Zack & Zoey Book 2 is Ready!

I'm pleased to announce that Zack & Zoey Book 2: Zack & Zoey Save Walt's Brain is ready for publication!

Editing and proofreading is complete and the book is just undergoing last minute formatting and legal review before it's put on sale, later this week. Until then, here's a few illustrations from the over four dozen in this book:

Zack & Zoey Book 2, First Illustrations!

Yes, even though I haven't been updating the blog, I have been working. Zack & Zoey book 2 is currently in editing and I hope to have it released early next month.

The illustrations are taking a little longer than I had hoped, but I'm sure they'll be worth the wait. Here's a few  previews of a couple of the rough sketches:

20,000 Kid's Books Sold via Self-Publishing!

I haven't posted in a while, but I have some news I think is worth sharing. January I had my first 2,000 book month and just a couple days ago I sold my 20,000th kid book. For those who are interested, here's some of my stats:

Books given-away: over 250k (most short stories)
Percentage of books sold on Amazon: over 95%
Printed copies: less than 200
First sale: June 26th 2010
Books sold in 2010 and 2011 combined: 8691
Books sold in 2012: 8746

This isn't phenomenal success, but it's pretty good for an indie Kidlit author. So I figured I'd offer my best (okay, my only) advice for other kidlit writers trying to generate some sales.

There's no sure-fire review blog or advertising sites for kidlit. Twitter and Facebook don't help much. The only thing I've found that really helps promote is to publish free short stories and tack on a preview of your full-length books at the end.

Amazon's KDP self-pubbing platform only allows you to set the price as low as 99¢, not free. So you have to use Smashwords or Draft2Digital.com to upload your short stories to sites like B&N and Apple. Then wait, sometimes months for Amazon to price match.

It's been getting much harder to get Amazon to set a book to free, but it's worth the effort.

And don't discount the roll luck plays. After the basics (good writing, cover, description, etc), luck is key. But every book you release, even the short stories, are like getting another raffle ticket. With enough tickets, and enough time, you're bound to get lucky, eventually.

I'm Going to the World Series

VIEW FROM MY SEATS

No one probably remembers that back in April I predicted that the Giants would be going to the World Series. There were some shaky games in the middle of the season, but I was right, the Giants are heading to the Series.

I really wanted to go to one of the games. But how can you justify spending that kind of dough on baseball tickets?

Once I thought about it, I came up with the perfect excuse to buy tickets: I'll use last month's commission check. And I'll still have a little leftover for beer. Why sell books if you are never going to spend the money?

Now, my monthly sales don't afford front row seats, but after missing the 2010 World Series, I'm just glad to be going.

The playoffs were tough (as everyone knew they would be), but we are definitely on a roll. The Tigers are a good team with great pitching, so it's going to be a great Series.

!!!GO GIANTS!!!

Kindle Nation Daily Gives Zack & Zoey 5-Stars!

Earlier this week, Colton at Kindle Daily Nation Kids Corner reviewed Zack & Zoey's Alien Apocalypse. You may recall, earlier in the year they also reviewed Super Zombie Juice.
Here's a blurb from this latest review:

"I really enjoyed this book. I laughed a lot and kept quoting things in the book to my mom. There were even pictures in Zack and Zoey, which I thought was awesome."

Read the rest of the 5-star review at Kindle Nation Daily. And a big thank you to Colton and the folks over at KND for making the effort to review kidlit. There's so few sites that do, it's great to see such a well known one taking the time to post these reviews from student reviewers!

Naked Zombies--The Zombie Apocalypse just got a whole lot scarier

By now we all know that the government is desperately trying to contain the growing number of Zombie attacks. Frankly, I think they are doing a very good job of keeping this thing under control.

However, I do have one question: What's up with all the Naked Zombies?

Just yesterday in Pennsylvania, "A naked, bloody man broke into a home, jumped from a two-story window, tackled a passerby and chewed on her head.."

But this isn't the first or even the second Naked Zombie attack. So is there a connection I'm missing, and if so do I really want to find out what it is? I don't think so.

So please, if you know any zombies, kindly ask them to keep their clothes on! This isn't the Zombie Apocalypse I signed up for.

Zack & Zoey's First Review

Paranormal Sisters is the first blog to post a review of Zack and Zoey's Alien Apocalypse, giving it 5-stars.

If you're a regular reader, you may remember that Paranormal Sisters gave Super Zombie Juice 4.5 stars.

Here's an except of the review for Zack & Zoey:

Sorry but it was just sooooo adorable. This book is mainly aimed at kids but it's really great for all ages. There's humor, a sweet little cute romance, and of course lots of action. From start to finish. From when the aliens come to the white house and take over. That scene was humorous. This is a fun story line that just allows you to be a kid for just a little while and allows you to forget the world around you.

Check out the entire review (and read the comments if you want to know more about my next project).