In other news...

I'm not all about the Kindle, and I'm not about Nook and other ebook type things at all. Not yet at least. I am writing other things with hopes beyond ebooks - traditional publication is still something I'm working toward though as difficult as it was to get one five-book-long series and a standalone published, I fear it will be harder to start another series.

Not that the writing of a series would be difficult. Selling it to a publisher might be the tricky part. I've had a half-dozen novels published the traditional way and that makes me a mid-list veteran. If sales had been rising all this time, you might say I was ready to break-out, but that hasn't been the case. Sales were all right for the first book and the second book met lowered expectations and others have hovered on that low plateau despite good reviews.

So the strategy is to change fields and names. I'm trying to sell an urban fantasy novel (I thought I'd join the crowd). It's a bit early in the selling process to say whether I'll meet with success, but if I do get a taker, I've promised to use a pen name. I've been trying to come up with a name that fits two criteria:

First, I'd like a last name that starts with A. When book stores have thoses shelves with new mysteries facing out, I'd like my books to be at eye-level.

Second, I'd like the name to retain some latino flavor though perhaps not as stridently Spanish as "Torres." Something a little easier on the English-speaker's tongue. Maybe something readily familiar to most American readers.

So far, I've got "Jessica Alba." Suggestions welcome.