It's April, After All That.

All That being six weeks of high, high heating bills and 106 plus inches of snow... but as they say in Vermont: God put it there; God'll take it away. The snow's gone. Temperature's rising. Don’t even have many April showers to contend with; a few wispy clouds are drifting by this morning.

Connections is done. Put aside. Ready to publish. 93100 words. I’d value any thoughts about the description I plan to use:

Everyone has connections they take for granted, and others of which they are unaware.

Beckie's training as a nineteen year-old apprentice in Ian Jamse’s mercenary team emphasizes marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and most importantly, teamwork to protect the team, the client and civilians, in that order. But after  a summer saving London, it’s time to start her sophomore year at Miami.

Piero fell under Goldfarb’s blackmail easily; sex and money are powerful motivators. However, winning the Peruvian Presidential election seems within his reach when he recalls the videos that Goldfarb controls. Videos documenting the conspiracy to pervert the course of justice both he and his chief opponent engaged in years ago would cement his victory or his defeat.
Throwing his blackmail back at Goldfarb, he threatens the loss of their smuggling revenue. So threatened, Goldfarb loses control, and attacks Ian’s team, starting with Amy Rose, Beckie’s young friend.

To save Amy, to keep the team safe, Beckie must put her wants on hold. It’s one helluva one-semester course. Pass-fail means live-die.

Connections is the third in the Mercenaries series, a YA/NA thriller recommended for 15 and up.

I’m cleaning up the cast page and the other things (updating About the Author, for example) so I plan to go live across the board this weekend, including POD at CreateSpace, though that will require approval of the proof, so will follow by a week or so… If I don’t screw something up!

On the fourth and fifth books, my first reader has pointed out holes, nay, chasms to either fill or bridge over. Fortunately, fewer in the next one, Coda?, but some of the ones in Served Cold reflect back into Coda? since together they cover a continuous roughly ten month period. While Coda? completes its arc, it also segues into Served Cold with no delay.
I had thought that Served Cold would finish the series, but the characters are unwilling to be set aside so easily. As I sit here in my comfy chair, three characters are pushing two different stories at me. It will be interesting to see how they see their lives progressing. The parts they are willing to share, at least!

Comments are welcome, as usual.

Back Again, With Questions

Last night, about 8:30, we arrived back home - whew! - after 4400 miles and 21 days, one graduation from US Army basic training, one wedding, visits with brother and aunt, not to mention Gramma's azaleas (not going to mention...).

I published Mercenaries: A Love Story on March 21. So far, it's sold two copies to people who are not family or friends - or if they are, they haven't admitted it. I hope that's not the case! It's in the Select program, but no borrows, so far.

This leads to a question: on Amazon, is there a way to see what the book's page views are? On Smashwords, the samples downloaded stat hinted at that, but I haven't found that for Amazon yet. If there are no page views, that would lead me in the direction of trying to increase visibility, but if there are page views that don't get converted, that implies that either the cover or the blurb aren't doing their job. Or at $4.99, the price is too high. Different things to fix. If there are page views, reviews might help, but there aren't any of those as yet.

With 35K words (about a third) of one WIP being looked at by a beta reader, and 130K words of a second WIP going out to a second reader, I have a minute or two to think on these things. If only I knew what to work on... If any readers feel they could provide an opinion on either the cover (visible to the right) or the description (below), please feel free. I won't hold anything you offer against you. Of course, you could say, work on everything... but I'd like to focus.

Description
Mercenaries: A Love Story

Beckie Sverdupe, typical high-school student and accomplished equestrienne, has a best friend, a younger brother, and no plans beyond homework and the upcoming pep rally.

Then, she is kidnapped to be buried alive. Her strength and resourcefulness during that ordeal causes the enigmatic young mercenary, Ian Jamse, to ask for her help in rescuing another abducted girl. During spring break, she and her best friend play exotic dancer in London and, within a day, find themselves being massaged in a Italian villa! The sex-trader is thwarted this time, but he continues to ply his evil trade in San Diego by hijacking a middle-school school bus.

Beckie chooses to put herself back on the stage, within the slaver’s grasp, to free the California girls. Jamse sees financial gain. The two of them chase the fiend from London to Arizona to Thailand, where Beckie learns what she really wants from life.

This is Mercenaries: A Love Story complete. All four stories are here in one volume.
Bonus! An excerpt from Freedom No Matter, the next book in this series.
Mercenaries: A Love Story is recommended for 16+ for language and mature situations

The book is just over 153K words and it's not available in paper. Does anyone think having a 500 page book available would add to its success?