Let’s look at how the traditional publisher advertises. In bookshops, their books are going to get a paid spot on the tables at the front, where they are more likely to be seen and purchased by the prospective book buyer. The front face of their book covers will be fully displayed, but us mere mortals will be lucky to have the narrow spines of our books placed where anyone but the most determined and adventurous of readers can find them. They have to be prepared to go on a mini treasure hunt to find our books. I understand that some eBook sellers also offer paid spots to make a book more prominent. This advertising budget has to be recovered before the traditional publisher can earn any money from a book. Consequently, they have to sell thousands of books before they break even and then start to make money on subsequent sales. That means the traditional publisher is not just giving away books for free, they are paying for each of those early sales. I can’t imagine what those who decry the freebie would say if they learned that indies were paying for copies of their books to be taken off the virtual shelves.

I think this debate really shows the difference between those purest indies who have only ever really wanted to be writers and just that, which to most of us is understandable (I think we all started writing with those rose tinted glasses, if our books were any good we’d be published and readers would find them), and those who realise that as an indie you have to fully embrace the fact that it is also a business. As such, you have to employ business techniques to sell your wares. Would they scoff at their local supermarket for promoting via a buy one get one free offer, or would they hurry in to grab their bargain?

Offering free eBooks on Amazon does not have the power to raise a book in the rankings that it previously did, as, at the time of writing, they are no longer valued as a full sale, but as one-tenth of a sale, as pointed out in David Gaughran’s excellent eBook marketing guide Let’s Get Visible. But if used effectively, it can still raise a book up the rankings enough to become more visible. I really see little difference between an indie on a low budget offering an eBook for free (effectively paying for their advertising by not taking any income on hopefully several thousand downloads of their books during the free period), and a large traditional publisher paying for their advertising up front, and so not making any money on the sales of their books until the advertising budget has been recovered.

What’s your views on the freebie?

The novel is set in an environment both beautiful and unrelentingly savage. This feels like the real Wild West, where death and suffering are a part of most days. Some of the brutality had me draw sudden breath, cringe and close my eyes so shocking was it. Yet still, I couldn’t put it down. In one paragraph several men hang by their feet over coals which had roasted them, their brains bubbling and steaming out of their heads. And in the very next paragraph we witness the beauty of a pale green meteor shooting across the night sky.

I wasn’t at my most receptive whilst reading the book, so I couldn’t see the theme. But I have since read Josh’s brilliant review and the associated comments at Goodreads, which has made it clearer.

Check it out here:
Attack for posting a scene lead to devastation and then a new realization

Or do you prefer your bestsellers delivered every few months – James Patterson and Wilbur Smith now use co-authors, so that they can churn out several books each year.

Most of us indies writing full length novels aim for one or two books a year, depending on other commitments.

There is a compromise in all these approaches. Marquez and Morrison keep their fans waiting for years, but these two Nobel Laureates fame is such that their fans will quickly hear of a new publication and rush out to buy it. An indie writer who has built a small following would lose that audience and have to start to build their readership again from scratch if they delivered a novel every 5 to 10 years. Nor can indies afford to hire co-authors to pen their novels so that there is a new release every few months (this is quite different to the collaboration of some indies, where the novel is actually written by more than one writer).

The reason I ask this question is because, whilst the first draft of my first published novel, Secrets From The Dust, was penned over about 6 months, it was not released for about 8 years, because I was pursuing traditional publishers at the time. So, over the years I was able to revisit it and polish it, and that is in large part responsible for many of the favourable comments I receive about the novel which mention the quality of the prose.

My latest novel, The Disease, was written, edited, proofed and then published over about 9 months. Those who have already read it have commented that it is a gripping read. But I know that the prose does not reach the elevated levels of Secrets From The Dust, because I did not do my “making it sing” rewrite—partly because I felt The Disease, being a suspense novel, did not need it, but also because if I wanted to “make it sing”, I would need to spend another 12 months, at least, on the novel.

So, before I begin my next novel, I’d be grateful to hear readers views on this, and you can help by answering my poll below. Thank you!

I don’t quite remember when it was that I first heard the stories of the bateyes of the Dominican Republic, and the Dominican born children of Haitian descent, many of whom live in these farm workers settlements and were effectively stateless. But it was only a few months ago that I learned about Solange (Sonia) Pierre—herself Dominican born and raised, and of Haitian descent—and how she tried to help Dominicans of Haitian descent gain citizenship through her organisation Mudha. She first came to prominence at the age of 13, organising a sugarcane workers protest at their poor living conditions and low wages. She was arrested, but their demands were eventually met. In 2006 former Senator Edward Kennedy said she was near the top of his list of heroines as he presented her with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.

How bateyes came into being:
For many decades, the Dominican Republic brought in workers from Haiti to farm sugarcane. They set up villages for them by the farms, known as bateyes. This marked a change from the 1937 massacre of Haitians living along the border with Haiti, which was ordered by then Dominican President Rafael Trujillo, in which up to 20,000 were shot, chopped and clubbed to death, many as they tried to flee across the Artibonite River back into Haiti. Many of the bateyes have no running water or proper sanitation facilities, and many of the Haitian farm workers have lived in these conditions for decades. They risk losing their wooden shack homes if they stop working on the farms.

Denial of Citizenship for children born in the Dominican Republic:
For years, the Dominican Republic has been denying official documents to first, second and third generation children born in the country who have Haitian descent. The documents denied them means they are unable to access higher education, get most jobs, and even to travel. People spoke of turning up at government offices to be told by petty bureaucrats that their names didn’t sound Dominican, they didn’t look Dominican (i.e. they were too dark in complexion), amongst other spurious grounds. Since they were born and have lived in the Dominican Republic for all of their lives, they are not citizens of any other country—they are effectively stateless.

Solange Pierre takes the Dominican Republic Government to the International court and wins:
Solange Pierre was part of a legal team who in 2005 took the cases of two young girls, Dilcia Yean and Violeta Bosico, before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. They successfully argued that the Dominican Republic was in violation of various articles of the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as Article 11 of its own constitution, which guaranteed citizenship to all those born within its borders except those ‘in transit’ and the children of diplomats. This earned her the hatred of some Dominicans, and there were then attempts by members of the congress to revoke her citizenship.

Dominican Republic Government counters by changing the law:
The Dominican authorities would quickly reverse Pierre’s victory. The Dominican Supreme court ruled that all those invited to work in the country were ‘in transit’, and the constitution already denied citizenship to children born to people ‘in transit’. This was retroactively applied, so that hundreds of thousands who were entitled to Dominican Republic citizenship at the time of their births had it removed with the scribble of a pen. So many of these people woke up to find themselves having been ‘in transit’ for decades, and their children stateless.

People and the impact on their lives:

• Students graduating high school and with a scholarship to attend university cannot attend, because they are refused a birth certificate, even though they and at least one of their parents are born in the Dominican Republic. There is a heartrending YouTube video of the impact of this policy on the Siri Yan family. The father worked in the Dominican cane fields for decades, he and his wife struggling to put their children through primary and secondary education, with the dream that their education would lead to better opportunities. But they were blocked at one of the final hurdles, as one of their sons now has to work irregular jobs as a helper and cleaner on building sites, because although both he and his mother are Dominican born, he was refused the certified birth certificate that would have allowed him to take up the university scholarship he had been offered to study statistics.
• Finish education and looking for a job? You need a cedula (national identity card), without which you cannot open a bank account, without which you cannot get a legitimate job. So people caught in this quagmire tend to work in the less secure cash sector.
• Longstanding professionals such as doctors and lawyers seeking to obtain or renew a passport to attend international events are denied them on the basis that they are no longer considered to be Dominican.

Conclusion:
Solange Pierre is no longer with us; she passed away in December 2011. But the organisation which she founded continues the fight to give the Dominican Republic’s stateless citizens a home. There is a novel in my head which takes place between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It’s unlikely to be written anytime soon. But an organic process is already underway, where from time to time I will ruminate on the issues. Themes, plots and characters will come to mind, and when there are sufficient ingredients in the storyteller’s pot, I’ll begin preparing a succulent dish to place before readers. What I’ve learned about the life and work of Solange Pierre has taken me closer to that moment.

Maryanne Torres is a compassionate nurse who fails at relationships. After a string of losers, she swears off premarital sex, hoping to land a marrying type of man.

Lucas Knight, a law-school dropout, moves to California to train for the Ironman Triathlon. He’s smart, sweet, and everything Maryanne wants in a man, but their relationship suffers from his dedication to the sport. Seeking consolation in the arms of a handsome preacher’s son, Maryanne attends a church party where she is raped.

Maryanne is pregnant from the rape and plans to abort. But the identity of her rapist is hidden in her baby’s DNA. Lucas asks Maryanne to seek alternatives and pledges to support her through the pregnancy. When Lucas becomes the prime suspect, Maryanne must clear his name and make a life changing decision.

The rapist has other ideas. In order to destroy the evidence, he offers Maryanne an illegal offshore abortion. With Maryanne’s life in danger, Lucas races to save her and her baby. However, Maryanne hides a secret that threatens to tear them apart forever.

A 99,000-word women’s fiction, HIDDEN UNDER HER HEART deals with the consequences of rape and abortion.

From the Author
Hidden Under Her Heart is an emotional and hard-hitting story about a young woman facing a heart-wrenching decision. We’ve heard the rhetoric, maybe even argued over the issue of abortion and rape. But behind the debates are real people—women and men with real problems and feelings. My story is not meant to be preachy, but compassionate, especially for post-abortive parents seeking closure. I think people on both sides of the fence will find meaning in the changes that both Maryanne and Lucas go through. Ultimately, it is an uplifting story, and my hope is that it will be a help to you.

About the Author
I am the author of three novels: Michal’s Window, a historical romance between King David and his first wife, the princess Michal, Broken Build, a romantic suspense thriller set in a Silicon Valley startup, and Hidden Under Her Heart, a story about a nurse wrestling with her decision to abort. My stories tend to be dramatic and emotional, crossing genres and cultures. I like to dive deep and live through my characters’ eyes. Each of them are passionate but flawed women paired with conflicted men with good hearts. I hope you enjoy the emotional journey I take you on. I love to hear from readers. Please contact me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RachelleAyalaWriter or my blog: http://www.rachelleayala.com

Book Links
Michal’s Window http://www.rachelleayala.com/p/michals-window.html

Broken Build http://www.rachelleayala.com/p/broken-build.html

Hidden Under Her Heart http://www.rachelleayala.com/p/hidden-under-her-heart.html

This is a non-fiction book, but many of David Chura’s stories about life on the inside of a detention centre for the juveniles that he taught there have a fictional quality. It’s funny in places, and in some, as lyrical as many of my favourite novels. We learn something of the drug addicted, alcoholic, and downright appalling parenting that led many of the young people down the murky path to a jail cell. The author points to the fact that many of the young people leave these institutions more wounded than when they arrived, which only sets them up to continue with the reckless behaviour that will see them go through the revolving gates of the prison system throughout their lives. He hints at some solutions, but based on his experiences, a society set on retribution is not ready to contemplate these. If I ever write a novel based on such a setting, this is a book I will have to revisit for some pointed research.

Due for release December 2012

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Co-habitation between the races in Australia was illegal until 1967, though there were marriages and relationships which defied the law. In addition, Aboriginal parents were often separated from their mixed-raced children, so that they could be assimilated into European values under a government sponsored policy. Settlements where Aboriginals could be controlled lay at the heart of this practice.

Aboriginals lived on mission settlements at the turn of the C19th. They received their rations of tea, flour and sugar poured into a single sack. Afterwards the three were skilfully panned to separate them. It was at the settlements that mixed-raced children would also be taken from their parents as young as 4 years old, and placed on the other side of a chicken wire fence in dormitories, so that there could be little contact and cultural contamination. Then later, the children were sent to other institutions or foster homes.

In the mid-1950s, the Queensland missions were pleading with government for more funding to address the derelict housing, constant food shortages, unsafe water supplies, and high rates of sickness and death common to most of the missions. On the missions and settlements, infant mortality and rates of disease were much higher than for non-indigenous children in the State.

In the 1970s the health authorities started to train Aboriginal health workers to work in the settlements. But Aboriginals can be inside forbidden degrees of relationships, where they cannot look at or talk to each other. Consequently, generally, there would be two Aboriginal health workers at each clinic, so that if one is within the forbidden area of a relationship for dealing with a certain patient, the other could take the case. A Nagangkari spiritual healer may be called to remove an evil spirit from a patient (e.g. sucking on the forehead to remove an evil spirit in the form of a piece of wood, which is then disposed of in the traditional way) before ‘white fellas medicine’ is tried.

In the Northern Territories, the major health problems are alcohol related for both Europeans and Aboriginals. Europeans tend to drink beers; Aboriginals ports, sherries and wines.

Since the late 1970s, many Aboriginals have been moving out of the central settlements created by the government and churches into outstations funded with mineral royalties, where they can run their own lives

Secrets From The Dust – Scene 49:

Her husband put his arm around her and led her away, but even when they exited the gates, she looked back over her shoulder at Matron Blythe. She had met others like her when they lived on the settlement. They always thought that they were helping, trying to do the best for them. Her own mother, a half-caste named Alice, had grown up on a government settlement. When she reached fourteen they had sent her to work as a servant on a white farm, labour for which she was paid in rations of food and clothes. They sent her back to the settlement each time she became pregnant, and Daisy became the third pregnancy for which she was returned. She said the white farmers wouldn’t leave her alone, but the government appointed missionaries said she needed to curb her promiscuity, for which they prescribed hard and longer hours of work. Each of her children she only held until they were four years old, and that’s when the missionaries took them and placed them on the other side of the chicken wire, which ran down the middle of the dormitory, so that there would be no contact. That’s why the mothers kept them children on their breasts for such a long time, so that they could give them a lifetime of loving and touching in those four years. Soon after this the mothers were sent out to work, and by the time they returned with their next pregnancies, their older offspring had been moved into segregated children’s dormitories, so that they could be converted to the Christian values and work ethics without risk of cultural contamination. Daisy and most of the other children found ways to break the strictly regimented rules that governed settlement life, and they sneaked across fences to make contact with the women—all of whom would act as their parents and let them call them auntie, whether their real mothers were there or not. Sometimes they even dug under the fences to go and spend time in a blacks’ camp close by. But one day the missionaries looked at her and agreed that she had too much white blood to live with the others, and they gave her to a white family. The family said the girl had some kind of spirit in her, and they were frightened of this, so when she escaped to live in a blacks’ camp, they didn’t complain. She grew up there learning their ways, and when she was old enough she became Toby’s woman, only getting tied in their customary way, because it was illegal to marry an Aboriginal without the white protectors permission. Their mob had been drawn back into a settlement because the government was still trying to force their people off the land, but the management there had not been so keen on separating them from their children. She had allowed her kids to go to school, but secretly she still taught them their ways, until a new manager came and everything changed. He applied the rules the way they were written, and rations were reduced or denied if they continued to go fishing, hunting or tucker gathering, as well as if they spoke their own lingo or refused to put their kids up for adoption. But Daisy and her mob kept breaking the rules, and so he threw them off the settlement telling them to see if they could survive on their own, but without their mixed-race kids. They went back for them kids, and then they had kept moving to stay close to where their husbands were working and steer clear of the cunnichman and the Welfare. She hoped she had taught her daughter enough to survive until they got to her. She had seen how much their girl liked to do good at their schooling and always wanted to be as good as them other kids, and it worried her, because she knew she wouldn’t be allowed.

Previous Author research notes:

• Author’s research: Secrets From The Dust – The Loneliness of the outback for European women
• Author’s Research: Secrets From The Dust – The Australian Aboriginal Civil Rights Movement

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