Phyllis Zimbler Miller's Blog: Phyllis Zimbler Miller Author, page 33

Rewriting History (AKA Updating Fiction)

I have decided to update mystery novels I wrote years ago that were never published. As I recall, two different book agents represented these novels without any results.

Yet thanks to self publishing (and especially Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing) I can now make these novels available for mystery readers who like cozy mysteries.

Here is the tricky thing though:

I want these novels to take place now rather than 30 years ago. But my protagonist – Rebecca Stone — is a business reporter for a fictitious Los Angeles daily print newspaper.

At this moment there still is a Los Angeles daily print newspaper, although Newsweek just announced it is jettisoning its print format. Thus for now my protagonist’s job is okay.

But in the past 20 to 30 years the Internet has changed many things that touch on a reporter’s professional life. Thus I have to check on the current online way to access the information for which in the past she would have needed contacts in order to access.

Now sometimes there is a good reason NOT to update a book you are about to self publish. For example, I just read Dorothy Gilman’s novel A NUN IN THE CLOSET.

That novel about two cloistered nuns having to venture out into the world is very much a novel of that time period. If that novel were being published now for the first time, it should remain set in the original time period.

But a business reporter at a Los Angeles daily print newspaper 20-30 years ago would seem outdated if not brought up to date in a mystery published now.

At the same time as I am revising the Rebecca Stone cozy mystery CAST THE FIRST STONE, I am getting ready for the military novel triad’s three free Kindle ebooks on Sunday, November 11, for Veterans Day. Click here to read about the free ebooks on Veterans Day.

P.S. In a more recently written Dorothy Gilman novel — THALE’S FOLLY — the protagonist has very clear symptoms of PTSD following a plane crash although neither he nor his father is aware of this. Click here to read my blog post “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Not Only From Combat”

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Her newest nonfiction ebook is book publishing and marketing ebook TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON and her newest fiction ebook is the romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

Announcing New Book Publishing and Marketing Ebook: 3 TOP TIPS in 1

Driving around Los Angeles the other day, I suddenly realized that I could make it easier for authors to implement the steps in my 3 TOP TIPS ebooks if I put all the tips together into one ebook.

Thanks to having the ability to convert my own ebooks after my business partner Yael K. Miller taught me, I did just this. (Click here for blog post “How I Convert My Manuscripts Into Ebooks”)



I combined the 3 ebooks into the new ebook: TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON: 3 Top Tips Books in 1

This new ebook includes:

TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF KINDLE: Action Steps You Can Do Immediately Whether You Are Unpublished or Already Published
TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK: Action Steps You Can Do Immediately Whether You Are Traditionally Published or Self-Published
TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET ON THE INTERNET WITH PICTURES: Action Steps You Can Do Immediately Whether You Are an Expert or a Novice

Click here to buy your copy of the 3-in-1 ebook now!

Don’t have a Kindle? No problem. You can get a FREE Kindle app for your iPhone, iPad, Android, PC or Mac at http://amzn.to/NBoSGU

And if you like the book, please do write a review on Amazon. The link to go directly to writing a review — http://amzn.to/Than1p — is at the end of the ebook.

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Her newest nonfiction ebook is book publishing and marketing ebook TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON and her newest fiction ebook is the romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Not Only From Combat

As many of you know, I work on getting out information about PTSD. Because the symptoms may go unrecognized, it is important that as many people as possible learn about the symptoms.

And although I spend a great deal of my time talking about PTSD due to combat, PTSD can result from any trauma. Further, what is traumatic for one person may not be traumatic for another.

On the October 12th episode of the CBS drama BLUE BLOODS, a young female rape victim tells two NYPD detectives:

“They tell me that I have some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I thought only soldiers coming back from war got that.”

When the two detectives nod in empathy, she continues:

“Do you know why I’m here? All of the drugs that they prescribed didn’t make me function again. They just gave me this whole other set of nightmares.”



And when she is told that two of the four rapists have been shot, she says: “I honestly wish someone would kill me.”

Why am I going into such detail about a fictional TV show?

Because fiction can often get across information more readily than nonfiction can. And I believe we all have a responsibility to recognize the symptoms of PTSD.



Please take a few moments to check out this PTSD information now at www.insupportofourtroops.com/ptsd-info/

Someone you know or love may need help — and your knowledge can help them.

P.S. If you are watching the Showtime drama HOMELAND, consider whether the main character, Carrie Mathison, has PTSD, especially given her actions near the end of the October 14th episode.

And in this same episode, the wife of the former POW (the other main HOMELAND character) asks in a fundraising speech for wounded veterans for support for military spouses BEFORE the combat family member comes home — to know what to expect and not to expect.

In terms of recognizing possible PTSD (which often develops a long time after deployment), this fictional idea could be very helpful.

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is book marketing ebook TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

Military Times Essay Got Me Thinking About Fictional Stories

I just entered a Military Times essay contest about how being in the military has impacted one’s life.

For me that essay was easy to write because being a new Mrs. Lieutenant in the spring of 1970 during the Vietnam War very much affected my thinking as well as my activities in later years.

As you may know, besides writing fiction about military people, I have the website www.insupportofourtroops.com to help spread information about PTSD and am working on the proposed PTSD project “Solomon’s Justice”

When I was asked by the Military Times for a photo of myself or preferably of my husband and myself, I emailed two photos.

One is the black-and-white photo taken (before Mitch and I were married) at the Coronation Ball at Michigan State University on Saturday, November 18, 1967, sponsored by the Cadet Officers Club and the Arnold Air Society. This is the author photo for the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL.

The second photo I sent (pictured here) was taken when Mitch and I visited the USS Midway aircraft carrier on February 1, 2007, in San Diego after attending the U.S. Naval Institute conference. This is the author photo for the Navy sea adventure LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS that Mitch and I wrote together.

Then thinking about my romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY I remembered that this fictional story also owes its genesis to my experiences working for the 66th Military Intelligence Group when Mitch and I were stationed in Munich, Germany.

And reflecting on the TV shows and movies (both fictional and documentary) that I like, my preferences are very much affected by those two years as a Mrs. Lieutenant married to a U.S. Army military intelligence officer.

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is book marketing ebook TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

Introducing Amazon Author Rank

The above is the subject line from the email I received from Amazon.com today. The text of the email was:

Today we have added a new feature, Amazon Author Rank, the definitive list of best-selling authors on Amazon.com. This list makes it easy for readers to discover the best-selling authors on Amazon.com overall and within a selection of major genres.

Your Amazon Author Rank: 773 in Action & Adventure

Amazon Author Rank is your rank based on the sales of all of your books on Amazon.com. Just like Amazon Best Sellers, it is updated hourly. The top 100 authors overall and the top 100 in selected genres will be displayed on Amazon.com. You can see your Amazon Author Rank trended over time in Author Central.

You can find your Amazon Author Rank in Author Central under the Rank tab. Historical rank data is available from September 28, 2012.

We’re always interested in feedback, so please let us know what you think.

The Author Central Team

https://authorcentral.amazon.com

P.S. You may have friends who are authors; feel free to pass this email along to them. Amazon Author Rank is a feature available to all authors registered in Author Central.

This is interesting, but what does it mean? And especially what does “Your Amazon Author Rank: 773 in Action & Adventure” mean? (Remember that the rankings are changed every hour.)

I went to my account on authorcentral.amazon.com and, besides the same info as in the email, there was the word RANK on the nav. I clicked on RANK and saw this list on the left-hand side of the screen (and you get to the sub-categories by clicking on these categories):

Author Rank

All Books

Kindle eBooks

Fiction

Business & Investing

Mystery & Thrillers

Romance

Books

Business & Investing

Literature & Fiction

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Religion & Spirituality

Romance

Teens

Then I started checking my author rank in various categories. I focused on “Kindle eBooks” as that is the arena in which I invest my book marketing activities.

At the time I am writing this post, I am 790 in Kindle eBooks > fiction > action adventure. But there is no indication which of my three fiction ebooks are included in this ranking.

Therefore, I checked the Amazon page for each of my three fiction ebooks, and only LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS is in the sub-category “action & adventure.”

It would appear that it is on the basis of only this one ebook that my Amazon author rank in Kindle eBooks > fiction > action & adventure is 790 at this moment. I then assumed that, if I had two titles in “action & adventure,” my Amazon author rank would be based on a combination of the two ebooks.

To check out this assumption, I looked at the two of my three fiction books — LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS and CIA FALL GUY — that have some form of a sub-category of thrillers. At the moment, my Amazon author rank is 930 in Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers.

Confused? I am too and here is why:

While according to Amazon “the top 100 authors overall and the top 100 in selected genres will be displayed on Amazon.com,” what am I as an author suppose to do about my rankings?

From what I can see, while it would be terrific if I had an Amazon author rank in the top 100, short of that honor the Amazon author rank feature is just one more thing to distract me from my writing.

What do you think?

KDP Select tip: I am in the midst of a 90-day KDP Select period for MRS. LIEUTENANT. I wanted to set a free day for the novel for Veterans Day — a promotion the triad is doing together (see http://www.phylliszimblermiller.com/triad-us-military-war-novels/)

I have just learned that November 11th is in my next 90-day KDP Select period, and thus I have to wait until this current 90-day period ends before I can set a free date in the following 90-day period.

(Note: The unanswered question: Is the above true because I have NOT used all my five free days in this 90-day period? Or is the above true even if I had used all my five free days in this 90-day period?)

In either case, I hope to save other authors from the frustration I experienced trying to find out why I could not set a free promotion date for November 11th. (Now I will do this after October 19th, when this 90-day KDP Select period for MRS. LIEUTENANT expires.)

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

How I Convert My Manuscripts Into Ebooks

Here is an overview of how I do ebook conversion for my own Kindle ebooks.



I admit that I like to do this because, besides ensuring control of my own ebooks, I want to ensure that the formatting is done well.

To start with:

For an html editor I use Sublime Text. After trying it for free, I bought a license for this software.

I have used Komodo for which you do not need to buy a license. But there’s a quirk in the Komodo program that makes it too easy to have errors. The Sublime Text license fee is very reasonable and Sublime Text is less prone to making errors in my experience.

To use my html editor, with the help of my business partner Yael K. Miller, I set up the “rules” from Guido’s blog series, and I now use these for all my manuscripts.

(Here is the link to Guido Henkel’s excellent blog series “Take pride in your eBook formatting” that got me started on doing my own ebook conversion — http://guidohenkel.com/2010/12/take-pride-in-your-ebook-formatting/)

Note: Remember to save the document you are creating as an html document. This is the one step that I often forget to do.

After I have gone through the manuscript utilizing the html “rules,” I check the document visually to see any obvious errors I have made.

Then I put the html doc into Calibre (this is free software although a donation is recommended), clicking that I want a mobi format (for Kindle).

Next I press a few buttons, including using a code I got from Guido Henkel’s blog series to create the table of contents, and voila! I have a mobi format.

I then check the mobi format on Kindle for PC (rather than my real Kindle), correct the errors in Sublime Text, and resubmit to Calibre.

I repeat this process until the mobi format is exactly the way I want it to be.

Caution: Remember to delete the previous version on your Kindle for PC before you add the new one.

(Note: Yes, the ebook will look differently on an actual Kindle than on Kindle for PC. But for my purposes of checking errors in the html coding, the Kindle for PC works very well. I have that screen open as well as the Sublime Text screen and can easily make corrections.)

Finally I go to kdp.amazon.com and add the new book, including uploading the cover photo (that Yael creates) and choosing the Kindle categories.

I then wait for KDP to put the book live.

After a few times, this process becomes almost second nature. And I love the ability to make changes in any of my ebooks whenever I want to do so!

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

Novel YOUR GIFT TO ME Wins MWSA Gold Medal in Military Super Romance

Congrats to authors Bonnie B. Latino and Bob Vale for their Military Writers Society of America gold medal win for novel YOUR GIFT TO ME. I am personally very excited about this well-deserved honor.

Adding to my excitement over this win, YOUR GIFT TO ME is one-third of the experienced-based military fiction triad featured on this site. The other two novels of the triad are THE FINAL SALUTE by Kathleen M. Rodgers and my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT.

Click here to read about this triad.

Here is the list of all of the MWSA Award winners.

And here is Katherine Boyer’s Midwest Book Review of YOUR GIFT TO ME.

You can buy the novel now on Amazon.

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

ABC’s New TV Show LAST RESORT and Thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS

My husband Mitch and I watched LAST RESORT last night with one part of our minds comparing the opening episode of the new TV drama with our thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.

In the TV show as in our thriller, the female officer was the third-highest officer on the submarine. And there were a few seconds in the show about sexual harassment of women on subs, a subject we deal with more extensively in our thriller.

Oh, yes, the XO (number 2) on the LAST RESORT sub is a lieutenant commander, as is the XO in our thriller. Lt. commanders do in fact “captain” ships when required. (Some reviews of LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS mistakenly commented that this rank was a lowly rank.)

The major similarities end here, though.

The LAST RESORT deals with a presumed illegal order to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan, an order the LAST RESORT sub captain refuses. Then, of course, there is the usual back-in-D.C. machinations.

(A theme of duplicitous government factions repeated the next hour when we watched the season opening of a favorite new show from last season — CBS’s PERSON OF INTEREST.)

Our thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS starts off with a threat from outside the U.S. — a threat that has nothing to do with duplicitous government factions. And when LCRD Sanders reports for duty on a nuclear submarine, she also faces outside hostile forces.

If you are interested in a fictional Navy story, consider reading LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.

(At the moment, although the thriller sometimes slips down to 3rd place, it is 2nd place on this Kindle low price list for subgenre “war” — see http://amzn.to/NF4tzv)

And do remember, whether a TV show or a thriller, fiction is FICTION!

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

Whether to “Update” Novels?

The other day a welcome connection from the past reached out to me via Facebook — prolific author Elaine Raco Chase.

We met years ago when I was active in the national organization Sisters in Crime and I started the Los Angeles chapter of the organization.

Elaine and I exchanged information about older novels and the interesting question of whether to update these.

Let’s look at this question of whether to “update” novels:



Say you wrote a romance that was published 30 years ago and was meant to be contemporary. Now 30 years later the romance is dated without the integration of ubiquitous cell phones, Google searches, etc.

If the romance is now being released as an ebook for the first time, should you simply put at the start of the ebook of the romance that it takes place in 1982? Or should you update the story itself to be contemporary with 2012?

Elaine has so many published books that she is utilizing both approaches — leaving some books as what she calls “classic” (in the time period they were written) and updating others.

What’s interesting about Elaine connecting with me now is that I have just started to update unpublished Rebecca Stone mysteries to 2012. (Working title of the first mystery: CAST THE FIRST STONE: BOOK 1 OF THE REBECCA STONE MYSTERIES)

As Rebecca Stone is a business reporter for a major Los Angeles metropolitan print newspaper, this “update” requires a lot of changes, especially in terms of how reporters now get information.

On the other hand, I’m working on an unfinished novel that was contemporary in 1995 (working title of THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THE NATURE OF LOVE).

Because the novel is a family saga with parts starting at the beginning of the 20th Century, I have decided not to update the contemporary time period. I am simply clearly labeling each time period section of the novel.

And I have recently decided to turn the partial draft of what was envisioned as the sequel to the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT into a memoir of being part of the U.S. Army occupying West Germany (working title of IF IT’S TUESDAY IT MUST BE GERMANY: TALES OF AN AMERICAN OCCUPYING GERMANY). Obviously as a memoir I do not have to worry about “updating” this book.

If any authors or readers have opinions on this question of updating or not updating novels meant to be taking place in contemporary time periods, do leave your comments below.

And click here to check out Elaine’s books on her site now.

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

5-Star Amazon Review for TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF KINDLE

When Mary Elliott Raynor, fellow member of Military Writers Society of America, told me she was thinking about publishing her memoir, I offered her a review copy of my newest TOP TIPS ebook — TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF KINDLE.

Mary has just written a review of the ebook on Amazon, and I have asked her permission to reprint the review here:

I was impressed with this book by Phyllis Zimbler Miller. It is a very concise book, written not to overwhelm the reader.

It does not take long to read, because it gets to the good stuff right away without wasting space with boring irrelevant information. It is well set up with chapters written in logical sequence that are very easy to read and understand.

This book tells the beginning writer everything they need to know about converting their book into an e-book in PDF formula, along with uploading, coding, and marketing it, as well as giving advice about royalties and what to do about negative reviews — action steps that the author assures you can be done immediately.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller has quite a bit of experience publishing books in the traditional as well as the e-book method. I have read several of her books (MRS. LIEUTENANT, LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS, and CIA FALL GUY). She is a fantastic writer and I am very enthusiastic about her books (no, I do not know her personally).

In this how-to book, Phyllis Zimbler Miller offers us advice based upon her own experience and upon her own mistakes, like how to choose a title and cover, and how to stay in control of your own e-book. She also gives reasons why the writer should use certain companies to convert and market their e-books (no, she does not own stock in these companies).

At the end of the book is a concise guide which is necessary in our day and age on how to use good grammar.

I don’t think you will waste your money buying this book if you are interested in getting started writing and publishing.

I found it very helpful because it gave me hope and [I] gave it 5 stars!

Click here to see this review on Amazon. And you can find Mary on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mary.raynor.7



Click here to buy TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF KINDLE on Amazon.

And if you do not have a Kindle, yu can get a FREE Kindle app for your iPhone, iPad, Android, PC or Mac at http://amzn.to/NBoSGU

© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. A new nonfiction ebook of hers is TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK and her newest fiction ebook is the thriller CIA FALL GUY.

Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller

She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com