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One Last Cowboy Song

English professor Amanda Payne and rancher Virgil Ames were unlikely ever to meet and even less likely to fall in love, but they do both. For a time, they share a life of tenderness, laughter, and passion, but both Virgil and Amanda carry scars from long-ago tragedies. After a sudden change in Virgil’s life, the legacy of those tragedies drives them apart. Their story of love and joy, loss and reconciliation plays out against the magnificent backdrop of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, the sweet harmonies of country and western music, and the kindness of true friends.

Lynne Sebastian’s latest book, One Last Cowboy Song is now available on Amazon in print format. Lynne Sebastian weaves a complex romance into a western setting.

Finding Your Niche Market Workshop on Saturday!

Finding Your Niche Markets

With Rose Marie Kern

SCOTLAND MEETS AFRICA

African Indaba

A Story of Adventure and Conflict

Angus Robb

Now available on Amazon

Himself born in South Africa between world wars, Angus Robb loves the land, the people and great elephants that dominate that world. In his teens Angus was sent to a scottish boarding school and went on to earn multiple degrees in Mining engineering. His career took him into mines across the globe, but even now, 88 years after his birth, the sights and smells of Africa live in his heart.

Story Synopsis

RORY MACKENZIE, son of a Scots refugee and a Boer mother, achieves manhood during political and cultural upheaval on the Dark Continent, all the while under the threat of CHOLA, a deadly bull elephant. As a child, he watches the beast slay his grandfather, and as a youth sees his father meet the same fate, but both times Chola mysteriously spares Rory’s life. Perhaps the natives are right: The monster has mtagate, magical powers enabling him to tell the difference between friend and foe.

At age eleven, Rory is packed off to a grim Scottish boarding school to toughen him up. Will his formative years there, besieged by bullies and suffering harsh punishment, prepare him to face the killer elephant? Or turn him into something monstrous himself?

Spanning decades before, during, and after World War II, the tale unfolds during the dying years of colonial domination in Africa. At its core is the story of a boy and a rogue beast, each fighting for his place in a vicious world, but neither craving to kill the other for it.

Mistreated throughout his boyhood, Rory burns with a cruel desire to settle scores. He seizes the opportunity when he later commands a crack anti-terrorist assassination unit of the colonial military. He clashes with the Bloody Assegai Freedom Party and its local leader Inkosana, an African prince who once served honorably with British troops but later rebelled against his colonial masters.

Brought together by their common love of Africa, Rory establishes a friendship with Inkosana who becomes a senior official in the newly proclaimed nation of Zambia. Inkosana not only agrees to help Rory track down his nemesis, the rogue elephant Chola, but also introduces the younger man to Sascha, a young woman of mixed African and Russian blood.

With Inkosana as his backup gun, Rory embarks on the hunt for Chola in the Luangwa Valley, where intuition and fate lead them both to a final confrontation. But Rory is not sure whether his mission is revenge for the deaths of his elders or compassion for the behemoth, now rendered lame by age and tormented by lingering wounds.

True to form, the massive animal ambushes Rory’s team. Rory gets Chola in his gunsights for the first time. He freezes. The elephant does not. Chola savages Rory pitilessly before Inkosana shoots the giant.

Recovering from near-death injuries, Rory awakens from a coma to find Sascha and Inkosana at his bedside. They have spent weeks there, coaxing him back to life. Rory’s only words to Inkosana…

“Does Chola live?”

Born and raised in various towns in the guts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Angus Robb grew up during the second world war tough, self-sufficient and crammed full of African bush skills. His knowledge of Africa and this turbulent era in history gives Scots Boy Africa the impact and credibility of personal experience and insight.

New IRS Rule on Royalties

The Business of Writing – Taxes and Royalties

By Rose Marie Kern

This month we need to go over a couple of timely questions related to the money side of writing. Amazon ebook royalties and recent changes to the IRS rules regarding 1099’s.

Recently the IRS changed its 1099 rules. Up until now the blanket rule for any type of business transaction where money changed hands required 1099’s to be sent whenever a company paid $600 or more to anyone. This included payouts by publishers to authors for royalties.

Of course, this meant that if someone only got $599 or less in royalties the government would only know about it if the author reported it on their taxes.

As of 2022 any entity paying out $10 or more in royalties must send the recipient a 1099. Wow! There will be thousands of authors now required to report smaller royalty amounts on their annual federal taxes. This also means that indie publishing companies like Amazon, Ingram, Bookbaby, etc… will be mailing or emailing a lot more end of year documentation.

This change is specific to ROYALTIES – and does not pertain to other goods or services.

General Royalty Information

Royalty proceeds from the sale of intellectual property are considered earned income. An author/creator of work may receive extended royalties from the result of their personal services.

Royalty income is reported on Form 1099-MISC, Box 2, Royalties.

For more information go to: About Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

RMK authors win NMPW awards!

Three books which use RMK Publications services received awards in this year’s New Mexico Press Women’s Annual Contest. This contest attracts hundreds of authors each year, so to receive any recognition at all is a big feather in an author’s cap.

Taking 1st Place in the Nonfiction Book: Biography or History category was Margaret Abbey (Ashman) Shannon‘s recounting of her family’s history dating back to the 1400’s in Northhampton, England and following them through their voyage to America in the early 1600’s. In addition to her family’s adventures, Margaret includes details of the daily life and customs predominant in that era. As first place winner, Margaret’s book will be forwarded to the National Press Women’s Competition.

Alan Diehl‘s newly release alternate history novel Kidnap Marilyn took 3rd Place in the Novel Category. It offers both a story and some hard information about the events surrounding the death of superstar Marilyn Monroe.

Kat-Richter Sand‘s memoir about how she trained her beloved whippet, Abbey, to become a diabetic alert dog received an Honorable Mention in the Autobiography or Memoir Category. Sometimes the Dog is Smarter is an inspiration to anyone who strives to maintain their health and emotional balance.

All of these books are available on Amazon. For more information go to their Author Pages.

Protect Yourself!

WARNING to Self-Published authors! Be aware of random phishing phone calls and emails from people who are saying they want to market your books. They say they ‘ve seen your book and they think it is wonderful and they want to take your book and sell copies at big book fairs around the country or market it to movie producers or any number of other things. They talk you into paying them a lot of money and don’t do anything. If this happens to you and you think it might be legitimate be sure to do some due diligence! Ask them for references from other authors (and be sure to look online to see if those authors are for real), see if they have a website. Take their names and contact information. PROTECT YOURSELF!

Several of the authors I work with have been targeted by several of these con artists recently – if you want marketing done look around for people you can trust.

In Depth Genealogy-Margaret Shannon

Abbe-Ashman

Two Colonies and Pioneering Families of North America

The past is filled with captivating accounts of brave immigrants; those who worked the land, and landed gentry descended from royalty. Their stories are quietly heroic, with a few scoundrels for good measure. Some came seeking religious and civil freedom, others pursued opportunity, and the chance to improve their economic circumstances.

Abbe-Ashman: Two Colonies and Pioneering Families of North America is both the author’s genealogy and family history. Beginning in 1475 England, the genealogical journey engages readers in the social-political structures which drove the family to brave life in the new world. English settlers and Native Americans in the New England territories first attempted a mutual relationship based on trade, but soon disease, the rapid grown of the English colonies and their need for more land, led to conflict and eventually, war. The history of these four generations is both complicated and fascinating and must be remembered.

For this Volume, she uses the 1916 Abbe-Abbey Genealogy, In Memory of John Abbe and his Descendants as a starting point. Volume One begins with John Abbe’s beginnings in England and offers extensive and current research. Then follow four chapters each covering a generation of author’s Abbe-Abbey ancestors in colonial America up to the American Revolution. Included are genealogies and stories of Allied families – the ancestry of the women who married these Abbe-Abbey men.

Allied families include: Cooper/Couper, Harberd; Fairfield, Knight, Skepper/Skipper, Fisher; Pease, Goodale/Goodell, Adams, Newton, Vassall, King(e), Lorran; Terry, Lobdell, Helme, Eldred, Rouse, Morgan, Gilbert. These families are traced back in time from the wives of the Abbe-Abbey men, to their own beginnings in England. If you are a serious, or hobby genealogist, and researching any of these lines, this volume could provide lineage data, vital statistics information and stories of these ancestors.

Extensive references have been given, countless books have been consulted in libraries from the author’s home town of Albuquerque, New Mexico to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society in Boston, libraries in Wenham, Massachusetts and Enfield, Connecticut. Numerous web-sites have been searched, and sources confirmed (or noted otherwise), primarily AmericanAncestors.org, Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

The author writes, “I walked through rain-soaked cemeteries and historic homes that are centuries old and lovingly preserved for posterity. I loved every minute of it.” Various museums, and historical societies were also visited, and photos taken which are found within these pages. It was important to ‘walk the land.’

Sections titled: History and Inventions and The Lives and Role of Women are included for each generation, as well as stories from the author’s travels and research. Images, charts and photographs enhance each section. These features serve, as one “beta” reader commented, “to turn dry lists of ‘begats’ into compelling stories of real people who lived real lives, leaving England behind and forging a new home in a new land.

Volume Two will follow in 2022, featuring Peter Abbey and Hannah Alden Abbey; Volume Three will take the Abbey family to New York State, the settlement of Cleveland, Ohio and eventually to the American West and around the globe. Volume Four will cover the author’s Ashman ancestors, from England and Ireland, then sailing from New York in 1851, to become a pioneer family of California.

Abbe-Ashman: Two Colonies and Pioneering Families of North America is available on Amazon.

Editing – Why Do I Need It?

You’ve just finished putting together your first manuscript and are really excited. You can’t wait to share it with the world…but wait, people keep saying you need to have it edited. What’s that all about? After all you have read it a hundred times and you are sure that you have spelled everything right and the punctuation is…close?..to perfect.

The reality is that NO ONE can catch all their own errors – and I don’t just mean spelling. Our minds know what we are trying to say and so those tricky little brain cells skim across the words without really letting things sink in. This kind of error would be caught by a COPY EDITOR.

Maybe you wrote a paragraph or chapter that would make more sense in a different place, or you’ve accidentally slipped from first person to third person without recognizing it. Those are things a CONTENT EDITOR would catch.

I know hundreds of authors – both the self-published and traditionally published kinds. All of them acknowledge that the most embarrassed they have been always occurs when they just shot off a manuscript without it being reviewed by one or more professionals and only afterwards discovered some major error. Not every book needs every kind of external editing, but for an overview of the kinds of editing you at least should consider click on the link below.

…Click Here for a listing of what kinds of editing each book should have prior to publishing.

Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe

For over a hundred years the resident’s of Albuquerque’s south valley Williams barrio have celebrated the annual Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The entire community participates by building and decorating Niches outside their homes, attending meetings and services at St.Francis Xavier Catholic Church. The events lead up to a grand parade with musicians and dancers whirling in a grand celebration dedicated to the Virgin Mary, illustrating her importance in the Hispanic and Native American communities.

Click here for more information.

KIDNAP MARILYN LAUNCHED!

By Dr. Alan E. Diehl

A government whistleblower reveals what could, and more importantly, should have happened to the icon.
The CIA psychologist assigned to spy on her discovers the Deep State’s assassination plot. Knowing she does not deserve to die, he goes rogue and plans her kidnapping.But how can he prevent relentless pursuers from murdering them both?
Throughout her life, Marilyn was the quintessential Me Too victim. At the height of her fame, she became intimate with the two Kennedy brothers, who tied to impress her by revealing some of this nation’s darkest secrets.
Singing “Happy Birthday, Mister President” caused a scandal, and they dumped her. RFK then unceremoniously demanded Marilyn conceal their affairs. Shocked, the jilted actress threatened to disclose the classified information to prove their trysts.
Central Intelligence Agency officials were determined to prevent this and assigned Dr. Dirk Mitchell to secretly analyze her behavior.
A consummate professional, he realized Monroe was depressed and drug dependent. He concluded she should be abducted and taken to an Agency ‘black site’ where he could employ hypnotic techniques to brainwash her.
But when CIA officials rejected that recommendation and instead planned to have the Mafia kill her, Mitchell decided to risk his own life to save her.
He then discovered that an erstwhile Marilyn impersonator had just died of a drug overdose and staged a daring body swap.
During their escape attempt, Mitchell must employ all of his ‘secret agent’ skills to outsmart her would-be assassins while treating Monroe’s mental problems and resisting the lady’s amorous overtures.
The scenario described herein is consistent with the known facts of this epic mystery.

The author received numerous classified assignments and prestigious awards during his career. He also worked with CIA operatives and interviewed an FBI agent who knew RFK. But to avoid becoming a whistleblower again, he presents this information in a novel.

His first book, Silent Knights: Blowing the Whistle on Military Accidents and Their Coverups, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and he has appeared on numerous programs such as CNN State of the Union, Fox News Sunday, and BBC Witness History.

Click Here for More Information