C.L.R. Dougherty's Blog, page 2

Bluewater Revolution is Finished! Read all about it!

It's Dani Berger; I got a shot at the keyboard while Bud was napping. I wanted to let you know about my latest adventure. I won't spoil the story; you can order a copy for yourself in the Kindle Store. I do want to add a few things, though.

Liz was right in her last post when she said that the man I was mixed up with smelled fishy. Too bad; he was a handsome devil. But he's history. I taught him a thing or two on his way out of my life, but I don't know if he took the lessons to heart.

Probably not, given that he was a jerk. Now that it's over, I can see that it may not have been all his fault. His role in the story was to be a jerk, but that's no excuse. He was type-cast.

Enough about my romantic misadventures; the important thing is the broader story, and it turned out well. I had all kinds of fun. I got kidnapped, I escaped, I blew up a boat.

Besides that, all my friends were gathered in Miami. It was great to have everybody in the same place -- one long party. And we got into a few good fights, to boot. What more could a girl want? A little time in the Everglades, to commune with the alligators, maybe?

Even though I had a great time, Bud's a little frazzled. We'd almost wrapped up the story when Fidel Castro died. Even though Fidel didn't have an active part, he and his brother were critical to the background. Poor Bud had to do a crash rewrite, but that's okay. It's what you pay him for, and it was worse for Fidel, I'm sure.

Interestingly, it's the second time Fidel disrupted Bud's plans. The first time was long ago, on an island not so far away. Bud's father spent a lot of time in the Caribbean during WW II, and he was most fond of Havana.

Finally, after talking about it for years, he decided to take the family to Cuba when Bud was a wee lad. He was just old enough to know what was happening, I guess. Maybe he's older than I thought.

Back then, there was an overnight car ferry from Key West to Havana. The day of their departure, Bud woke up in a hotel room in Key West, listening to the news of Castro's revolution on the radio.
I can't imagine that people once got news that way, but Bud says they did. He may be even older than the internet. When he was little, broadcast television hadn't yet become popular. I think that was before streaming video.

Bud says that reading was their main form of entertainment when he was growing up. Imagine that. Some of us have returned to the old ways. Some of us never left. You should give it a try; download a copy of Bluewater Revolution. You'll enjoy it. Thanks for your support. All of us appreciate it.

XXXX
Dani

Bluewater Revolution is coming, and Dani's in trouble.

Hello, everybody. It's Liz Chirac again. Dani and I and our friends are caught up in supporting an invasion of Cuba. Bud's almost finished with Bluewater Revolution , our twelfth adventure. Dani and I decided he should do a blog post about the new book before he releases it, but he passed it off to me.

Dani has a man in her life, finally. Poor girl, she's fallen head over heels for a handsome devil she met in a South Beach nightclub. As their relationship developed over the last few weeks, Dani has become reluctant to talk about it. Just when I had persuaded Bud that he should write this post, Dani forbade him to mention her romance.

"It's not fair," she told him.  "You know what I'm thinking and feeling before I do."

Bud's no coward, but he knows better than to cross Dani, especially when she's a critical part of the story. He told me in private that he thought some mention of her fling was essential, but that I could handle it with more sensitivity than he could.

That leaves me to write this, and I have some reservations. It's not that I'm afraid of upsetting Dani; it's that I'm her confidant when it comes to matters of romance. I'll have to respect her privacy, but it's true that I'm less likely to embarrass her than Bud is.

It's no secret that Dani's a seductress-in-training. We've all had some chuckles at her early attempts; she's even laughed at some of her blunders.

This time, though, she got swept off her feet. She wasn't expecting it. Most of us have been there, but it's new to her. We're in Miami for a gathering of family and friends, and we're only going to be here for a few days. She thought she could hone her pick-up technique without risking a long-term entanglement.

She's learned that flirting is a lot like fishing, and she joked that this was a "catch and release" expedition. Little did she know that she was going to catch one that she wouldn't want to throw back.

I'm worried that this man smells a little fishy, though. He may be mixed up in this anti-Castro plot. I hope I'm wrong; otherwise she's in for a disappointment. I don't envy her catch, either. If he turns out not to be the trophy she thinks he is, this won't end well for him.

Besides Dani's love life, there is also the matter of the invasion of Cuba. I should probably stop here. If I say more, I'll have Bud and Dani upset with me. I'll wait and let you read the whole story. Bluewater Revolution will be available in the next few weeks.

I need to go; I have to post this before Dani reads it over my shoulder. See you soon in South Beach.

XXXX,
Liz

Dani was worried for no reason.

Hi, everybody! It's Connie again. Sails Job - A Connie Barrera Thriller is available for preorder. Click on the cover to the left to go to the Kindle Store. If you order now, your copy will be downloaded to your device on September 20.

You can see that Bud released my most recent book right on schedule, in spite of Dani's warning in her last post. When she wrote me a couple of months ago that he was distracted by his move ashore and his grandchildren, Paul said she was just trying to stir things up. Sometimes I wonder about that girl.

Paul and I were surprised at how much we enjoyed working with Bud in his new office in Fort Worth. It's nice not to worry about the computer getting soaked with salt spray, or sliding off the chart table while he writes about our adventures. All of us have plenty of sea time to draw on when we miss the open water, and Bud's grandchildren are more of an inspiration than a distraction. They're such fun to have around.

There's a ten-year-old girl who reminds me of what I imagine Dani to have been like at that age. She was the only girl to make the Fort Worth Little League All Star team, and she's one of Bud's fishing buddies. On top of that, she's a writer and artist, working on an illustrated children's book.

The thirteen-year-old boy likes spending time on the pistol range with his dad and Bud. He's even teaching Bud's wife to shoot. Talk about living what you write! And there are four more grandchildren where those two came from. I guess Dani was just preoccupied with her own adventure; I'm sure she'll change her view by the time she and Bud get through the next Bluewater Thriller.

Speaking of mysteries, Bud really surprised us in Sails Job . Right at the start, I got a call from a guy in Bakersfield, California, who said he was my cousin. Then our charter guests brought their own problems aboard. By now, Paul and I should be used to Bud getting us in trouble, but he caught us off guard this time. You'll see what I mean once you read this latest thriller.

Guess I'd better give the keyboard back to Bud. He's already got Dani and Liz in the middle of something in Miami, and he's told us to get Diamantista II up there, too. It sounds like the whole crowd's gathering for something. We just heard from Phillip and Sharktooth that they're headed that way with their wives. It will be fun to have everybody together again. See you in Miami!

Liz and I survived another book, but I'm not sure about Bud.

Bluewater Drone, the eleventh book in the Bluewater Thriller series, is available for pre-order. The release date is July 19th! CLICK HERE to get your copy.


Connie thought I didn't notice her last post, way back in April, but I did. I was just too busy getting Bud through Bluewater Drone to deal with her provocation then. Now, after all this time, I've forgotten what she said to annoy me. It's been a tough three months for Liz and me, trying to keep Bud focused on our latest adventure. He'd write us into a tense situation and then wander off to do something else for a while. He seemed to think setting up a shore-side home in Texas was an excuse to leave us in limbo for days on end. We finally got him back to work a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't easy competing with those six grandchildren for his attention. I guess that's why he and Leslie wanted the place in Fort Worth. Now I hear there's a seventh grandchild on the way, but that's someone else's problem.Did you get that, Connie? You and Paul have to contend with the six that are already here plus the excitement of a new one coming soon. You'd better hope he gets back on schedule and finishes your next book before then. If you let him slack off, you'll experience what I've been through.Bud abandoned me just when I was in the clutches of a lecherous movie producer. He promised to make me a star -- yes, that old cliché. Sicko! Not Bud -- the producer. Liz saved me, though. She's been teaching me all those girly tricks that I missed out on when I was growing up. As silly as they are, they come in handy, sometimes. I was able to get what I wanted from the jerk without having to resort to my usual tactics.It was a challenge; I wanted to just kick his ass. Before it was over, though, somebody else beat me to it. Even so, I found an outlet for my frustration, and I did learn a few things about picking up strangers in bars.Liz and I convinced Bud to let people see a little more of the personal side of our relationship in this book. Liz is a great friend, and our skills are complementary, but there's one big difference. She's really smooth when it comes to manipulating men. I've always admired that. My skills at manipulation often involve breaking bones. She's been trying to teach me how to handle men without doing any physical damage.Of course, Bluewater Drone being a thriller, I had to do away with a few people and blow up some stuff. I didn't punch out the lecher, though. And he was so handsome. A girl can dream ...Bluewater Drone is available for pre-order now. The final release date is July 19, 2016.  CLICK HERE to get your copy.

Before Dani Notices ...

Hello, everybody. It's Connie again. I wanted to let you know that Paul and I survived another adventure. Running Under Sail - A Connie Barrera Thriller , is available for pre-order, and it's scheduled for release on April 11. Click the cover for details, please.

I didn't know until I went to check the Amazon page for Running Under Sail that Bud had released a boxed set of the first three books in which I appeared. It's called From Deception to Betrayal - an Introduction to Connie Barrera , and there's more information available about it by clicking its cover, as well.

Dani was pleased by the release of the Bluewater Thrillers boxed set at the end of February, but I'm sure she'll be in a snit when she finds out that I have my own compilation. That's why I grabbed the chance to sneak in this blog post; I wanted to let you know that Paul and I appreciate your support before she takes to the keyboard again.

In spite of Liz's worries from the last post about Bud and the NSA, he's still running loose. He's lost himself in the next Bluewater Thriller , I think. I haven't been able to get his attention since he left us in Martinique at the end of Running Under Sail ; he's behind closed doors with Dani and Liz.

It has to be another Bluewater book, because I've heard Dani's voice raised several times, followed by Liz's laughing and murmuring soothing phrases, like, "Come on Dani. It's just a story, and you know you always come out all right in the end."

And then Dani, in a heated tone, "Why is it always my quirks that he focuses on, Liz? Why not yours?"

"I can't imagine, Dani. It probably just seems that way to you. Remember the last book?"

"I barely had a role in that story. Besides, I never even got to go sailing." Dani's voice is still raised; she's wound up about something. "I was behind the scenes almost the whole time."

"Well, you don't have that complaint about this one, do you?"

"But it's the way he's making me act; that's not me! He's putting thoughts in my head that I'm not -- "

Her tirade was interrupted by several thuds and a crash, and then I heard Bud's calming voice, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. Things are quiet; I guess everybody's okay.

I'd better stop gossiping and sort things out with Paul. I think I worried him with something I said at the end Running Under Sail . We've got a couple of months to relax and smooth things over while Bud's tied up with Dani and Liz.

I'll just say thanks again, and Paul and I look forward to welcoming you back aboard Diamantista II on April 11.

Connie and Liz are right!

 It's time for me to stop whining and licking my wounds. Liz and I have a business to run, and Connie was right. Bud did release a boxed set of the first three Bluewater Thrillers, so I feel better. Of course, he couldn't have done it without Leslie. All he did was write the books. She's the one who knocked them into shape and packaged them in a presentable form. That old saying is right; behind every man, there's a ...

I'm not sure what happened there, but the keyboard quit working before I could finish that thought, and Bud's giving me that look he has. But I know he appreciates her help. We all do.

I was looking over his shoulder yesterday when he was reviewing the new covers for the early Bluewater Thrillers. I'm glad he's changing them; I never did like those covers with the girls in bikinis, and I know from sneaking a look at his incoming emails that some people think that's what Liz and I look like.

Not that we'd mind looking like those models, but even if we did, we'd rather leave more to our readers' imaginations. I know Connie feels the same way. It's what we do that people are interested in -- not how we look. Besides, who'd ever take me seriously if I flitted around almost naked like those girls?

Even though Bud's spending most of his time with Connie and Paul right now, I got a look at some of his notes the other day. He's working on another book for Liz and me. We're eager to ferret out what's going to happen on our next adventure.

I spotted a bunch of clippings about drones on his desktop. He's got me curious about that. I'm used to seeing him research stuff like how to forge passports with biometric chips, ways to break the encryption on secure communications systems, and details on small, portable nukes -- that kind of thing. But drones? Liz thought maybe he was looking for a gift for one of his grandchildren, but that's not the kind of drone he was studying.

I asked Connie about it, but she doesn't think drones are going to figure in her current story. She did point out that he's always throwing in plot twists, though. Nothing he does should surprise us, she said. She's right about that, but I have this feeling that drones will appear in our next Bluewater Thriller; Liz isn't too sure.

She's a little worried these days, if you can believe that. I know it's out of character for her, but she's got a soft heart when it comes to Bud. She's decided that the NSA probably has him on a list of some kind, based on his Internet search history and some of his Twitter followers. She thinks that line they gave him last month about following up on an update to his son's security clearance was some kind of smokescreen.

I'm not too worried, as long as they'll let him have a computer in his cell. He'll still be able to spin our yarns, and he won't get distracted by the pictures of the islands and boats, either, because they'll restrict his Internet access. It might do him good; at least he'll find out what he put me through in Bluewater Jailbird. Anyway, he's a lawyer. They never do anything illegal, do they? Not unless they're running for elected office, which he isn't.

I'd better go; a big black SUV with tinted windows just stopped out front, and there's a drone hovering in the backyard. What's Bud doing with that tin-foil-hat thing on his head? Come on, Liz; Bud may need a little backup here in the next few minutes.

I can't let Dani's last post go unanswered.

I just booted Bud off the computer. That may be a little short-sighted of me, since he's hard at work on the fifth book in my Connie Barrera Thriller series, but I felt compelled to respond to Dani's last blog post and try to square things with her.
In her last post, she was not only complaining about having to dye her hair and wear -- oops, Bud's giving me the high sign. Okay. I'll stay away from that. I'm annoyed with her, but far be it from me to spoil anybody's story.
The thing that's set me off isn't that she's being such a prima donna. It's that she seems to think she has first claim to Bud's attention. She's upset because he's working on my fifth book instead of another Bluewater Thriller. Come on, girl! He's written ten Bluewater Thrillers.
What? You think that because I had a bit part in two of them, I owe you something?
Well, okay, you did teach me to sail, and I did meet Paul through you and Liz. I suppose you have a point there. I do owe you a lot. But stop already with this business about your being his first "star" character.
I played a lead role in Deception in Savannah before you were even a gleam on Bud's computer screen. Give me some credit for that. If I hadn't gotten him through that first book, where would you be?
And your role in Bluewater Killer? That involved your being unconscious for most of the book. You didn't amount to much before you met Liz in Bluewater Vengeance. Then it took you two books to figure out what happened to that Reilly guy, and you didn't even finish him off personally, at that. You think you're a bad-ass?
What? You think your books outsell mine? Just wait a minute, Dani.You're the one who said you gave me roles in two of your books. That was Bud's decision; not yours. If I count Deception in Savannah and we share credit for Bluewater Ice and Bluewater Betrayal, plus the four thrillers that have my name on the covers, that's seven books, young lady. And you? You only have eight Bluewater Thrillers without me in them, and you slept through the first one. If you're so great, why isn't your name on the covers?
Okay, I've had enough of this; I don't like being argumentative, and besides, I need to put Bud back to work on my next story. Why don't you take a deep breath and thank Liz for saving you from going to jail?
Besides, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Bud's probably going to release a boxed set of your first three books before he finishes my fifth one. See, he still likes you, and so do I. Let's not do this any more. There are enough villains to go around without us squabbling with one another. This is a team effort, remember?
Liz is setting out a tray for tea; let's talk about the good times that are coming, and let Bud get back to work.

I'm Dani Berger, and this is my series!

Liz is teasing me about my brassy, blonde hair.  That girl's got some nerve.  I had no choice about changing my hair color.  That was Bud's decision. Good thing I'm not a vain person.  Leave it to a man to mess up a girl's hair.

There's a word for guys like him, but I ... Liz is shushing me and pointing, like maybe Bud's listening.  Well, I hope he is! It's not fair. Yeah, so she had to put a little red in her hair for this last caper, but it hardly even changed her appearance. I wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't told me, trying to placate me.

And I still haven't forgiven her for the way she slapped me -- that girl packs some kind of punch. Of course, she says it's not her fault; Bud made her do it, she says. And except for her smacking me, I'd have been locked up in St. Lucia, according to her.  Isn't that just like her, the Pollyanna?

She thinks I'm miffed because she had the lead role in Bluewater Jailbird.  She hasn't come right out and said it, but I can tell.  She's too smug for her own good, sometimes.  Like I care if she gets to prance around and be in charge for a change. This whole series would be nowhere without me.

What's that, Liz?  I sound like Donald who? Don't you dare mention the hair!

Anyhow, we survived Bluewater Jailbird. I'm irritated with Bud that I didn't get to do a little more sailing.  He's been hanging out with us a lot lately. I can tell he misses Play Actor, and I'm still surprised that he didn't insist on more sea time in this last book. I guess we had to go where the story took us.  Liz and Marie got in some nice sailing, but I was stuck ashore the whole time.  I've put Bud on notice -- he's not going to do that again, I'll bet.

He knows I'm not happy; he messed up my hair, and my feet still hurt from those ... Oh.  Liz is shaking her head and making throat-cutting motions.  She's worried about spoilers.

Now Bud's taking up time with that Barrera woman again. I like Connie, and Paul's a good guy, but their whole last book took place at sea.  She's already whispering in Bud's ear about another book; she's probably promising to take him sailing.  He's so easy, sometimes.

Liz and I could take him, but he says it's Connie's turn.  She's never happy; she and Paul had some great sailing and got married at the end of her last book.  How's that for happily ever after?  Now that the honeymoon's over, they're going to pick up a charter and head down island with Bud in tow.  Me? At the end of Bluewater Jailbird, I get bad hair, and I'm supposed to be grateful to Pollyanna that she got me out of trouble.

What are you saying, Liz? Jealous? Me?

Bluewater Jailbird, the tenth book in the Bluewater Thriller series, is available from Amazon.  CLICK HERE TO BUY.

Time and Tide Wait for No Man.

As I was updating my web page today to add Bluewater Jailbird, the tenth and newest Bluewater Thriller, I realized that I haven't written a blog post since August. I've published three books since then, so before I lose myself in a fourth, here's a quick update.

My last post dealt with the way Amazon had changed payments to authors for books borrowed through Kindle Unlimited. That was new last summer, and I thought it was a good thing. I still like it, both as a reader, and as an author. I've seen my base of readers expand as a result, and because of the length of most of my books, my compensation doesn't differ much between borrowed books and purchased books.

Before that, I wrote a series of posts entitled Living What I Write that described the adventures my wife and I had while sailing back to the U.S. after 15 years as seagoing vagabonds, mostly in the Eastern Caribbean. When our sixth grandchild was born, we realized that we'd gradually lost touch with family. A trip back for a few weeks every year or two wasn't enough.

Grandchildren, children, nieces, nephews, and parents have all gotten older. We decided we should come back and live among them while we still had time to get reacquainted. Although Leslie and I feel about the same age as we always have, (early twenties, if you're curious) everybody else has aged. My sister died before cellphones and email had become ubiquitous in the islands, and I learned about it days later, by accident. Fortunately, we didn't have any other experiences like that one, but realizing that our oldest grandchild was driving -- she was an infant when we left -- alerted us to the passing of time.

We've stored Play Actor for a while and bought a car. We haven't owned one for 15 years; we're like teenagers, looking for any excuse to drive. We've spent the last several months making the rounds of relatives all over the country. Soon, we'll figure out where we want to stay for a while. Somewhere in Texas, where those six grandchildren live, is high on our list, but we'll see.

We're adjusting to not living afloat, though we both miss aspects of it. Neither of us is willing to rule out a return to the sailing life, but we're learning to cope with the changes that happened while we were away. Most of them are positive; many are surprising, and a few are disappointing.

Meanwhile, the transition to life ashore is expensive, so I've had a powerful incentive to write more books, though I didn't realize until now that it had been at the expense of blog posts. I'm beginning the fifth book in the Connie Barrera Thriller series, and I'm working on a new non-fiction book about our return to living ashore.

We plan to research the new non-fiction book by retracing the path of our first voyage down the East Coast along the Intracoastal Waterway, visiting favorite spots by car instead of boat. We'll contrast what we see from ashore with what we saw afloat. I envision a sort of companion piece to Life's a Ditch.

After 60 plus years of sailing, much of it offshore, it's odd to not worry about what the next storm will bring. Occasionally, a wind shift wakes me up, and I instinctively put my feet on deck (Carpet? Where did that come from?) and peer out the porthole (big, rectangular, and not yet familiar) to check the holding of our anchor.  So far, the buildings we've been in haven't dragged anchor, but we're in California right now, so it could happen, I guess.

When I hear the siren's call, though, I just join Dani and Liz or Connie and Paul; they're kind enough to take me sailing any time. Connie's tapping me on the shoulder now, in fact. She's got a story she wants me to tell. I'd best heed her call; she's not a patient woman. I'll write another post soon, unless Dani or Liz beats me to it.

Paid by the book or paid by the page -- which is better?

I've read a lot of articles over the last few weeks that explored this question. Now it's possible to answer it definitively, at least from my personal perspective. Until Amazon announced what they would pay per page for the month of July, writers could only speculate, and speculation and suspicion were everywhere. Now we have some firm data.
Most of us recognized that the effect of this new scheme by Amazon would vary from writer to writer, depending on the kind of books we published. It was clear early on that the writers who had been gaming the system by writing very short books with sensational titles and covers would suffer. Under the old scheme, if a reader borrowed a "book" of ten pages and spent a few minutes reading only the first page or two, the author got paid roughly $1.30. If a reader borrowed a best-selling, can't-put-it-down, 450 page novel and read it cover to cover over the course of ten days, the author got paid the same $1.30.

That has changed. In July, the author of the ten-page book that held the reader's interest for two pages earned 1.2 cents, and the author who wrote the 450 page page-turner earned $2.60. Is that good, or is it bad?

The answer depends on who you ask. From Amazon's perspective, it's most likely good. A reader who paid $9.99 per month for Kindle Unlimited and "read" 100 of those 10 page books cost Amazon $130 under the old system. Under the new system, even if the borrower reads 100 of the ten-page books cover to cover, Amazon's cost is under $6.00. The other borrower, the one who read the 450 page novel in ten days, might have read three of them during the month. That would have cost Amazon $3.90 under the old scheme. Under the new scheme, that borrower cost Amazon $7.80, but they still made money on the longer book.

There was speculation that authors of those short books would remove their books from Kindle Unlimited. Amazon won't suffer from that. The people who were reading those ten-page books may have to pay more for them, and they may leave Kindle Unlimited. That won't hurt Amazon, either. Amazon was losing money on those people -- both the borrowers and the authors.

There was speculation that if those borrowers of many short books dropped out of the program, the Kindle Unlimited pot that got divided among the remaining authors would be smaller. That may be the case, but the remaining authors are now making roughly twice as much per book borrowed.

I'm one of those authors, and I would gladly accept some erosion of the payout for borrows as a result of people who don't read my books dropping out of the program. Until half of the participants drop out, I'll be earning more money than I did under the old system.

In July, I made about the same amount of money on a borrowed book as I did on an outright purchase of the same book. I like that, but what about Amazon? Does that make sense to them?

Let's go back to that person who borrowed and read three 450 page books in July. She paid Amazon $9.99, and she cost them $7.80 in payments to the authors. Amazon made $2.19 on those three books that were borrowed. If those books had sold for $3.99, Amazon would have made $3.60 instead of $2.19.

Only Amazon can determine whether the tradeoff between a borrow and a sale makes sense. Remember that I assumed the borrower would read three books during the month. If the borrower borrows only one 450 page book, Amazon makes $9.99 - $2.60, or $7.39 from that borrower.

Keeping in mind that the author makes about the same amount either way under the new system, Amazon is probably better off, especially since they've eliminated those 'books' and borrowers that were costing Amazon over ten times what they paid Amazon.

There are some other effects on authors that may be less obvious. We all want our books to rank well in the Kindle Store. That increases our visibility and our sales. Those short books with their seductive titles and covers that got borrowed heavily probably distorted the rankings. They took up virtual shelf space, and if some of them were in fact of little value to the reader, they may have poisoned the well for the rest of us.

In case you haven't guessed by now, I like Kindle Unlimited. Under the old plan, I think I suffered a slight decrease in outright sales, but I picked up a lot of new readers through borrows.  Borrows are a low risk way for a reader to sample a new author, so my income from Kindle Select went up significantly even at the lower payout per borrow. Under the new system, I've seen an increase in my total revenue from Kindle Select of roughly 20 percent on the same equivalent unit volume.

I'm interested in your reactions, now that we have some real numbers.


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