Welcome to my writing blog. My name is Johnny Ray and as the writer of many novels, short stories, poems, blogs, screenplays, speeches, commentaries on breaking news, etc. I hope this blog will help to show the frustrations and joys of the work behind the scenes, and hopefully attract many people that will become friends, and maybe even fans of my work. Like all of life, it will be an adventure none the less. Thanks for joining me on the ride, and being a part of my life.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
INTERNATIONAL BOOK PUBLISHING UNIVERSITY
SAN FRANCISCO
2014
I had a blast this last weekend attending many group meetings and doing one on ones with some of the top people in the publishing world. Everyone knows how much this industry is changing, but knowing that and keeping up with it is a different story.
One of the major takeaways from the events and from talking to everyone individually is the importance of the amount of social media presence that authors must maintain these days. This is not on one site but across all sites. Of course there will always be some debate on which one works best or how you should use it, but all agree that you have to master it.
Learning the ropes on how to get in with major distributors is extremely important and one reason why I wanted to have private time with people like Tom Doherty (pictured below) who is president of Cardinal Publishing Group and has a wealth of information to share. With all that has to be done it is easy to see why who need to allow yourself six months to prelaunch your novel.
Because I use Ingram to distribute my print books worldwide, it was a big honor to meet with Mark Ouimet (pictured below) who is the vice president and general manager at Ingram. Since the last time we talked at the Frankfurt Book Fair I have placed many of my novels in their system and have been so pleased with the way they handle my account. He has so much knowledge about distribution that I wished we had more time to talk, but I am sure we will again soon.
The major distributor for my electronic books is Amazon and it is always a pleasure to spend time with my friend Thom Kephart (pictured below) who is the Community Outreach Product Manager at Amazon. Thom has been with Amazon for a while and is the go to guy if you have questions on anything happening at Amazon. Amazon keeps creating innovative ways to help authors sale and staying on top of them is important. To get discovered in Amazon you have to learn how to use your meta tags and how to take advantage of the many opportunities they offer.
I could keep going, but when you have people like Jonathan Kirsch, one of the top publishing and contract attorneys in the country giving advice, or friends like Mark Coker who owns smashwords and is a highly outspoken advocate for indie writers around, you know you are in the best place in the world to learn. But with every meeting and every contact the people you meet add one more level of knowledge that is needed to make it in this crazy publishing world. It is the people like Jim Millliot, the Co-editorial Director at Publishing Weekly who are the best at making sense of all of the madness and making it easier for all of us to understand easier.
Considering I meet hundreds of people like this over the weekend, I will always remember my time in San Francisco as one of my best trips ever in learning to be a better publisher and writer.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
chillax
Sometimes you have to enjoy the day and wait on the characters to talk to you
I see no problem in that
Monday, March 17, 2014
pricing policy
PRICING
AFTER MUCH EXPERIMENTATION
SIR JOHN PUBLISHING
HAS ESTABLISHED THE FOLLOWING PRICING SCHEDULE
FOR SHORT STORIES
AVERAGING 5,000 TO 10,000 WORDS
99 CENTS
FOR NOVELLAS
AVERAGING 15,000 TO 35,000 WORDS
$2.99
FOR SHORT NOVELS
AVERAGING 50,000 TO 60,000 WORDS
$3.99
FOR FULL LENGTH NOVELS
AVERAGING AROUND 100,000 WORDS
$4.99
LATEST RELEASE
$5.99
As shown the reader gets roughly twice as much reading material with each jump, and the cost is only $1.00 extra.
I hope this is something you can support, and would love to hear your thoughts.
Monday, March 10, 2014
the challanges of writers
MANY PEOPLE LOOK DIFFERENT
IT IS THE WRITER'S JOB TO BRING THOSE IMAGES TO LIFE
HERE IS A COMPUTER GENERATED COMPARISON
SO HERE IS THE CHALLENGE
CAN YOU DESCRIBE IN WORDS THEIR DIFFERENCES?
Friday, March 07, 2014
books available on KOBO
ATTENTION
KOBO BOOK LOVERS
SEVERAL OF MY NOVELS ARE AVAILABLE ON KOBO
HERE IS A LIST AND LINK TO THEM
A WAR HERO RETURNS
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/a-war-hero-returns
MODELS AND LOVERS
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/models-and-lovers
THE JOURNEY TO WHITESTONE
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-journey-to-whitestone
THE SALSA CONNECTION
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-salsa-connection
Wednesday, March 05, 2014
AUDIO BOOKS
LISTENING TO A BOOK IS MUCH DIFFERENT THAN ACTUALLY READING ONE
TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO TRY AUDIBLE THERE IS A SPECIAL INCENTIVE AVAILABLE WHERE YOU CAN GET ONE OF MY CURRENT NOVELS ON AUDIBLE FOR FREE WITH A THIRTY DAY TRAIL MEMBERSHIP
HERE IS A LIST OF MY NOVELS ON AUDIBLE AND THE LINKS
I HOPE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SPECIAL OFFER
HER HONOR'S BODYGUARD
STALKING LOVE
MODELS AND LOVERS
LITERARY AGENT BEWARE
SCANDAL-- THE DEATH OF A LEGACY
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