| February 2012
Happy Valentine's Day, All....
Ah, the holiday of love is upon us. And CHOCOLATE! I just wish it wasn't so damn fattening.
I'm still getting acquainted with my Vizio 8 tablet I bought for myself for Christmas. I'm trying (but having a hard time) not regretting buying a KindleFire.
Just as I'm starting to get acquainted with Facebook and starting to believe I might get proficient at using it, they change it! My personal page has already been converted to that Timeline thing. I don't know what happens to the professional pages. Keeping up with all of it is not only confusing, but so time-consuming.
ANNA JEFFREY NEWS:
I've finished formatting THE LOVE OF A COWBOY for Kindle, Nook and other e-publishers. Just a few more tweaks and I'll be able to upload it. I'm considering publishing it through Amazon's new KDP Select program for 90 days, just to see what happens. What that means to readers is if they have an Amazon Prime account, they'll be able to "borrow" the book for a period of time for free, rather than buying it.
The awesome Kim Killion designed the cover for it. I love the big mountain, the stormy sky and the color contrasts. I think it's beautiful and dramatic, but when I asked for opinions on my blog, http://annajeffreyauthor.wordpress.com, many of the people who commented didn't especially like it. The pictures are still up on the blog in the January archives, so if you want to give me your opinion, please comment there or drop me an email.
Would a hunky guy be more apt to make you want to read the book? Or do you prefer the original cover designed by the print publisher?
I'm almost ready to self-publish Book #1 of my trilogy. Some of you wrote me and expressed your opinion on the title and I appreciate that. The name of the series is now THE TEXAS LOCKHARTS, but I' still thinking about SONS OF TEXAS. The name of Book #1 is now simply DRAKE. But I'm not settled on that either. I'm also considering, HIS MOTHER' SON, LONE STAR SON and FAVORED SON. I've even thought about URBAN COWBOY and DRAKE'S CINDERELLA, since it's a Cinderella story. (LOL). You see how this goes?
DIXIE CASH NEWS:
My sister and I have decided to write another Dixie Cash book and self-publish it. We've decided to write the story we pitched to a New York house, but was rejected. We still like it and think it's good enough to publish. So it will take us a few months, but soon, if no disaster occurs, I'll be announcing that we're finished.
THE BLOG:
Come over and blog with us. During the month of January, I posted the following titles: "REFLECTIONS ON PRICES," a short article about the pricing of e-books; "A GAME, GIVE YOUR OPINION," in which I asked for opinions on cover designs; and "ON TO TITLES (BUGLES BLARING IN THE BACKGROUND)," in which we talk about titles. Each of those articles is archived, so if you're interested, click on the January link and they're there for you to read. And you can post a comment on them at any time.
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING:
I downloaded a couple of e-books by indie authors @ $2.99 each. Loved the price, but didn't love the books. I got about 30 pages into one, but will never finish it. I'm forcing myself to finish the other one because it's not awful. I'm just not particularly enjoying it because I wasn't in the mood for it. I'm not going to name the titles. Don't misunderstand. These books aren't any worse than many that come out of New York publishing houses. They just don't happen to be my cup of tea.
This only emphasizes how important it is for authors to accurately describe their work online. If the descriptions had been more accurate, I wouldn't have bought either of these. You can say, What difference does it make because you bought it and the author got paid a royalty. The downside is I probably will not buy any more books by either of these authors because I won't trust the descriptions.
And to follow up on the same note, I bought a print book by a traditionally published author who was recommended by a friend. I didn't enjoy her book either. I didn't even get to Page 30. I also paid full price for a brand new trade paperback, which was named the "e-book of the year" by its publisher. The only words that comes to mind for that one are boring and silly. The characters are driving me crazy. I feel compelled to read it because I paid $15 for it, but I'm struggling. To make a positive statement about it, I will say the writing is very good and I enjoy good writing, but with all that's going on in my life right now, I'm unable to appreciate the premise.
So see what I mean? I don't think I'm any different from most readers. I've concluded that reading is not only subjective to the individual, it's subjective to an individuals mood.
MEMORABLE WORDS:
How about this stuff we didn't know about McDonalds? It's from the cute little book, "Who Knew? Things You Didn't Know about Things You Know Wel," by David Hoffman:
1. McDonald's milkshakes contain seaweed, in the form of an extract called carrageenan, a thickener and emulsifier that keeps the butterfat in the shake from separating out. Hmm. I wonder if it has Omega3? That would make it healthy, right?
2. The biggest menu flops at McDonald's include Kolacky, a Bohemian pastry that had been founder Ray Kroc's mother's specialty, and the Hula Burger, which was aimed at vegetarians (including Catholics who didn't eat fish on Fridays) and consisted of two slices of cheese and a grilled pineapple ring on a toasted bun. All I can say is the imagination is a terrible thing to waste. However, I've had Kolacky before and I thought it was pretty good.
3. McDonald's teaches its employees that the fastest way to put out a shortening fire is to dump frozen French fries on it. Unless you've got a *lot* of French fries, don't try this at home.
4. And here's a bit of trivia about fast food restaurants in general: Some fast food chains spray sugar on their potatoes, which caramelizes during cooking and gives the fries their golden color. You see? There's a varmint hiding behind every corner. We have no idea what we're eating.
I have one more request of you, dear readers. I've already asked you to go to Facebook and like Anna Jeffrey, Author and Dixie Cash and to follow us on Twitter. Now I'm asking you, if you have time, to go to Amazon and "tag" the books. Tagging affects how a book climbs in the Amazon ranking.
And last, but not least, come on over and chat with us on the blog, where you can travel wherever your fingers take you.
Anna
Previous newsletters can be read by joining Anna's Yahoo group.
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