On Writing

  • ·

    To Amazon or not to Amazon …

    20 Comments

    As y’all know, I’ve been writing short stories to go along with my Elemental Assassin series. I plan to write at least one short story to go with Tangled Threads, probably from Jo-Jo Deveraux’s point of view.

    I’ve been offering the stories for free here on the Excerpts page my website, but for Tangled Threads (as well as for my new Mythos Academy young adult series), I’m also thinking about offering the short story as a 99-cent download on Amazon. (I believe 99 cents is as low a price as you can set on Amazon.)

    Why the change? Well, I think putting the story on Amazon would attract some new readers to my books. I know when I’m interested in a book, I tend to look at the links to similar books and click on those. Plus, a lot more folks visit Amazon than look at my website, and I think it would be a relatively easy way to market my books. And I’ll be honest, it might be a little bit of money in my pocket.

    I know that not everyone has an e-reader and that not everyone who has an e-reader has a Kindle, so I’d probably post the short story for free here on the website like normal. I’m still thinking about that or if I want to go whole hog and make the story available in a variety of e-formats. Really, it would just depend on the cost.

    I know some authors have had enormous success marketing their books through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers. But I’ve also seen blogs by other writers who’ve only sold a few copies and haven’t even recouped the cost of putting the books online in the first place. I guess I’m considering posting a short story as sort of a test run. I’ve got a couple of books that I’ve written that just aren’t right for traditional publishers for whatever reason. I figure they should do more than just collect dust in my computer. LOL.

    What do you guys think? Do you download cheap reads on Amazon? Would you download an Elemental Assassin or a Mythos Academy short story? Share in the comments.

  • ·

    Updates, updates, updates …

    It’s been a while since I’ve done an update post, so here goes:

    ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN SERIES

    I’ve written both Tangled Threads and book #5. The only thing I have left to do on Tangled Threads is okay the page proofs, and then my part on that one will be done (except of course for the massive blog tour). Huzzah!

    I’ve turned in the revisions for book #5, so up next will be the copy edits and page proofs (hopefully after the holiday madness is over with). My editor, agent, and I are still thinking about titles for book #5, but I think we’ll have that nailed down soon. Fingers crossed anyway.

    I’m planning to write at least one short story to go along with Tangled Threads, but it will be well after the first of the year before I get around to doing that. I think the story will be from Jo-Jo’s point of view, though. I’m also thinking of making the story available here on the website for free and possibly on Kindle as a 99-cent download. We’ll see what I have the time/energy for. LOL.

    MYTHOS ACADEMY YA SERIES

    I’ve turned in the revisions for Touch of Frost (book #1), and I’ve also turned in the manuscript for Kiss of Frost (book #2). Up next is writing book #3. I’m also hoping to get some cover art for Touch of Frost to share soon.

    I’ll also be posting a FAQ, character profiles, and more info about the series here on the blog (like I’ve done for the Elemental Assassin series) probably in the next few weeks, so be on the lookout for that.

    OTHER PROJECTS

    I’m also mulling over writing a new series. Not sure yet if it will be urban fantasy, paranormal romance, or another YA series. I have an idea in mind, but it could go either way. We’ll see how it turns out.

    Also, I’m hoping to finally do something with the fourth Bigtime novel, Nightingale, next year — maybe seeing if I can get it published as an e-book. It just depends on my schedule. I’ve already got enough book work to keep me busy for the year, so I’ll have to fit it in when I can. No promises.

    Anyway, that’s what I’m up to right now. Whew! It’s going to be a busy year ahead. Hopefully, y’all will enjoy the books, and all the hard work will pay off. Fingers crossed anyway. 😉

  • ·

    Sold, baby!

    18 Comments

    Some of you have seen this mentioned in the various guest blogs and interviews that I did for Venom, but I wanted to wait until after the blog tour was over to make the official announcement. I’ve got some excellent news to report — I’ve sold a young adult urban fantasy series! Huzzah!

    It’s going to be called the Mythos Academy series, and the first book is titled Touch of Frost. Here’s what it’s about:

    Gwen Frost is a 17-year-old Gypsy girl with the gift of psy­chom­e­try — or the abil­ity to know an object’s his­tory just by touch­ing it. Gwen can see everyone who’s ever touched an object — and she can feel their emotions too, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Gwen uses her magic to track down objects that other kids have lost like cell phones, wallets, and purses — for a price.

    After a serious freakout with her magic and her mom’s death, Gwen gets shipped off to Mythos Acad­emy, a school for the rich, privileged descen­dants of ancient war­riors like Spar­tans, Ama­zons, Valkyries, and more. Gwen doesn’t know one end of the sword from the other, and she doesn’t fit in with the other kids. But when Jasmine Ashton, the most popular girl in school is mur­dered, and Gwen herself is attacked, Gwen decides to use her Gypsy gift to figure out who killed the other girl and why — and finds herself learning some secrets that just might kill her …

    Basically, the book is kind of like Veron­ica Mars meets the movie 300. I’ve always loved mythology, and I thought it would be fun to write a YA book with that sort of backdrop. Since the books are for young adults, they aren’t quite as dark and gritty as my Elemental Assassin series, but I would say that the Mythos Academy books are for older teens. There is some drinking, violence, and sex in the books.

    If you like my Elemental Assassin books, you might like the Mythos Academy books too. The voice is very similar, and both series feature the same things — a strong, sassy heroine, cool magic/world building, and a seriously nasty bad guy. Gwen’s love interest — a Spartan warrior named Logan Quinn — is just a little dreamier than Gin’s love interest is. LOL.

    The deal is for three books, which will be published by Kensington. Touch of Frost, the first book, will be out in August 2011, while the second book, Kiss of Frost, will be out in December 2011.

    So in 2011, I’ll have four books out — Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin #4) in May; Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy #1) in August; book 5 (Elemental Assassin series) in October; and Kiss of Frost (Mythos Academy #2) in December. It’s going to be a busy year. 😉

    The  third book in the Mythos Academy series is untitled at this point. It should be out sometime in 2012, but of course, that could change. Ideally, I’d like to write at least four or five books in the series, but that will depend on sales, like everything else does.

    Anyway, I’ll let you know when I get more details. And of course, I’ll be posting the covers, a FAQ, character info, and more here on the website as they become available and I find time to write them.

    In the meantime, I’m doing the happy dance! 😉