Monday, February 27, 2012

Family Secrets: Where We Come From

Family Secrets: Knowing where we come from. One of the most important things in our lives.


I commented on a February 26th HuffPostBooks piece, written by Lev Raphael, about Family Secrets, where he describes some shocking findings after his mother's death.  By way of a reply, I left the following comment:


Ah, the mysteries of those gone before us.  How may times do we hear of those who wish they could go back and talk to a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, or other relative whom they knew as a child.  How many times do we wish we had asked them about their background and history, and then been aware enough to remember it or appreciate it.

And, as an author, how many times might we have wished that our mother, or father, or grandparent, or other important person in our lives might have been able to see us now, as an author.

Our lives are full of 'what ifs' or 'if onlys'.  I join with Lev in wishing to solve the mystery that was his mother's past, and wishing that she might have appreciated that he was an author.  I regret that these regrets will be among the many of our lives.  This will always be.

But there's one thing we can do, and that is to change the way we go forward, and connect with those who follow us.  I wish us all the best in making that happen.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award - my second round from 2011

I note that the first round winners for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA 2012) were announced today.  I certainly congratulate all those who entered and those who will move onto the second round.  
Last year, for ANBA 2011, I was pleased that my entry made it into the second round.  That entry, now available as an eBook and in print, was Aiden's Arrival: Honor Before Gold.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Free eBooks for Young Adults

When I started my first blog, The Thoughts of Wilson James, author, at the end of 2009, I wasn't sure what I'd write in my blog, just that I needed to have some additional online presence for my eBooks at Smashwords, and elsewhere. I'd read that it was a marketing necessity, and considered that it would be a good idea. So, I got started. I've blogged about many things, but a recurring theme has been pieces about successful, courageous, tenacious, and determined young people and point out that they inspire me to write some of my Young Adult fiction. In turn, some reviewers have said that my fiction is 'very inspiring.'  
In any event, I've enjoyed being able to reach out with this blog, and now, after 101 posts, the number of views is approaching 5,000. I'm pleased with that.

Over a year ago, I got going with Twitter, @WilJames_author, and I've had a lot of fun with that, in addition to noting an uptick in visits to my blog and a slight increase in sales and downloads attributable to my almost 1,000 tweets.

In January 2010, I started another blog, entitled Free eBooks for Young Adults, with occasional assistance from another Smashwords author.  I've listed over 80 free eBooks, and the number of views for that blog is now over 5,000.  (UPDATE: Feb. 23rd...now over 6,000.) I'm really pleased with that, and I hope the blog has helped many readers find books by my fellow YA authors. There are many, many good reads for Young Adults out there, and lots are available free.  I will continue to search them out, and take them to my other blog, Free eBooks for Young Adults.

Happy Reading, 

Wil

Thursday, February 2, 2012


I am often asked, “How do I find your books?” I respond by suggesting Smashwords, or Barnes and Noble, or Kobo, or the Sony eBook store, or perhaps Apple’s iBookstore, or maybe even Amazon (so far only for certain of my print books). It’s sometimes a little difficult to explain, especially to those who are new at this whole eBooks and eReader thing. So, to make it easier for me, this is especially for all of you.

What I’m going to do is lay out the links for how to find those books, to make it easier to answer the question: How to find the books of Wilson James, author?


Smashwords – six (Update 3/3/12) seven of my eBooks are available here, in multiple formats including for Kindle


Barnes & Noble – six of my eBooks are available here (3 are top 1% sales rank), for the Nook



Apple iBookstore – six of my eBooks are available here, for the iPad


Kobo – six of my eBooks are available here, in ePub format



Sony eBookstore – six of my eBooks are available here

Amazon – some of my print books are now available, with selected eBooks to be available by March 2012


Lulu.com – some of my print books are available here



Goodreads  – where to find book ratings, including some of my books