Upcoming Promotions for Two Out of Three!

For Halloween reading fun and the thrills of reading spooky books right before Halloween, take advantage of these two e-book promotions: The Nebulizer Potion and the Electric Compass and The Quill Pen Killer. Both novels book-end the cyber-punk, vampire trilogy: The Vampire DeAngeliuson, as the first and the last in the trilogy.  Frightfully fun in the seasons of wind knocking limbs against the window panes.  Humorous comic style mysteries giveaway promos start October 24th - 30th, and then beginning Halloween Night - the two books will be free to readers (and reviewers).  Blog reader trick-or-treat!  So, check back here or go to http://amazon.com/author/karaskyesmith for a trick-or-treat.

Book Quotes:

"May you always know a vampire when you see one in the night." - QPK

Easy how-to make ghost lanterns and luminaries.

"Nearly witnessing a vampire’s evil intent to drain a mortal’s life blood, right in front of you, is a horror at worst and awkward at best (if he happens to be family); but, it pales in comparison to thinking that the same beloved soul of eternity might have hit a body bag instead of a castle for the eons." - Nebulizer Potion..

Vampire Trilogy Complete with Book Trailers!!

Anthology - the book trailer:

 Introduces All Three Books in the Series:The Vampire DeAngeliuson

Cyber-punk, vampire mystery novels for middle readers to adult.
To find all three books, at Amazon.com, just click the image, below.

View the entire book series trailer, Anthology. Its a sneak peak of all three books in the series: the Vampire DeAngeliuson which is just now finished with Book iii just NOW RELEASED!!

Hate spoilers?  Watch the shorter trailer, here.

Now Available at Smashwords and Amazon.com

The Nebulizer Potion and the Electric Compass

15 Facts about The Vampire DeAngeliuson trilogy.

On a Lighter Note -

New color page from Owl Skate, e-book creation vids.

After all the posting about the Hachette and Amazon dispute - press (sidebar) - and stress about the Oregon Book Awards, I've been coloring!

I've had a few days to kick back - no, not really - but my duties to create some color pages for kids felt a lot more like play than work. I've been making videos for a series Create a Picture E-Book on Youtube; and, someone suggested colorbook pages. I thought, "What a great idea!" So far, I've made two download-and-print color pages from the character development color sketches in the videos.

If you have kids who like to color, skateboard, or love animals and nature, check out these new pages for some fun viewing and coloring: Kids-Explore-Nature, Urban Explorer, Portland.  You'll also find silly and not-so-silly animal matching games, word games, and hidden pictures, and art activities for kids.

OBA Stress and a Prequel

I am, maybe, the dumbest entrant to the Oregon Book Awards.  I knew I was going to enter this year, long ago, yet I am battling the admission information and requirements to the very last.  Ho hum, I'm so dumb - is a little song I wrote this week.  So, I was thrilled when I learned about Kindle pre-orders.  About to finish the third book in my vampire trilogy.  I can upload without worries that there won't be a link to go with my effort like Painting the Castle for the cover - The Nebulizer Potion and the Electric Compass.

Another reason to smile: I now have books for sale at Smashwords.com.  Something I have thought about getting done for a while, now.  So, far, I have The Quill Pen Killer and The Faerie Ring Dance uploaded.  I like the site and all it offers me, as an author.  Please feel free to comment about your experience as a reader, reader-author, too.  Smashwords also offers pre-orders, so when all the hectic OBA duties are done, I will be able to upload more series books as the site distributes to Nook and popular book sellers - even libraries.

Wondering what my entry is going to be?  See its new Facebook page for information.  Page likes always appreciated.

Authors Adding a Video Blog to the Platform - Read This

As part of your indie published platform(s), you might want to add an Author's Vlog.  Video goes hand in hand with the real work you are doing as an author, but also makes great SEO content.

For self-published authors who are considering adding a vlog - or even doing personalized book trailers - here's my list of great online editing tools which serve to enhance that which you've got to tell and sell:

First off, Stupeflix provides members with an array of tools and features, like text-to-speech and call-to-action buttons, that can turn children's e-books into apps, is great for iTunes, and iPad users and basic, video editing online.

Youtube is best, and Vimeo gets great reviews.  But have you tried Wattpad?  This site is great for self-published authors faced with the task of making their own following and fans of their writing with short stories or even trailers.  Thinking about making trailers or ipad apps without the use of  a commercial studio?  I'm still working on the trailer goal, too.  I have found that with even the most basic movie editor (standard on my very inexpensive laptop) and Youtube's studio creator section, it is possible to make some magic for discerning book buying customers.  This site makes indie publisher goals awesome is attainable.

At Animoto.com, it is easy to create awesome slide shows with all sorts of effects and music.

1. Youtube - Check out my channel or just go - http://youtube.com
2. Stupeflix - https://studio.stupeflix.com/en/
3. Wattpad - http://wattpad.com
4. Animoto - http://animoto.com/intro/animoto/

Yesterday's Twittering Left This Author Cold on a Hot, August Night

Nine hundred great authors disagree with me, is what I was thinking after reading my tweets and the article with signatures in the New York Times. Think how Jeff Bezsos must feel! He was personally named. Thank fright he can power up the helicopter and head for a real island anytime he wants! I sat at my own little Raccoon Oasis - a plastic pool absconded by a host of neighborhood raccoons, one animal we've nicknamed the chupacabre (catdog and oppossum-dog are second and third favorites), bats, and owls with a Diet Dr. Pepper and worried about my stance.

Tell the world what you think.  Read further about this issue by reading the letter and find links on where to respond:

• Kindle Direct Publishing Letter - with response links
• My Letter
• My Stance Remains and Why

A Cover Updates and an Introduction Videos Promote This Author's Middle Reader, Cyber-Punk, Vampire Book Series

Below is the cover illustration for The Quill Pen Killer, the first children's chapter novel I finished.  I had started The Faerie Ring Dance years ago, when my children were in their cribs.  I didn't finish that tale based on Irish Faerie legend until after The Quill Pen Killer, however.  This 11x17 image lives on the wall at my house.  I recently pulled it off the wall to update the e-book cover, shown here:


The DeAngeliuson Vampire Family Anthology book trailer - a sneak peek at all three e-books with a virtual family tree and images that are supposed to bring to mind a haunted mansion's hall of portraits which introduce characters to be found in the mysteries solved in the seperate books.

"Raven hurries home wondering if he'll stay friends with his childhood pal, Jessica, or if 'vampire'  is just 
too big of an obstacle."

These books are fun, humorous, and filled with mysteries which our heroine, Jessica, must solve. She doesn't much want to be involved in most of the mysteries, or even vampire life for that matter. She's bookish and smart, and simply gets to the matter of 'who did what' quicker than most, and for reasons like these, she ends up 'saving the day' (an oxymoron for an of-the-blood member of things that go bump in the night).

SUBSCRIBE to Picture E-Book Series VLOG HERE!! 

Two Novels Due This Month - Not Just the Weather but the Pressure is Heating Up!!

I am writing Willow - from camp notes and pre-writes - while finishing (at long last) The Nebulizer Potion and the Electric Compass.  This kind of pressure has me doing what?  Three guesses:
1.  Relaxing by the pool for R&R
2.  Organizing, furiously, in my planner; prioritizing and delegating
3.  Adding more projects to my list of to-dos

No organized person does number 3!  The answer is: number 3 - help!  I have added a vlog.  Two video posts per week.  Here is the latest vlog post I just finished up today (in time to start another - ahh!)  Luckily, the vlog is about creating e-books - specifically picture books, but with the content requirements, I also squeezed in a cover for one of the two novels due out this month.  Subscribe if you would like updates or tips about creating covers and using the Kindle Creators that Amazon.com provides authors on kdp.

Relaxing with YouTube

I don't have a working television.  Instead, I watch YouTube videos.  Its where I watched the first Game of Thrones episode, and where I learned to play the theme song on the ocarina.  Well' I didn't so much learn it as watch it; but, I did think of the experience as though I had learned at least something about the ocarina.  I have, now, an entire playlist with video game and epic television series theme songs played on the ocarina - most withfingering how-to information.  In other words, I am prepared.  I could learn to play the ocarina.

I have joined forces.  I played around with the question - what do I know about that viewers could learn from, find interesting or choose to watch.  And so today, I launch, Pail to Skate the first video in a series about Creating A Picture E-Book.  I also think these serve as a great addition to Kids Explore Nature pages on Urban Explorer.  Kids, artists, illustrators, and readers can watchthe picture e-book get put together from scratch.  I hope there will be tips for writers, too, like formatting for the Kindle with picture layouts.  Don't forget to subscribe!! Let me see its link to the first video is HERE!!