• Bookmarks, bookmarks, bookmarks …

    6 Comments

    I’ve finally gotten my bookmarks made for Tangled Threads, Elemental Assassin #4, which will be out on April 26 (five months and counting down). Huzzah!

    As always, these are nice, thick, 2-by-8-inch bookmarks. To get the bookmarks, I ask that folks send me a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with two U.S. first-class stamps on it — 88 cents’ worth of postage in other words. Also, make sure your SASE is big enough to hold the bookmarks. If you’re overseas, you need to send me a SASE with $2 in U.S. postage on it. I also have bookmarks left for Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, and Venom, which you also get with your SASE.

    However, if your envelope does not have enough U.S. postage on it or is not big enough to hold the bookmarks, I will not send your SASE or any bookmarks back to you. I know this is a little harsh, but I’m getting so many requests these days that I simply can’t afford to make up the difference in postage anymore. (Believe me, I spend enough on postage every year already.)

    Anyway, to get the address to send your SASE to, send me an e-mail.

    Also, in other news, Tangled Threads is now up for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. So go forth and pre-order, if you wish. 😉

  • Tangleds Threads revealed …

    8 Comments

    Here is (more or less) the final cover for Tangled Threads, the fourth book in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series which will come out on April 26, 2011.

    Once again, big kudos go out to Tony Mauro, who created the cover art. So far, Tony has done all the covers for the books in the series, and I think they just keep getting better and better. Every time I think that he can’t possibly top the last cover, he comes up with a way to do it. Thanks, Tony! 😉

    In other news, the book is up for pre-order at Amazon. It doesn’t look like it’s up at Barnes & Noble yet, but hopefully, it will be up there before too much longer. (And no, I have no control over when either Amazon or B&N puts my books up for pre-order.)

    Those of you who read Venom have already seen this, since it was in the back of the book, but you can read the first chapter of Tangled Threads on the website here.

    Now that I have the final cover art, I can get some bookmarks made. I’ll post here on the blog when I have those and how readers can get them.

    I also plan to write another free short story or two to tie in with Tangled Threads. It will probably be a while before I get to these, though. I’ve got back-to-back deadlines through the end of the year already. I’m thinking at least one of the stories will be from Jo-Jo’s point of view, but we’ll see where my muse takes me.

    For now, I’m just going to sit back and admire my shiny new cover.

  • E-book, paper book, anyone got a book …

    12 Comments

    One thing that kind of surprised me with the recent release of Venom is that a few people e-mailed me and asked me which format that I wanted them to buy of the book. This is the first time this has ever happened — that people asked me which format to buy.

    My answer? I really don’t care.

    Why have people asked me this? Well, most folks have said that they like to support authors and want to buy the format that gives me the biggest royalty. I make a little more on e-books than I do on the paper copies — about 95 cents versus 64 cents per copy sold. I certainly appreciate the sentiment — really, I do — but I don’t care if you buy an e-book, a paper copy, an audio book, or get it for free from the library. (And yes, I get royalties on library sales).

    You’re the reader. It’s your hard-earned money that you’re shelling out, so buy the format that you want. I’m just happy that folks even read my books in the first place. Everything else is just gravy on top of that. LOL.

    Several folks have also asked me about my stance on e-readers. I’m all for ’em. I’m for anything that encourages people to read, and I think e-readers do that to some extent. You never have to worry about a book being sold out if you have an e-reader, and you can start reading immediately. I can see the appeal of that. Plus, if you spend $150 on an e-reader, one would think that you would want to get your money’s worth and use it quite a bit. In other words, read, read, read.

    Now, I don’t have an e-reader myself. I’m on the computer so much that I want a paper book to curl up with when I’m reading. But I may get an e-reader someday, especially if the prices ever drop below $100.

    So you guys make the decision about which format of my books you want to buy. It’s your money, and your choice. Hopefully, you’ll think that it was money and time well-spent in the end.