seats 700, has 2 kitchens and 29 registers.” All I can say is holy cow. We forget just how greatly the Chinese outnumber us.
Come chat with us on the blog.
Anna
Previous newsletters can be read by joining Anna's Yahoo group.
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