Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 34
July 14, 2019
The Wedding Pact is Available!
This is Book 3 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series!
Here are the books in the series:
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I am adding a 5th book, and that will be The Duke’s Secluded Bride. I don’t have a cover for it yet but should soon. I don’t know if there will be a Book 6 or not. I wasn’t originally planning on a Book 5 until the idea came to me last month. So we’ll see how things go.
As a quick note, I want to say that I’ve had a lot of fun with this series. It’s been my experiment with gothic elements within a romance, and I’m very pleased by how it’s turning out. In my opinion, each book in the series keeps getting better and better. My personal favorite is Fairest of Them All, which will be out next month.
Here’s the description for The Wedding Pact:
On her 21st birthday, Ophelia was due to marry her guardian. Only she didn’t know it.
Miss Ophelia Crowe has led an extremely sheltered life. After her parents died when she was five, she went to live at her guardian’s country estate. She went on to live a life where everything was managed for her. From what she could wear to what activities she could do, each and every day had been carefully structured by the servants.
The problem was, she didn’t know who her guardian was.
Until the morning of her 21st birthday when the maids present her to him looking more like a doll than a lady who would like to have a say in her future. And a doll is exactly the way he treats her. She comes to realize just how much he’s structured her life so that she’s been trained to be the kind of wife he wants.
Well, she’s decided she won’t marry him. In a bold move, she runs off on a horse in the night in order to escape the fate everyone has set out for her ever since she was a child.
All Vicar Julian Roskin wants is to lead a quiet life. He’s caused enough trouble in the past. He doesn’t need any more problems. But, late one night, his safe and predictable world is turned upside down when a beautiful young lady ends up on his doorstep in need of protection. Protection, in this case, will require him to marry her.
Reason tells him not to do it. Nothing good can come from marriage to a lady he doesn’t know anything about. But something about her demands he take her up on her offer. Dare he take the risk, or should he do everything he can to send her back?
This is loosely inspired by the Little Red Riding Hood story.
It’s available at these places:
Payhip (use the coupon 9G1N1NDJ8Z to get 50% off) – offer only good through July 16
July 12, 2019
Thoughts on Ghostwriting
This post is just my opinion on the topic of ghostwriting.
There are two main reasons I can see someone using a ghostwriter.
1. You have a story idea or know a nonfiction subject matter really well, BUT you aren’t good at communicating those thoughts through writing.
Some people have a ton of great ideas, but their strength just isn’t in presenting it in written form. Communicating through the written word is a craft that comes more easily to some people than others. This isn’t to say you can’t learn the craft. You can. But sometimes it’s not practical to devote the time and effort needed to learn a craft. It could be that you’re better off using that time and effort into something else that is a strength for you already. A ghostwriter can assist in this area by taking the burden of that job off of your hands.
Going along with the idea of writing not being someone’s strength, let’s say that you also hate writing. To you, it’s a chore you’d rather not deal with. You don’t have the desire to even learn the craft. But you still have some ideas that you’d like to offer the world in written form. Maybe you’re a great speaker, so you can give online presentations and give public speeches, but you also want to have your material available in written form for people who’d rather read it. In this case, a ghostwriter can be a good thing.
2. It’s best for your business.
There’s a growing trend in the indie writing community that involves the use of ghostwriters. Indie publishing has done away with the myth that excellent writers can’t write fast. A lot of them do. But even a fast writer needs a break. People aren’t machines. They can’t write all the time. The human brain needs time to relax. So writers who rely on their writing income to make a living might find it necessary to hire ghostwriters.
Earlier this week, I saw a posting for ghostwriters wanted. This was specifically for the romance genre, and the ghostwriter would be expected to write about a certain word count a week and had to be able to commit to writing an entire series for the author who hired them. The ghostwriter would have to agree to receive no credit for the work.
I think we’re seeing a growing need for ghostwriters in the indie community because of the increased pressure authors feel to get more and more books out. And the fact is that some retailers reward a rapid publishing schedule. The quicker you can get books out, the better your chances are of making more money. Also, I hear a lot of romance readers say they read 1-2 books a day. I can see how speed gets rewarded with money. The more books an author puts out, the more money they usually make. And if this author has done a great job of building up a fan base, then it makes sense to put out as many books as possible.
We can argue the ethics of a fiction writer using a ghostwriter all day long, but my point is that if you’re a business-minded person, you’re going to do what is best for your business. The truth is, it is harder to sell books if you’re writing at a slower pace AND if you don’t write to market. I’ve been tracking financially successful romance authors for years now, and it’s become clear to me that to better your odds of making money, you need to get books out quicker AND write to market. Right now, I’m seeing authors producing a book or two a month. Some do it more frequently than that.
I think a wise author is going to utilize the help of a quality ghostwriter to maintain this kind of production because if the author doesn’t, the author risks doing serious harm to their health, their sanity, and/or their relationships. The human mind was not created to act like a machine. It requires breaks. Our minds are connected to our bodies, so it’s best to take care of both. If you don’t give yourself time to rest, something is going to give.
Just the other day I was watching a You Tube video where this very issue came up, and I think it’s worth listening to. I’m linking to it below. Sarra Cannon mentions an author she knows who ended up in the hospital due to major fatigue and burnout. This is a good moment to reflect on the dangers of pushing yourself to write too much to often. Start at 14:56 and goes through until 16:10 to hear her warning. (If you want to listen to the other stuff she has to say, feel free. It’s a great video.)
When you take care of yourself, you’re taking care of your business.
***
The reason I can see someone not using a ghostwriter.
To help give this blog post some balance, I will add a thought on why a writer should not get a ghostwriter.
I’m the kind of writer who needs the story to be exactly the way I want it to be. This is why I went into self-publishing to begin with. I wanted 100% control over my story. I didn’t want a publisher coming in and telling me to change anything.
A ghostwriter is providing a service, but they are the ones creating the story. Even if an author gives them the idea, they’re executing it, and in my experience, two people can start with the very same idea (say a plot where a father is forcing his daughter to get married to someone she doesn’t want). Regardless of the fact these people are using the exact same plot idea, the two will produce two different stories. There might be some similar points along the way, but in the end, the story is unique because the creative mind takes all kinds of twists and turns along the way.
Characters evolve as the story is being told, and what one character does for one author, another character one won’t for the other author. That’s because each person writing the book is coming at the plot idea with two distinct personalities, two distinct backgrounds, and two distinct likes/dislikes. The subconscious mind takes over the creative process in subtle ways. That’s why you won’t get the same exact story from the same plot idea.
That’s the beauty of storytelling, and it’s why I love it so much. I never know what will happen. Each story starts out as a blank map that is filled in along the way. Granted, I don’t plot first, but I imagine even when a writer sits down to plot, they don’t know everything that’s going to happen when they start plotting on a blank piece of paper. That stuff usually gets filled in as the story comes together in the writer’s mind.
So if I were to tell a ghostwriter, “This is my idea, and I want Character A to be like this and Character B to be like this,” I doubt the ghostwriter would write the exact story I want, and I would not be happy with the story. I would have to rewrite the story so that I’m satisfied with it. If that’s the same case with you, a ghostwriter probably isn’t good for you, and it’s a good reason not to use one.
July 8, 2019
What if Someone is Trying to Claim Copyright to a Book You Wrote? (Update)
This is just an update on the scenario I recently ran into when someone stole one of my paperback books, published it as if they were me, and then claimed that I stole the book.
My paperback book is safe and sound on Amazon, and I got the scammer’s stolen book removed!
That’s the short and sweet of the update. But I thought I’d share some other things that are going on in my mind right now regarding the importance of protecting our copyright.
As it turns out, there is an alarming trend where thieves or scammers (whatever you want to call them) are taking paperback books and publishing them. Their goal is to get people to buy that book and make money off of it. This, in turn, will make it so that the legitimate author does not get paid. It’s a scam. Another author shared this blog post detailing it on Facebook. But to make long story short, I’m not the only one who’s been hit by this. The thing that made my situation unique was that the scammer actually sent Amazon a takedown notice on my own book. (For those unaware, a takedown notice is basically a “copyright infringement” claim. You’re accusing another person of stealing your work.)
As a quick disclaimer, Amazon is not the only retailer that is vulnerable to scams. I remember last year (or was it two years ago?) when scammers were taking a lot of Kindle Unlimited (KU) books and publishing them on Apple. (Most authors in KU can’t have that ebook anywhere but Amazon.) In that scenario, the scammer was pretending to be the publishing house for those books. These authors found out about this, and as far as I know, they were able to get rid of those scammers. I haven’t heard of anything since. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something going on. It’s just that I’m not aware of it.
Anyway, I know most authors won’t heed my advice about registering the copyright of your books based on the cost, but I still highly recommend it. The paperback book that was stolen from me makes me $0 a year. But it’s my book. I wrote it. The characters are a part of me. The story means something to me. To see someone steal my characters who were in my story was a lot more painful to go through than any of the income losses I’ve taken over the last few years. It was like someone came after one of my kids. I had to fight to protect it, just as I’d fight for one of my kids.
To me, paying $55 to protect one of my books is worth it because it was my first line of defense against the scammer. A second line would have been contacting a copyright lawyer. Back in 2011, I hadn’t registered any of my books with the US Copyright Office because I didn’t think anyone would steal them and try to sell them. But I was wrong. I had three books stolen and put up for sale by someone pretending to be me. These were the ebook versions. Amazon did remove two of those books, but they weren’t removing the third one because I had only published it on Smashwords. It was only a few pages long, and it wasn’t a romance. I saw no point in having it on Amazon. It cost me about $100 to get a copyright lawyer to contact Amazon in order to get that book removed because I didn’t have a Certificate of Registration to prove I was the copyright holder.
I guess you could argue that since I have over 90 books total out there (and all copyrighted) that I have paid way more over the years than I would pay a lawyer, and you’d be right. Seeing a lawyer would be cheaper. But these books are going to outlive me, and their copyright will extend beyond my lifetime. Someone is going to have to deal with my books after I die, and if I can make their life easier by having registered my copyrights, then that is a gift I gladly give to them. Also, I don’t know which book(s) the next scammer will pick. It’s in my best interest (and my estate’s best interest) to protect all of them.
I don’t think I’ve seen the last of these scammers. They hit me in 2011 and again in 2012 (2012 was under a pen name’s books). And they’ve now hit me again. I’m not negative. I’m actually a positive person. But I am a realist. If this has already happened to me three times now in the past 11 years since I first got my feet wet with CreateSpace (which used to be Amazon’s paperback publishing platform) and in the past 10 years that I’ve been in ebooks, it’s likely that I’ll have to go through this again.
All I can say is that having registered my copyright made things a lot easier than they did when I didn’t. This time around, I scanned in the Certificate of Registration I got from the US Copyright Office and sent it to Amazon. Amazon kept the paperback up. After that, I went to the copyright infringement form on Amazon’s site and filled it out on the scammer’s copy of my paperback book. I was able to give Amazon the registration number for the book that came from the US Copyright Office. (There was no option to scan the form in again and send it to them.) It took a week, but the scammer’s copy is now gone. I appreciate the fact that Amazon worked with me on this issue, and I truly believe one of the reasons they did was because I had registered my book with the US Copyright Office.
I’m sharing this information in case anyone needs it in the future or will run into someone who will need this information.
July 5, 2019
Swapping Out One of the Books on my “To Write” List for This Fall
Marcy’s cousin’s book (This is a Regency.)
I finally decided to call The Duke’s Secluded Bride. (I don’t have a cover for this yet, but I have contacted the cover artist about working on it.) It’ll be Book 5 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series. This series has been my experiment in a more gothic type of setting, and I’ve been having so much fun with it that I’m reluctant to part from it. I don’t know if there will be a Book 6, but I know there will be a Book 5.
The Outlaw’s Bride and The Rancher’s Wife (These are historical westerns.)
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These are Book 1 and Book 2 in the Wyoming Series.
I have to go back and reread what I’ve written so far of The Outlaw’s Bride because I haven’t touched this one in two years.
***
Now for the one I’m swapping out…
Okay, so the book I had to ditch was the historical western idea of the woman with the kid(s) who marries the guy with no memory. I do want to get to this story at some point because I like the premise.
But this is what happened…
I was on the Period Images website looking for a picture of the couple who best fit for historical western idea above. I find it a lot easier to write a book if I have the cover to look at. Anyway, I noticed that Period Images now has a gallery of pre-made book covers. All I would have to do is add the text, name, and/or series (or logo).
And as I was scrolling through the images, I found the perfect pre-made cover for Miss Lilly Lowell and Mr. Morris. They initially showed up in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife. Lilly was Claire’s superficial sister who wanted a to marry a titled gentleman for the prestige, and poor Mr. Morris had been desperately trying to get her to marry him. Now, I knew they would ultimately end up together, but the details always eluded me. I knew she would do something to trick him into marriage. I just never knew what the trick was or how things would play out. So I was unable to write the book.
After spending all these years looking for the right plot to come along for their book, I saw the pre-made cover on Period Images that made everything click into place. The title came to me, and then I thought, “That’s Lilly and Mr. Morris’ book!”
And I knew Lilly will end up doing a lot of things a proper young lady isn’t supposed to do in order to win the favor of Mr. Morris. I plan to bring in a single Lord Edon and a single Mr. Robinson. This book will take place between the events in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife and A Most Unsuitable Earl. So we’ll get to see Lord Edon when he was playing the role of a rake, which will be a lot of fun. I love Lord Edon, especially when he’s with Mr. Robinson. I’m not sure what other characters I can weave in.
So far, I have a request for Lord Toplyn, and I think I can bring him in, though it’ll probably be in a small way. The main characters will be Lilly, Mr. Morris, Lord Edon, Mr. Robinson, and someone who is close to Mr. Morris (a friend, sister, brother, etc.). Anyone got any Regency character you’d like me to bring in? I can’t promise I’ll be able to do it, but I’ll try.
Okay, so now for the cover reveal:
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A quick side note: I am currently rereading The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife where Lilly and Mr. Morris are introduced, and I chuckled when I realized Lilly was a blonde in that book. Stuff like that gets missed when an author’s been away from a book for a few years. I love the cover as is, and I want the woman to keep her dark hair in it. I’m going to have Lilly wear a blonde wig because she thinks blonde hair makes her more beautiful. That’s the way I’m going to explain away the different hair color. I’ll be looking for other little details during the course of reading through The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife.
Back to the post…
I have no idea if this book will be part of a series or a standalone. I’m going to write it and let the story lead me wherever it wants to. I’m tired of trying to come up with a series every time I start a book that is not #2, 3, 4, etc down the series line. I find it easier to relax and just write the story if I’m not worried about what happens after the book is done.
July 2, 2019
Thoughts on Indie Publishing and The Value of Books
I read this quote in an interview Mark Coker did with Hannah Howe on Mom’s Favorite Reads that really resonated with me.
Traditional publishers judge books based on perceived commercial merit. They want to publish books that will sell. That’s how they stay in business. This means there’s a strong inclination within traditional publishing to measure a book’s worth based on sales. This leads publishers to take fewer risks on unknown authors. It leads them to publish more celebrity drivel. It causes them to reject books that serve smaller audiences. And it causes them to trade short term gains for long term losses.
As far as I’m concerned, this quote could be easily applied to indie publishers. An indie publisher is someone who publishes their own books. In my opinion, indie publishing has become traditional publishing all over again. In the indie world, sales are the big topic. The main question is, “How can I sell a book?” instead of “How can I write a good book?”
I get what Mark is saying. He’s pointing out that traditional publishing only publishes books that are going to make money. And he’s right. Back in 2009 and 2010 when I went to writer’s conferences, agents and editors of publishing houses admitted that a lot of great stories were rejected based on the fact that they couldn’t market it to a wide enough audience. They would rather take a book that was mediocre if they knew how to market it to the biggest audience possible because, at the end of the day, agents and editors needed to be paid. It wasn’t personal. It was just business.
When I look out at the current indie publishing landscape, I’m seeing the same theme all over again. “It’s not personal. It’s just business.” This is why some authors in the community have gone against their ethical beliefs. They have preached one thing for years, and suddenly, they changed course. They’re now doing things they once told other authors not to do, and they do it because of money. Then they justify their actions by saying, “It’s not personal. It’s just business.”
Sometimes I miss the “good old days” of indie publishing. This was when most people looked down on self-published authors. (This was back in the 2008-2010 era.) The criticism didn’t bother me. I was publishing what I wanted, and it’s a lot easier to enjoy writing when your main concern is telling the story the way you want (rather than letting the market—aka the widest audience possible–tell you what to write). The best thing about this time period was that other authors who were indie publishing had the same mindset I did. We were doing it for the love of writing. We were excited to bypass the publishers and see our books in the world, exactly as those books were meant to be. Meanwhile, all of the writers concerned with money and respectability kept submitting to traditional publishers. Unfortunately, we’re not getting those days back any time soon, and it does make it difficult to stay focused on the passion side of writing when you’re surrounded by people telling you to treat it as a business.
I’m tired of a book’s value being measured by how much money it brings in. I’m tired of authors comparing themselves to other authors, and I’m tired of the rat race where we’re all expected to make a certain amount of money every month if we want to be seen as “equal” to those who are “important” in the indie community. A writer is one who writes. It shouldn’t matter how the book is published or how much a book makes. Each book has value.
Now, Mark does say that each book has value. One of his goals as the founder of Smashowrds is to help authors figure out how to use best marketing practices in order to get more sales. But if that’s all someone reads in the interview he did at that blog, then I think you missed the bulk of what he’s saying.
The main meat of the interview is really based on the emotional well-being of the writer. He discusses things like how to be happy, pursuing your dreams, and other things that go beyond writing. I found the overall interview to be very inspiring. The best news is that writers have control over their emotional well-being. Sales are out of a writer’s control, and to focus on something that is outside one’s control isn’t a good idea. If sales are the things we strive for, then our well-being is dependent upon other people, then we’re going to be let down. We need to focus on what we can control.
I really like what Mark says here because it helps to put a book’s value in perspective:
My view is that if your book has the potential to change one person’s life, your book is just as important as some New York Times bestseller. Even if that one person is your mom, son, daughter or future grandchild.
Many books and authors aren’t fully appreciated for their genius until long after the author is dead. Books are meant to be immortal. Books that are ahead of their time won’t sell well, but they’re no less valuable to humanity. If anything, these books are gifts to the future of humanity.
I was recently listening to a podcast from a man who’s been dead for decades, but the work he laid out during his life has had a big impact on me today, and I know others have been better off from his work, too.
It’s short-sighted to get caught up in how a book is selling. It’s easy to miss the big picture. With the digital age, books have the potential to go out into places authors don’t even think about. Who knows what impact anyone’s book can have today, tomorrow, or hundreds of years from now?
This is where I go into a spiritual tangent, so if that’s not your thing, skip the rest of the post.
When I started writing romances back in 2007, I was determined to write them in a way that glorifies God. This is why my romances are the way they are. I don’t like to be preachy. I get turned off by preachy movies and books. I like a Christian theme so long as it doesn’t derail the whole story. Over the years, I noticed some of my books lean more in the spiritual direction than others. It just depended on the characters and plot. But at the end of the day, each book I write is one I want to do according to His leading. As much as it pains me to admit, I have taken my eyes off of Him. I’ve been putting my time and attention into the material side of writing, and it’s only led to frustration. To sum up King Solomon in Ecclesiastes, chasing material things is grasping for the wind.
So I’ve made a decision. As long as God is leading me to write, I’ll write. This is regardless of whether I hit 100 romance books. This is regardless of whether I get a job. I might not be able to write as fast if I get a job, but as long as He wants me to write, I’m going to do it. At the end of the day, all that matters is what He wants.
June 27, 2019
What if Someone is Trying to Claim Copyright to a Book You Wrote?
It’s about what to do if someone claims they own the copyright to the book you wrote, and they submit a takedown notice to a retailer to have your book removed. (And the retailer believes them!)
I don’t know how many authors have run into this scenario, but this week, it happened to me. My goal in writing this is to warn you so that you can be prepared in case it happens to you. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
***
Earlier this week, I received an email from KDP saying that they wanted to make sure I was the copyright holder to my paperback book titled Falling In Love With Her Husband. I thought I had triggered something in the system when I changed the glossy format to matte for the book. I had heard other authors say stuff like this happened to them when they made similar changes, and that it was no big deal. All you had to do was reply with a, “Yes, I own the copyright,” and all was good.
So I did what had worked for other authors in the past.
But this situation was different. Why? Because in this instance, someone had claimed I had stolen my own book!
Yesterday morning, I got an email from KDP saying this:
Hello,
Thank you for the information you provided regarding the following book(s):
Falling In Love With Her Husband: A North Dakota Historical Romance
Ruth Ann Nordin (A2D76D4TTMXLJ0)
Prior to your submission, we received a notice and takedown for a book that matches to yours, from a third party claiming that the distribution of the book above was not properly authorized due to copyright infringement
We don’t involve ourselves in third party disputes and because we have not received any communication from the involved parties that the matter has been resolved, we have determined that we will not be making the book(s) available for sale on Amazon at this time.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter.
Fortunately, I had registered my book with the US Copyright Office, so I have the Certificate of Registration. I scanned it into my computer and then took a screenshot of my KDP dashboard showing the paperback linked to the ebook where you can see the dates of publication and the ASIN numbers for the paperback and ebook version. (Amazon refers to the ISBN as ASIN in my dashboard.)
As a side note, if this happens in the future, I’ll also add links to where my book is on other retailers. I didn’t think to do that yesterday.
So I attached these the Certificate of Registration for Falling In Love With Her Husband and the screen, along with this email:
The person who reported the takedown notice has stolen my book. I am attaching two things. One is the US Copyright Registration form, and the other a screenshot of my KDP dashboard that shows I have published this book originally through CreateSpace and that it was published in 2009. I am the copyright owner of this book. I am the only publisher of this book. I have not given permission to anyone else to publish this book.
Please check my KDP dashboard if you need further proof. You can compare the ebook to the paperback to see that I wrote the paperback.
My book’s url is this: https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Love-Her-Husband-Historical/dp/1441492461/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=falling+in+love+with+her+husband&qid=1561568183&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Please notice the date of publication and the fact that the ASIN is 1441492461. This matches the books ISBN.
The stolen book’s url is this: https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Love-Her-Husband-Historical/dp/B01F81R18Y . Notice the the ISBN does not match. Also, notice that this person (who has no rights to publish this book) does not even list out the book title the same way I do. I would never title (2009-04-24) in a title. I don’t know where “CreateSpace Independent Publis (1750)” is, but I suspect it is not in the United States.
I live in the United States. I have registered this book with the US Copyright Office. That copyright is effective as of June 19, 2011. I am sending an attachment of the scanned copyright certificate.
I’m reporting a takedown notice on the stolen book ( https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Love-Her-Husband-Historical/dp/B01F81R18Y). Whoever uploaded this is an imposter. He/she did not write the book. They have no rights to publish it.
Let me know if you need anything else on my end.
Thank you,
Ruth Ann Nordin
***
This is what KDP sent me a few hours later:
Congratulations! The following book(s) you recently submitted have been reviewed and were successfully passed:
“Falling In Love With Her Husband: A North Dakota Historical Romance ” ID: PRI-C1Y33J3X85V
The book(s) will soon be published on Amazon. Please allow up to 48 hours for the book(s) to become available in the Amazon Store.
We look forward to offering your book to millions of Amazon customers and wish you the best of luck in promoting and selling your work!
Thanks for using Amazon KDP
As of this moment, the stolen book is still up. I’m keeping an eye on it. Back in 2011, someone stole a couple of my books, and Amazon was refusing to take one of them down. I spent three weeks trying to get them listen to me, but they wouldn’t. So, I had to get a copyright lawyer to contact Amazon for me. Within an hour, the book was removed. Copyright lawyers can do some things I can’t with Amazon. I’ve decided that if that stolen book isn’t removed by next week, I’m going to get a copyright lawyer involved.
So, for what it’s worth, my advice to every author is to register your book’s copyright. In the US, that is the US Copyright Office. (If you live outside the US, I would look up whatever place you have available to do this, if there is one.) I know it takes time to do this, and I realize it can be expensive to many out there. It’s currently $55.00 to file online with the US Copyright Office, and since I make paperback versions, I have to buy two of them and mail them in. So when all is said and done, I spent almost $100 to register one book. If you don’t do paperbacks, you can just file the ebook version. But I would rather pay $100 to have proof on hand that I own the copyright to my own book so that when stuff like this happens, I’m ready for it.
Some people might say that my particular case is rare. Back in 2011 when I had three books stolen, people told me it was rare to have your books stolen. Yet in the following years, I’ve heard many stories of authors who have had books stolen from them and put up for sale on different retailers. (Most of the time, it’s Amazon, but no retailer is immune from this.)
Anyway, what might be rare right now could be commonplace tomorrow. It doesn’t hurt to have the copyright certificate on hand. Hopefully, you’ll never need it, but in case you do, it makes life a whole lot easier when you’re trying to prove you wrote the book.
June 25, 2019
Things I’m Currently Working On
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I also updated the book description.
On her 21st birthday, Ophelia was due to marry her guardian. Only she didn’t know it.
Miss Ophelia Crowe has led an extremely sheltered life. After her parents died when she was five, she went to live at her guardian’s country estate. She went on to live a life where everything was managed for her. From what she could wear to what activities she could do, each and every day had been carefully structured by the servants.
The problem was, she didn’t know who her guardian was.
Until the morning of her 21st birthday when the maids present her to him looking more like a doll than a lady who would like to have a say in her future. And a doll is exactly the way he treats her. She comes to realize just how much he’s structured her life so that she’s been trained to be the kind of wife he wants.
Well, she’s decided she won’t marry him. In a bold move, she runs off on a horse in the night in order to escape the fate everyone has set out for her ever since she was a child.
All Vicar Julian Roskin wants is to lead a quiet life. He’s caused enough trouble in the past. He doesn’t need any more problems. But, late one night, his safe and predictable world is turned upside down when a beautiful young lady ends up on his doorstep in need of protection. Protection, in this case, will require him to marry her.
Reason tells him not to do it. Nothing good can come from marriage to a lady he doesn’t know anything about. But something about her demands he take her up on her offer. Dare he take the risk, or should he do everything he can to send her back?
This is loosely inspired by the Little Red Riding Hood story.
Quick heads up about a special sale I’ll be running when this book releases.
I’m trying something new. I’m asking $3.99 (in USD) for this book on the retailers. But I’m going to offer in Payhip for 50% off. (Payhip is my own storefront that I just set up.) I can’t make a pre-order on Payhip, so this will have to be on the day it’s released. I’m going to put up a mobi and epub file so you can get this uploaded to your preferred e-reading device. So Payhip is the ONLY place where I’ll have this special promotion. Depending on the results of this promotion, I may or may not offer something similar in the future. This is just something new I’m trying out.
If you would rather pre-order this now from the retailer of your choice, here are the links:
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I’m finally making paperbacks for
A Bride for Tom and A Husband for Margaret.
These are Books 2 and 3 in the Nebraska Series.
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I know it’s crazy that I haven’t done this yet. At one time, I had them both combined into one book, and I didn’t care much for that, so I had removed it from sale. But now that I have some extra time on my hands, I decided to make each one into a separate paperback since I’d rather have both in each individual book for my bookshelf.
This is one of the perks to taking a writing break. It frees me up to finally get to the tasks that I’ve been wanting to get to.
And speaking of getting to things that have been sitting on the back burner for a while, I am also working on this…
I’m in the process of getting my contemporary sweet romance, Online Proposal, ready for ebook and paperback.
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This story was first published in this anthology:
If you have this book, you already have Online Proposal.
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I have since gotten the rights back to Online Proposal, so I can publish it myself.
Now to explain why I am putting Online Proposal under Ruth Ann Nordin. Back when I thought I was going to write a series of G-rated romances, I created the pen name Barbara Joan Russell. I did this to help separate out the G-rated romances from the spicy ones. BUT then as I kept writing books, my characters didn’t want to go down the “only kiss” path. The only characters who complied were the ones in Online Proposal.
In 2016 when it became apparent I’m just not meant to be a G-rated romance author, I decided to make Barbara Joan Russell a YA thriller and fantasy writer instead of a romance one. So that, in a nutshell, is why I’m publishing Online Proposal under Ruth Ann Nordin.
Online Proposal is a novella, and it’s meant to be a quick and cute read. It’s a contemporary romance. As a side note, I doubt I’ll be writing any more contemporary romances because my heart is more into the historical ones. I like the “feel” of the time period more. I love my historical western and Regency worlds and want to spend all my time “playing” in them. For me, writing is play. I really do enjoy it.
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I’m also in the process of transferring all of my pen name’s books to Smashwords and have shut down the pen name’s website.
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I just delisted these books from Draft 2 Digital. I’d rather have my ebooks all under the place. I also deleted the website for Barbara Joan Russell and have transferred the information for those books over to this blog.
I think I’ve finally learned my lesson. I just don’t have the time (or the desire) to maintain to author names. I might as well make the transition while I’m on my writing vacation. Now it’s just a matter of formatting these books to Smashwords and uploading them. Fortunately, the paperbacks and Amazon versions will stay intact. That makes the process of transferring much easier.
These were all stories I wrote before I started writing romances (except for Body Swap which is a short story). They might not reflect my most professional work, but I have an attachment to them and wanted to see them dusted off so I could have them on my Kindle and on my bookshelf. These are not counted in the goal I have for 100 books. Those 100 books are all going to be romances since romance is where my real passion lies.
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Honestly, it feels good to finally clean things up and get better organized.
June 22, 2019
Possible Ideas of what I’ll Write This Fall
Earlier this month, I listed out the goals I wanted to accomplish this summer. One was to get my books up on Payhip. I did that. The other was to getting some books on Kobo. I did that. Then there was updating the book descriptions on The Wedding Pact, Fairest of Them All, Nelly’s Mail Order Husband, and Forever Yours. I just finished up with that this morning.
That leaves me with the final goal of coming up with a decision on what to write starting in late August when the kids go back to school. So this is what I’m currently leaning toward.
1. Book 5 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series. (I don’t have a title yet.)
Here are the books so far:
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I want Marcy’s cousin (someone I introduced at the end of One Enchanted Evening) to find someone. I like the guy. The plot, thankfully, has come to me, and it’s going to have a wonderful gothic feel to it, which fits the tone of the other books in the series.
The basic idea is that he goes out to the country to marry a lady through an arrangement, and when he gets there, he quickly learns that her family is bordering on insanity. The lady is the only sane one, but they all think she’s the crazy one, and they have locked her away to keep her from running off. This is loosely based off the Rapunzel fairy tale. I don’t have much else than that except it would be cool if I can also blend in elements of the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” that I read years ago in college. For anyone who doesn’t know, that is where the villain is hunting the hero for sport. In my story, it would be fun if the hero’s life was in danger at some point.
But…even though I make plans before writing a book, the characters will ultimately decide where to take things.
2. A historical western romance where a very recently widowed woman with a kid or two (or is pregnant) has to get a husband ASAP or else she’ll lose the ranch.
Since she’s desperate, she agrees to take a man who was caught with a group of bandits. The man has no memory of who he is, and he’s in a serious situation. I’m thinking he’s going to be hanged if he doesn’t marry her. I’d have to set this out in the wilderness or something so that there would really be no options available to her but to marry him.
There are a lot of details that need to be ironed out. I’m not sure if this would be a serious story or a comedy. I’d have to start writing it to find out.
3. The Outlaw’s Bride
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My mind keeps going back to this one, and I might as well finish the rewrite. It was originally The Stagecoach Bride.
4. The Rancher’s Bride
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Yes, I did say that I wasn’t going to write four books at a time ever again, but I’m currently at chapter 11 (32,000 words) in The Outlaw’s Bride. I’m over halfway to the end. And I really want to write these two stories. II can get away with writing less per writing day in The Outlaw’s Bride since I am so far into it. Plus, I know how it ends. It’s just a matter of rewriting it out.
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Those are the books I’m looking at right now for August-December. I tried to think of something for one of Tom’s daughters, but my mind is completely blank. I’m not going to write a story where I don’t know what the plot will be because I have no enthusiasm for it. So the Larsons will just have to wait.
June 17, 2019
A Look Into The Future
ID 146462023 © Andrewgenn | Dreamstime.com
I wasn’t sure how to title this post. As of late, I’ve been considering possible paths on what I want to be doing in the future. I’m still undecided, but I like to ramble from time to time on this blog because it helps me process the thoughts that are cycling through my mind. Yeah, I’ve tried to privately journal my thoughts, but it just doesn’t work as well for me. I’m not sure why. It just is what it is. This particular method of writing things down work best for me.
Okay, so the particular question that’s been going through my mind over the past year and a half is this: when will it be time to walk away from writing? Deep inside, I can feel that there will be a time when I walk away from it. I don’t know if that will be a break or if it’ll be permanent. But I can feel it welling up inside of me. I love to write, but I’ve been writing nonstop for the past 12 years. My average is producing six novels a year. (In romance, 50K is a full-length novel.)
I ran the numbers tonight, and the total romances (including a couple of novellas I’ve done) is 79. That number does include the novels I will publish later this year. I finished The Wedding Pact, Fairest of Them All, Nelly’s Mail Order Husband, and Forever Yours. If I total the amount of books I’ve done in other genres, the total comes to 92. (A few of those are novellas.) I’ve done six short stories. That’s all within 12 years.
I’ve enjoyed it immensely. Don’t get me wrong. I consider myself extremely blessed to have been able to live at a time when it was possible for me to publish my books regardless of content or length. I didn’t have to have a publisher telling me what I could and couldn’t do. I called the shots. It really is a marvelous time to be a writer.
That all being said, I am considering when I’ll “close shop” (so to speak). I would keep the books I’ve done up for sale as long as the retailers will let me. But I have been asking myself, “What do you want to do when the kids are all out of high school?” My youngest is now going into the 8th grade. That gives me five years to make a plan for the future. And one of the things I’m considering is hanging up the writing hat and doing something else. It might be time to transition to a new chapter in my life.
Anyway, at the moment, I have a goal of completing 100 romances. One of the dreams I had back in the Fall 2007 when I started writing romances was that I would publish 100 books before I died. Back then, I wasn’t thinking of whether they would be romances or include other genres. All I knew was that I wanted to have 100 books out. These weren’t short stories. These would be 100 paperbacks I wrote that I could put in my bookshelf and say, “That was a goal I accomplished in the course of my lifetime.” It was the #1 item in my bucket list. Being able to self-publish my books made that dream possible.
I thrive off of goals. I need something to shoot for. So tonight I sat down and realized I only need 21 more romances to reach a goal of 100 romances. That’s pretty exciting. My average is 6 novels a year. So if I work at that pace, I can reach that goal in 3.5 years. That puts me well in time for my goal to figure out what the next chapter of my life will look like once the kids are all graduated from high school.
Like I said, I don’t know what I’m going to end up doing. I’m just rambling so I can better organize my thoughts. 
June 12, 2019
My Romances are Now on Payhip!
Until recently, I didn’t know what Payhip was. An author friend introduced me to it. It’s a place where I can create my own store to sell my books directly to people. I’m offering mobi and epub files for all of my romances over there.
Here is my store link!
The downside is that I have no control over the order the books are listed on the storefront. They aren’t given in order according to series. I have 76 books up there, so it may take some searching to find a particular book. I did try to make things easier by breaking the books up into “Regency Romances”, “Historical Western Romances”, and “Contemporary Romances” categories. But as of right now, that is the best I can do.
Overall, I’m impressed with Payhip because of the features they offer.
Please Note: these are special deals I’m offering ONLY on Payhip:
1. I can give discounts if you mention the book on social media. If you share a paid book on a place like Facebook, you can save 25% off of it. So let’s say, you share the link for Kidnapping the Viscount. After you do that, you’ll get an option to save 25% off of it. I have set this feature up for all of my books.
2. I can offer cross promotions on my books. To test this feature out, I have one series that I’m offering this special on at the moment.
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I’ll run this special for a month. Today’s date is June 12, 2019. This deal will run until July 12, 2019.
If you purchase Wagon Trail Bride (Book 1) at the regular price ($2.99), you can save 50% off of The Marriage Agreement, 50% off Groom For Hire, and 50% off Forced Into Marriage. But this sale is only good until July 12, 2019. So instead of paying $11.96, you only pay $7.46 (which is a savings of $4.50 for the entire series).
Here’s the link to Wagon Trail Bride. Once you put the item in the cart, you’ll get the option to take advantage of the sale on the other books in the series. Look at the bottom right corner of the screen to click see the sales price on the other three books in the series. You’ll need to add each book individually to the cart, but the discount will automatically apply to each book if you use those links at the bottom right corner of the screen.
If there is a special you’d like to see on another series, let me know, and I’ll run it from July to August.
3. I can offer a coupon on a new release. I will try this out when The Wedding Pact is released on July 14.
