Connie's Corner

Busy, so far.

I've had an interesting and busy week so far. Sunday was my local writers' meeting where I listened to a presentation about e-book publishing by Cassie Dandridge Selleck, who has done exactly that with her first book, The Pecan Man.

Her book is blurbed as being similar to To Kill A Mockingbird, and I did find that to be slightly true in the plot, theme, and setting. She had some books printed for our meeting, and she personally signed one for me. It is interesting, and I read it in one sitting (it's only forty-eight thousand words)

Her presentation was informative, all about Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), costing her only around $200 with $100 of that paying for her ISBN number for her printed copies, very cheap, indeed. It's worth reading about on the Amazon site for anyone serious about publishing. Amazingly, she has sold over 30,000 copies so far with her e-book priced at $4.99 and her royalties at 70% of that, even more amazing. Of course, one does need a good story, good editing and lots of elbow grease (or maybe that should be finger joint grease) . A very viable alternative to all those query letters and rejections. She had some hand-outs with specifics, but not enough for the crowd we had. I was one of the "not enough". She said to email her and she would be glad to send me a copy so I will do that. Seems like good info to have.

Yesterday, Ann, my contact for the oral history program, gave me a grand tour of Pugh Hall at the University of Florida where the local program is based. I had an enjoyable time, meeting others involved, seeing the actual archived files, and learning about the linear process and how the histories all end up at the Library of Congress. Afterwards, we visited a local eatery for a nice lunch.

And this morning at 9 a.m., I had to have my auto's oil changed and tires rotated. They were very speedy. I was out the door by 9:45. Happily, I have nothing else planned for the rest of the week .

until next time . . . cm