Moon Dust

There is a mystery in Moon Dust, but it’s not the kind where you find a murderer or thief. Rather it’s what would breakup a marriage between two people who love each other, who have good sex, but simply cannot meet the other’s emotional needs?

At first, home decorator, Susan Connors gives up on even trying to unravel the breakup of her marriage to her high school principal husband, Dane. Then as she discusses all that went wrong with a psychologist friend certain facts begin to make sense. Is it worth her own risk of more heartbreak to try again?

Dane Connors faces his own risks but of a more physical nature. He fights for the education of the kids in his school against a ruthless militia leader who is determined to undo all Dane has tried to accomplish. Dane wants his wife back but the truth is he has a secret that he is unwilling to explore or share with anyone.

The consequences of one of these threats could cost Dane his life-- the other any chance to live a whole life.

Moon Dust is a story of love, reconciliation, danger, and honor of both a man and a woman. It is set in the Pacific Northwest, an imaginary school in Portland, Oregon, but it could be any big city today where gang activity can threaten students and administrators.

Could a fairy tale point the way?

Currently available on Kindle at-- Moon Dust

Marketing-- Golden Chains

Learning about marketing is an ongoing task for an indie writer. No corporation is behind you getting your stories out there. How do readers even find your books? I tried once to find one of mine just by surfing in its price range. I gave up before I got to it.

The way Amazon displays books when you are surfing is based on their sales. You can sell some and move up the line a bit but when you aren't selling, you are less and less likely to be seen as you can go from say #120,000 to #490,000 and probably beyond surprisingly fast.

Reviews could help but so many of the sites like GoodReads publicize books from publishing houses or with ISPNs and a paperback copy possible to buy. People can't review you-- thumbs up or down-- if they can't find you

So the indie writer looks at ideas from writers who have succeeded. Sometimes they succeed because they are in a genre that is hot. You can't really change that if it's not your thing-- but a tip, if you think zombie, it is one of the ones that appears to be hot.

One of the suggested tools for getting more sales and hence moving your book up the line is changing prices. I did that with one book which I had put in Select, but this book I didn't want to do that. I am still not sure how well that worked anyway for increasing eventual sales-- although it felt good to know that a lot of people did download it.

Too many free books or even reduced for a special could end up a drawback if people figure you will always be doing specials or giveaways and they decide they'll just wait until you do it for a book they might've otherwise bought.  Still if a book is not seen at all, it sure won't garner any sales.

When I began putting these stories out, I wanted to keep them as cheap as possible for potential readers-- because I like cheap myself. What I learned was if I made them $.98, Amazon got 70% leaving me with 30%; but if I priced them between $2.99 and 9.99, the percentages were reversed. It doesn't take much genius to figure out that's a better deal for the writer. I don't actually think readers will reject a book for being $2.99 or buy it because it's $.99. I know that price wouldn't stop me.

BUT what does it take to put the books out there for a reader to even see? That's what we are experimenting with. Hence Golden Chains will drop in price for a week  because it was simply getting no activity. Will a price reduction change that? I sure don't know the answer to that.  I am still experimenting with this new aspect to my writing. Click on the link below to buy the book for $.99.

Golden Chains

Golden Chains is one of what I call my hybrid romances in that they are a love story but also a lot of something else (in this one, art, Greek mythology, mystery and suspense).

David Bannister (a character from an earlier book of mine) has worked for both government and private secret agencies for quite a few years. His newest assignment sends him undercover to find a murderer at the college where his ex-wife teaches art. His secret purpose in taking this job is a deep yearning to reconnect with Raven. What he doesn't know about this job is his pose as a model for her life drawing class-- something she only reluctantly agrees to let him do-- will have him under less cover than he's ever been.  This at $.99 for a week or so

Only a Moment

There are many ways to tell a love story. Sometimes it's with words. Sometimes images, but also sound. I think this little video speaks to what romantic love is but also to my life, my own story. All the digital images come from 2011 and my own life. They depict my passions, my writing, and my experiences. The song fits well my life philosophy.

Only a Moment

Golden Chains

David Bannister, who has for a long time been working for various investigative agencies, arrives at the small Liberal Arts College Ravenwood prepared to go undercover to discover a murderer. His motives for coming to this school are not just because of his job but also to reconnect with his ex-wife who is a professor there.

When he shows up at Raven's class, she is shocked that David would be economically reduced to taking a school modeling job but has no excuse to refuse him. He is handsome enough to make a very good model-- if a tempting one. She just has to deal with those pesky feelings she still has for the man she hasn't seen for so many years.

Thinking that taking on the identity as a model was bad enough, a job set up for him by his prankster partner, David learns worse is ahead when he finds out a model for a life drawing class is nude.

David was in my earlier story, Desert Inferno, where he was also an agent, who competed half-heartedly with Jake for Rachel, and ended up being nearly killed. I liked his toughness under a smooth style, his willingess to do what he needed to do, and yes, his sometimes manipulative personality. He appealed to me so greatly that I began to wonder about his back story.

While every story I write has things that I like better than anything I have ever written, the ones where the characters are in the art community probably are among my favorites. Golden Chains is one of those. In it, I had the opportunity to write about being an artist and to discuss art philosophy; its theme enriched by Greek mythology.

Basing it in the Portland area allowed me to write about some places I love while my characters deal with solving a vicious murder. So some sex, some fun, art discussions, nature, and the kind of home I'd love to own.

Find it on Kindle at Golden Chains

More discussion of the writing of the  book at Romance with an Edge