Podcast #3: George and the Elraton Gang Part III

George and the Elraton Gang by CJ Martin  (Right click to download)

Here is the third in a four part podcast of George and the Elraton Gang by CJ Martin. This podcast is free, but you can also buy the ebook at Amazon or B&N for .99.

Today, George’s plan begins to take shape. Slimey and Two-timer are prisoners and Two-timer spills the beans to George.

Progress Report #2 — Week Two + Akira Tanaka’s Dream

Week two!

In a day or two, it will be two weeks since Tanaka and the Yakuza’s Daughter went on sale.  Tanaka had seven sales during that time (6 on Amazon and 1 on B&N) and Elraton had one lonesome sale (Amazon).  Of the seven sales for Tanaka, three are confirmed FrF (friends or family).

I was hoping for more after the release of the video, but I guess it isn’t a terrible start.

The novel is coming along.  Here is the (current–may change) opening paragraph:

Akira Tanaka slowly opened his eyes.  He felt water run down his face but not from crying.  Everything was blurry, but he made out the figure of a man rapidly moving his arms in front of him.  As the ringing in his ears subsided, he realized the man was saying something–no, he was shouting something… at him.  Tanaka’s hands were high above his head, being held up by chains.  He was someone’s prisoner and although he couldn’t be sure, he felt that he was naked.

Poor Tanaka never gets a break.  You will be happy to know this is just a dream.  But… he wakes to a real-life nightmare.  (It’s coming)

Tanaka and the Yakuza’s Daughter Promo Video

Now available at Amazon and BN.com!

Tanaka and the Yakuza’s Daughter for .99 + Free Audio

Now available at Amazon and BN.com!

As mentioned earlier, I’m also bundling the Audio book MP3s with the ebook for free.  (I’ll release that as podcasts here starting next week.)

I’m very excited about this first step.  I’m working with someone on the full length novel.  He has an unusual gift of beautifully polishing otherwise dull sentences.  We both have “real” jobs so progress is painfully slow.  But progress is being made. 

Back to this story…

Akira Tanaka’s past as an undercover agent in Tokyo’s underworld has caught up with his present.  Now he must find out who kidnapped his only daughter, and why.  Can he rescue her before it’s too late?

The lives of a father, a daughter, and a yakuza’s daughter are all intertwined in this fast-paced 7,500 word short story.  This is the first in a series of thrilling adventures featuring Tanaka.

 My grand marketing plan will involve:

1. Contacting friends and family begging them to purchase it and write an honest review.
2. Releasing the promo video (which is awesome, by the way) on Youtube.com through both my new account and TheJapanShop.com’s.
3. Work on getting name recognition (twitter, facebook, forums, blog posts) while writing and writing…

We’ll see how this goes.  But here is the first step.

Progress Report #1 No Sales Yet

As I mentioned in my first post here, I intend to use this blog to document my progress (or in this case, the lack of progress).  I started about two months ago and so far, I only have one short story (actually, it has two stories) up selling on Amazon and B&N.

So far, no sales!

But this is to be expected. Short stories don’t sell nearly as well as full-length novels and I have done next to nothing to promote it.

I intend to stick with this for a full year at least.  If possible, I’d like to have three novels and maybe ten short stories up by then.  I tend to start anything new slowly and then pick up speed as my feet get soaked.

The next move will be to release Tanaka and the Yakuza’s Daughter (hopefully Monday).  I’m finishing up the audio book (which will be given freely to anyone who buys the ebook).

1) Upload the ebook to Amazon and B&N and Smashwords
2) Once approved, upload the promo video to Youtube.com (using both thejapanshop’s account and a new one I’ll create for me)
3) Email everyone I know to watch the video and buy it if possible!

But this is still only a short story (7,500 words).  I can’t wait until the novel is ready…

Edit: My other ebooks, however, are selling well.  As I mentioned in the About Page, I have about ten educational non-fiction titles.  I’m not making much, but it has steadily increased over the past few months.  I think things will only get better as more and more people buy Kindles (and Nooks)

Tanaka and the Yakuza’s Daughter will Ship with Free Audio Book

I decided to record Tanaka and the Yakuza’s Daughter a while back.  I planned to podcast it like I am doing with George and the Elraton Gang and then also sell the audio book bundled with the PDF, Epub, and Kindle format.

But I’m just starting out.  I need to have something special to encourage readers to come.  So, like TheJapanShop.com’s ebooks, I’ll list a download link on the last page of the ebook.

For .99 USD, you will be able to buy Tanaka and the Yakuza’s Daughter AND get a FREE audio book with it. 

The story is finished and ready to upload, but… I now have to get a friend to record and master the recordings.  That is today’s goal.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the story:

The bullet tore flesh from his left shoulder.  Akira Tanaka yelped in pain but quickly regained his focus.  He had been shot before and knew he would be shot again if he didn’t keep quiet.  He took a moment to control his breathing and glance at the bloody wound.  It was a lucky shot; he had been out of their line of sight.

It could have been worse.  And it would get a lot worse if he didn’t get out of there soon.  He guessed two, maybe three armed men were hunting him.  With the echoes, it was hard to tell.

He was pinned down in a large warehouse and his only protection was rows and rows of metal racks filled with boxes of paper, office supplies, and who knows what else.  To his left and right lay openings that appeared to be makeshift hallways between the racks.  These were surely being watched by the enemy.

Coming soon…

Mobipocket Creator and Internet Explorer 8

The easiest way to upload your book to Amazon is to just upload the Word .doc file itself. But I’ve had problems getting a Table of Contents to work properly (even when the TOC works great in Word). So, I started using the old Mobipocket Creator software (which hasn’t been updated since 2008).

This, by the way, only works on a PC. I do most of my writing on my MacBook Air, but I do all my graphic design and putting things together on my PC. Also, Mobipocket requires Internet Explorer–I found out this is important.

So, the other day, I was blissfully trying to crank out a new ebook with linked TOCs. Mobipocket gave a nasty error. I tried again. Same error. I rebooted. Same error. I uninstalled and reinstalled. Same error.

Finally, after searching boards, I discovered this old software won’t work with the newest version of Internet Explorer. I had updated IE just last week.

After undoing the IE update, Mobipocket works just fine.