Yeah…so Simon and Schuster has a Vince Flynn novel in the Kindle Unlimited program. And guess what? Unlike us unwashed masses, the 1% on Tradpub Street don’t have to be Amazon-exclusive. It’s like…no, don’t say it…it’s like Jeff wants all of us selfpubbers who aren’t Hugh Howey or What’s Her Name With The New Adult Romances to…go broke and go away. Do they have a side deal for the $ that doesn’t affect the KU pot? How would we ever know? The Kremlizon will never tell us. Maybe, if we’re lucky, one of the megastars of selfpub will reach out to their Amazon rep, who will deign to tell them, and they’ll pass it along. Regardless, it feels like someone bigger and stronger just shouldered me aside (and I’m 6’2″) and there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t have time to plumb the Future Meaning Of All This For Self Publishers, because I need to get back to earning my [MORE]

Yeah, that’s the End Of Days scenario for writers, the idea that ebook sales will just…stop. That Amazon will finally get the One Ring and its digital Nazgul will come screeching down on all other ebook retailers and put them out of business (well, that part’s true), and then they’ll move to a Spotify model where all ebooks are in this KU model and we only get paid for borrows, forever and ever amen. I’m not buying it. Sure, this is happening to music on Spotify. But musicians haven’t (totally) revolted over the “subscription model” for a couple reasons. 1. They can still make money licensing their music for TV commercials (Black Keys!), background music on ESPN, etc. 2. They can still make money on concert tours – ticket revenue, t-shirt sales, misc. swag. 3. Every really BIG musical act is signed to a record label. There’s a devil’s bargain they make re streaming when they sign the contract, so the choice is not [MORE]

Yeah, I forked out $99 to WordPress so I could upload video. I repubbed this, as the original was wonky on Facebook – nothing wrong in the MP4 on my PC, but for some reason it glitched on Facebook. So! If you’re an author who wants a book trailer like this one, I’m available for $100/finished minute, plus costs like clip art, non-public domain music, etc. That includes narration in my dulcet tones, of course! I’m going to make another for Werewolves and then I’ll start a new services page. Brad’s just not making enough $, and I have to accept the reality that Brad’s books will not support me in the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed! So it’s “Adam Vance time” for the next few weeks, as I diversify my portfolio some more… Yeah, that 1918 flu book idea, I’m gonna have to withdraw that as an idea for a werewolf book…it’s too good an idea to use it on a low-income book. I learned from [MORE]

Yeah so I heard all about these lately, so effective blah blah. But most of them seem to just be a hazy background, neutral synthesizer music, and a few pull quotes, followed by a pic of the cover. Yawn. So I thought I’d try my hand at one, especially when I learned I could use my PowerPoint skills from my old life – timing out the animations to match the audio was a grind, but the whole process took me about three hours. Because I’m a genius 🙂 As I did in my Sinfully Sexy column on audiobooks, I’ll put together a tutorial later this week for y’all. There may be a glitch near the end, but it’s not in the source video, I only see it on FB, so I can’t fix what I didn’t break… Don’t forget to click the HD button for maximum goodness! Yeah, I had to embed the FB link; WordPress won’t let me upload a mp4 video for whatever reason. My initial effort was instablocked by FB as a copyright violation, and TBH yeah I took a [MORE]

Pretty much all you need to know about setting up a basic studio, getting the right software, and some tips and tricks for doing voices, etc…Check it out! [MORE]

No promises because, you know, this is a biz. And if Werewolves of Brooklyn doesn’t sell (BUYBUYBUY), well, onward and upward. But… I recently read “The Great Influenza,” about the 1918 flu pandemic. And, you know, wow. Talk about a cinema-ready story.  The flu became a pandemic for a number of reasons. The incompetence of most doctors, who required little or no practical education to start a practice. The Orwellian environment that Woodrow Wilson created during WW I, in which you could be arrested for criticizing the government or even just “harming morale” in wartime. (“Everybody’s doing their part! Would You Like To Know More?”) The heavy censorship that went with that, which meant telling the truth about the pandemic was “un-American,” which led to innumerable “no cause for alarm” articles that prevented more steps from being taken to ensure public safety. The endemic corruption in cities like [MORE]

COME AND GET IT!!! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013GIMYH4 It went through review in one hour. Yeah, classify it as romance and paranormal and poof pow, easy peasy! For some inexplicable reason, they classified it as “Occult” instead of Paranormal and Paranormal Romance/Werewolves and Shifters…sigh. Always something. I wrote to help desk ASAP to fix that. Now we [MORE]

Yep, this time I ran it past some beta readers, and the acclaim is ecstatic and universal! Yes, I know how Trumpy that sounds. But #TeamVance loves it. I can only hope that means the rest of the world will, too. Alas, I’ve been in this biz too long now to let my delusions of affect take over the stage on release day – there’s just no accounting for what will or won’t sell. The biggest and best lesson I’ve learned over the last three years of self-pubbing is that when you’re done with one thing, MOVE ON to the next thing. Don’t just sit there biting your nails and hoping that what you just finished will be successful. Because if it’s not, well, by the time that becomes apparent, you’re already working on the next thing, which might be successful, instead of crying in your beer and wondering why, why, o the humanity! And you’ve already transferred your irrational delusions and hopes to the new project. You’ve got to be [MORE]

6000 words this morning, after weeks of paralysis…Honestly, I was waiting for the “wordfever” to take me – I didn’t just want to peck out something half assed. And sure enough, it got me today, and I just powered through the fight scene AND the sexin’ scene. I’m sick of writing sexin’, TBH, and that put me off doing the climactic (so to speak) scene…and then I realized, HEY THESE ARE WEREWOLVES do you really think this is going to be ordinary human sexin’? Ah hell no. And then I got to go crazy with it and it’s HAWT. So, it’s edits this week, which are mostly done – I’ve gone over and over it trying to get to where I could restart, so that’s 90% complete. I have to fix some of my Civil War errors, of course. I’m reading, off and on, “Gettysburg: The Last Invasion,” and it’s wonderful. I’ve finally found a way I can read military history, if it’s the right [MORE]

As always, to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Puppies Behind Bars. Awaiting the August 15 decree from the Kremlizon to know the real amount, but this presumes the .0056 per page that they’re certainly not disputing. That’s the 50% guarantee on the $170 the book made last month. I miss the days when I could so openhandedly give 100%, but with my income for July below my expenses, well, that’s what I got. You can add to August’s total by buying the book here: [MORE]