I've uploaded a copy of Scary Mary for the Kinlde and like the iPad I have to charge .99 for it. It's still free on Smashwords so I'm worried that someone becomes annoyed that they purchased this book when it's free elsewhere. (I've sold a grand total of one copy.) I don't know if I should remove the Kindle version from Smashwords or not.
I've gotten my first review over at Smashwords. That's nice. The reviewer was very fair. I hope she comes to my website to read Stalking Shadows. I'm still seeing sluggishness at Smashwords. Right now, I can't get the site to load. Over 300 copies have been downloaded.
I'm very annoyed with Microsoft Word. It is making it nearly impossible to edit Unicorn Bait. The display goes wonky whenever I change anything. The cursor appears on different lines after I type something and lines repeat or disappear. It's maddening. It's all in the display. The lines don't actually repeat or disappear. They just appear to. It's very difficult to keep track of where I am or to keep any sort of flow going when I have to page up and down to refresh the screen. I've spent way too much time searching for a fix to the problem. I thought it was being caused by some images that were embedded in the text and removed all of them, but the problem persists. I'm downloading OpenOffice in the hopes it will treat me better. Scary Mary and Stalking Shadows don't have this problem in Word. I don't know if it's the length of the work that's causing it or not. Microsoft's website offered no help, only the chance to buy the latest version of the program.
Writing Difficulties
Random Tidbits
Scary Mary has been downloaded 248 times from Smashwords since I posted it 2 weeks ago. It has been approved for the premium catalog, but it hasn't been uploaded to any other vendors yet. Considering my total lack of real promotion, I still think this is pretty good. A lot of people are taking a chance on my story. I hope they like it.
Haven't really been editing Unicorn Bait like I planned. I've been writing new stuff instead. Started a completely new story which I'm not sure will really do anything. I started it when I was feeling pretty down in the dumps so it's a depressing sucker, which is an unintentional pun if you know the story features vampires. Man, I really hate how mainstream vampires have become. The market is over saturated with them. I don't know why I'm bothering, but it's a story I can go to when I'm not feeling cheerful in the slightest. I've also been working on my superhero story a little. I need to work on The Shackled Witch, which is the story I plan to post next, but I ran out of steam on that one for a bit. Waiting for the charge to come back up on it.
I think I'd really like to get a netbook. I've been looking at them a little, and Woot.com isn't helping any by offering some at very low prices, but I can't decide if it's worth the expense. I have a laptop, which is what I'm using right now to type this, but it's old and heavy. I don't use it a lot. I weighed it today, and it's eight pounds. It's not very easy to lug around. I have an iTouch which I've tried writing on some, but it's useless for editing. I've actually been using a spiral notebook lately to write the new stuff. But then I'm going to have to sit down and transcribe it to computer and that's really annoying. I'll keep mulling it over I guess.
A Few Updates
Well, it appears the copy of Scary Mary has been removed from Wattpad. That's encouraging. I don't know if it was the member or the site admin that removed it. I think probably the site admin since my comments to the member were unanswered. I get the feeling she's no longer participating on the site. I don't know if I should go put it up on Wattpad or not. I don't really want to. Offering the story in multiple locations will just make managing responses difficult.
Scary Mary is still getting downloaded on Smashwords. I'm over 150 free downloads now. Still don't know if that's normal or not, but either way it's encouraging. It hasn't been approved yet for the premium catalog, but I did reload it over the weekend so that probably made it go to the back of the queue. Still no reviews of it, but it has only been a few days. I have noticed that the site is sluggish a lot and there were a few times where it would not load at all. That's a little frustrating, but so far, I'm pleased with the experience.
I don't know if Smashwords will offer Scary Mary through Amazon. They format it for the Kindle, but from a few things I've read, they haven't been able to upload items to Amazon for some time. I may have to go the direct route with Amazon, but like the iPad, Amazon requires a price of at least .99 to be listed. Still feel weird about offering it free one place and charging at another.
