FREE E-Book - what a great "loss leader" idea!

You know how stores lure you in with good sales and while you're in the store you see other stuff you want/need and end up buying more than the sale items? The sale items are known as loss leaders because the store usually doesn't make any money on them, in fact they usually lose money but the store still comes out ahead on the profit they make from the non-sale stuff that people buy.

Of course "loss leader" was the first thing that came into my head when I saw this offer from St. Martin's Press for two free e-books written by Julia Spencer-Fleming. I'd never heard of her before but I thought what the heck, they're free books so if I don't like them it's no loss, right?

Like all writers, I love discovering a new "favorite" author and Spencer-Fleming is going on my author BOLO list. The two e-books are the first two books in Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series. Clare Fergusson is an Episcopalian priest and, as Clare explains it, she's chaste (meaning not have sex) not celibate (meaning not allowed to marry). The whole priest/celibate thing adds a touch of humor to Clare's encounters but also, interestingly enough, adds to the sexual tension between Clare and Russ VanAlstyne, the local police chief. Clare is automatically held to a higher standard than your typical heroine because she's . . . well . . . a priest.

Russ isn't your typical hero either. He wears glasses, has bad knees and is at least 10 years older than Clare. And as a Vietnam vet, he still carries baggage.

Spencer's website bills her work as "novels of Faith and Murder for readers of literary suspense". I'm hooked. I read the second book of the series - A Fountain Filled with Blood - first. I'd have to rate it as an excellent mystery with strong romantic elements. In addition to the scrappy Clare and wounded warrior Russ, the story held my interest because I couldn't figure out whodunit until the very end. And, Spencer-Fleming didn't wrap it up with a neat bow at the end, which is why despite the strong romantic elements the story doesn't qualify as a romance. The bad guy wins . . . sort of, and will no doubt show up in another story in the series.

Now I'm off to read the first book in the series - In the Bleak Midwinter. The free e-book offer is over, but it's well worth the $7 a piece for the books!

More About Politics

I'm sorry. I just can't help myself. When I started this blog the goal was to promote my writing and build a name for myself as a writer. Writing related stuff only.

Boring.

No, writing isn't boring. I love to write. But I'm not one dimensional and it seems somehow . . . disingenuous to limit myself to blogging about writing especially given the political and economic environment of today. There are so many interesting things going on in the world.

So. no more one-dimensional blog for me. Politics. Religion. The economy. Stupid criminals. You name it, it's all fair game.

Pesky Surveillance Measure Gets in the Way of Running for Re-Election

From the June 21 (Saturday) edition of the The Wall Street Journal in an article written by Siobhan Gorman and titled Many Democrats Object as House Passes Spying Bill.

The House voted 293-129 for a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecom companies from lawsuits arising from the government’s war on terror. The measure now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to win approval.

“Despite broad opposition from Democrats, the party’s leaders concluded Congress had to pass a surveillance measure. They faced an August deadline, when previously authorized
surveillance orders would begin to expire. Conservative Democrats in tough re-election races were clamoring for a bill. Party leaders wanted to pass the surveillance bill, so they could move on to issues where they would have more election-year traction, such as the economy, congressional aides said.

Still, 128 Democrats voted against the bill. Rep. Holt said the compromise measure "permits massive warrantless surveillance" and contravenes Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure. The compromise bill turns the notion of innocent-until-proven-guilty on its head and "alters the relationship between the government and the people.

Let me get this straight. In their rush to get the pesky surveillance measure out of the way so they can move on to issues that will help them get re-elected, the House passed an electronic surveillance bill that Rep Holt (Democrat from New Jersey) says “permits massive warrantless surveillance” and violates our Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure.

It’s not the surveillance measure that’s got me riled up. Well, it does but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post. It’s the rush to sweep this pesky issue under the rug so conservative Democrats in tough re-election races can have more appealing issues to wave before the voters’ noses.

What are we paying these people for? To get re-elected? Or to represent the people and run the country?

I’m one of those folks that held out hope when the Democrats took Congress in 2006 that our elected representatives would get back on track by putting the country ahead of their political careers and personal interests.

Silly me.

Networking - It Isn't About You

This link was shared on one of the writer's loops to which I belong. It's an interview with Stephanie Palmer - a consultant to creative types who are looking for help in getting their work in front of the right people. Of course, she's written a book Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience.

I find it interesting that some of the points she makes are the same strategies used by folks who are good at business development (in the professional services world thats a more PC term for sales).

Stephanie talks about building relationships. Real networking isn't about meeting people that can help you - it's about looking for ways you can help the people you meet. The end result is people that are willing to help you. It's about building genuine relationships where you see the person as a person not a stepping stone on the way to achieving your own goals.

How many of us miss this key point in our quest to meet the folks that will help us achieve our goals?

And how many of us eschew selling ourselves because we think that's our agent's job? True, it is your agent's job to pitch you work, but you still have to sell yourself to readers and editors and reviewers and so on and so on.

I can't tell you how many times in the last year I've heard (or read) authors with scorn in their voice talk about how they shouldn't have to market their work. Marketing's a dirty word it appears. But as a wise old friend of mine once said, sometimes you have to blow your own horn because nobody else is going to blow it for you.

People Watching

On my way home from Vegas! Hurrah! I'm not a big city hustle and bustle kind of person - too much farm girl in my veins.

More characters from my people watching excursions. Last night I walked along the Strip and observed. I wonder how many of the crowd were natives and how many tourists. Years ago my younger sister lived in Vegas and told me that the natives don't come to the Strip unless they work there. But surely . . . not even for a show???

I passed an elderly Asian woman with her silver hair in a punk style with patches of pink. She was dressed entirely in pink, including her pink translucent walking cane. Tottering along in front of Treasure Island, she smiled as if in her advanced years she knew something the rest of us didn't, something special for her pleasure only.

I'm waiting in the airport now with a family seated behind me in the waiting area. Mom, Dad and two kids one of whom is obviously newly diagnosed with diabetes. The parents' conversation focuses on how many carbs in the pizza the kids want and how best to handle the injection the child will soon need. And can they have ice cream during their layover in Phoenix.

People at the slot machines - I wonder why they never look like they're having fun? No smiles. No expression of pleasure in their eyes. Just staring and repetitive motion as they insert coins and watch the wheels spin around.

Plenty of time to people watch. In our zeal for a direct flight, my co-worker and I ended up with an almost seven hour wait between the end of our conference and the flight home. What were we thinking?!

I'm here trying to tune out the incessant click and hum and chiming of slot machines enough to write. He's wandering the airport shops and most likely trying to figure out how to have just one more cigarette before he has to pass into the no-smoking zone.

But yet another people watching interruption. Another traveler desperate to connect with something other than the airport activity asking to borrow my power chord. Dead electronics are never any fun but especially in an airport waiting area.

What's the point of my ramblings today? I'm procrastinating with writing but, unlike my procrastination habits at home, today I have nothing else to do.

Back to writing.

Characters everywhere!

I'm in Vegas this week for a day-job related conference. If Orlando, or more specifically Disney World, is the happiest place on earth, Vegas must surely be the most . . . self-indulgent. After all, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

Melon breasted women with spray on tans and Barbie hair hanging on the arm of men older than Methuselah.

Middle-aged men sucking in the beer belly and preening in the mirrors in the elevator (I'm staying at the Mirage) checking teeth and smoothing well gelled hair combed back to cover the burgeoning bald spot.

Young women with their navels and butt cracks exposed, pouches of belly/hip fat bulging over the tops of too tight, too short skirts or too tight jeans. They walk swinging their hips and strutting through the casino - one with fur-topped, calf-high boots.

By the time this conference ends in two days, I'll have so much material for characters I won't know what to do!

I'm not a gambler and all the hyperactivity in Vegas puts me on sensory overload within a few hours after I walk out of the airport. But what a place to people watch! And I've got my Kindle to keep me company when the sessions get eye-gouging boring!

Kindle and the Age of the E-Book

Back when Amazon first released the Kindle, I did the happy dance to finally see an electronic reading device that was designed with the reader's experience in mind. Based on Jeff Bezo's comments during a Charlie Rose interview when the product launched, the Kindle was designed by readers for readers rather than by techies for readers. The design emphasis is on the device not getting in the way of the reader's experience of being pulled into the story.

When I got my tax rebate I just had to be a good citizen and do my part to boost the economy. So I looked at my wish list of expensive gadgets I think I just must have and ordered a Kindle. (It beat out a digital SLR camera that's more pricey but, hey, wait until income tax return time next year!)

The device arrived on my doorstep this week, just in time for an out-of-town trip. Of course, there's tons of stuff you can buy from Amazon to use on the device - books, magazines, newspapers, etc. I was a little disappointed that the selection of magazines, newspapers and blogs isn't as extensive as I expected. But all-in-all a good assortment.

I was even more thrilled to be able to download a book by one of my favorite e-book authors, *lizzie starr (published by Wings ePress). In the past, although I love her work, I've struggled to read her books because I had to sit at my computer to do so. Her Tales of the Double Keltic Triad series is wonderfully captivating (*lizzie I'm waiting for Toccata in Fuge!).

Downloading from a non-Amazon site took a couple of extra steps and a few pennies more but it's worth it if I can enjoy my favorite e-pubbed authors. I'm hoping more readers feel that way too and sales of e-books get a boost from Amazon and Kindle.