An Open Book

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

I love the era we live in as I write this blog I am listening to Mathew Wayne Selznick perform a live virtual concert from his home on usteam.tv. Amazing stuff is happening out there and I encourage you all to join in the fun. I mean really how cool is that! I must say though, it is hard to hold your bic in the air and type at the same time. The concert rocked. Thank you Mathew Wayne Selznick hope you do it again soon.

So numbers, I have been sort of watching numbers since I started podcasting The Mark of a Druid and since the book became available on Amazon, I have watched the numbers in comparison to what I am doing to promote the novel in all its forms online. And while it is totally cool to be in the charts on podiobooks and I expect to be back there when the book is out in its entirety. So as of today here is were the numbers stand or lay as the case may be. What I love is that people are listening and reading and commenting so thank you all!

Subscribers through Podiobooks.com 295 folks are listening on Podiobooks.com

Itunes counts their downloads singularly so there is no way to know exactly how many subscribers there are but so far 13,873 files have been downloaded of 25 available episodes from the Itunes format.

The hosting company that shows the numbers says to date total downloads from the first episode to now is 18,604. Love it!

4015 of those are from www.themarkofadruid.com

Juice and Zoon are neck and neck with 335 each. Then there are several small numbers from other locations on the web.

Now lets look at amazon.com. These are ranking numbers and the lower you get the better. That a means if you have a number 1 book that is as good as it gets. The category that The Mark of a Druid falls under is General Fiction/Fantasy. Huge category, which means lots of competition and I will be the first to admit that I am just learning about all of this ranking and numbering stuff. But I do understand that the lower your number the more frequently a book will come up in the search criteria for Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

There is a beta site http://www.titlez.com/welcome.aspx that shows sales rankings Their best raking so far has been 116,187 The worst 957,793 Not bad. Today The Mark of a Druid is Ranked 1,360,834. Here is where you guys come in. Amazon’s ranking today#852,705 in Books. Each time you leave a comment, rate the or buy the book, the ranking changes. On February 1, 2009 I hope to see this ranking drop under the hundred thousand mark. So please Join in the fun and watch the numbers with me.

Remember to enter The Mark of a Druid 2009 Contest #2 in the 2009 Contest Series at http://www.themarkofadruid.com. The winner will be announced in next Sundays blog. You must play to win but there is no purchase required. Contest #2 is a Sterling Silver Celtic Cross. The Next Winner to be announced 2/01/2009 on the formal release date of The Mark of a Druid in print form.

On February 1, 2009 Arlene Radasky and I are formally releasing our two Celtic novels. Please go to  Valentines Sweet Idea for your sweetheart. Help us be seen on Amazon.com.

Keep Writing, I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

I want to shout out a huge thank you to a number of folks who are going out of their way to leave reviews, rate and leave comments for The Mark of a Druid. Then I am going to do the same thing for a number of folks who are out there playing our duel release promos and other promos in support of Arlene Radasky’s The Fox and Rhonda R Carpenters’ The Mark of a Druid.

Podiobooks: Thank you, Rennie, JaneInPA, Barry, Theresa, Ren&Merlin, Emerian, Rowan, Arlene, Miss Amie; You are all very kind and it truly a joy to have comments good or bad so that I can gage how I am doing in the endeavor and it really helps other people decide to listen.

Itunes: Thank you, Audrey67, Tabitha, Winerebel; I know Itunes doesn’t make it easy to leave a review so I wanted to be sure you knew I do appreciate you reviews and am so please you are loving the book. One of you said that you couldn’t wait and went and bought a copy, Thank you and if you email me your address I will be happy to send you a free signed bookplate so your copy is autographed.

Amazon: A.R., Devoted Reader, P.B., Rowan, Dr. Sally Witt; You thoughts and comments a truly appreciated and on Amazon mean more than just a comment they help this book move up in the rankings so that it comes up on searches in its area more frequently. So Thank you!

And a huge thank you to all the podcasters out there that are playing the push promo and helping us spread the word. JDAZE podcast, Edwardgtalbot.com, Celticmythpodshow.com, Michele Rogers, Horroraddicts.net, The Dr. Sally Witt Show, Jeremy James. Thank you for all you do!

Learn more about upcoming web event at The Buzz http://www.themarkofadruid.com/mod/?page_id=376

Yesterday Arlene Radasky and I did a very fun interview with Dr. Sally Witt on Blog Talk Radio. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dr-Sally-Psychic-Healer/2009/01/17/Two-Celtic-Time-Travel-Themed-Authors-Psychic-Rhonda-Carpenter-open-for-Readings This interview is two fold and available in the achieves of her show. The first hour Arlene and I talk about how we met and why we are releasing our books together in time for Valentines Day. You can hear each of us read from the books and it is a fun hour, the second hour was an open reading hour with myself and Dr. SallyWitt! Very fun!

Today Arlene and I had a recorded interview with Emerian Rich of http://www.horroaddicts.net and http://www.emzbox.com. I had so much fun doing this interview too. Emz is a h00t. I love her show and I am soaking up her tips on how to more scary! I believe Episode #016 will air on 1/29/09 where the co-authored horror short that Arlene Radasky and I wrote, Walk-In will be played for your listening pleasure.

In Honor of Emerian Rich I am featuring her this week.

http://www.horroraddicts.net/

Tune in and listen to what is happening in the Horror Addicts world of books, movies, music, events and podcasting.

Emerian Rich

This is a face you just want to sew buttons on? Hold Still!

There you go. Now you belong forever! All messing around aside, I love her show and I am enjoying her pod novel Nights Knights By Emerian Rich and you can get that free here http://podiobooks.com/title/nights-knights  

Remember to enter The Mark of a Druid 2009 Contest #2 in the 2009 Contest Series at http://www.themarkofadruid.com. This week’s winner will be announced in just a few hours in the weekly blog! Win a free singed copy of The Mark of a Druid and other very cool Celtic stuff this week it is a Sterling Silver Celtic Cross. The Next Winner to be announced 2/01/2009.

I actually got time with all the marketing going on to write some on the next book in The Mark of a Druid series, When Ethers Descend.

Keep Writing, I know I will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

This has been a very interesting busy week here in what I call the Vortex.

It has been challenging with all of the things happening on the marketing front, Podcasting front and personal front to get any new writing done. I ask myself this week why aren’t you writing. This story is screaming in your head and you need to get it out.

I discovered to my shock and horror that the answer was, “I don’t have time.” Immediately my personal coaching brain said, “Liar! Yes you do. You must make time in what ever way you can with your schedule. Stop with the excuses and just do it.”

The internal struggle was on. You know that fight that goes off in your brain about where to put something you want to do when things are really busy. My fight went something like this. “Take something off your plate so you can put this on. There isn’t anything I can take off. Get a platter! No, no, no, you will get sick if you take on anymore. You are running on 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night and you know if you don’t get at least 6 to 8 your migraines are worse. Think outside the box, Rhonda.”

That was the key! I simply hadn’t thought of the option I had in front of me. I didn’t need to write it or type it to get it out of my head. I needed to be able to save it. Right? So out comes the micro recorder and I so could have done this on my computer if I had been in the office, but I wasn’t going to be. I had to be out for several days this week. The time in my car is pretty much downtime. I don’t talk on a cell and drive. I usually listen to books or music on the road. I was caught up on the books I committed to reviewing so this was a prefect way to still get the story out of my head and saved. Sure, I would have to type it later but that is easy to do and there is ALWAYS editing to do.

Problem solved. I reordered that part of the story and will type it up in a few days. See I get up every morning and want to write. It is a joy to bang out a story and play and develop the characters and plot lines. And just because I am marketing for the formal release of The Mark of a Druid and the 2009 Contest Series doesn’t mean I should stop the creative process of writing forward.

I guess you could apply this to anything you want to do. Maybe you answer isn’t’ a micro recorder, but if you think outside of the box and don’t place limits on what the answer might be it will come to you.

So what stops you from writing? Put yourself in check. Stop letting your excuses win. If you love to write like I do—then it is time to write in whatever way you can. Let me share this secret with you. No one is going to write it for you. It is your story, your idea, maybe even your dream. Don’t give up on it. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t let it keep rattling around in your head. You will feel better if you get it out and by doing so you are creating a stronger desire to go for the dream.

Announcements

Remember to enter The Mark of a Druid 2009 Contest series at http://www.themarkofadruid.com under last weeks blog you will find the questions for Contest #1 and the Contest 2009 page has all the rules. Win a free singed copy of The Mark of a Druid. The first Winner to be announced 1/18/2009.

Write to you next week!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

On this Christmas week I would like to wish you all a fabulous time with your family and friends.

Is there a time to be scary? Can I be scary? My kids certainly think I can be scary! I am not usually someone who writes horror and for the challenge for Horror Addicts I had to call in a dear friend, Arlene Radasky. My writing leans toward the very emotional intense side as apposed to blood, guts and gore or Vampires and Werewolves or Zombies. So for this story we went psychological. This is not a gory story but there is blood hehehehe.

Walk-in By Arlene Radasky and Rhonda R Carpenter has been slatted for the 16th Episode of Horroraddicts.net. And if you listened to HA this week you heard Emz give me 13 things I could do to be more scary! It was a crack up and I really appreciate Emz using me to get the word out about all the scary things happening on her site and many others! Thanks Emz!

There is a preview here of the story and at www.radasky.com but please be sure you listen to the episode too. Click on Short Stories Page and listen there to Walk-in! And subscribe to www.horroraddicts.net and hear it there January 29, 2009!

Christmas is family time for me and everyone comes to my house, which in this weather and be super scary, so I will be off line for the holidays for the most part. The next episode of The Mark of a Druid should go live tomorrow on podiobooks.com and this was a very difficult episode to do. See the http://www.themarkofadruid.com for more on the ins and outs of the issues and results.

This weeks Got Insight blog proves to be inspirational, Holiday Joy…  

Merry Christmas folks and here is to having a safe and joyous holiday and to all a good night.

Rhonda Carpenter