Chickens, Amazon, and a break in the blogging action

Seven of eight chicks on a perch my husband fashioned. Their baby chick perch remains a fave spot too, lol.

Nearly a week has passed since we moved the chicks into the coop. Their first few days in a new to them home was steeped in their adjustment to plenteous room, no feed overnight, and us attempting to coax them from said coop to the attached run. They seem to love more space, haven't minded waiting for breakfast (although they cried the first night when we turned off the light, and on subsequent evenings when not under the heat plate when that light was again shut off), and finally braved the strange opening to the outside world that of course is far more exciting than their spacious coop. Getting them back into the coop was a chore, and not for worms or scratch would they head up the ramp. We're still searching for an appropriate treat in which to lure them hither and yon; today I'll try some grated carrot (Update: they couldn't care less about grated carrot, sigh.), as they gobble blades of grass like addicts. Yes, I plan to employ treats to train them, but first I need to find a treat they adore.

It was odd those first few days without them in the garage. In less than four weeks, I had grown very accustomed to them there, to the brooder, to an element of our lives not previously explored. Getting chicks has now evolved into raising chickens, and currently at four and a half weeks old, they are feathered enough to resemble small hawks, which I find quite ironic. They still have access to the brooder, where the heat plate remains, but maybe for another week or so. We'll wean them off gradually, as we allow them to spend more time in the run. And hopefully an acceptable treat will emerge so we can get them back in the coop easily, LOL.

As for Amazon.... Currently I have two series available, That Which Can Be Remembered and The Hawk. Heaven Lies East of the Mississippi was recently added, a standalone love story. Just this morning I began adding Alvin's Farm, my first series originally published in 2011. Boy, that seems like a LONG TIME AGO. Why have I waited so long to put my novels on Amazon? The short answer is Amazon doesn't appreciate freebies. The long answer goes like this....

When I first started releasing my novels independently, Smashwords had a tricky relationship with Amazon, in that Smashwords' president Mark Coker didn't mince words when it came to how poorly Amazon treated indie authors. I found it brave and humorous, and never put my books on Amazon because 1) It was enough to prep them for Smashwords and 2) As I said above, Amazon doesn't permit freebies as a rule. Allegedly if they find a title has been released for free elsewhere, they might match that price. Ultimately, it wasn't worth my time to align my novels to Amazon, and I happily released them at other places.

Fast forward several years, and books, and life changes: In 2025 Smashwords is no longer my distribution point. Their merger with Draft2Digital now includes me as I have been integrated into their system. Which means their good relationship with Amazon permits my inclusion within that outlet through their arrangement. Which meant some serious thought about whether or not to add Amazon to my release wheelhouse. It wasn't about the projected royalties; in pricing my novels at the lowest cost of ninety-nine cents (American dollars), my take through D2D is twenty-nine cents, which D2D admits is a reduced rate in having set the price below $2.99. More to matter was how ethical was it for me to release books on Amazon when I admit they treat writers like.... Well, not nearly as well as we treat our chickens, might I say! Amazon is a behemoth we avoid as much as possible, even before the current administration took office. Why place my novels in such a realm?

I asked a dear friend her opinion, and she told me that my books are an antidote to companies like Amazon. That my novels, steeped in love, could proffer a reader a different viewpoint. I smiled at her response, and thanked her for the wisdom. Then another woman told me how her husband loves downloading ninety-nine cent books, as if at that price point they are free. Maybe there is an audience for my books on Amazon. And if there is, well, I'm glad my novels are there.

At the proverbial end of the day, who reads my stories is well out of my hands. All I am called to do is write, then publish these tales, centered on love and families, healing and suspense, though not in a suspense-genre type of way. I'm not keen on genres, too limiting. As a character-driven storyteller, I allow the cast to propel the action, and to wring any available tears, both from pathos and laughter. More of my books will emerge on Amazon as the weeks pass, especially since I plan to release Straight to the Heart: The Hawk Book Three next month! The fourth book of The Enran Chronicles is slated for September publication, and if I can get my ducks in a row (certainly not those chickens), The Hawk Book Four could appear in December. I've been at this indie author gig for over a dozen years, and I'm trying to exist exactly where I am supposed to be at this moment in time. Currently that's available on Amazon. If the situation calls for me to exit that distribution point, I'll indeed follow my heart. Following my heart is at the heart of all I write, including this blog, which is taking a brief hiatus while grandsons visit. If time exists to pop in with a cute chicken photo, I will certainly do so. Otherwise I'll chat with you in August, chicken, novel, and quilting stories well in hand.