As we wait on ‘Ring of Stone’ here’s some pics of Stone’s birth home…

As ‘Ring of Stone’(Book 2 to Mark of Fortune) is being prepared, I thought I’d share a few pics of the place where Stone of the Ice Rings is from. He was born on the “outskirts of Saturn” which can mean the ice rocks on the ring belt on some other place during that ancient time. Either way its beautiful- enjoy!

Click on the “The Basics of Saturn” to enjoy interesting, mind boggling facts on this gas giant!

*Disclaimer: All images are from NASA.org and some may be artist’s concepts.

Dawn on Saturn

Cassini at Saturn’s Bow Shock

IMO: Nook may be failing but only to the least devoted…

Barnes and Noble

I’d like to start  by saying: “I pledge to read the printed word.”

However, that does not mean I do not own an e-reader and see its many benefits. However, the Barnes and Noble Nook, which I currently own, could have some economic trouble.

Recently,  Paidcontent.org put out this statement:

A holiday sales spike following the launch of the Nook Tablet in November 2011 hasn’t been enough to sustain the Nook business. And despite the launch of the front-lit Nook e-reader in April 2012, Nook business revenues are flat compared to this time last year.**

The entire article can be found here: “Why the Nook is Failing”, but after reading it I find I can condense it a little better to show you exactly what is happening with Nook in comparison to other reading devices. Four reasons for its failure according to the article is: 1)E Reader problems, 2) falling prices, 3)international delays, and 4)slowing eBook sales.

The first problem is due more to comparison of features. Nook  released the Nook Simple Touch last year(I did not know this) and Amazon will be releasing its front-lit tablet this Fall. B&N’s Simple Touch without the glow light had “such poor sales” that filling orders for the Simple Touch with GlowLight just didn’t happen and Amazon may pick up where it left off. IMO(in my opinion): What is up with this GlowLight stuff? Look at the picture below of the soon to be released Amazon front-lit eReader:

The Illuminated Kindle engadget.com

This Illuminated Kindle will allow readers to “tap and slide” on the screen causing a soft light to appear that doesn’t hurt the eyes. Sounds cool! However I am a newly converted Nook fan and if I want to dim the lighting I can from the tablet.

The second issue with Nook sales seems to be its falling prices. IMO: So of course the sales records will reflect that but as a consumer I enjoy the low prices and quality I get at the same time. With other eReaders, like these  may you get low/medium quality for cheap prices. Although some are great.

The third reason why Nook may be failing is international delays.  Nook is just now considering overseas sales of its device in the U.K through its storefront. IMO: I do think Barnes and Noble should have thought ahead on international sales as Amazon done two years ago. But as I said before, I enjoy my Nook and slowing prices and international delays could be detrimental to their bottom line…we’ll see how things turn out.

The final reason for falling prices of the Nook is its growing app and digital content sale more than eBooks sales. IMO: The Nook does need apps for most things than I realized before. I can’t access a dictionary without going to one my eBooks and I found I needed an app for PDFs and organizing, etc. Well, the PDFs I just read in the reader like normal but anyway if B&N is doing good on apps and not eBooks, they should really seek out what that means. I am not a publisher or  behind the scenes as to what is happening, but I can tell you that personally some of  B&N’s books are priced higher  than Amazon’s or Smashwords and so I download from those sites more than B&N- but then again I really hadn’t shopped for B&N books in some time now.

Alright so those are my “uneducated” opinions about the Nook’s failing sales. To many this is not that important, but for others who seriously read eBooks all the time and downloads  the apps and other content, this could mean something more.

Winner of NLDC and other reading venture…

Monica. Monica. You’ve won the NLDC book certificate!!!!

Coming up, a review of Harlequin’s! Seasonal Short Story Collection which is available for free download now at http://www.eharlequin.com.

Hurry and get it. Make your holiday bright this season!

Tracking An Author: What Audience Do I Write For? Infusing the Fiction, and Free eBooks

Writer's Digest Free eBook for a limited time

Keeping you up to date with my writing and how you can embark on your own journey, I have learned a few things this past week and thought I’d share it with you.

First, I discovered that writing shouldn’t be tedious and about cramped fingers. It is an exploration of what you know and wish to know. Writing is a powerful tool for me because I feel I can say more and see how the words flow onto the page/screen and play with them a little. I can do this verbally, but thats what www.audibles.com is for. And it is a great venture to get into.

These days its more about conveying a message than just shouting, “I’m a writer!” What am I writing? Who am I writing this for? As a writer, or should I say storyteller, you must convey your thoughts in al mediums to reach the crowd. eBook, Print, Audible, and maybe even animation/video. I certainly only have 2 out of 4 for my own book but will be working more on conveying my idea and will discuss more about multiple formats in a later post. For now consider why you are writing and whom you are writing for to generate a pre-marketing scheme. For example: I write to share a thought or “many” speculative thoughts. I wish to share these thoughts with the young adult group of readers. Not because of the upstart in teen reading, but my style seems to flow in that direction, plus I feel I never left my teens.

Next subject: Infusing a memoir with fiction seems to be what makes a story more uncanny yet ineresting. Think of Robert R. McCammon‘s Boy’s Life story. It reads like a memoir but infused with some supernatural elements we (may) have never experienced. What conversations, episodes, or feelings springs up from time to time? Have you thought about either planting some pieces of it in a memoir or using it to fuel your fiction? I certainly think it can help.

To get you on the right track to writing, Writer’s Digest is offering FREE ebooks for Back -to School and it is running from August 15-22, so get in on it now by going here!

Will Literary Agents Survive Ebooks? Mark Coker Answers…

eBook harmony needs a partner…the literary agents and publishers can fulfill that role. Can’t they all just get along? Well, Mark Coker of Smashwords.com has just did a neat slide showing the logic, the numbers and the sells of eBooks with hopes of getting literary agents to jump on board with the elcetronic revolution.

I enjoy print books very much and always will, however eBook publishing is making a way for many authors.

eBook Harmony vs. Going Green With Print Books

What is an eBook?

What is a print book?

In the first question posed, I purposely joined the “e” to a capitalized “B” in book to show the harmony and disharmony of joining up print with eBooks. The print book however is the progenitor or parent of the books in print and electronic form. This disjonted harmony forms a song I am quite afraid to sing.

For instance, craving print books is so much more than just feeling attached to the “ink on a tree”.  David Gaughgran a blogger at WordPress states that “going to the bokshelves and cracking open a book, and breathing in its essence only to “caress” the pages” is what reading a book in a bookstore is all about. It is more than about holding on and not moving along. Yet on the same token I hate to come off like  church traditionalist, afraid of changes and not being “down” with the times.  For me reading  a physical book takes me through “lovemaking stages.

• I purchase the book based on whether I am familair with the author or just love the blurb on the back and design on the front. If this book is purchased online, I may read a few pages for free through Amazon’s Look Inside feature.
• Once the book arrives to my door/or once I buy it out of a store, I come home and rub the cover. In this case, the cover is usually appealing because it is so smooth,  if it is a David Cook(publisher) book like Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren, there is an almost felt, feathery touch to it and now I am primed to turn the book over. I read the blurb again, sniff the cover, rub it and then,
• I crack open the first page. This page tells me the bare minum about a book, the copyright, license, place of publishing etcetera, but then I am ready to know more. As I open the pages to the Prologue/First Chapter I smell the coolness come off the pages, and sometimes it smells like the lattes I just had a Barnes and Noble or fresh off the hot press scent and I want to see what else the book has got to show me.

This is downright poetic, right? I mean as a woman I have the pleasure of being enjoyed as  a book, but then we have the eBook. According to Chris Meadows of Teleread.com, “…Amazon’s press release states that over 790,000 of the Kindle Store’s 950,000 eBooks are priced at 9.99 or less” this means that of course we would stray from what we are familair with and go to what is cheaper. This cheaper method has its advantages: cheaper to publish, cheaper to buy, and just plain Green friendly. The downside for this medium is that its electronic and the regular enjoyment of a book is lost. A machine breaks down, you cannot properly loan out ebooks(although I hear there are changes being made about this), and for now there aren’t free iPads and Kindles lying around libraries for patrons to just click on and read.

We still need print books.

I published The Prayer Monologues last year through Amazon and was happy with the results, however this year I converted it into an eBook as well just to “get with the times”. It was hard doing it manually, a rough terrain, yet I did it and can’t wait to post an accurate account of sales for my Kindle version.

Here’s a tip for going green with print books:

Buy books by publishers who use recycled paper or borrow books from a library or friend. Trading books helps a lot!