Winner, Winner, But Not a Chicken Dinner

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Congratulations, Beth of E. Lizard Breath Speaks blog won the drawing for my book.

I gave her a choice–

To School a Cowboy

or

Blind Sight

Beth chose Blind Sight. 🙂 I’ll be sending it to her today.

For those of you who are terribly disappointed because you didn’t win (That’s what all the wailing I hear is about. Right?) you can order my books (paperback or Kindle form) from The Wild Rose Press or from Amazon.

Okay, commercial over. 😉 More about Beth.

This picture is from Beth’s twitter page.

She from a Small Town World in Virginia, and loves to travel all over. Her blog is full of pictures of places she’s visited. She and her hubby of eight years love to take the scenic route through Small World America.

She and her husband love kayaking. That could makes me a tad jealous. Wouldn’t it be cool to vaca with a kayak and a camera to see how many streams and rivers you could get down?

She enjoys movies and reading and funny stories and decorating and baking and crafting and making people laugh.

She started blogging in order to “meet new folks, bloggers, people from Virginia. folks that I have something in common with–likes and dislikes.”

Beth writes, “my purpose … I really like folks to lighten up their lives … giggle, be silly & laugh. Not take things so seriously. I like to uplift (lift up) folks & make them smile. Life is so stressful normally I think blogging is meant for fun & entertainment. I do at times take on the serious side of things but I prefer the lighter side.”

I think we might be related. LOL.

Beth, I’ve enjoyed “meeting” you (and everyone who signed up for the contest.) Hope you enjoy Blind Sight!

The Traveler’s Gift

I hate to admit it, but I missed Sunday School yesterday. I shouldn’t have, but I worked in my garden when it was still cool and just didn’t get ready in time.

I made it to church, though. When my SS teacher saw me, he went back to his seat and returned with a book. Not to smack me with (there are times when I wouldn’t blame him) but for me to keep.

At least I hope it’s for me to keep. If not, I’ll just have to buy him a new one because thing is gold! I planned to read just a page or two this morning (I’m supposed to get through page 76 this week) but I couldn’t put it down. I read through page 46. (G-Man nearly didn’t get breakfast. LOL)

Since you and I are such good friends, I wanted to share it with you. Honestly, it’s a book you really don’t want to miss.

   You can tell by the “Look Inside” that I borrowed this image from Amazon. If you’re wise, you’ll pop over there and buy it now!

I don’t know if you can see it above the title or not, but it says, “SEVEN DECISIONS THAT DETERMINE PERSONAL SUCCESS.”

I normally steer away from that kind of book because it’s nearly always b-o-r-i-n-g! This one is anything but. So far, I’ve met two fascinating historical characters and I’ve learned a lot.

Just to show you how smart Andy Andrews (the author) is, I’m going to share a few of his words with you.

From King Solomon:

“Sensible instruction is a life-giving fountain that will help you escape all manner of deadly traps. Find a wise man, a person who has accomplished what you wish for in your life, and listen closely to his words.”

Good stuff, huh? This is a great book, easy to read and it has caught my attention so that I’m having trouble putting it down.

Check it out. I think you’ll really enjoy it. If you have a Kindle, you might want to download a portion so you can get a feel for it, but I think you’ll want to own the real thing so you can highlight and take notes.

You really don’t want to miss this.

I realize that I’m often one of the last to discover an author like this. Just checked–Gift was written in 2002! LOL. Okay, I know tons of people have already read this.

Have you read The Traveler’s Gift?  What did you think of it? Just click “comment” and tell us all about it.

When it comes to books, it’s always good to share.

Zola’s Books

Cover via Amazon

Yesterday, the 2nd Saturday of the month, was my Romance Writers Ink meeting day. I look forward to it all month, and I’m never disappointed.

We had two fantastic speakers, both RWI members, both multi-published authors and both women who had lots of knowledge to share with us–which they did. (The best thing about RWI is its members are all women who love helping other writers on the road to publication.)

Jackie King gave our short talk, called Ten Minutes to Shine, about how to sell digital books. How to get them formatted (her advice–pay someone so it looks right) and how to sell them on Amazon. (She’s getting fantastic numbers!)

This morning as I thought about this blog, Zola Bellis Sample came to mind.

I never got to meet Zola, but she was a ‘Ford author, born the same year as my Grandad Ray in the same area as Grandad. 

Zola, knowing the rich history of the Basin could (and probably would) be lost, wrote two books about the early days in the area–“Cherokee Strip Fever,” published in 1956, and “House with a Jillion Memories,” 1957.

Zola was self-published, but today would be called an Indie. That’s a term I heard several times yesterday that means pretty much the same thing but lets people know just how savvy she was. 🙂 She did the work and made all the profit. One smart woman!

I bought “Cherokee Strip Fever” on Amazon a few weeks ago and it cost probably three times what Zola charged for the book. And “House with a Jillion Memories” is for sale for $75! Oh, and don’t forget the shipping charges.

I have no doubt both books are worth what’s being charged for them, but unless Zola’s family is selling them on Amazon (could be, but I doubt it) they aren’t getting a dime from those sales.

And when those books have sold and gone into private collections, anyone who wants to read them will have to check them out of the ‘Ford library. (If the books that were there have survived this long.)

So–back to my two seemingly unrelated subjects. I don’t know who inherited Zola’s rights to her books, but for relatively little (about $30 and a 70/30 split with Amazon) they could be digitized and sold for an affordable price.

The proceeds for those sales could go to the people who actually deserve them, and more importantly (in my mind, anyway) the rich history of the area wouldn’t be in danger of disappearing.

So . . . now what? Anyone know who owns the rights to those book? I’d love to hear it’s the ‘Ford Library or Historical Society, but it’s probably Zola’s family, and I don’t know who/where they are. Still, I’m wondering if they’d be interested in this new technology?