GRAND RAPIDS ? Veteran journalist Rod Kackley said after decades of writing straight news copy, or reading it on the radio, he was ready to write something fun. Now he has, publishing the second of three books of fiction centered on his imaginary town of St. Isidore, where unusual happenings ? read kidnappings and suicides – are the norm.
?I got tired of clouding the issue with facts, Kackley said in an interview with MITechNews.Com Editor Mike Brennan, himself a part-time writer of fiction. ?I went off and created this town in my mind. Now I?m running with this idea in a series of three novellas.?
Sometimes Things Break is the first novella to be published as part of the St. Isidore Collection. It tells the stories of Bree, a teenage girl young enough to want it all, and Tim, a middle-aged man who promises to make her dreams come true. The second, just published, is called Stories from St. Isidore. In the works is Suicide Forrest.
He describes St. Isidore as, ?A stateless community. I want the readers to decide where it is located.?
Kackley, who previously served as managing editor of MIBiz, as well as news director at WOOD-Radio 1300 in Grand Rapids, continues to work as a freelance journalist writing for Crain?s Detroit and PJ Media, to name a few. He?s taken the business acumen he acquired on the job to dive headfirst into fiction publishing using Amazon?s Kindle eBook service.
“I am not advising indie authors to use social media,” Kackley said. “Social media is a waste of time. Indie authors need to make their books more discoverable on Amazon, Kindle, or wherever they are selling them. Paying attention to getting the genre correct – Amazon gives you two choices – and making sure your keywords match what people looking for your book would type into the Amazon search engine are much more important than social media.”
Adding: “Unless you are already a celebrity in your field, nobody is going to pay attention to your social media.”
Once they do that search, indie authors need to find their book listed on the first or second page of Amazon?s recommendations in that book genre.
“That’s my new marketing goal, to get on the first or second page of Amazon’s recommendations,” he said.
You’ll find more of Rod’s books, articles and essays by going to Amazon.Com/Author/RodKackley
For a glimpse into the world of cyber attacks and hacktivists, buy CyberStyletto, a new cyber crime novella that looks at the world of hacking. Cyber Styletto’s co author is Mike Brennan, Editor and Publisher of MITechNews.Com.
