Closed for Labor Day, 2017

Saturday, September 2nd through Tuesday morning, September 5th. 

Yes, it's true. We're going to be closed for 2 whole days.  I know, you're all accustomed to the idea that we're here, 24/7/365--even if that's not quite true--and it's shocking, but even the wicked need to regenerate from time to time, and as our labors are largely Herculean, well, what better time to do that than the Labor Day weekend?  

That means that the ADMIN offices are closed. No phones, no email, no nuttin'!

Lastly:  if you haven't yet donated to help the people and pets of Hurricane Harvey, please do so.  Every penny does count.  I know, everyone says that all the time, but...it really does.   

We'll see you on Tuesday!  

Howdy, gang.

Yes, it's true. We're going to be closed for 10 days, if you're reading this before 12/23/16, or we already are, if you're stumbling onto our front steps, after noon on December 23rd, 2016. Every year, for the last three months of the year, we endure horribly long working days, rush book after rush book, and just all-round craziness. So, come the Christmas holiday, we take a break, intended to be about 10 days. We call this the Midwinter Downtime.  That means that the ADMIN offices are closed. No phones, no email, no nuttin'!

If you have a book in production with us, fear not. We have a couple of fellows who needed some extra shekels this year, who asked to pick up some hours during the Downtime. They'll be working on your books, while the rest of us are off recharging our batteries.

Please note: as whacky as this sounds, the phone company tells us that our voicemail is NOT working. If you don't reach someone, when you call, please, just send us an email instead. I promise that I will cheerfully call you when we get back. And we won't chase you around, either; you don't have to worry that if you change your mind, or go with someone else, that we'll be calling you and calling you. We're just not built that way. We don't harass people.  It's not who we are.  You can call or email and leave your contact information in perfect confidence that we'll treat you, as we wish to be treated.  No excuses, no whining, no kidding.   

So, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, happy holidays to All, and to All, a Good Night!

We'll see you next year!  

Closed for the 24 Hours of LeMans, 2017

Saturday June 17th-Sunday June 18th. 

Yes, it's true. We're going to be closed for 2 whole days.  Every year, we get together, shut the office, pop the popcorn, get plenty of sleep on Friday night, because come Saturday morning...it's the 24 Hours of Le Mans, arguably the greatest sportscar endurance test in all of racing.  We stay awake for every minute--all 24 hours of it--and we drag ourselves in, come Monday morning.

That means that the ADMIN offices are closed. No phones, no email, no nuttin'!

If you have a book in production with us, fear not. Many of the bookmakers have zero interest in the race (inconceivable!). They'll be working on your books, while the rest of us are off rooting for our favorite teams and drivers.

If you call while we're off, please, just send us an email instead. I promise that I will cheerfully call you when we get back. And we won't chase you around, either; you don't have to worry that if you change your mind, or go with someone else, that we'll be calling you and calling you. We're just not built that way. We don't harass people.  It's not who we are.  You can call or email and leave your contact information in perfect confidence that we'll treat you, as we wish to be treated.  No excuses, no whining, no kidding.   

We'll see you on Monday!  

Breaking Amazon News!!

Reported by GoodEReader, yesterday, at this page:   http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/kindle-e-books-will-have-a-warning-message-if-they-have-spelling-mistakes-or-bad-formatting

According to Michael Kozlowski at GoodEReader.com's blog, Amazon has implemented a new program, by which they are going to alert customers and buyers of validated errors in eBooks, on the book's sales page.  Amazon has begun emailing self-publishers, alerting them to the presence of spelling and formatting errors.  The new program will go into effect on February 3rd, 2016.  

Amazon has implemented a new program, by which they are going to alert customers and buyers of validated errors in eBooks, on the book's sales page.

There's going to be a two-step warning system.  If an eBook solely has a few spelling errors, a simple "warning message" will appear on the book's sales page.  It will make buyers aware that there are some errors in the book.  

If the book has bad formatting, however, making it hard to read or unreadable, the book will be removed from sale, by Amazon, until the product is fixed.

GoodEReader says that Amazon is currently in the process of emailing anyone who has books in the KDP store with "multiple" errors.  We don't know if multiple means 2 or 20 or 200, but I'm sure we'll find out shortly.  

Only readers with the newer KF8 e-ink readers--the Paperwhite, Voyage, and later numbered versions (Kindle 3, Kindle 4), can report errors to Amazon whilst in the book itself.  Other readers have to use the "report formatting errors" button on the book's sales page.  

 Kozlowski goes on to say that he hopes that Apple, B&N, Google and Kobo will follow suit. Given that Amazon is clearly the 900lb Gorilla in this scenario, any author is going to end up thinking "in for a penny, in for a pound," and cleaning up their ePUB books at the other vendors.  

We're all waiting breathlessly to see the results.  Frankly--this type of quality culling is long overdue, in our opinion.  

DeathByte Knocks It Out of the Park!

Booknook.biz client D.S. Kane must be one of the happiest guys around--not only did Baksheesh, Book 5 of the Spies Lie Series, kick up to #47 in the Amazon Thrillers/Assassintaions genre, but this week D.S. (not his real name--read on to find out why!) learned that DeathByte, Book 2 in the same series, assassinated the competition by rocketing up to #1--yes, number 1--on TWO of the Amazon Bestseller lists, and number 23 overall. Yup:  23rd on the overall list, which ain't bad, boys and girls.  

Why is D.S. So Successful at Espionage Thrillers?

For all those naysayers out there still whingeing that a self-publishing author can't compete with the big boys of BPH (Big Publishing Houses), D.S., amongst others, is quite simply proving them wrong.  But why? Why is Dave just so darn good at his storytelling?  At spinning tales out of thin air? At getting inside the minds of intelligence operatives, covert agents, double-agents and traitors?