Author: Bob Walton

About The Business of Books

/ Bob Walton / Leave a comment

I hope all of you are finding a good life and a clear outlook in this new year. And what a year it promises to be. I’ve been living the life of a recluse for too long. The image that brings to my mind is what Howard Hughes looked like during his last reclusive years atop his Las Vegas Casino. That wasn’t me. Okay, so I did wear an adult diaper after my prostate surgery, but that was short-lived (TMI?), and I did grow a beard, which I kept trimmed. Oh, and I went to a salon for manicures and pedicures. One more thing, I don’t own a casino.

So here I am all fresh and full of spirit with energy stored up to go out and talk about my newest novel, The Relentless Sun. It is the first book I self-published through Amazon Kindle. It was a learning experience going through that process, and I gained some insight into the publishing industry. The first thing I learned was it costs money to publish books. Hiring an editor to make it readable is possibly the second most costly part. Another cost is getting the right cover for the book. Very important. I found the perfect image to describe the book on a free image site called Pixabay and put it out there on the internet, and within a week, some guy wrote me saying his publisher used the same image for his book. I couldn’t believe it. I took it down and got the same company that edited my book to make a good cover that is my own and cannot be duplicated.

The most tedious and expensive part of publishing is advertising. Knowing how, when, and where can lighten your pocketbook and your head.

There is a lesson here, folks. Writing books is fun. Publishing and selling is hard, especially for someone who hates spending money.

I will be continuing with this subject matter in future posts.

Keep reading

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

/ Bob Walton / Leave a comment

I want to thank all my followers for being the supportive and kind followers all novelists should have. Many of you, though not all, know that my wife passed away fourteen months ago on September 16, 2023. She had battled with cancer for two years and eventually lost the war. She was four days shy of her 69th birthday.

I miss her dearly.

I tell you this because I had prostate cancer two years before my wife’s cancer and beat it with surgery. It was soon after the publication of my last novel, Wish to Die. Had I known the ironic prophecy of this title… well I still would have written it. It took me 6 years to finally finish this newest novel, The Relentless Sun, published and released by myself in May of 2024. I want to thank each of you who follow and support me in my journey as a writer. I truly appreciate my fanbase and hope that in 2025 I will not let any of you down. The Relentless Sun should do the job.

Just a reminder that on December 7th, I will be signing books at Chambersburg’s St Paul Christmas Craft Show on Saturday, December 7, 2024. The event opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 3:00 PM. The address is St Paul UMC 750 Norland Ave. Chambersburg, PA. This is my first visit here.

The very next day I will be signing and reading from The Relentless Sun at the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop at 6 Clouser Rd, Mechanicsburg PA 17055. The phone number is 717-795-7470.

The details are in the last blog but here they are again.

December 8, 2024, The Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop presents its Annual Author Showcase

The event starts at 2:00 p.m. We are delighted to be bringing back our Holiday Showcase with three authors, so far. Dennis Boyle, Robert Walton, and Sheryl Ickes will discuss their latest books, give a short reading, and then be available for signings to wrap up the event.

My newest Harry Thursday Thriller,

The Relentless Sun is now available for sale at Amazon.com and selected shops. I will be signing, and selling, copies at the

St Paul Christmas Craft Show on Saturday, December 7, 2024. The event opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 3:00 PM. St Paul UMC 750 Norland Ave. Chambersburg, PA

In Harry Thursday’s fourth outing, the itinerant archaeologist is drawn away from his peaceful home on the Greek Island of Seprios to Flagstaff Arizona, and finds he has stepped from the plane into the intrigue of human greed, political

Kindle Vella / The Gods Among Us

/ Bob Walton / Leave a comment

Do you live in a trailer in the Texas outlands? Do you smoke a little weed? Do you talk funny? (No judgment intended.) Are you a young woman trying to find her place in the world but can’t seem to get ahead. If you fit any one of these descriptions, you might want to avoid that bright shiny light in the sky, especially after you just threw another awesome party.

The Gods Among Us is my first novel that sadly never made it to the press. That’s why I am serializing it on Kindle Vella and on Wattpad.

That light? Well, that’s a UFO from another planet called Orius, and the crew are coming for that girl. She’s young, she’s fertile, and she’s tough as nails, and with good luck, will be able to handle a tough tribe of Neanderthals in the Nile valley – before it was called the Nile Valley.

Read it on Amazon