I follow people totally smothered in Animalistic* Awesome Sauce and re-tweet them freely.

This can result in much licking of body parts as well as mention of sex toys and weaponry.

I recommend the use of neither of those.

If you believe that, I’ve got some beach front property in New Deal, Texas to sell you.

I don’t believe in organized religion.

Disorganized religion is way more fun.

You won’t convert me.

So stop trying already.

I cuss.

A lot.

F-bombs have been known to fly freely.

I promote my ebooks, web fics and other stuff regularly.

I’ll promote your stuff too.

Love me for that.

I have blonde moments.

Probably because I am blonde right now. Thank you, Clairol.

I commit the ultimate Twitter sin: I tweet about food.

I also tweet about my furry kidlets and show pics of them*.

I know, I’m such a rule breaker.

I like conversing with people.

I hate the non-word ‘conversate’.

I’ll spank you with my katana if you use it.

Hard.

I drink a lot.

By drink, I mean Dr Pepper and spiced chai.

Two of my characters also have Twitter accounts.

They don’t post regularly. They’re usually too busy fighting or fucking.

See? What’d I tell you? F-bomb!

I’m scatter-brained, so the slightest glimpse of…ooh, kitty!

* @tmycann forced me at whip point to add those. Swear she did. :p

The current click thru rate is 10-20%. Static 468 x 60 banners only, please.

$1.00 for 1500 click thrus. Banners show top and bottom of every page, random rotation. My blog is averaging 366 visitors and 1200 page views daily (so far this month!).

I’ll email you for your banner image. Don’t have one? I can create one for you for $10.

Your Link:

Cuddling his daughter, Tristan stared at the coffin as it descended into the grave.

Hope was gone.

She’d somehow fallen while going down the cellar steps. Betty discovered her, but it was too late. Knowing that it had been a quick death was of little comfort.

At least it hadn’t been Shady who’d found her. Tristan didn’t know how he would’ve handled their daughter finding her mother dead.

Dead. Dear Lord, why? Eyes closing against the burn of tears, he kissed the small head resting on his shoulder while hugging Shady a bit closer.

Briefly, Tristan thought of adopting her out to a Wolven pack. At least then, she wouldn’t have to finish her growing motherless.

Tristan hadn’t ever considered loving any woman but Hope from the first time he’d seen her. He didn’t know how to continue without her.

Better figure it out. Eyes opening, he gently set Shady down before leading her closer to the grave’s edge. The rose she held was crumpled, but he didn’t think Hope would mind that.

It fell, and through the painfully tight grip of his daughter’s hand, Tristan felt the shudder that wracked her. Head falling back and sinking to the ground, Shady howled.

The sound was thin, wavering and caused the short hairs on his neck to rise. Dropping to one knee, gathering his daughter close, he broke into sobs. 

***

Intrigued? Head on over to ShadowConnor.com, register for free and read the rest!

Word count: 2, 982 Price: $ 1.29 A trio of flash fiction introducing the characters of Majick Incorporated.

	Tales from Faedriae: The Search/Heading South  Word count: 2, 491 Price: $ 1.29
Meet Bleddyn & Selwyn. Two shorts from the world of Faedriae.
Read an Excerpt
Buy Direct from Author
Zipped, DRM Free PDF

This is my stack on crack.

Watch a writer go insane

while Voices party in her brain.

I began *seriously* writing in 2007. Meaning, I started writing every day.

The above is 5 feet tall. Yes, the containers are full enough that I’m not sure how I’ll fit the loose stuff in them.

The scary thing? This is only the stuff I’ve written and haven’t typed up yet. I’ve cleared out all that I have typed up.

It seems I just keep adding to it.

Five feet tall. How many words is that?

The vehicles parked in the drive and at the curb in front of my home made it clear who was waiting for us inside: Tee’s parents, mine, Billy and our pack leader.

“It be all right,” Tee said while parking the borrowed car. The words weren’t enough as the enormity of what I’d done – we’d done – finally struck home in my mind.
I’d disobeyed my parents for the first time. Had ignored their decision and the agreement they’d made with Billy on my behalf.

We were in so much trouble.

No one came out, though they all had to have heard the car pulling in. Tee opened the front door to lead the way inside. Fear seemed to grab hold of my throat, making it difficult to breathe as we paused in the living room and all six stared at us.

Our pack leader gave no one else the chance to speak first. “Explain.”

From Hunter’s Edge (After the Fall/draft):

“I’m a pretty, pretty unicorn prancing on my way. A pretty, pretty unicorn enjoying a new daaay!”

Trissk scrubbed both hands over his face as Mary finally ended the song she’d created for herself. He wished he’d chosen another name for the ship, instead of selecting one from Linzi’s fantasy creatures she’d described to him when they were both kits. “Very nice. Status report?”

“All’s quiet on the western front, general. Sir!” she reported. “So, Fuzzy, you excited? We’re almost there.”

“We’re still two and a half hours out, Mary. I’m going to take a short rest.” They’d made the trip in record time for a Carrier class ship; Trissk had gone without sleep for two days, too busy anticipating seeing Linzi again. In the flesh; not on recorded messages. That had been a mistake because he was now so tired, he was afraid of falling asleep the moment he set foot on the station.

“Yeah, you do that. I’ll wake you in two hours, and you can take a shower. Hate to tell you this, Boss, but that ‘fuzzy’ crack? Your fur’s in some saaaad shape,” Mary told him. Rolling his eyes, Trissk made a mental note to ask Linzi to check the AI’s code. She was beginning to rub his fur the wrong way.

“I’ll do that,” he replied.

“Good. You want to look your best for her, right? Right. Because you’re in looove with the girl. Hey, are you going to kiss her the second you can get a grip on her? Because if you’re going to, can I watch?”

“No!” Trissk called over a shoulder while leaving the command cabin. He grinned as the AI’s voice followed him.

“No? No, I can’t watch, or no, you’re not going to kiss her? Boss? Hey!”

Chuffing, the young Katarr entered his onboard quarters and fell face down on the bunk. His tail waved briefly before falling limp.

Dark Dawn (Moon Children/draft):

The truck was twenty yards away when the awareness of a Moon Child filled my senses. Turning, I wondered why Rance would be riding with a stranger while it began slowing to a halt. The sunlight sparked off the front windshield, preventing a view of the interior. Once it halted, all four doors opened and my world shattered.

“Hello, Chelsea. It’s time to come home,” Malachi told me with a nasty smile.

Shocked, it was only the sudden surge of terror that prodded me into motion. Spinning, I began running for town. If I could reach town, Rance would be there. He’d sworn he wouldn’t let them take me; not from him, nor from Will. I had to reach him.

The snow and panic worked in tandem against me. I went sprawling face down as a heavy body slammed into me; Caleb’s scent filled my lungs as he flung me over. Panting, he mashed his mouth to mine, counting on the craving to subdue me.

I wasn’t sure who was more surprised when it didn’t work; him or me. The craving, which I felt constantly around Rance, and had once felt constantly around them, failed to surface at Caleb’s taste or touch. I continued fighting, snapping my teeth closed on his tongue as he forced it into my mouth, tasting blood as he yelped in pain.
He was flung aside and I scrambled, trying to regain my feet so that I could run again. A fist struck the side of my head and I fell before I was half way up, dazed and blinking. Malachi bent, grabbing hold of me, then heaved me to his shoulder.

“She bit me!” Caleb cuffed my ear. “You bit me, you little bitch.”

“Enough. We need to get her into the truck before someone comes along,” Malachi ordered. Hearing the words, I went wild; striking out with both hands at Caleb as talons erupted from my fingers. I kicked out at the same time, back arching, hoping to force Malachi into dropping me.

Once in the truck, I’d be at their mercy – and they had none.

“Chelsea, don’t make me hurt you,” Malachi growled, pinning my legs to his chest by throwing an arm around them just above my knees.

“She needs to be punished,” Caleb snarled as I levered myself up, talons shredding the parka covering Malachi’s back. The last thing I saw was his fist speeding towards my face.

As a writer, I want to get paid. One of my ideas to achieve that is by releasing sponsored, CC licensed versions of some of my stories. They can be downloaded and shared freely once so licensed.

These are four very short stories I’d like to release in such a way:

All were previously published in Bytes (a short & flash fiction collection title of mine that is no longer available for purchase).

I’ve set the goal amounts for each based on 5 cents per word. Sponsoring them allows an independent author to get paid for her work (and pay some med bills!), and makes them free to everyone from the moment the goal amount on each is reached. They will be released in DRM free PDF format, available for download on my site(s) and Smashwords. They will not be released in any other fashion (as either an unsponsored version or as part of a future collection that requires purchase).

A $5 (USD) donation will get you listed as a sponsor in the ebook you select.

Ex. “Precious Illusions has been brought to you by the generosity of the following: (list of sponsors’ names; can be linked to your website/blog)

This is my chosen CC license:

Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

cc by-nc-nd

If interested in sponsoring one or more of them, here’s how:

I appreciate your time in reading this!

Excerpts:

Another Adventure | It Was Necessary | Stay with Me | Precious Illusions

Historically for me, ebook sales tend to be low and slow until April through October, with June through September being my best sales months. Note: I’m lazy about promoting my titles except when something comes up that I could really use extra money to take care of.

(Note: I have medical bills to take care of, so 9 of February’s sales have been through my Payloadz store, via heavy whining on Twitter. All other sales have been through Amazon).

I’ve also changed prices on my ebooks downwards by around 25 to 76 cents on most titles. So instead of prices ranging from .99 to $5.25, they’re now .99 to $4.99.

Results for ‘Set Resurgence Free’: One $5 donation = 1 sponsor so far.

Web fiction ‘tips’: $14 (also in response to my whining – thanks to everyone who has bought or tipped! )

Downloads for the CC licensed, previously published version of Feral Intensity have now matched my total sales of that title. It took two years to hit 90 copies sold; it’s taken exactly 26 days to hit 90 copies downloaded (from here and Smashwords).

At this point in time, neither web fiction nor Resurgence donations have been miserable failures. I will continue reporting on both to see how they do. The Resurgence drive ends April 30, so 61 days more to go. (Note: I did put $10 of the webfic donations towards the goal for it, so actually have 2 sponsors so far.)

I’m an Operation Ebook Drop Author. Operation Ebook Drop is a group effort by a few hundred authors, started by Ed Patterson. Basically, we create and disperse 100% off coupons for our titles listed on Smashwords to active duty military who have ereaders.

From this, I had 8 downloads of my titles in January, and 15 for February.

Since adding my freebies to my blog here between the 2nd and 8th of February, Shades of Gray has had 20 DLs; Solo Mission 19 and Playing for Keeps 14. Over on Smashwords, since July 29, 2009: Shades of Gray has had 1755 DLs, Solo Mission 203 and Playing for Keeps 243.

And there you have it, folks. My total earnings for January to February have been $60.25 after distributor take or transaction fees, with a total of 189 copies going out.

Considering it could be zero, I’m going with ‘not bad’! :)

New (to me) People, each with their own brand of Awesome Sauce:

• kilconor
• MacabrePhotog
• Daniel4is
• fstop23
• omewan
• Bonkina
• shadowsinstone
• Nightwolfwriter
• weaponizer
• pafford
• mamakatslosinit
• luminary2000
• twae
• nick_hayden
• jolantru
• heidicautrell
• icpchad
• PaulaatAME
• SonjaFoust
• vashtan
• SlowburnDarkly
• tenaciousN
• zoetewey
• janoda
• mattsingley
• JustheLibrarian

I personally think everyone I follow, or list, is full of the awesome in some fashion.

Happy Follow Friday!

What may not be so clear is that authors can get paid for their work without restricting either availability of it or readers’ convenience.

Note: Being an independent instead of traditionally published, I don’t depend on sales to ensure future book contracts. Not being well-known, book piracy hasn’t had any personal effect on me at this point in time.

I don’t receive four figure advances and all expenses related to producing ebooks come directly out of my own pocket/earnings.

No sales=no earnings.

Fact: Making full copies of copyrighted works and distributing them without the copyright owner’s permission is illegal.

No ifs, ands or buts about it.

I don’t think it is okay to do, and I can see how book piracy has the potential to harm some authors’ ability to earn from their work and even continue to write.

While it hasn’t personally affected me, hey, my (e)books could become popular at some point, so I have to keep it in mind.

It could happen.

Part of my job as an independent author in this new world of digital publishing is to make it unnecessary for any reader to feel it necessary to resort to ‘piracy’ where my work is concerned.

To adapt to changes, while still protecting my right to earn from my work.

This is where the experimentation comes in.

Important items I’ve gathered:

• Price & easy availability matter.
• Quality matters.
• ‘Taste testing’ matters.
• Being able to continue enjoying the ability to share books with friends matters.

From the start, I’ve kept my cover prices ranging from 99 cents to $7.99, and what they end up priced at depends solely on finished word count of the story in question.

Lower price = lower word count. My chosen prices are below that $9.99 price point everyone’s so excited about.

I do my best to produce stories that are of good technical quality (readers decide if the story itself is quality entertainment, since that’s purely a matter of personal opinion on a case by case basis) and well-formatted. 

I pay someone to edit them. Authors may be their own worst critics, but they’re not usually their own best editors.

For ‘taste tests’, I have some free ebooks available and there’s also sampling for each at some distribution points (Amazon & Smashwords are two).

I’ve started a web fiction section onsite here. Four different stories, normally updated weekly. There was a coffee spill incident that prevented updating one this past Sunday. Don’t ask. I was furious with myself over it.

Readers can donate if they like what they read and feel like it.

Having decided to re-vamp the Shadow Connor series, I’ve released a Creative Commons licensed version of Feral Intensity v1. All three of the first titles are available for free online reading at the site, but free registration is required to do that. I plan to release print versions, so don’t want them archived all over the net.

You can also follow along with the re-vamp of each, plus the progress of future titles in the series.

My free ebooks are now Creative Commons licensed.

The idea of a subscription site crossed my mind a while back, so there’s the House of Craze, where all of my fiction is slowly being added. For a low monthly fee, subscribers can read online and download* my published ebooks without paying cover prices.

I’m working on my currently published commercial titles to change the copyright statement so that it allows limited sharing of lawfully obtained copies. Meaning a reader who buys a copy can share it with friends and family, as long as they do so in a non-public manner (for example, email the ebook directly to the intended recipient).

DRM free isn’t something I can guarantee through every distribution venue I use. But I can guarantee it through my site(s), Amazon and Smashwords.

I don’t consider DRM ‘bad’, but I do realize it doesn’t work; DRM free is my choice when I’m given one.

My last experiment might be the most interesting one.

Basically, I’m offering to release a second version of one of my published works. The current version stays, but this second version will be a sponsored release.

I set a price on it, and if that price is met by donations, then I’ll release a Creative Commons licensed version with a list of the sponsors who made it possible at the first of the ebook.

For those who don’t want ads, they can pay the 99 cents and buy the unsponsored version. Those who don’t mind ads can download the sponsored version for free.

Win/win.

Readers get choices when it comes to my stories, and I get paid for my work, yet still have the potential to earn a little here and there from sales of the unsponsored version. If it works for Resurgence, I’ll do it for my other published ebooks too.

To be honest, I don’t really expect to earn much from sales, figuring the sponsored version is the one most people will choose because it’s free, regardless of ads at the front.

That’s fine, because I’ll already have been paid. You could sort of consider the donation amount my ‘advance’, only I get it after the book is written.

Which of these experiments will work remains to be seen. It would be nice if a combination of all of them did.

But the main points of trying all of this out is to protect my ability to potentially earn from my work while not restricting availability or convenience for readers.

About the only thing I’ll be restricting is reselling the files, and that should be expected. It’s silly for me to allow that, and have to compete with someone else for sales of my own work.

Stay tuned to see how it all goes. I’m pretty excited about all of it, and eager to see what works or doesn’t.

*Because Smashwords offers several different DRM free formats, subscribers get coupon codes for 100% off to redeem there, rather than being able to download directly from the House of Craze.