To ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME

One of those truisms trotted out at management seminars, to ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME has people scrabbling for their pens and noting the phrase so they can lay claim to it in front of future audiences. But I'm guilty of ASSUMING. After a few years in this e-book business I have assumed that everyone knows what an e-book is, where they can get them and how to read them.

The truth is lots of people do know all about e-books (they're electronic files e.g. type mobi or azw for Kindle devices, type ePub for Apple and Nook and Kobo and Android and others, or even just plain old pdf) and are familiar with e-readers (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, almost any Apple device, almost any Android device).

But a large number of people really don't know about the world of e-books and how to read them. They just haven't delved into e-books. They don't know how to grab an e-book for a few bucks instead of shelling out several times as much for a hard copy. They don't have a Kindle ("What the hell is a Kindle anyway?") and don't realize that e-books don't require a dedicated e-reader. The answer to reading an e-book without a dedicated e-reader is to use an app.

If you want to buy and read e-books from the behemoth Amazon then you'll find they have FREE apps available for PC, Mac and other devices and Android (see links in column right). They also have a neat page where you can just enter your email or phone number and they'll send you a link to your app.

If you have an Android phone or tablet then you can also grab a free app for your preferred store from Google Play. The same applies for the Apple Store but, not being too clever at that sort of thing, I've fallen down on the link for that.

What I tend to do is install all apps on all my devices (I have a laptop, an iPhone and an old Kindle) and keep my e-book purchasing options open. I do tend to buy from Amazon though and then read via the Kindle App. The great thing about that is all three devices are connected through Kindle and I can pick up from the last page read at any time via any device.

Once you have your app(s) installed then you can go shopping at your e-bookstore of choice. If you happen to come across an e-book as a file on your laptop or PC (for example if you sign up to my list and grab a free copy of my first in the zombie series) then you can side-load the file onto your device by simply connecting that device via cable to the computer. (The only vagary I've come across with this is that Kobo devices like an extra suffix of "kepub" before the filetype suffix, so the filename needs to be edited e.g. from book.epub to book.kepub.epub. I have a Kobo Touch reader too, which is how I found that out.)

So, I hope I've gone some way to remedying the ASSUME phenomena regarding e-books. All of my titles are available in e-book format but, if you're a staunch paper addict then they're also available in paperback too.

Sign up to Marble City Publishing's reader list for free entry into a $100 quarterly giveaway, and info on special offers and new releases!

How to Throw Money Down the Toilet

I have a lot of ideas about a lot of things. Some good, some bad. When it comes to marketing my books I decided to go through as many channels as possible. Amazon is a no-brainer so all my titles went up there straight away. Then there was Smashwords, acting as a distribution hub for Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Sony et al. The problem with Smashwords was the reaction time to changes in content, blurb and price. Apple and Kobo opened their doors to independent authors so I was able to put my titles directly on those channels (thanks to neighbour Noel for letting me use his Mac to get the titles up on Apple - they can then be managed via the web platform). Barnes & Noble were open to a direct approach and refreshed their offering with NookPress but it remained closed to authors outside of the US and I'm in Ireland. So I replaced Smashwords with Draft2Digital as my route into B&N giving near real-time sales figures and price control.

But this wasn't enough complexity. I wanted to get my titles into other outlets. XinXii turned out to be a nice little route into german-speaking marketplaces. Then, as part of Marble City Publishing, my titles gained entry to the digital warehouse of UK distributor Gardners, resulting in listings on Hive, Kalahari, Dito, Bokkilden, Blackwell's, Foyle's, txtr and goodness knows where else.

So now my tendrils were out it was time to get into advertising. The Baptist had a nice little outing on Ereader News Today and achieved just under 400 sales at 99c sale price. I was fairly delighted and, after the two day promo period, adjusted back to $3.99 and started to rub my hands at the anticipated follow-on. Sales continued nicely but Amazon didn't re-adjust the price. I started to check my channels. Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, Sony, Barnes & Noble, who was the culprit? I had entered the full price on all the platforms, everything seemed to be under control, but Amazon were sticking to that 99c. Then I found it. Kobo were taking days to adjust the sales price on their web store, even though the Kobo Writing Life platform looked like it had adjusted immediately. The result? After five days Kobo had adjusted and Amazon were quick to put The Baptist back to $3.99. More than $150 thrown down the toilet through price comparison to the tardy Kobo pricing. Live and learn.

New Release! Knife Edge - Cosy, Noir, Gumshoe, it's All Good!

Marble City Publishing has today, 30th May 2013, released Knife Edge: An Anthology of Crime, Thriller, Mystery and Suspense Stories.

There are twenty-five stories in these 200 pages, including work from Booker Prize nominee Jim Williams, a number of Marble City authors and the winners of multi-story.co.uk's most recent online competition.

There's something in here for everyone, whether it's cosy mystery, noir, gumshoe or suspense. Competition for inclusion was fierce and the stories come from twenty-three authors from across the globe.

Marble City has published the anthology in e-book and paperback, available from Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and other good online bookstores. It's a good read and all profits go to the children's literacy charity Booktrust.org.uk

Further details of the authors, stories and webstore links here on Marble City Publishing.

Ruby Gets a Mention on Kobo Writing Life Blog

Thanks to Roz Morris for the mention in her guest post on the Kobo Writing Life blog: 
http://kobowritinglife.com/2013/05/24/music-for-telling-stories-the-undercover-soundtrack/

Roz's Undercover Soundtrack is a fascinating regular feature over on her site and I was a guest there a while back, talking about how the unlikely combination of Melody Gardot and Nick Cave inspired my serial killer characters in The Baptist - A Psychological Thriller.

The Baptist has had a couple of interesting new reviews recently on Amazon. It's a great feeling to get this sort of reception from readers:

True Noir by john1407
Dark and darker still at times. What surprised me was the humour - persistent and nimble - which gives the narrative a fresh-air lightness ( a great two line description of Crewe for instance). It ain't plain old grim. Intriguing throughout with new characters seamlessly worked in and a lack of predictability in the plot.
If you like first person (in the main) shorter chapters and revell in noir then this is a real gem.

Darkness and desire... by Tinka Dill
I have agonised over writing a review for this book, my words just don't seem to flow, I feel somehow inadequate for this task. The shadows of things unsaid and the impact of the things that are, memories and ghosts, fears and desires, darkness and light . . . This is quite a deep, and at times disturbing, tale with characters real enough to fall in love with. It is probably best for me to leave it there and let you dig deeper into it yourselves, you won't regret it. All that's left for me to say is - Thank you, Ruby Barnes, for writing the best book I have read in a long time!

How Far Will You Go? Sacrifice of the First Born.

A few weeks ago I had an exchange with a new writing friend on facebook. The usual sort of thing - martial arts self-injuries and human sacrifices. My new friend, Lucy Pireel, then asked if I would like to do an author interview on her blog. Now, I'm not big into author interviews, blog tours, tag you're it, kiss chase and that sort of thing. Well, okay, maybe the kiss chase, but I'm too slow to catch anyone. As it turned out, Lucy's character and her zany questions trumped my reservations. Go here to read the interview - it might give you a TGIF giggle.

P.S. don't forget to help yourself to one of my books for free (mobi, epub or pdf, you choose) by signing up to my newsletter, Ruby's News.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch? There is.

I recently had an email from Authorgraph.com telling me someone had requested an authorgraph for Peril (thanks Matt Posner!) This is a great little free service that allows authors to send a personalised message and connect with readers who seek them out.

The way it works is like this: 

• the author signs up with Authorgraph and identifies their books on Amazon by ASIN;
• a reader registers with Authorgraph (the reader doesn't have to have a Kindle or any particular device), requests an authorgraph for a particular title and waits for news;
• the author gets an email telling them there is a pending request, goes to the site and writes a personalised message to the reader with a signature (real or created);
• the reader receives an email, goes to the site and can download a pdf with the title cover, personalised message and signature (if they are a Kindle user this is whispered straight to their Kindle, otherwise they can load the file to their e-reading device).

It's a neat way for readers and authors to have a virtual signing experience.

If you want to try it out there's a link on the right for Peril on Authorgraph. If you don't have Peril or one of my other books (they're all on Authorgraph) you can choose one for free as a welcome gift when you join Ruby's News (my mail list for advanced reader copies, special offers and other news).

Ruby's books:

Peril - a crime thriller (43 Goodreads ratings)

The Baptist - a psychological thriller (21 Goodreads ratings)

The Crucible Part 1 - a conspiracy thriller (14 Goodreads ratings)

The New Author - writing, social media and e-publishing (10 Goodreads ratings)

What's Going on with E-books and Readers?

How are people going to read their books in the future? What's the way ahead? Somebody tell me so I can lay my handkerchief across a puddle in the path with one hand and humbly reveal my growing list of titles with the other. If you're a reader then please join my mail list and I'll drop you my newsletter when the hankie is going down. If you're an author then read on about why you should pause to consider the future.

Get the WIP out and get on with it, Ruby!

Over Christmas I shared the first 38k words of the sequel to Peril with my beta reader and things are looking good. Now I need to knuckle down and get it completed. Peril has reviewed well on Goodreads, Amazon dot com and UK. I've learned a lot from those reviews and hope readers will enjoy the sequel just as much or even more. In the meantime Peril is featured on the UK site Indie Book Bargains - please take a look by clicking the badge below.

 

If you've enjoyed reading Ruby's blog then please sign up to Ruby's News for freebies, advance review copies of upcoming novels and occasional updates. Thanks!

Prepare to be creeped out. The Baptist by Ruby Barnes

Since the debacle over Amazon fake, friend and family reviews over the last couple of months, it seems to me reviews are a bit harder to come by. My opinion is authors and some readers have become reluctant to post reviews on Amazon in case of removal. 
The following review for The Baptist is posted on the author's blog and reproduced here with permission. It's quite a cerebral piece and I'm flattered by the literary comparison. I highly respect Jim Williams as an author. He has a very strong literary style and is a Booker Prize nominee, and I'm honoured by his insight and kinds words. At the same time his review reminds me what a traumatic experience it was to write The Baptist as I had to live with that first person narrative for about a year.

Jim Williams' review of The Baptist by Ruby Barnes

In popular fiction the serial killer is a trope for the embodiment of evil rather than an extreme example of the everyday experience of madness that may affect our friends or ourselves.  For that reason Hannibal Lecter has more in common with Dracula Prince of Darkness than, say, the Yorkshire Ripper in his ignorant ordinariness.  For the same reason, the madness of the fictional serial killer is a permanent part of the character’s identity – masked perhaps, but always there – while in contrast the madness of actual life is like a career of part time jobs: some good, some horrible, but all episodic.  Ruby Barnes’s insight into this reality is what makes The Baptist so truthful, convincing and distinctive.
The story is told mainly from the point of view of the killer himself, John Baptist.  He is committed to an institution in his teens for the murder of his brother and here he meets Mary, whose madness is of a more chaotic type.  On his release he creates a normal life in Ireland, including a marriage with children and a job running a small garage business.  His tendency to madness is always there but it is managed by drugs, as is the case for many people.  However – and this is another intelligent insight of the author – John secretly comes off his drugs: he actively chooses his psychosis over his sanity because the experience of madness is invigorating and empowering (at least on a temporary basis until its disruptive effects become overwhelming).  In this condition John encounters Mary again and they embark on a spree to realise his mission.
The most effective passages of the book deal with John’s encounter with a mysterious friend, Feargal, and the resumption of his relations with Mary.  Because we see events through John’s eyes the surface of the narrative becomes slippery with uncertainty as to the reality of what we are seeing, and the identities of characters seem to elide one into another.  This part is wonderfully done because of the delicate writing, which is restrained, slyly humorous, and at times lyrical.  The best parts are reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro.  The writing throughout is of a very high standard. 
As with most books there are flaws, though none of them fatal.  This isn’t a detective story, but Barnes introduces a detective, McAuliffe, who is linked to John’s history by an inadequately explained backstory and whose role is essentially redundant.  Also there are several shifts in the narrative point of view that work only so-so because the dominance of John’s viewpoint has the effect that the shifts come as something of a surprise.  It is also fair to repeat that this is not a standard serial killer thriller, and this means that the reader does not have the safety and comfort of the usual conventions.  Prepare to be creeped out.

Jim Williams is the author of Scherzo, ten other novels and two works of non-fiction.

The Baptist - a psychological thriller. Available from all online bookstores in all formats, including tree. 

If you've enjoyed reading Ruby's blog then please sign up to Ruby's News for freebies, advance review copies of upcoming novels and occasional updates. Thanks!

Taking Your E-readers for Granted? E-readers 101

The other day I was delivering the first session of 'Join the E-revolution - Self-publishing an E-book' in Carrick-on-Suir library, South Tipperary. We had fifteen participants, more than enough for the small room, and it was an intimate, informal atmosphere. I had brought my gadgets with me - kindle, Kobo, iPhone and laptop (plus a bit of old fashioned paper).

A few people in the room owned e-readers themselves but for many this was a first look at e-books.

There I was, blabbering away about front matter in the mobi or something, when I noticed a few heads bobbing but many more had the 'what on earth are you talking about' expression on their faces. It's only too easy to forget that not everyone is already surfing the wave and all this e-book revolution is still new for a lot of readers and authors.

Then someone asked me if they had to buy an ebook from the Apple store to read it on their iPad or could they buy it elsewhere or even on Amazon. Another wanted to know if I needed to buy multiple copies to view the same book on all my different devices, and why did I need all those devices anyway? 

Rantidote

According to Bill Gates, or someone, the average human mind can concentrate on a maximum of eight things at one time. In this world of technology we often have eight or more windows open on our computer and many more in our minds. Throw in the day job, a tribe of kids wanting taxi service, pets chewing things they shouldn't and a leaking tap in the kitchen. Add the never-ending stream of spam and scam emails, facebook ads (no, fb, I'm not looking for twenty-something gorgeous single women in my area - or, I should say, they're not looking for me), robo phone surveys and door to door callers. Yes I have broadband. Yes I would like uncongested broadband. No I don't believe you when you say you have cheaper uncongested broadband. No I don't want a genuine oil painting. Hey, let go of my puppy. Okay I'll buy it, just put the dog down on the ground unharmed and I'll sign. Slams door.

50k means celebration where I come from

Well, Ruby's blog just trundled over 50,000 page views since launch. Not bad for a little blog from down country rural Ireland. Come have a browse and sign up to Ruby's News for a celebratory free e-copy of The Crucible Part 1 in whatever format suits you. $3.99 value and great reviews on Amazon!

If you've enjoyed reading Ruby's blog then please sign up to Ruby's News for freebies, advance review copies of upcoming novels and occasional updates. Thanks!

Rediscovering the spark

(See end of post for free e-book!)
 
It happens. When the Moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars, or whatever. You have a creative idea and it translates. Verse, music, prose, it's a product of the inspiration that grabs you and makes perfect sense at the time, like a dream that lets the new day dawn with a feeling of elation.

Writing a novel is a lengthy process and completing the manuscript can take anything from a few months to several years. That's a long time to maintain the spark of inspiration that initiated the novel idea. Then editing is required, adding time and over-familiarity. At the end, when the work is ready to publish, an author often just wants to get done and over. Somewhere, deep inside, the ember of inspiration remains but the author has long since moved on to kindle another fire.

I get the impression that mainstream authors birth their creations and only revisit them when forced to do so by interviewers or high profile literary reviewers. Ideally they don't even read the critics' viewpoints and certainly never scour online reviews at Amazon or Goodreads. Not so the independent authors! Reader reviews are a valuable tool for indies to gain exposure and garner referral sales.

Pick a card, any card

Pick any card and I bet I can tell you what it is. Is it The Crucible?

Okay, so I don't have a Nook (yet) but I do have a Kindle, a Kobo, an iPhone and a very clean proof copy of The Crucible in paperback and that means the paperback release date is being brought forward by one month. The knock-on effect of that is the Goodreads giveaway of 2 paper copies of the book is also being brought forward by a month to 10th September 2012. So, if you want to enter the draw for a free paperback copy of The Crucible Part 1 (some great reviews starting to come in already) then clickety click below!

If you've enjoyed reading Ruby's blog then please sign up to Ruby's News for freebies, advance review copies of upcoming novels and occasional updates. Thanks!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Crucible

by Ruby Barnes

Giveaway ends September 10, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win
 

Crazy as a badger!

The Baptist had a couple of great reviews come in last week. It's such a great feeling when an author gets feedback like this! With the book written, done and dusted it's easy to forget what you've created and humbling when readers' reviews appreciate it.

Psychological & Chilling = Crazy Cool, June 10, 2012 by dnae 
This book was like "A Beautiful Mind" on steroids. John Baptist is such an interesting, crazy, in-depth character. The book was extremely detailed in the process and connections of how John's mind works that lead him to the decisions he makes. Up to a certain point he was `cleansing' with a purpose, but as time went by and he got involved with a woman (Mary... or Alice) with similar personality traits he got thrown off track to the point where `sacrifices' were being made without evidence of evil-doing. What would John Baptist do if he saw a fiery halo staring back at him in the mirror, I wonder? This book will really have you questioning what is real and what is fantasy (as with the Alice in Wonderland elements).

BARNES HAS OUTDONE HIMSELF!  June 8, 2012 
by THE SELF-TAUGHT COOK
John is special. He feels that he is preparing the way of the Lord. Certain people need to be weeded out for the coming of the Lord. The first to go is John's brother, Ray. John permanently baptizes Ray in the bathtub at home because Ray is turning into their father. While in the mental institution, John meets the first of many Marys in his life. When the institution closes, John is released into society, marries and tries to fit in. This only works temporarily. John meets Feargal and Mary, and then realizes his true mission from God.
The impossible has happened. Ruby Barnes outdid himself. I did not believe anything could be better than "Peril", but "The Baptist" actually warranted a second read, something I have never done. It is a dark, twisted, confusing journey through the mind of the mentally ill, and while it was disturbing, it was so fascinating, I was almost ashamed of myself. The religious symbolism throughout was interesting. The baptismal motif (obviously), Mary, the halos, etc. All I can say is that I am now hoping for sequels to both "Peril" and "The Baptist".

More about The Baptist here.

If you've enjoyed reading Ruby's blog then please sign up to Ruby's News for freebies, advance review copies of upcoming novels and occasional updates. Thanks!