Here I am at the edge

War on Islam The latest outrages done by ISIS in Paris  reminded me of a little-known 1970s film - Is Paris burning? The latest crimes include not only attacks on innocent Jews but the hunting of innocent disabled people .  You may think this incredulous act of barbarism not real in the 21st century , but you need to remember most of the Islamic states  are still living in the Middle Ages.

Can the improbale happen?  There is a strong possiblity that for the first time in nearly two years, my sales on Amazon will be more than the sales on Draft2Digital .  This is not to say my Amazon sales are good, more to emphasise that without a miraculous sales boost this month will be my worst on Barnes & Noble. In January 2013, I joined Barnes & Noble and in the last three days of the month, I sold more than I have in the first two weeks of this month.  My worst month prior to this month was June 2014, when I sold 7 e-books, even that low appears beyond my reach this month.

Some things worked, lots of things failed for me. When I started, I was told it would take ten years to get my work recognized; here I am after 15 years and no further on. Amazon  Most people's first port of call is useless unless you have a name people can relate to items for sale.  Apple Apple has become the go-to site -    https://books.apple.com/us/author/alan-place/id504489780     - to buy my ebooks. Draft2Digital  D2D is the best site to use for distribution - https://www.draft2digital.com/book /  - the site is also continually taking on new platforms to help sales. Overall view on the past . I had a little success on Draft2Digital for about three years, but nothing has sold in any amount for the last decade, though I have tried different genres to attract readers.

Why not write for free? Being paid to write  The idea of paying to read my stories appears to be an alien concept to my readers. While I write my blog, and it's FREE the blog will continue to thrive. For the last year or two, I have considered and rejected the idea of putting my stories on here FREE . If not to you, my time is valuable to me.  Why write for free?   Let me be brutally honest with you, despite what my friends may tell me about being one of the best sci-fi writers they read - writing does NOT, nor will it ever pay. In 18 months, I averaged less than $1.50 a week, and this is considered good.  Now, you can see my dilemma; writing doesn't make my time worth the effort, on the other hand, why should I put it on here FREE ?  This blog gets over 300 readers most days, but this leads nowhere. I asked myself many times - Is it popular for its variety, or because it's free?  My friends will say variety is drawing the readers in, I tend t...

Back from the brink When you're down - which I am at the moment - you tend to get stranger than usual ideas and in my case, that says a lot.  Last night I was chatting with some good friends about my decision to declassify myself as a writer as I haven't done anything more than this blog all year, and I am not worried - which would usually worry me. During our chat, the subject came to mind that I almost died in my sleep two years a short story called Death of a newshound   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/62636   has been   written about the night. FREE READING  That's correct this harrowing story is free on Draft2Digital . I must warn you, my friend Julia who read the story, asked me to change a few things so my friends wouldn't get scared. Such is my talent at writing, even now, I write so well I can scare people who know me well. The night in question came at the end of a week when I almost choked to death twice, and I was worn out from...

The Hermit Writer Since my post entitled The Last Post -    https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-last-post.html   - I have struggled daily to keep this blog running against the falling readers. If I am honest with myself, I am the person who checks this blog  the most each day; there are a couple of loyal readers, but considering these posts go out on Google and Facebook the few readers I get per post don't make it worth continuing.  I entitled this post The Hermit Writer because from tonight I will be a virtual recluse, my only contact will be via -    https://www.facebook.com/awplace/  - I realize this will mean I will not know how many, if any, people read what I am writing  but there again as most posts get fewer than six readers I don't have a lot to lose. I have lots of ideas for short stories which will remain secreted away, and die with me, as nobody is interested in buying from my ebook selections -  https://www....

The day I wait for Yes, folks, it is the day we're supposed to watch out for bad luck - don't make me laugh, that has been my life since March. I should be pleased. One book was selling very well, and it is a lovely day but for months I haven't been able to write more than a few words.   Reading I have an extensive library and a diverse one at that; I would read, but it haunts me, having books shows I cared enough to buy the writer's work.  I wonder how that feels? I wrote an award-winner once, but it never sold. I spent over 15 months on one book, which didn't sell either.  TV  I use my TV as a monitor screen to watch my DVDs. I think I'll be doing that a lot more in future, again some writer had to write the script and the series caught the interest of someone enough to want to have it produced. Following that, the actors learned their lines to bring the shows to life.  Grammarly  I have the beginning of a bad day already; my Chromebook ...