Hi.
Thanks for coming to my site. As the title says, from this Christmas until Christmas 2012 I will be donating 50% of all gross sales of my books to a deserving military cause such as the USO, DAV, Semper Fi Fund and the Wounded Warrior Project as well as others. Our troops sacrifice so much to buy our freedom that it is only right that we give something back to them. I have been donating cinnamon rolls and cookies to the USO in Phoenix but money can help a lot more soldiers and their families than rolls and cookies, although if you want something very fulfilling to do, take down a tray of baked goods to your closest USO. The troops will really appreciate your efforts. As I said this will be on the gross receipts. I won’t take the donation out of “net” proceeds. Although I am not a charity, I will open my books to anyone who wants to see where the proceeds went at the end of 2012. Also, as a sidelight, I will probably donate 50% to military causes for the duration. So, please buy a book. It will help me and our wounded soldiers.

They say your first blog should be brilliant and generate lots of excitement among your readers.  So, I tried to think of something brilliant to say but that’s not as easy as it sounds, especially for a writer.  The thing I want to write about isn’t writing, it’s reading–the readers who read all of the books the many talented writers on Kindle write, for without readers, writers are like a gun without bullets.  Useless.  What’s the point of writing 1000′s of books if there is no one to read them?  Readers don’t get much credit in the whole publishing thingy.  Yes, writers talk about the “readers” but it’s more a general sense of numbers than the individual reader who picks up a novel in the airport to read while he waits for a plane.  Writers need lots of readers and one of the most important things a writer does is learn to market his products.  Readers on the other hand, for the most part, find a couple of authors they like and stick with them.   I think readers are a lot more loyal to their writers than their writers are to them.  That’s sad.  It’s something I hope to change.  I’m not the first writer to suggest writers need a greater appreciation of readers.  John Locke, a famous Kindle writer greatly values his readers.  He’s the first writer to sell a million e-books on Kindle.  I believe his success is because he discovered how important his readers are and they became the focus of his marketing efforts, not as numbers, but as individuals.  I’ll bet he can name at least one hundred of his faithful readers.  My goal is to value each and every reader who reads one of my books and to give them the appreciation they deserve.  Like John, I will always try to reply to any reader who drops me a message.  I know this wasnt’ a brilliant post but it’s from the heart.