More books and outline update

I've got some new books that I'll be posting about that I've read recently and want to share with you, indie books of course!

On the writing front, I have finished half of the outline for The Lady Moons. I think I'll begin writing the actual story after next weekend.

Update: I have a sample chapter up over at Short Story Symposium. Over there you can check out The Pumpkin Princess and many other great novellas and short short stories by other indie authors! Check it out!

Step it up!

The new Lending Library from Amazon has everyone up in arms (authors and publishers anyway). Many indie authors are jumping ship! Even Mark Coker has weighed in on the subject and he isn't happy. I like his site; he's done a lot for indie authors. Smashwords is a good place for indies and all my books are there and I plan to keep them there but he and other distributor/retailers need to step up their game. iBooks and Barnes and Noble have done little to help promote indie authors but many whine about Amazon who has done a lot for indie authors. The most egregious whiners are certain local bookstore owners, all who have snubbed indies, and by that I mean self-published authors. There was a big blow up on Facebook about this last week!

Instead of getting upset, Amazon's competitors really need to bring their A- game. There are a lot of things that need to be improved on iBooks and B&N, Kobo and Smashwords. Seriously. I plan to promote my books on the other retailers in the near future because I do not like putting all eggs in one basket nor do I like monopolies and Amazon could very well become one in the future. But this would be the fault of its competitors who won't step up to the plate and improve their own services.

Amazon's Lending Library

Amazon, early this morning, has just unveiled (or, rather opened up) their exclusive Lending Library for indie authors. Of course the message boards I belong to are all abuzz with the news! It's the only thing we authors are really talking about today. Many are discussing the pros and cons of this service as Amazon will require an author to leave the book that they choose to opt in to the program on the Amazon site, exclusively. You won't be able to sell it elsewhere for 3 months. Some of the things that come with the lending library is free promotion from Amazon-something many of us indie authors who are brand new to publishing are always on the lookout for.

Many people are weighing in and have some good things to say as to why it is or why it is not a good thing for indie authors.

For me, I've decided to take a wait and see approach. Currently I'm writing a series and I do not think opting in the program will help my series. After all, I get sales from both Amazon and B&N. I'm not interested in alienating readers at other venues.

I am seriously thinking about submitting my stand alone novel I'll be writing and publishing next year to see what happens. After all, you can't be so cautious that you never take chances. How do you know what will work unless you try? I suppose each author has to make decisions that will benefit him/her in the end and that's going to look different depending on each author's needs and desires.

Interesting times in publishing!

PS: I've noticed the guys over on TWiT are talking about it - and they don't seem too eager about the LL idea. Hmmm.