Writing blog

New Covers for 3 of My Suspense Thrillers – Check ’em Out!

October 22, 2016 by William F. Brown Leave a Comment

NEW COVERS! I decided to try some Sponsored Products ads on Kindle and submitted six of my eight suspense, thriller-novels, which have been out on Kindle for an average of two years. The ads per se consist of the cover and a small blurb of text. Well, the “Thought Police” in far away India took offense and rejected five of my six covers. Wow! What did I do wrong, I wondered. Full frontal nudity? Gruesome Zombies? Blood and Gore? Kiddie Porn? Nope. My books are action adventure suspense novels. Some have Cold War, WW II, Delta Force, or Middle East subjects. Why, pray tell, did the Thought Police reject them? Well, one had a gun on the cover. No guns! One had a WW II theme and had a small swastika, a US Army, and Hammer and Sickle behind a U-boat. One had a swastika on a WW II German airplane. They don’t like nationalistic symbols. They might offend someone. Another had a rifle sight and a cross hairs. I protested and argued to no avail. Cain’t fight city hall. He who has the gold, make the rules, I guess. So, reluctantly I bit the bullet and had my wonderful cover designer, Todd Hebertson, come up with some new covers that would pass muster in far away Mumbai or Delhi. Wow! The net result is I have some really neat new covers. These were approved, but don’t expect me to thank the Thought Police anytime soon. Here’s the first three of the new covers, let me know what you think.

You can check out my other suspense novels, read a few chapters, see some of my other writing, and the status of my next book at my web site http://box5462.temp.domains/~billbro4 Check ’em out!

Never Go Back, a Jack Reacher Thriller by Lee Child Book Review

September 30, 2016 by William F. Brown Leave a Comment

Everybody likes the Jack Reacher series. He is the no-nonsense hero of 17 of Lee Child’s action-adventure novels, two of which, including this one, Never Go Back, have been made into movies starring Tom Cruise. Cruise is an improbable pick to play Reacher, but the movies are very good, as are the books. I liked this one better than the last few. The story really pulls you in and the action is non-stop. Reacher, the ex-MP major hitches all the way from South Dakota to visit Major Susan Turner, the new CO of his old unit, the 110^th MPs in DC, only to discover that she’s in jail and some very dark

characters have taken over. Rather than go back out the way he came in and disappear again, (as Reacher would never do) he sticks around, breaks himself and her out of the stockade, and sets off with no money and no resources, not even shoe laces, to take on the entire Pentagon establishment and the FBI. With Reacher, that isn’t a fair fight. He and Turner travel back and forth across the country to track down a large drug smuggling operation that has been going on right under the Army’s noses. As usual, the action is nonstop and the writing spartan and no nonsense. Lee Child has never seen an adjective he likes or uses. It is all straight nouns and verbs. The only thing that made a big thud with me was the ending. Hiss Boo! I won’t give away plot spoiler, but a big basher like Reacher deserves enemies that rise to his stature, and who he personally bests in the end, not those two guys.

William F. Brown is the author of 8 suspense thrillers with over 500 Five-Star Reviews: Burke’s War, Burke’s Gamble, The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and Aim True, My Brothers, and The Cold War Trilogy. They are all available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them and the author’s screenplays and other writing at billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com

Kindle Unlimited: The New Paperback

September 26, 2016 by William F. Brown Leave a Comment

Amazon rolled out the Kindle Unlimited program a little over two years ago. While they continue to tweak it and it does have its flaws, I think it will prove to be the most revolutionary step in publishing since the e-book itself, and perhaps since the first paperback was published in 1939 by Pocket Books. They priced them at $0.25 each, at a time when a reader’s choices were $2.50 – $5.00 hardbacks for the wealthy, library books for the literate but less wealthy, the Book of the Month Club, and Reader’s Digest, which surprisingly is still doing fine today. Pocket Books priced the first paperbacks at $0.25 with the expressed intention of bringing affordable books within reach of the masses. Naturally, all of the major publishing houses laughed at them, as they have at nearly every other innovation since the Gutenberg printing press. Their reaction to paperbacks was a precursor to their reaction to e-books. That lack of innovation has always been at the heart of the publishing house’s problems. Within five years, however Pocket Books had sold over 100 million copies, and no one was laughing anymore.

The economics of book prices are interesting. The first Pocket Book paperbacks came out at the end of the Great Depression. A postage stamp cost $0.03, gas cost $0.10 a gallon, and bread was $0.5 a loaf. At $0.25, it was roughly the same as a gallon of milk, or a pound of butter, chicken, or coffee. More importantly, they were priced at about 10% of the cost of a hardback book. That was a lot of money back then, which is why hardback books were mostly found in libraries. According to government statistics, inflation has totaled 1589% since then, which means that 1939 Pocket Book would cost $4.22 in 2016 dollars and that hardback around $42.20.

Think about that for a moment. First, that 10 to 1 spread between hardbacks and paperbacks hasn’t held up over time. The average paperback today is more like twice that and new paperback releases are normally in the $10-14 range. Meanwhile, the average new hardback still manages to stay under $30, so that 10 to 1 spread now is more like 2 or 3 to 1. While a new, big name e-book in the Kindle store comes out at $10 to $14, the price doesn’t stay there for long. After about 6-8 months, they are normally discounted to the $6 to $9 range, still, in a 4 or 5 to 1 spread to the hardbacks, and the average e-book on Kindle costs less than, roughly equivalent to that $0.25 Pocket Book in 1939 dollars. In fact, many readers only buy the Free or $0.99 e-books on the Sale pages, making Kindle the equivalent of the old public library for the frugal among us. One conclusion you can reach from these numbers is that e-books have had a larger effect on hardback book prices than they have had on paperbacks.

The growth of e-book readership has been phenomenal. Technically, they were first “invented” in the 1930s, but they only reached any level of popular use in the past 20 years, following the introduction of the Sony Reader in 2006, and the first Kindle in 2007. Today, over half of all adults own some type of reader or tablet. More significantly for authors, Amazon now sells 65% of all e-books and 85% of all self-published e-books. In 20 years, the e-book and Kindle have grown to become the twin, 800-pound gorillas in the publishing industry, but their biggest impact may be yet to come.

That comment brings us to the Kindle Unlimited subscription service, which Amazon launched in July, 2014, initially to compete with Scribd and Oyster from HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. At that time, the three services had similar sized libraries to choose from; but like everything else, Kindle just seems to do it better. Kindle Unlimited’s offerings have now grown to over 1 million books. Scribd and Oyster have grown as well, but none of the three offer their first rank bestsellers as part of their subscription services. If you are a reader however, and go through three books or more a month, at $9.99 per month the Kindle Unlimited subscription service is a no-brainer.

True, the Kindle Unlimited library only includes books that are part of the Kindle Select program and “exclusive” to Kindle, which unfortunately is less than half of of their total library, primarily the better, self-published books. Unfortunately, it does not offer many new releases, books that were brought out by the major publishers, or books from front line authors, except their old ones. Still, for $10/ month, there are a lot of good books available for an avid reader, and Kindle is now experimenting with ways to expand their book availability options to Kindle Prime.

For authors, the question has been whether to go exclusively with Kindle Select and get your books eligible for the Kindle Unlimited program, or stay out and try to market them through the other independent e-book publishers such as Smashwords and others. My writing friends have gone either way depending on how much they dislike or don’t trust Amazon. I understand those feelings, but my writing income has doubled as a result of the Kindle Unlimited “Nominal Pages Read,” and it now provides 60% of my books sale income, so don’t let your suspicions or emotions pick your own pocket. More about that in my next blog piece.

William F. Brown, is the author of 8 action, adventure, suspense novels on Kindle, Kindle Select, and Kindle Unlimited. To read about them or subscribe to the blog, go to my web site, http://box5462.temp.domains/~billbro4

“Deadly Stillwater” suspense fiction by Roger Stelljes – Book Review

September 23, 2016 by William F. Brown Leave a Comment

Roger Stelljes has now written six police procedural, suspense novels featuring Mac McRyan and his friends from the St. Paul Police Department. Deadly Stillwater is the third book in that series, series of action-adventure, suspense fiction set in St. Paul, Minnesota. No doubt, there will be more to come. Although series books are very much in vogue these days; I usually dislike them, because they all-too-often cheat the reader. I feel a story should be distinct and complete from cover to cover and not simply a teaser to get the reader to buy yet another book. By and large, Roger Stelljes’ excellent suspense fiction featuring

‘Mac’ McRyan and a cast of quirky St. Paul homicide detectives don’t do that. They are self-contained stories and you really don’t need to read them in sequence. While they are nominally cop stories, like Deadly Stillwater, Roger Stelljes they are much more action-adventure than police procedurals and fun reads. Think Mitch Rapp with a badge, shooting first and asking questions later. Because this series is set in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, they will always draw comparison to John Sandford’s highly successful “Prey” thriller novels. I think Stelljes’ books like “Deadly Stillwater” have considerably more action and running around (the characters are always running or racing somewhere), while Sandford’s have better suspense and character development, but both series are good reads. Roger Stelljes’ books are on Kindle, and you can frequently find them in the Kindle Countdown Sales. Pick one up, like “Deadly Stillwater.” They are great for the beach or a long airplane ride.

William F. Brown is the author of 5 suspense fiction novels with over 300 Five-Star Reviews: The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and now Aim True, My Brothers. They are all available on Kindle and now on Audible Audio Books. You read about them and my other book reviews at my web site Billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com

Book Review – Tallahatchie by Rick DeStefanis – Good Fiction!

September 10, 2016 by William F. Brown Leave a Comment

I have read and reviewed/ rated several of the author’s Vietnam novels and thought they were good fiction and rated right up there with Fields of Fire, A Rumor of War, or my favorite, The 13th Valley. I was there, and he did a very good job of creating for the reader the sights, smells, and feel of that place and time, as well as

drawing some very well-rounded characters. In Tallahatchie, I think he’s the one who did the rounding out as a very good writer. I’ve never spent much time in the Mississippi Delta (and I’m not sure I want to), but this book saves me the trip. It captures that region today, complete with run down factories, small towns, diner food, waitresses, Delta blues, racism, rednecks, pick up trucks, and all the rest, with a cast of marvelously original characters, as the protagonist, Jack Hartman, leaves the modern world and heads to the Delta to ‘save’ a hopelessly run down factory. I spent two college summers working in a place just like that, and the author nails that too. His characters are the key. At its heart, good fiction (southern or any other kind) is about good characters, half fo whom you want to smack or laugh at, and all the action, feel, or setting won’t make up for weak ones. The author can call this ‘southern fiction’ if he wants, although I’m not sure what that means other than he absolutely nails a time and a region and it is a very well written story. I don’t want to give ti the ‘kiss-of-death’ label of ‘serious fiction,’ because it is simply a really good novel. Period!

William F. Brown is the author of eight suspense novels, including Burke’s Gamble, Burke’s War, and The Undertaker, exclusively available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited

Burke’s War action adventure novel on Kindle Sale Now

August 11, 2016 by William F. Brown Leave a Comment

Think ‘The American Sniper’ meets ‘The Godfather’ in this action adventure novel. Burke’s War just went on a $1.99 Kindle Countdown Sale today. It is book #1 of the Bob Burke action adventure novel series, with an Amazon 4.6 Star Rating on 226 Amazon Reviews posted! Grab

a copy now on the Kindle site under Kindle Countdown Deals, or at the book page, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TXZYQWG for a great thriller novel read.

As Bob Burke’s 737 comes in to land at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, he looks out his window and sees a man murder a woman on a rooftop below. No one believes him, of course, but that doesn’t matter. He knows what he saw, and Bob Burke isn’t the kind of guy to let a thing like that rest. Over the next three days, he finds himself butting heads with the Chicago mob, crooked suburban cops, a zealous US Attorney, a psychopathic doctor, and his own vindictive soon-to-be-ex-wife, who is trying to take his company away from him. Slight of build and now a telecommunications company executive, Bob Burke appears to be an easy guy to dismiss; but ‘the telephone guy’ is a former Army Ranger and Delta Force commander who spent four tours in Iraq and the rugged mountains of Afghanistan running ‘special operations’ missions. His men were some of the most lethal killers the US

government ever produced; but as they readily admit, the little guy the middle of the photos is the one you don’t want to meet in a dark alley. So, when the bodies start falling, a young woman needs help, and the wrong people start pushing his buttons, long odds don’t bother him in the slightest. His new combat

If you like a good action adventure novel, read, put this new fast-moving mystery thriller in your Cart. It is from the author of ‘The Undertaker,’ ‘Amongst My Enemies,’ ‘Thursday at Noon,’ “Aim True, My Brothers,’ and ‘Winner Lose All,’ with over 500 Kindle Five Star Reviews Enjoy!

My Writing Blog – What to do with Pneumonia.

May 28, 2016 by William F. Brown Leave a Comment

Thriller Book Reviews – I’ve been struggling with a bout of pneumonia for ten days and too tired to keep hacking away on the draft of my next novel; so, I set it aside and dove into my Kindle Fire, where I found Michael Connelly’s “The Crossing,”, Lee Child’s “A Wanted Man”, and Daniel Silva’s “The English Spy”… Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher, and Gabriel Allon… I wonder what I can contract next?

I have felt for many years that this triumvirate of mystery and suspense writers are the best in the business these days. The neat thing is that their styles could not be more different one from another. I love the Michael Connelly Harry Bosch books and watch his slow, careful, unwinding of the plot as Harry circles and traps the bad guys. In Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon, we watch a master chess player play 3-dimension international chess against terrorists, sweeping across borders from city to city to a conclusion where the bad guys usually end up dead. The dead part is equally true for Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, but he solves his conspiracies with a;; the subtlety of a sledge hammer. Al excellent, all great fun, the top three on my Beach Book thriller list… or the list of boosk to read when you get pneumonia.

The trick of course is to always have two or three of them downloaded on your Kindle Fire, or at least on your Kindle Wish List where you can immediately “break the glass” and grab one in the event of emergency, such as a rainy day, blizzard, or illness, without having to plow through the morning Kindle Daily Deals to find a good one.

Bill Brown is the author of eight mystery and suspense novels currently for sale on Kindle — Burke’s Gamble,” “Burke’s War,’ ‘The Undertaker,’ ‘Amongst My Enemies,’ ‘Thursday at Noon,’ “Aim True, My Brothers,’ ‘Winner Lose All,’ and ‘Cold War Trilogy.’ Enjoy! You can read my thriller book reviews at the Book Review tab on my website.

Chapter 1 of My Next Book — My Writing Blog #4

April 30, 2016 by William F. Brown

Chapter 1 of My Next Book-I have been busily working away (well, not all that busily) on book #3 in the Bob Burke action thriller novels, following on the heels of Burke’s Gamble which came out on March 1 of this year. The new book has a working title of Burke’s Revenge. I am far enough along to have some confidence in the direction, and if posted Chapter 1 on my webpage, http://box5462.temp.domains/~billbro4 under the tab in the header labeled Burke’s Revenge – Coming

Chapter 1, Book Reviews — William F Brown

Soon. Bob Burke is not appeared in the story yet. Chapter 1 in the first draft of every other chapter thereafter is the hardest to write. It deals with one of the bad guys. Take a look and let me know what you think.

As you may or may not be able to tell, I’ve also been making considerable “under the hood” changes to my website, with the help of the staff of Booknook.Biz, my text processors, advisers, magicians, and so many other things. I think we are about done now. Websites, like virtually all social media and promotional work can be big time eaters and distractions if you let them. Like proofreading and grammar, there’s no escaping them in this era of self-publishing.

I learned long ago, however, that the only real way to find more readers and sell more books is to write more books, which is why I’m grinding away on Burke’s Revenge.

Thanks, Bill

How Writers Write — My Writing Blog

March 7, 2016 by William F. Brown

How Writers Write – With my eighth book now out on Kindle, I thought I would start a blog page and periodically share some thoughts and information on writing.

Ever since I began writing, I’ve been fascinated by the way successful writers write – – the physical and mental processes they use, where they write, how they write, when they write, and all the rest. When the better writers write, the result always looks effortless, but we know it wasn’t. Can how they do what they do give me any tips as to how to improve what I do or how I do it? Probably not, but it’s interesting to see how genius works, nonetheless.

writers write, Book Review, My Writing Blog, Chapter 1, Book Reviews — William F Brown

For those who think the process is spontaneous, consider John Gardner. He hung butcher paper around the walls of his workroom from one end to the other and mapped the entire plot structure before he wrote the first word of prose.

Similarly, Ken Follett reportedly writes numerous outlines, each more detailed than the one before, until he finally hangs prose on the outline and only writes one or two drafts of the actual novel.

On the other hand, E. L. Doctorow says, “Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you are doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.”

Sidney Sheldon’s first drafts run to as many as 1500 pages. He then cuts, often hundreds of pages at a time. When he finally has a finished draft, he goes through it once more and cuts another 10% to make it read faster.

Stephen King says never look at a reference book while writing the first draft. Just write.

Trollope wrote his daily quota of 2500 words from 5:30 to 8 a.m., and then went to his day job.

Dostoyevsky wrote eight successively detailed outlines of The Idiot, but Crime and Punishment was conceived whole and intact.

Balzac wrote 8 books in 1842 alone. He went to bed at 6 p.m., got up at 1 a.m., wrote until 8 a.m., took a two-hour nap, and wrote again until 4 p.m. That’s discipline.

Thomas Mann, the early twentieth century German writer, was very tall. In that pre-electronic era, he wrote in his kitchen, longhand, standing, and using the top of his ‘icebox’ as a desk. As he finished each page, he would drop it in a cardboard box on the floor next to him. When the book was done, he closed the box and send it to his editors.

Writers write in many different ways. My all-time favorite is Dame Barbara Cartland, the prolific British writer of florid romance novels. Dressed in one of her pink, feathery, dressing gowns, she would lie on a leather ‘psychiatrist’s couch’ and simply dictate the book to her secretary who took it all down in shorthand. Amazing.

Recently I saw a photograph of Stephen King at work in his office early in his career. I find it so stunning that I have reproduced below.

writer's write

First, the spaces tiny and the antique Compaq or Radio Shack word processor on his desk was crude. I had one, too. Believe me. It didn’t allow for any research or Googling, and I don’t see a reference book or even a dictionary anywhere. That tells me it was all coming straight out of his head onto the keyboard. Other than a simple telephone and perhaps two cheap printers, his work space is small and cluttered as he appears to be doing some hand-editing of a draft. Note all the papers and trash he has sitting on the baseboard electric heater running down the wall behind him. It’s amazing he didn’t burn to death, decades ago. And with the way he is sitting, I have no doubt he has a myriad of lower back issues now. But the dog’s cute.

That’s how writers write. They can be very quirky, and there’s a thousand more examples of how they do what they do. If you know of any others, leave me a comment on my webpage.

Anyway, food for thought. Writing a novel is easy. Pour in a bunch of ideas, stir vigorously and put it in a 450-degree oven for 12-24 months. That’s all there is to it. To read about my books or subscribe to the blog, go to my web site, http://box5462.temp.domains/~billbro4/

Bill Brown