I decided to sell my book on my website and via Paypal.

It took much research and tweaking, but after three days I managed to make it work.

At first I didn't think I could, because I didn't purchase the merchant package through my website host (Yahoo). Doing so would cost me almost $40/month whereas now I'm only paying $12.

I then realized I have a merchant's license through Paypal for when I sell items on eBay.

Okay, now how do I set up my website accordingly?

What do you know, on the insert pull-down menu of my website software (Serif's WebPlus X2) I saw an eCommerce button. After clicking on that, it walked me through everything I needed.

Software is so cool!

Since I haven't ordered the 50 copies of my book to start selling (though I will after work tonight), you can still pre-order them. By doing so prior to the 15th of December, you'll recieve a few other items as a thank you for buying.

All information and options for purchase (including Amazon) can be found at www.almarquardt.com/products.

A few people have expressed interest in purchasing my book (signed) direct through me instead of Amazon.

I researched into it, and I am capable of selling items via Paypal, and setting up a page on my website where you can purchase as many copies as you like. I can even add other items such as bookmarks, pens and magnets if, again, enough people are interested. 

What do you think? Should I go for it?

I ask only because, though I can buy copies of my book at a reduced rate, the more I purchase, the less I spend per copy. I don't want to buy a bunch of books, and end up not selling them.

My novella is now available for purchase on Amazon!

I don't know for how long, though. I kept searching under my name and title, but came up with nothing, or so many hits I didn't want to search through them all.

So I finally advanced searched under the ISBN number. What do you know, it popped right up!

Anyway, you can purchase it at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/Reason-Hope-L-Marquardt/dp/1439216266/

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I can't seem to focus on nanowrimo this year. It's not that the story doesn't interest me, because it does. It's also important in that it continues the saga I began with my first novel. I want to end up with something publishable down the road.

Unfortunately for this novel, my mind continues to focus on this year's election, and how I did nothing aside from cast my vote on November 4.

I was afraid to voice my opinion because of the potential passionate disagreements. I despise confrontation.

In the end, though, I felt I shirked my responsibility as an American citizen for remaining silent.

Some would say voting is all I need to do. I don't disagree, but in a country where the average citizen has many a venue to voice his or her opinions, I should avail myself of them.

A few days ago I created a new journal that will focus on the politics and news of the day. You can find it at almarquardt.wordpress.com. To increase readership, I'm copying the same entries on my Myspace page at www.myspace.com/pbthththth. 

My nanowrimo word count continues to eke up, so I haven't given up. I've written 4724 words so far. That's less than 500 words a day, but if I continue writing the same amount, I'll end up between 14,000-15,000 words by December 1. That's a pretty good start of a novel, methinks.

After that, I'll likely set it aside for awhile. I need to edit my first novel one more time before Feburary 19 when I attend the Christian Writers Guild "Writing for The Soul" conference in Colorado Springs. I hope to attract an agent or publisher with it, so it needs to be pristine by then. It's close as is, but with writing my novella, I decided I need to make a few more modifications. That includes adding slang I termed as Fringe, and a few more technological gizmos. The changes will make my 'universe' richer and even more believable.

Most writers tend to be introverted. No surprise there, since writing is a solitary endeavor.

Because of this need to hide in the shadows, the thought of promoting ourselves and our writing can be downright terrifying.

There's also the constant doubt hovering at the edge of our psyche. What if everything we write sucks. What if I'll offend people? What if . . .

My own list of doubts is long and ever-growing.

That makes the enjoyment of starting my website, publishing my novella, designing and purchasing promotional materials, and running a contest all the more surprising.

I never thought self-promotion could be so much fun.

What has helped is the number of people who have entered the contest. I'm stunned. The number stands at twenty at this moment. After only three days, I consider it a resounding success. I honestly didn't think a dozen would enter after thirty days.

My thanks to all of you for entering. I can't describe well enough how much it means to me. 

Another surprise is how little I doubt people will enjoy the book. Ever since I decided to publish "A Reason to Hope", it felt right.  

Only two other times did I get that feeling: when I married my husband and when we decided we wanted children after all. 

I mentioned this to a friend in an email the other day as well. It's as though the moment I approved the proof, the book no longer belonged to me. I've done my part, the rest is in God's hands. Sure I have more work ahead of me as far as continuing to promote it, but in the end God will decide how it's used.

I believe the book will reach the people it's meant to reach. Whether it's ten people or a thousand, I honestly don't care. I don't even think about whether or not I will earn back the money I spent. I only wanted it available for a lot of people to read and enjoy the story.

Although, the more I think about it, publishing this book helped release a deep fear of mine.

In this day and age of political correctness, talking about and writing publically about controversial issues is not only difficult, but scary. We take the chance of being attacked at least verbally when we take an unpopular view.

I do exactly that with this book. 

While the fear niggles at the back of my mind, it doesn't alter my course. It's like learning how to drive. Getting behind the wheel and pulling out into a busy street for the first time can make us break out into a sweat. Yet we go anyway, because we know driving is neccessary.

Publishing this book for me was neccessary.

That I'm having fun at the same time is pretty cool.