Where'd Monday go? Discombobulation abounds. No photos/videos: Bad Kat

Morning y'all. I'm late with my Monday post - I have been out of town to South Louisiana to visit family and friends. It was a quick trip, but here it is Tuesday morning and I don't have my photos/images/videos! *Bad Kat* I even woke up in my iron bed in the little log house in the cove at Killian Knob thinking this was Monday. Lawd.

So pardon my lateness and zippity do dah diggity didn't do-it-ness as I unpack and unwind and decompress. I will see you on Wednesday with my regular blog post!

By the way, SWEETIE is inching up the "Amazon Kindle Best Seller List" - she's at this moment no 29 in literary fiction. I'd love to see her head up to No 1 of course *haw!* but even the top 50 is very nice. THANK YOU for your support. She'll, Sweetie that is, will be on this "Amazon Weekly Deals" for a mere .99cents until Friday and then it's over and she's the regular price. (Firefly Dance is on that same deal.) Appreciate all of you.

See you Wednesday!

Oh, the wild and wacky world of Amazon rankings, ratings roller coaster ride

First off, a big Thank You to my readers/friends—you are the reason I have this job, this wonderful life, the reason I keep writing, for what would I do without all of you?

Y’all may have read here how I never look at my rankings/ratings on Amazon. But when the Amazon Sunshine Deals promo (this is the promo I talked about below—where Tender Graces is sale priced at $2.99 instead of $9.99- Dang!) rolled around on the 2nd, and the next day someone sent me a link to my ranking on a “bestseller list;" That was fast, I thought, and it piqued my curiosity.

I did some clicking around Amazon lists. It was rather interesting, but mostly confusing. According to what criteria I searched under, Tender Graces was at: No 34, No 7, No 105, No 203, and in one place I couldn’t find TG so it must have been somewhere way off in oblivion-- haw haw! Then, much to my surprise, while searching for TG, I stumbled across Sweetie, not even aware that Sweetie would be on a “bestseller list” since it's not on the promo. Huhn. La Tee Dah! *Don't Look Gift Horse In Mouth* :-D

I was also curious about rankings—according to Amazon: "The Amazon sales rank is a number that says how many other titles sold more than your titles. The smaller the Amazon Sales Rank number, the better the sales.” So, I peeked at Tender Graces’s ranking, and at that point in that day in that hour (for it changes willy nilly up and down hourly) I was 950 in Kindle reader ebooks, 6,500 in trade paperback, and—this is really funny—some million number in large print *laughing* dang-large print TG's just do not sell! lawd! Those numbers change and change again, up and down up and down up and down. It boggles the mind. Which is why I stay away from it! So if you peek, don't tell me where I am now, unless I've suddenly become a Kindle Millionaire and then you can tell me *LAUGHING*! :-D

Isn’t it all a weird scattered numbers thing where luck and timing have much to do with where you are? It's a quickly morphing entity. I am not saying talent isn't a factor, for if a book has no merit, eventually it will fall under its own weight of mediocrity or plain old badness. And hard work never hurt anyone - you have to produce your product!
Just as You Tube videos can go viral, so can books—which explains the Kindle Millionaires—somehow they find readers, then more readers, shoot up to bestsellers status lists, and find ever more readers, and then things begin to ‘snowball’ and next you know—MILLIONAIRE! Wow. Dang!

Whatever Amazon has planned in its weird monstrous brain with its Sunshine Deals promo, and however it is affecting brick and mortar stores, or The Big 6, and pricing, I do not know, and I find I’m having a hard time worrying about that (for they certainly aren’t worried about little ole me, are they?) when I’m just doing the best I can. With Amazon placing me in a cool position on their summer deals promo page, my book can become visible to readers who may not have heard of little old Kathryn Magendie, and as well attention is brought to my wonderful small press BelleBooks/Bell Bridge books—who by the way have several books on Big Top Spots in Amazon through these deals right now—GO BBs!

The quest to Do and Have More can be never-ending if you don’t find a way to ground yourself. You'll make yourself sick and heartsick unless you find a way to accept whatever comes your way and realize/recognize that wherever you are in this journey, luck, timing, hard work, and talent go hand in hand—and gratitude for what you do have and what successes you find along the way--big or very small--can keep you grounded and healthy and happy. 

As interesting as my looking into rankings and lists were this week, I find what works for me is to stay away from them, and instead to focus my time and energy on writing my books. How people react to the Me I place on the page is mostly out of my control. Where I end up is mostly out of my control.

So to come full circle in this post, I want to say: Thank You All. I appreciate you—whether you are five people or fifty-five people or fifty-thousand people, you are the reason I write. My novels are love letters to you all. You think I am giving you something, when all along it is You who are giving me the greatest gift of all: You and your time, and yes, even your hard-earned money. You are investing in me, and I will always give you the very best I can.

Love, Kathryn  *muwah!* Have a great weekend!

(PS- I'm over at "Women Fiction Writer's - the wonderful Amy Nathan interviewed me and of course I'm all over the place chaotic, but I did my best *laugh* - she has a wonderful blog full of gooey good stuff and I am honored to be her guest!)

Tender Graces Sale through Amazon Kindle Summer Reading Program Promotion

I'm peeking back in here only to tell you that Amazon Kindle put Tender Graces (and other books, too, of course!) on their Amazon Summer Reading promotion. So, for only fifteen days (beginning yesterday I guess), Tender Graces price is set by Amazon at $2.99 instead of $9.99.

So, friends, if you are interested in reading it, now's the time to do so at its lower price.

You all know I rarely do any "self promotion" thing on here, and I never ever say "buy my books y'all!" but, I do want to pass this on.

And, well, dang it, I admit it would really be cool to see Tender Graces back in the top five as it was about a year ago - that was so exciting! I was actually No 1 over Kathryn Stocket's The Help for a few days - *whoop!* -- so yes, I'd be thrilled if I was back there, but even being in the top 100 or top 50 is pretty danged cool

Anyway - I guess I'll see how it all turns out, this promo they are doing. I know that Bellebooks had to "nominate" titles, and then based on how well a title has done on Kindle they decided which books to pick - so, I'm excited to see what happens in the 15 days!

This is the Promo Page - I'm under "Literature and Fiction* It's their "Sunshine Deals" ;-D
Thank you all for your support - *muwah!*

PS - NOTE - I have tried again to stop by your places and leave a comment and still blogger is acting up - giving up in frustration, but, I will be reading at least your blogs a few at a time as I've been doing! I'm sure I'm not the only one having problems!

UPDATE: Thank you for your support !- Tender Graces is now in the Kindle Top 100 Best Sellers in Literary Fiction - I appreciate all of your support! On to number 1? Well, maybe not, but a girl can dream--it has happened before, maybe it'll happen again . . . lawd! :-D

My Thoughts on my new Kindle e-reader

Y'all may remember I posted pics for my trip to finally purchase a Kindle e-reader. I'd held off a long while, but finally I just couldn't stand my curiosity any longer.

My Kindle sat around for a couple of weeks before I downloaded any books, then it sat around another couple weeks before I read anything on it. Although I was curious, the Kindle on my bedside table didn't compel me to open it and read like my printed books always did.

However, once I finally opened my first ever Kindle book (How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal) and began reading, I quickly "forgot" I was reading from a device. This, I admit, amazed me. I fully did not expect to have this "forgetting" and thought the reading would instead feel awkward. Nope, I read along happily and was fully into the story, never thinking "Huhn, I'm reading on a device and not a book;" well, perhaps I did think this from time to time, but not in a negative way, for the reading experience itself--getting into the story and characters--felt the same as with the printed book.

When I was out of town in Baton Rouge/Paulina, Louisiana, I took along my Kindle, and this, my good friends, is another positive experience for e-readers. I didn’t have to lug along books, which really isn’t so bad if I am reading one book; however, I have been out of town, finished a book, and didn’t have another one with me, or began a book and decided I wasn't in the mood for that one afterall. With my Kindle, I have as many books as I wish to read at my fingertips, and when I fly, with baggage weight fees, taking along a Kindle instead of books/manuscripts will be invaluable.

But the most wonderful thing about my Kindle that made it full worth the price (I bought the wifi version for $139.00) is how I am able to upload my draft manuscripts to my Kindle and read my own work (alternatively, I can upload an author's book I will be 'blurbing/endorsing' without having to have a printed copy). This is, and will be, an invaluable tool for my work. Reading the work in different ways always allows me to catch things I may not see in my word doc, or the printed one. I uploaded the draft of VK III to read (so easy to do!) and it allowed me to "see" things I wanted to work on, and to experience where I had things where I wanted them. I love this! I'll be able to read my galley (last chance to proof) on the printed copy, word doc, and on my Kindle. Shazam!

However, what I missed about reading a printed book is the feel of the book, the heft of the pages, the smell of books, yes, but as well, with an e-reader, I miss the colorful spines on my shelf, and the beautiful covers on my nightstand. Also, while reading printed books, the author's name and the title of the book are at the top of every page—not so with my Kindle (unless there is a setting I am missing?)—and with my pea-headed black holed brain, I sometimes forget who I am reading and what the title is!


Without the visual of the printed colorful covers/spines on my bookshelf/nightstand, and without the author’s name and title of book at the top of the pages, there is this distance between me and the work and the author, and that does bother me. I look for some distance from the author when I am into the reading of the book, but upon picking up the book from my nightstand, and then closing it when I am finished reading for the night (or the end of the book), or even as I subconsciouly note the title/author at the top of the page, I do not want that distance, I then want the connection, which is somewhat missing from my Kindle e-reader experience. That's a flaw I do not  know how to remedy or if it will work itself out.

All in all, I’m finding the experience a positive one. Which is why I will also say that I don’t mind paying a decent fair price for my Kindle books I purchase—perhaps not as much as I pay for a printed book that I can place on my shelf, but I consider the experience of reading the same joy on my e-reader that I do on the Kindle.

What about you? Thoughts on e-readers?

Monday Chaos . . . Have you ever forgotten to put on your pants?



my Kindle - pants on maybe


I finally downloaded some books on Kindle, and began reading one last night. I never thought I'd like it as much as I do, but, I will also say there is a quality missing from it that only print books give me. I will continue to buy print books, of course. Still . . . it's kind of cool . . . ungh . . . dang.

What about you all? Have a Kindle yet? What do you think about it?





my AH LAWD face


This morning I almost walked out of my house without pants on. Yep. I have been so distracted and discombobulated that I thought I put on my pants and went to open the door to go on my cove walk and something felt wrong - haw haw! Um, Kat! Put on your danged ole pants. If I don't get this book written soon, I may exit the house Nekkid!

My pea-headed brain thinks it may be time to cut back this blog to once or twice a week. I know how saturated we all can feel with blogs and facebook and twitter, and, doesn't seem fair if I keep churning out posts and want you to come read when I can hardly ever get me arse over to your blogs anymore!

What about y'all? You thinking of cutting back? Or have you? Would you "forget" a blog that only posts once or twice a week, or would that help you with your own time and visiting?



new coon that's come visiting - he's dark with silver - never had one quite this color, purrrrrdy-he's not wearing pants



walking on Riddle Cove Road sorta down behind us-but with pants on :-D haw!

What I really don't want to do, unless you all tell me you'd like me to, is to write "Writer's Advice" or "How to . . . " because I see so many others doing a much better job at it than I could. There's enough advice out there without me chiming in, right? But if my chaos is boring or uninteresting, I want to make a change - so  . . .
Am I boring you all? Would you like to see a change? Or do you think my chaos is just fine? Do you wonder if I'm wearing pants right now? (yes I am -haw haw!)

view from porch-with pants on

One quick thing you should read if you are a writer, or even if you are not: I had a big old laugh over this article (lifted from Nathan Bransford's blog who lifted it from Lisa Brackmann) - Author Promoting Book Gives It Her All Whether It's Just 3 People Or A Crowd Of 9 People. Haw! I'm still laughing at it!

I love Calving & Hobbes - isn't this just how we wish we could be? this confident? Sometimes we have to fake it to make it, as the cliche goes, right? Sometimes we just need to feel this danged good about ourselves. Let's start our own "WE RAWK" club.



wish I had an old typewriter like this! Writing, with pants on


Now that I've shared my Monday Chaos, I'm off to sit on the porch--with pants on--and work on VK III.

Guess what I did: no words necessary

I'm Back! . . . Post Archives: Cleaning up our Manuscripts

It is Write The Dang Book, Kathryn time. I must finish VK III, the third (final) Graces book, and that means it is time for me to GET ME ARSE TO SOME SERIOUS WORK TO MEET MY DEADLINE . . . and it is also time to hop back on my regular blog posting of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My long vacation is O V E R! I feel refreshed, renewed, and ready to get back to work.



For the first few Mondays, to kick things off, I'm linking to archives on my series "cleaning up our manuscripts." This will be a good start to Monday's posts, which will be writing/grammar/publication/et cetera related. 
 

Wednesdays will be links and/or videos, which will concern general subjects (including other bloggers, writers, poets, artists, or whatever general doodlee dah I come across that I want to share).

Fridays are open.

I will say that January 4th is GMR's and my 14th anniversary, and January 5 will be two years since I began this blog. *big smile*

Now - a few archive links -

My Simile Post is Like a Red Red Rose . . . or maybe not

Picturing the scene: eyes falling out of their sockets; arms & legs followed! oh dear!

Those Adverbly Adverbs, la ly ly ly la la la ly la!

Point of View - I see you. I am the STORY TELLER. He/She is the STORYTELLER



That's enough for now - I'll be back on Wednesday. Have a great day!

(And the wonderful person who showed me how to have the links open to a new page, oh, if you could remind me and this time I won't forget . . . *lawd*)

(The SWEETIE Amazon Kindle free downlaod promo is now over! It is now back to the paid lists. Hope you were able to take advantage of it!)

image

BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books has a Christmas gift for all you Amazon Kindlers out there! Merry Christmas!

I'll leave you with this and will be enjoying family and friends and food and et cetera through the New Year:

BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books is doing a one-time Promotional for SWEETIE where you can download it for free on your Amazon Kindle. Their Christmas gift will last though January 1st and then it goes away, and they never do it twice for the same novel. So, if you have a Kindle, or receive one for Christmas, now's the time to get it free before it goes back to regular price. You can find it on Amazon Best-sellers/Kindle where they list the freebies and the paid ones together, and last I was told it was at Number 10 in freebies.

(Tender Graces and Secret Graces are not included in this promo - they did TG last year already!)

Love to you all and thank you for being such wonderful and supportive friends - you've been such a great community for me and I appreciate you all more than you could ever know. *Blowing You All A Kiss*

MERRY CHRISTMAS!