Oct Update

I missed my September update. I get so involved in the books, the pre-release and keeping up with people on Facebook or through your email that I often forget about the updates on the site. Someone needs to remind me or set a calendar appointment.

Book Updates...

I met a couple of wonderful authors during September that reached out and had read my series through "Break". They offered some help with some great advice on both marketing and connections. Out of that we've formed quite the friendship and it's been incredible.

I picked up two beta readers and a different proofreader during September. There are still some issues with "Run" and "Hide" that I really need to carve out some time to fix. I have a lovely woman going back through those books this month to try and catch the errors. For those of you that happily ignored them - thank you. Publishing those two on a shoe-string budget was quite the feat.

I also decided to go with a different person to do my formatting for "Chase" which was a huge decision but one that I felt was best for my budget. I feel that if you begin a writing journey you should have that in mind from the beginning. With "Run" and "Hide" I blew that personal target but I also had two covers that I bought early on during that time period so ultimately that equaled out. The change in finding a person to format the books allowed me to reduce costs in production but I was able to spend some of my target budget on a PA that has reduced my time in marketing. That's provided me time to write which is the ultimate goal. She's also helped me keep up with several moving elements and provided some connections to get my book out in front of the public.

I ran a sale on the first three books in the Lakefield series before the release of "Chase". I'll run other sales from time to time. "Chase" ended up being 80k works in the end with very little front and back material so the story truly is a long one. Releasing at a 2.99 price point I think is fair for the length of the book. If you think about that in terms of savings for the reader, if Kindles and e-readers weren't readily available to read the books currently on the market, the price points in printed books in stores would be double to triple that amount. There is still a huge savings to readers using the electronic venue to read books. I'm glad that ebooks are priced lower and don't mind spending that amount on books I also like to read.

Reviews are interesting revolving around the amount of people that read through KU. If I took the total amount of page reads and divided that by the length of my books for August there were over 600 copies of my books that were read for free for those people in the program. Yes I do make less than a penny per page read but I wonder where the majority of reviewers are. It seems that the people who buy the books leave more reviews than people who read for free. That number is somewhat baffling to me and in talking to other authors it's a source of puzzlement to everyone. Those reviews (good or bad) can make the difference on the success of a book overall. It also helps an author learn and grow from your opinions. It can also help influence what direction other stories might go. For those of you who have taken the time to write a sentence or two I really appreciate the feedback immensely and know that you have influenced future projects.

Other Other Updates...

Personally last month, my youngest daughter who we nicknamed "Crash" for her ability to always find some way to clumsily and inadvertently find ways to get hurt, decided to sit down to write a book. This was a major undertaking for a child of 7 who decided to write about snails, dogs and cats. She even pinched her nose a few times and dealt with writer's block on her 4 page story.

"LoLo", my oldest daughter (turns 9 this year) who should honestly have the nickname of "Danger Mouse" for her unflinching courage and tendency to fly into any new situation without thought to danger, has become more like me in goofiness as the years have passed. A lot of her antics and looks remind me of me. She decided last month that she wants to be an engineer and loves math. I'm more than thrilled - although the previous few months she wanted to be a fashion designer. I imagine this is something that all parents hear on a consistent basis as children grow and whatever she decides in the future I'm just glad that she dreams big.

To those affected by both hurricanes in Florida and Texas, my heart goes out to you and I hope your families are recovering and healthy.

~Jennifer