Friday, November 24, 2017

Warden (Book 1: Wendigo Fever) is in an Audible Promotion!


I'm pleased to announce that Wendigo Fever - the first book in my Warden series - is currently on sale for just $1.99 as part of Audible's "Treat Yourself" sale.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time I've had an audiobook included in any type of Audible promotion, so I'm pretty excited. The Warden series has been successful for me, although not on the same level as my other series so I was quite surprised by this (in a good way, I might add).


I wish I could say I did something to be selected, but I didn't.  (At least nothing that I'm aware of.)  As far as I know, the selection process for this is somewhat akin to being picked for the Kindle Daily Deal or Audiobook of the Day: it's something we mere mortals aren't allowed to glimpse.  Regardless, I feel blessed to have this opportunity.  For those interested in seeing what other audiobooks are on sale, you can look here.

***If you are interested in receiving information about my audiobooks - including new releases and free copies - please subscribe to my Audibook Newsletter.  (And if you do not have an Audible account, you can get a 30-day free trial and a free copy of the Warden (Book 1: Wendigo Fever) audiobook by signing up here.)


Friday, November 10, 2017

Social Media Three-Card Monte

Like most people these days, I have a number of social media accounts:  Facebook, Twitter, etc. Frankly speaking however, I typically use them only in connection with my writing: announcing a new release, connecting with readers, and so on.

Anyway, about a month or so ago, I'm messing around on Facebook, checking my messages and such, when I enter this area called "Message Requests." Holy Quacamole! It's got a bunch of messages in it that I've never seen before.  I feel bad because some of them are from readers of my series.  Even worse, several of them have been sitting there for years!

On top of that, there's another link that says "See filtered requests." Guess what? It's got more messages in it (and again, some are from readers). 

I immediately begin writing people back, trying to explain and apologizing profusely: "I didn't know these messages existed...  I just found them...  Please don't judge me too harshly..."  

Oddly enough, I went through a similar experience with Google not too long ago.  Apparently in your gmail account there's a closing quotation mark that hangs out near the bottom left corner of the page. When you hover over it, a little description pops up that says, "Hangout conversations."  I seemingly went for years without even noticing the symbol, but one day I accidentally clicked on it and guess what?  Messages popped up.  They were from people asking about my writing, and once again, they were years old. (And again, I hastily scrambled to reach out and apologize.)

In short, two of the accounts I generally use to connect with people seem to be hiding the ball when it comes to delivering messages.  I feel like I'm playing three-card monte, trying to guess where my messages might be.  (But to be fair, in the case of FB, I think this shuffling of messages is supposed to serve almost as a spam filter - i.e., messages in your inbox are from people you've friended, but "Message Requests" and "Filtered Requests" are from people you haven't friended.)

Of course, in the great scheme of things, this really isn't a big deal.  However, I like connecting with readers, and I hate to think that I may have given the impression of being a standoffish lout who's too good to hobnob with the people who read his work.  (What else do you think of a guy who blows you off for years?)  Anyway, I'm now keeping a closer eye on the aforementioned areas to make sure nothing else slips through.  However, I can't help wondering if I'm somehow missing similar chances to connect on other social media platforms.  Who else is playing a shell game with me and hiding the ball?


Wednesday, November 1, 2017

New Book Release: Efferus (Fringe Worlds #2)

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Efferus (Fringe Worlds #2) has been released. I know that some readers have been waiting for this one, so I'm finally glad to get it out there.

I actually hit the "Publish" button on this late Monday night, but it seemed to take much longer than normal to go "Live."  (It apparently became available some time during the afternoon yesterday.)  Obviously, I've become spoiled, because in the past I've had books become available in just a few hours. Now waiting half a day seems like a lifetime.

As has become the norm, the page count is incorrect - the book actually has 351 pages as opposed to the 275 listed - but that's usually an easy fix. (Typically, I wait until the print copy goes live and then point the Amazon folks toward it in order to get an accurate page count.)

The cover was once again done by Isikol.  (Yes - I'm a one-trick pony in that regard.) I think he did his usual excellent work and I've very pleased with it. (Hopefully readers will be as well.)

Now, of course, it's back to the grindstone and trying to finish up the next book, which is Kid Sensation #6 (working title: Replication), with the intent to wrap it up as soon as humanly possible.






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