New moves afoot.

Today I will be moving my entire e-book catalog into the Amazon Kindle Select Program--at least for a while. My two Small Town novels and associated short stories have been getting a terrific number of free downloads (thank you!), but actual sales of the books are disappointing.

A colleague who, like me, has written books in a series, told me about his own sales. Before he joined the Amazon Select program, his sales were about 30 books over a six-month period. Six months after he joined, the total had skyrocketed to 40,000. Un-fortunately, to join the program, an author has to give Amazon exclusive distribution rights. 

There is no guarantee that joining this program will cause my sales to take the kind of leap that my friend's did.  He writes science fiction and I don't. Plus, he has more books out there than I do. But the difference in his sales just can't be sniffed at and turned away from by any but the most independent, anti-corporate author or publisher. I know some of these; I was one of these. But for my own books to succeed, I have to generate a larger fan base than I presently have. It's as simple as that. Amazon may make that possible. 

I am also working against time. The third book in the Small Town Series is scheduled to come out early next year. It is arguably the most exciting of the three and puts the finishing touches on several plot strands. I would like to have a wider audience anticipating this book's release. Once that is achieved, I would like nothing better than to have my work distributed again by the other e-book distributors, large and small.

For those of you with Kindle e-book reading devices, nothing will change other than the fact that you will have to download from Amazon. For those of you with iPads, simply download the Kindle or Kindle Cloud reading app. Or you can download the Kindle for PC or Kindle Cloud reader on your PC or laptop. I am not familiar with Kobo or Nook reading devices, so you're on your own there, sorry. Paperback copies of the novels, of course, are available, and you don't have to buy them from Amazon.

For those of you who are already following the Small Town Series--or would like to be--here is a list of what has been published so far, as well as a few titles that are firmly scheduled to be published in the near future.

The News in Small Towns (Novel, 2012)
Madness in Small Towns (Novel, 2013)
Secrets in Small Towns (Novel, forthcoming, 2014)
Mysteries in Small Towns (Story Collection, forthcoming, 2015)
"A Question of Breeding" (Story, June 2012)
"Sensei" (Story, November 2012)
"Trail Ride and Barn Dance After" (Story, July 2013)
"Grand Theft" (Story, August 2013)
"Wonderful Town" (Story, September 2013)
"Indian Summer" (Story, October, 2013)

All of my e-books are presently available here:
For copies of the paperback novels, click here.

If you like the books and stories in this series, please review them on Goodreads and at the place where you downloaded them--at this time, of course, that would be Amazon. Your reviews and comments mean a lot more than you might think.