November News

From the Joy Desk

Monday, November 21, 2022

Inside this issue:

• Amazon Author Pages?

• Authoring Onward Podcasts

• Books By My Friends

• Do You Leave Online Product Reviews?

• Fitness Journal Winner

• Homecoming: Serialized Fiction by Barbara Jean Miller

• Music I’m Listening To

Amazon Author Pages?

I’ve got a couple of questions for you.

• Do you follow any authors on AMAZON?

• Do you notice an author’s photo and the follow button beside it on their Amazon page?

• Did you know such a thing existed?

I’m trying to determine the usefulness of the Amazon Author Page. Thanks for any input.

Here is the link to my author page at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Joy-E-Held/e/B001K7QYKC/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk

Authoring Onward Podcasts

Connie B. Dowell and I have been busy recording podcast interviews with some wonderful guests. They are writers talking about writing craft, business, and life, but they all have such interesting lives and stories to tell that anyone would appreciate hearing them. Here is the link to the latest interview with Valerie Nieman.

http://bookechoes.com/2022/11/16/episode-153-writing-vivid-settings-with-valerie-nieman/

Books By My Friends

My weekly series (sometimes two a week!) Books By My Friends has featured a wide array of books in a variety of genres. My most recent guest is book friend Betty Bolte:

Books By My Friends

Do You Leave Online Product Reviews?

Some more questions for you.

• Do you leave online product reviews?

• If so, what prompts you to do so?

• If not, why not?

• How much do you rely on the reviews of others when making a purchasing decision?

• What is the last product you reviewed online?

I’d love to hear from you.

Fitness Journal Winner

Congratulations to the November drawing winner Arnie Bernstein of Chicago, IL. He won a fitness journal and Writer Wellness swag.

Homecoming: Serialized Fiction by Barbara Jean Miller

I bet you know that Charles Dickens published many novels a chapter at a time in magazines and newspapers. Serialized fiction was very popular in Victorian England, and it is how many authors amassed fans and notoriety. Bram Stoker serialized Dracula in America in 1899 before the whole book was published here.

There are scads of online sites where novels and novellas are released a chapter at a time on regular intervals. Amazon is still experimenting with Kindle Vella, and the internet platform known as Substack is helping serialized fiction return. There is a nice twist to this resurgence of novel-by-drip: authors are getting paid for their stories.

I’m working on serializing one of my out-of-print historical romance novels which I hope to begin releasing in January. Meanwhile, my graduate school mentor and prolific author Barbara Jean Miller currently has a novel by installments that I highly recommend. It’s called Homecoming and Barb isn’t charging for this story. It’s already in week/chapter three, but all the previous chapters are on her site, so it’s easy to catch up. I’m enjoying the story and still learning from the master.

Homecoming -3

Music I’m Listening To

While putting this newsletter together, I’m listening to “November Air” by Zach Bryan. The lyrics are beautiful.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Be well,

Joy

Yes, that IS a turkey made out of butter!

Social media links:

https://linktr.ee/joyeheld