You don't have to have an e-reader to read e-books...

It is true, you do not have to own a kindle or a nook or other e-readers to read e-books. Many of you who have Android phones or iPhones and iPads may already know this, since ebooks are available through apps to these devices, but did you know you can also download an app to your personal computer(PC) or laptop?

E-books are available in a variety of file types that allow you to read them on almost any device. Nook and kindle give you the option to download an application to your computer and it stores all your e-books there. There is a site called smashwords.com that offers e-books in the following file types:

.mobi for kindle
Epub for Apple, Nook, Sony, Kobo, Stanza, Aldiko, and Adobe Digital Editions
PDF for personal computers and you can print!
RTF most word processors
LRF for older Sony readers that do not support Epub
Palm Doc
Plain Text for computers and to read online

PDF is a good file to select for your PC, but you can also select RTF (rich text file) or Plain Text.

Goodreads.com is another site that allows you to purchase printed books or e-books online and has a commuinty for readers to interact with each other and their favorite authors.

The point is that you do not need to be left out of the e-book era simply because you cannot afford an e-reader. Bonus: a lot of these places offer some awesome e-books for FREE! So check them out, pick your device and happy reading!

Continuing Halloween Book Giveaway

I will continue to offer *House On Butcher Harbor* on e-book through smashwords.com for just 99 cents for a limited time. In addition, I will continue the free print book giveaway. For every 50 e-books sold I will giveaway an autographed copy of the book in paperback! To take advantage of this offer go to smashwords (via the tab on this site or from your browser at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/28921). Once you have purchased the e-book go to my facebook author page https://www.facebook.com/lisalewismoon.authorpage and post "Enter me to win!" It's that easy! Tell your friends! The more e-books sold the more autographed print copies of the book I will give away!

Cover design in Indie publishing- stick to your guns

I am not sure who the people who created my cover design thought they were dealing with, but it has caused me to want to instruct first time indie publishers to stick to their guns. You have a cover design in mind. This is your books brand. It will be the first thing people see about your book. It has to be good. So imagine my shock when after being instructed to find covers in the book store that I liked and explaining my vision: a weathered house on the beach, girl running out front door while being grabbed by multiple ghost hands, ghosts in all the windows of house, I got photo one- a flat photo of a house. Say what?

I had to fight to get the cover you see on my book today and that was just stupid in my opinion. I guess it is true you get what you pay for, but if you are unable to deliver the goods, don't take the money.

Even though I have a cover for my book, I will continue to search for the artist that can give me what I want for a cover. My wish for new indie writers is that they too keep their vision in mind and do what they can to get th

e cover they want.

The second photo is the rejected cover. Fans will recognize the actual cover. Not happy with either of them. Perhaps my standards are too high to be an indie publisher.

Dream Fade

This is why you write it down as soon as you wake up:
I had an entire movie in my dream, all the plot twists and everything- from beginning to the bittersweet end. As soon as I awoke from this great dream I was racked with people problems. (The undream realm sucks sometimes) I had a cold and there was no moisture in the air because it was winter and I had just purchased a new heater. My mouth was completely parched, as in not even a drop of moisture to even swallow since my nose had been stuffed up by a cold and the only way I was getting any air at all was through my mouth, which was gaped open for hours while I slept.

So, I guzzle a drink from the tall glass of water I keep on my bedside table and guess what. Now I have this sudden urge to pee. But I have this incredible story to write down. But it will take so long to capture it all. I will just pee and then dash it off before I forget. I stumble down the hall in the dark; we only have on bathroom in our house, no on-suite, and I kept the light in the hall off so I didn't wake anyone.

Okay, so as I sit and do my business, I try to play back bits and pieces of the dream in my mind so I don't lose it.They were so clear upon waking, but they are starting to fade. Why did that movie take place in my head? What was so important about it? I have no idea, see I have already forgotten how it started. It is okay though, I can still remember the middle and the end. I can piece the beginning together later. Still okay. This will be a best seller. It is so awesome. Gotta get out of the bathroom and write it down. I know the beginning will come back to me as I write it down because I remember...ah...What? I remember...? Oh yeah, there was a woman at the end and she was important because...she...she...oh hell, it's all gone.

And that folks is what happened to the best selling thriller I never wrote!

When life gives you lemons...here's my lemonade!

The Storm
There comes a torrential downpour from all the lies and deceit that was their lives! The driving rain washes away the fabric of the life that once was. With it it sweeps off all the caring with the lawn chairs. It overcomes hope and carries it off with the top soil that washes into the nearby drainage ditch. It breaks away all the joy from life like the tree limbs that crash to the ground torn from the trees by the violent winds. It squashes happiness as the once strong tree takes out the roof over the bedroom crushing the lost lovers while they sleep, each in their own corners of the bed.
But like all storms this too will pass. The lawn chairs will be retrieved from the neighbor’s yard. At least you cared enough to go and get them. Hope has been forever lost with the top soil, down the drain. Joy is picked up with the dead tree limbs in the yard. It is tossed with the limbs into a pile and burns as the joy goes up in smoke. Meanwhile the firemen come and dislodged the giant tree from the lost lovers so that they can be disengaged from the weight of the rot that caused the tree to fall in the first place.

Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to say goodbye… to this man… this woman… this life. The storm is over. The sun squeezes out from behind dark blue/black clouds.

Social Networks

According to Wikipedia there are almost 200 social network sites to subscribe to. Granted they probably do not all apply to you but I am willing to bet some of you will follow the link and see which network you missed. I am have to wonder how many social networks do we need and how "in touch"are we really staying with each other if we spend all of our time updating the networks we have subscribed to? And with all the networks available, how come I can't find one that does it all (if you have, please let me know!).

What would a network be that does it all? For me that network would have to allow me to access everything from one place. So I need a place that allows me to have my e-mail, facebook, blog and more all accessible from one location. Google+ is almost there. I need to have my blog tabbed across the top and that might make me happy, for now.

If I had all of this in one place could I give up all the other sites? Would others follow suit or would I be hung out there by myself...alone in one site land? Would my facebook friends come check me out or forget about me because they couldn't reach me on their wall with their limited amount of time? Would it be social suicide to have only one location for people to find you? Am I the only one that desires the simplicity of one stop shopping in my social life?

You know you want to look, you just have to...just remember to leave some time in your life for yourself!

Queries- Take your time

Once you have written your query, it is time to find an agent or a publisher. Which ever one you decide to go after, take your time and get to know everything you can about the agent or publisher before submitting your query. My first inclination is to have a cut and paste fest, copying my query from e-mail to e-mail trying to get all the queries sent out in one day so I can get back to writing. I have to force myself to slow down. http://agentquery.com, for example is one of my favorite sites. Fix yourself a cup of coffee and sit down with your computer and get to know the agents available for your genre.Take a deep breath and remember to relax. By now you should know your genre so select it and see how many agents pop up. Now I want you to think of this as a dating site. I want you to take it that seriously. Pick the best one as if submitting your query was the same as asking that person for a date. Are they your type(genre)? Do they seem interested in your style of writing (who else do they represent)? Do they look appealing to you (does the website look professional)? Open the first agents website and look around. Click about us or contact us and find out more about each agent. If you write horror and you submit your query to the agent in charge of romance that hates horror, you just wasted your time and hers and even if there is someone else in the agency that handles horror, you can bet your query will not be passed along. If you write romance and you find two or three agents in this office handle romance, check out what else each agent covers. Perhaps one of them is more suited to your story. Submit your query to this persons attention. If the e-mail for this person is not listed, try the first letter of their first name and their complete last name @theagencyname.com or however they addressed their query e-mail replacing info or query with the agents name. Check the site for submission requirements and follow them to the letter. Leaving out any portion of the requirement will mean throwing away your opportunity with this agent. If they ask for the first ten pages of your book, do not send them page eleven because your chapter ends on that page. The query itself can only be one page in length. This is very important. If they only accept snail mail submissions do not sent them an e-mail. If they only accept e-mail queries, do not call them with questions, follow the guidelines. Follow the same formula for publishers. Get a feel for them. If they don't sound like they want your type of story, don't submit your query there. Send your best query to the best possible match. If you both decide you like each other you could be together for a very long time. Enjoy your search and best of luck!

A Texas sized tragedy

Just recently went to Texas to help deliver a load of hay from Alabama. Texas is experiencing the worse drought in their history; a drought reminiscent of the dust bowl days of the 1930's. The vegetation is so dry that careless drivers flicking cigarette butts out the window has set parts of Texas on fire. A trip down any highway is riddled with scorched spots and smoldering tree trunks. Ranchers are selling off half of their cattle in an attempt to purchase enough hay from other states to feed their prized quarter horses. Stock tanks that water the animals are drying up. With no rain in sight one can't help but wonder what will happen to Texas? What happens to beef prices next year? Is this the beginning of another dust bowl to go with our awful economy?

Learning a few more things

Just added a facebook author page and a facebook badge. Now I am trying to add that page to my phone. It is not wanting to work, but I will keep trying. Then if I can add twitter and get everything in one place, that will be so nice. This book thing is harder than I thought.

What are you doing when you are not reading?

This is a question posed by 2 Read or Not 2 Read. (http://2readornot2read-loves2read.blogspot.com/)

For Me it is working on the next chapter of my latest novel or surfing the net for information and research for the next book. Facebook has taken up way too much time for me. I get in there and tend not to get out.

Today I spent most of my time reading about how to market my book. It is a lot of work, but worthwhile. I spent a lot of time on smashwords.com today because they are running Read and Ebook Week. Several incentives to purchase or win House On Butcher Harbor will be available there this week.

So what do you do when you are not reading?
And don't forget to stop by 2 Read or not to Read and see what she is reading this week.

So the book is available now!

The book is out now on Amazon.com, on Kindle and Nook. I wound up doing this myself and it was quite a learning curve. The most difficult part was getting the formatting done. I would up using a template and still managed to mess that up the first time. It was a challenge and I learned how little I knew about microsoft word. My next step is to take a course to learn more about formatting my word documents. Meanwhile, I cut and paste new stuff into the old file and do a "save as."

Now it is time to learn marketing so I can sell this thing.

Finally a temporary fix

Just got the blog to let me write again. Temporary fix according to blogspot. We shall see.