Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Kimberly A. Cook

Are You Ready For Some Gangnam Football?

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

This Saturday our beloved University of Oregon Ducks play USC. Now, we have Ducks, Beavers and Vikings in my family, but we all get along. Except for Civil War. (And in a mascot fight I think my PSU Viking could take the Duck and Beaver, just saying.) BUT, this weekend the mighty USC is going to try to out fox us on the field. Can’t wait!

In the meantime I wanted to share this fabulous U of O band half-time show they did in September. Saw it the first week it was online and couldn’t wait to share it with everyone. Not only is Puddles the Duck a great dancer, he’s got great guns from all those push ups! Go Ducks!

A Responsibility For All

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

While Superstorm Sandy still pounds the Eastern United States, my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone. Stay safe. One dedicated unit who stood their ground against Mother Nature’s wrath was the Old Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, D.C.  They maintained their duty while the superstorm hit, not leaving their posts. Read about it here http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/10/ap-old-guard-stays-tomb-of-unknowns-hurricane-sandy-102912/

With soldier dedication like that, including all the first responders and National Guard saving lives during this storm, the coming election day can fade from view. For those of us not touched by this storm, we need to make the effort to get out and vote next week to honor those who may not be able to go to the polls. With a week before the election, getting folks out to vote will be an even harder task back East. I don’t talk about religion or politics on my blog because military writing is my news beat and  everyone gets their own ballot.

Maj. Cornelius from Macon, GA, fills out her absentee ballot form while PFC Miller from Auburn, NY looks for her mailing address at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar on Oct. 16. Using the base dining facility, 200 ballots were mailed the first three days and had a bar code on each parcel so absentee voters could track their ballots online. Photo by U.S. Army

But I can encourage everyone to get out and vote. Period. I voted on October 22. Oregon has had vote-by-mail since 1998. I think the entire country should do vote-by-mail. Leaves a paper trail, costs 30 percent less and we might even save the United States Post Office by making them the official national ballot couriers. (I do not trust electronic voting machines with heaven knows what code inside them. Call me old school.)

Until the USPS gets that tasking, I can’t encourage folks to vote enough. The first time I voted was on a pool table in my barracks recreation hall watched over by my First Lieutenant. Serving in the Army in Colorado, I had a Oregon absentee ballot. I felt so adult and proud to do my duty.

It’s easy to forget how and why we got the vote, but it was George Washington and his soldiers, their families and women who supported them fighting and dying to create this great country. Since that time our military men and women have continued to defend, serve and sacrifice not only so we can vote, but so other nations can grow to have that same right. So if you can go to a polling place or send it in by mail, do it.

As a former newspaper reporter who cherishes the First Amendment for Freedom of Speech for writers as well as everyday citizens, I know voting is a privilege and a duty. If you don’t vote, you can’t gripe. That’s my rule!

Who Ya Gonna Call For Treats?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Halloween is almost here. While we go out and buy more candy since we gobbled all the pre-Halloween supplies, we might as well cozy up with a good movie. Some of the oldies but goodies are best. Let’s try a run at Ghostbusters! You never know when you might need one and the theme song rocks. Enjoy pumpkin carving and candy scarfing this weekend. Happy Quirky Friday!

Are You A C.r.e.a.t.i.v.e.?

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by Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

In the land of orange pumpkins, are you an albino pumpkin? Do you stick out among friends and family? Do you consider gazing out the window to be mind work and eavesdropping on bystanders homework? Then you might be a creative.

This white pumpkin outside my New Seasons grocery store got me to thinking. How many times have I felt like a creative albino pumpkin in an orange pumpkin world?

Learn to rejoice in your unique role. (I prefer unique to odd, sounds more French) What are our creative strengths? What traits do we bring to the world and our planet? Here are a few.

Curiosity. Life-long learners, we never stop questioning or exploring the world around us. We embrace small details and the big picture at the same time. We believe connect-the-dots is not a game we only play as kids. Cats understand us and dogs know we are always up for an adventure.

Resolute. We will spend seven years writing a story and not give up on it because we know kids will want to read about a world of wizards, aka J.K. Rowling. When all about us are following the trend, we fight upstream like a salmon to create the next new thing, like Hobbits or Twitter or flash mobs.

Energy. When we get that aha moment which solves a dilemma or a writing challenge, we light up like a stadium spotlight. Power will pulse from our skin and we’ll type streams of words to create new worlds, save nations, celebrate love and heal pain. Comic strips may be involved.

Attitude. We fight for our characters, our stories, our books and our words. We know it’s not how many five-star reviews we have on Amazon.com, but how many hearts we touch, entertain and educate. We know our lives will end one day but our words and works will live on and that is enough. Except for intellectual property estate planning. Copyright extends seventy years beyond our death, so plan for it.

Time. Everyone has the same amount of hours on this earth and we choose to spend our time creating. Make art not crap is our mantra. Mastery of any craft takes work and patience. If we give up too soon, we miss our earned goal. We have to practice and hone our craft over time. Nora Robert’s number one writing rule, “Ass in the chair.”

Inventive. We like to create worlds and push boundaries. With our inventor hats on we have created tribbles, E.T., vampires, talking dogs, wizards, James Bond, Madagascar penguins and Garfield the cat. No one knows what will become of their creations, but we give life to new personalities out of thin air. We are Dr. Frankenstein.

Vicarious. Adventurers of space, foreign lands and haunted houses, we will create worlds we might never want to visit, but we will take others along for the ride. We invite readers into our fantasies and fears. In our stories we show humanity; the good, the bad and the warts. We teach with mental pictures.

Explain. We try to make sense of our world by crafting ideas and lands which inform us of how we have lived and how we strive to live in the future. We struggle to understand our roles on this planet and our life’s purpose through creating. We document the lives and loves of an entire planet and envision a future for all.

Be a proud albino pumpkin creative. We creatives celebrate the unusual, the great, the pain and hope of all people on a little planet called earth. Which looks kinda like a pumpkin. We are creatives, watch us soar!

Jump For Joy On Friday!

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by Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It’s the middle of October and the holidays are almost upon us.  For everyone who’s already eaten their “pre-Halloween” candy supplies, let’s work off some of that sugar.

Watch how this little goat, Pipsqueak, does his aerobics at home. Pass the M&Ms and have a Happy Quirky Friday!

http://youtu.be/3w4WhgGA2NY

Do You Know About Special Author Math?

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

(Alert: Long Blog Post)

Last month I tried to reduce my bundled cable bill. I know, it would have been easier to invade a small country, but I enjoy tilting at corporations. When my first new bill showed up, I was confused. By the time the company explained how they put me in a higher package price but downgraded it with discounts to get a smaller cost, it hit me. “Oh, this is special cable math,” I said. The cable gal on the phone laughed, but agreed with me.

Image by istockphoto

Now, the reason I can kinda understand this is because I know about special author math. Whenever a new writer wants to know if I’m rich because I’m an author, it’s time for another lesson in special author math.

The basics. A first-time category paperback romance author published by a New York house may get a $3,000 advance and then 6 percent royalties. That is six percent off a cover price of 4.99, which is 29 cents per book sold. So if the author sells 10,344 books, they earn $2,999.76 beyond their advance, for a total of $5,999.76. Used to be royalties were paid out every six months.

So the book it took an author two years to write and perfect is on the shelves for six weeks, tops. The book may get foreign reprint rights in other countries, but let’s assume not.

A first-time indie published ebook romance fiction writer can put their ebook up on Kindle for free and charge 4.99 per copy and get either a 35 or 70 percent royalty rate minus the digital delivery fee. Let’s chose 70 percent royalty, so 3.49 per book minus one cent for delivery fee equals 3.48. If this author sells 10,344 ebooks, she earns $35,997.12. Plus the digital book can sell online forever.

Notice the difference between a romance fiction paperback published by a New York house and the indie published romance fiction ebook. $35,997.12 – $5,999.76 equals $29,997.36. Now the New York traditional publishers are getting $12.99 for some of their bestselling author ebooks, so you know who is not getting the benefit of that author math. These numbers also explain why the record industry went indie years ago.

Now, anyone selling 10,000 copies of a book is a big deal. Granted, the New York romance publishers have set distribution channels, but the ebook is the great liberator for authors.

There are also a zillion other things to consider in this simplistic example from quality of writing, to cover art, distribution channels, marketing, etc., when looking at the numbers, but this author special math is one reason so many authors are going indie. It’s one of the main reasons I did in 2006 with my non-fiction book and will continue to do so for all my books.

Here are some more author math numbers; the average indie published print-on-demand book (POD) sells 300 copies. No typo, 300 copies. (This is where I have a huge problem with the marketing packages many POD companies charge; they make their money on the up sell of producing the book, not the actual copies of a book sold.)

So if you spend $10,000 on a package to publish your $4.99 paperback book and you get a generous 35 percent royalty, ($1.74) you will need to sell at least 5,747 books to break even and that is without cover design, ISBN numbers, etc. Know your numbers and vet the POD houses before spending big bucks.

If you’re going paperback POD and ebook, which I did, make sure you do a return on investment calculation. Take the cost of the “package” divided by your royalties to see how many books you would need to sell to break even. Then put that number next to 300 books. Compare your numbers and the 300 book average. Reality check time! Do not quit your day job or take a loan on the house to self-publish a book.

Now, let me add this number; more than 1,000 books are published every day in the United States. So the book chatter out there is big time. Granted this includes everything from the latest Manga book to cookbooks, but you get my math.

The publishing industry is undergoing massive change right now because our publishing tools and methods are changing. But in that chaos comes opportunities for writers and authors who like to publish to the sound of the new author math. The writing needs to be clean and good, the package pretty and spell checked, but it can be done.

My goal has always been to sell books around the world while I’m sleeping; that day arrived several years ago with the online market. Consider how you want your author math to stack up. Any battle plan requires a recon of the terrain and mission goals. I expect no less from fellow writers.

Be an informed author/publisher/writer and spend your dollars and time wisely. Make sure the special author math works to your advantage, so we can all pay our special cable math bills.