BLACK HELLEBORE - Superhero Romance by Nicole Zoltack!

Once a year for the past decade, Nicholas Adams returns to Falledge and leaves a black hellebore on his girlfriend's grave. While departing Falledge, he chases after a man sneaking into the laboratory and dies for his trouble. A witch brings him back to life, but Nicholas soon realizes he's not the same man. Turns out, magic combined with a black hellebore in his pocket changed him into a kind of a super man.

His girlfriend's twin, Julianna Paige, is Falledge's deputy, struggling to solve several murders. Nicholas, and his alter ego the Black Hellebore, helps her, even as she helps him move on and even start to love again.

Unfortunately, Nicholas wasn't the only one changed in the laboratory explosion, and now there's a supervillain bent on destroying Falledge, and killing the Black Hellebore. But falling in love might prove more dangerous than any supervillain.

Add it on GoodReads! 



Opening Scene...

Nicholas Adams slowed his motorcycle and stopped at the red light. Not much had changed since the last time he had been here -- a year ago.

He hated the small town of Falledge. Hated the sights, hated the sounds. Held too many memories -- the bad far outweighing the good.

Yet every year, those same memories forced him to return.

He glowered at the red light, willing it to change. It mocked him, making him even more restless than he already was, and he tapped his fingers against the handlebar.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a feeble old woman entering the crossway. She took her time, and soon she was in front of him. He avoided eye contact with her, wishing she would hurry up and cross, that the light would change.

Instead, she stopped in front of him and shouted, "Please, sir, do you have some spare change?"

Nicholas dropped his jaw. Was she kidding him? Asking for money while crossing the street?

He stared at the crosswalk. Several pebbles and small rocks dotted it.

"Please, sir? I don't need much... Say, $5.41?"

The precise number brought him up short, and he lifted his visor and cut his eyes to her. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out a crumpled up bill and some change. He handed her the five, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny -- all he had on him, other than a twenty in his wallet.

She thanked him and walked across the rest of the crossway with a lighter step, as if he had given her the world.

The car behind him honked. The light had finally changed color. He jumped forward, and it wasn't until he stopped at another red light that he realized he had given her the exact amount she had requested.

A coincidence.

Still, he found his thoughts returning to the old woman more than the memories nagging him. Just what did she plan to use the money for?

A mile or so down the road, Nicholas pulled into a gas station. He had enough to get to his destination, but nowhere beyond it. After yanking his worn wallet from his back pocket, he opened it up and rifled through it. The twenty he could have sworn would be inside wasn't. He had given the old woman his last cents.

Nicholas groaned. He removed his helmet and dropped it onto the ground. After a moment, he kicked it so gently it hardly moved.

A chuckle brought his attention away from his dilemma. He looked up to see a gorgeous blond. His heartbeat raced, and he found it difficult to swallow. The lovely before him was the one he dreamt of every night.

Yet it wasn't her.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he couldn't hear her. He didn't care to know what she was saying. With a low growl, he jammed the helmet back onto his head. Not bothering to snap it beneath his chin, he jumped onto his bike and peeled away. He knew better than to stop for gas here in town, yet he had stopped anyhow. How could he be so stupid? The whole town was a damned reminder of what he had lost. It was hard enough returning each year; it nearly killed him.

He cut off a car and zoomed down the street. It was time to do what he had come for, and then time to get the hell out of here.

Welcome to Falledge.

Nicholas Adams' personal hell.

***

This post is part of the Writers Helping Writers Amazing Race!

From October 21st until October 27th, Writers Helping Writers is posting an OPEN CALL for writers. You can fill out a form, requesting help with critiques, book visibility, social media sharing, blog diagnostics, advice and more.

Each day this week, there's an AMAZING giveaway, too. So stop in at Angela & Becca's new Writers Helping Writers website and find out how to take advantage of this unique, pay-it-forward event for writers. I'll see you there! 

Things I Thought I'd Never Do

I've gone to the dark side.

I was hoping it wouldn't happen. I was looking for a way around this problem. Like the twelve-ton fluffy pink elephant in the room it wouldn't go away. AMAZON - The Ultimate Evil.

Despite my public break-up with Amazon after accusations of abuse were bandied about, Amazon is still selling. Really? I guess Kindle is hard crack to quit. Especially with Barnes and Noble dragging their feet getting EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE up for sale. You can buy EVFIL in France, but not on Nook. Words fail me.

This created an awkward situation where my three published works (don't get excited - it's two short stories and a novella) weren't all in the same area. Worse, I have no bait on Amazon for the people who love free and cheap stories. No 99 cent anything. No free e-books luring customers into my devious trap.

I was in a situation where I was cutting my nose off to spite my face. Instead of offering Kindle readers the easy option and making my books readily available to read I was making them hunt my work down. That's a lousy marketing tactic. Customers don't want to jump through hoops to get a book. They want to read a book, and click a link, and read your next book.

So I spent a few days learning how to format for Kindle. I set up the Kindle editions of REAL LIES and SEVENTY so that they each had a blurb about EVFIL at the end. With any luck (and some nagging) REAL LIES will soon be free on Kindle. They are now on Amazon.

You know what? As guilty as I feel selling my work with the evil giant, EVFIL's sales rank had an uptick yesterday. People bought REAL LIES and SEVENTY, and then turned around and paid $2.99 for EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE. As a new author hoping to sell a second book, all of those sales matter. I need to prove to my publisher that I'm worth investing in, that they want to buy my next book and publish it.

If you want the books on Kindle you can get them now!
EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE
SEVENTY
REAL LIES ... and if you'd like to tell Amazon that REAL LIES is *free* on Nook that URL is HERE

As always, clicking the tags and agreeing is always nice. I love reviews, especially if you've picked the free copies up from the newsletter. If you aren't signed up for the newsletter yet the link is on the right side bar. - <3 Liana

What is my idea worth to you?

Li'l Sis visited this week, it was interesting. The two of us couldn't be more different. She's a carbon copy of our mother, I'm ... not. She has a masters degree and a job as a dietician at a hospital in the mountains (I'm bragging a little). I have a bachelors degree I rarely use, and live on the beach. She lives alone, I'm the mom with four kids and a dog.

Our distinctly different world views make for interesting conversations. On her last night here one of those conversations started with, "What did you think of my book?" (Pro Tip: Authors always want to know what you thought of their book. The answer is always, "I loved it!" even if you didn't. Only let an author know you hated their book from a safe distance.)

Li'l Sis gave me a guilty look. "Well... it's like this. Your book costs money."

"Only three dollars," I wheedled.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't own it," she said. "It's just an e-book."

"E-books have value!" I protested. "You're paying for an idea, rather than paying for a dead tree and shipping costs."

"But I can't own it. Besides, you write for fun. Why should I pay for your hobby? If you enjoy writing, you should pay me to read it."

We discussed e-books for a little while longer. I tried to persuade her that ideas have values of their own, that paying for an e-book was a way of paying the author for their time, talent, and effort. Li'l Sis insisted that writing and ideas must be free, if an author wants to be paid it should be on a patron system like Shakespeare survived on (or didn't - we'll debate that another day).

What was interesting was finding THIS ARTICLE in the Huffington Post this afternoon. Author Thomas Mullen turned himself in to the Department of Justice for his crime of colluding with publishers to make money off of his writing.

I guess Li'l Sis is with the majority here, authors are not worth anything. Computers are already replacing news writers, so why not fiction authors? Anyone can create a story, it's called lying in most places. Writing or typing those words down isn't much harder than writing an email (physically). There may be mental effort involved, perhaps a time commitment, but if a person wants to write and enjoys writing, then why should others be asked to pay for their enjoyment?

You only need to glance at the number of books for sale at Barnes and Noble or Amazon to see that there is no shortage of would-be novelists. People want to write novels! Well, some just want you to pay them for plagiarized nonsense, but most people want to write a book.

So what is a book worth? Is an e-book valueless because it isn't a physical thing? Are ideas not unique? Is the modern era one where art is no longer valued, and if we live in such an era, what does have value? Is your time worth something only if you're miserable? Should people who enjoy work not get paid?

Let me know what you think.

Why I'm Leaving My Abusive Relationship With Amazon And Getting A Nook

This may sound hypocritical, it may sound desperate or like a case of Sour Grapes, but they say the first step to curing an addiction is acknowledging that there's a problem.

World - I have a problem!

My relationship with Amazon began several years ago when my father introduced me to wish lists. Up until that point I wasn't an Amazon consumer. I used Amazon to browse book descriptions, and then bought the books on Half.com (which may or may not be owned by Amazon - I honestly don't know). On Half, or Ebay, I could feed my reading habit on the cheap; usually paying $5 for a $7 book after shipping and handling. Even when I left the world of used books because I felt guilty that authors weren't getting their cut I went to IndieBound and Powell's to buy my books.

That wishlist though? It suckered me in. I set up an account so I could window shop on Amazon. I never planned on buying there, most of what I want is still way more than I can afford, but it was fun to window shop and hope that someone would send me a present of my wishlist. And oh what dopamine filled my brain when a present I wanted arrived serendipitously at my doorstep! It was like someone knew me! Or at least knew my email and could order things off my wishlist...

... Give me a moment to reflect on how sad the need for wishlists are... Okay, we're good...

You know what? Dopamine is addictive! (Meh, semantics, drugs play off the need for dopamine blah, blah, blah... we'll get to that later) That wishlist was my gateway drug to Amazon use. I held out, sure, but it was so easy to use Amazon. Especially with the 1-click buying option. It's the perfect system... hit a button, get a treat! Yay! I feel like a lab rat!

But even the wishlist and 1-click purchasing couldn't get me to love Amazon. There was even a point where I walked away from Amazon during the whole Gay/Lesbian Book Scandal back in 2009. I wasn't the target audience for those books, and I don't write for that genre, but there was nothing stopping Amazon from one day blocking science fiction or any other genre.

I stayed with Powell's for a time, buying my books there when I couldn't get to town and go shopping at an actual brick-and-mortar store.

In fact, it wasn't until I upgraded my phone that I became an Amazon Addict. My new phone came with a Kindle app. It was the worst possible situation for an addict, my drug of choice in easy reach 24/7. With 1-click purchasing a new ebook could be in my hands at any hour of the day. No shipping charges. No wait times. No reason to not buy.

Well... I tell a lie. There were several reasons not to buy. Not the least of which is that e-books are loans, not purchased items. A fact Amazon proved by erasing purchased books from e-readers in 2009. A person stealing my paperback would get arrested for breaking and entering, but Amazon could remotely access the e-readers and erase a book. Yes, Amazon paid everyone back. But they stole the books back first. You can read more on the fine print HERE.

Still, I was addicted.

That's how you can tell I was in a bad relationship. Even though I wanted to walk away I couldn't do it. I couldn't NOT buy my e-books. An e-reader app on my phone had opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Novellas, short stories, books from e-publishers that I never would have read otherwise were all purchased from the comfort of my home.

I was getting ready to format REAL LIES for Amazon when the news broke that they were giving away self-published e-books without the author's permission. For free. Like they owned the novel. Imagine someone handing out free copies of a paperback or hard cover, it would never happen. But Amazon can give away an e-book because e-books don't really exist? Or they planned on erasing them from everyone's e-readers? Or they just hate authors?

I don't know. The whole mess scared me into rethinking my plans for REAL LIES though, and that's where the heavy abuse comes in.

Ask any self-published author where the bulk of their sales come from and the answer is universal: Amazon.

I'm going out on a limb and guessing most e-book authors make a bulk of their sales on Amazon. Everyone has an account there. Everyone has the 1-click option ready and waiting. Nook sales didn't go well last year, I have yet to meet anyone locally who owns a Sony or KOBO reader. Everyone has Kindle or iPad, and that's why authors need to sell with Amazon.

So here I am, wanting to get away from this huge bully, but being told my career as an author depends on working with Amazon.

Even while Amazon is pulling titles off the market because of contract and pricing disputes, I'm expected to sell my titles on Amazon. If I want my e-book to reach international markets like the UK or Australia, Amazon is the only way I can. If I want to make money selling books, Amazon seems to be the only way I can.

This is the very definition of an abusive relationship in a work environment. To succeed in Business A I must do Thing B. It's like telling someone they can have a promotion if they give the boss a blowjob.

So, yeah, whipped whore of an author that I am... my traditionally published and Indie press work will be on Amazon. I need to pay my bills. My self-published short stories won't be there until Amazon changes it's business plan. That means sales will be nonexistent, but I'm okay with that. EDIT: As of this summer my short stories and self-published works are on Amazon. For every one book I sell with B&N I sell 100 or more on Amazon. I hate it, but I have bills to pay.

And my money? Last night I deleted the Kindle app from my phone and downloaded the Nook app. It took me ten minutes this morning to set up my new account, get my credit card information on file, and start buying books. Nook has a one-click buying system too.

Maybe I'm giving up one pimp for one that is equally bad. Maybe I'm on the losing end of this fight. Maybe I should let Amazon take over, tell me what to read, and grovel when they steal my hard work in the name of their bottom line, but I'm not going to. I'm voting with my dollars and moving to a company that I feels is a little more ethical.

With any luck the universal e-book format is just around the corner and next year I'll be able to buy my e-books from the local store in town instead of some worldwide giant. But that might just be a fairytale.

Help an Author Out !

No, not me. I'll be begging for love and attention in April when EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE hits the virtual shelf. Today I want you to help some authors whose backlist is up for sale after lying dormant in the land of Out-of-Print.

This is a BIG DEAL!

Out-of-Print can be the death knell for an author. Books slip away, they're off the shelf, hard to find, and all the time and energy the author spent writing, editing, and marketing that book is nothing more than a memory.

Lowenstein Associates, the lit agency that has the talented Meridith Barnes, is bringing back their authors' out-of-print work as e-books at reprint prices (think the three dollar range).

So, help an author out. Go splurge on this little lost treasures. Who knows, you may find a favorite new author!

• Deborah Camp (A mix of contemporary and Old West Historical romances...over 40 coming in the near future, but here is a list of 10 or so available now)
• Lorena Dureau (Historical Romance: American Colonial South and West. Very Sexy)
• Dan Streib (thrillers with a James-Bond-meets-Anderson-Cooper main character)
• Barbara Keesling (her too-hot-to-blog nonfiction is here, here, and here)

P.S. Blog, tweet, FB, or otherwise share this info and you can get a free query critique from Meridith. Check out all the details HERE.

REAL LIES Published

Back in July I wrote about my Short Story Dilemma. Welcome to my experiment.

REAL LIES is a short story set in one of my favorite places in the world: La Jolla, California. I grew up swimming there, learned to SCUBA dive there, and could never work it into a sci-fi novel because I never seem to set them on Earth.

So I gave La Jolla Cove it's own story.

Those of you who get the newsletter already have a coupon for Smashwords and heard about the release a month ago (which is why you should sign up for the newsletter: free books!). I wanted to have REAL LIES available in more than one format before the formal release. And here it is! More formats will be available in the coming weeks, as will the occasional coupon on Twitter (@LianaBrooks).

I hope you enjoy the story!

P.S. Don't read just before swimming...

Available on:
Smashwords
Barnes and Noble
Diesel

The Rise of the E-Book

Self-published.... Indie Publisher..... Small Press.......Big 6......

Do you ever feel like the argument here might be going the wrong way? Have you ever considered that maybe the question isn't WHO should publish your work but HOW the project should be published?

I ran into this while looking over an older manuscript that was bugging me. It's a good story. But three years ago? Three years ago there was no market for this book. Three years ago there was no way I could fit the mammoth undertaking into marketable fragments. Three years ago my options were limited.

So I shoved the novel into the depths of my hard-drive and moved on.

Looking at the market now? No, it's still not a novel that could go to the Big 6. The major New York publishers want something very specific. They have to because of how and what they sell. I suspect that will change, but right now Big 6 are very picky about what they put out. They don't venture far from market trends. They aren't interested in something wildly different. They want something a little different... and that works for a majority of novels.

Most novels really do fall into the boxes Big 6 publishing wants to fill. Most authors can publish with New York in the traditional manner that's been used for the past decades without problem. Most people can get their book to fall into the accepted word count that doesn't scare agents, editors, or buyers away.

And for everyone else there is the e-book.

Big 6 publishing is focused on print books, and print books have limitations. The e-books don't. New York is beginning to catch on to this, but they were slow on the uptake and the ground floor of the e-book kingdom is already filled with all the Indie/Small House publishers who realized there was gold in them thar' nanobytes.

An e-book costs the same to produce regardless of word count. There is infinite space in the land of the e-book so there is always room for another twist on a genre. There is always room for another book, a new niche, and a debut author.

What? You thought Amazon was making money selling Twilight novels and Stephen King? Those books are huge sellers, but there are millions of e-books and those nickles and dimes add up in a big way.

What does this mean for the novel I ditched? For one thing, it means that I can break it down into several 40,000 word novellas instead of parring back the story to fit a 100,000 word print mold, or breaking it into two smaller novels.

What does this mean for you?

Well... I won't lie. The e-book is not the perfect fix for anything unless your problem is having too much money and too little bookshelf space.

E-books are not easier to write. They are not easier to publish. They are not easier to market. One way or another, you will still need to work with an editor. You will need to either query and submit to a small publisher or e-publisher, or hire an editor and cover artist.

It does mean the market has grown from a few shops in the plaza to a mammoth Mall of America sized store where you can buy or sell just about anything. This is a good thing for anyone writing in a "fringe" genre. Steampunk? Biopunk? Paranormal sans romance? There's now a spot for you. E-publishers watch market trends, but they don't cling to them the way New York does.

Will the e-book kill printed books or publishing? No.

Formatting issues aside (like I can only read my Kindle books on a Kindle) most the world does not own an e-reader. I know this comes as a major shock to people who write for the Wall Street Journal and all bought iPads for their toddlers last year, but the majority of people worldwide do not own a smart phone, do not own an e-reader, and don't have the money for either.

Since authors often find their work published in other countries the rise of the e-book isn't a threat. Even the wave of self-publishing isn't as threatening to Big 6 publishing as people would like to think. Self-published e-books can sell internationally (think Canada, the UK, and Australia) but most self-published authors aren't getting their work translated, publicized, or sold in countries where a translation would be required.

I'll have to poke some friends for exact numbers, but I don't think most self-published authors are worrying about foreign rights and translations. Those doors are firmly shut. New York already has the contacts, agents, and abilities needed to publish out of the country. I imagine it's a lot like the film industry where a movie can tank state-side but be a major hit in Japan or Korea. You never know what the sales will look like until you push the piece out there.

I'd still like to see a universal format created so I don't have to buy new copies of a book if I want to switch devices. That may never happen because the brand creators don't want you switching from them to someone else, but it would be nice.

But while I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen...

I am going to work on the abandoned novel. I have plans for it. I'll probably try for the small presses and e-publishers first, but we'll see where the market is when I'm ready to query. Publishing isn't an industry where things stand still. Things are always changing around here, and what was good advice twelve months ago might be suspect now, so keep an open mind about all of this. Do what's best for you and what you write. And good luck!

E-Book Angst Resolved!

Since the arrival of the new e-reader in my life I've been torn on what to read. That picture is my small bookcase before we packed and moved. I have four others that are twice the size and equally over-flowing with good books.

I love books. I love collecting books.

I love e-books. I love carrying fifty books and not breaking my back.

I don't love spending money on myself.

There is always something I need more than a new books. Not want more, but need. The kids need new shoes, Eldest needs new clothes, the car needs an oil change, the dog needs his shots updated, we need to save for the next move.

So as much as I want to spend a few thousand dollars stocking my new e-reader with all my favorite titles, new and old, I just can't justify the expense.

I considered just buying e-books. They're quick and easy to find and I can delete the titles that aren't worth my time. But my Inner Frugalista screams at the idea of paying full-price for a bunch of binary.

Yes, I can rationalize that there are still expenses associated with the production of the e-book. Authors and artists need paying. The web monkeys who make the e-book programs need feeding. I understand, and it still feels like throwing money away.

The solution, I find, is to go the other way. Buy the paperback first.

Why? In the life of an average book I love I will buy it three times. One paperback, another paper back when the first is destroyed, and finally a hardcover when the second paperback dies. If I don't love a book enough to own three copies, the library always wants new books.

With the advent of e-books I have a simplier solution. Buy the paperback first. If I enjoy the paperback I can place the book on my shelf where it can add pretty to my collection (pretty is a noun here - think shiny from Frirefly...). Then I buy the e-book, the fabulous bits of binary coding that don't scuff, tear, fade, or fox.

If I don't like the book I donate the new-ish copy to the library and move on with life. If I'm not deleting a wasted e-book I'm not feeling guilty about wasting money. I'm donating to the library. That's practically the mark of a good citizen!

This also solves my angst over the whole Full-Price e-book, a retail model that I think the whole 99cent millionaire thing proves is a bad idea. I understand why publishers are doing the Full-Price model, I just think they aren't aware of the realities attendant to the sale of books at this moment in time. When I have all the numbers crunched to prove my theory there will be a full post on this subject.

In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out just how long it will take me to stock my e-reader with all the titles I want to read. If I buy one book a week I might have everything I currently own on e-reader in... hmmm, ten years or so? Maybe a little longer?

Of course, in the course of a decade several hundred new books that I absolutely need to own will be published. If I win the lottery, I'll spend the money on books.

My First E-Book Experience

It started like most things do, an innocent comment from a friends.

Snippets of conversation are lethal. Fear them as you would the plague. A little whisper of an idea and before you know DOOM comes to us all.

In this case it was a strange mingling of events: a comment on Twitter, the advent of my new phone's arrival, and a desperate need to read something.

The new phone has Kindle. And then @Misabuckley mentioned she'd just bought Touched by An Alien by Gini Koch. I'd seen the book on my wishlist, but I couldn't remember who recommended it, so I'd skipped buying it.

Misa told Gini, Gini wrote back to say she might have to start crying that I'd forgotten her book, and before you knew it there I was tapping open my Kindle app and ordering her e-book from Amazon.

One-click ordering is evil. I need to turn it off. I'm going to spend way to much money on Amazon if I don't.

As unfair as it was to Gini, I was prepared to hate the book just because I was reading it on a teeny-tiny screen. I bought the e-book knowing full well I could order the paperback and finish that way if this e-book thing wasn't as great as what everyone said it was.

Cruel? Yes, but I have serious reservations about all new technology. Things must prove them self useful before I will like them.

Did I like it?

Well, the book itself was excellent. It was a nice SFR that didn't take itself too seriously (sci-fi rom-com is few and far between). It's a great read for a day when you want to relax and not worry too much about N-space math.

The e-reader.... hmmm.

PROS:
- Instant access to the book - I looked up the book on Amazon, read some reviews, ordered it on my phone and a minute later I had a new book to reading.

- No shipping charges - Even with used books the cost to ship a novel is getting higher every day.

- It wasn't bad to read - I thought the small screen and only 3 paragraphs showing at a time would bother me. It didn't.

- Easy transport - The phone is with me anyways, now I can carry even a smaller purse because my phone is also my book. Win!


CONS:
- Selection - While Gini's book (all that she's published to date - and she promises me she is writing as fast as she can) are all available I found another series I wanted only had some of the books available. When the second book ends in a cliffhanger and I can't start the third right away I get cranky.

- Prices - I'm not sold on this e-book thing. Especially since I don't actually own anything, but the publisher just took my cash. If I lose my phone, or if the publisher yanks the e-book, I lose my copy. What happens when technology upgrades? If new paper comes out I can still read the old format. If a new format for e-reader comes out in ten years... I have to re-buy the book. Probably at a higher price.

-- Note-- For me this means I'm only buying throw-away novels for my e-readers. Things I already have copies of in print or novels I'm not sure I'll like. If I like a novel I will track down the paperback or hardcover for it and buy for my collection. But, because of the price, I may very well buy a used copy and I know that doesn't help the authors at all.

-Author Payments - I know from various sources that not all authors are getting fairly paid for their e-books. Some make more from selling a paperback than they do the e-book, which isn't fair. I'm half tempted to contact the author and let them know I can read PDF and word documents on my phone too. If I send them $5 could they e-mail a copy of the novel? They'd make more than if I buy the e-book on Amazon.

- Quality - Here's where I go a little bit out on a limb and make some people mad... Browsing the Kindle Store I found a lot of cheap novels. Great! I love cheap books! Except, not so much. The reviews were invariably mixed, and the publisher was too often CreateSpace.
Are self-pubbed e-books bad? Probably not. Do I trust them to not suck? No. I'm sorry, I don't. Part of what I look for when I pick up a novel is the name of the publisher, and when possible, the name of the editor. If you look in the mentions section of most debut novels you will see the editor mentioned. That name is like checking for a designer label on purses when you're a fashinista. I know which editors publish stuff I like.
For everyone else, you need a recommendation.
I buy Indie books, but every single one has come with a recommendation from someone whose taste I trust. The millions of CreateSpace books on the Kindle store? They have no one to vouch for them, and I'm not willing to spend even a dollar on someone whose writing ability hasn't been vetted by anyone but the Amazon Mob.
My loss? Possibly. But if it's really a great book, someone will tell me about it.



So, that was my first e-book experience. A little bad, a lot of good. I think I might be hooked. I would be, if the third Stardoc novel were available on Kindle. That missing book shattered the dream for me and makes me a little leery. I like to collect series in all the same format, but I don't think this is a deal breaker.

I'll keep buying e-books to read for fun while I'm out and about. I'll keep buying paperbacks to build my Real Life collection at home. And sometime today I'll be ordering Gini's Alien Tango for the Kindle before I grab the paperback for my shelf at home.

-Liana