Sally Cronin Cafe and Bookstore – Promoting My Writing
Sally Cronin is always promoting writers and bloggers. I can’t count the number of times she has promoted me. I always feel honored that she includes me with talented and professional writers. My book One Month, Twenty Days, and a Wake Upwas my first attempt at self-publishing. I will admit it is poorly written and never professionally edited. Someday I plan on rewriting this book and have it properly edited. The story is my attempt to share my experiences serving proudly in the military.
On December 4, I announced I wanted to promote any of my followers and those that had promoted me during the year. I requested that you send me a short story, either original or something written previously. Link to the previous post
I got a few responses and I will begin posting them next week. There is still time to submit something and I urge you to join the party.
To get the party kicked off, I am posting a short story I wrote a few years ago when I was taking an online writing course. It might sound familiar to anyone who has read One Month, Twenty Days, and a Wakeup. It was extracted from the manuscript prior to its publishing.
Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord this Christmas season is featuring authors she has previously promoted at her Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore. Today my book is one of the four memoirs she is featuring. If you are looking for an excellent book to give to someone for the holidays, check these suggestions from Sally.
Since June, I’ve been talking about venturing into a new genre with my writing. All three of my books were memoirs even when I promoted them as fiction based on my life events. These books I had promised myself and closest friends I would write. Now that they are completed, it’s time to move on.
August of 2017, I wrote a post based on an actual event from my short career as a mortician. It got plenty of positive feedback and a few requests for additional stories. Through the years, many friends were fascinated when I would share some of the incidents and encounters while in the funeral industry. Many are humorous and some heartbreaking.
In 2001 there was a popular HBO series called Six Feet Under. I watched it not only for the subject matter but the soap opera drama too. Each episode either shocked, humored, or repulsed us. But we kept coming back each week. It was great entertainment and exceptional screenwriting.
Have you guessed yet the storyline of my new book? Yep—another storyline about the funeral industry. As with Six Feet Under, it centers around a family owned and operated the funeral home. As did the TV series, there is an outside storyline alongside the episodes within the funeral home. The intent is to entertain as well as educate you about an industry you can’t avoid.
I haven’t finished the original draft, and I don’t anticipate the book’s release until sometime in 2019. Below is a selection of the opening chapter. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.
I follow Chris McMullen and today he posted some great information on recent changes Amazon has been making on the product pages. I think it is worthwhile reading to stay up with the Amazon giant and how it affects the marketing of our books.
Sally Cronin weekly promotes authors, their books and book reviews. Again, Sally has graciously included me and the beautiful review from Debby Gies. If you didn’t catch it with my earlier post, click the link below. Thank you, Sally and Debbie.
The best compliment any professional or artist can receive is praise from another within your discipline. I am a novice writer and do not recognize myself as a professional writer/author. When someone who is a recognized professional author compliments my work, I know I have taken that step towards acceptance. Today well-known author and blogger D.G. Kaye (aka, Debby Gies) has graciously promoted and reviewed my writing and my book What Did I Do?
For the last three years, I have followed Debby’s blogs,Live, Laugh, Love — And Don’t Forget To Breath!I have also read three of her books. In my opinion, we have a commonality in our writing. We write memoirs or stories based on our life struggles. We share our conflicts and triumphs so others may learn from our experiences. We open our hearts and share our weaknesses. We do this not for recognition or fame, but to help others.
I thank Debby for the review and the honor of being selected for her Sunday Book Review.
When I posted the conclusion of my book What Did I Do?I stated I would take down the post. If an author is posting his book on his website, it conflicts with Amazon’s seller agreement. Otherwise, the author is offering the book for free while Amazon is attempting to sell it. You are allowed to temporarily post excerpts, but not permanently.
If you haven’t finished reading all the fourteen post, you have until October 30. On October 31 I will remove those post from my site.
Good News
I’ve decided I will do the same thing with my book Guilt – My Companion. I plan to start the first week in November a weekly post of chapters or partial chapters. I received from the previous post a good response, additional followers and some book sales. I’m following the example of other authors who have previously tried it. These are all positive responses to demonstrate that sharing your book does work. Why not try it?
Review: “I firmly believe in sharing life experiences. Not only is it cathartic for the writer but someone struggling with the same thing will discover they are not alone. Guilt — My Companion: A Journey of Healing is based on Chuck Jackson’s own life. It’s gripping, moving and I highly recommend.” — N. N. Light’s Book Heaven
Book Description:
Chuck Jackson’s Guilt—My Companion is a passionate and true story of personal struggle when faced with society’s ignorance and prejudice. As a young adult, we follow his personal struggles for self-identity and acceptance. The narrative is the chapters of his life that led to an unintended destination. For him, Guilt was his companion who lay in waiting to rob him of personal pleasure.
When tragedy strikes, he turns to his dysfunctional family for support only to find confrontation. Their hostility creates a battle to survive grief and depression. With each episode, he finds the inner strength to conquer his companion Guilt. Through it all, it is a Journey of Healing.
Feature Image:
Spirit Lake and Mount Saint Helens captured by Donald Nelson
Over the last thirteen weeks, I shared my book What Did I Do? As the weeks progressed, I received more comments. I even picked up several new followers. I felt it was a risk/reward project and in hindsight, I don’t regret the challenge nor the weekly efforts.
My blog-site got more exposure and also increased traffic on my Amazon’s product page. What also escalated were the sales of the book. All positive results.
“How does Machete work? Machete is Google Chrome plugin, which is embedded in your browser and runs when you visit https://ams.amazon.com. When you visit AMS, Machete takes a snapshot of your data and stores it on our servers. In the background, it continues to snapshot your data at regular intervals to get a complete history of your campaigns.”
“How does Machete secure my campaign data? Only your account is allowed to view the data we gather about your campaigns. All data is transferred with HTTPS to prevent snooping, and user-specific information is never shared with other users or companies.”
On Oct. 15, 2018, Dan Alatorre’s book Dark Vision – an anthology of thirty-four horror stories from twenty-seven authors, was released. I am announcing this with pride because the short story I wrote is one of the thirty-four featured.
danalatorre.com
“The second installment of the Box Under the Bed series, Dark Visions, is filled with strange and creepy stories sure to keep your heart racing. Enter into a dark world of the macabre, the mystical and the malevolent, featuring 33 spine-tingling tales that just may keep you up at night. Edited and compiled by Amazon bestselling author Dan Alatorre, this anthology of horror stories brings together the minds and pens of twenty authors.”
On August 25, 2018, I posted on my site the short story, Who Am I?. This was my first attempt of writing a short story, not alone writing for a contest. I didn’t win, but Dan thought my piece was of sufficient quality to be included with the ones that did. Amazon has stated that if the short stories are available on the author’s website, it is equivalent to the marketing of freely available content. For this reason, I have taken down the August 25 post. Perhaps it will entice you to follow the Amazon link below and purchase a copy for yourself.
I’ve read some but not all of the short stories and I look forward to getting my own copy. If you enjoy horror stories, I urge you to get a copy. Some of the ones I read are not only shocking but also disturbing and fantastical imaginations.
Here is the list of the stories and the contributing authors:
