Money

A lot of us authors say we're not into the writing business to make money. That has to be true, judging from the data on how much authors make from books compared to the time spent writing them, as well as the time and money spent promoting them.

Still, it helps to get some of it back. I just got my author copies of Killer Career this week and sold three of them at work. It's not a lot of money, but it did feel good to have the money coming in instead of going out.

The downside is I have to go to the bank and deposit it. That's not hard to do, but putting the money into the bank isn't all. I also need to keep track of what's what. Today's deposit is subject to Illinois sales taxes, so I'm putting it in my checking account. That will remind me at the end of the year that 10 per cent is due the State of Illinois. Come December, that amount may change, as Cook County is repealing the tax increase then. That means I'll have to remember to charge less in taxes on whatever date in December it rolls back, also I'll need to fill out two separate sections in the business sales tax form.

There are other downsides to bringing in money for books. I should be happy I'm getting money, but I don't like having to keep track of it. Still, it goes with the territory.

Gee, I'd hate to be a bestselling author. What a hassle that would be. Only kidding.

Continuing on with the frenetics at Acme

I'm continuing on with my frenetic happenings at Acme. The link is http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com if you want to see what I'm up to.

Thanks,
Morgan

A POST OFFICE IN MY FUTURE

My author copies arrived today. After the DH and I picked them up at my brother's house, I couldn't get anything accomplished. I had to check every box to make sure my babies were okay and that someone else's babies hadn't been substituted. Okay, I didn't go over every book, but I did peek inside the first two or three rows in each box and all appears to be well. They did survive the ride over.

Anyway, I was admiring the babies so much and so distracted, I couldn't do lots of the things I still need doing, like getting letters ready to send out for reviews, and lots more, way too much to mention.

Anyway, I hope to get one or two letters ready during the week, but Saturday is the target day for dropping off the main bulk of them. Watch out, post office, here I come!

Crazy times

I'm not posting as much here lately because I've got so much going on. It's been kind of organized bedlam lately. All sorts of summer doings to attend. I don't want to disappoint the DH by not partipating, though it takes time away from the production of Killer Career.

All kinds of kinks for Killer Career being worked out, since I want my baby to be perfect.

In the works is a Blog Book Tour, which I plan to start on August 15. When it's all finalized, I'll be posting the topics and sites here.

Gotta go to a birthday party now.
Morgan

KILLER CAREER Already at Barnes & Noble.Com

Just for the heck of it, I went over to Barnes and Noble.com and searched for Morgan Mandel

Killer Career Came Up!

I'm not sure if orders can be taken yet, but it looks like they can! Here's the link if anyone wants to try:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Killer-Career/Morgan-Mandel/e/9780981991603/?itm=1


If you do order, be sure to let us know how you like it.

Morgan Mandel

Is that Funny, or What?

Catch the second comment on the top post at http://choiceonepublishing.com. Is that funny, or what? Goes to show it's a small world.

Morgan

Dressing your husband? What does it mean?

Check out She dresses her husband at http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com and let us know your thoughts here,there or both places.
Thanks,
Morgan Mandel

Letting Go of Baby

Last night I checked over the second proof for Killer Career and had to make a tough decision. Should I let my baby walk on her own two feet or hold onto her longer? I'm calling her a girl, since that's what's on the cover.

I'd already restrained baby once when I'd found little things here and there that weren't exactly right. Was it time for her to face the world?

Knowing she has to sink or swim sooner or later, I clicked the box to approve the proof and let go of baby. Now she's on her own, but she'll be visiting me with plenty of author copies to make available for reviews, family and friends, as well as special doings which require me to bring her along. I know I can never really let go of her, although I do hope she can stand on her own merits and make a name for herself.

For more about Killer Career, if you haven't done so already, please go to http://choiceonepublishing.com

Choice One Publishing Co.

Please check the current posts at Choice One Publishing Co. http://choiceonepublishing.com for info about my soon to be released romantic suspense, Killer Career.

You'll also find an image of the villain, plus an excerpt from the first chapter.

As always, comments are welcome here or there.

Thanks,
Morgan

Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, IL

All over the news in our area is a horrific true story about unfeeling employees who actually dug up the remains of people buried at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, dismembered them and hid them elsewhere. The bodies of some of these loved ones may likely never be recovered. This secretive scheme was done so the plots could be sold to others.

My heart goes out to the families of these loved ones. For more about this travesty, here's the link to the story in the Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-090529-burr-oak-cemetery-pictures,0,2332072.photogallery

If it doesn't come up for you, just go to www.chicago.tribune.com.

This is the sort of thing you might read about in a horror story, but to think it actually happened in real life is dumbfounding. I wonder what makes people do such things. Is money that important?

Scary Hide and Seek Story

While listening to the radio this morning, I heard a story abut a little girl who was playing hide and seek. Nobody could find her because she had such a great hiding place. The family then decided to have their dog look for her. She was discovered safe and sound in a drawer under the dryer. I was glad to hear of the happy ending.

Not to trivialize the event, but I can't help drawing analogies to what some authors do. They write great novels which remain hidden in great spots, like online, at distributors, in book catalogs. Nobody can find these books. That's because the authors don't market.

Writing takes time and effort, but so does promoting. Don't hide something you should be proud of. Get out there and let people know about it.

What about you? Do you write and hide it or do you promote? If you do promote, what methods do you use? Please share.

The Hesitation Waltz is over at Blood Red

Find out what the Hesitation Waltz is all about at The Blood Red, http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com

Hint - It's not a dance.

As always, comments are welcome, here or there.

One More Time

I got the proof for Killer Career, and wouldn't you know it, I just had to find stuff that I wanted to fix. It'll cost me a bit more, but it's worth it not to be bugged about stuff I know is wrong. Okay, it's just little stuff, but little stuff sometimes means a lot.

So, a little more delay, a little more money, but hopefully all will end well. That's what matters.

It's no fun being a picky person. (G)

Check Out Last Chance

Hi Gang,
If you wish, please hop over to http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com and read about my last chance.
Thanks,
Morgan

Book Signing Today at Frontier Days Marketplace

If any of you are near Arlington Heights, please stop by and say hi. I'll be autographing Two Wrongs and Girl of My Dreams Saturday and Sunday from 10-6 at Recreation Park in the Frontier Days Marketplace in Booth 124 at Frontier Days.
I'm also handing out invitations for my book launch party for Killer Career for
August 16, 1-4pm. at the Arlington Heights Historical Museum, 110 W. Fremont,
Arlington Heights, IL. (You don't need an official invitation to come. It's
just good for a reminder to stick on your refrigerator or somewhere)

Other signing at the booth are romantic suspense author, Margot Justes, YA author, June Sproat and contemporary Western romance author, Debra St. John.

As most of you already know, Two Wrongs is a romantic suspense, Girl of My Dreams is a romantic comedy and the upcoming release, Killer Career is a romantic suspense.

Hope to see some of you over there.

Morgan Mandel

Let the Fun Begin!

Fortunately, we were set free from work today at 3:00. Now I can catch up on a few things before heading over to the Festival tonight to see a rock band called ARRA at the Frontier Stage.

We have some DVDs at home from the library. We may just be able to watch one or two before we go, since the band doesn't start until 9:15. Or, we may want to get pver there a bit early and eat desert, though we shouldn't.

Last night I had a hamburger at home, but at the Festival I could't resist a DQ Reese Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard. They've got pies, cheese cake, ice cream, brownies, and Blizzards. I wish I could eat them all,but I'm being bad enough! I have no willpower when it comes to good food.

What about you? Do you cave in and eat special treats at special events?

Catching My Breath

See why I'm catching my breath at http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com
Thanks,
Morgan

How Do You Sell Books?

How do you sell books? I know I've asked this question before in various forms, but now that I'm coming up to the date of Killer Career's release on August 15, I'm wondering what's the most effective approach.

Tell me, please. What do you do to sell books?

Meet My Guest, Mystery Author Robert W. Walker

Robert W. (Rob) Walker with his dog, Pongo

Welcome to a very special guest, a good friend, a great author, and diligent editor.

Rob Walker is a prolific mystery writer with about 47 books to his credit. It's hard to keep track.

He's one of the regulars at my group blog, Acme Authors Link and also was gracious enough to provide a great blurb for my upcoming release, Killer Career.

For a change of pace, Rob's stepped over to Double M. Here's how he turned an author's computer nightmare into a sweet dream.

And Now Here's Rob - (No, that's not him hanging from the tree. At least, I don't think so.)

New HP Scanning Hardware for a Hardboiled Writer
by Robert W. Walker

My Mac went “south” on me through no fault of its own; people who have seen it, the condition it is in, my beloved G4 Mac Momma laptop know that the label on its cover is not far from the truth: Shake Before Each Use.

The keys are so worn that the letters are gone, especially on e, t, l, m and n…completely obliterated from, I assume, secretions of the finger against metal or just plain worn away from pecking, pecking, an more pecking. Two keys are gone altogether, thanks to the cat. Again my fault. I left it open and running to go get a cup of java and on returning Clark Kent was asleep atop it. Must be great to fall asleep at the drop of a dime or catnip.

Worse yet about the Mac, the WIFI thingamabob that allows wireless internet was fried…this due to a little known mishap soon after I got my lovely and quite expensive G4 notebook. A certain friend, and I am naming no names, was drooling over the Mac while I was staying overnight at his place. In fact, his whole family, the dog included, were drooling over it and as the battery was run low, I took it upstairs and plugged her in and left her I thought safely alone and sleeping…her little light-emitting blink on and off thingamabob winking at me as I left the room. Then sometime later, maybe two hours? I returned to find that someone had slipped in and had slipped the Mac into its tight little carrying-case sleeve that fits like a pizza carrier, and digging it out I was burned by the touch of it against human skin—my human skin. It was hotter than any pizza I had ever laid hands on. Outside temperatures in Chicagoland at the time were in the single digits, so I raced the Mac outside via the front door, everyone following me and asking what was up….I wanted to stick the entire machine into the nearest snow bank, but my host whom we will call Joe for anonymity, restrained me, thinking that I had gone berserk after so many years of writing about berserk characters.

I put the machine in Joe’s hands and he gasped at the level of heat emanating from the Mac. I removed the battery, playing hot-potato with it until I found a chair on the porch to place it on. This was all some ten or so years ago but seems like yesterday. After some judicious detecting on my part, I ruled out the wife and kids and it remained to be seen how my host might apologize for this awful set of circumstances. There was nothing to be done about it as my host was also a writer and had less in the way of finances than I, and on taking my baby back to where it was born, the Mac hospital, the thingamabob inside that made wireless possible, I was told, was fried, but fortunately everything else was A-OK.

Of course over the years, I had dropped the Mac not once but thrice, but the last drop was a baddy…so bad that the screen had a blue ink “rupture” of the spleen. This about three and a half years ago. There was no fixing a ruptured screen, no way to replace it. I thought I had the problem licked by purchasing a second humongous screen upon which I could just move everything over. Sure it would be now a desktop but I was pretty much by this time using it that way anyhow…and for how many years I was the geek at the coffee shop who “appeared” dumb and uninformed about wireless ‘cause I was always plugged in at the coffee shop—not to wireless but to a wall. Tied down! In any case, the second monitor did not suffice; failed to do the job….well not the monitor but the MAC failed me this time as while I could move whole files and screen images over with ease, the screen guides and drop downs—all those necessities for me—were not moveable! They stayed put.

I worked around the growing cancer of a blue disease slowly eating away at more and more of my screen and covering more and more of my guides. I did a great deal of drop-down memorization. I learned as much as I could about keyboard commands. I stretched this baby to the limit, and you gotta give it to her, she delivered. For years she delivered. Until recently. Now she goes off on her own. I mean off. The screen goes blank and then it displays all the colors of the rainbow, and it takes effort to resuscitate Mac Honey Momma who has become Mac-Madinajad!

So as serendipity would have it, a number of “things” in the world coalesced for me at once. I knew I needed to back up all my files at once, and so I loaded up everything on thumb drives between Mac’s tantrums and working around the blue disease. As I did so, I learned of the dtpAmazon.com program that pretty much amounts to going into partnership as a self-publisher with Amazon, and I learned of the program from the very Joe who had smoked Mac Honey. What with all my out of print titles, all of which I have rights to, I could go into business with this new digital text platform publishing. All I needed to do was upload out of print titles, but guess what…most all of said titles were not written on my Mac and they were not stored nowhere no how except as old hardcopy manuscripts or the book itself on my shelf….Most had been written at a time when no one had ever heard of the term eBook or electronic thingamabobs or eBook publishing.

Anyway to make a long story short if that is possible at this point, I went out and got a 500 dollar HP Pavillion and a 120 dollar 4-in-1 copier, printer, fax, SCANNER so as to scan and scan again all the out of print titles onto the Pavillion whereupon I can edit, proof, rewrite, bring up to date these titles and generally spiff them up for publication as eBooks for the Kindle via dtp publishing. Thus far I have put up six titles for Kindle Store browser—some of the most voracious readers on the planet. I put up the easy stuff first, recently written and even more recently rejected books such as a great horror tale of spontaneous human combustion called Snake Flesh Wars, an exotic suspense novel set in old Havana called Cuba Blue, co-authored with Lyn Polkabla, a fantastic co-author and friend, Deja Blue, sequel to PSI Blue, Dead On Writing, a how-to for the disorganized among us writers, hehehe… and as I have always wanted to throw together an anthology of short stories, I done done that too! It’s called Thrice-Told Tales, and a couple of others that share space with three HarperCollins titles that have been Kindalized, City for Ransom, Shadows in the White City, and City of the Absent.

All told I have nine Kindle books up, and it’s a great buzz tool as well.
I am currently scanning (at 250 pgs of a 317 pgs.) the prequel to Snake Flesh Wars, the horror-science fiction title once known as Flesh and Fire that I plan to publish either as Fire Wall or Snake Flesh Wars #1 so there’s no confusing which came first, the snake or the fire. Let me just add that the 650 dollars spent on HP products to get these books up and selling at the Kindle Store was in my estimation a great bargain. The new line of HP scanners does OCR scanning, optical character recognition, a dream software that comes built into the HP 4-in-1s. Scanning this way at a box store or a university can cost up to 25 dollars a page!
Rob Walker
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/
http://www.robertwalker.com/

http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com/

www.myspace.com/robertwwalkerbooks.com

From Frustration to Fun

After my edits were done, I still spent many midnight oil nights trying to figure out how to get my cover for Killer Career to fit the template requirements provided by Lightning Source. When you have new programs you haven't used, it takes a while to get the hang of them. I wrestled quite a bit with Adobe Elements 7 and Acrobat Pro 9, but still was in the dark in more ways than one. Rascal kept whining and hinting she wanted to go to sleep, but I was still driven to get the cover down pat. (She won't go to her spot behind the easy chair until she makes sure I'm upstairs for the night.)

In frustration, from work I called my rep at Lightning Source and asked for help. She put it a message to the cover technician and I got a call back the same afternoon. It took about ten minutes for everything to click in my head and make sense. Sometimes that's all it takes, a few hints from someone in the know. The secret was using layers. He explained the concept and now I'm on a roll. I'm in control of the cover instead of the other way around.

It's turned into fun fooling around and getting it all just so. I expect to have the cover wrapped up as early as tonight or as late as this weekend.

That's a relief. Now I can go onto other things, like getting ready to submit for reviews, getting the book launch party promo ready, getting a pile of blogs for my virtual tour, lining up book signings. Okay, lots to do, but the most important will soon be out of the way.