Writing Articles

What is Room 223?

12/13/2013

Perhaps you’ve seen those word count meters down toward the bottom of the home page. Maybe you’ve spotted that book called Room 223 and wondered what it was. Maybe you haven’t noticed at all and could really care less. Perhaps you’ve even hit your ‘back’ button by now and I’m talking to myself again.

Either way, by the end of this month I should have this book finished. And for now I'm showing off the cover, which I got for $5 on Fiverr from a great cover artist there, Jimmy Gibbs who works out of Switzerland.

I highly recommend you check out his work if you're thinking of a great cover that won't break the bank.

So What Is Room 223?

Kurt Vonnegut

It’s a short novelette I’m writing for Kindle Worlds. In case you don’t know, Kindle Worlds is an Amazon program that allows writers to write in worlds that have been created by other authors. So in a way it’s like fan-fiction.

For my book I’m focusing on the Kindle World of Kurt Vonnegut and specifically on the world he created for the book The Sirens of Titan.

Original 1959 Cover

Room 223 follows Noel Constant as he figures out his winning stock market formula that will make him rich, and the action of the original novel possible. We follow him as he leaves the east coast in the early years of the Great Depression and makes his way west toward California.

Along the way he has a series of mindless jobs, but each one somehow related to what he’ll do once he gets to Room 223. Of course he has no idea he’s heading there, but someone does. And that someone just happens to be travelling through time in the chrono-synclastic infundibulum.

Yeah, you may have guessed it already if you’ve read the original novel, but that person is Winston Niles Roomford. And that means that Noel Constant is Malachi Constant’s father.

Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea

Confused yet? Well, it’s a book I expect to sell very few copies of. I won’t make much money from it either. You need to have 10,000 words to qualify for decent royalty options for this program, but you’ll still get an Amazon-determined price of $0.99 to $1.99, meaning your royalties on each book are $0.35 to $0.70, if not less.

Still, it’s a chance to get my work out in front of a new audience, and another title up on the shelf. And why not? I write all kinds of crazy shit, might as well just put it out there.

So stay tuned if you’re interested in Kurt Vonnegut, because Room 223 will be on sale by the end of the month, and hopefully sooner!

2 Comments

How To Lose a Copyblogger Essay Contest, But Win the Hearts and Minds of Their Users

12/12/2013

5 Comments

Note: At the end of March, 2014, Copyblogger stopped allowing visitors or users to comment on blog posts. What are they afraid of?

Now, they stopped letting me comment back in December, shorty after this article. This close-minded attitude is seen a lot with Big Boy sites as they outgrow the need for visitors, and any concerns those folks may have. You will never find that problem here, but you'll also find few comments.

This past month Copyblogger had an essay contest in place. I made some waves at first by putting a comment on their blog saying in effect that their prizes suck.

I want money when I write, not some ticket to a conference. And hopping on a plane to Denver sounds like more of a hassle than a prize to me.

"But Seth Godin's gonna be there!"

Wow, I'm so excited I just shit.

Well, it looks like I won’t have to worry about winning those amazing prizes, because my work wasn’t good enough for them. Here are the winners.

I also have a feeling that they may never have received my document, as they decided to use Google Docs for uploads, something many complained about by asking “have you received my entry yet?” (I’d tell you to check the comments but they love to close posts over there).

Overall I thought Copyblogger came at the whole thing rather incompetently. But then again, what can you expect? I mean, here’s a site that primarily tries to use their content in a way to get you to spend money on their products. And what are these wonderful products? Just SEO analytics and copywriting crap.

Let me tell you a secret folks – anyone can write this shit. You don’t need to pay sites like Copyblogger hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month to put up this kind of writing. I have a feeling you could do it if you’d only try.

(Hint: Talking like a small-town sheriff will help!)

So I might have lost the contest but I sure won the hearts and minds of their visitors and users. In the past 2 weeks, since I’ve challenged them on this silly contest, my site has gotten about 650 backlinks from Copyblogger. Seems at least some people over there want to look at what this crazy guy who’s not too impressed by them has to say.

Well, I’m done bitching for now, and here’s my losing entry. It’s called:

Why You’re Not An Authority

Everyone wants to be an authority these days. Their sites are visited, their names are known, and their bank accounts are large.

So how did they become authorities while you continue to languish in obscurity? Probably because they talked about things they didn’t know, had nothing new to say, and didn’t find the time. Can you do that?

You’re a Know-it-All

Many people became authorities by talking about things they don’t know. This often leads to embarrassment, and nothing spurs you to learn exactly what you got wrong than being a little red in the face.

So roll up your sleeves, hit the books, and do the tough research. You’ll finally begin doing better and sounding a little more authoritative. That’s how authority is made. So how often are you getting it wrong? I do it a lot, and that’s why I know I’m well on my way to becoming an authority.

You’re a Broken Record

Can you say 10 new things? How about 5? I can’t. That’s why I routinely take my cues from others. I am good at rehashing what others say and putting a different spin on the same old message. And my website traffic inches upward as a result.

You’ve Got No Time

Take a look at the clock. Chances are you’re trying to find time. Authorities don’t find time, they make it. Take a look at that clock again. Can you make time where there is none? Hey, welcome to the club!

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My Foray into Amazon Box-Sets

12/12/2013

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For the past couple of months I’ve really been thinking a lot about boxed sets. Lindsay Buroker has a good article on her site this week about bundling your series books into boxed-sets. She gives you some good templates and links to videos on how to do it.

Well, I decided to take the plunge today and went ahead and uploaded a box-set of my Chinese historical fiction novels, The Warring States Series. You can go head and pick it up on Amazon right now, and it’ll be available on other retailers in a week or so.

So what goes into taking some of your series novels, or even different non-fiction books in the same genre, and making a box-set out of them? Let’s go over what I did today one point at a time so you can see how it’s done.

Preparing Your Amazon Box-Set Cover

I already mentioned how I used the templates provided on other sites, as well as YouTube videos, to get my box-set image finished. I found the GIMP software program to be a little difficult at first, but I quickly got the hang of it and was able to make my cover. Here’s what it looks like:

Sure, it might not be perfect, but it does get the job done. Now people looking to get all three novels can do so, and save some money. Right now the books are priced at $3.99, $2.99, and $2.99. With the box-set you only pay $7.99 for all three books, saving you $2 or so.

This is a good strategy for me with these books because I hardly ever sell any of them. That’s right, these books are pretty much dead. I’ve sold about 60 copies of The Warring States this year but only about 20 copies of the other two. In fact, until yesterday I didn’t have a single sale on Book 2 since August and have had only 2 sales on Book 3 in that time. I’m hoping this box-set draws in a few more readers.

Writing Your Blurb

Making the cover actually turned out to be the quick thing with this upload. Of course anytime you put a new book on Amazon you’ve got to make a new blurb, choose your categories, and have your book prepared.

For this collection I used all three blurbs from the books, but also put something new ahead of them, a few paragraphs of the history of the Warring States Period. The reason I did this was simple:

First, I get more words on my product page, and therefore more keywords. This might drive more people to my box-set and increase sales.

Second, I think it’s a great idea to inform people about the historical world they’re about to read about, especially if you’re doing historical fiction.

Finally, I think box-sets are great for just putting more. People can look at each individual book to see a nice, tight, and clean blurb. With a box-set I figure they’re already interested and just waiting for you to sell them on it. More sales copy is likelier to do that than less.

Preparing Your Table of Contents

Not only did I write up a fresh blurb, but I also had to get my books in order. That starts with opening Book 1 and cutting Books 2 & 3 into it. But I’ve also got to take all that front and back matter out, such as ‘about the author,’ ‘also by’ and the previews for the next books.

And it doesn’t end there. All of the chapters I had contained just numbers. That means my bookmarks were useless. I had to go back through and name all my chapters again, or at least the bookmarks of them. I did this by giving each book a letter and going through to make notations like this:

Book 1 was ‘a,’ Book 2 ‘b,’ and Book 3 ‘c.’ This made it easy to keep track and create a functional multi-book TOC quickly. Here’s what it looked like in the end:

Publishing the Damn Thing

After that it’s just a matter of setting your price and publishing it. You now have an opportunity to make more money from the things you already have out there. Mainly it gives readers another option when they’re considering buying something, and it also gives you a fast and easy way to discount a whole series for a sale.

That’s the thing: I can see myself putting this box-set down to $2.99 (I’ll never go lower than that) and giving it a BookBlast ad one day (I’ve long ago given up on ever getting anything with BookBub). I hate to give away that much work for such a low price, but sometimes building up those readers is a better strategy.

For now I have no plans to do that, but at least I’ve got the option. I hope to get at least one sale of this box-set this month, which would make the whole process today worth it. Although to tell you the truth, I’m pretty happy just looking at that cool 3D Amazon box-set cover image.

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The Problem Discounted eBooks Pose

12/11/2013

6 Comments

I went over to Anne R. Allen’s blog a week ago and saw an article there on different sites you can use to promote your eBook.

I though it was pretty helpful and lists many great sites. But the article got me thinking about promo sites and the effect they have on eBooks.

I put a comment down that pretty much says what this blog post will say, just shorter. In case you’ve never been to Anne’s site, sometimes Blogger stops a comment, and that's what happened with me.

I'd originally thought she blocked the comment, but that wasn't the case.

Lots of sites do block comments, or filter them, and it’s a sign that they’ve either made it big and get spammed a lot, or that they want to. I’ll have you know right now that 100% of comments on this site make it through because I routinely check me spam folder for stray comments.

So about those eBooks?

I'm worried many of these sites that promote discounted eBooks won't be as effective as they once were.

I’m worried many authors are just pissing their money away, money that will take them months if not a year or longer to earn back in royalties on that book they’re promoting.

I’m worried that discounted books are now going to get the same kinds of stigma that’s currently attached to free books.

So why am I worried about this? For two reasons:

First, promotional eBook sites are getting harder to get accepted by (even paid sites).
Secondly, authors are seeing fewer sales with the same promotions that they once did.

So that’s a problem, and a big one. Let’s see if we can break down those 2 points further and see if we can figure out what’s going on.

Promotion Sites are Damn Picky!

It’s no secret to anyone that’s tried to get a book onto BookBub that they don’t take everyone. I’ve submitted books to them on 11 different occasions and have been rejected each time. I haven’t tried for about 2 months now, mainly because I don’t have the money even if they did accept me.

Sites like BookBlast and ENT are good alternatives. BookBlast requires a certain amount of reviews, as do many sites. I mainly worry this causes people to buy reviews more than anything so that they can get up to that 10-review minimum required to get onto the site’s daily email or blog post.

Sites like ENT (eReader News Today) often don’t even email you back. I’ve sent them requests about 3 to 4 times and never heard back once. Lots of sites are selective and picky like this, another reason why I hate the high school clique-like aspect of these sites.

Think I’m just complaining? How about some big authors (and I know you’ve seen them in your genre) that have had the same book on sites like BookBub for 2, 3, maybe even 4 or more times in one year. Why is that? Does management love their book for whatever reason? I mean, I’m willing to pay the same amount for advertising as they are. Or is it something else? I don’t know.

Authors Just Can’t Sell for Shit

It’s getting damn hard to sell anything today, or even give it away. While seeing people complain about slow sales, a lack of sales, or probably the worst, no sales and returns, the fact is many authors do well each month regardless of how others are doing.

Why is that? Beats me. Probably because they’ve got talent, have a sizable catalog to choose from, and have been doing it awhile. But even some authors that are mid-listers have been having problems selling as of late. Could many of these promo sites be to blame? Possibly, but it’s pretty hard to say for certain.

I'm also worried readers will become conditioned to bargain-basement prices for eBooks all the time, just as many are now conditioned to free and nothing else.

So does that mean readers won't go on to buy your other titles if they like you? No, but I do think it means fewer readers will buy discounted books as time goes on and their collection of those titles begins to outpace their collection of free books.

Boy, it seems I’m really worried about a lot. I put a rule in place several years ago that I only bite my thumbnails, if that gives you any ideas. Anyways, hopefully people get some use out of this 3:23 AM blog post.

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Amazon KDP Publishing: Choosing the Right Keywords, Categories and Price

12/10/2013

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I’m happy to announce that I have a new eBook out today called Tarot Card Killer. This is my 18th book selling on Amazon and my 7th novel. This book is also the book that I wrote for NaNoWriMo. Overall I’m quite proud of it.

So what is Tarot Card Killer?

Well, if you’ve visited this site at all in the past month I’m sure you’ve heard about the book. I wrote about the Tarot book cover, gave an excerpt of the book, and now here I am pushing it again.

Let me tell you right now, this will be the last time I do a post on this book all year!

Amazon Blurb

Writing a blurb for Amazon isn’t the easiest thing. I usually don’t get around to it until I’m on the publishing screen. Then I hastily hobble something together and slap it on there. This is what I came up with this time:

Jim Sharpe is sick of life, sick of being a cop, and most of all sick of Hong Kong. He’s one of the few not on the take, yet he’s being charged with corruption. By the end of the week he’ll be kicked off the force – no matter what.

All that changes when a dead body’s found next to Victoria Harbour, a bloody Tarot card in its hand. Jim’s called onto the case, and what he discovers promises not just to upend his world, but the whole city as well.

With action-packed car chases down The Peak, harrowing shootouts on the streets of Hong Kong Island, and plenty of Tarot card mumbo-jumbo you know this hard-boiled, international detective novel will take you to the edge of your seat.

Experience what readers everywhere will soon be talking about – Tarot Card Killer! So what are you waiting for? Draw your first card today!

Alright, that’s actually a touched-up version that I fixed just now and plan to copy/past over my older, not-as-good blurb.

So is that it? I mean, many users come to this site to read about publishing and some Amazon secrets. They don’t read my books and don’t really give a damn about them, honestly.

Well, here are the tips and tricks I employed while on the Amazon publishing screen.

Amazon Categories

This was a tough book to figure out. When you publish a book on Amazon you get 2 categories. These are what people will see you in if your book gets into a ‘Top 100’ list. For Tarot Card Killer I chose Mystery, Thriller and Suspense – Hard-Boiled. I figure this book is a lot like some of those older ‘50s detective novels so it seemed a good fit.

My next pick was a non-fiction category, Mind, Body & Spirit – Divination – Tarot. Yeah, well, I figure a lot of people looking in the Tarot category would be interested in this book.

Also, if I sell just a few copies I’m almost guaranteed to get a spot on that ‘Top 100’ list, increasing my visibility. After all, when I’ve been #1 in Tarot before I had a rank of about #15,000 or so. That’s just a few sales a day.

I’ll leave it there for a month or so and then see how it does with another Mystery category.

Amazon Keywords

The thing you have to remember about categories is that you shouldn’t be too disappointed if you can’t get all the ones you want. I would have loved to choose about 5 more categories, like Police Procedurals and International Detectives, but I only had those 2.

Thing is, Amazon gives you 7 keywords you can use. These are the words people type into the search bar when they go to Amazon. What I did was typed in all those categories I didn’t get, like Procedurals and International. Often you don’t even need to type the whole word in if you know what Amazon wants. And they tell you in the Amazon Keywords Guidelines.

Amazon Price

I think the best thing an author can do when they release a new book is to put the price really high or put it really low.

First, really high means you can get some cash for those first initial sales. If you have fans they probably want to read your new book. If it’s the next in a series you know people will need to read it.

Charging more is something that’s good, and that you should do for a few weeks or a month. I put the price of Tarot Card Killer at $4.99, making it my most expensive novel (the others are $3.99). So when will I lower it? Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know!

Now how about a low price? Well, what if I put that book at $0.99? I’d probably see more sales right out of the gate, that is of course if I’m promoting it.

For this book I’m not promoting it. I’ve got about 4 to 5 releases planned for this month and I just don’t have the money to do covers and advertising. This month my new titles will be my advertising.

Amazon Post-Publishing Blues

Well, that’s it. I’m done. I always feel a little bummed-out when I publish a new title on Amazon, something I seem to do every few weeks now. I should probably take a break. And don’t forget that I write for other people too, sometimes books even. You can read all about that in Adventures in SEO.

Anyways, check out Tarot Card Killer and maybe even buy a copy. I’m already working on the second book in the series and hope to have a good, finished rough draft by the end of January or so.

Thanks for reading!

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Black Walnut – A New Vigilante Justice Novel

12/8/2013

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Note: A Black Walnut Excerpt is available and you can buy the book for $2.99.

Why buy it?

Because you want a violent and bloody laugh-fest that will take your mind off the mountain of bullshit you have to deal with on a daily basis.

Now, to the original post...

For awhile now I’ve been thinking of doing a series called “The Vigilante Justice Series.” When I was looking around Go On Write a couple weeks ago I came across this cover. Well, it really shouted out to me and I started to think of a story to go with it.

I knew right when I saw the cover that the book had to be called Black Walnut, and that the main character had to be someone fighting against the forces of racism, police corruption, and poverty. And so I started writing, and got the cover just the other day. Here it is:

Right now I’ve got two different designs for it, and I’m still unsure which is best. I’m leaning toward the second because the title’s a little larger and that’ll be easier for readers to see when it’s a small thumbnail size. If you’d like to put in your two cents please do in the comments!

I’m never good at choosing covers, however, and I often feel like the advertising executive in the film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, you know, the one that was still looking at the two pictures at the end of the movie, his Thanksgiving dinner there in front of him?

The Saga of Black Walnut

Anyways, this should be a real bang-up, knock-down and take-no-prisoners kind of book. It’s about a young black teen named Tray Knight that’s walking home from a friend’s house one night. Police stop him and end up shooting him. It’s a real media shit storm and, well, you know how things can go, and the cops get off.

And that’s when Black Walnut steps in. If you’ve seen the movie Taxi Driver then you’ll love Black Walnut. It’s a bloody short novella that will probably offend a lot of people. But for anyone looking for a quick read that really puts a smile on your face and gets your adrenaline going, Black Walnut is for you.

Black Walnut – Coming Soon!

I’m still writing Black Walnut, and you can see the progress meter on the home page. I’m shooting for 20,000 words on this one and will probably price it at $0.99 to $1.99.

My release schedule calls for it to be on sale by December 20, which is a Friday. We’ll see, but I do expect Black Walnut to be on sale this month.

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Can I Have a Review?

12/7/2013

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Can I have a review?

This is something self-published authors ask a lot, and for good reason - lots of reviews help you sell lots of books.

There’s a whole thread of authors asking for reviews over on Goodreads and you routinely see people asking in the KDP forum as well.

Most authors think it’s pretty bad asking for reviews. Some don’t think it’s bad at all. And a few even go out of their way to ask for reviews every chance they get.

I’m going to fall in that latter camp today.

Can I Have a Review, Please?

If you’ve read any of my books please go to Amazon right now and leave a review. I don’t even really care if you’ve bought the book, you can leave a review as well. After all, I give quite a few of my books away on occasion, and maybe that’s how you got one.

Yes, that’s right – I’m asking for reviews. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone that’s read my books, either. Here’s what I usually say in the front and back matter:

If you enjoyed the book, please consider writing a review for it, or suggest it to one of your friends.

It’s hard for books to get noticed these days. Whether you liked this one or not, please consider writing a review, thanks!

Pretty Please, With Sugar on Top

Why are reviews so important, and why do some authors spend thousands of dollars or more buying them? Because they’re one of the first things readers look at when they’re deciding on a book.

And sometimes they don’t even click on a book. After all, you can see the number of reviews a book has just by looking at it in the category rankings.

Books in the Top 20 Always Have Tons of Reviews

Take a book that’s got hundreds of reviews. You know as a reader that the book has been bought a lot, read a lot, and probably liked a lot. Overall it looks like a good pick. If you were in an airport and running for the gate chances are you’d choose a book with lots of reviews over one with few or no reviews, right?

Well that’s why I’m asking all my loyal readers to take the time to visit Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, iTunes, or Goodreads and leave a review for one of my 17 books.

It’s not real hard, and I won’t get upset if you leave a 1-star. I think all reviews are helpful, and nothing makes an author’s day like seeing a new review. Well, maybe seeing a new sale. Hey, I think I know the name for my next article!

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Excerpt of My Upcoming Murder Mystery Thriller

12/5/2013

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I’ve got a new book finished and I’m in the process of giving it the final once over. I’ve really been putting that off as I don’t want to read through 275 pages again. I’ve already gone over it once and then I wrote it as well. Not touching it at all these past 5 days has really been a nice break.

A Novel Approach, Again

Tarot Card Killer is the first novel I’ve written in about 3 years and it’s a new genre for me. The story follows Inspector Jim Sharpe over 5 days in Hong Kong in 1973. He’s trying to track down a cop killer who leaves Tarot cards on the body.

Thing is, all of these cops are corrupt, and soon the people paying them off begin to turn up dead as well. Could the Hong Kong triad gangs have something to do with it? Jim thinks so and he hunts them mercilessly, all while Tarot Card Killer victims continue to pile up. It all leads to a climactic finish on Victoria Harbour’s waterfront where everything is revealed.

Amazon Isn’t Interested

I think it’s a pretty good story, but Amazon? Well…not so much. I’d originally wanted to get it into the Kindle Serials program but they never emailed me back. It’s been more than 3 weeks now so I figure they’re:

Not Interested;
Too Busy;
Thinking the Story is Rubbish.

It very well could be that they think all 3 as well, I’m not sure. Needless to say, I’ve got to get this out there. I have to keep telling myself this because it’s a great story.

If you want to read about the plot and the history the book follows you can check that out in the post I wrote when writing this book for NaNo. Until then you can read this first chapter. I hope to have the book out next Tuesday, December 10. That’s of course if I don’t hear from Amazon, which I think unlikely.

Alright, Tarot Card Killer:

Monday, June 4, 1973

1 – A Call in the Night

Victoria Harbour was awash in lights, as usual for this time of the morning. Their colors and shapes from the tall buildings overlooking the harbour danced over the glassy surfaces, illuminating the water below. Other than that Hong Kong Island was still. Still, that is, except for the group of police cars and ambulances bunched around a small park in the heart of the island’s Central District. Their flashing lights even seemed to give the buildings’ lights a run for their money.

Jim Sharpe eased out of his 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass and slammed the door shut. He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of Kents, then began packing them as he started walking the two blocks toward the flashing lights, his bad luck with finding a parking spot during the day translating over to the early hours of the morning as well.

I’ve gotta quit this shit, Jim thought to himself as he tore the cellophane off his second pack of the day and put a cigarette to his lips. Damn things are $10 a pack now!

He lit the cigarette just before he got to the first few cars. A patrolman moved up to block his way.

“How long since the call came in?” Jim asked before the young officer could get a word in. He eased his left foot up on the bumper of the nearest ambulance and let his Inspector badge hang out.

“Right, sir,” the patrolman said, caught off guard by the badge, “it’s been about an hour now.”

“So that first call came in around 3 then?” Jim said more to himself than asked. He turned back to the young officer. “Who’s in charge?”

“That would be Chief Inspector Spence; he’s over there sir.”

The officer pointed off past the ambulances and Jim nodded as he left. Thick clouds of smoke followed him as he weaved through the various investigative people on site. Samples were being taken from the center of the square and tire tracks were being analyzed from a nearby parking spot. And then of course there was the corpse.

Jim walked up to where Gus Kline, the photographer, was still taking angled-shots. A man was scribbling in a notebook beside him.

“What’s the story?” Jim said as he glanced down at the body. He’d seen a lot in his years working the beat in Hong Kong, but even this gruesome sight was one that took him by surprise.

“Shit, that’s Jack Dawes!” Jim said as he got a better look. “He’s been in Transit for damn near thirty years!”

“Well he won’t be checking in tomorrow,” Gus said.

“No,” Jim agreed, shaking his head, “no he won’t.”

He stared down at the lifeless body of Jack, someone that’d come far and done so much over the years. The fact that he got there by accepting bribes, making bribes, and generally doing just about every shady thing there was had certainly rubbed people the wrong way, but then everyone did that, and Jack was really no different. Sure he’d made a few enemies over the years, (who hadn’t?), but he sure the hell had a lot more people he could count as friends.

“Say, Sharpe, what the hell you doing here anyway?” Gus turned and said to him. “I mean, aren’t you under suspension or something, and man,” Gus leaned in closer to Jim, “you look like shit and smell like you’ve been sleeping under a bar stool.”

Jim dropped his cigarette to the ground and rubbed at his eyes. “That bad, huh?”

“Shit, Jim, I know this might be your last week as a cop and all, but you’ve gotta pull it together.”

“Yeah, well, why the hell was I called down here if I’m not supposed to be working, huh? Answer me that?”

Gus put his hands up, his camera hanging from the strap around his neck.

“I’m just shooting photos, pal,” he said defensively, “it don’t matter a damn to me what you do.”

Jim nodded, pulled out and lit another cigarette, then turned back to the body. “So what the hell happened?”

“His throat was cut,” Gus said, moving closer to the body and crouching down beside it. “That’s what killed him, as far as we can tell right now. But whether his palms were sliced off before or after he was killed I’m not certain.”

“What?” Jim said, moving up closer to Gus.

“Yeah, pretty fucked up, huh?” Gus said, moving in with his gloved hand to pick up the body’s wrist. “The killer used some kind of knife and sliced the palms of his hands clean off.”

Gus held up the hand and Jim could see the bloody thing staring back at him, all the skin below the wrist and before the fingers and thumb a bloody pulp.

“And what makes the case all the stranger is what we found in his hand, his right hand to be particular,” Gus said.

“Oh,” Jim said. “Let me guess, the killer’s name and number.”

Gus shook his head. “Nope, not this time – this time all we got was a bloody card.”

“A card?” Jim asked. “What the hell was going on, a game of poker went bad or something?”

“That’s right,” a voice said behind them, and both men turned to see a tall man with blonde hair going grey walking up to them, “it went real bad.”

He gave a stern look at Jim and folded his arms in front of his chest.

“You’ve been taken off active duty and we both know it.”

“Don’t give me that, Spence!” Jim shouted, leveling his finger at the Chief Inspector. “Captain Fong never gave that order and you know it. Besides, I was called down here out of bed tonight for this.”

“That was a mistake,” Spence said, “and I’ll have that officer written up real quick.”

“Oh, please!” Jim said, waving his hand at Spence.

Spence stepped in a little closer to Jim then backed-off quickly.

“You’re drunk,” he said, waving his hand in front of his face. “What, did you finish off a pint of Jim Bean, pass out, and just happen to fall down by the phone or something?”

Jim’s eyes shot up to Spence as the older Inspector laughed, anger clearly showing. He took another deep drag on his cigarette and threw the butt toward the harbour.

“It was a fifth,” he said under his breath after a moment.

Spence threw up his arms and turned around.

“Exactly!” He sneered at Jim. “Christ, Sharpe, you’re coming off three days-off and from the smell of you I can tell it was in every hop-house and sailor’s bar along the waterfront. I haven’t made a mistake now, have I?”

Jim shook his head. “No, you haven’t. I was happy to spend my last Hong Kong weekend in grand fashion.”

“Well with that kind of attitude it’ll be your last week, regardless of what the Hearing decides,” Spence said, before shaking his head at Jim once again. “Not that it matters – you’re shit attitude ensures you’ll be done either way.”

He finished his tirade and then his face grew more serious.

“And what the hell makes you think you can handle this kind of investigation in your condition? This is a cop that’s been murdered here, one that’s been serving loyally on the Royal Police Force for more than two decades!”

He shook his head and looked at the ground before turning back to Jim.

“You’ve got too much shit on your shoulders right now, pal, what with the Hearing and the drinking and the whoring – you couldn’t focus on this even if you wanted to.”

“It’s just another dead body,” Jim said, “I can handle it and anything else that comes with it, and you know it. Sure, he’s cut up in quite the unusual way, but we’ve seen the triads doing strange stuff before. That’s not the reason I rushed down here, Spence.” He eyed the Inspector up and down, but the other man was giving away nothing. “The initial radio call said there was something about some cards on the body. What’s that all about?”

“I’m not getting into it with you, Sharpe.”

“Patrick, we go back a long way, I–”

“Oh, don’t pull any of that London bullshit on me, Jim,” Spence said angrily, getting up into Jim’s face. “This is a serious matter, much too serious for the shit you’re going to bring to the investigation. You’re not on this case as far as I’m concerned and I’ll make sure Fong knows that.”

“You won’t tell the Captain a damn thing!”

“The hell I won’t,” Spence shouted back at Jim.

“You son of a bitch,” Jim said. He reached into his coat and pulled out another cigarette. “First my workload’s cut in half because of this damn Hearing and then everything that is pushed my way is nothing more than papers across a desk. I was called down here in the middle of the night and I damn well mean to do something!”

Spence shook his head. “Sorry, Jim. You might’ve been able to do whatever the hell you please down here if you weren’t under review, but as it is I’m the ranking officer on duty right now and I’m telling you to turn around and get the hell out of here!”

Jim took another look at the body and then around the scene. There was nothing else there that gave anything away to him, at least not about who or what had killed Jack Dawes. It was that card he needed to see.

“Alright, Spence, I’ll go,” Jim said after a few moments. There was little point in pushing the matter further, not until he had a chance to talk with Captain Fong come morning.

“Hey, look at it like this, Sharpe,” Spence called back as he started to walk away, “you’ll be able to get a couple hours of sleep before that Hearing starts. Me? I’ve got to stand out here all damn night and then show up to it.”

He finished with a laugh and Jim rolled his eyes.

“Must be damn depressing,” he muttered under his breath.

He walked back to his car and got on the radio to his partner Andy Wong, who he knew to be at the station late on weekend nights.

“What’s happening?” Andy asked when Jim had been put through to him. “A little early to be calling in, huh? Forget the address to the Hearing or something, or did you just fall down drunk in some gutter again and can’t get up?”

“Ha, ha,” Jim laughed dryly, “very funny, but how the hell would I be able to call you if I was lying in the gutter, huh?”

There was a moment of silence and Jim smiled, knowing he’d gotten the better of Andy this time. Before Andy could try to get something else in he dove into what had happened and what he’d seen so far at the scene, describing the call that had woken him in the night, a call from some shit-head officer that didn’t know Jim was on the ‘inactive duty’ list.

“The bastard won’t let me in on it,” Jim said when he’d explained what had just happened with Chief Inspector Spence.

“We’ve already got word on it down here,” Andy replied.

Jim perked up right away. “What have you heard? Is it about the cards?”

“Those cards we first heard of aren’t cards at all,” Andy reported, “but card. You see, there was only one card, and it was left purposefully on the body.”

“What card was it?” Jim asked. “An ace, a king, what?”

“Are you ready for this, Jim?” There was a pause before Andy continued. “It wasn’t a regular card at all, but a Tarot card.”

“A Tarot card?” Jim said incredulously. “Those things the crazy mystic ladies use to tell your fortune?”

“Exactly,” Andy confirmed. “But it wasn’t just any Tarot card, from what I’m hearing.”

“No? What kind of card was it?”

“It was the Three of Swords.”

“And what does that mean?” Jim said incredulously.

“I’ve got it pulled up right here in front of me from the files,” Andy replied. “A Three of Swords is one of the ten minor cards in the swords suit. There are four suits in Tarot, the swords, cups–”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jim said. “Get to the point; what does the Three of Swords mean?”

“Alright, the Three of Swords as you might, or probably don’t know, shows a heart with three swords piercing through it from above. There are dark, rainy clouds in the background, and, according to what I’ve got in front of me, its divinatory meaning is ‘removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally.’”

“What the hell does that all mean?” Jim asked after a moment and a long drag on his latest cigarette.

“I think it means we’ve got a sick bastard on our hands,” Andy replied after a few moments.

Jim nodded and hung up the receiver. “That’s what I thought it meant.”

~ ~ ~

“So what do you want to do?” Andy asked. “You’ve been pulled from bed and I’m working overtime.”

Both sat in the nearly-dead Wanchai Police Station. The clock on the wall said quarter to 4 and neither man had anything to do until Jim’s hearing got underway at 9.

Jim nodded. “Let’s grab a bite to eat and then just get the day started. With any luck we can end it early.”

“Ha!” Andy laughed. “That works in theory only.”

Jim chuckled along with him, knowing full-well the truth of that statement, and they got up to head to the car.

~ ~ ~

“Damn it, Andy, I’m just sick of being a cop!” Jim said between slurps of his noodles.

“That’s understandable,” Andy said, his own chopsticks halfway to his mouth with a long trail of noodles leading back to the bowl, “you’ve been doing it for more than twenty years and on three different continents.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Jim said, throwing his chopsticks down on the table. “I’m sick of the fact that the people I’m working with are dirtier than the people I’m locking up.”

Andy laughed. “That’s something new?”

“It’s gotten worse,” Jim muttered, leaning forward but turning his head to look out the small restaurant window. “It’s gotten a lot worse.”

“It’s going to get a lot better now that they’ve got their scapegoat,” Andy said as he finished up the last of his noodles, placing his chopsticks neatly beside the bowl.

“Ha!” Jim laughed “Godber’s hardly the scapegoat. From what I hear he’s only got a few million socked away. If they want to get a real scapegoat they’ll have to take down someone who’s got a lot more than that.”

“Like?” Andy said, leaning forward with a smile.

“You know who I’m talking about,” Jim scoffed.

“Chief Inspector Spence again, is that it?”

“Spence just happens to be one of the dirtiest cops on the force – I can’t get angry at him?” Jim nearly shouted, throwing his arms up.

“It’d just be a lot easier to take in your sincerity if the Hearing wasn’t taking place,” Andy said.

“Christ! You just had to bring it up, didn’t you?”

“We haven’t talked about it since Friday, Jim, and then all you wanted to do was get to the nearest pub so you could forget about it.”

Jim shook his head and averted his eyes, not wanting to look Andy in the face. He hadn’t wanted to talk about the Hearing and he’d been glad Andy had respected that. He knew the subject would have to be broached eventually, but that didn’t make it any easier to accept.

“C’mon,” Jim said, rising from the table, “let’s get out of here.”

“Ah, avoidance,” Andy said as he too rose from the table.

Jim headed out onto the deserted Wanchai sidewalk, letting Andy take care of the check inside. He usually let his partner pay at the Chinese places while he’d take care of it at the western places. When Cantonese was your native language it just made things easier, after all.

There was a faint crackling sound like a transistor radio and Jim knew right away that it was their car receiver. He headed over to the unmarked, light red 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass both men used to get around the city. Sure enough there was chatter coming over the box. Jim picked up the receiver.

“This is car A429 calling Dispatch, over.”

The radio crackled faintly and then came to life with the familiar female dispatch voice that Jim knew so well but had never seen the body go to with it.

“This is Dispatch, please be advised that there’s triad activity on Po Shan Road near Hatton, units have been dispatched and more are being called to the scene.”

“What is it?” Andy asked, coming up from behind Jim.

“Triads on Po Shan Road,” Jim said, turning to him. “Shit, that’s right at the end of the Mid-levels and close to The Peak.”

“Let’s go,” Andy said, rushing around to the driver’s side door.

“Car A429 is proceeding to the scene, over and out,” Jim said, then hung up the receiver.

“Ho Choy’s got a place up there on Po Shan, it’s got to be Wo Shing Wo or Sun Yee On fighting,” Andy said as he pulled the car out into traffic.

Jim nodded, thinking of the Wo Shing Wo leader and how much trouble the man had caused him over the years. The triad gang was one of the largest in the city and responsible for many of the murders that took place each year. Anytime a body showed up it was a good bet they were somehow involved.

“Could be 14K too,” he said as he slapped the red police headlight on top of the car. “And it sounds like whatever fun they were having last night turned ugly.”

“Turf war?”

Jim cocked his head. “Hit it and let’s find out.”

6 Comments

Three Months of Amazon Perma-Free Results

12/3/2013

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In September my Fantasy Book 1, The Jongurian Mission, went perma-free. For those who don’t know perma-free is when your book is permanently free. That means you’re just giving it away, and it’s a common tactic used by some of the biggest authors on Amazon.

Before September I was getting few downloads of the book each month. I know these sales numbers aren't that impressive to some, but I like them. Here's the rundown:

Jan - 22
Feb - 11
Mar - 4
Apr - 3
May - 0
Jun - 1
Jul - 1
Aug - 32 (promo, then 103 when perma-free hit)
Sep – 1,187
Oct – 1,449
Nov – 2,370

You can see that those 'sales' really increased with the perma-free status. I lowered the price to $0.99, where it had been for awhile, and then promoted it to get perma-free. That’s why you see those 32 sales in August, because I got on that book and tried to give it some action.

I think Amazon needs to see those sales to get the book back on their radar. Before August I’d had the book listed as free on Smashwords for a few months without Amazon ever noticing it and price-matching it.

Here’s a graph of my total ‘sales’ for 3 months. I got just over 1,087 that first month and then 1,214 in October. You can see that it took just about all month to get those numbers, but then all of a sudden in November I jump up above 1,000 ‘sales’ on November 10th. On that day I did a BookBlast ad and the next day I did a KFD ad.

You can see on this second graph of daily sales what an effect those two ads really had. Other sharp increases include mid-September when I submitted the book to lots of small marketing sites that advertise your free book. And I continued to get some action in November as I had some other promotions.

But really those two paid advertisements, which only cost me $100 in all, enabled my book to get up into the Top 20 of its category, a position it’s been able to stay in. Well, sometimes it gets into the Top 40, but it’s pretty consistent at staying around #10 to #25.

How Perma-free Affects a Series

So perma-free is great when you want to give your work away and get some visibility. But how does that translate into paid sales?

Doing perma-free for your book is silly if it’s the only title you’ve got. It’s also kind of pointless if it’s not the first book of a series. Trilogies work well, but if you have an ongoing series of 5 books or more it’s even better.

Thankfully I’ve got a Book 2 & 3 and here are my sales since January for the Book 2:

Jan - 9
Feb - 3
Mar - 0
Apr - 0
May - 0
Jun - 0
Jul - 0
Aug - 2
Sep - 6
Oct - 13
Nov - 30

5 months of no sales! Not once did I complain here, which I'm proud of. I was too busy working on new books. If you’d like to read more of Book 2 and perma-free check here.

Are you going to tell me that perma-free doesn't work? Yes you are, but for me it's good. I could have gotten those through promotion perhaps, and maybe even more real sales of book 1, but I don't think so.

Let's take a look at Book 3:

Jan - 10
Feb - 3
Mar - 0
Apr - 0
May - 0
Jun - 0
Jul - 0
Aug - 2
Sep - 4
Oct - 9
Nov - 25

I just don't think I would have had these sales without perma-free. I know it doesn't work for everyone but I'm happy to see Book 2 selling after that huge gap with no sales. And I can understand how some people feel; if that book 2 was my only book and I had no sales for 5 months I'd probably pull my hair out too.

What’s also nice is that around 67% of people buying Book 2 are going on to buy Book 3. That makes you feel pretty good as an author when people like your story enough to continue it over 3 books.

Well, those are my results. They won’t be the same for everyone. Hey, lots of people are doing a lot better than me. But maybe these will give you some ideas on what could work for you.

You Might Also Like:

Amazon Perma-Free and the Recent Rankings Mayhem

Eight Months of Amazon Perma-Free Results

6 Comments

A Slow November

12/1/2013

0 Comments

Things were just slow this month, and I have no idea why. Not only were my eBook sales way down but the writing work I get from other people was also reduced substantially. So I had very little to write for other people and therefore not much money coming in. So what did I do? I just wrote more - 169,244 words to be exact.

This month I finished two books, one a fictional novel set in Hong Kong in the 1970s and the other a non-fiction book about SEO. The former was just finished a couple days ago and needs some editing work, while the later went on sale a few days ago.

So I took what could have been a nerve-wracking month and turned it into something quite productive, and I think lucrative long-term. Both of those books will make me money for months if not years to come. When I look back on this blog post in the future I think I’ll be thankful I didn’t have much work and therefore so much free time to make these wondrous books.

Alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into the details of the month.

Sci-Fi Novel

I'm sure the cover will be better

The month started off with a very strange job proposition. It was titled simply ‘write my story’ and the employer only specified they wanted a sci-fi novel about a colony of dogs and a colony of humans. I thought it sounded interesting and so we went with it. Over a period of two weeks I pounded out about 33,000 words for this guy, and that’s what made me most of my money for November.

Last I heard he’s still shopping around for a cover, and I hope he gets one soon and figures out how to upload books on Amazon. Once that occurs I’ll be sure to put that link here so interested readers can check it out.

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is short for National Write a Novel Month and this one treated me very well. I’d never participated in NaNo before and thought it a little silly when I first heard about it. After all, I type nearly 3 times as many words each month as it takes to win this things, which is 50,000 words. In the end I managed to complete my 1,667 words each day and then some, coming out at around 75,000 words for the month.

I kept this on the homepage all month to drum up interest for the novel

Never did hear back from the Amazon Kindle Serials program, so it looks like I’ll be putting this novel out myself on Tuesday, December 17. Releasing it on that day will get me anyone shopping for books for the holidays, but more importantly, I should still be on the ‘Hot New Releases’ lists come January when everyone’s test driving their new Kindles.

This was my NaNo stats page

Another SEO Book

Would 'now' be better?

I now have 2 SEO eBooks published and I expect this latest one to do quite well. I can’t tell you how nervous I was to put this book out there with the cover that I had. Someone in the comments of my post on the controversial cover really hit home, and that’s that I had the idea at about 4 AM when a bout of inspiration hit me.

I didn’t want to turn that away so I published the book with the cover I’d originally wanted. And lo and behold, I wasn’t crucified, burned at the stake, or the victim of a sales stoppage on my other titles. In fact, I managed to sell a few copies and get into the #21 to #40 rank for SEO eBooks on Amazon, right where I want to be to gain exposure and visibility for my eBook.

My Other Writing Work

I had a measly 8 projects this month to work on for other people. To give you an idea of how small that is I had 30 in October. And there was very little interesting about any of those jobs.

One consisted of writing an article about dating Asian women and another was a press release for some kind of new weight loss extract, and the harm it can do. I did some moving company content for an old employer and some editing work on a thesis for someone.

Just Plain Slow!

And really, that’s about it! Thank goodness I’m making some money on my eBooks or I’d be looking for some kind of minimum wage service industry job. But I can tell you, if things continue on into December the same way they went in November than I just might well be forced to do that.

Those are the perils a freelance writer faces, and they create in you a hunger. That scarcity of work was the only reason I was able to push myself so hard this month working for myself. Will it pay off? We’ll see.

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Forward>>

So What Is Room 223?

Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea

Why You’re Not An Authority

Preparing Your Amazon Box-Set Cover

Writing Your Blurb

Preparing Your Table of Contents

Publishing the Damn Thing

Promotion Sites are Damn Picky!

Authors Just Can’t Sell for Shit

Amazon Blurb

Amazon Categories

Amazon Keywords

Amazon Price

Amazon Post-Publishing Blues

The Saga of Black Walnut

Black Walnut – Coming Soon!

Can I Have a Review, Please?

Pretty Please, With Sugar on Top

A Novel Approach, Again

Amazon Isn’t Interested

How Perma-free Affects a Series

Sci-Fi Novel

NaNoWriMo

Another SEO Book

My Other Writing Work

Just Plain Slow!

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