Books and e-Books

Writing is only part of an independent author's role. Getting published is another part. Self-publishing has provided independent authors a variety of platforms to choose from. Some of these platforms include:
- Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
- Lulu
- AuthorHouse
- Blurb
- Kobo
- SmashWords

And these are only a few. There are many others out there. 

I've used SmashWords and KDP. SmashWords helped me get my e-books onto a variety of e-book websites. Sadly, sales were dismal. I shifted over to KDP and sales picked up! Now, I only use KDP.

The KDP programs for e-books and paperbacks are very straight forward and easy to use. The sales tracking and reporting systems work well and receiving my payments is simplicity in itself.

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Advertising is another important part of self-publishing. KDP does a pretty good job of sending out e-mail ads for independent authors. Still, each author must find other means of advertising their books. I use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+, and (of course) Blogger to write about writing AND advertise my books. These rely upon you, my readers, to share with others what I share with you!

Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $6.99)

Arizona State Guard: Target Terror (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Arizona State Guard: Freedom’s Forge (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $8.99)

Arizona State Guard Trilogy (e-book: $6.99 ONLY)

Chaos on Terra-Prime (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Foothold on Terra-Bravo (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Crisis on Terra-Bravo (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $8.99)

The Terra-Bravo Saga: Volume 1 (e-book: $4.97 ONLY)

Camadin Station One: Death Haunts the Stars (e-book: $3.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Camadin Station Two: Last Stand (e-book: $3.99 / paperback: $8.99)

Available now at www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney.

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Fall is DEFINITELY in the air here in Stillwater, Oklahoma! Temperatures are cooler and the leaves are starting to change colors and fall from the trees. One of my favorite times of the year.

Be safe out there and enjoy!

Jeffrey

Jeffrey M. Fortney – 2018

Reading, Writing, and Advertising

Welcome!

I thought I'd write tonight about how and why I got into writing for fun (and a little profit).

I've been an avid reader since I was a kid. In fact, with the help of my mother and comic books, I learned to read before I started school. We had a library bookmobile that visited our small town and I would borrow new books with each visit. Later we moved to a larger town and the library was on our street between our home and my school. I would drop off books I'd finished on my way to school and pick up new ones on the way home. These books included histories, biographies, fiction, and my favorite...science fiction. I read whenever I had a free moment and I still do to this day.

I've also been a storyteller all my life; sharing what I'd read with my family and friends and creating new tales. Initially, I would write my stories down in long hand on legal tablets my folks would give me and put them into binders. By the time I was 11, Mom and Dad bought me a Sears manual type writer. Click, clack, clickety, clack...Ding! Ah, the joy of putting words down on paper. My first "sale" was a short (single page) story about a dog and his boy that the lady who watched us from time to time submitted to the Arizona Republic. I received a nice letter congratulating me on my story AND a copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan of the Apes". (This, of course, led me to becoming a huge fan of ERB and his many tales!)

During my teens, I wrote and submitted numerous story ideas to DC Comics and to one editor in particular, Julius Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz had mentored a number of my favorite comic book writers such as Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Martin Pasko, and Paul Levitz to name a few. These fellows submitted story ideas while in their teens and with Schwartz's mentoring became some of the best writers of DC Comics. Schwartz's motto was "Be Original" and he could (and would) point out if an idea or gimmick had been used before. His refusal letters were an art unto themselves with mixtures of praise and chastisement but always ending with encouragement to keep trying, don't give up!

Over time, I joined the U.S. Air Force, got married, and became a father; all of which took up much of my time. Still, I would share stories with my wife and children; again, some of what I read and some that I made up. From time to time, I would write some of them down and put them away in my notebooks, but I never completed them or tried to submit. I kept coming back to one particular story idea...a time travel story about humans creating a colony in the era of the dinosaurs.

Now, over time, what one author can dream up...so can another. Especially if the first author never completes the story and gets it published! I had it happen to a few of my story ideas where someone beat me to the punch (and the payola) by a couple of months. The big crush was when someone with the initials "SS" produced a short-lived television series about humans traveling through time to establish a colony in the Cretaceous Period. This was accomplished totally independently of my story but mirrored it none-the-less. (I enjoyed the program although it only lasted that one short season.)

My wife, Julie, finally told me I needed to finish my stories and submit them for publication. Wonder of wonders, around that same time, a number of self-publishing platforms came along for e-books (Smashwords, Kindle, etc...). With the support of my family, I dove into writing my first novel, which is itself a heavily revised version of my dinosaur story. Gone were the dinos...bring on Ice Age critters!  

Foothold on Terra-Bravo was initially published as an e-book in August 2013 through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing. Since then, I've written and published seven other novels and one short how-to book. I've also released my two series (The Terra-Bravo Saga and The Arizona State Guard) as e-book compilations. Beginning in May 2017, my novels (minus the compilations) became available as paperbacks!

I have many other story ideas swirling around inside my cranium. A third book in the Camadin Station series, a new series for Young Adults, and a science fiction/spy thriller to name only a few. Sadly, I've been experiencing "writer's block" over the last several months. Hopefully, it will pass soon and I can get back to writing!

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Meanwhile, my current books are available through Amazon.com at www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney. Please tell your family, friends, favorite dentist, least favorite neighbor, postal worker, local comic book shoppe owner, and just about anyone else you can think of about my books. I've tried to price them to be affordable in both formats. For those folks with Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited accounts, you can get great savings on shipping (for the paperbacks) and borrowing (for the e-books).

Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $6.99)

Arizona State Guard: Target Terror (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Arizona State Guard: Freedom’s Forge (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $8.99)

Arizona State Guard Trilogy (e-book: $6.99 ONLY)

Chaos on Terra-Prime (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Foothold on Terra-Bravo (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Crisis on Terra-Bravo (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $8.99)

The Terra-Bravo Saga: Volume 1 (e-book: $4.97 ONLY)

Camadin Station One: Death Haunts the Stars (e-book: $3.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Camadin Station Two: Last Stand (e-book: $3.99 / paperback: $8.99)

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The weather is starting to cool down a bit and Fall can't be too far away. Enjoy the final days of Summer!

Jeffrey

Jeffrey M. Fortney – 2018

More Shameless Advertising

A couple of weeks ago, I received a notification from Kindle Boards (an online Kindle group) that I would be restricted to advertising no more than 5 of my books in one day. Apparently, other less prolific writers were complaining that I and other more prolific authors were bumping the less prolific writers' advertising posts down the advertising thread on K-Boards. One of the administrators said that the rule had been in place for some time but they were now going to enforce it, whether we liked it or not.

Personally, I felt:

1) Betrayed!
2) Cheated of an opportunity to defend my actions against the naysayers.
3) Censored.

I made my opinions known but to no avail. So, I shall no longer be advertising on K-Boards. My choice. I try to get all of my advertising done in one day for three reasons that are very important to me:

1) I want to use the remainder of my week for time with my wife and family.
2) I don't want to swamp my family and friend's Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and LinkedIn feeds multiple times over a week. (Although, the way sales/reads have been of late, perhaps I should.)
3) I would like to have free time during the remainder of the week to WRITE (if the Muse is so inclined).

So here I am... providing more shameless advertising of my novels. Please share this with family, friends, neighbors, strangers, and the occasional person you meet along the way:

Are you looking for:

Action

Adventure

Alternate History and Worlds

Mystery

Science Fiction

and Suspense

Then check out my novels! Available in e-book and print formats.

Go to my Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney.

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Meanwhile, the Muse HAS been flitting around lately, just not staying in place very long. I have had some wonderful ideas pop into my noggin for some of my works in progress. Hopefully, some of those ideas will make it into those stories soon! 

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Fall is almost upon us. Enjoy the remainder of Summer!

Jeffrey

Jeffrey M. Fortney – 2018

Shameless Self Promotion (of my novels)

Are you looking for:

Action

Adventure

Alternate History and Worlds

Mystery

Science Fiction

and Suspense

Then check out my novels! Available in e-book and print formats.

Go to my Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney!

Stay safe out there!

Jeffrey 

Jeffrey M. Fortney – 2018

Writer's Block? Burnout? Or Just Plain Tired?

Howdy!

Wish I came with glad tidings of tales woven or written... 

But I'm not.

Whether it's writer's block, or burnout, or just plain tired, I haven't accomplished much writing in recent weeks. The ideas are there, but getting them into a Word file just isn't happening. Hopefully, this will pass.

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Meanwhile, enjoy some of my existing books available on my Amazon Author site at www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney. Tell your friends and families about 'em, too!

Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $6.99)

Arizona State Guard: Target Terror (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Arizona State Guard: Freedom’s Forge (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $8.99)

Arizona State Guard Trilogy (e-book: $6.99 ONLY)

Chaos on Terra-Prime (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Foothold on Terra-Bravo (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Crisis on Terra-Bravo (e-book: $2.99 / paperback: $8.99)

The Terra-Bravo Saga: Volume 1 (e-book: $4.97 ONLY)

Camadin Station One: Death Haunts the Stars (e-book: $3.99 / paperback: $7.99)

Camadin Station Two: Last Stand (e-book: $3.99 / paperback: $8.99)

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Enjoy the rest of Summer!

Jeffrey

Jeffrey M. Fortney – 2018

Where's My Muse?

Still here!

I haven't made much headway in the last few days in terms of the written word but I did get some writing in this week on the Arizona Territorial Marshals. Sadly, only about half a page.

But, I'm determined to write more this next week... and next week...and the next! Just need to get back in touch with my Muse. I know she's around here somewhere. "Muse! Oh, Muse! Where art thou?"

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Meanwhile, my current list of books are available in paperback and e-book formats through Amazon.com. Check out my Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney. If you have Amazon Prime, you can get free two-day delivery of the paperbacks. If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can download and read my e-books as part of your subscription.

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Watch out for the heat! It's been brutal!

Jeffrey

Jeffrey M. Fortney – 2018

I'm Back Again!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry to have been away so long. I didn't realize that buying a new home, moving, and selling the old home would be so time consuming. And doing the many little things that turn a house into a home...WOW!

But I think we've reached the point where I can have some time just to write and do my advertising. 

HUZZAH!

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So the time spent moving wasn't a total time-off from writing. The brain continues to work while the body does the repetitive tasks. As I worked, I also did a lot of thinking...plotting out new ideas for existing stories and for some new ones! I was able to fix some plot holes in a couple of things I'm working on, find new ways forward, and come up with some new characters. I can't wait to get started on these ideas!!!

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Meanwhile, my current novels are available at www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney. Take a moment and visit my Amazon Author page and check out my novels. If you have a Kindle Subscription account, you can "borrow" my e-books without any additional cost to you. (Don't worry, I'll still get paid!) My books are also available in paperback editions for those who prefer that format.

So tell your family, your friends, the science fiction and adventure fans you know, the local mad scientist about my books, this blog, and my FB website at www.facebook.com/FortneyPress/.

So sit back...the adventure is about to continue!

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Summer 2018 has arrived. Oh boy... heat, humidity, and barbecues! Enjoy time with family and friends. Be safe!

Jeffrey

Jeffrey M. Fortney – 2018