Category: Conduit: The Beginning

Posts regarding my book, “The Conduit: The beginning”

Now that my book “Conduit: The Beginning” is starting to reach some readers, I’m hoping to start some discussion around the many characters in the book.  I’m anxious to hear what character people loved to read about the most.

I will be starting another category for all the characters in Conduit and will start in the order as characters are presented in the story.  First up is Jack Connor.

Jack Connor, an average man, who cares for his family above all else is the kind of person most people would want for a friend.  Dependable, easy-going, hardworking, and kind are all words that describe Jack.  Though Jack tends to want everyone to get along, he isn’t one that can be pushed.  Hurting those he loves is the worst thing you could do, because Jack will not back down from a fight.

Not to give the story away, Jack is a very important character that saves the life of Marcus as a baby, who will grow to be the only hope for humanity through an alien invasion.  Without thinking, Jack puts himself in harms way to save a baby he had never known.

My goal for this character was to show how an ordinary person, everyone can relate to, can rise to take action when necessary and how important they are to our world.  Anyone can rise to be a hero, regardless of their work or history.

Jack hates his job.  It is demeaning to him and he feels deep down that he is meant for more then what he does for work, yet he goes to work everyday because he cares about his family and needs to support his wife and child.

Caught in the usual daily events, Jack’s life takes a sharp turn when an event at a mall occurs and turns Jack from an everyday man into a hero.

I have been away from my website for a few days recovering from an eventful week-end.  Saturday and Sunday I ran a promotion for my new book, “Conduit: The Beginning”, by offering it on Amazon for FREE!  I believe it to have been a very successful campaign, though I believe there was a glitch with Amazon which may have robbed me of some potential readers.  Several people have told me that my book was not being displayed as “free” when they went to grab a copy.  From what I have read on the support forums, others have had similar issues in the past.

Ignoring the glitch that occurred, “Conduit” managed to hold a spot within in the top 10 free list under Science Fiction/Adventure by Saturday evening with its subcategory, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, it had landed in the top 30.  I was elated when I went to bed that night.  Being a new author with little knowledge of self-publishing, I was overjoyed that my book was moving so quickly.  Then came Sunday.

Obviously, checking to see how “Conduit” was doing was the first thing I did Sunday morning.  I had successfully maintained my hold on #10 and #30.  My overall rank on all of Amazon had moved up from a dismal 200,000 all the way up to 530!  All day long I was on the phone,  watching my book climb the ranks – I think my wife was about to throw my phone away on me.  By midday, I had overtaken several spots under Sci-Fi/Adventure to land at #6 and #21 for Thriller/Suspense.  I can’t explain how exciting it is to see the book that you have worked on for so long land in the hands of so many readers.  Yes, I know, it’s free.  But I really don’t care.  I hope that people enjoy my story as much as I did writing it.

In the end, I had climbed all the way to #4 in Sci-Fi/Adventure, landing right next to H. G. Wells’ Time Machine in #3.  In Thriller/Suspense, I managed to land in #12.

Not bad for a new guy on the block!  “Conduit” fared well, landing in two top 100 lists.  If you missed the chance to grab a free copy, I am running a discount through the week-end, selling my story for .99.  Not free, but close!

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I hoped to help those thinking about publishing their books online themselves, by sharing some of the pitfalls and troubles I have experienced with the process of publishing my novel with Amazon.  My first post related to forgetting to enter the author name.  I’m still amazed at how I managed to fall for that one but from what I’ve read online in the Kindle support forum, it’s a fairly common mistake.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Today’s post is not about forgetting names, but is about Amazon’s option to publish through their program, KDP Select.

What is KDP Select?

It took me some time to understand, but in summary, KDP Select is a large fund for authors who enroll their books in the program.  I believe that this month’s fund is $600,000.00.  The amount is adjusted every month based on how many participants have signed into the program.  What the fund covers are the books that are “borrowed”.  The books that are eligible to be borrowed are those where the author has chosen to participate in KDP Select.  Every time a book is borrowed, it is assigned a portion of the fund.  It is a very small percentage so to make any decent amount of money; a book would have to be borrowed a lot.

It took me some time to decide if I wanted to enroll in the program.  Not because I thought the earnings would be minimal on borrowed books – I believe that by participating in the Kindle library it in increases a book’s reach, but because Amazon requires that an author make the book exclusive to Amazon for ninety days.  This means that the author’s work cannot be posted anywhere else electronically for that period of time.

To help sway people to still participate after the exclusivity contract, Amazon adds in a five day promotional period that can be used at any time during the ninety days.  I read that section and thought, “Great! I’ll do it!”  That was until I read the next statement that any books bought during a promotional period are free.

A lot of people swear by the program and an equal number of people hate it.  So why do it?  I’ll save that for another post.