What is an LCCN and Why Get One?

LCCN stands for Library of Congress Catalog (control) Number. It is a unique identifier assigned to any book which has applied and is accepted into the Library of Congress. Libraries use this number to find information to catalog a book which they have acquired. Some libraries will not accept books that do not have an LCCN.

If you want your printed book to look professional and be readily accepted by stores and libraries, you should apply for this number.

It's easy to do, you just need to do it well in advance of printing.

Go to pcn.loc.gov and create an ID. Then apply for the number. You'll need to know the title, author(s), approximate number of pages, ISBN, and approximate printing date.

Click submit, and wait to hear back!

Winner of a Free Copy of News from Dead Mule Swamp

Winner of a free copy of News from Dead Mule Swamp is Ivy of Spinning Lovely Days. She found all 15 names and thus earned two entries, one of which won.

The rest of you will have to fork out 99¢- sorry about that. But I'm not too sorry, it's really a great deal.
You can order at Smashwords or Amazon.

Star City Short Story Contest Results

The Star City Blog sent me a message. "We regret to inform you that due to insignificant participation, Star City Blog was forced to cancel the contest."

I'm a bit bummed out that they couldn't have figured that out right after the deadline instead of six weeks later. But, o well.

I wonder what they considered insignificant? I wonder why they couldn't have said in the rules that awarding of the prizes was contingent on having X number of entries?

But, I do have another story that I can do something with on my own.

News from Dead Mule Swamp - Ready for Orders

You can now order News from Dead Mule Swamp at either Smashwords or Amazon.

The author gets higher royalties if you order from Smashwords, and they offer many formats, including HMTL (to read in a browser), text and DDF for those without readers of any kind. They also offer ePUB which works in many readers, mobi for Kindle, and LRF and PDB for Sony and Palm.

Amazon offers one format, mobi, for their Kindle Reader, and the author only gets 35¢. So, if it makes no difference to you, it would be much nicer for me (any author) to order through Smashwords.

Here's the best news. News from Dead Mule Swamp is only 99¢! I want you to meet Anastasia Raven, and the book is rather short. So, have a bit of fun without spending a fortune!

Go buy it!

Easier Contest Rules to Win News from Dead Mule Swamp

I'm not sure why people are having so much trouble finding the names of characters for the contest to win a copy of News from Dead Mule Swamp, but I've decided to make it easier. If you find at least 12 of the 15 names you get one entry. If you find all 15, you get two entries. So don't be shy of entering!

(All I can think of is that people are forgetting to click on "Older Posts" to see the entire list of posts)

Orders for North Country Cache

Amazon ordered two more copies of North Country Cache this week. I'm always happy to see orders come from people I (presumably) don't know. That means that word is getting around about the North Country Trail.

However, I also noticed that my sales rank slipped below a million. Not that I'm very worried about it, but it used to be around 800,000. It's quite possible that the drop is only related to holiday sales which might bump other titles up.

I'd be thrilled to have a higher rank, but I realize that's not very realistic for a supposed niche book. It's been enjoyed by almost every non-hiker who read it, but the first assumption is that it's a book for hiking freaks!

Turned in Monthly Newspaper Column

Just turned in my monthly column for the Ludington Daily News. I'm even a day early. I know... try hard not to faint.

I recently rediscovered a large (14-mile) trail system that is under 40 miles from the populated areas of the county. It's called Pine Valley. So I had to write about that. It's a no-brainer.