First Milestone Achieved!

Big news! Well at least for me. I reach my first goal or milestone in the release of "Da Nang Damned!. I have now sold enough books to be able to donate $100.00 to VIP! VIP or Veterans Independent Project is renovating an old army reserve bldg. in Westminster, MD. The bldg. will serve as a shelter & training facility for returning veterans. The next goal is to hit $1000.00!

Thanks to all who have bought the book! Please help me reach my next goal, by promoting my book on your facebook page, writing a review on Amazon and of course buying more books! Here's a link to my Author Page where you can buy a book.   http://amazon.com/author/peterturner

Public Relation Blitz

As a Indie Author, I am not only the writer of  "Da Nang Damned!", but also the publisher, head of shipping and sales & marketing. Most writers dread this part of being an independent author. Unless you're willing to put yourself out there, no one outside of your family & friends will ever hear or buy your books!

So yesterday I sent a press release to twelve media outlets: radio stations - newspapers. Hopefully I'll get a response for an interview or two and some articles.

Additionally, I've also started Tweeting and of course this blog. One thing I learned from my years in sales & marketing is that beginning any sales campaign takes a lot of time & money, but if your persistence momentum gradually builds, kind of like pushing a snowball up a hill.

50% of Profits From The Sale of "Da Nang Damned!" Will Be Donated.

I've decided instead of donating a dollar from the sale of "Da Nang Damned!" to Carroll County, MD Veterans Independence Project to donate 50% of all profits to "V.I.P". Veterans Independence Project is in the process of renovating an old army reserve building into a shelter and training facility for veterans. Their goal is to provide returning veterans with a way to adjust to civilian with counseling, shelter and job skills training.

As a Vietnam Veteran, I'm all to aware of the way returning 'Nam' Vets were treated. It's taken fifty years for us to get the thanks, support and appreciation we deserved. A promise, some of us made is that never again will a generation of veterans be treated as we were.

Revised: Da Nang Damned!

Finally finished with my revised edition of Da Nang Damned! Lots of typos that I should of caught before publishing. My bad! Next time I'll be a little more diligent. But some of the typos are cause by Amazon's format not recognizing some of the codes in the PDF file. Apparently Amazon does eBooks really well but still have some work to do with their paperbacks.

Now I need to concentrate on marketing my book and finishing my second Rick & Ted book "Death I Never Pretty".

Hardest Part Of Writing A Novel

For me the hardest part of writing a novel is the editing. Before I start on a book I have the main characters and plot mapped out. Sure I'll change things as I write, but I rarely suffer from writers block. I like writing and seeing my characters come alive.

Editing is a different story! I'm not a very patient person, neither am I a very detailed one. With my current book "Da Nang Damned" I've lost count of how many times it's been edited. I even bought a software program to further check, grammar, spelling, style, etc. I also had a fellow author proofread the book. So I figured, good enough time to publish.

Well after publishing & sending the book out to a few friends/family for their comments I realized it still needed work. There were typos, misspellings, incorrect word use, etc. and strange makings that Amazon had inserted in my book.

The long & short of it is I had to go back to the original manuscript and make corrections. So the lesson learned is to edit and pay for a good professional proofreader. Also make sure when you download your manuscript to Amazon that the file is compatible with Amazon's format and carefully review your book before pressing the publish button.