Things have been quiet around Katzenhaus Books lately, because the boss (that’s me!) has been insanely engaged in the “Spring Cleaning” impulse that arises every year when the weather warms up. When i was a kid, we knew it was finally spring in Ohio when the fire in the furnace was banked and put to rest until fall. But that event brought on the next. Every room in the house was now coated with a fine layer of black coal dust after the winter’s heating. The bathroom and kitchen were not a problem because the walls were painted and could quickly be scrubbed. But the other rooms all had wallpaper, and it was real paper, not vinyl, so we couldn’t apply water to it.

The solution was complicated. All furniture was moved to the center of the room and draped with old sheets. Then we opened the yearly supply of Kutol. This was a nasty mixture resembling putty and smelling like a chemical factory. Actually, it was little more than salt, flour, water, and cleaning substances, kept moist in a can until we took out handfuls, wadded them into ball and started wiping down the walls. As it picked up the soot, the clay turned from pink to gray, which called for further kneading until the dirty surface was replaced with cleaner particles. The process worked, but it was messy, and took days. I can still smell those chemicals.  The advent of the gas furnace was a major turning point in my young life, but by the time we converted the old coal furnace,  I had absorbed a need to clean somewhere deep into my genes. It rears its ugly head every year.

This year the impulse began with a search through the garage for a nail to rehang a picture. My hunt turned up 15 containers of used nails, most of them bent, rusty, or tinged with paint. It also revealed several cartons of household goods that had not been unpacked when we moved here twelve years ago, along with box after box of unsorted photographs. Those discoveries, along with a neighbor’s sidelong glance and offer to help me clean up “this horrible mess,”  were enough to trigger the whole “Spring Cleaning” drive.  I’ve been at it ever since. And once I got started with the garage, it carried over into several closets and my husband’s old office furniture. I’m happy to report that I now have a clean garage with room to park an extra car if I should ever need to, as well as a cozy new “girl cave.”  I still have my writing office, full of books, papers, and computers, all of them telling me to get back to work. But this new room is a place where I can curl up in a comfortable rocker and read or daydream or listen to music without feeling guilty.

All those changes fall into the category of “good news.” The bad news is that I haven’t done any writing, and that includes both the new book manuscript and the usual blog posts. Ugh!  I would firmly resolve to get back to work, except that I’m going to be tied up all next week with a writers’ conference.  So to carry us all over until I can be more productive, I’ve scheduled another book promotion. Many of you have read “Damned Yankee” and wondered what happened to the Grenvilles after the Civil War. Now’s your chance to follow them through the turmoil and challenges of the Reconstruction era. I promise it will be more fun than spring house cleaning!

 Here are the details:

On Saturday, May 21, starting at 8:00 AM (Pacific Time), the Kindle edition of “Yankee Reconstructed” will be available for just ninety-nine cents. That’s a price reduction of something like 80%.  Grab it quickly, because at 8:00 AM on Sunday, May 22, the price will jump to $2.99. That’s still a bargain at half-price, of course. But don’t delay further, because at 8:00 AM on Monday, May 23, the price reverts to the list cost of $5.99. This is a once-a-year bargain countdown deal. The clock will be ticking, and the remaining time will show up on the book’s Kindle page, for those of you who need to convert to other time zones. Click here to grab your copy:

One of the characteristics of e-book publication in 2014 was the appearance of new marketing tricks. For example, KDP Select now offers an option to do a "Countdown" sale. In this promotion, your book starts out at a low price of $0.99 and then the price gradually increases until it reaches the book's list price. Amazon promotes these countdowns heavily, but I fail to see the point. If customers won't buy the book for 99 cents, why would they be more likely to by it when the price increases by one dollar, and then by two dollars?

 

Still, I was willing to give it a try. I listed a countdown for a book that had been out for two years and had sold regularly although in small quantities. Here's part of the announcement I posted: 

"On Thanksgiving Day at 8:00 a.m. PST, its price will drop to $.99 for a countdown period through Black Friday.  (Your savings amount to 67%) On  Saturday, Nov. 29 at 8:00 a.m. PDT, the price will increase to $1.99 and remain there for a second countdown period through Cyber Monday. (Your savings amount to 34%) It will return to its original list price of $2.99 on Tuesday, December 2 at 8:00 a.m. PST. Don't miss out on this one!"

I was encouraged to help the countdown along by posting frequent reminders that "there are only x-number of hours left before the price goes up." How annoying is that -- not just for readers and potential customers, but also for the author who has to keep track of the hours and post the warnings?

 

There was not a single sale during the countdown promotion. I received no feedback on why readers did not purchase the book at a lower price, but the message was clear. Potential customers were simply ignoring it. The countdown did not produce any sense of urgency. They knew the book would still be around if they needed it, because e-books never go out of print. If they didn't need it, there was no reason to invest even that small $ .99 amount.

I have no idea what the Kindle people were thinking when they proposed this, but for me it makes absolutely no sense.  This is one marketing ploy i have written off completely.

How are you spending Cyber Monday?I have a lengthy "to-do"list waiting for me. We're going to one (maybe two) Christmas parties tonight, and for one of them I need to wrap up a bunch of presents.  So far, I have the paper out. I also planned to do some baking today, only to discover that the butter in the fridge is something labeled "butter made from olive oil and sea salt." Doesn't sound like Christmas cookie material to me! So baking will be postponed until I can work in a grocery run.

And what have I accomplished so far? Well, I've read lots of ads for special Cyber Monday deals, including a few that feature my own books.  Just in case you're shopping, here are some places you might want to visit.

"The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese." This handy guide for navigating the tricky path to self-publishing is on a "count-down deal." It will be available for only $1.99 until tomorrow morning at 8:00 PST.

"Teddy Takes a Road Trip" is my first attempt at writing a children's book and publishing it through amazon's new program. Until midnight tonight you can get it for free.

And my publisher has a 40%-off deal on all books, so you Civil War fans can pick up the first edition of "A Scratch with the Rebels" with all the endnotes and illustrations.  It is available today only for $14.97 rather than $24.95.

Happy shopping, everyone.

I’ll be taking some of the Thanksgiving holiday off, but in case some of you are already in a Christmas-gift-buying mood, I’m leaving a couple of Kindle deals to keep you shopping between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

First comes The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: How To Avoid the Traps of Self-Publishing. This handbook is based on my own experiences as I made the transition from traditional publishing to self-publishing. By 2010 I had published three books with traditional publishers, and I was well aware of the delays and frustrations that accompanied those ventures.

When I started to consider self-publishing I learned three things:  (1) Self-publishing is quicker—much quicker. (2) Self-publishing gives the author complete control over the content and appearance of the finished book. (3) In most cases, an author makes much more money from a self-published book.

What’s not to love? Well, as in any business, you need to know what you are doing if you expect to be successful. “The Second Mouse” lets the reader in on all the mistakes I made along the way and offers some tips on how to avoid  the pitfalls of the publishing world. The book is currently available at:

On Thanksgiving Day at 8:00 a.m. PST, its price will drop to $.99 for a countdown period through Black Friday.  (Your savings amount to 67%) On  Saturday, Nov. 29 at 8:00 a.m. PDT, the price will increase to $1.99 and remain there for a second countdown period through Cyber Monday. (Your savings amount to 34%) It will return to its original list price of $2.99 on Tuesday, December 2 at 8:00 a.m. PST.

Don't miss out on this one!