The Stalker by Alan Cramer

Brutal, horrifying and shocking.

That’s what they’re saying about Alan Cramer’s newest story. The Stalker is about a woman being stalked and attacked by a vicious psychopath. Nikita Jones first day as a school teacher ends with her being stalked and tormented by a sexual predator of the worst kind. Worse than your worse nightmare. This story will make you scared of strangers and want to sleep with the lights on.

Why your books won't sell

This post is a copy of a post I put up on amazon. it was in response to a couple of authors who complained that their ebooks weren't selling.

Like any other business, if you didn't get in on the ground floor, you are going to find it hard. Many of the best selling authors have many books. No one should expect to write one book and sell millions. It's not going to happen like that any more.

All the indie people who have sold a million on kindle have many books.

And this is a business. If your books are only for sale on kindle that might be another problem. Word of mouth sells books. Amazon is crowded, you might have to go some place else to get noticed and read by strangers who are the best promoters of your books. i say books because you have to write more than one.

Are you a writer or an author?

I recently read a post on Dean Wesley Smith's blog. It was about the difference between being a writer and being an author. To put it simply he states; a writer is one who is writing, but an author is one who finished the book and is trying to sell it.

I kind of hate writing, but I love being an author. In other words I hate writing, but I love having wrote.

As my number of finished books pile up, I feel a sense of pride. I like those monthly royalty checks from amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. The author in me feels quite proud.

But author's tend to rest on their laurels. I see other authors trying to sell their books and getting stuck on that book. The book sells or it doesn't sell, but they just keep on pushing that ONE book. In other words they stop writing.

This seems to be a bigger problem for independent writers and authors. I guess people with publishing contracts are forced to keep on writing. But us self published types often loose motivation after one or two books if they don't sell a million copies or downloads.

But when I look at the independent success storeis like Amanda Hockins or John Locke one thing remains clear. They wrote. They had more than two books written before they made it big.

I was going to write some more on this subject but I'm reminded that I have another book I really need to be working on right now...

Keep writing.

Self Published African American Authors: Has Equality Finally Come?

Amazon.com’ has forever changed the publishing game. Their kindle format allows African American author’s inexpensively to publish their own books and distribute them world wide. It used to cost thousands of dollars to print books, now independent books like “God Helps Those” by Alan Cramer have the same access as the big publishing houses.

Amazon.com’s  kindle format allows books like “God Helps Those” to be read on personel computers, Ipads/Ipods, BlackBerry and Android smart phones. Not only is distribution world wide, but books like “God Helps Those” can now be held in the palm of your hand.

If you can't read...you can't write

It's been said that authors should read more than they write. One main reason, reading well edited books and stories helps you learn how to use language correctly and effectively. Often you can tell how well read a writer is just by reading his writing.

One reporter used Sarah Palin's book as an example. Even though he felt she was ditsy, he felt her writing showed that she had been well schooled and read a lot.

If you want to write Urban Fiction and haven't read Iceberg Slims stuff you are missing a great opportunity. This is the first writer of urban fiction and has sold over six million books. his first book, Pimp was eventually translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and Greek.


Some may feel his stuff isn't like what they are writing today and they are right. He wrote books that sold by the millions. He did things that no other writer was doing at the time. Most of us can't do that because we only read one type of book and basically copy it to be on the safe side.


But if we read other types of fiction, we might be able to stretch past our writing comfort zones and produce new classics. But it starts with reading. 

Amazon.com new lending library sucks

If you are an independent author you have probably heard about amazon's new program. For me it sucks. Two reasons:

One, they want you to only sell your book on amazon to participate.


The more authors that join and the more books the enroll the smaller each share of the six million becomes. If ten thousand books are enrolled and each one gets an even share thats only six hundred for the year. Which comes out to 50 a month.

Even if the kdp select payout went up to ten million, thats only a thousand dollars a year if all 10,000 books were divided evenly. I don't sell that many books, my readership is a narrow base, and I know that many of my readers use the amazon app on cell phones and Nook readers.

Until I hear a independent making more than $60 per month from one title and still SELLING books on amazon, I can't afford to participate.

And in the NYC area many black women own Nook e readers. And they are my customers. Why would I make a deal that would deny me customers. I think amazon is trying to smash smashwords and barnes and noble.

This program may work for some writers f they are more popular, but at my level in the game I am too small to benefit from this...to be continued.

Alan Cramer writes fiction, not fairy tales

Bourgeois (AKA) Boojee

My newest book is  out. Bourgeois (AKA) Boojee is a continuation of the Detective Honey Sinclair saga. it's a dram in the first degree. I don't like promoting my books here, but shit I do gotta eat. It's also available on Barnes&noble nook. 


Check it out