Tag: ebook

QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

Small Town, Big Heart for Reading

In May, we packed up books and dogs and took our camper trailer to Ellaville, Georgia, population 1,500 (not a typo), for an Arts and Crafts event sponsored by the town’s Chamber of Commerce who named their event Luau in the ‘Ville. Kind of snappy, don’t you think?

I wore my  flowered shirt, which is my version of appropriate luau attire (my grass skirt is at the dry cleaners), for the occasion, and if you carefully examine my tent, you’ll see my new “ceiling fan” is in place to keep us cool.

My new friends from the Wine Festival who told me about the Ellaville event were two booths away from me with their son who was selling his debut novel. We were too busy to chat very much, but I told them about the arts and crafts event that is close to me: Elevate Artisans; I hope to see them in October.

The most amazing sales wizard I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness was next to me in the purple tent. She sold  jewelry, T-shirts, drink cups, and stickers, and she knew how to work a crowd.  She maintained a constant, almost musical patter, and people were drawn to her booth.

  • Mother’s Day is coming up; do you think she’d like earrings or a T-shirt?
  • That’s our best-selling T-shirt, feel how soft it is. We have your size.
  • What’s your mom’s favorite color?
  • You need to get yourself a Mother’s Day present. You deserve it.
  • You’re ears aren’t pierced? These earrings make great charms.
  • You need a Georgia Bulldogs drink cup to go with that shirt.
  • You’re from Alabama? We still love you. Here’s an Auburn drink cup: you won’t see another one here.

Her charming delivery made her aggressive-sounding style a magnet as she magically became everyone’s favorite friend, including me.

It was another scorcher of a day in the afternoon in Georgia. Remember my fan? It was great until it wasn’t. We forgot to pack the charger, so we weren’t able to charge it fully the night before the Luau. It fizzled out around two, and I baked in the heat until five when the party was over.  I have a new addition to my packing list: the charger for the fan.

Because all of the ebooks for each one of my series are included on my online Barrett Book Shop, I was fully prepared for anyone who said they didn’t read paperbacks. I asked everyone who stopped (or kind of slowed down) by my booth, if they read paperbacks or ebooks. The readers of Ellaville and the surrounding towns surprised me when they almost 100% said, “Paperbacks.”

I was even more surprised when many of them bought one or two of my books or an entire series. While all of my First in Series books sold, the number one favorite was TAGGED BY DEATH. I sold out before the end of the day. In terms of sales, Ellaville  far surpassed any other event that I’ve ever attended. You’ll find me in Ellaville next spring trying to figure out how to get next to the sales wizard’s booth.

Pro tip: Readers are Everywhere.

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!

QuickJAB

Go for the Burn

The past year has been rough on our trees: windstorms, heavy rain, a tropical storm, a hurricane, and two tornados have taken their toll.

We’ve waited for the downed trees and branches to dry out, then we waited for a relatively wind-free day  to Go for the Burn.

Do you see the helpers who showed up? There’s a fire witch and a fire ghoul who brought their cannon to the fire. If the fire hadn’t been roaring so loudly, we would have heard the fire ghoul signaling, “Ready? Aim! FIRE!”

If you don’t see them, it’s okay. I don’t write horror, so you won’t see them later in a book, which is why we don’t know their names.

This was a cameo appearance of the fire apparitions to encourage me to Go for the Burn while I’m writing, and I am! I’m on a roll and ready to announce the PreOrder of the new GRID DOWN SURVIVAL Series, Book 7.

Ready?

FIRE IN THE HOLE!

Here’s the cover!

Preorder Now!

Barrett Book Shop

Use the Barrett Book Shop link for a 15% discount off any Grid Down Survival Series novel (through May 31)

Pick Your Retailer

Release Date: June 29, 2023

QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

Starting Over

The fragrant, beautiful gardenias in the front of our house have bloomed every May since we bought the house in 2018, and we know they were there when the previous owners bought the house  in 2013, so they had survived the high and low temperatures that fluctuated from year to year for more than ten years.

When the hard freeze that lasted four days hit in February 2023, we were saddened by the loss of so many of our pine trees that we had planted over the past three years but were completely shocked that our three sturdy gardenia bushes didn’t survive.  So, we started over.

In November 2022, in a series of unfortunate events, our faithful camping trailer that we bought new in 2015 bit the dust in a most unlikely incident. Out of respect for her faithful service, we won’t go into the details, but no humans, dogs, or chickens (even though they weren’t there) were injured. We had a choice: give up camping or get a new camping trailer. I’m certain you aren’t surprised that we bought a new camping trailer. We’re starting over by taking short trips to get used to our new trailer.

As an author with a publishing business, I’ve been closely tracking the dwindling benefits of exclusivity with a single online book distributor. I started over in January 2023, and now all 30+ of my books are being sold by over a dozen book distributors.

In February, I investigated several options of selling my books directly to readers online. By the beginning of March, my online Barrett Book Shop was live and in business!

 

I’ve been excited to learn that other authors are doing the same!  Take a peek at a very delightful author, Maria E. Schneider, at Bear Mountain Books. 

I’ve found my toe-tapping, head-bobbing theme song for 2023 on You Tube:  Chris Stapleton

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!

QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

Grand Opening! Barrett Book Shop

Do you try to buy from your favorite local store or vendor? It’s not always that convenient, is it?

Announcing a new way to purchase Judith A. Barrett books – the ONLINE Barrett Book Shop!

All the thriller, post-apocalyptic science fiction, and mystery books  are conveniently at your fingertips; it’s just like going to an in-person event to buy a book from your favorite author, Judith A. Barrett, amiright? without spending money for transportation or even having to  put on your shoes or change out of your comfy pants.

Barrett Book Shop has the same deals and specials as any of the Big Gorilla Book Sellers in addition to exclusive discounts and deals!  Match THAT, Big Gorilla! <- I say that lovingly, BG, in the extremely unlikely event you’re reading this blog.  

Tap the link Barrett Book Shop and browse, drop a book or two into your cart then check out for a special Welcome Discount!

REMEMBER to mark Barrett Book Shop as a favorite in your browser, and let me know what you think!

Meanwhile, You keep reading; I’ll keep writing! 

QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

Best Way to Get Lost: Books

library

The absolutely best place to get lost in books is at your local library, particularly if your appetite for reading far exceeds your budget for buying books or paying for a subscription to borrow “free” or reduced price books.

The goal of public libraries is to provide books for you to read. No charge, no catch, unless of course you rack up late fees, but that’s on you. Read and return: that’s all they ask.

Has it been a while since you’ve been to the library because your vision of the library is a stuffy, shushing place with old books that are out of date?

Let’s update that thinking with a peek at a current library.

New Libraries

Libraries have gone digital. You can borrow an ebook, an audiobook, or if you love a paperback, that’s fine too. There’s no judgment in the library; librarians want you to read or listen to books.

But what if you want to read one of your favorite author’s books, but that budget thing is a huge block, and you haven’t seen her books on the shelves?

Let’s pick an author at random, for an example: Judith A. Barrett. I suspect there is not a shelf in the fiction section or on the table at the front door of your library where all her books are prominently displayed. No problem for us. We’ve got a link to her books, which is practically the same!

Here’s the link to a page with all of the Judith A. Barrett books listed with the identifiers, ISBN, that your local librarian can use to order the book for you to read then return, so someone else can read it.

Judith A. Barrett Books at Your Library

You’ll also find the link on the Judith A. Barrett website under the Books menu item as a pulldown tab. It’s called Judith A. Barrett Books at Your Library. Pretty catchy, isn’t it?  https://judithabarrett.wordpress.com

QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

A Mountain of Goodness

Our beautiful Buff Orpington and Appenzeller Spitzhauben chickens were two days old when we brought them to their forever home coop from the feed store last August.

This morning, they had their first experience of two mountains of newly-mowed grass and weed clippings from the front field. Initially, they were very suspicious of the two new monstrous creatures in their run, but eventually two of the Buffs ventured close and discovered seeds, fresh green grass, and bugs. Game on!

The chickens have spent the entire day scratching and snacking at the two large piles; the mountain in the back that is much smaller than it was this morning, probably because it had the most green grass blades on top, but they are discovering more tasty grass, seeds, and bugs in the closer mountain.

I understood exactly how they felt when they first saw the two large, foreboding creatures. I tackled my first 2023 mountain when I expanded selling my books through new retailers: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google, Apple, and a myriad of other international booksellers in addition to Amazon. As I scratched and searched through the mountain of goodness, I’ve discovered a few yummy royalties and am sharing the bounty with my newsletter readers.

The second mountain, with which I’m more wrestling than tackling, is the daunting monster of developing an online book shop, so I can sell my ebooks and paperbacks directly to readers. I’m taking small steps because it’s an entirely new world with all kinds of strange creatures to wrangle. I’m hoping Barrett Book Shop will be live by the end of February.

Have I ever told you learning is fun? It still is!

QuickJAB, The Latest Twist

2023 Goals

JAB

goals 2023 

My plan for 2023 is to crush my goals!

My Writing Journey is a marathon, but I’m walking not running because I don’t want to miss any of the fun along the way.

My overall goal has always been to write books that people enjoy, so my motto is no surprise: You keep reading; I’ll keep writing! 

I’m a natural-born storyteller, but the skill of coaxing a story onto a page for a reader to enjoy was a craft that required extra work for me. I’m still learning, so I can write better books faster. For you wonderful readers that finish a book then tell me you’re ready for the next one: I’m working on it!

My next big hurdle after finding my writing style was how to get the stories in front of the right reader who will not only read the story, but love it, and want another and another. I’m still learning that elusive skill called marketing, which will put my books into the hands of the right readers. I’m stumbling along, but it’s fun to learn, and I’m encouraged when I hear how much you enjoy my books!

Summary of Previous Years

2018 (Year 1)  Goals: Publish 1 book   Results: Published 2 books!

2019 (Year 2)  Goals: Publish 4 books; cut the year’s expenses in half   Results: Published 4 books; expenses cut by more than half of Year 1 expenses!

2020 (Year 3)  Goals: Publish 4 books; end the year with a positive net income   Results: Published 6 books; first year to end the year with a positive net income!

2021 (Year 4)  Goals: Publish 6 books; end the year with a positive net income Results: Published 6 books and wrote a short story for an anthology; second year in a row to end the year with a positive net income!

2022 (Year 5) Goals: Publish 6 books; end the year with a new high for positive net income  Results: Published 8 books, a boxset, a novelette, and 2 short stories; ended the year with the highest net income since my first book was published!

2023 (Year 6) Goals

  • Publish 6 books
  • Publish 3 audiobooks 
  • Wild goal: Double net income from 2022 

 

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing! 

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QuickJAB

The Magic of Mistletoe Market

JAB

The city of Cairo (pronounced Kay-row, like the syrup) blocks off Main Street on a Saturday in December for their annual Mistletoe Market; local vendors bring their wares for an all-day street party complete with food trucks, live music, and dance competitions.

The weather was ideal: no wind, rain, or too cold or too hot temperatures. I spent the day talking about books with a steady stream of readers. My most frequently asked question: “Are you really the author?” The second most-asked: “You wrote all these books?” My favorite question (from a ten-year-old): “Did you read all these books too?”

I was in awe of the number of readers who were willing to take a chance on a new-to-them local author. I sold paperbacks and handed out cards with the QR codes for the ebook readers. I listened to stories, talked to aspiring authors, told stories, and shared a shrimp po’boy with FarmerMan, who is my Chief Cashier and Number One Advisor.

I’d say I’m ready to go back again next year, but I left home with four full, large bins of books and returned with three half-full bins and one empty bin. I need to order more books.

You keep reading; I’ll keep writing!

QuickJAB

Celebrating The Limping Lady

JAB

Virginia Hall Spy

Virginia Hall, The Limping Lady

After completing her college studies in the US, Virginia Hall studied and traveled in Europe in the early 1930s. She had a knack for languages and a thirst for adventure. She lost her left leg below the knee in a serious hunting accident in Turkey. She’d always dreamed of being in the Foreign Service, but she was rejected because of her disability.

Virginia Hall was determined not to let her prosthetic leg “stand” in her way. With Europe deeply involved in World War II, the British Special Operations Executive not only accepted her, but gave her extensive training in clandestine tradecraft, communications, weapons, and other resistance activities.

Our daring Virginia Hall spent thirteen months in France from 1941 to 1942; she organized spy networks, ran safehouses, and delivered important intelligence to the British government.

She stayed one step ahead of the Gestapo, who called her “The Limping Lady,” by fleeing France in spite of the Nazis’ best double agents. After she was hired by the US Office of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA, Virginia Hall returned to France in 1944 and resumed her work with the Resistance. In 1945, Hall was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for her heroic actions during the war.

Want to read more about Virginia Hall, Limping Lady?  The CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence has published a more comprehensive story of her adventures complete with excerpts from her own journals. Tap HERE to read A Climb to Freedom: A Personal Journey in Virginia Hall’s Steps by Craig R. Gralley.

QuickJAB

Celebrating Autumn

JAB

Cotton smaller clipped Sept 23 2022

Our neighbor on one side of us planted cotton this year. He plants later than other farmers because he farms on the weekends and in the evenings, so while other farmers are harvesting, I watch the transformation of the cotton plants.

The flowers are white very briefly, only 24 hours or so, then they self-pollinate and become a vivid fuchsia before they wither and die after another 24-36 hours. While the wind blows away the brown petals, the boll begins to form. The bolls are green at first then turn purple then brown. The protective part of the boll dries then opens as the cotton grows, and the cotton fiber spills out.

Do you see the puffy balls of cotton? They are deceptive because they aren’t soft at all. There are seeds inside the cotton, which actually make the cotton fruit. Who knew, right?

I walk around our field three or four times a day to stretch my legs between writing sprints, so I’ve seen each stage of the cotton growing next door. It’s a glorious celebration of cotton bolls at the farm!