Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat? Your Choice.

Support Your Indie Bookstore - Buy An Ebook!

Let's help our local bookstores.

Panzer and I didn't know you could do this until we saw it at GalleyCAT. We discovered you can buy ebooks through local bookstores using your Kobo ereader.

Panzer and I are equal ereader ebook buyers. We buy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble's Nook store and the Kobo store. It is true, we have felt bad when we read about the closing of brick and mortar bookstores, but we couldn't get our ebooks there. But change is here.  Now, it turns out Kobo is ahead of the pack for helping keep local bookstores in business.

We've already been looking into the Kobo Writing Life site because we're considering publishing our ebooks directly through KWL in addition to Amazon's KDP and Smashwords. (We'll be doing a post on this later.) Finding out about their partnership with brick and mortar stores, makes our decision easier.

If you want to learn how to use your Kobo ereader to buy ebooks from your local bookstore and which bookstores are participating, tootle over to Buying Ebooks Through Your Local Indie Bookstore

National Cat Day

Today is National Cat Day in the United States!

Hug A Cat!

 

Free Scary Books for Halloween - GalleyCat

Scary Books!

Just in time for Halloween!

FREE Scary Books! Dracula! Vampyres! Ghosts! Monsters!

W-o-o-o-o!

To get yours, tootle over to Free Scary Books for Halloween - GalleyCat

Happy Cat Dance!

Woo hoo!

My bad boy is back in the Top 100!
#38 in Mystery-Anthologies
#42 in Mystery-Collections & Anthologies!

 
Happy Cat Dance! Happy Cat Dance!

Thank you all!

Win with Wattpad

$2,000? Mine!

Panzer and I were tootling around in the Catosphere today and stopped in at Lynn Viehl's Paperback Writer blog.

It seems like everybody (Panzer and me included!) has been talking about NaNoWriMo this year. Turns out Lynn is no different. She found out Wattpad will be holding a contest for NaNoWriMo participants. The winner will get $2,000.00!

So now we have free ebook covers and $2,000 in prize money. You can write 50,000 words in a month, right? Well, then you better hurry over and sign up for NaNoWriMo!

If you want to learn more about the Wattpad prize money, tootle over to Win with Wattpad

Nominate Your NaNoWriMo Novel for a Free Book Cover - GalleyCat

It's FREE!

Panzer found some news about this year's NaNoWriMo.

My bad boy says, if you're planning on taking part in NaNoWriMo, you'll want to read the announcement he found over at GalleyCAT.

You could win a FREE cover for your writing project! That's FREE! You will need to put together a synopsis for your project and then submit it for consideration. Then each day in November during NaNoWriMo one project will be chosen.

If you're interested, tootle over to Nominate Your NaNoWriMo Novel for a Free Book Cover - GalleyCat

Col Bury's New Crime Fiction

No cats?

Panzer and I stopped in at Col Bury's New Crime Fiction blog and boy are we glad we did.

We almost missed out on his FREE ebook offer! He's giving away FREE copies of his Manchester 6 ebook. This is a noir crime fiction collection. Be prepared: there are NO cats!

You'll have to hurry to take advantage of this offer. October 25 is the last day to get it FREE and then it goes back to full price.

Panzer says, "It would be nice if you wrote a review for Col after you finish reading Manchester 6!"

To get your FREE copy, tootle over to Col Bury New Crime Fiction.

12 Things That Will Get Your Book Review Request Turned Down

Don't. Don't. 12 times Don't.

Panzer stopped in at Riley Banks' blog The Writer's Shack today.

He found a post on how to ask for a book review. The post includes twelve things that are guaranteed to get a resounding "No!" to your request for a book review. Some are so simple Panzer knows none of you would ever do them. Like: Don't have a "sob story" about your mother's dying request. ... Or ... Don't Tweet your request for a review. There are ten more Don'ts. As a bonus the post includes a sample PDF How to Request a Book Review at the end

If you want to know what not to do when you ask for a review, tootle on over to 12 Things That Will Get Your Book Review Request Turned Down

Formatting for Kindle and Smashwords

No template yet? Why?

Panzer was in the Catosphere today and found something for all his writing friends.

Here's an easy little video from thriller author C.J. Lyons on how to format your manuscript for Smashwords and Kindle. Although she's using a Mac all of the steps will work in any Word document. The video covers some of the most frequent problems that cause ebook rejections from the Premium Catalog at Smashwords.

Panzer says, "By now you should be using a template to cut down on your formatting problems!"

If you want to see the video, tootle over to Preparing Your Document.

Cute is as cute does!

Did he really do that?

Panzer found out one of his cousins in Gettysburg won a contest! His cousin Melvin won Arm & Hammer's October Pet of the Month contest. Melvin did that by having his photo taken sitting on a bag of cat litter. Kind of embarrassing, but he won.

Melvin manages the bookstore Battlefields and Beyond. His position there is well-deserved since he's a survivor of Hurricane Irene two years ago. I won't tell his secret talents, but if you read the article all the way to the end you can find out for yourself.

If you want to read the whole story of Melvin's win, tootle on over to Cats Rule!

Smashwords: Smashwords Ebook Publishing Workshops on Youtube

FREE Videos!

When Panzer was out in the Catosphere today he found five FREE Youtube videos about indie ebook publishing. These are Smashwords videos so they do lean toward Smashwords publishing.

 The videos cover everything from a primer on ebook publishing to increasing your sales at the Apple iTunes Store.

Be warned, there's a total of eight hours of videos, so grab a BIG cup of tea before you tootle over to Smashwords: Smashwords Ebook Publishing Workshops on Youtube: I've posted a series of five ebook publishing workshops at Youtube.  Each is embedded below. Whether you're considering publishing...

How Has Twitter Shaped Storytelling? - GalleyCat

140 characters? How?

Panzer couldn't believe it when I read him this post at GalleyCAT.

Authors are writing fiction on Twitter!

Twitter where your tweets can only be 140 characters!

How can they do that?

Read about it at How Has Twitter Shaped Storytelling? - GalleyCat

Ebook Publishing Trips

Ebook publishing?

Panzer and I were out in the Catosphere today and found a FREE online copy of Mike Shea's Ebook Publishing Tips.

The essay contains tips for doing a Kindle ebook, doing a PDF, using Calibre and a lot more. There's a clickable Table of Contents to make it really easy for you to find what you're looking for. There's also a clickable resource list at the end, too.

It's FREE to read online, but, if you want your own copy to read offline, there's a link to buy a copy.

Panzer says, "If you have questions about publishing your ebook, you need to read this."

To read the FREE online copy tootle over to Mike Shea's Ebook Publishing Tips

Dragons: Classifications

I don't like dragons!

Today's post is a little off-track from our usual ebook/writing/designing/publishing focus ... unless ... you're writing/researching a heroic fantasy ebook ... or ... you just love dragons.

Panzer is not a dragon lover. I'm the one who tracked down the Fantasy Faction blog and the Dragon Classification post. The artwork and the descriptions for the dragons is spectacular; so, I decided to share it with you.

To see dragons in all their splendor, tootle on over to Dragons: Classifications

Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and More: Debunking 7 Common Myths About Feral Cats

It's cold outside.

Panzer wants all his friends to visit Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and More blog. Tomorrow (October 16) is National Feral Cat Day. There's an important post about the "7 Common Myths About Feral Cats" at Melissa's today.

To learn more about Panzer's feral cat cousins, tootle on over to Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and More: Debunking 7 Common Myths About Feral Cats: Tomorrow, October 16th, is National Feral Cat Day. Alley Cat Allies launched the event back in 2001 to raise awareness about feral cats, ...

Mystery Writing is Murder: Updates on ACX and Goodreads, Thoughts on Freebies...

That's an interesting plan.

 It's been a while since we've been to author Elizabeth S. Craig's blog, so Panzer headed out to see what he could find at Mystery Writing Is Murder.


Panzer learned about Ms. Craig's marketing strategies for her books. She's been putting some of her books up at ACX as audio books to increase her books' exposure and her income stream. She's also been marketing her books using a free book in each of her series to entice  readers to buy the others in the series.  For even more exposure to readers she's been giving away ARCs at Goodreads. Panzer thinks she's got a good marketing plan!

If you're interested in the details of Elizabeth Craig's plan, tootle on over to Mystery Writing is Murder: Updates on ACX and Goodreads, Thoughts on Freebies...: By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I thought I’d give an update on both the audio book platform that I started doing this spring ...

Back in Amazon Top 100

Panzer is doing the Happy Cat dance again. We know the screen shot is hard to read below, but he's back in the top 100 for Mystery Anthologies! And can you see it's 4.3 stars! (Not a lot of reviews, but that's one 5 star and two 4 stars.)

You see, Amazon updates their numbers ever two hours. Now Panzer can't keep checking and checking and checking his numbers every couple of hours. But he does know he's been bouncing in and out of the Top 100 for the past three weeks.

So for right now it's:  Happy Cat! Happy Cat!

Goodreads: Where readers and authors battle it out in an online “Lord of the Flies”

This is not what I wanted!

There's still a lot of yowling about Goodreads going on in the Catosphere. So, Panzer stopped in at Salon to check out the latest.

I want to admit Panzer and I are not on Goodreads. We'd heard that authors should open an account there and interact with readers. We were thinking about doing it, so we did some investigating. Then all this yowling and CATerwauling started. Authors arguing with reviewers. Reviewers arguing with reviewers. Tweets. Blogs. It just keeps getting bigger.

If you want to read about what's going on at Goodreads, tootle over to Goodreads: Where readers and authors battle it out in an online “Lord of the Flies”

Bowker Counted 391,000 Self-Published Books Last Year - GalleyCat

391,000 books?

Okay, Panzer admits it. He was out in the Catosphere trying to find out why he keeps bouncing in and out of the Amazon 100 for Mystery Short Story Collections.

Well, he found out what his competition is ... and that explains all the bouncing. His Cats and Crime was one of the 391,000 self (indie) -published books last year.

Whew! It's so good to know that's what it is and not that all of you are cat haters!

If you want to read about your competition, tootle on over to Bowker Counted 391,000 Self-Published Books Last Year - GalleyCat

Anne R. Allen's Blog: The Laws of the (Amazon) Jungle—Eight Rules Author...

I can take care of myself. Well ... maybe.

Panzer loves going to Anne R. Allen's blog! You should bookmark her site as her posts are always in depth looks at all subjects writing.

Ms. Allen's Sunday (October 6) post is a must read for any writer who has heard the hype about getting on all the social media sites to connect with their readers. Not all social media sites are created equal as she points out in the beginning of her post. In fact, some should be avoided all together.

In the second part of the post she gives specific rules you should follow when you visit Amazon. These are important rules you should read and follow.

So, if you're thinking about going out into the social media jungle, first you need to tootle on over to Anne R. Allen's Blog: The Laws of the (Amazon) Jungle—Eight Rules Author...: Everybody tells authors we must use social media to have successful careers in the E-age, but nobody talks much about the dangers that lurk...

New Panzerism

One heart beat away from the curb.

Panzer on keeping pets:

The three main reasons to keep pets

1) Teaches responsibility;
2) Teaches unselfishness;
3) Teaches cleanliness.

All true.

But mostly I just keep Mom around to feed me. Otherwise, I'd dump her in a heart beat.

Tina Gayle's Unique Flavors of Life: Do Author's Need A Website?

So much work to do!

Panzer and I headed out into the Catosphere today looking for some helpful ideas to freshen up the site here at Cats and Crime. We stopped in at Tina Gayle's "Enjoying the Unique Favors of Life" blog for a visit. Boy is Panzer glad we did!

Tina gives some excellent advice about constructing a website. She includes which pages to include with a description of each and some reasons for her choices. Panzer and I are going to add some of her suggestions to our pages here!

If you're looking for some help setting up your website or if like us you want to make some changes to your existing site, tootle on over to Tina Gayle's Unique Flavors of Life: Do Author's Need A Website?:  

Carmen DeSousa: Why would an author offer their best seller FREE?

It's FREE!

Panzer found that author Carmen Sousa has a FREE ebook for you! In her post at her blog Carmen Sousa she writes about why she's giving away copies of her bestselling ebook She Belongs to Me.

Panzer says, "Read the post. Download the ebook. Read it. Post a review." We did. We did. We are. We will.

To get your FREE ebook, tootle over to Carmen DeSousa: Why would an author offer their best seller FREE?: It may sound like a simple answer;  but in my case, it's because I want you to read it. In general, authors write because ...

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing

How much money total?

Panzer and I stopped in at Joe Konrath's blog A Newbies Guide to Publishing today and boy are we glad we did!

The post starts off with guest Tom Keller's experiences with indie publishing which are informative. The second half of the post is Joe's sales numbers for all his ebooks. Joe stresses his numbers aren't meant to be a competition. That's good because his sales are phenomenal.  I could never even hope to get numbers any where near his.

Joe has a l-o-t of ebooks, novellas and short stories so the list is long. You might just want to skip to the end and read the totals. Prepare to be surprised.

Tootle on over to A Newbie's Guide to Publishing.

Free Publisher's Weekly Webcast

It's Free!

Panzer found a great FREE webcast for you. It's called The Future of Epic Fantasy. It's sponsored by our good friends at Publisher's Weekly and will feature editors from Tor and Paizo publishing houses. It will be on October 16 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Oh, and did we mention, it's FREE!

After you read about it, click the headline, The Future of Epic Fantasy and that will take you to the registration form.

If you're interested, tootle on over to The Future of Epic Fantasy

How to get Discovered by Readers

To market I go.

Panzer has been such a busy boy lately.

He's been doing some marketing research. His friend Fiona L. Webber heard his ebook Cats and Crime has been in and out and in and out of Amazon's Top 100 Mystery Short Story Collections. She asked him to help get her new ebook discovered so she can get in the Top 100 for romance.

So, my bad boy went out into the Catosphere and found a post by Penny C. Sanseviere at Huff Post Books that addresses how to get your ebook discovered. Ms. Sanseviere has a list of 10 ways to get the attention of those all important readers.

Be warned. This is a long post, but well worth your time to read it. So, if you're looking for help to get on the reader's radar, tootle over to How to get discovered.

What Writers Need To Know About the Affordable Care Act - GalleyCat

Insurance?

Do you live in the US? Are you a self-employed writer? Have individual insurance? Or no insurance? Been wondering about the Affordable Health Care Act and what it might mean for you?

Well, Panzer and I were. So, we went out in the Catosphere looking for some answers.

We found some at GalleyCAT.

To get help with your insurance questions, tootle on over to What Writers Need To Know About the Affordable Care Act - GalleyCat