Dale’s Comments (group member since Sep 15, 2017)

Dale’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Anna wrote: "What good news! Makes all the hard work worthwhile, eh?"

Absolutely! Thank you!

Holy smoke! I entered A Day for Bones into the PW Booklife Awards, and look at the review they gave me!

Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10
Originality: 10 out of 10
Prose: 9 out of 10
Character/Execution: 9 out of 10
Overall: 9.25 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot/Idea: The author does a commendable job of crafting a refreshingly traditional-style mystery that will captivate the reader. The plot is smart, twisty, and complex, which keeps the reader engaged.

Prose: The author is a strong writer, demonstrating clear command of language and the ability to pace the story with a fine balance of action, dialogue, and description.

Originality: Lehman has created a rich, complex setting populated with well-defined and varied characters. This is a wholly original and very enjoyable read.

Character Development/Execution: The author has created numerous characters that are each distinctive. Due to the scope of the storyline, characters are numerous yet still richly developed and authentic.

So far, I only see one book in the Mystery category with a higher rating, and only two others with an equal rating. If that holds, I'm tied for second place. Even if it doesn't, I cannot at all complain!

You can see this on my Booklife page at https://booklife.com/project/a-day-fo....

Anna wrote: "Thanks for all your help. I'm moving forward - awaiting the proof copy now."

Congratulations, and good luck!

Theodore wrote: "Has to do with yet another scam."

I love that twist. In essence: "I won't ask you for money, but I'll send you to someone who will."

Who could refuse that offer? (*face palm*)

Carole wrote: "They were horrible in July and August for me. What are you doing for promotion? I post to FB at least twice a week."

I did a massive (for me) launch campaign in August. That went well in terms of sales, although not so much in terms of income. I spent about twice what I earned.

Earlier in the year, I'd been trying to do one stack of promos each month, but that got shot down as my wife's illness worsened. I haven't done any monthlies since then. I'll probably get back to it soon, but as you well know, it takes time to reboot your life after a loss like that.

Anita wrote: "Super exciting news."

Congratulations!

I haven't been entirely in the loop, but I don't see much change, although I know for a while book sales were going strong because, well, what did anyone have to do otherwise?

Hi Anna,

I know what you mean. I eventually wrote an article for Medium on the subject so I could get myself straight: https://medium.com/writing-cooperativ...

That one works! It just needs a bit of editing to tighten it up.

By the by, I think you can ditch some of the commas, e.g.:

"For career girl Liberty Taffet, the idea..."

"To get away from two-timing heartbreaker Dr. Nicolo Nylander and a rapidly collapsing..."

The words before the name are modifiers for the name and don't need commas unless there are a list of them. e.g., "A red ball..." vs "A big, red ball..."

Here's another possibility for you. I may not have captured everything right, but I tried...
-----
This wasn't supposed to happen...

Following a thwarted budding romance, Liberty [last name] had to get away. Fortunately, she had the means to cross the centuries to her favorite time period, Regency England. Unfortunately, she messed up and landed in the Swinging Sixties instead. Still, that's not so bad. Soon Liberty is having the time of her life.

But something's wrong. Liberty's memory begins to fail her, and now [bad stranger's name] has entered her life. Claiming to know her, he's after revenge for wrongs she doesn't recall, and her only chance of escape lies in [good stranger's name], who feels he belongs in Regency England, too. Can they find their way to their true home before [bad stranger's name] wreaks havoc upon them?

Book blogger Julia Wilson has released her review of A Day for Bones, giving it 5 stars! You can read her review here: http://www.christianbookaholic.com/20.... A Day for Bones is available for pre-order from your favorite bookseller. See https://storyoriginapp.com/universalb... to purchase. Thank you!

Gina wrote: "Dale- so sorry to hear about your wife. <3 Hugs"

Thank you, Gina.

Thanks, Sam and Anna! As for whether it's worth it . . . it depends. Some writers have done very well, but I think that genre matters, and also there is some secret marketing sauce that I don't have. I've not had many readers.

On the other hand, Amazon is paying bonuses on a monthly basis based on reads, upvotes, and publishing frequency. So if you can publish a few episodes every month, even if you don't have many reads, you can make a bit of spare change. My bonus payments have ranged from about $30 - $60, except July when I published nothing as a consequence of my wife's passing.

I've posted the 25th and final episode of my Kindle Vella science fiction drama The Belt. The whole thing is there now, so if you've been waiting for this moment to read it, now's the time. Visit https://kdp.amazon.com/kindle-vella/s... to get started.

I plan to turn it into a novel, but that won't happen right away. I have several other projects in line ahead of it. The good thing is, the Vella series is essentially my completed first draft for the novel. All I need to do ("all," he says) is revise it so the whole shebang holds together better and then spruce up the writing a bit.

But the series is fun as it is, so do have a look, and let me know if you think I should do a sequel. Thanks!

Best of luck to you!

Thanks, folks!

A Day for Bones (Howard County Mystery #4) is now available for pre-order on Amazon (Kindle only right now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B67PGLYB) and should show up in print and on other booksellers in the next week or two.

Thank you, Anna and Margaret.

Thank you, everyone. We are holding up as well as can be. The visitation is today and the funeral tomorrow.

I've been mostly absent from Goodreads for the past few months. I spent that time caring for my wife, who was suffering from end-stage liver disease. She passed away on Monday, June 27th, one week after our 45th anniversary.

My fourth Howard County Mystery, A Day for Bones, had been awaiting her editorial pen, but she was ultimately unable to work on the novel. My oldest daughter Andrea stepped in to perform the editing, and with templates and a few lessons Kathleen left me, I successfully got the book designed and typeset. I was dreading that work, but it turned out far easier than I expected. I think she was looking over my shoulder, guiding me.

In any event, I've chosen August 29th as the release date and will be working up some promos to go along with it. I'll post more about it later.