neverceese.com down for now.

Just to let you know, www.neverceese.com is my own site and is temporarily down at the moment because I can't afford to keep it running. Sad but true. Perhaps I'll be able to pay to get it back up in about a month. It's certainly not a priority however it is depressing to know I have to leave it down for now. Oh well. Just come here for updates.

Christian Horror - Where is it?

I'm not kidding. Where is it? I went to input information for my E-Book version of Never Ceese. Went to select three subjects it fit under and WoW! no subject for Christian Horror. What's that about? Never Ceese was approved for distribution to the Christian market. Spring Arbor had to know Never Ceese was horror. It's right there on the cover, short-listed for a Bram Stoker award. Bram Stoker . . . Dracula . . . horror . . . sort of figured they wouldn't approve a book they didn't have a subject category for, right?

Wrong.

Same at Amazon. No category for Christian Horror.

Want to know why?

Of course you do. ;) Even though Spring Arbor is no longer run by the Christian Booksellers Association (technically anyway) Spring Arbor seems not to humor much more than what CBA will tolerate. The Christian Booksellers Association never had plans of putting out horror as such (because their core market readers think it's evil for the most part) and so there has never been a Christian horror category added. This is in spite of there being general market horror books out there already that appeal and deal with very Christian material (non-overtly of course. Just part of the story.)

That should change soon though because CBA and ECPA are now publishing HORROR or so they claim. It's actually CBA/ECPA highly targeted, and standardly overt fiction. Rest assured though, as soon as a Christian Horror category is created (of course because I won't shut up about it,) CBA will push their non-horror titles right in there. Even though, by their own admission, they don't plan on publishing horror stories--as such and never have planned on it.

So for now you get to dig through the Horror section, there're certainly some fine books there, instead of going directly to ones that would most likely not offend your Christian sensibilities.

It's actually the result of a much larger problem in the publishing industry IMO. There are no "publishing police" out there to direct who actually qualifies to go into a particular slot. It's up to each publisher period. That's why we have the young adult section cluttered with literature that might best go into adult erotica and also the reason why anything labeled Christian will only ever point to work put out by an affiliation that is exclusive and only represents what some Christians want to read.

KINDLE Baby!

That's right. The deed is done. All that remains is for Amazon to wake up and do whatever they do to get the file approved. You'll then be able to get a slightly revised version of Never Ceese the PAPERBACK for only $5.00 and get this . . . I actually see that money. Say it ain't so! Keep checking Amazon it could be available as early as tomorrow!!!!!

Yikes! I forgot to thank CAPRICE HOLKSTAD for doing all the tough work of getting it ready. THANK YOU Caprice!

;)

Kiln, Mississippi!!!!

Oh dear God, I just got a hit on my blog from Kiln, Mississippi!!! KILN Mississippi people!!! Okay Mr. Favre if that was you, (I'm sure it was,) I didn't mean to cheer so loud for the Saints (I actually meant to cheer louder. ;)) but they've worked so hard for so long and well, you know you'll get another chance at the Super Bowl. It was an awesome game though.

*Sue wipes brow with hand* Why would anyone from Kiln, Mississippi look at my blog? *gasp*

Aspiring author question.

I always enjoy being asked questions about my journey thus far and I'm always surprised as well. It's not like I've made any kind of an impact. Good grief. Set your goals higher! LOL Anyway, here's the question with identifying information left out.

Dear Ms. Dent,

I have a completed Christian speculative fiction novel, "{name of book}" which I am sending out to agents - could I ask the name of yours, and if s/he is accepting unsolicited queries?

Thanks so much!
{Seminary Professor}


My first suggestion would be to hire a professional editor to have the MS edited. This is what your competition will be doing. And prospective publishers (small traditional houses as you won't get the attention of a large house not even with an agent should you manage to snag one of those)will greatly appreciate the fact that you cared enough to put a little money (make sure editor's quotes are competitive)into your venture. Plus they'll actually look at you should they be interested in the genre or story you've submitted. Rejections will simply be based on whether they're taking new work at the time. I'm speaking from experience here.

You can ask for the name of my agent but you already know it. It's Sue Dent. You can look for an agent if you like, but you'll just be adding to the rejection letters you get and time you'll waste. And agents aren't even publishers.

Also you might call your work something other than Christian Speculative Fiction. This isn't a genre recognized by publishers and there isn't really an audience for stories labeled as such. My work has been called Christian Speculative Fiction but I never called it that. If I had, I'd never have been published unless I self-published that is.

Don't fall into the trap of looking for CBA affiliated Christian agents either, or rather agents who will only show your work to CBA houses. Sadly it's hard to tell them apart from the other agents out there who gladly take work written by Christians and actually call themselves Christian agents as well. Affiliated houses won't even look at your MS if it's called Christian Speculative Fiction. I contacted several Christian agents not understanding that the CBA publishers they submitted to ran from this genre like the plague, when it seemed most of my readers were from the "Christian" market and I was told by every one of them that none of the publishers they submitted to would look at my work.

When I suggested to one of the largest "Christian" agents out there that I felt CBA publishers would take a look at my MS, he still refused to represent me. His words of encouragement were, "what do I know? I turned down Dekker." On a side note, Dekker's work isn't Christian Speculative Fiction either. Like I said, the genre is new and not really a genre at all. It doesn't make sense to call your work this if you're trying to get a publisher to look at you. Dekker wrote very safe CBA oriented work initially. After all, he was and is published by an affiliated house . . . well except for his latest book. That was published under another non-affiliated imprint that to date hasn't published anyone but affiliated publishers. Sort of a non-affiliated, affiliated imprint. I know, right?

For those of you who don't know who Ted Dekker is, perhaps because you don't care anything about the CBA market, he's one of their bigger named authors. Like many affiliated authors his work now shows up in general market bookstores even though the association his publisher belongs to doesn't allow non-affiliated work into their stores without extremely heavy scrutiny if at all. His work is still completely CBA friendly though CBA seems to be content to let him step outside their boundaries every now and again. I suppose so he can pull over potential customers. Who knows?

Bottom line, even if you think your work fits the criteria for Christian Speculative Fiction, don't present it as such to a publisher. General Market publishers (yes I mean non-affiliated Christian houses too) will drop you faster than a hot potato if they pick your query up at all. And CBA affiliated Christian agents and publishers will reject you even faster. There are smaller publishers accepting work called Christian Speculative Fiction but they are few and far between and most are ex-CBA affiliated publishers or editors who still only know how to write for a very closed and exclusive market and well, they know how to work that market.

Good luck though. I wish you well. ;)

Amazon Author Central - They fixed something!

Yes, I contacted Amazon's Author Central because once again my out of print, publisher gone under hard copy of Never Ceese was showing up as the default image on Amazon and not the paperback copy I actually make money off of. They'd fixed this once and even linked the reviews!

They emailed me just now and told me the paperback would be displayed again shortly! Wow! I wasn't expecting that. I'm starting to warm up to you Amazon. ;)

I find all sorts of things!

I find all sorts of things lying around the internet. What a wonderful review this turned out to be. Thank you ashley!

The best part of waking up! ;)

Yes the best part of waking up is, at the very least, coffee in your cup and finding a google alert like this one.:




Love you, Sarah. And look at fellow author Frank Creed grabbing that spotlight! You go Frank!!!

When will Cyn No More be out?

I really don't have a clue. I'm working on the story but have to spend an enormous amount of time promoting and taking care of me and mine. And before anyone jumps the gun and says, "but Sue, doesn't your publisher do that," I'd like to say "duh. Yes my publisher does that." But no small to mid-range publisher has the funds to compete with the larger houses!!! So for authors published by smaller and mid-range traditional presses, it is absolutely imperative that the author get heavily involved. This of course means that there is less time to write and I absolutely won't put anything out there that isn't worth someone's time to read.

I probably wouldn't have to spend as much time promoting if my work hadn't overwhelmingly appealed to CBA/ECPA readers. BTW, I'm extremely happy this group enjoys my work but it does create a bit of marketing nightmare. I've now got affiliated authors mentioning my name here and there which is good but they drop the ball when it comes to mentioning me in places where it matters. It seems they only want to play off my limited success without giving anything back. It's really frustrating but that's okay. ;) I've fought bigger battles and came out on top.

My books are selling, yes. But sales are my incentive, (and my publisher's incentive.) I write because I can and people seem to enjoy my stories. Most days, however, I feel like I'm in that dream where you're running down that never ending hallway trying to reach safety but the door is always juuuuust out of reach. Some days I get close enough to believe it may not be a dream at all and I'm inspired to run faster. Other days I just want to sit down and give up. Who cares? It's just a dream anyway. But when the dream becomes too expensive, I will have to reconsider what I'm doing with my writing.

But that's nothing new. That's every small to mid-range authors story. As much as it cost to "get out there," this trend of never ending blockbuster best-selling authors from ginormous houses will continue. Ain't life grand!

Forever Richard reviewed!

FIRST Blog tours is one of a few who spotlights non-affiliated Christian authors. They do on occasion tour affiliated authors but they try to focus on non-affiliated ones. There are already exclusive blog tours for affiliated publishers but they're expensive and FIRST is free except an author or publisher has to pay for the books they have to provide.

Anyway since my stories, written with the general market reader in mind, also appeal to the very targeted Christian market CBA serves, I sought FIRST out (or rather my publisher did) to see if we could get a spot. Indeed we did get one and garnished several wonderful reviews. Here is my most favorite from a previous reader of Never Ceese.

I hope you enjoy it. I know I did! Click HERE to read the review. ;)

Family Christian Stores history.

To gain a better understanding, if one really cares, about who larger Christian bookstores really serve one simply has to look at the history. Family Christian Stores have a very interesting history which is laid out here.

Sufficed to say, they actually are still exclusive and will only carry work provided by CBA affiliated publishers. However since this is their preference and not the rule, non-affiliated Christian publishers stand a chance of getting in should they want to.

I find Family Christian's history so intriguing because they were originally owned by CBA/ECPA affiliated Zondervan meaning of course at that time NO fiction got into Family Christian unless it was from a CBA/ECPA affiliated publisher. Everything was rosy of course until Zondervan hooked up with Harper/Collins which Zondervan has said in responses I've seen on the web that this takeover was beyond their control. They said this because store owners were angry at being owned by a company, Harper/Collins, who also printed and distributed the satanic bible.

Eventually Family Christian got their stores back breaking all ties with Zondervan and the demonic Harper/Collins (Sorry. Couldn't resist.) In the meantime Zondervan remains a CBA/ECPA exclusive and heavily targeted Christian imprint of the larger publisher which I've always found interesting. It's clearly their relationship with Harper/Collins that helped CBA/ECPA exclusive Zondervan along yet Zondervan states in several instances their disenchantment with being picked up by this company (google it. It's not hard to find.) This disenchantment is usually expressed when core market CBA/ECPA readers realize that some of the money they spend on Zondervan's books actually supports an industry who prints the satanic bible along with books on witchcraft, homosexuals etc . . . Other than that, Zondervan seems just fine with their owners. Sort of a love/hate relationship that runs hot/cold depending on who is asking.

But yes. Family Christian Stores can carry non-affiliated Christian fiction and without sending it through to be scrutinized again (I think.) The stores however still only serve a very exclusive and targeted market of Christians so frequenting larger general market stores is your best bet to find fiction that appeals to all.

Family Christian doing it right.

Happy to report that Family Christian Stores now have Never Ceese the paperback and Forever Richard listed as available on their websites!

I know, right?

The reason is because apparently they only look at if a book has been approved for distribution to the Christian market. Tomorrow I'll be heading to my local Family Christian to see about getting them to order a few for the store something my local Lifeway can't even think about doing because Michael Robbins their book buyer has refused to carry my work without even looking at it. You see at Lifeway, if the book isn't published by a fee paying affiliated publisher it has to go through the bookbuyer to be "scrutinized" and this is even if your book has already been deemed socially acceptable to the Christian market. Mardel's just says no if your work isn't published by an affiliated publisher. LOL I didn't even get past the initial phone call with them.

Oh I feel a book signing coming on. ;)

Latest favorite song.

New Review - Christian Speculative Fiction

Y'all stop!!! LOL Nobody knows what Christian Speculative Fiction is. Okay so let me try and explain real quick (from what I've been told anyway.) Christian Speculative Fiction is a genre created by ummm-well somebody, to describe work that CBA affiliated Christian houses won't produce because they claim their "core market readers" don't want to read such fiction. That being said, Christian Speculative Fiction won't be showing up in larger affiliated Christian bookstores or at on-line affiliated Christian bookstores anytime soon because it all comes from non-affiliated Christian publishers. But as par for the course, since this genre seems to be sitting pretty well with affiliated readers, CBA is now calling some of their fiction Christian Speculative Fiction. You know, without adding the CBA part which distinguishes their work from every other non-affiliated Christian publisher out there.

Hey! Who created this genre anyway?

Didn't you make rules too?

Oh well. For the record, my series now falls into more genres than I ever imagined it would. LOL

So without further ado, you may now read this grand review from another fan who post reviews for the Christian Examiner network. This is my second so far from this group. They are so wonderful!

Hugs to Shelley.

Here's the Link!

Enjoy!

Hopefully helpful news to aspiring authors.

The publishing industry is full of pitfalls the least of which will have a would be author giving up before they even get started. Can't say I knew about many of them going into it but I've learned a good bit since. All and all, if you walk in with your eyes open and your purpose set, you'll fair okay. But it isn't helpful when things aren't as they appear. This is particularly mind-boggling when attempting to choose a market for your work. For instance I chose young adult as my editor and first publisher said that's who they felt would most likely enjoy my stories. It's important to note my first publisher was also a Christian (non CBA affiliated) publisher so we eagerly began trying to get books into Christian bookstores. After all, we had distribution through STL a "Christian" distributor.

*Woop. Woop. Red Alert. Danger. Danger*

Little did we know that "Christian" in the publishing industry referred to one market not the entire market. And that one market is exclusive (meaning a publisher has to pay to belong) and denominational (meaning the work produced is for one audience and a very narrowly targeted one at that.)

Needless to say, calling my work "Christian" would not put it in the hands of anyone who would enjoy it the most. Well there's a fine how do you do! My first non-affiliated Christian publisher wasn't even told that the chances of her getting non-affiliated books in a larger (CBA affiliated) Christian bookstore were um, ZERO! The distributor simply took her money and would report with each attempt that "no, that Christian bookstore didn't want to carry her books either."

So many authors are contacting me now, I guess because I've so many openly Christian readers and with a vampire/werewolf story no less, and asking me how I did it.

The only thing I can tell you is this, unless your story is overtly Christian and designed to appeal to the audience CBA and ECPA serve (an audience that won't read sci-fi, fantasy and of course not horror. Nor will they read anything that isn't heavily evangelical) do NOT call your work Christian. Or if you do, make sure you tag on with every breath that your work isn't CBA or ECPA affiliated (if it isn't anyway.) That's an exclusive market and their work is not designed (nor does it) appeal to general market readers. Christians included.

Saying your work is Christian before you're picked up by a publisher will severely lessen your chances of having your work looked at by anyone other than an affiliated agent. And if you write in the Sci-fi, fantasy or horror genre, affiliated agents will send you happily marching. ;)

A Debut Horror Novelist's Pride and Joy!

Reposted

Even now with my second book out and doing well with readers, my sequel earned not even a second glance from first line reviewers such as publishers weekly and the like (I told my publisher I felt it was a waste of time to do an arc just so these reviewers could NOT look at my work.) So instead I did what I had to do to find reviewers who were established in the horror industry to sound off on my work. The review I received from Nicholas Grabowsky author of Halloween IV and the one from W.D. Gagliani author of Wolf's Trap and now Wolf's Gambit, which Bill posted at Horror World.com, have got to be the two reviews I go to the most. Who wouldn't? I recently posted a link to Mr. Gagliani's review and will now re-post the link to Mr. Grabowski's. You can read the review by clicking the link below.

Downwarden.com

There are also two wonderful reviews from affiliated authors Lena Nelson Dooley and New York Times best-selling author Eric Wilson if you want to google and read those. Neither of these authors write for the general market though so the reviews are slanted a bit toward their narrowly targeted audience. Still very nice reviews though. :)

Question from reader.

Many of my readers are budding authors and so I'm excited to hear any questions. I've not had a lot of experience myself but I can speak from what I've learned. So here's the question.

I'm working on a couple of different books (vampire novel and sci fi-romance.) I'd like to put my faith into my writing, but I honestly have no clue how to do this. (I'm not even sure I should be doing the vampire one.) I've never gotten an idea for a faith based plot or even a plot where I could put in something about the character's faith. How'd you do it?

I believe that most writers inherently weave pieces of themselves into their story and this includes things that point to a belief system they may have. I absolutely did not go into this story thinking how shall I work my faith into it. Nothing about my work is scripted in that way. I suppose if it were that would ruin the creative process for me. On the other hand I will never write a story that has me compromising what I believe to be true. That being said, I could write a story where no character's faith is revealed or even considered as important to the outcome. I just don't have a problem adding faith to a story if it's important to the character(s) rather than ignoring it because I'm afraid someone might throw the book and dismiss it as propaganda. It just so happen that my main characters faith was important to who they were and so it was part of the story.

I'm still amazed that my story rang true with many readers from an exclusive Christian market whose publishers only put out narrowly targeted fiction but I'll take them where I can get them. ;)

I wish I had a better answer but I simply write to write. There is no real agenda. I am a Christian (garden-variety) though and again, I'd never write anything to compromise that.

What does distribution through Spring Arbor mean?

This is a repost for any new readers.

*warning: Please don't read this if you choose not to be bored. This is for aspiring authors and writers. Actually, they may even get bored but I found it worth sharing.* :)

What does distribution through Spring Arbor mean? To answer this question you have to understand who Spring Arbor was originally. A distribution outlet created to handle work produced by CBA affiliated publishers with CBA being an association formed in 1950 by a group of Christian Booksellers. The Baptist Bookstores, as they were called, decided to create an association called the Christian Booksellers Association. They charged publishers to write narrowly targeted, sanitized and Biblically correct fiction (according to conservative evangelicals) that would appeal to their bookstore visitors. In return for the money the publishers paid, they'd be guaranteed a spot on shelves of all Christian bookstores (again, Baptist Bookstores only.)

Clearly CBA publishers didn't need help from the usual distributors such as Ingram or Baker & Taylor because the books they were producing were for a specific targeted market to begin with, and a specific group of bookstores only. After all this was an attempt to get more customers into the Baptist Bookstores not general market bookstores. Spring Arbor was the distributor.

CBA and later ECPA (the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, a group set up by affiliated publishers,) grew and did well with their market readers. At some point however, and for reasons beyond this authors/bloggers understanding, CBA decided that work produced by affiliated publishers now needed to be in larger bookstores as well. *scratching head at this. I thought the whole point in 1950 was for CBA to bring customers into the Baptist bookstores now called larger Christian booksellers, not send them elsewhere.*

Yet Spring Arbor wasn't set up for distribution to the general market bookstores. The solution must have seemed obvious: merge Spring Arbor with Ingram or perhaps Ingram asked to buy up Spring Arbor who knows. Nevertheless, the deal was struck and Spring Arbor is now officially Ingram's Christian arm.

What does this mean for CBA affiliated publishers?

That question is easily answered. CBA affiliated publishers could now easily get distribution everywhere!

What did this mean for all authors who are Christian and write work that doesn't offend many readers of faith and is enjoyed by many readers of many faiths?

That question too is easily answered.

Not a darn thing because while Ingram/Spring Arbor does accept work that isn't produced by CBA affiliated publishers and isn't targeted or doctored to appeal to that very conservative audience CBA meant for affiliated publishers to write fiction for, larger Christian bookstores here in the US (because it is only a US thing,) won't accept non-affiliated, non-targeted work. At least not until it sells well elsewhere. That's why you find C.S. Lewis on occasion and of course more recently The Shack on the shelves of larger Christian booksellers. Both authors sold well elsewhere first.

It does seem that CBA is certainly business savvy, doesn't it?

Both of my books have been approved by Ingram/Spring Arbor for distribution to the Christian market. Sadly, here in the US, the Christian market merely represents what CBA affiliated publishers have to offer. Because of this, distribution through Ingram/Spring Arbor doesn't stand to help any non-affiliated publisher or author at all. The merger simply means that narrowly targeted Christian fiction, not intended to be enjoyed by general market readers and set up to be very, very different from the very beginning can now easily flow onto the shelves of larger booksellers. Non-affiliated Christian authors do not get the same treatment in return. Like I said, business savvy not to mention very interesting. ;)

Soul Runner by Jon Guenther - My Review

And now my five-star review of Soul Runner that I recently posted on Amazon.

Look out William P. Young. Here comes Jon Guenther!, January 7, 2010 (Ridgeland, MS USA) - I was so excited to learn about Jon Guenther and was even more excited when he volunteered to send me a copy of his book. As a new writer, I don't have a lot of time to read though and I told Jon this. I explained that I'd read what I could in the carpool line at school. HA! I dare you to try to read this book in short spurts. I double-dog dare you. Can't be done. No way. I found it difficult to find a place to stop reading when I eventually had to. I finally just quit reading when not-too-much was going on. For instance at one point I left two characters in a fist fight with the outcome pending simply because the alternative was to not quit reading. LOL Heart pounding action to be sure. So wonderful to see more Christian Fiction like The Shack coming from self-published, non-affiliated Christian authors who know what they're doing. I'm so happy CBA affiliated Moody Press dumped this book instead of publishing it, backing out of the contract at the last minute. No exclusive work here. Just good, solid, heart-thumping, action-packed fiction from a very talented author. Soul Runner will keep you reading until the very end and then begging for more. And what do you know, there's more coming! I can't wait.

Added for Sue's Blog:

Jon is calling his work Christian Fiction but it isn't CBA Christian Fiction. It is therefore written with no particular market of Christian's in mind actually. This also means that his work wasn't edited for that specific market of Christians CBA was formed to create fiction for in 1950.

Also, since CBA affiliated Moody Press did break Jon's contract, Soul Runner won't automatically show up in exclusive affiliated bookstores such as Lifeway or Mardel's nor will his work show up in CBA affiliated Christian bookstores such as ChristianBook.com. I actually found it interesting to see Soul Runner on Christianbook.com as being published by Moody Press early on but as par for the course, it no longer shows up because Jon isn't CBA affiliated. I find that--interesting.

I will tell you this, if you let Soul Runner slip by because you don't see it in these bookstores, you've missed out on a fantastic read!

Gonna have to settle for making the finals. ;)

Oh but what an interesting turn of events for me. First Never Ceese and Forever Richard are nominated for an award created to give authors who are Christian but not affiliated with the exclusive market CBA or ECPA serve specifically. Then Never Ceese moves on to be one of the three finalists.

Even more impressive, The Pluto Award is a sci-fi award. Well, I suppose Never Ceese and Forever Richard qualify in that they are "out of this world!(who me, bias?)" LOL Other than that I was left happily scratching my head. Nice to get some recognition along the way though. Very nice indeed. Especially when one considers that my work will never qualify for any award CBA or ECPA offer and that's even if I continue to appeal to their readers in a way they won't. Tell you what though. Just having their readers is good enough for me. ;)

Encouraging e-mails keep me going.

And in a world where authors are discriminated against and excluded, it's nice to hear things from readers and fans who actually make you think you might survive and live to tell about it. Thank-you so much for th is Rachael. I need a little pick me up. ;)

Remember the friend I purchased your books for as a gift to her for Christmas? She just called me. She read Never Ceese and Forever Richard straight through, said she "couldn't put them down!" and she said she "absolutely couldn't wait to read the third installment to see it set right and come to even more of a solution." She loved them, and "totally got what the story was saying."

This is a woman who is like a mother to me and is a best friend of mine as well- nowhere near my demographic.

This goes to show people of all ages enjoy and appreciate your storytelling and I encourage to keep trucking with Cyn No More! Readers are waiting!

You rock, woman. God bless all of your writing endeavors for 2010.

Amazon Author Central NOT author friendly.

I've sort of been back and forth with the advantages and disadvantages of Author Central on Amazon and as of now the disadvantages heavily outweigh the advantages. I did ask them to link the reviews associated with my now defunct hardback of Never Ceese with my republished version of Never Ceese and have the paperback be the default book that shows up and they did this--well, sort of. On my book page for Forever Richard they show a bundle with the hardback as if they didn't have a clue. Yes. Why would I want my paperback bundled with a book I've told them I make no money off of when there's the republished version I do make money off of. Hmmm . . . .

Then there's the matter of Amazon creating bundles themselves without asking the author if they think the bundle is actually helpful or even caring what the author thinks. They bundled my book with a book from a publisher who excludes authors such as myself. What is that about? I asked them and they removed the title, after saying they couldn't. Now the book is back and I'm being told it can't be removed from the bundle.

So once again I have to ask, please don't by the bundle. If you want to buy affiliated Christian fiction do so separately. I won't support an industry that doesn't support non-affiliated Christian authors. Also on Forever Richard the bundle includes the hardback version of Never Ceese and not the paperback. It's as if they never said to me, "yes, will fix that right away."

They're relentless, I'll give them that. But helpful, not really.

That's all the rant for today. Thanks for listening. It's for sure Amazon doesn't listen.

I do not support discrimination or exclusivity.

That being said, once again Amazon is showing a book from an affiliated Christian publisher as being sold with mine. When I contacted them and told them that this stood to hurt my sales more than it stood to help it, they removed the book. Well, it's back. I sent them a message and I'm fairly certain they'll fix it. Just wanted to let everyone know that nothing has changed. Affiliated Christian publisher's still exclude and in my mind discriminate. It's just a tough thing to stay on top of. Yes my work appeals to their market. No. I'm not affiliated.

Happy New Year to me. Good grief! Thanks Amazon.