Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Randomness by Default

What I always do when I don't have a topic....Randomness!

1. The free promotion on Finding Angel in Kindle format is over. There were more than 8,000 downloads! Here's hoping that a good chunk of those lead to sales of Seeking Unseen.

2. The new forever price of Finding Angel in Kindle format is $3.99! (Well, unless I do another freebie down the road...)

3. I have discovered that a watched pot never boils. Translated into writer speak, that saying means, an Amazon page checked every five minutes will never gain a review...

4. In three days I head off to the NECRONOMICON sci-fi/fantasy/horror/gaming convention! Take a moment to check out their site. Cllick here for this year's t-shirt design. Once you are there, click the little word "spoilers" in the lower left of the far left box. Trust me, it is worth it!!! And if you are at the Necro, please find me! I'll be selling books and speaking on six writing panels!

5. Next month I'll be going to the Sarasota Medieval Fair. Not as an author or anything, just with my homeschool group. But I'm excited! I keep visiting Etsy.com and searching for and drooling over the awesome Medieval dresses and wishing I had a spare $300 to chunk down on one.

6. Getting very excited as well about the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, coming out in November!

7. I was not always a James Bond fan. I found the earlier movies confusing until my husband finally explained to me that the opening scenes didn't have anything to do with the rest of movie--it was Bond's last mission. Once I learned to disregard the beginnings, I started liking Bond flicks. And the new ones don't do that anymore. Plus, let's face it. Daniel Craig. 'Nuff said.

8. Did you see who is playing the new Bond girl? For some reason I find this uber-exciting.


9. The audio book for Finding Angel is going to be out very soon. The narrator is finishing up tweaks, and will be uploading the final version, and then we will be LIVE!

10. Stopping here. Ten is a nice round number. So what should it be? How about the new trick I discovered to tell if a sentence is in passive voice...You add "by zombies" after the verb:

He catapulted the chair across the room. -- He catapulted by zombies the chair across the room. (Nope, not passive.)

He was catapulted across the room. -- He was catapulted by zombies across the room. (Ding, ding, ding!)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

I Swore I Wouldn't Check the Ranks, but...

Before you read my post today, check out my guest post for Magical Ink that was featured yesterday. My observations on judging other people's genres, and how God can be found in them all if you just take the time to look.

OK, now....

Finding Angel is still FREE on Kindle through tomorrow (October 14th). So far, it's hit #1 in two Amazon lists. Here's proof, btw:


After that screen shot was taken, it actually hit #39 in the "Free in Kindle Store" at one point. 

As one friend told me, "bad reviews follow free books like mud follows rain"...and I'm a little skeered, but I'm preparing myself. I figure it's like getting the first door ding in a new car. Hopefully the later ones won't hurt so bad :P.

There is, of course, one way to combat that, and it's for the readers who enjoyed Finding Angel to leave reviews, too! So here's hoping for more good than bad.

Or...maybe some just so bad I can use them for publicity....

Just kidding!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Cover Art Post: The Devil's Hit List by Frank Creed


The third installment of The Underground series by Frank Creed has just released. I've not actually read any of his books yet, but the things I've heard about them are really making me want to! The reason I'm featuring him here today is that this third book, The Devil's Hit List, is published by Splashdown Books, which is, of course, my publisher too.

Here's what Frank had to say about the cool cover:

What is the story behind your cover art?

The photo of downtown Chicago was actually taken by Grace Bridges from the old Sears Tower skydeck when she visited years ago. Its a northeastern view which happens to be the portion of city where much of Devils Hit List is set.


What was your experience like working with Splashdown on your cover art?

Well, Grace gave that picture to cover artist Krystine Kercher and she whipped this up for us, lickety-split. It was an absolute breeze. I love the crosshair and am thrilled with the end result.

Now, ya'll know I'm all about cover art. And I've gotten to contribute to a lot of covers from Splashdown. I've done drawings for a few, and I've been a part of the tweaking/perfecting process for several others. Grace has used my artistic eye many times, and it's tremendously fun. I didn't really do much for this one, other than give a yay or nay on some of the various positions they tried for the cross-hairs. So, the cover for this really goes entirely to Krystine and Grace, and they did an awesome job!

Learn more about Frank Creed at the following links during the rest of his blog tour:

Hang out with Frank:

Devil's Hit List Amazon link (kindle): http://tinyurl.com/92j7amx 
My publisher has other great Christian spec-fic: http://www.splashdownbooks.com/


Blog Tour Links:

R. L. Copple   http://blog.rlcopple.com
Ryan Grabow  http://www.egrabow.com/rm.php?e=Prime
Grace Bridges http://grace.splashdownbooks.com
Caprice Hokstad         http://caprice.splashdownbooks.com/
Diane M. Graham       http://dianemgraham.com/blog/
Travis Perry     http://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Rogers         http://jfrogers.blogspot.com/
Greg Mitchell  http://www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com/
Paul Baines     http://www.pabaines.com
Keven Newsome         http://www.kevennewsome.com
Robynn Tolbert           http://ranunculusturtle.blogspot.com/
Fred Warren    http://frederation.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

YA Fiction....and Angel Free on Kindle!

Two nearly unrelated links today:

My guest post about YA fiction--how to do it right, what to avoid, and some of my favorite authors--is up on Jeff Chapman's blog today. Go check it out and chime in!

I haven't announced this before today. But I put Finding Angel in the Kindle Select program.What that means is, all other ebook formats have been taken down from online retailers and the ebook is exclusively available through Amazon for the next few months. Why did I do this? Because....

They let me offer Finding Angel for FREE for FIVE DAYS in Kindle format!

So, from today through October 14th, you can download Finding Angel for free in Kindle format. If you miss the window, though, we're permanently dropping the price to $3.99 (from the original $6.99) after the promotion period.

Please, feel free to spread the word. And please, if you do read Finding Angel, leave a review. If you share the info with someone else, please ask them to do the same.

And don't forget--Seeking Unseen is the sequel. It is $6.99 in ebook format, but can you beat two ebooks for that price? :D

Saturday, October 6, 2012

All That Misc. Stuff

Another post of links and such.

First, I was interviewed on Lisa Godfrees' blog. We get a little theological as she asks me about how my faith bleeds into my writing.

Second, Keven Newsome kidnapped one of my posts about writing and publishing your second book. The Terror of the Second Tower Ride is my whacked-out Disney analogy.

Third, the first digest of Avenir Eclectia is out in print! (ebook coming soon)


If you don't know what Avenir Eclectia is, click here to check it out. It's an online magazine with microfiction stories by a multitude of authors (including ME). All the stories take place in the same sci-fi story world. There is some great stuff in here, trust me. And it's only $5.98!!