About Lori Ericson

An award-winning former reporter who is now trashing everything she learned about writing then, relishing the people she met and the stuff they taught her to write romantic thrillers, rom-coms and more.

Lippman eBook Price Finally Makes Sense

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Lori Ericson

When I checked Amazon earlier this month to download the new book by one of my favorite mystery writers I was shocked to see the price of $15.99 on the eBook, which was higher than the $11.51 for the paperback and just 20 cents less than the $16.19 hardcover!

I posted a complaint on Laura Lippman’s Facebook page and vowed not to buy the new book. I also noted other complaints about the price of “After I’m Gone.”

I’ve bought nearly every book Lippman has written. If not in paperback, I have it on my Kindle. I decided I’d be borrowing this one from the local library. Thankfully, the price is now down to $11.19. I saw a note by another reader that it had dropped to $13.59 at one point since the February 11 release before coming down more than $2.

It’s still high for an eBook, but at least it’s now appropriately less than the paperback. And, of course, it’s Lippman and likely to be a fantastic read, so I’ll buy at this price.

I don’t know what drives the price of eBooks, so I asked the owner of a small publishing house. He uses the profit margin of a book to determine the eBook cost. Asked why a publisher might price an eBook at more than a paperback, he said, “Because they can.”

I’ve downloaded freebies and paid a little over $10 for eBooks, but it has to be a book I’m clamoring to read before I’ll pay that much. I recently bought John Grisham’s new “Sycamore Row” for a great price at $6.49, which was $3.50 less than the paperback on Amazon and a fantastic story!

Checking the New York Times top five bestselling books in fiction for the week of March 3, I found the following on Amazon:

“Private L.A.” by James Patterson sells for $11.99 on Kindle, $12.24 in paperback and $16.80 in hardcover
“Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt sells for $7.50 on Kindle, $16.95 in hardcover with no paperback offer
“Killer, An Alex Delaware Novel” by Jonathan Kellerman sells for $11.48 on Kindle, $20.59 in paperback, and oddly $16.80 in hardcover
“The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd sells for $10.91 on Kindle, $16.63 in paperback with the hardcover at just 14 cents more
“Still Life with Bread Crumbs” by Anna Quindlen sells for $10.65 on Kindle, $14 in paperback

I would encourage publishers and writers to realize the impact of price. Readers may be big fans, but cost will influence most of us when deciding whether to buy your book.

What’s your price limit on a book? If you’re a writer how do you decide pricing?

Photo by Lori Ericson

Real Data about E-books and Self-Publishing

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Lori Ericson

This is great information about the publishing industry. I think a publisher gives some credibility to debut novel, but once a writer is out there and established, self-publishing is a good choice. I really do like some of the small press options these days. They offer a lot to less established writers, i.e. credibility, guidance and editing!

Before Downloading “Look Inside”

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Lori Ericson

After this experience, I will always “Look Inside” before I download a book. I want to see if the author has a clue about ebook publishing and if I can bear to read the prospective purchase in the format provided. I also would love to have my money back for this Kindle book buy.

It was billed as a “mystery suspense thriller” and I couldn’t resist the title by an author I’d never read before. I downloaded the book, opened it in my Kindle and started reading.

The layout of paragraphs immediately alarmed me. I actually like that style for a blog, but not a novel. Each paragraph stands out in a blog but it’s too much for a lengthy read. I use it here. But in a novel I want the paragraphs indented and no space after each one.

I thought maybe it would stop after the first chapter, just a forward for the novel. But no, it went on. I scanned ahead but stopped reading. If I chose to go on, I’d have to tap my Kindle to turn the page more often than I was willing to do to make it through this one.

I went back to Amazon, found the order and did the “Look Inside.” Sure enough, the Kindle edition shows it in that format. No indents and extra spacing.

I clicked the print edition and found it to be proper formatting. I won’t bother to order the book in print. This author has already wasted my money.

I love reading on my Kindle and have come across some minor errors in ebooks before, but nothing like a whole book full of bad formatting.

So, warning to all readers check out that “Look Inside” feature to see if you can handle the format before you download that next ebook. And authors, whether your self-publishing or have help getting that book out from an established publishing house, please format your precious words so that readers don’t have to struggle to digest them. They might just read past chapter one.

Anyone else have issues with ebooks?

Lifetime of Change

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Lori Ericson

Packing away the Christmas decorations and welcoming in the New Year naturally brings thoughts of the future, the past, dreams and regrets. Over time, we change, but do we really believe that we’ve become different, more evolved over the years?

At 52, I still feel like the same person deep down inside that I was in high school, as a young mother and now a grandmother. I’ve heard people older than myself who say the same thing. Yet, I know how different I truly am.

Smithsonian magazine this month has a story about a study on the natural way people think about changes in themselves over time. A Harvard psychologist asked people to consider the person they were ten years ago and found that no matter what age they were, they believed their personalities, values and tastes had progressed during that ten-year period. The study then asked them to look ten years in the future and envision the person they’ll likely become. Daniel Gilbert and his partners found that we believe we’ll pretty much stay the same in the future. The study concluded that most people believe, no matter what age they are, that they have evolved into the person they’ll be for the remainder of their life.

I know that right now, I’m more satisfied with my life than ever. I’m very happily married and know that it’s the most solid, satisfying relationship I’ve ever experienced. I have a granddaughter I love dearly, and I’m so proud of my two daughters and the young women they’ve become.

I just wonder how much wiser I will be in ten years. Will I learn to control my mouth even more, not say things I regret, and to use each day more wisely?

I think we all look back and regret some of the ways we’ve spent our time and effort. I suppose the trick is to also relish the accomplishments, to continue to work toward our dreams, use our mistakes to become wiser and in more control, and maybe get the chance to influence the world around us toward a better place.

Time will surely tell.

Will you be the same person in ten years?

PHOTO: Four generations… My mother, my daughter, my granddaughter and me.

Winter Wonder

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Lori Ericson

A silent shroud of snow falls over everything in a white fluffy layer like a freshly washed linen sheet that billows high above the bed and slowly descends to the mattress in a flat plane stretching from corner to corner to be tucked neatly beneath each edge.

The glittering mantle offers a kind of innocence in its wake, a renewal as most of life comes to a standstill, muffling the bustle and rush of the holiday season just as it had switched gears from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It’s as if God is saying, stop, breathe in for just a moment, think of what this holiday season truly means.

Most hoard up in their dens, light their fires, bake cookies and watch from their windows as the piles deepen. Children soon frolic in it, shriek in joy as they glide down hills until their fingers and toes are numb, and mother calls offering hot chocolate and dry socks.

Others are forced out into the tumult. They forge a trail through the drifts and pray for footing on the ice below. Holding tight to the armrest, passengers watch as the snow flicks off the tires, and wonder how deep the ditch might be.

If no more falls to mask the trails, the snow eventually loses its innocent luster. Footprints from man and beast scar the virginal blanket. The snowplow and sand dispensers darken the passages.

Ultimately, the temperatures will rise, the sun will peek through the clouds, and the white shawls hugging the trees will drip away, as the layer below fades and seeps into the earth. The sleds and snow shovels will be stowed in the garage, and the rush to Christmas will gain momentum once again.

Another snow may come and go, and before we know it, the crocuses and tulips will be pushing through the newly green lawns to start the process once again.

Writer’s Goals and How To Get There (IMHO)

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Lori Ericson

This is truly inspiring for a writer, but also as we enter this insane commercial season. “What do you want that you already have?” Think about it all in those terms and don’t wish the joyous Christmas season away standing in a line at the local mall!
What do I want that I already have: a wonderful, caring and truly supportive husband; two healthy and smart daughters, now grown and making me proud daily; my first novel that I’m more confident in daily as I make final changes, along with the feeling that I’ve finally found my writer’s voice; all my supportive writer friends; my health; my job that supports my life and keeps me connected with good people; good friends and people who care about me; and, I have to mention again my absolutely adorable husband!

Live to Write - Write to Live

As a life coach, I talk to clients often about goals. I start with this question: What do you want that you already have?

My answer might be: “I have a life coaching blog that I love and am excited about every time I post to it.”

I used to ask clients simply: “What do you want?” but I found people always listed only the things they didn’t already have.

“Who cares?” you might ask.

I care because the important part of the answer to these questions is not the actual answer; it’s how the answers make you feel.

What do you want? A three-book deal with a major publishing house.

How does it feel to want that? Lousy since I don’t think I’ll ever get it.

When we want things from a place of lack, we take very different actions than we do when we want…

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Any Help With a Book Title?

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Lori Ericson

The title of my book isn’t working, but I’m stumped a little on what will work. I know it’s important. I want it to grab the potential reader, give them some idea of what they’re getting, but not give away too much. So, it needs to be short and catchy.

I’ve heard it called the “business card” of the book, and that’s probably true. I know I’ve picked up thousands of books in libraries and bookstores over the years, and now, click on books on Amazon just because I like the title.

One writer’s blog suggests write some keywords from the book and action verbs on small pieces of paper, and draw them out of a hat to come up with great combinations. Another suggests making a list of twenty titles from books you like in the genre you’re writing, brainstorm using important words from your book and come up with similar titles to try to find a combination you like, and then see if it would fit in the list of the twenty book titles you found without being to similar. I’m working on that.

I know, ultimately, a publisher will have a lot to do with the title, but I need to capture the interest of that publisher with a title that will make the best impression. If I don’t intrigue a publisher with the title, readers aren’t likely to be impressed either.

The book is tentatively titled “Arkansas 309,” which is the name of a state prison program involved in this mystery. It’s too restrictive and may not attract readers outside this area. It’s a mystery that involves a female protagonist who is a newspaper reporter with family and career problems, who’s investigating a story of police corruption and simultaneously writing about a serial killer. And, of course you’ll understand if you know me, she grew up in a cemetery.

My husband thinks I need to worry less, call it simply “309” and go on. I’m not sure. Any suggestions out there? Please?

For Halloween: Revisit of My True Dead Man Story

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Lori Ericson

My True Encounter with a Dead Man

I woke up to the “swish swish” sound of his arm moving against his windbreaker in the eerie green glow of the living room. His face was covered with blood, as was his chest that was exposed by the open jacket. He wore cut-off jean shorts and tennis shoes. I thought it was a dream, this stranger illuminated by the green glass lamp base. I was stretched out asleep on my stomach on the living room floor in the house next to the cemetery when I heard him. He came through the dining room and sat in my dad’s recliner a little after midnight.

He stared at me, the smeared blood making him look surreal. I put my head back down thinking I must be dreaming.

He rocked in the recliner.

Raising my head again, I could see the same image.

“Who are you,” I asked.

“I’m dead. I just crawled out of my grave.” He rocked.

“Oh, come on. Do you know my brother John?” I asked. He looked about John’s age, a few years younger than me.

“I might of, when I was alive, but I just crawled out of my grave.” He rocked again in the recliner and continued to stare.

Frozen in place on the floor in front of him, I was unsure what to do. He wasn’t a dream. I hadn’t ever seen him before. Fear caught in my throat.

His rocking stopped. He raised a hand to his face, drew it back and stared at his palm with a quizzical look on his face as if he’d never seen blood before.

Lowering his hand to his lap, he rocked and looked at me. “I’m bleeding to death.”

“You said you’re already dead. How can you be bleeding to death?” It was an obvious question, or so I thought.

“I’m bleeding to death,” he repeated in a raised voice.

That scared me. Why had I questioned this dead man, this apparition covered in blood?

I started to get up, moving backward slowly and watching him closely.

“I just crawled out of my grave,” he yelled.

I got to my feet, ran around the corner, down the hall to my parents bedroom. I heard him following. By the time my dad sat up in bed and put on his glasses, the apparition was standing in the hall. He reached into the bathroom, flipped the switch, and the light fell over this teenage boy covered in blood.

“Who the hell are you?” Dad asked.

“I just crawled out of my grave. I’m dead.”

He stared back at Dad, who repeated his question.

“I just crawled out of my grave, and I need to use your bathroom.” He stepped into the bathroom. I heard the water start in the tub.

I didn’t see him again until the police officer gently coaxed him out of the tub and escorted the boy from our home.

My dead man had apparently done a few too many drugs, entertained himself by jumping from headstone to headstone in the dark cemetery and broke his nose.

Banksy’s Welcome in Walmartland

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Lori Ericson

The British graffiti master Banksy has been in New York for the past month, and Mayor Bloomberg has labeled him a vandal. How can he be a vandal when his art raises the value of the buildings, the building owners post guards to protect it or they’re able to remove the door or piece of wall and memorialize it? Bansky art has gone for $1 million-plus in recent auctions.

I want him to come to Northwest Arkansas! After all, we have the Crystal Bridges Art Museum here. Can you imagine a Bansky stenciled piece on the outside wall of this great museum? It could draw even more visitors to our area.

Of course, this masked artist would likely use that piece to take a jab at commercialism at the Walmartland museum. But Banksy pieces are often thought provoking.

In 2005, when he was just becoming an international star, Banksy painted images on West Bank’s concrete wall in Israel. The stenciled pieces included two children with bucket and shovel, dreaming of the beach; a girl holding balloons floating to the top of the wall; and a boy with a ladder.

In New York throughout October, he was putting out an art piece daily under the theme “Better In Than Out,” but that apparently stopped last week. His website said the project was canceled due to police activity. If Bloomberg won’t welcome him, I’d urge Rogers Mayor Greg Hines to offer an invitation. A Banksy mural would be much better than the retro Coca-Cola ad we have on the side of a building. I bet Hines would stop his code enforcement graffiti team from wiping away a valuable Banksy installation.

While in New York, he produced a fantastic stenciled piece of a man leaning against the wall holding flowers outside the Hustler Club. His tour has also included a replica of the Great Sphinx of Gaza made from smashed cinder blocks, and a mural of a small boy spray painting with a butler standing next to him holding out a tray of spray paint cans.

Banksy’s unique art piece “The Crayola Shooter” is probably my favorite. It was done in Los Angeles in 2011 and shows a child aiming a machine gun and using crayons for bullets.

So come on Banksy, let’s see what you can do in these Ozark hills!

A Spoiled Worklife

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Lori Ericson

The boss hollers at me, but I ignore him. He thinks that if he provides a few benefits, which I more than deserve, I should trot my ass right on over when he yells.

He calls again. I turn my head and glance over my shoulder. He’s not even looking my way but appears to be scanning the sky, checking out the clouds. I’ll stay right here where I please, enjoying the breeze and watching a squirrel run up and down the big tree just beyond the fence.

I’ve about had it with his demands. I should just walk out and see what other opportunities there are for a guy like me. I know how to contribute. I’m good at security patrol in a place like this. I’m big and can push my weight around if I want something.

The boss mistakenly thinks he’s got me under his thumb. What a joke. He doesn’t even seem to know how much I’ve helped myself to around here. If it’s something I want and it’s within reach, I take it. Screw the rules. They aren’t for me and never have been.

I do have to give my boss some credit. He comes to my defense with this new cook he’s hired. She can sure put some good grub on the table. But damn, she’s bossy, doesn’t like me in the kitchen, and won’t let me have any of the leftovers I used to get. On top of that, she bitches all the time about the messes I make.

I have my rights. I know where I rank in this organization. Granted, my standing was much more stable before she came on board, but I still have seniority.

Even the old man that works with me, knows deep down that I was here first. He doesn’t always act like it and treats me like he’s my supervisor just because he’s older. I try to remind him now and then that I was here long before him.

The boss thought I needed some help, so he brought him in. That hasn’t worked out so well though. He’s not much of an assistant, and they all go easy on him because of his age. Just recently they gave him an official uniform. Of course, he was injured on the job and the uniform keeps him from hurting himself. But still, I didn’t get one.

Yeah, things might be a little better down the road a ways. I’ll keep stewing on that, but I doubt I make a move any time soon. I kind of like the boss, even if he doesn’t always give me the credit I deserve. It’s still nice working for such a pushover. I doubt I could ever get away with as much as I do here. He sometimes talks big and hollers at me, yet rarely does much of anything when I don’t comply.

There’s a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, and the boss is hollering at me again. I guess I better quit barking at the darn squirrel and go inside to see if that bitchy cook might have a pork chop I can steal.