June 2024 Special Offers

It is with a sad heart that I share the news that my husband passed away last month. While adjusting to his loss, I am slowly getting through all the tasks that need to be done. In the early morning hours, I’ve once again been working on my latest mystery. This brings me comfort and a sense of normalcy. It also means I am ready to return to the writing community.

Here are some current promotions that you might find appealing:

Booklovers Bench Monthly Giveaway

Enter June 1-22 to win Two Free Books from Booklovers Bench in our June giveaway, including my title STAR TANGLED MURDER, just in time for the July 4th holiday – https://bookloversbench.com/contests/win-two-free-books-june-2024/


Wedding Themed Books

Check out these books with a wedding theme, including my title SHEAR MURDER, at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven Celebrate Weddings Bookish Event. Be sure to enter the giveaway to win an Amazon gift card – https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/post/shear-murder-cwbe

 

FREE First-in-Series Mystery

FREE First-in-Series Cozy Mystery! Hairstylist Marla Shore is giving grumpy Mrs. Kravitz a perm when her client dies in the shampoo chair. If that isn’t enough to give her a bad hair day, handsome Detective Vail suspects Marla of poisoning the woman’s coffee creamer. Delve into small-town secrets, colorful characters, plot twists, and suspense in this series starter. https://books2read.com/PermedtoDeath


Kobo Plus Subscribers Read Free

Did you know the Bad Hair Day Mysteries are all Free on Kobo Plus? Kobo readers, get started reading this fun cozy mystery series now – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/series/the-bad-hair-day-mysteries

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That’s all for now. I may post from time to time but it’s going to take me a while to get our household in order. It’s spring-cleaning time, not only for clothes and accessories but also for the knickknacks, kitchenware, towels and linens, and other things that are no longer needed.

When’s the last time you’ve cleaned out your closets?

Permed to Death Kobo Deal

On Sale! For a limited time only, get a copy of PERMED TO DEATH, #1 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries, for only 99 cents! Special deal on KOBO for Canadian and U.S. readers Oct. 1-6 so hurry and place your order at https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/permed-to-death-3

Permed to Death

Hairstylist Marla Shore has a bad hair day when she’s suspected of poisoning her client’s coffee creamer.

Hairstylist Marla Shore is already having a bad hair day when one of her clients dies in the shampoo chair at her salon. Then Detective Dalton Vail accuses her of putting poison in the woman’s coffee creamer. Grumpy Bertha Kravitz might not have been Marla’s favorite customer, but she wouldn’t have murdered the lady. With her reputation at stake, Marla decides it’s up to her to unmask the killer.

Combing the woman’s privileged world for clues, Marla discovers the town is crawling with potential suspects. Bertha’s son is resentful about being written out of her will. Her shady business partner has secrets to hide, and then there’s the niece, who inherits Bertha’s fortune. But Marla might have to look closer to home for the culprit. Her janitor has vanished without a trace, and one of her stylists leads an upscale lifestyle that doesn’t match her income.

As the case grows more snarled, Marla determines to unravel the clues. She’d better hurry before the smart detective discovers her scandalous secret, or he’ll pin her with a motive and lock her away in a place where a bad hair day will become permanent.

“Marla the beautician is a delight!”—Tamar Myers, author of the Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries

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Download the Kobo Reading App for FreeThe Best Reading App for eBooks – Kobo | Rakuten Kobo

Or go here instead for Kindle Readers – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CUHSFPC

Please remember to leave reviews on these sites! The only way for me to gain new readers is if you leave a customer review to recommend my book, whether you are reading it for the first time or if you’ve read it before.

Kobo Readers – Get a copy of PERMED TO DEATH, #1 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries, for only 99 cents! Limited Time Offer. #Kobo #BookSale http://bit.ly/1TDZxRH Share on X

GIVEAWAY

Enter Here Oct. 1-18 to win a free book from Booklover’s Bench

 

 

ACX and Kobo

Audio Books on ACX with Terry Odell and Neil Plakcy and moderated by Julie Compton

ACX Panel with Terry Odell and Neil Plackcy

We continue with my recap of panels and workshops at SleuthFest. These are my interpretations and notes, and any misstatement is my error. Photos are viewable from my Facebook Page. Like my page, then click on Photos, Albums, and SleuthFest 2014.

Note: Terry has many of the steps for creating an audiobook on her blog at Terry’s Place

Nowhere to Hide, an audiobook romantic suspense by Terry Odell

Why Audio?

Sales of audio books are growing in double digits. There’s extra money involved. You can reach another audience. And it’s not hard to do.

Why ACX?

ACX stands for the Audiobook Creation Exchange. It’s owned by Amazon, and it connects narrators, producers, authors, and the marketplace. It’s not hard to learn and has good customer service. They have a lot of narrators, and you don’t need a cash outlay. http://www.acx.com/

Getting Started

Enter your book in the blank box to find it on Amazon, who will fill in the description. Categorize your book. You’ll be presented with three choices. You have an audio book and you want to sell it. You wish to narrate your own story. Or you want to hire a narrator. For a producer, keep in mind the quality of equipment and if they fix glitches.

How do you pick a narrator?

Gender: Male, female, or either
Age: Child, Tween, Teen, YA, Adult, Middle Aged, or Elderly
Language: English, French, German, Spanish
Accents: Choose from a list
Narrative styles: Upbeat, sexy, frightened, etc. This should reflect the tone of the book.

Pitch your book

Market to the producer by mentioning your mailing list numbers, awards, reviews, and other accolades.

Let the narrator know what type of book it is (i.e. humorous mystery) and what types of characters are involved including special accents (i.e. Yiddish words or Spanish phrases).

The sample script is 5000 characters limit, but it does not have to be consecutive text.

Ask the narrator what kind of promotion they’ll do for your book.

Can you tell the difference with this narrator between the character speaking and thinking?

How about dialogue with “he said” and “she said?” If there are two female characters, can you tell which one is speaking? Are puns pronounced correctly?

Royalties

You can pay the narrator up front and keep all the royalties, or do a 40% split. If you do the split royalties, the audiobook will be sold on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes only. But there’s no cash outlay and the narrator is more likely to help in the marketing. That is, if you can find a narrator willing to invest their time in your project. Paying up front is more expensive, but you can sell your audio elsewhere and you have control over it.

Stipends

ACX may pay narrators a stipend to do your narration. This attracts more narrators, but you have to sell yourself when applying for this option. So consider the application form a “pitch” session and mention your readership and marketing basis.

Covers

These must be 2400 x 2400 square. You cannot resize your ebook, so ask your cover designer to provide a cover in this size.

What's in a Name by Terry Odell

Full Narration

Don’t have the narrator read your front or back material. They’ll upload the first 15 minutes to your dashboard for you to check the pacing, accuracy, etc. Have them upload chapters as they go so you can listen to the file. You may want to tell them to drop the “he said” or “she said” if they feel it isn’t necessary.

If you want a copy on CD, consider that the book takes about 10 hours or so to narrate, and so you’ll need a number of CDs for one work.

The file comes as a download. People listen to it on their mobile devices or on their cell phone.

Reviews

Reviews will show up on the audiobook’s Amazon page.

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Kobo Writing Life with Christine Munroe and moderated by Christine Kling

Kobo SleuthFest

Kobo has a blog, podcast, and social media sites. Check out Kobo Writing Life . They have a bestseller list on the blog with 30 titles. Kobo also has author collectives like the “Jewel” historical romances. They have a daily deal on the main page which may include boxed sets. Kobo Next is indie picks for new releases. You can also ask to be included in the First Free in Series.

If a book is to $2.99 here, then it’s $2.88 in Canada/Europe. Books priced at $1.99 are doing poorly. Customers like $.99 or $2.99. You can raise the price for full-length books up to $8.99.

You should link to Kobo on your website and other places online. Marketing opportunities include Book Bub, Story Finds, and Indie Bound.

For metadata, you’ll want to add the imprint or publisher name and the series title.

Indie bookstores earn a percentage of sales selling Kobo e-book readers and titles.