Slowly but surely getting out there!

You can now find my first 2 books on Kobo and Barnes & Noble, though the front cover image for Crisis isn't available on B&N just yet--the issue has already been addressed and should be remedied soon thanks to the wonderful folks at Smashwords.

The Tourney on Kobo

The Tourney On Barnes & Noble

Crisis On Sandar on Kobo

Crisis On Sandar On Barnes & Noble

Meanwhile, I didn't participate in NaNoWriMo because I have 2 books written that I'm preparing to publish, and given the other things that have happened this month, it's a good thing I didn't take the challenge this year.  Maybe next year, though there are numerous books I'm eager to write, and I will probably end up concentrating on publishing one or more of them rather than writing something that may not be suitable to share.

Crisis On Sandar has been published

Now available at Smashwords for only $3.99, Crisis On Sandar, the second book in the Keestu Ranell trilogy, part of the Union novel series. 

Here's an excerpt: 

Hemda's voice broke the shocked silence that followed these revelations.  "Esplosion confirmed high o'er the middle of Eastique!"  She had stayed at her post to monitor the incoming reports while Ismer addressed the extended family.  

"'Nother o'er Southern. 

"Westique military reports tree military flitters chasin' a spacecraft inland!"  A moment later, she blanched, her voice trembling with reaction.  "Westique military flitters have gone off air in mid transmission."  

She took several breaths to steady herself while listening to more reports on the military channel before continuing.  "Eastern ground control reports esplosion o'er the Midrange Mountains, with the military flitters crash landin' 'fore inerception.  

"Westique capital ground control is on!  Esplosion high o'er that continent as well."  

"Are there any damage reports yet, Hemda?"  Ismer was tense.  

She answered after looking over the updates scrolling across her console.  "Not yet." She pressed a hand over one ear so she could concentrate on what was being reported.  "CeCe reports a spacecraft incomin' high o'er the border between the seventh and fifth baronies!  Military fighters have been scrambled from Enforcer but are still out of range, so our local military flitters are to fire on it in four, tree, two, one, fire!"  

A gasp rippled through the crowd, and Keestu felt a chill go down her spine.  She looked around the vault at her extended family, but her mind's eye was imagining unspeakable devastation: the other capital cities flattened by horrific blasts, people who were unable to get to shelter in time burned to death or mortally wounded by deadly radiation, and her eyes filled with tears.

The Tourney Excerpt

Here's an excerpt from my book, The Tourney, available at Smashwords for only 99 cents: 

They were getting the receipt for their meal when two male nobles entered, laughing loudly. One of them called out to the restaurant, and Keestu looked at her cuff. "The Prató's get," was all that it understood and translated. She wondered if Pulon had been sent to find them?

"He just said something about the Prató's child," Keestu informed her table.

"We better check it out," Gontu said, wobbling momentarily as he stood.

Vahin nodded in jovial agreement, and they approached the nobles, one of them very drunk. He put his finger to his lips with exaggerated care as he grinned at them, hushing them as he motioned for them to follow. He staggered into the night and took them around to the back of the building. Keestu's eyes darted around before she went around the corner, alert for a trap. She saw that Tenget and Gontu, while feeling their drinks, also scanned their surroundings before moving into the alley.

Keestu was completely unprepared for what she saw there: Shariel, her back to them, had her hands in the trash barrel, and was pulling out leftovers and eating them with the same single-minded intensity as she had the food on her plate at home.

Disgust warred with pity in Keestu. She understood that Shariel's mother was a horrible cook, but Shariel herself appeared to either lack the discipline needed to keep her eating under control or she suffered from a serious medical disorder of some sort. She was eating as fast as she could, and Keestu realized she must do this every time she was locked into her room for the night, for it gave her many hours in which to get to the city and return unnoticed.

The drunk noble sniggered loudly next to them, and Shariel whirled, her cheek and chin smeared with stew from the garbage. Keestu saw horror, shame, and anger on her face before she shouted something at them in Phaet, which was muffled by the mouthful of food that she had just crammed in.

Keestu saw that their erstwhile guides had vanished, no doubt fleeing the wrath of the Prató's daughter.

She grabbed at Tenget's arm, pulling on it while emphatically nodding her head back towards the light. However, shouts sounded from that quarter as well.

"Down the alley," Gontu decided, urging them past Shariel, who was still shouting at them in Phaet. Keestu didn't bother to try and read the translation on her cuff in the darkness.

They were almost to the end of the alley, when their way was blocked by a group of six Vuloan nobles armed with stun staves, spears, and short swords. "So," one of the guards growled at them menacingly in Unity, "You're digging in the trash with the Prató's glutton offspring!"

Before any of them could respond, the guards were rushing at them. "Spread out," Gontu shouted. "Find a weapon if you can!"

Keestu looked frantically around the alley, but saw nothing she could immediately use. She looked back to see Gontu planting his feet in front of Rue, who he'd shoved back towards Keestu. Tenget sprang forward, to face the closer immediate threat with Gontu, while Vahin checked behind them for anything useful to use to fight. Finding nothing, he moved forward and resolutely formed a second line between Keestu and the closest onrushing Vuloan nobles. Keestu checked behind her again, though she heard no more pursuit from that direction. In fact, Shariel had vanished, as had the nobles who had come out of the restaurant to see what the others found so funny.

The first of the men were on them, and Gontu sidestepped the first stun staff thrust at him, grabbing it with one hand as he delivered a backhanded punch to the man carrying it with the other. There was an audible crunch as the man's nose broke, and he fell to the ground, yelling what Keestu assumed were curses in his own language. Gontu kicked him soundly in the stomach after he landed, and the man curled quietly into a ball, unable to cry out with the breath knocked out of him.

Meanwhile, Tenget had met his first assailant and was grappling with him over his stun staff. Neither had punched each other, and Keestu watched in horror as the short sword of another man came down on Tenget's left arm, severing it just above the elbow. Tenget screamed, reflexively kicking out at the man who'd maimed him as he fell to the ground, blood spurting from the wound.

Gontu, seeing Tenget gravely injured and knowing they were now greatly outnumbered, turned to Keestu and Rue, yelling the one word she never thought she'd hear from him. "Run!"

Asking blogs to review your book

I'm relatively new to blogging and am finding lots of advice on how to do so.  First off, if you want a blog to review your book, you must read their review request form over carefully and follow their special instructions if they have any.  I think this is to keep people from sending the same boilerplate request to any and every blog they see (using what I call the shotgun method) in the hopes that a few will agree to read and review their book.  I tend to shy away from form letters that are sent to me, and I try to not send out a form letter to anyone. 

Keep in mind that you should only ask blogs that deal with your type of book (trad or indie) and your genre.  It would be frustrating for me if I started reviewing books and stated that I didn't review a certain genre and got requests from a person asking me to review a book in that very genre anyway.  So read the blog over to make certain they are:  1.  Currently accepting requests.  2.  They are interested in your book's genre.  3.  If they have any detailed instructions on how to query them. 

It should go without saying that if you want someone to invest their valuable time in reading and reviewing your book, you shouldn't ask them to pay to do so.  I can't imagine having to tell someone this, but I suppose some people figure they've invested a lot of time in their book and therefore everyone should fork out some money in order to read it.  However, if you are serious about marketing your book, think of it as you would any other product and think of new products you see in the stores--most stores around here have dedicated kiosks that are handing out free samples of new products.  So, if you're a new writer in search of a market, you've got to be willing to give out a few samples to let people try it before they buy it.  If they like it and tell others who trust their opinion, you'll more than make up the "loss"! 

Next, you should be persistent but not annoying when marketing your book.  If you aren't on social media sites, you should be, and when your book is launched, you should make your pages reflect that fact and make an announcement about it every so often, especially if you are having a special on your book.  By special, I mean coupons, contests to give away free copies, and the like, all of which will bring more attention and interest to your book.  But, there's a fine line between being enthusiastic and being annoying.  Try and network with others in your new field, watch what they do, and learn by example. 

 
Lastly, you need to be patient.  Most of your first copies are going to be bought and/or given to family and friends.  For me, this is not an issue.  I began writing as a hobby to amuse my friends with daydreams I made up while bored in school.  Yes, I am paid as a medical writer in my job every day, but being a paid book author is a new experience for me.  However, I'm still at my day job and have no delusions of becoming an overnight literary success.  Heck, I'll consider myself a success when someone I don't know reads my book and says they like it, since I think family and friends are sometimes just being polite when they gush about something I've written, and an independent opinion or three will tell me whether I've got true potential as an author or not.