Considering the month is a third of the way over, I'm running behind on my publishing. I'm trying to get three books out this month and so far I'm batting zero. I received back the edited copy from all of the authors of the Carpatian Shadows anthology, integrated the comments and sent out the semi-complete version back to the authors for final review (plus to address a few minor issues). I'm working on cover art now so this is close--hope to get this up this week. I got back to work on When it's Time to Call it a Day and edited another 50 or so pages, and did my ten pages of writing. That pretty much took up the day.

We're having a 'cool' spell. Temperature in the high 70s. It's so humid, though, that my sweat doesn't dry. Still, I can't justify air conditioning when the temperature is in the 70s so I'm sitting here with my window open listening to sirens in the night.

We've switched date night to Monday because my fencing is starting again this week. Karen and I went to Grill 400, a place we enjoy that doesn't complain when I wear shorts and a t-shirt and where our combined dinner bill is somewhere less than $25. We walked the mile or so in each direction, which might have something to do with the sweat going on.

There's another discussion about whether eBooks cost too much over at www.teleread.org/blog. I commented--check it out and comment back. Bottom line, I think (1) the major publishers don't spend much on paper. So, people shouldn't get fixated on the savings that ePublishing offers (although it does offer savings). And (2) major publishers are afraid to undercut the big retailers because the big retailers will undercut them. Back before I was in publishing, I worked in technology and we had the same issue. If you sell through distribution, you have to be careful. Distributors hate it when they think they're being undercut by direct sales. They hate it so much, they might not bother ordering books from a publisher whom they see as undercutting them. This puts the traditional publishers in a serious bind--you can't take full advantage of the ePublishing opportunity if you try to sell books for the same price as a hardback, but you also can't afford to piss off your 'customers' the bookstore chains.

I'm going to make HALF A RANCH by Robyn Anders the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Mindy Russell plans to take her inheritance and go back to college for a teaching degree. Cowboy Bret Sanders plans to use his inheritance to run the ranch he's always wanted and finally earned. But when the will is read and each gets half, neither is happy. It's just the next step in a relationship that started on the wrong foot. A fun romance--and it's only $1 for the complete eNovel. To learn more, read an excerpt, or buy the entire eNovel, check here: www.booksforabuck.com/rompages/half_ranch.html . (Available in HTML, Adobe PDF, Palm, and Microsoft Reader formats). Here's the cover (cover design by Jane Graves):

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