SPECIAL ON LOSING DAVID

My vintage mystery, LOSING DAVID, is on a Kindle special deal. Today it's $1.99 and tomorrow it'll be a dollar more, and so on till it gets back to its regular price.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Losing-David-Cheryl-B-Dale-ebook/dp/B00KKQYIMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404072631&sr=8-1&keywords=losing+david

It's about an attorney hiring an actor to impersonate a missing boy so that his murderer can be caught. This is the blurb:

When his father died in 1946, sixteen-year-old David Harmony should have inherited a fortune. Instead, he vanished at sea.

In 1962, an elderly attorney hires an actor to pretend to be David. He says the man in line to receive the Harmony estate killed David.

The actor suspects the attorney is scheming to claim the estate himself, but agrees to act as bait.

Then he falls for a woman who realizes he’s an imposter, and who may reveal his identity to the one person she shouldn’t.

David's murderer.

In an era of clacking typewriters and rotary phones, gentlemen tip hats and ladies wear gloves. But evil still hides beneath the most refined exteriors.

LOSING DAVID

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my book LOSING DAVID.

It's available in print and ebook but will be on Amazon only for the next few months before going to Barnes and Noble and the other places.

Yes, I know. There's a big to-do about the argument between Hachette Publishing and Amazon, with big names like Scott Turow and James Patterson calling Amazon the evil empire. Which is surprising, considering how many books Amazon sells for them.

But Amazon and Hatchette are like any other businesses: trying to make a profit. It just so happens the profit this time comes from books. Whatever the outcome, authors won't see an increase in pay. And since Amazon nurtured and supported self-published authors while Hachette and the other big publishers were trying to keep the status quo, I kind of think I'll stick with Amazon.

Anyway, LOSING DAVID is a vintage mystery with strong romantic elements, set on a barrier island.

When his father died in 1946, sixteen-year-old David Harmony should have inherited a fortune. Instead, he vanished at sea.

In 1962, an elderly attorney hires an actor to pretend to be David. He says the man in line to receive the Harmony estate killed David.

The actor suspects the attorney is scheming to claim the estate himself, but agrees to act as bait till he falls for a woman who realizes he’s an imposter. Now she may reveal his identity to the one person she shouldn’t.

David's murderer.

In an era of clacking typewriters and rotary phones, gentlemen tip hats and ladies wear gloves. But evil still hides beneath the most refined exteriors.

NEW BOOK OUT

My sequel to TAXED TO THE MAX is now available from Amazon. Ebook only right now but in a few days, the print copy will be out too. And if you buy the print copy, you can get the ebook version free.

Not sure why anyone would want both but anyway, that's the deal.

Here's the cover for OVERTAXED AND UNDERAPPRECIATED. Collin Beishir designed it, using one of the pix my guy took in Old Town. Pretty, isn't it?

And here's the link on Amazon if anyone's interested. http://www.amazon.com/Overtaxed-Underappreciated-Cheryl-B-Dale-ebook/dp/B00I25JU9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391961620&sr=8-1&keywords=overtaxed+and+underappreciated

Whee! I see I have a review! That's exciting since I don't get many! And it's a good one!

I LOVE MY KINDLE BUT...

I love my Kindle. I really do. It's so easy to buy a book at night when there's nothing around to read. It's so easy to make the text large enough that I don't strain my eyes. It's so easy to carry scads of books on trips in one tiny container.

But today Amazon sent me a Best Books of the Month ad that showed the book covers over the hardback price and the Kindle price. And I was amazed that publishers still don't get it.

The Still Point of the Turning World - Hardback $14.41, Kindle 12.99
Benediction - Hardback 14.36, Kindle 12.99
Between Man and Beast - Hardback 15.66, Kindle 13.99
The Drunken Botanist - Hardback 11.97, Kindle 9.99

Went into the Mysteries category and the same thing:
Six Years (a Harlan Coben pre-order) - Hardback 15.98, Kindle 14.99
The Golden Egg (Donna Leon pre-order) - Hardback 14.43, Kindle 13.20
Murder Below Montparnassee (Cara Black pre-order) - Hardback 15.71, Kindle 12.99
The Accursed (Joyce Carol Oates pre-order) -Hardback 16.62, Kindle 12.74

And so on.

Why should I pay 9.99-14.99 for an eBook when for 1-4 dollars more I can get a printed copy? And then I can loan it to as many friends as I like, I can donate it to the used book sale for the library, or I can trade it in at the used bookstore for credit to buy more books.

The eBook, on the other hand...Well, I think Amazon allows us to loan it once. And that may depend on publisher permission; I'm not real clear on that. But anyway, if you loan it to your sister, then your mother and cousin want to read it...Too bad!

Not to mention Amazon can evidently take back any of your eBooks stored in the Cloud at any time. Not that they would, I'm sure, but still...

And I don't blame Amazon for the unreasonable prices. It's the publishers. I understand that they're trying to cover their overhead and make a profit. But lots of smaller ePublishers are putting out books for half these prices and less.

So bottom line: I really have to want to read an author before I'll buy their eBooks. And I'm sorry to say, there are lots of authors I enjoy reading, but there aren't that many I like well enough to shell out ten bucks plus for. So I'll wait till the used paperbacks come down to prices I can afford and buy them then. And I'll stick to trying new authors on my Kindle, or wait for old authors I like to go on sale.

So long as I have something to read, I'm okay with that. Publishers might want to get on board with  our reading habits and adjust their thinking. I suspect they could sell a lot more books if they do.

Okay. Rant over. It's safe to come out now.

FREE EBOOK FROM AMAZON

Ugh, I really hate this marketing stuff but here goes...

Again, my steamy romantic mystery SET UP will be free from Amazon tomorrow, October 6th. If anyone hasn't read it, this is your chance.

The earring giveaway kind of ties in with it, so this is a good time for it to be free again!

And here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Set-Up-ebook/dp/B008QWTYIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349450325&sr=1-1&keywords=set+up+by+cheryl+b+dale

FREE BOOK FOR KINDLE

My publisher MuseItUp has put SET UP in Amazon's KDP program. I'm not sure what this means except that there will be several days when readers can download it free.

I often take advantage of Kindle's free offers because if I paid full price for all I read, I'd soon be broke. So I'm happy others who do the same thing will be able to download SET UP.

Two days for the free download are coming up this week. September 14th and 15th. That's next Friday and Saturday.

So anyone who likes romantic suspense with some sex -- and yes, I've had some complaints the mystery is too heavy and other complaints that the romance is too heavy -- then I hope you'll remember. I'll try to blog about it again the day before to remind anyone interested that it will be available.

BLOG INTERVIEW

Desi Moon has an interview with me on her blog today about my new release. Tomorrow she'll review SET UP. I'm hoping she doesn't pan it but if she does...Reading is always subjective so if she doesn't like it, that's okay. I'm fortunate to have relatives who read!

Her blog link is: http://dbmoonauthor.blogspot.com/

Oh, and the link for SET UP is: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=321&category_id=64&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

It's also on Amazon already! I thought it'd be a couple more weeks but no! It's here:

http://www.amazon.com/Set-Up-ebook/dp/B008QWTYIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343851679&sr=1-1&keywords=set+up+by+cheryl+dale

So much has been happening around here, I've not had time to promote it as I should. Although to be honest, I hate trying to sell people anything!

IS AMAZON SPYING ON ME?

I can't believe it! Amazon just emailed me a link to these books!

DIETING FOR DUMMIES
DETOX DIETS FOR DUMMIES
EXERCISE BALLS FOR DUMMIES
EATING CLEAN FOR DUMMIES
RESHAPING IT ALL
THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR: HOW TO STOP CONFUSING WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE WITH WHO YOU ARE

Huh?

And those are just some of the dieting, exercise, spiritual books they think I might "want to know about."

Well, I don't think my mind and my body are any of their business! If I want to do something about them, I will!

Not going to let my guy see this. He's been after me to eat less butter.