Webcam video of The Sword Princess.

I decided to do a webcam video of the first half of Chapter One of The Sword Princess: Cathene's Journey for those who were asking for a snippet. It is the only part that I will do even though you don't get to meet the main character - Cathene at all.


Cathene is not your typical everyday young woman. For the last seven years, she has been a slave to the woman who raised her after her father vanished in the middle of the night. Little did she know that the sword she found in her pasture will bring change to her life and to her identity.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mdT6cLvb00

I also did a Q & A of the story itself as well.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgH2MakKyJY

I hope you enjoy both videos concerning my current work in progress. I need to get back to writing so off I go.

Beth

eBook authors are authors too!

An eBook author Elizabeth York had posted a status message on her Facebook page about 18 hours ago, which highlights the need for Amazon to make all eBook purchases nonrefundable.
This is the status message that she posted:
Wow! I am completely speechless. I had seen one of the books purchased were returned and then I noticed more... Didn't think anything of it until I got a email. I don't even know how to reply.
"Ms. York, I wanted to tell you that your books are above par and you should be proud. I was able to read them all, but sadly I returned them all because they range from $0.99 to $2.99 and that is just too much for me to spend on a ebook. Can you please make all your books in the future free so that I do not have to return it?"
Sadly, we do not know who this reader is, so we can call them out on their blatant disrespect for eBook authors and report them to Amazon.com for abusing the return system. But they may state that they were able to refund the money to the buyer as they were unhappy with their purchase. Excuse me, Amazon.com, but don't you have a non refundable policy on applications like computer systems and the stuff like that? And yet, you don't have it for the eBooks that you sell on your site?
It is time for Amazon.com to start closing that refund length for eBooks from 7 days to 1 day since it would make the 'reader' really intended on buying the eBook. Seven days is way too long and it leads to abuse which people are doing and the authors are getting shafted by it.
Amazon has their frequent returner algorithm to prevent pirates from stealing books but they tend to overlook that if you put a time limit of being able to return the eBooks, the readers will have to decide if they want to keep the book or return it. But they would have known what the eBook is about by the preview chapter, they have no real reason not to keep the eBook.
The price that Elizabeth York priced her eBooks at is really good and fair price for an eBook.
The readers must understand that we, authors, may make writing look easy but the thing is, it can take years for a single book to be finished or as long as a month or two to be done. We work hard at writing and then there is the process of editing and finding the perfect cover and fonts for our books and then figure which format to put our books into - hard cover, soft cover, eBook format or audio format and then, we chose the price of either $0.99 to $19.99 for hard cover books.
Please do not treat us, eBook Authors, as we're not worth the money you spend on buying our books and tell us to give you our books free of charge, would you like to go to your job and your boss tell you to work overtime for the next two weeks and at the end of those two weeks and you look at your paycheck to find nothing in there, that is what you do to the authors when you return a book, we don't get a paycheck for our hard work. Every book you buy from us, a child is getting her school supplies bought for the new school year or keeping food on the table or the lights and the roof over their heads. So please think about where the money will be going towards before you think to return the eBook.
If you support authors of any style of book formats from soft cover, hard cover, audio books and eBooks, please sign this petition to help close the refund gap at Amazon.com - Stop the return thefts of eBooks.

Where oh where are the beta readers gone?

Over the past decade, I have had a lot of beta readers. Almost all of them have dumped me after doing about three to four chapters of my stories. I had really good ones that I liked, just up and vanish on me without a word to those who I also liked would lie to my face stating that real life is being hard for them at the moment and that they need to pull back and focus on that for a while (which I found for the most part to be nothing but lies).

I accept that and then later, on the same writing message group on Yahoo, I get a message from my now departed beta reader asking for new work, when he or she had real life issues pop up and suddenly, they're asking for new work. I go in and state that so and so beta reader will drop you three chapters into the work, with the claim of real life problems popped up and they can't finish editing my work. They end up getting questions posted on the group why did they drop an editing job when it was not finished. The person never answered the questions and quickly removed themselves from the group itself.

I never took on another beta reader after that, which was back in 2006. I never took a beta reader to work on my stories because they tend to dump me soon after getting to the third chapter and have to create lies to get out of working on my stories. I really love getting my stories edited to where I can get them ready for publication.

I do have one beta reader that I really like a lot and I cannot wait till she gets to the next chapters of my story as I am doing at least three edits and rewrites of each chapter before I move onto the next chapter. I hope this one doesn't leave me as I really like her a lot.

I present to you for your reading pleasure....

I did some rewrites of the beginning of Chapter Three of Warrior Princess. I kept the old version as I think I will probably rewrite it to fit how the story is flowing with more dialogue than scenery, probably flesh out the character more.

So here is the old version of Chapter Three.

Tarisn woke to the smell of wet grass and dirt. She raised herself up seeing that she still had hold of the sword that she had brought into the gate that it had created along with her flute case. She looked around to find herself in a strange area, nothing like the forest around her home. Her first thought was - is there enough oxygen in this planet for her to breathe in as she looked at the fauna that surrounded her. She realized that the air was cleaner and it had enough oxygen to support her. Tarisn rolled herself over to where she could stand without problems as she looked around to find no one was around, just forest. She walked away from the spot she landed at trying to figure out where exactly was she. She glanced at the sword. I hope you can lead me to whoever opened that gate or maybe I’ll wake up from this dream and find myself on the floor of my bed.

And now, I present to you the newer version of Chapter Three of Warrior Princess.

Aderyn stepped from her hut over looking the huts as a group of men and women sat around the fire. One of them was stirring the kettle over the fire, she looked up and smiled. “Morning Aderyn, come have some broth,”
“Morning Amelia,” Aderyn said, with a smile on her face. “But I cannot for I need to be elsewhere at this moment.”
“Very well, we shall keep it warm for you if you return before we start making our noon meal.” Amelia turned her attention back to the broth as the sorceress walked towards the group.
“Rhiannon, we need to go now,” Aderyn spoke as she looked at the woman.
“Why and where?” Rhiannon asked, as she stood up from the log.
“I will explain on the way,” Aderyn stated, as she looked at the bag by her feet. “Did you get what I asked you to gather?”
“Yes,”
“Good,” Aderyn replied. “Did he bother you about it?”
“No,” Rhiannon said. “He hasn't emerged from his hut since she was captured,”
“Good.”
“I don't know why you asked me to get clothes from Tatyana's hut for,” As she bent down to pick the bag of clothes up.
“You will see when we get there,” Aderyn replied. “Now, we need to hurry.”
“Hurry to where?” Rhiannon asked, as they hurried out of camp and into the woods, heading for where Rhiannon not know.

I'm thinking about blending the old version in with the new version after maybe a rewrite of the scene to flesh it out more. But what do you think of the beginning of both versions, which one suits the beginning of the chapter better? The old one or the new version?

Thanks.