Treats, no Tricks.

So, I finally got around to it and the book is out there for people to buy.  I did the cover myself, though it wasn't exactly how I originally wanted it.  Thanks to Jen Curry for helping me edit.  It costs less than a dollar (ok, it's 99 cents) if you're interested in giving it a try.  The first story in the collection you can read in its entirety with the preview available at most sites.

As of today the book is available on these platforms:

[UPDATE:  The book is currently only available on Amazon.  It is however, free if you have Kindle Unlimited.]

Kindle https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01M4P43HS

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/676425

Scribd https://www.scribd.com/book/329259915/Dark-Stories-For-A-Restless-Night
iBook https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-stories-for-restless/id1170635502?mt=11
Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/dark-stories-for-a-restless-night
Inktera https://www.inktera.com/store/title/6c675c72-a459-44a6-8168-3397ce30c830

It will ultimately be available also at these locations:

Barnes and Noble (for Nook)
Baker & Taylor Blio
Baker-Taylor Axis360
Odilo
Overdrive
Tolino
txtr
Yuzu

And you can review it at any of these sites, and at Goodreads, too:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32802451-dark-stories-for-a-restless-night

Thanks again for reading my blog (and hopefully my book, too)!

How To Best Support Your Favorite Independent Author (or Artist)

Independent authors are changing the way the publishing world works.  You'll often find their books published for much less than mainstream publishing books electronically for e-readers like the Kindle, Nook, iPad, tablets, etc.  Some even release a book for free in hopes that people will like it and will purchase their other books.

When you discover one of these authors, there are some things you can do to make them more successful.  This has already happened to some, who have been picked up by larger publishers for better distribution.  Here's a small list that isn't all-inclusive:

1.  The obvious:  Buy their books.

2.  The next obvious:  Tell your friends and family.

3.  The not-so-obvious:  Write a review of their book.  This is perhaps the most important thing you can do, because it will reach so many more people and surveys have shown that at twice as many of "first time" book purchases for a new author are based more on reviews than by recommendations from friends or family.

4.  Corollary to #3:  Review the book on other sites where you can.  This includes other venues where it can be bought as well as sites like Goodreads and Shelfari.

5:  Important corollary to numbers 3 and 4:  Do not write a review that will make the book sound better than it really is.  Write an HONEST review of it.  If it is 4 stars, don't give it 5 just because you've liked their other works or know them and want them to be more successful.  Write it honestly and include enough details to help someone else decide if they, too, might like to read it (but not so much you reveal the story).

6.  If they have a web page, share it on social media for them.

7.  If they have a social media presence, follow them. But it isn't enough to just follow them.  You also need to share, click like, +1, etc. their posts.  Facebook for instance, inhibits small businesses and independent authors and artists from being seen by their core audience and followers with their algorithm to show "what is important" by only selecting random posts from a site you've clicked "like" on.  The more posts from that page gets shared and/or liked, the more of their posts that will show to people that have already clicked "like" on their page (and the more likely they can then click "like" or "share").

8.  Corollary to #7:  go to their page just in case you didn't get to see some of their posts.

9.  Encourage them.  Post something to their page letting them know you anxiously await their next book, but don't be too pushy.  Artists and Authors like encouragement, but not so much pressure to complete something.

10.  Repeat.

That's all for this week's blog.  Thanks for reading.

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Getting on the Publishing Trail

When I originally started writing, I never intended to have it published.  I was writing for me, to release emotions, since I didn't (and if I'm honest with myself I still don't) know how to deal with most emotions.  Then, I felt brave enough to let a few friends read a couple of my stories.  That was a pretty big breakthrough for me.  But still, I never really had any desire to sell any of my stuff.

Then I married an artist.  And she started selling some of her stuff (Granted, she produces much more than she lists and the sales aren't burning any barns.  Yet.), and this crazy notion got into my head that maybe I should sell some of my art, too.  Then came the "now what" phase.  I didn't have enough for a full book, and wasn't producing anything except a multitude of ideas (many of which I forget by the time I can write them down - or I lose the slip of paper I write them on), so I kept pushing it off.

Then I found that I can publish on my own through Amazon for the Kindle for free, so I started thinking of the basic concept I'd publish with.  Since the vast majority of my stories and story ideas are all short or ultra short, I should focus on short story compilation books.  I don't concentrate on any single genre, so maybe I should split the stories into categories and concentrate on a compilation story for each genre.  Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery, Drama (basic fiction that doesn't fit into the other three genres).  I then set about doling out stories to each book and had a pretty good idea of what goes where.

But still, I didn't do any work on anything new.

Then I found out about Smashwords, which will publish to just about every other electronic book medium except Amazon and also for free.  So, I could have my books for sale for the Kindle, and also for Nook, Apple Itunes, and a couple dozen other places.  Then I started reading in forums about pricing books and approximate number of words for each pricing scheme and I realized that I could put six of my stories that are already completed in the same short compilation novel and price it at about $0.99 or $1.99.  If I get good results, I'm pretty sure that will get me motivated to start putting my pencil to paper again (yes, I do all my first drafts the old fashioned way).

So, I'm putting the following stories in a short compilation book for less than a dollar:  Mary's Painting, Sins of the Father, The Fall, Cat's Eye View, The Viewing, and The Journey.  The only thing they have in common is that they're all darker stories.  I still need a title for the compilation, but as soon as I get that and artwork to design the cover with, I plan to publish straight away.  Who knows, if I get another story finished before then, I might include it also.

Megi's Gone Walkabout

So, It's been a couple of months since I provided an update to what's going on in my little world.  We'll start with the main topic I started this blog about:  writing.

I've decided to put a serious effort into writing and publishing using Kindle Direct Publishing.  I'm focusing more on books of short stories than a single novel.  I plan to group them by genre, and will have one horror, one crime/mystery, one sci-fi, and one drama when all is said and done.  I've also got a lot of cool story ideas, including writing a story with a zombie as the protagonist.  Now, I just have to take the time and write the stories.

I also started a Twitter account for my author personna (@TAllanBishop), since apparently that's what people should do.  I think I have two whole tweets so far...

Now on to what has been going on. 

We experienced a quarantine for Whooping cough in our house.  That precipitated Candice and I opening one of our Christmas presents a month early to fill the dead time with the Wii U.

I got to experience an entire day of jury duty for a case involving sexual assault of a minor and 2nd degree kidnapping before finally becoming a peremptory challenge by the defense at 5:30 at night.  I think it would be really neat to sit on a jury, just not a four day trial on that kind of a case.

We got a companion for Ginger:  Bailey.  Bailey is a Basenji/mid-sized terrier mix.  And the day after we rescued him, he cut open his paw pretty bad (he could have bled to death from it had we not gotten him to the doctor right away).  He then proceeded to tear up three cones designed to prevent him from chewing at his bandages and then proceeded to constantly chew his bandages.  We gave up and removed the bandages and he mostly left the stitches alone.

Bailey has been a calming influence on Ginger.  She's less inclined to jump on people and she seems happier now that she has a friend that is around all the time.  We think Bailey had a bad incident with a car, because of a bad scar on his rear leg that he was treated for prior to his adoption and the fact that any moving vehicle scares the bejeezus out of him.  Still ones not so much so.  He's pretty well behaved except that the "fences" we put up to keep him out of or in a room are considered optional by him.  Because he's so well behaved, we think he used to have an owner, but somehow became "homeless" for a while and that's when he had his accident.

We (and the vet) think he cut his paw on the metal edging that separates different landscapings in the back yard.  I'll be taking it out soon to make sure we don't have a repeat performance.

We refinanced the house down from a 4.625% fixed rate to a 3.25% fixed rate and lowered our monthly house payment by about $400 per month.  We refinanced without any cost to us.  Donna's day care bill just got lowered by $10 per week since she's fully potty trained now.  I also plan to switch our cell phones soon to a combined monthly data usage one which will lower our monthly phone bill by about $30 per month.  That's going to help tremendously with living within our budget and getting the bills paid off.

Christmas Eve, Megi began to walk without holding on to anything!  Christmas Day, she actually started doing it as her primary means of getting around, and she rarely crawls anymore.  In fact, she spends hours just walking around because she can and it is fascinating to her.  She's gone walkabout.

Gabe has been home from school for the holidays.  He really copes better when he has school than when he's home for the entire day.  It'll be better for him and Candice when he starts back to school tomorrow.

Donna stumbled in on Santa while he was setting up all the stuff.  He had to disappear in a hurry.  fortunately, he returned later after she went to sleep and finished with everything.

In the next few weeks, I'll be buying the pieces to set up ventillation in the basement to move Candice's glass studio down there.  Once that is done, the next step is to rearrange stuff in the garage so I can park in it again (moving my car out whenever I need to actually "do" stuff in the workshop.

We've finally moved on to painting the next room in the series.  Donna's new room will be green (her favorite color) with a pink highlight wall.  Once we get it painted, we'll move her in and start work on Megi's new room.  When we finish that, we'll start on finishing touches to the rooms and the bathrooms.

Well, that's all for this update.  Thanks for reading.