Finding a New Norm...

It's been a tough week for our family. Julie's mother passed away! And, as a dear friend told us, now we must find our new norm (normal).

Julie and I drove out to Phoenix to help her father and family get through this sad time. We're back home (Oklahoma) now, and preparing to return to work (tonight for Julie, tomorrow for me). We ready in some ways; not in others. But life does go on.

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Did my advertising today. Will resume work on Arizona State Guard: Freedom's Forge tomorrow night. The drive out and back provided me with some ideas I want to incorporate into the story. I hope they'll work out as planned!

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www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney

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More soon!

Jeffrey 

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2016

Of Loss and Continuance...

My Mom passed away on Valentine's Day, 1999; and my Dad passed away in August 2002. Nothing ever prepares you for the loss of a loved one, particularly your parents. The pain never truly goes away, it just becomes a little less each day. And you learn to make it through each successive day a little at a time, like performing on the trapeze or a highwire...without a net. They are no longer there for you to fall back on!

Sadly, my beloved wife is now experiencing this loss for the first time. Her mother, Joyce, had a heart attack this past week and despite best efforts, it looks as if there is no brain wave activity and life support is all that is keeping her body alive. We leave in the morning to be with our family in this sad, sad time.

My in-laws, Gary and Joyce, did a great job raising their four children and their only daughter is truly one of a kind! Gary and Joyce welcomed me into their family as a son with open arms and have been truly tremendous parents! I have been so blessed to have such wonderful in-laws.

I worry about Pop (Gary) as he and Joyce have been married for 59 years. He's a strong man but she has been his world for so long!

Hopefully, I'll write more later this week on a more positive note and regarding my usual topics. For now, goodnight...

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2016

Writing New Copy or Advertising...the Self-Publisher's Dilemna

Greetings friends,

Yep! It's Sunday and once again, I take to the keyboard for another update on my new novel, sales, and advertising. For this post, we'll tackle those topics in reverse order:

Advertising

A major problem for self-publishing writers is trying to balance the time we spend writing new copy (pages) versus the time we spend on advertising. Writing new pages is vitally important to getting a project to publication, but without advertising, no one will know that that project (and the writer's earlier projects) exist!

Working on a limited budget, my advertising is accomplished through electronic media online. I usually spend my Sunday's (when not in personal meditation on the Cosmic All) putting out a variety of advertisements on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger (this blog!), Gmail, G+1, and the Kindle-Boards. Many of my advertisements have been written previously and, sometimes with minor modifications, I simply copy and paste them into the online forum, add graphics as appropriate, and send. Sometimes, I must spend valuable time developing new advertising copy, like for the upcoming Kindle Promotion Sale!

As limited as the time I spend advertising is, it is time that I am not writing some new pages for my current project! Given that I only generate 2-5 pages of new material per night (or afternoons and evenings on weekends), that is a significant amount of time that slows down the development and ultimate publication of a new project. *sigh*

So, I'm still working on finding the perfect balance between the two. Someday, I hope I find it!

Sales

Sales have been sluggish but I'm still getting quite a few reads from Kindle Ultimate subscribers through the Kindle Select and Kindle Edition Normalized Pages Read programs. It's nice to know that those subscribers can read my stories much like checking out a book from a library (only easier!) and I still get paid for my intellectual property! Those reads also influence an e-book's Amazon Best Seller Rank. The two Arizona State Guard books have moved up in their respective genres!!!

For those without a Kindle Ultimate subscription who wish to purchase my e-books, I will be running a Kindle Promotion sale for my e-novels starting at 12:00 a.m. (PST) February 12th and running through 12:00 a.m. (PST) February 19th. Sale prices will be:

Arizona State Guard: Bloody Border -- $2.99 (normally $3.99)

Arizona State Guard: Target Terror -- $2.99 (normally $3.99)

Chaos on Terra-Prime -- $1.99 (normally $2.99)

Foothold on Terra-Bravo -- $1.99 (normally $2.99)

Crisis on Terra-Bravo -- $1.99 (normally $2.99)

The Terra-Bravo Saga Volume 1 -- $3.99 (normally $5.97)

Death Haunts the Stars -- $3.99 (normally $4.99)

* Just a reminder, Honing Your Instructional Skills will NOT be on sale. It is already priced at Amazon's lowest price!

My e-books can be found at my Amazon.com Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/jeffreyfortney

The New Novel

Work on the new e-book, Arizona State Guard: Freedom's Forge, is coming along nicely. I'm 71 pages in, working on Chapter 8, and all hell is gonna bust loose soon!!! Got four pages in last night and the brain kept the story rolling even if the fingers weren't hitting the keys. When I sit down this evening, I'll actually be recording a sequence my mind worked out last night (and hopefully, a couple of pages more!?!?).

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Well, that's enough for now! Ya'll have a safe week. Talk with you soon!

Jeffrey

© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2016