M.P. McDonald's Blog
September 9, 2015
Mark Taylor's Evolution
I've been thinking about Mark's journey for quite awhile, and how he's changed through the books. At least, I hope he's changed. No Good Deed was the first book I published in the series, but I actually had written a scene from March Into Hell first. If you've read the book, you probably will know what scene I mean when I say it's pretty much the lowest point in Mark's whole story arc. I'm thinking about it today because of a recent review that mentioned some of Mark's less noble traits that come to surface in March Into Hell. I totally agree with the reviewer, so not a knock on the review.
Mark is a bit of grump to put it mildly and in March Into Hell, he's not only out of sorts, he's trying to deal with emotions he hasn't really dealt with in his life. Prior to finding the camera in Afghanistan, he'd had a pretty good life, even if his dad didn't approve of his chosen occupation. As the son of a successful doctor in a small, Midwestern town, he never knew hunger or want. He's good looking, smart, successful, and has a strong moral compass. He never had to even question right and wrong because his upbringing made it inherent in his character.
In Mark Taylor: Genesis, we see this Mark. He wants to do something big and important, but doesn't quite know how, so he jumps at the chance to go to Afghanistan. I wrote this book after the first three, so I had to step back and show Mark how he was before he had to deal with all the stuff that comes later. It was kind of fun to do, in a way. It was the opposite of peeling back layers. It was showing the surface Mark Taylor. What you see is what you get. There was nothing too deep there. After he discovers the camera and what he can do with it, he jumps right in, not really thinking of any consequences.
In No Good Deed, Mark has to deal with losing everything--his friends, his family, his freedom and all of his material possessions. He's almost numb from it all, but slowly starts re-establishing his life, but his circle of friends is small, and while he saw his parents, things weren't back to normal.
In March Into Hell, he's now trying to keep doing the good stuff, but now he's got a spotlight on him. For a private person with a secret, that's a lot of pressure. He doesn't always deal with it in the best way, but I hoped to show he was acting in a way any normal person would. He's not a superhero, after all. In fact, he hits rock bottom with this one.
Of all my books, when I see a new review show up for March Into Hell, I tend to cringe. Did they like it? The ending isn't typical of a thriller, but it's how I saw Mark reacting based on the totality of what had happened to him in No Good Deed and March Into Hell.
In Deeds of Mercy, he's starting to accept the reality of all the crazy stuff that has happened to him. He's becoming more proactive in dealing with it. He's no longer withdrawn and numb, and not as worried about what others think. He's also less trusting. That allows him to act on what needs to be done.
In March Into Madness, I saw Mark at his peak in ability. This is his life now, and he's accepting pretty well. He even has a bit of a sense of humor about some of it. Terrible things happen, but he's not so much a victim--not mentally anyway.
Now, in the spin-off, Shoot and in the CJ Sheridan series, I see Mark as a mentor. He's trying to guide CJ through the maze and spar him some of the horrors he had to deal with. He sees CJ sort of a younger version of himself.
Mark is a bit of grump to put it mildly and in March Into Hell, he's not only out of sorts, he's trying to deal with emotions he hasn't really dealt with in his life. Prior to finding the camera in Afghanistan, he'd had a pretty good life, even if his dad didn't approve of his chosen occupation. As the son of a successful doctor in a small, Midwestern town, he never knew hunger or want. He's good looking, smart, successful, and has a strong moral compass. He never had to even question right and wrong because his upbringing made it inherent in his character.
In Mark Taylor: Genesis, we see this Mark. He wants to do something big and important, but doesn't quite know how, so he jumps at the chance to go to Afghanistan. I wrote this book after the first three, so I had to step back and show Mark how he was before he had to deal with all the stuff that comes later. It was kind of fun to do, in a way. It was the opposite of peeling back layers. It was showing the surface Mark Taylor. What you see is what you get. There was nothing too deep there. After he discovers the camera and what he can do with it, he jumps right in, not really thinking of any consequences.
In No Good Deed, Mark has to deal with losing everything--his friends, his family, his freedom and all of his material possessions. He's almost numb from it all, but slowly starts re-establishing his life, but his circle of friends is small, and while he saw his parents, things weren't back to normal.
In March Into Hell, he's now trying to keep doing the good stuff, but now he's got a spotlight on him. For a private person with a secret, that's a lot of pressure. He doesn't always deal with it in the best way, but I hoped to show he was acting in a way any normal person would. He's not a superhero, after all. In fact, he hits rock bottom with this one.
Of all my books, when I see a new review show up for March Into Hell, I tend to cringe. Did they like it? The ending isn't typical of a thriller, but it's how I saw Mark reacting based on the totality of what had happened to him in No Good Deed and March Into Hell.
In Deeds of Mercy, he's starting to accept the reality of all the crazy stuff that has happened to him. He's becoming more proactive in dealing with it. He's no longer withdrawn and numb, and not as worried about what others think. He's also less trusting. That allows him to act on what needs to be done.
In March Into Madness, I saw Mark at his peak in ability. This is his life now, and he's accepting pretty well. He even has a bit of a sense of humor about some of it. Terrible things happen, but he's not so much a victim--not mentally anyway.
Now, in the spin-off, Shoot and in the CJ Sheridan series, I see Mark as a mentor. He's trying to guide CJ through the maze and spar him some of the horrors he had to deal with. He sees CJ sort of a younger version of himself.
August 2, 2015
Kindle Unlimited--Loving it!
The first month of Kindle Unlimited 2.0 is now in the bag, and I am happy with it so far. I had over 200,000 pages read of my books in Kindle Unlimited. While that is a piddly number compared to the big dogs, I'm happy with it, except I know I could have done even better if I hadn't screwed up in mid-July. (accidentally let them expire when their then current term ran out.) There is something incredibly satisfying about seeing and knowing that people are actually reading the books. Yes, I get reviews and emails, but those are from a very small minority of readers. For the most part, I can only guess that people are reading because they bought/borrowed the next book. If it kind of freaks you out as a reader that authors can 'see' you reading, don't worry about it. We don't even know the number of books that have been borrowed in total. We don't even know if most of our pages read are just someone sampling the first few pages and returning the book. We definitely don't have access to who downloaded a book, where they are in the world (other than which country) and don't know when you stopped reading a book. All the pages read are lumped together into one number for a book. For those who don't know what Kindle Unlimited is, and I know there are still quite a few of you out there who might be wondering, Kindle Unlimited is a program Amazon started a year ago. The reader pays a monthly fee of $9.99 and for that, they have access to the Kindle Unlimited library. I think that's over a million books last I checked. You however many of those books that you want. The only restriction is that you can only have 10 checked out at one time. If you try to get book 11, Amazon simply reminds you that you have 10 already and would you like to return a book. (pops up with a book in your library so you can very easily return it, or select another to return.) I don't know about you, but I can't read 10 at a time anyway, so the restriction hasn't been an issue at all. You also don't have to worry that an author is going to pull their books from the library before you finish it, because once you have it downloaded into your library, it will stay there until you return it. It could be months. I had pages read from No Good Deed last month, and it hasn't been in KU since mid-January, so it sat on someone's Kindle that long before they read it. Anyway, there are a ton of great books in Kindle Unlimited. I keep reading about authors who had pulled their full-length novels out of it last year because they were losing out since a borrow paid so much less than a sale, but many are now putting their books back into Kindle Unlimited. Some of these are New York Times and USA Today Bestselling books. Not to mention the thousands of great books you might never have discovered.
July 29, 2015
BigAl's Books and Pals: Shoot / M.P. McDonald
BigAl's Books and Pals: Shoot / M.P. McDonald: Reviewed by: BigAl Genre: Thriller Approximate word count : 60-65,000 words Availability Kindle US: YES UK: YES ...
July 28, 2015
My Next Novel
I just published my latest book, Shoot. I did the pre-order thing, and it had a decent number of pre-orders, then sent out a notice to my new release mailing list a few days after it published, had a few sales. Personally emailed several readers who had expressed interest before, and had responded favorably to being contacted about other new releases. I thought I had everything lined up for success. I have a blurb in the back of the last Mark Taylor book, March Into Madness, and that book has been doing well the last few months, but despite all of that, Shoot has not exploded from the barrel, bad pun intended. Now I'm left in a quandary. Do I continue with the CJ Sheridan series? I could tinker with the cover and remove 'Book One' from it. Maybe this is the 'Ant-Man' of the series. It's a good book according to the feedback I've received, but maybe readers just don't want to follow CJ's adventures with the camera? Are Mark, Jim and Jessie the Avengers to CJ's Ant-Man? (Btw, Ant-Man is my favorite movie in the whole Avengers world). With that said, if I decide to quit, or at least, put a hold on the series, I would then finish up the three or four books I have already started. None are Mark Taylor books, a couple are romance books that might help out Seeking Vengeance. Two are dystopian/post-apocalyptic. Decisions, decisions. I want to give readers what they want to read, but maybe I was wrong about the spin-off.
July 10, 2015
Read "SHOOT: a CJ Sheridan Thriller" ~ New Release by M.P. McDonald
SHOOT: Book OneInterning at the CIA prepared CJ Sheridan to be a bureaucrat, not a hero. But, when he's handed a camera that offers teasing glimpses of potential tragedies, what else can CJ do but try to change the future?
No stranger to the cameras power, CJ’s father is dead set against the idea. He understands all too well the horrifying price the previous owner, Photographer Mark Taylor, paid for its use.
CJ’s knows the cameras history, but with the support of an experienced team behind him, including his FBI Bureau Chief father, he’s sure that won’t happen to him.
Heedless of the dangers, when offered the chance to save the life of a murder victim, a young nurse named Blanche, CJ charges to the rescue.
Only to find himself alone, a suspect… with only his wits and courage to help him change the course of fate.
Kindle Unlimited subscribers--read it for free with your subscription!
July 6, 2015
Arctic Wargame, by Ethan Jones~On Sale~99 Cents
My friend, Ethan Jones, has put his Kindle bestselling thriller on sale for just 99 cents for a limited time. Arctic Wargame is the first book in the wildly popular Justin Hall spy thriller series, hitting Amazon’s
Best Sellers lists in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Canadian Intelligence Service Agent Justin Hall—combat-hardened in operations throughout Northern Africa—has been demoted after a botched mission in Libya.
When two foreign icebreakers appear in Canadian Arctic waters, Justin volunteers for the reconnaissance mission, eager to return to the field. His team discovers a foreign weapons cache deep in the Arctic, but they are not aware that a spy has infiltrated the Department of National Defence.
The team begins to unravel a treasonous plan against Canada, but they fall under attack from one of their own. Disarmed and stripped of their survival gear, they are stranded in a remote location. Now the team must survive the deadly Arctic not only to save themselves, but their country.
Arctic Wargame is an action-packed spy thriller in the bestselling tradition of David Baldacci, Brad Thor and Vince Flynn. Readers will enjoy a great tale of courage, fear and betrayal.
The bonus content includes the prologue and the first chapter of TRIPOLI'S TARGET, the second book in this series, which came out in 2012 and reached Amazon’s Best Sellers lists in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
ARCTIC WARGAME links on major book retailers:
Amazonhttp://amzn.to/1GfO8eXAmazon UKhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Wargame-Justin-Hall-1-ebook/dp/B0084FH6M8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433954690&sr=8-1&keywords=arctic+wargameKobohttp://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/arctic-wargame-justin-hall-1iTuneshttps://itunes.apple.com/us/book/arctic-wargame-justin-hall-1/id655770643?mt=11Barnes & Noblehttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/arctic-wargame-ethan-jones/1110987337?ean=2940044553866Nook UKhttp://www.nook.com/gb/search?utf8=%E2%9C&%5Bs%5Dkeyword=arctic+wargameSmashwordshttps://www.smashwords.com/books/view/318408GooglePlayhttps://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ethan_Jones_Arctic_Wargame?id=HNBkAwAAQBAJ
Best Sellers lists in 2012, 2013 and 2014.Canadian Intelligence Service Agent Justin Hall—combat-hardened in operations throughout Northern Africa—has been demoted after a botched mission in Libya.
When two foreign icebreakers appear in Canadian Arctic waters, Justin volunteers for the reconnaissance mission, eager to return to the field. His team discovers a foreign weapons cache deep in the Arctic, but they are not aware that a spy has infiltrated the Department of National Defence.
The team begins to unravel a treasonous plan against Canada, but they fall under attack from one of their own. Disarmed and stripped of their survival gear, they are stranded in a remote location. Now the team must survive the deadly Arctic not only to save themselves, but their country.
Arctic Wargame is an action-packed spy thriller in the bestselling tradition of David Baldacci, Brad Thor and Vince Flynn. Readers will enjoy a great tale of courage, fear and betrayal.
The bonus content includes the prologue and the first chapter of TRIPOLI'S TARGET, the second book in this series, which came out in 2012 and reached Amazon’s Best Sellers lists in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
ARCTIC WARGAME links on major book retailers:
Amazonhttp://amzn.to/1GfO8eXAmazon UKhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Wargame-Justin-Hall-1-ebook/dp/B0084FH6M8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433954690&sr=8-1&keywords=arctic+wargameKobohttp://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/arctic-wargame-justin-hall-1iTuneshttps://itunes.apple.com/us/book/arctic-wargame-justin-hall-1/id655770643?mt=11Barnes & Noblehttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/arctic-wargame-ethan-jones/1110987337?ean=2940044553866Nook UKhttp://www.nook.com/gb/search?utf8=%E2%9C&%5Bs%5Dkeyword=arctic+wargameSmashwordshttps://www.smashwords.com/books/view/318408GooglePlayhttps://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ethan_Jones_Arctic_Wargame?id=HNBkAwAAQBAJ
June 19, 2015
Kindle Unlimited~How I'll Approach It
I currently have five titles in Kindle Unlimited and borrows make up about one fourth of my ebook income. Of course, KU has some advantages beyond income--increased visibility in the Kindle Store, for example. I'm not sure how that can be measured in relation to an actual increase in purchases. I would say possibly a handful of purchases can be attributed each month to word of mouth from borrowers. That's probably a generous number, but one I'll go with for now.
With the changes coming up next month when KU switches to paying by page instead of paying nothing until readers read 10% of a book, and then once they do, Amazon paid the full borrow rate for that month. It averaged about $1.38/borrow.
What I'm going to do to determine if it's worth staying in, since Amazon will only give us the number of pages read, and not the number of books borrowed, I can only go by pages read. Call me a pessimist but I don't think we'll get more than 2 cents/page read. That will be okay, actually if most of my borrowers finish my books. At an average page count of almost 300 pages a book for 3 of my 5 books, and the other 2 averaging 175 pages, I'll make out better than I do with the current system.
Being even more conservative, I'm going to assume the worst at a penny/page. That would still be better for me--if readers consume the whole book. Big if. Of course I hope it happens more often than not, but the reality is, readers--especially readers who haven't invested much in a book--give up on books for all kinds of reasons. Some are within my control--write a better book, for instance--others are beyond my control. An example: a reader begins reading March Into Hell after downloading No Good Deed for free. Their real life gets busy, they stop reading, and then forget about it. A month later, they want to borrow some other book and have to return one to get within the 10 book checkout limit, and March Into Hell pops up and Amazon asks the reader if they want to return it. They debate, then decide to return it because they can always read it later, and they forgot what it was about anyway. Boom. Book returned.
My books are due to come out of Select in mid-July. Most of the time, I'd probably just roll them back into KU because I don't normally have a lot of sales on other platforms, but I recently had a Bookbub ad for No Good Deed, and I had thousands of downloads outside of Amazon. It's been killing me that I can't put my other books up on those sites. I wish I could do both and hate the exclusivity clause in KU. Okay, rant about that over. Reality is, I hate to leave those readers hanging.
To know if staying in is worthwhile, in my head I'm going to assign a penny/page read, average out the pages read/day, and see if the income from those comes out to the same income I'm earning now on borrows/day. If it's significantly lower, I'll yank the books out of Select, and put them back onto other platforms. I just hope two weeks is enough time to evaluate the program.
That may sound all very business-like, but I don't know how else to evaluate it. Up until this Bookbub ad, even the sales I did have on other platforms were 'silent' sales. I didn't get reviews or feedback in any way, so I didn't know if anyone was actually reading the books, but in the last month, No Good Deed has racked up quite a few reviews on other platforms, and I've had messages from readers who found the book on other sites. Hearing from them makes me even more inclined to pull out of KU.
One question I have is will Amazon count books borrowed in June, read past 10%, but continued into July. Say someone borrows a book on June 28th, reads the first 10% by June 30th, and continues reading the book into July, finishing all 300 pages. Will Amazon pay me for both the 10% borrow in June, and the 270 pages in July? Or will they consider that book as paid for already? Will they tally those pages, but then not pay them because the book was paid in June? And if they do that, how will I know?
With the changes coming up next month when KU switches to paying by page instead of paying nothing until readers read 10% of a book, and then once they do, Amazon paid the full borrow rate for that month. It averaged about $1.38/borrow.
What I'm going to do to determine if it's worth staying in, since Amazon will only give us the number of pages read, and not the number of books borrowed, I can only go by pages read. Call me a pessimist but I don't think we'll get more than 2 cents/page read. That will be okay, actually if most of my borrowers finish my books. At an average page count of almost 300 pages a book for 3 of my 5 books, and the other 2 averaging 175 pages, I'll make out better than I do with the current system.
Being even more conservative, I'm going to assume the worst at a penny/page. That would still be better for me--if readers consume the whole book. Big if. Of course I hope it happens more often than not, but the reality is, readers--especially readers who haven't invested much in a book--give up on books for all kinds of reasons. Some are within my control--write a better book, for instance--others are beyond my control. An example: a reader begins reading March Into Hell after downloading No Good Deed for free. Their real life gets busy, they stop reading, and then forget about it. A month later, they want to borrow some other book and have to return one to get within the 10 book checkout limit, and March Into Hell pops up and Amazon asks the reader if they want to return it. They debate, then decide to return it because they can always read it later, and they forgot what it was about anyway. Boom. Book returned.
My books are due to come out of Select in mid-July. Most of the time, I'd probably just roll them back into KU because I don't normally have a lot of sales on other platforms, but I recently had a Bookbub ad for No Good Deed, and I had thousands of downloads outside of Amazon. It's been killing me that I can't put my other books up on those sites. I wish I could do both and hate the exclusivity clause in KU. Okay, rant about that over. Reality is, I hate to leave those readers hanging.
To know if staying in is worthwhile, in my head I'm going to assign a penny/page read, average out the pages read/day, and see if the income from those comes out to the same income I'm earning now on borrows/day. If it's significantly lower, I'll yank the books out of Select, and put them back onto other platforms. I just hope two weeks is enough time to evaluate the program.
That may sound all very business-like, but I don't know how else to evaluate it. Up until this Bookbub ad, even the sales I did have on other platforms were 'silent' sales. I didn't get reviews or feedback in any way, so I didn't know if anyone was actually reading the books, but in the last month, No Good Deed has racked up quite a few reviews on other platforms, and I've had messages from readers who found the book on other sites. Hearing from them makes me even more inclined to pull out of KU.
One question I have is will Amazon count books borrowed in June, read past 10%, but continued into July. Say someone borrows a book on June 28th, reads the first 10% by June 30th, and continues reading the book into July, finishing all 300 pages. Will Amazon pay me for both the 10% borrow in June, and the 270 pages in July? Or will they consider that book as paid for already? Will they tally those pages, but then not pay them because the book was paid in June? And if they do that, how will I know?
June 15, 2015
June 5, 2015
My Current Deals for Summer Reading
Quick rundown of my current deals on ebooks and audiobooks. All links will be at the bottom of the post so you don't miss a deal by clicking on link before reaching the next deal:First, No Good Deed: Book One--still FREE! Woo-hoo! Response to this deal has been phenomenal! I love all the new readers it has brought to the Mark Taylor Series. As if getting the ebook free was a good enough deal, did you know that because No Good Deed has Whispersync, you can get the audiobook version, narrated by award-winning narrator, Daniel Penz, for only $1.99! Yes, even a free ebook download counts for this deal!
Next BIG DEAL---For a limited time, March Into Hell: Book Two is just 99 cents in both the US and the U.K. via a Kindle Countdown Deal!
Next deals are for Mark Taylor: Genesis, and Deeds of Mercy: Book Three. Both of these titles are also Whispersynced. Mark Taylor: Genesis for almost a year. If you took advantage of that deal and have the book already on your Kindle, you can get the audio book for just $1.99! Of course, no worries if you didn't--the regular price of the ebook is only $2.99, and you can still get the audiobook for just $1.99 no matter how you acquired the book.
Deeds of Mercy has never been free, but it still has Whispersync and if you have the book on your Kindle--even if you bought it when it first came out three years ago--you can get the audiobook for just $1.99!
NO GOOD DEED: Book One
MARCH INTO HELL: Book Two
MARK TAYLOR: Genesis
DEEDS OF MERCY: Book Three
May 29, 2015
No Good Deed Still Free, Plus Unexpected Success in the UK
I am thrilled with No Good Deed's success as a free book in the U.K. over the last month. I don't
know what changed, because it's been free there before, but I'm not sure it ever made the top 100 free at any other time, and if it did, it was only for a few hours in the high 90s. So, when No Good Deed was price-matched to free in several Amazon markets, including the UK, back in mid-April, I didn't have high expectations for it in the U.K. It had always received pretty good reviews there, but had never been all that successful, even back in 2011 when it did very well in the US after a free run.
With no promo at all, it hung around 180-300 free in the store for weeks for the first month, and I was pleasantly surprised. On the 19th of this month, I had a BookBub ad, and that shot the book up to #2 in the Kindle Free store. It stayed there for several days and since then, has bounced from about #18 to #8. This morning, it was #11. How cool is that? I don't know how long it will remain in the top 100 there, let alone the top 20 (and I probably just jinxed it by creating this blog post!) but I'll be happy while it lasts.
Meanwhile, it's still hanging in the top 100 in the US Kindle Free store as well, although it's been not as high and it had some extra help from the fantastic Pixel of Ink and EreaderNewsToday, having promos with both of those great sites.
My friend, Susanne O'Leary's book, Hot Property, has done even better in the UK, sticking in the top 10 for several weeks now. It is also still free in the US as well, so grab it while you can!
know what changed, because it's been free there before, but I'm not sure it ever made the top 100 free at any other time, and if it did, it was only for a few hours in the high 90s. So, when No Good Deed was price-matched to free in several Amazon markets, including the UK, back in mid-April, I didn't have high expectations for it in the U.K. It had always received pretty good reviews there, but had never been all that successful, even back in 2011 when it did very well in the US after a free run.With no promo at all, it hung around 180-300 free in the store for weeks for the first month, and I was pleasantly surprised. On the 19th of this month, I had a BookBub ad, and that shot the book up to #2 in the Kindle Free store. It stayed there for several days and since then, has bounced from about #18 to #8. This morning, it was #11. How cool is that? I don't know how long it will remain in the top 100 there, let alone the top 20 (and I probably just jinxed it by creating this blog post!) but I'll be happy while it lasts.
Meanwhile, it's still hanging in the top 100 in the US Kindle Free store as well, although it's been not as high and it had some extra help from the fantastic Pixel of Ink and EreaderNewsToday, having promos with both of those great sites.
My friend, Susanne O'Leary's book, Hot Property, has done even better in the UK, sticking in the top 10 for several weeks now. It is also still free in the US as well, so grab it while you can!
