February Doings

Each month I send a group of friends and colleagues an update.  My promise was to do it once per month and let people know they can opt out without hurting my feelings. It makes sense to post these on my blog each month.  Perhaps I'll make new friends.

The last couple months have been busy.  I just published When the Carny Comes to Town, which is the third book in the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series.  It's hard for me to promote what I write, but I am trying to get better at it.  It looks as if February will be the first month in which I sell more than 400 books on Amazon -- plus others on Barnes and Noble and other sites as well.  That's not a lot compared to well known writers, but I am building each month. 

Some good reviews have helped.  The review of Appraisal for Murder at LL Book Reviews provided a good boost. I really appreciate the friends who have taken the time to post reviews at Amazon and other sites.  It takes time to do this, and it means a lot.

I've been fortunate that a couple "real" stores sell my books, and I'm about to launch a campaign to put the books in more stores.  O'Town Books in Ottumwa and Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie have been very good to me.  I did not initially plan to do the paperbacks, but one of my husband's aunts said she just didn't read e-books.  So, I spent the time to work with Create Space to do the paperbacks.  And she now has a Kindle!  I'm glad she has the Kindle, but grateful she didn't have one last fall. I still visit the library almost every week -- there's nothing like holding a book.  

I have started to use my blog more.  Since the most visible blogs are those that have a teaching or information sharing element, I'm working on that.  If you are interested, it's www.elaineorr.blogspot.com.  I wish there were classes on the ins and outs of blogging.  I've looked at on-line tutorials.  Finally some kind person took pity on me and went to my blog to tell me what my "RSS feed" is (http://elaineorr.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default).  I still don't know what an RSS feed is or why it's important, but I have one.  

You can find my books on all e-book sites.  Remember, you don't need an e-reader, you can download books as a PDF file.  If you don't live in Ottumwa or Muncie, paperbacks are at Amazon or www.createspace.com.  A link to all books is at:  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001HD0X6K   Let me know how you like my snow white hair.

Thanks for your interest and support!