You know you've hit the big time when...

...you discover your book offered for free, illegal download on a well known pirating website.

I am not rich. I am an indy author. I write because I love it and the voices in my head insist that I share their weirdness with the world. The small amount of money I have made from Wildfire and Common isn't going toward my mortgage or anything. It has paid for ISBN's (they are the numbers that identify a book and they are not cheap), photoshop membership, shutterstock membership (you like the covers? I made them myself using stock photos I purchased the rights to and made fancy in photoshop), my un-fabulous website, and a few other little things. My laptop is old and dying, so I am using the royalties to buy a new one. Get the picture?

I am not trying to get rich off my writing.  But to find my work offered for illegal download? I work long hard hours to bring you works with reviews that are titled, "MEH." I am being ripped off by folks who won't fork over $2.99 for an ebook or the monthly KU membership subscription.  I am now offering a formal apology to all the musicians I illegally downloaded from in the late 1990's before Napster was converted from free to fee.

It sucks.

The worst thing about it? There was a forum post on the website where several people were giving virtual high fives to the OP who uploaded my blood, sweat, and tears.

I'm currently trying to get the book removed, but time will tell.

On a happier note, I did get some writing done last week.  My brother will be happy to know that Lora is back in action. Wildfire fans will also be excited to hear that Sara is also whispering in my ear again. Yay.

I love fan mail!

That is all.

First review by a blogger!

If you're interested in reading it, here it is: http://shootingstarsreviews.blogspot.com/

I have been really excited about the reception Common is getting.  It has largely been positive. The majority of complaints have been that it ends abruptly, and it does.  But if it seemed super finished, why bother getting the next one! ;) but yeah. I am definitely aware of that, and they should be more finished in the future as the plot gets more exciting. The interest Common is generating is also putting Wildfire in the spotlight a lot more. It is also getting mostly positive reviews. I'm so excited people are reading and enjoying my work.

I also got my first fan mail. Super cool! Very sweet you took time out of your day to let me know what you enjoyed in the books.

Next week is my boys' spring break (and spring break at the university where I teach), so I will be spending some time writing. We're also painting the interior of our house, so hopefully that won't take up all my "free" time. I never have enough time for everything!!!

I was going to add something else, and I have totally spaced it.  Well, I'll post again if it pops into my head. If it doesn't, it probably wasn't that important anyway!

Writing again

After a couple weeks of no writing and just stalking my author pages, FB page, and Amazon's various marketplaces, I have started writing again.

I've made some progress on Earthquake and even Rarity, which surprises me because usually the last thing I want to look at after ending a project is more of that project. I also have been plotting out a series about aliens.  It's early stages for that. I mean, I have more Lora and Sara to write!  Don't want to involve Leah just yet...

I was reading to my son some of what I've written. He did not like Common, but he is excited to tell his daddy what my rankings are for it. He was surprised to see the sheer volume of plots and stories that I have on my laptop. Not all ideas become stories and not all stories are finished. I've never finished a series before, so I have a bit of an uphill battle. It's funny to see non-writers realize this.

Anyway.... I read the new Jaymin Eve/Jane Washington collaboration, Trickery, and I loved it. They're both talented writers. I've also been reading Siobhan Davis, Rachel E. Carter, and Jojo Bonsu. I haven't been really disappointed by a book in awhile, which makes it hard to put them down and write my own!

Speaking of distractions. The Cubs are playing in Surprise tomorrow. I will be there cheering them on, as always.  Go Cubbies!

Overwhelmed again!

It's always a crapshoot, according to other indie authors I've spoken to, when you upload a book. It could be ignored. It could do OK. Or it could totally take off.  I always wanted other people to read what I wrote because I enjoyed reading what other people wrote, if that makes sense.  I'm hypercritical of myself, so it never occurred to me that people would actually buy my stories and like them. I'm not sure why.

Then I uploaded Wildfire.  I get royalties from it, which is super cool.  Not a lot, but enough that it has paid for the shutterstock photos, part of my photoshop subscription, part of my website upkeep, my web domain, and part of my ISBN numbers. Yes, I do my own covers. It's an even more humbling experience than writing. I'm not artistic. Anyway, people have read it and they like it! I don't have a ton of reviews yet, but the ones I do have are positive. I redid my search terms recently and it kind of took off.  For me, anyway. It hangs out in the 100-200's in the Amazon.com rankings for its genre. Except for on amazon.de, where it's at a solid #30. Awesome!

Well, then I uploaded Common.  I anticipated a similar response to Wildfire.  The books have a different voice. Common is slower paced and not quite as "racy." I figured I'd get a lot of, "Is there a plot?" comments when I got them. Well maybe they're coming because Common took off like crazy. It gotten as high as #26 in its genre on Amazon.com and is currently in the 60's-80's (#30 on amazon.de... Yay Germans! Danke shon! Darn blogger won't make an umlaut...). It's currently ranked higher (at least for the next hour) than Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. ROFL at that one. I have also finished paying for everything I've spent bringing these books to my readers, which is amazing! Which means I might be able to get fancy with the covers for Earthquake (The Program #2) and Rarity (I think that's what Lora Fletcher #2 will be called, but don't quote me on it).

So.... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! All of you strangers who have read my books and are seeming to like them are phenomenal.

Map issue resolved

I love how Amazon has people working on such trivial matters at 4:45 in the morning!

Anyway, the corrected content has been uploaded and should go live sometime today. Thank you so much for making Common #26 in the teen fantasy category in spite of this! It's always daunting to click that upload button.  No matter how many times you review something or how many people edit for you, it seems like there's always something that gets missed. I found like 15 errors in Wildfire when I read it on my phone (yes, I read my own work because when you read in a different format it changes your whole perspective), but this error in Common had me totally freaking out. I may not have the most readers (yet), but I don't want to disappoint anyone. Thank you again for your patience.

Map issue

There appears to be an issue with the map. Trying to resolve it with Amazon right now.  Thank you for your patience!!