Survivors ~ Reviews

This wasn’t an easy book for me to write.  As I’ve mentioned before, I started it in 2011.  I found the topic to be very depressing, but the idea of it never left me.  Over the years I had added to it as I found information I thought would be good in the story.  I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the reviews I have gotten.  No, they aren’t all five star and they shouldn’t be…this isn’t a perfect book, it isn’t even a perfect story, it is however a very scary scenario that one family could have lived through.  I hope those who read this, will give the book a chance.  In the meantime, here are some of the reviews I have been getting:

Thank you to all who have read it, will read it, or are reading it, your reviews do help and are appreciated!

For those of you contemplating it, please go to this link for all your buying options.

Fact vs Fiction

The definition of Fiction, as per Google search is:

So this means, you sometimes have to suspend disbelief to read a story…it’s called fiction for a reason, because the author, made up this story, it came from their imagination.  If it were fact, it would be a biography (even then, read it with a grain of salt), an auto-biography, or they would clearly state it was non-fiction.

My book The Northwood Lodge  (yes, I know it should be Northwoods, but I didn’t name it, my grandparents did) is the only piece of literature that I have written that is non-fiction…this means, it’s not made up.

My other works are clearly made up…or as they call it in layman’s terms, fiction.  I find it amusing when someone states they are upset because I made up a town, a place, or hey, the people aren’t real…um, hello?  Again, it’s called fiction for a reason.

Seriously, if they were fact, my erotica alone would make me the biggest s&*t there is and I am clearly not that.  At the time I wrote it, it is what I felt like writing and that’s what we authors do, we write what we feel like, make it up as it goes, sometimes some of us outline it and plan it out, but ultimately, it’s from our imaginations.

As a child, I had an active imagination.  I grew up without anyone around because we lived far out in the country.  My nearest neighbor was about a half a mile or so away.  My siblings were older and didn’t want to play with their little sister.  So I escaped to books and my imagination.  I have to tell you, that imagination never went away.  I can still clearly see the wild Indians, the Little House on the Prairie, and such things.  I think that is why I decided to write a prequel to my book Vetted while I’m also writing Vetted Further, the sequel to these amazing people.

Keep in mind, these books are not based on any REAL people, but real characters in my head.  They are also works in progress and subject to change (including the covers, see the watermarks still?)…but, it’s a nice western series for those who loved Vetted and it’s wonderful characters.

 

It was odd doing the research for Cavalcade and Pioneering, realizing that that this was 170 years ago!  Holy moly!  However, I hope when you read it, you will realize the beginning of this amazing pioneer family down through the years with Cavalcade and with it’s sequel Pioneering, how the family settled in 1800’s Oregon on the very same ranch that I featured in Vetted and Vetted Further.  I loved doing the research to include real, non-fiction facts in with my fiction works as well as including tidbits for the future stories.  Using real historical facts, makes it seem real, but again, it’s fiction.

Keep in mind, fiction means I made it up, non-fiction means I didn’t…

 

Amazon Scammers ~ An article

Amazon Scammers — An Unregulated Group Pushing out Women, LGBT+, and African American Authors in Romance Fiction

I recently came across this article I would like to share with you.  Please click on the title above and be taken to the excellent site.

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

I love Amazon, but…

I love looking through amazon, finding books, movies, and just stuff.  They are my go-to vendor of choice…however…

As an author, I must protest at their arbitrary censoring of material (lesbian fiction) and erotica.  If someone doesn’t want to read what I write, then scroll on by…my feelings won’t be hurt.  For Amazon to censor it though, that really annoys the heck outta me.

Then, there is the percentage game they play.  I took this from another’s post, it is not mine, and I’d give credit if I could remember who it was who originally posted it:

A bit of information that may, or may not, be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered about royalties earned by authors.

I noticed on a sales report that some of my books sold on amazon.com only earned 35% royalties (I get $1.75 a sale, amazon keeps $3.25) yet others I receive 70% (same region, same book, same price, sold on the same day)

I made an inquiry as to why and it turns out, an author is only entitled to 70% royalties if the buyer is in the US. So if a buyer, like myself for instance, subscribes to amazon.com but lives in NZ, the author is only entitled to 35% of the sale, amazon keeps the rest.

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So, Amazon, arguably the LARGEST retailer of books in the world keeps taking, and taking, and taking.  It’s a few cents here and there, but when you multiply that by the millions of authors out there, it adds up.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate that Amazon makes it easy for me to publish a book and get it out there, but they are making it difficult to be seen if you write any erotica, if you are a lesbian (a lot of lesbian literature is put under gay literature…um, I don’t play with the guys, I want a SEPARARATION of that patriarchal idea), or if they arbitrarily feel like it they will recategorize your books, or so it seems.

I don’t want to say they are homophobic, I fully believe Facebook has that market cornered, but I have to say they are taking pennies they don’t deserve and finding ways to take more.

They bought Create Space a few years ago.  That is a platform by which authors can publish paperbacks on demand, so they don’t have to keep an inventory.  Great concept right?  Create Space even had its own ‘store’ to sell your books direct, the author made more money through their store.  Now Amazon has eliminated that store because they don’t want to pay out the money and apparently it competed with their main site?

Amazon also owns Audible or ACX where an author can get their book produced as an audiobook.  I don’t know a lot about them, but I’m betting there are some similar things in the works for their platform.

Amazon now owns Good Reads, a place you used to be able to get a fair review for your books.  However, if you don’t get a fair review, say someone is targeting you, bad mouthing your books, a lot of the time they won’t take down the review.  Now that Amazon owns it, how long until they ‘think’ it is competing with their own review process and starts eliminating services that Good Reads now offers?

There are a host of things Amazon owns related to the publishing field, I don’t object because as an independent author, I utilize such things, but…they are too big to fight, they are the big ‘bully’ on the block in some things, and they are nickel and diming us authors to death….

My suggestion to you all, buy publisher or author direct when and if it is available.  This eliminates that ‘3rd party’ that is Amazon.  In my case I do have them offered so you can buy direct from me.

 

 

 

 

Survivors ~ NEW

I am pleased to FINALLY announce my latest release SURVIVORS!

For some, the world would end with the dropping of the bombs.  For others, a select few, it would present an opportunity to show their true mettle.  Those who will take on the challenge to live without, make do, and subsist on, are the survivors.

Jodi was one of the few.  She knew what was coming.  She read the signs, and she had friends in low places who kept her informed.  She bought a cabin in the middle of nowhere, fixed it up, and warned her closest friends and family that the time would come to abandon the big cities, to hide and seclude yourself for the safety of your family and everyone closest to you.

Krista was her partner, her best friend, and her wife at a time when states didn’t recognize same-sex marriage.  Krista coped with her mate’s compulsions by recognizing that indulging her was the best way to maintain a harmonious union.  After all, they could afford it.  Little did she realize that Jodi was destined to be the savior of them all.

Finding that things were much worse than everyone had speculated didn’t surprise Jodi.  But it would forever alter her family’s world view and transform them into something they hadn’t realized they were destined to become…SURVIVORS!

Available directly from my website as well as with all the links so you can get your copy.

Porn vs Erotica

Do you know the difference?

Furthermore, porn is usually visual where as erotica is the written word and plays with your mind.  A mind seeking such sexual stimulation will always make it more than is actually there.

I’ve written erotica, quite a bit of it, in my early years of writing.  It was well received.  As you can see by the shorts I’ve been re-releasing recently, there are quite a few to titillate the senses.

I find it amusing that several of my distributors, in particular: Scribd, Playster, and Overdrive find it necessary to block such books from their sites.

Others, have distorted the pictures so you can’t ‘see’ the pictures, in their minds ‘porn’ from the covers.

Yeah, I can see how blurring the covers keeps your eyes from burning out of your heads.

Can’t they take the covers on a case by case basis?

I mean, I understand that they rejected this one:

  

but they wouldn’t accept my ‘fix’ either so I had to make a blank cover with just the words.

Even that they didn’t look at for a while, insisting it would be rejected.  I finally insisted they look at the blank cover!  That is what went up on the sites that would accept erotica.

I guess I just don’t understand why they can’t age restrict some sections of their sites to over a certain age group.  If I am an adult and I wish to read erotica or look at porn, that’s my decision.  Keep the eyes of those with certain sensibilities away from the more lascivious things if they so desire…but rejecting them out-right is kind of offensive.

Recently I heard on Facebook that Amazon was changing how erotica is listed, making it harder to find.  Another way to screw over authors was my thought.  Here is one sure way to avoid Amazon’s dictatorial procedures…buy it DIRECTLY from MY website where ALL of my books are available for download.  It doesn’t matter what tablet your have, or if you want to read it on your phone or computer, I have PDF’s, Mobi, and e-Pub all available for you to buy direct…that will show them.  Also, as an added benefit, those authors and publishers that you buy direct from their websites, earn MORE money since they don’t have to give up their percentage to this third party.

So, if you got some books you’d like to check out, even erotica, feel free to buy them DIRECT from MY website.  I won’t tell anyone, I promise.

Kiss, 2nd edition

A short essay into a very important topic.  Newly edited and released.

Available on my website along with the various links where you can buy it!

Heel or Heal, 2nd edition

Available on my website along with the various links where you can buy it!

Children of Another Mother, 2nd edition ~New Cover

Dealing with the death of your best friend, the second parent to your children, your mother is hard enough but Gail now also has to deal with the house she had bought for them to all live in.  It’s a ‘fixer upper’ and requires a lot of work for the single mom.  A new home, a new life, new friends leads to a family she hadn’t anticipated or planned for…

Gail is doing the best she can, trying to deal with everything when Jackie enters her life.  They become good friends but how was Gail to know that she would change her life in ways she had never anticipated…

Newly updated, edited, and polished!  E-Book, Paperback, and even LARGE PRINT! Check it out on my website with all the links~!

Stable Affair, 2nd edition

Available on my website along with the various links where you can buy it!