Memorial Day

“War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.” – Thomas Jefferson

Love and Peace to All who sacrificed for our freedoms.

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Barnes & Noble – Better late than never!

Unlike BAM (Books A Million) and other online book retailer, I’ve been waiting years for Barnes & Noble Bookseller to include all my books available for purchase on their website. Even now, there’s still one missing (Desperation Kills), but the rest are finally available to order online.

I guess finally having all my books listed on the largest retail book distributer’s website is a classic case of ‘better late than never’.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/John%20d.%20ottini

October Exposure

I’ll be pulling back the shower curtain and exposing my new book in October, 2023.

Stay tuned for the big reveal. (Blush!)

A Very Furry Christmas (paperback) – 21% Off the Regular Price

The paperback edition of A Very Furry Christmas: Holiday Cat Tales is currently being sold at a crazy low price on Amazon.com (21% off its regular price!)

On sale for only $3.92, you save $1.07 (21% off the regular)

Order your copy today before it returns to its regular price of $4.99.

If you already have a copy, then please tell a friend. 🙂

Amazon.com http://amazon.com/author/johnottini

Finalist in the 2016 Royal Palm Literary Award Competition. (Florida Writers Association)

2023 Florida Writers Association Collection – Rejection Letter

I was hoping for a letter of ‘congratulations’ but I received a ‘Dear John’ email instead. LOL!

Oh well, better luck next year— if there is a next year. (Sigh!)

Dear John,

Thank you for submitting to Florida Writers Association’s 2023 Collection 15, Secrets. After careful consideration by our team of judges, your entry did not score within the top-sixty selected this year: a year which had more entries submitted than in the fifteen-year history of FWA’s anthology.

Nonetheless, we encourage you to continue in your writing efforts and hope you choose to submit new material to our 2024 Collection 16 competition.

It has been our sincere pleasure to have had the opportunity to read your work, and we wish you the best of luck in all your future writing endeavors.

Yours truly,

Paul Iasevoli

Director/2023 Collection 15 Coordinator

A Very Furry Christmas – Discounted 17% on Amazon

The paperback edition of A Very Furry Christmas: Holiday Cat Tales is currently being sold at Amazon.com for 17% off its regular price!

On sale for only $4.14, you save $0.85 (17% off the regular)

Order your copy today before it returns to its regular price of $4.99.

If you already have a copy, then please tell a friend. 🙂

Amazon.com http://amazon.com/author/johnottini

Finalist in the 2016 Royal Palm Literary Award Competition. (Florida Writers Association)

Dear Reader: Please be aware that this is not a children’s book.

Slipper’s Last Breath

For most people Christmas is a time for reflection, a time to share and celebrate with family and friends, but for some it is a time of sadness and quiet desperation. What if your soul mate, best friend and lover is no longer around to share in the season of joy and you are about to lose the last remaining link to a life you once knew and loved. Would you find the strength to survive?
Slipper’s Last Breath is a story about love, companionship and triumph over tragedy.

Some might call it a Christmas miracle, but I call it the power of unconditional love.

The Unwrapped Gift

Sometimes the best gifts are the unexpected ones. After enduring the heartbreak of a bad marriage, Beth is in no mood to celebrate the Christmas season. It’s sad enough spending the holidays alone, but watching Spice, her five-year-old Labrador retriever, mope around the house was more than she could bear. A visit to Miller’s tree farm to cheer up her canine companion leads to an unexpected find and the possibility of a new found relationship.

When she least expects it, Beth rediscovers love and the magic of Christmas.

A Charcoal Christmas

She was born under the loading dock behind Johnson’s Market and lost her mother when she was only five weeks old. One of a litter of six, she and her siblings had to learn to fend for themselves at a young age. The life expectancy of a feral cat is short, but thanks to the generosity of a compassionate store owner, the kittens were well fed and enjoying their lives. Then one day a stranger appears and takes her away from the safety of her kin. Confused and frightened, she is forced to endure an uncaring human and ultimately the forces of nature, in hopes of returning to the ones she loves.

A Charcoal Christmas is a bittersweet tale of survival, hope and loving companionship.

Christmas Mourning

A troubled priest struggling with doubts about his faith and vocation has an unexpected encounter with a stray, weather-beaten black cat. When Father Pedro decides to provide warmth and shelter for the lost creature, he has no idea how this simple act of kindness will impact his life forever.

People Behaving Badly Paperback 32% Off

The paperback version of People Behaving Badly is currently being sold at a discounted price on Amazon.com

People Behaving Badly: A Collection of Short Mystery Stories – only $5.45 USD save $2.54 (a 32% savings

Order your copy before this book returns to its regular price of $7.99 USD.

Happy Reading!

People Behaving Badly: A Collection of Short Mystery Stories – Amazon.com 

KDP printing costs are increasing and so is the price of hardbound books.

This is a recent message I received from my book publisher, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

Since launching KDP print books in 2016, we’ve enjoyed helping you publish and sell your books around the world. During this time, we’ve kept our printing fees the same, despite increasing costs of materials and labor over the past six years. On June 20, 2023, we’re changing our fees to better align with today’s cost to print books. We have not taken this decision lightly and have reduced printing costs where possible.

These changes will affect your royalties for paperback and hardcover books. While not required, you may choose to update your list prices to avoid a change in royalty payments or zero royalties on paperback and hardcover books where your list price drops below the new minimum list price. If you make updates to a print book after June 20, it will need to comply with the new minimum list price in order to publish the updates.

Translation: The cost of printing books is going up, so to avoid receiving even less than I already do in royalties or ‘zero royalties’ (sigh), I’ll have no choice but to increase the price of my paperback and hardcover books.

So, if you’re thinking about purchasing a hardbound version of any of my books, please do so before June 20th and save yourself a little cash.  😊

Thanks for your understanding on this matter.

JDO

2023 Florida Writers Association Collection – UPDATE!

Secrets – Volume 15 Collection

The 2023 Florida Writers Association Collection, Volume 15 theme is secrets: those untold, unseen, and seldom shared places, events, and mysteries we all carry in the hidden recess of our hearts and minds.

This theme is open to a range of possibilities, so it’s with high expectations that we invite our members to submit their best fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

A group of experienced writers, editors, and publishers will select 60 of the best submissions for publication.

Afterwards, Ben Sharpton, author of The Awakening of Jim Bishop, and This Changes Things, the 2022 Royal Palm Literary Award Published Book of the Year, will select his 10 favorite submissions.

The Top 10 earn special recognition and placement in the Collection 15 book.

I just received an email from the Florida Writers Association mentioning the fact that the number of entries for this year’s FWA Collection competition totaled 220, which is the most entries in 10 years.

Yikes! This makes my chances of making the cut much more difficult! 😦

Oh well, I’ll know by the middle of this month (May) whether to be happy or sad.

In the meantime— fingers crossed! 😊

Literary Humor

Ha, Ha! Where have I heard that before. 🙂