Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Who Says e-Books Are For Kids?

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By Kimberly A. Cook        (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It’s been a wild and wooly week for e-books and it’s barely Tuesday. The Digital Book Mobile was in Gresham yesterday and Portland, Oregon today, promoting getting e-books from the library.

Then I stumbled upon this video about the challenge libraries are having with traditional publishers to get e-books into the libraries. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8619132&pid=8619131

Yesterday Microsoft pumped $300 million into Barnes & Noble for a 17.6% share of the Nook, making B&N’s shares rise 85%.  Can’t wait for what happens today.

Next came this CNN Money article quoting Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers citing a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Speaking at Columbia University he said,

“The United States has the ‘best educated 60-year-olds’ in the world’ but is in the middle of the pack when it comes to its 30-year-olds.”

What else does that mean for e-books? Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Baby Boomers. Our eyes are shot, we’re trying to downsize our stuff and save money for retirement. E-books were made for the “best educated 60-year-olds in the world” because we like to read and we can’t do mixed martial arts cage fighting anymore, our knees can’t take it.

My Mom has two boomer daughters and she is hunting Wi-Fi hot spots when she’s not using her home Wi-Fi with her Kindle Fire. Ease, portability and low-cost rule with e-books. There is a huge future e-book market with Baby Boomers, besides the digital natives growing up on integrated media. If you’re a Baby Boomer writer, e-books are our future.

For us Baby Boomer aspiring romance authors, the future of e-books is astronomical. Check out the latest stats from the Romance Writers of America about the romance industry http://www.rwa.org/cs/the_romance_genre/romance_literature_statistics Then realize romance readers are early adopters of technology and we have been snapping up e-books like free cupcakes.  Check out buying and pricing habits here http://www.rwa.org/cs/readership_stats

In the meantime, we better get our hands on those 30-year-olds. They need to read and get college degrees. I’d like to retire from the day job before I turn 90!

Been To Paris Lately?

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by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It’s been a weird week. Whenever I need a boost, I go back to my favorite movies for a pick me up. This is one of my all time favorite movies; a romantic comedy! It has Paris, France and Harrison Ford so how can one go wrong?

Rent this movie, curl up with your remote control and give this one a whirl. It’s a crack up and pretty profound too. Happy Quirky Friday. Enjoy!

Thanks For The Memories?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Of the many memories I carry from my time in the military, perhaps the uncomfortable ones are the biggest help to me now.  Whenever I get grumpy in civilian life, I can always remember a worse time in the military and it cheers me up. Kind of a reverse psychology.

A convoy of Seabees approach a dust storm heading back to camp in Helmand Province, Afghanistan after work on a road construction project April 19, 2012. NMCB-11 is homeported in Gulfport, Mississippi. (Navy Photo by MCS Jonathan Carmichael)

Long line at the DMV? At least I’m not getting shots in both arms at the end of it. Power goes out for a few hours at home? I’m not living without power for days on end, in a tent, in the pouring rain and have to fill the generator every few hours. Can’t find my favorite fresh apples at the grocery store? I don’t have to look at my MREs and really wish I hadn’t gotten beans. Again.

When we get upset at slow Internet speeds, traffic jams and political hijinks on the national scale, we need to step back and breathe. We need to remember we could be someplace else in a much worse situation. Many people in the world are, including right here in the USA.

This past weekend we had record-breaking fabulous spring weather here in the Pacific Northwest. Back East they are getting dumped on by a snow storm. Times like these I am thankful for my freedom, my country and the women and men who are serving in our military right now around the world.

When we look at the Seabees in the Navy photo above, heading into a dust storm in Afghanistan after work or think about The Old Guard who honor the Tomb of the Unknowns in the snow, sleet and wind 24 hours a day, the rest of us are in a pretty good place. Sometimes we just need to stop and be grateful for the way things are right now.

So the next time we are upset about what an agent says about our manuscript, we run out of ink in our printer without a backup cartridge, or the critique group doesn’t like our story; remember, we could be in a tent, in a snowstorm, with someone shooting at us. Checking perspective is a very good thing for writers.

Time To Get In Shape?

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by Kimberly A. Cook       (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Remember those ropes that hung from the ceiling during phys ed in grade school? We were supposed to get up the damn things. With a growth spurt and weenie biceps, those ropes were my enemy. My technique was to jump as high as I could, try not to slip down the rope too quickly, then just hang there like a stuck monkey.

Army basic training years later taught me to do push ups and I found my biceps. However, if we don’t use them, they turn to mush. Was trolling on YouTube and happened to stumble upon this obstacle course double-cam video following a Naval Special Warfare Instructor through the SWCC obstacle course. The SWCC (“swick”), Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman, are the guys who get the Navy SEALs in and out and they have the coolest toys, er boats. Check this out and try not to get exhausted watching. No more whining for the rest of us on the treadmill! Happy Quirky Friday!

What Would Powell’s Do?

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by Kimberly A. Cook            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The publishing and epub industry is heaving like the Titanic, with publishers and agents trying to rearrange the band, the deck chairs and the captain’s table. Some writers have been caught in steerage, of course. A good thing to do in any storm is to check on what the independent bookstore ships are doing. One small business article this past Friday caught my eye.

Our beloved www.Powells.com Books here in Portland, Oregon, a mega-independent bookseller, is always worth watching. The article talked about how the former site of Powell’s Technical Bookstore is being proposed for demolition to become a “seven-story, 60-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail storefronts,” according to www.oregonlive.com

The article goes on to say the Technical Bookstore “vacated the site in 2010 and moved to a smaller location” across the street from the main Powell’s bookstore.  Notice the “smaller location” for technical books? See them moving into real estate and diversifying their revenue streams?

The Powell family presents their $7 million project proposal today to the city of Portland through their development firms.  The fun new project will come complete with a bicycle parking room and no on-site parking.  Who needs to park when you can walk to the bookstore?

Besides thinking book lovers might want to get in line to sign up for an apartment a short saunter from a block large book treasure, it brings to mind the changes in our industry. If one of the largest independent bookstores in the country is going into real estate development, what does that say to the writing community?

Me thinks we authors have slipped the bonds of steerage and escaped into the epub lifeboats. Grab an oar and let’s row!

Full Article Here: http://www.oregonlive.com/front-porch/index.ssf/2012/04/apartment_building_planned_at.html

Can A Bear Still Scratch In The Woods?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Last I heard each of us are on video at least seven times a day.  When we are not Tweeting, texting,  chatting or being filmed, it seems no one gets away from paparazzi, even a bear in the woods. In Oregon we have our OR-7 wolf, alias Journey, out trying to find a girlfriend and a still motion sensor camera caught him too.

So if you feel you haven’t had your 15 minutes of fame, you might want to think twice about it. Even this bear couldn’t scratch in peace. And we all know how good it feels to scratch. No sound, by the way, just a bear and his or her tree. Happy Quirky Friday!