Bloody Lessons on Kindle Countdown

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In Bloody Lessons, it is the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, 1880, and the teachers of San Francisco are under attack: their salaries slashed and their competency and morals questioned in a series of poison pen letters.  Annie Fuller, the reluctant clairvoyant, has been called in to investigate by Nate Dawson, her lawyer beau, and the case becomes personal when they discover that Laura, Nate’s sister, may be one of the teachers targeted for attack. In this installment in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, readers will find the same blend of a cozy mystery and romantic suspense, played out against the historical backdrop of late 19th century San Francisco, that they found in Maids of Misfortune and Uneasy Spirits.  If you are new to this series, you will still enjoy spending time with the lively residents of Annie Fuller’s boarding house and visiting Read more…


Happy Holidays

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As I wrap up the last presents (with 5 grandchildren this is not an easy chore), I can’t help but count my blessings. In December of 2009 I published my first book, Maids of Misfortune, with few expectations beyond the satisfaction of knowing my family and friends who had heard about this book for over twenty years would finally be able to see it in print. Four years later, I continue to be astounded at how greatly I have exceeded those expectations. I now have three books and two short stories in my Victorian San Francisco series, and over 300,000 of these books and stories have been bought or downloaded––a number that seems simply unreal. I have also made uncounted number of friends from among fans of the series and the other authors with whom I have shared this remarkable indie author Read more…


How to Get your books into the right Categories and Sub-categories: Readers to Books/Books to Readers—Part Three

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Introduction: Two years ago, I wrote a blog piece about the importance of using categories, keywords, and tags (which no longer exist) to make your books visible in the Kindle Store. A year later I wrote an update that expanded on this and discussed how having your book in the right categories could make free and discount promotions more effective. The basic argument I made hasn’t changed––that an author needs to understand how categories work in order to use them to improve the chance their books will be found by readers who are browsing in the Kindle store. If you aren’t convinced of the importance of categories in improving discoverability—you might want to go back and skim through those two posts or just google “discoverability and categories” to see the multiple posts on this topic. However, for most of you, Read more…


Read Tuesday: Give the Gift of Reading for the Holidays

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Chris McMullen, an enthusiastic and energetic indie author, has organized what we all hope will become an annual event–Read Tuesday–a day dedicated to the buying and gifting of books for the holiday season. I am happy to be participating. In my case, I have discounted the print editions of all three of the Victorian San Francisco Mysteries 20% for the day. To get this discount, click on the book’s cover to get to the estore listing. At check out, you can use the Discount Code: GXZNLUK2 to get your 20% off. This will only be available for the next 36 hours.                                               In addition, my print editions also remain in the MatchBook program with the bundled ebook versions Free for the rest Read more…


Holiday Gift Promotions

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Thanks to the fans of my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, 2013 turned out to be another excellent year for me as an Indie Author. So in a spirit of gratitude I thought I would run a series of different holiday promotions, discounting my books in various ways. First, at $6. 99, this newly published box set of the first three ebooks in my series represents a greater than 40% discount of the combined cost of the three novels. Nearly a 1000 pages of Victorian romance and mystery and perfect as a gift to give to readers of  almost any age. My second promotion starts today, as Maids of Misfortune goes on a Kindle Countdown and will be 99 cents in the Kindle store from November 23-29, 2013. Let your friends and family know, or better yet, gift them a copy Read more…