My short stories & novellas just went on sale … 99 cents!

‘Tis the season!

I just lowered the prices on all of my novellas and short stories. Ebook versions on Amazon.

Here’s the titles you can now get for the low, low price of only 99 cents :D

wynter tale by Kirsten Mortensen

So this is a story that wrote itself. I started with the premise that “the real Santa” might be a kind of pagan god. Then I asked myself: what would happen if this “real” Santa turned out to be rather deliciously sexy?

But before you get the wrong idea, as one reader pointed out, Wynter Tale is more about friendship than romance. As I said, wrote itself. Also worth noting: I originally published this under the title Santa Hunk. Changed the title later to more accurately reflect the story.

Free Money, heist novella by Kirsten Mortensen

Free Money is a novella I wrote as a tribute to Elmore Leonard. It was fun to write, in part, because it weaves in a real-life crime story (and mystery) from 1980s new York. And the climax is set in a rather creepy spot in Mendon Ponds Park south of Rochester, New York. I published some pictures of the location here.

BJs on the Roof by Kirsten Mortensen

Okay, believe it or not, once upon a time — so I heard — someone really did run a prostitution ring on the roof of a building in Rochester, New York.

That said, any resemblance the characters in BJs on the Roof bear to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. OTOH readers say the story makes them laugh — which was my goal!

Ribbon by Kirsten Mortensen

Ribbon is my retelling of the horror story, The Girl with the Black Velvet Ribbon.

Costume by Kirsten Mortensen

Costume is another scary story. I wrote it originally for a Halloween-themed flash fiction event.

The Vette by Kirsten Mortensen

The ‘Vette is more literary fiction. It’s loosely based on experiences I had when I was a teenager in Upstate New York.

Alpha by Kirsten Mortensen

Alpha is another story that I’d call more literary fiction. Male protag again :). The tagline: Boy met Girl a long time ago. Maybe it’s time to admit that he’s her match.

Fourteen Stores of True Love by Kirsten Mortensen number 6 Quitter

I also have a whole series of sweet love stories, like this one, Quitter. The intent was to do 14 (for Valentine’s Day, get it? hahahahaha) but I only got to 7. Maybe this year I’ll get the rest done!

Click here to visit my Amazon author page!



Booking Through Thursdays. Mama don’t take my e-reader away.

Mama don’t take my e-reader away.

Today’s BTT prompt:

E-readers like the Kindle and iPad are sweeping the nation … do you have one? Do you like it? Do you find it changes your reading/buying habits? If you don’t have one, do you plan to?

Yes, I do have one — I have a Kindle.

My dad gave it to me for Christmas. And to be honest, I was skeptical at first, but now I LOVE it.

I love the way I can carry an entire library around in a tiny little box. I’m something of a minimalist — I don’t like to collect a lot of “stuff” — books are an exception, but there are many books I want to read but not necessarily own in hard copy. My Kindle lets me do that.

I love that I can sample — or buy — a book within seconds of learning about it. No more having to keep lists of books I want to check out — and then having to hunt for them in traditional bookstores. Order them if they weren’t in stock . . .

And yes, my Kindle has changed my reading habits. I am reading more, because now I always have a book at arm’s length that I’m interested in continuing.

Of course, as a writer, I’m a bit giddy at the fact that I can now also publish novels myself for other people to read. But that’s a whole other story ;-)

A tale of beer and books

Southern Tier Iniquity black ale.

Out there in The Long Tail you’ll find some mighty fine brewskies. P.S. Southern Tier, please bring Iniquity back. Thank you.

Only imagine: MSNBC has a story up about beer sales, and lo and behold, they’re plummeting — for mainstay brands like Bud, Old Milwaukee, and Michelob. [UPDATE: sadly, story no longer there…]

Of the 23 “largest selling beer products” in the U.S., “eight . . .  have lost a staggering 30 percent or more of their sales between 2005 and 2010.”

Yikes.

But here’s what strikes me. For years, we’ve been hearing that “digital” is killing the publishing industry. Digital is killing newspapers. Digital is killing music.

And the focus for the most part has been on the medium. You’ve probably heard “kill the medium!” arguments along these lines:

  • Blogging makes it too easy for know-nothings to pose as journalists. Result: newspapers face too much competition from low-quality websites. Newspaper circulation plunges.
  • Digital music is too easy to steal. Producers can’t control their product any more — people are getting for free what they used to have to buy. Music sales plunge.
  • Self-pubbing books is too easy. Now unvetted self-proclaimed “writers” can put their better-hold-your-nose junk on Amazon or B&N with a click of a mouse. They are squeezing out legitimate publishers. Print book sales plunge.

But here’s the thing. With beer, you take the medium out of the equation. People can’t buy or sell beer in digital form. It’s an analog world experience still, thank doG.

So beer becomes a control case.

Right?

You have your traditional, old school industry — all those gargantuan beer brands that our grandfathers used to drink — and you have this nascent (well, still sort of nascent) decentralized craft brew movement with its funny labels and quirky flavors.

And what happens?

We learn that when people have a choice, lo and behold, they will abandon “safe,” boring, insipid products and seek out interesting, imaginative, vibrant alternatives. In proverbial droves.

This also suggests IMO that “brand” — which you  may have noticed has been elevated in the past couple decades to near-mystical status in the marketing lexicon — is actually not enough to carry a product. On the contrary, “brand” has some mighty heavy clay feet.

Anyway, a prediction. Bud, and Old Milwaukee, and Michelob (which btw is in my WP spellcheck. Really? My spellcheck doesn’t recognize the word “spellcheck” but it generates its red squiggle if I type Michalob or Michelobe? Really????) are already working furiously behind the scenes to launch a stunning new menu of “craft-style” beers.

Second prediction. Book publishers will engage in a parallel activity, if they’re not already. And they’ll figure out which self-pubbed products sell well (possible examples: shorter novels; serials) and start assembly-lining e-books into those niches with a vengeance.

But without offering author advances ;-)

“I’m out of the advance business and I’m out of the inventory business”

Just watched a 6-minute interview with Jane Friedman, former CEO of Harper Collins. She’s now CEO of Open Road Media, a publishing company she co-founded to so she can play exclusively in the digital space.

Key things in her remarks that caught my attention:

She describes advances and inventory as the two things that caused her most stress when she was in traditional publishing. Little wonder: an advance is a gamble and inventory is a huge cost-burden.

She describes her new digital venture as entrepreneurial. From her lips, that’s code for “I believe there’s a lot of money to be made.” One source: author’s backlist titles. “Backlist was always something that completely interested me.”

She places a huge emphasis on her new company’s ability to market its authors. I find this interesting because as we know from reading writers like Dean Wesley Smith and J.A. Konrath, that writers no longer need “publishers” for . . . you know, “publishing.” So what’s left for “publishers” to do? That would be marketing.

She envisions ebooks as multimedia. “We are bookending the text with video.” “Enhanced biographies” embedded at the end of some ebooks include text, video, photos etc.

The coming nonfiction e-tsunami. Watch out for floating “Babe Ruth bars.”

Website Magazine cites a research report from Yankee Group [UPDATE: link no longer good, sorry!] that estimates ebook sales will reach $2.7 billion in sales in 2013. That’s compared to $313 million two years ago, in 2009.

Quite the leap.

Average prices, meanwhile are expected to drop to $7.

The article suggests that the downward price trend is one reason for the explosion in sales. Makes sense — it’s basic economic principle, after all.

Given that Website Magazine‘s audience is web developers and small business owners, it’s no surprise that the article veers to the topic of self-publishing white papers, how-to’s, and re-packaged blog posts. It also suggests business owners jump on the trend by publishing ebooks themselves:

Expertise in any industry can be used to create an e-book in short order, then sell that material or use it as a promotional or cross-sell incentive.

True. But I hope business owners realize that self-publishing a badly written, poorly organized ebook will be a liability, not a smart business decision. And I think it’s a stretch to suggest that the average small business owner can expect to “add revenue along the way.”

Business owners who self-publish should expect nothing more than pocket change. They should focus instead on the value of the ebook as a promotional tool.

Yes, there will be exceptions, but only if the venture meets at least one or two of the following criteria:

  • It already has an audience — i.e. it’s an established business vs. a start-up nobody’s ever heard of;
  • The topic is both catchy and compelling;
  • The business does a great job at PR and marketing the ebook;
  • The ebook offers information of genuine value;
  • The ebook is well-written enough that readers can understand and apply whatever it’s trying to teach them.

What percentage of ebooks in the coming nonfiction tsunami will meet at least two of those conditions, do you think?

And what percentage will more resemble floating Babe Ruth bars?

New Kindle feature a soft sell tool for writers?

Article on the MSNBC Technoblog by Wilson Rothman [UPDATE: link no longer good, sorry] leads with the news that the next Kindle OS is going to support “real” page numbers.

That’s a good thing — but what really caught my interest is another upcoming new feature, “Before You Go . . . ” which Rothman says will let readers more easily rate books — and buy new ones:

Just as you’re finishing a book, you’ll now get a “seamless” invitation to rate the book, share it on Twitter or Facebook, and of course, buy more books like it, or by the same author.

It will be interesting to see how this is handled.

On the one hand, this might help writers build audiences. After all, what better time to sell another book than when your scintillating prose is fresh in a reader’s mind?

But I also wonder whether I might personally find it a bit annoying to have my e-reader suggest I take an action of some kind.

Will there be a forced interim step between the last page of a book and the home screen?

Will it seem intrusive?

UPDATE 10/1/2011: New post on how to rate a Kindle book.