Tag: wip

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Free Ebook

companion guide

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but now I’ve don’t it. I took the content of my 40 days and nights blog and turned it into an ebook companion guide. I’ve added some extra content, articles, and images to the ebook as a way to get people interested in reading the actual book. The blog posts are free so I figured the ebook should be free too, even though it offers so much more than the blog does. Not wanting to leave out those people, and I mean that in the nicest way, who don’t read ebooks, I’ve made it available in paperback, but it’s not free. In fact the amount that I charge for it, only just covers the printing; I am making no money off this publication. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem making money; I hope to make quite a bit of it someday with my writing, but for now, I don’t see the purpose in charging for something that people could already get for free…but who knows, that may change. –(This ebook was free through Smashwords, until the end of 2013. A new edition of this book is now available.)–

I hope people will take advantage of this new ebook and really get to know all about Eternal Curse and what’s to come in the series. Please check out My Books link if you are interested in getting a copy and look out for giveaways on my side bar or my Eternal Curse Series tab. You’d think I would have been posting these all along, but I’m still getting used to the whole blogging word.

One last note to my followers…I have not abandoned my collection of short stories, but I’m really getting into this romance I’m currently writing. I don’t know if this is the kind of thing people who normally read romance will want to read because it’s not explicit or even very physical, but there is some passion to this lovely little story that’s captured my mind. So, I’m still working on my shorts, but focusing on this romance, and I’ve just written an outline for an adventure story I may acquire my nephew’s help in further developing and perhaps, illustrating.

This is an unofficial Author Insights post.

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Give and Take

In a world of give and take, I feel like an old penny pincher taking away, just to give back in a different form. If I’ve completely lost you at this time, don’t feel too bad, I’m having trouble understanding myself right now.

The thing is, I have this wonderful companion blog that I wrote as a writing challenge to myself for my first book. It provides all sorts of wonderful information about the book and is an in depth and interesting read all on its, but I want to sell books. I think I’m just too passive about it. So I’ve decided to give the companion guide away for free as an ebook in hopes that people will read it and want to read the actual whole novel. In doing so, I’ll be removing a small amount of the content from the blog to add to the ebook as exclusive material, though some exclusive material will be new and never before seen. The blog covers 40 days of entries so I won’t short change blog readers of that if they should happen upon the online companion guide, but I will make known what’s missing and where to get it.

For all I know this may backfire on me, but I doubt it. At this point, the companion blog has reached the top of its viewing peak and people love free stuff. If no one takes my free book it’s not like I’ve lost anything. As I see it, it’s a win or no effect at all situation, and that’s not too shabby for me.

This is an unofficial Author Insights post.

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Author Insights

Titles Make Me Crazy

I don’t like coming up with titles, but not nearly as much I as I don’t like writing a synopsis; that’s a topic for another day. Titles are very important in many ways, but are also not import in many ways. As much as it seems to be the way to go these days, I just can’t make myself into one of those authors who comes up with the perfect title to either shock or entice an audience.

So many people have told me about the misconception they believe the title of my current book gives. Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel has been perceived as a dark horror story by so many that I often regret the title, though in retrospect, the title is very fitting to the actual story. I have nothing against horror, but so many people haven’t bothered to learn more about the book, simply because they think they know what it’s about already. They only reason a few people have moved beyond this is because of my tiny web presence on multiple social media channels.

I have received several emails from people who have read my bio, seen interviews, and read samples of my work who stated that they’d seen my book before and overlooked it, simply because they weren’t in the mood for horror at the time. To their surprise, while my book isn’t a light hearted fairy tale targeted at children, it’s also not a horror tale. The thing that worries me now, is that the people who’ve picked up my book expecting it to be horror, maybe disappointed, but at least they are getting a fair share of demons and nightmares.

It’s so hard to tell what it is people expect from a book these days. Several people have told me that they liked the premise of my book, but that they are avid YA readers. So, my book isn’t written as a YA novel, that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t like it…And on top of all this, I have to start thinking of titles for my next few releases. At least the companion guide for ECGA already had a title that I’m not about to change. It will be a free ebook anyway. I don’t know that the title will be much of an issue for it.

Then there is the collection of short stories I’m working on and my new romance. I have no idea what I’m going to call them. My mind is so twisted with the notation of coming up with new titles, I’ve even started to question the use of titled chapters in my book, but again, that’s a topic for another day.  It’s just too bad that ideas can’t serve as titles. A gray man meets a woman online who helps him discover his true purpose in the world, only to realize that he’s not of this world, doesn’t really make for an easily searchable title.

This is an unofficial Author Insights post.