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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Don't Eat the Couch

Do you ever find yourself saying inane things to your pet? Bertie seems to have a liking for stuffing - the pillow kind, not turkey-related. On one end of the couch the upholstery has been ripped open by various cats sharpening their claws and a little stuffing peeks through. Every now and then I catch Bertie licking it. And I end up yelling, “Don’t eat the couch!” It goes along with: “Don’t chew on the chair,” “Don’t swallow the yarn,” and a generic “No biting!”
I think commands to animals need to be short and to the point. I caught my sister trying to reason with her cat. As Rascal was sharpening her claws on the side of the chair, in a conversational tone, Rose said, “We don’t do that on Mommy’s chair.” Needless to say, Rascal did not stop. I suggested she try, “No!” or even “Stop!” I didn’t think a full sentence would do the job.
Bertie is a chewer. She rips apart any cardboard she can get her teeth on, leaving sheds all over the floor. She likes to chew on sticks in the kindling pile. And she had started trying to tear apart the blue rocker in the picture above.
I bought her some chew toys that were made for dogs which she disdainfully batted under the refrigerator. It isn't easy being the servant of a cat.
 
Bertie, Queen of Socks, guards my clean laundry. She's quite possessive. I can't put them away until she tires of them, or abandons her post to go bite something.



Thursday, February 19, 2015

Dark Deeds in Print

The print book is now available!

This has been an very interesting book launch. I was sick, my editor was sick, then I was almost okay, and then I was sick again. That took up most of January and the beginning of February. As a result, I didn't do all the things I had planned to do for the launch of Dark Deeds.

The publication date was delayed. No big deal, it was my own artificial deadline. And looking at the sales, very few people were even aware it was late.

Not much advertising was set up. I felt a little panicky, that I had missed out on an important event. But then I remembered - this is the long-tail approach. I can set up advertising for tomorrow, or next week, it doesn't matter. The book is up there for as long as I leave it there.

In fact, it makes more sense to spend some dollars on advertising after the book has a few reviews. Pushing a book with no reviews isn't easy. I've come to the conclusion that it's a waste to spend time and money marketing a book with no reviews. Quite a few of the better ad sites require a certain number of reviews at a specific star average - like 10 reviews with a 3.5 average - before they will accept a book.

So that's the next step with this book.

If you would like a free copy of Dark Deed to review, please email me at m.alice.sabo(at)gmail.com.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Dark Deeds Presales

The Dark Deeds ebook is now available for presales on Amazon. Place your order now!

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Deeds-Blaine-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00TEF1HNG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423579474&sr=1-1&keywords=alice+sabo

The ebook will be released on Friday the 13th. The print book will come out before the end of the month.