The Great Unknown

This is a scary time for me. I just released a new book and it's too early to tell how the public at large is receiving it. I have a basic outline for the next novel, but I'm not going to start writing -- not yet.

Since I've been reflecting on where to go next with my writing, I've realized that I need more published stories. I need to expand my readership and I think it's going to take a departure from Dystopia to do that. And yes, this means I'll need to work on multiple writing projects at a time, including the next book in the All for Owen series.

So here are some ideas I've been playing with. Let me know which you would be interested in reading about.

1. A modern-day story about the recession in 2008. An unemployed graphic designer and a billionaire meet  by chance and decide to start a business just for fun. it isn't about making money, its about blowing money. I have some fun ideas for this, but I don't want to say too much, because it would ruin the story before it's even written.

2. A pre-depression era story about a young engineer who is working with a famous inventor in Paris. When the inventor dies, the young engineer is forced to move back to the U.S. to find a lowly job at a newspaper. He learns to manipulate the small town by throwing in some of his own news stories here and there. Again, I don't want to say too much.

3. I've also been playing around with the idea of writing a comedy about a group of ghost hunters who are forced to make up ghost encounters in order to get finding to continue their paranormal investigations. But I will need to work on being funny, so this project scares me a little. 

What do you think?

Reviews

Reviews on Amazon.com are a huge commodity in the world of publishing. Reviews are the difference between a perspective reader buying one book or moving on to another. Many readers make a decision to buy a book in a split second and those decisions are heavily based on the reviews - both the quality and quantity of reviews make a big impression.

There are two major indicators of a book doing well.

First, when a reader is looking around Amazon for a new book, one of the first things they will do is look at how many stars the book has.

Secondly and more importantly, a browsing reader will look at how many reviews the book has. This is the most important indicator of a good book because, let's face it, every book in existence has a bad reviews. I'll bet Harry Potter has it's fair share of terrible reviews. But the fact that so many people have read it and taken the time to review it, means that the book is worth reading.The controversy of reviews is actually a good thing. If the book was terrible, you wouldn't see very many reviews.

(I looked into my claims about Harry Potter and it turns out that I was right. Here is a scathing review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

So far, All for Owen has 3 reviews on Amazon.com. They are great reviews, but I need more. (I'm greedy like that.)

If you haven't reviews All for Owen yet, read it and review it. Give me your honest to goodness opinion.

What did you like about the story?
What did you hate?
What is it missing?
What do you want to see in the next book?
What characters did you like?
What characters did you hate?

There are all good topics to base a review on.

Free Day

As promised, All for Owen is available FREE to download on Amazon.com

Tomorrow, it will cost $1.99 -- still a great deal, but why not get it for free?

For you print lovers, you can purchase the paperback for $9.99

Tell your mom! Tell your neighbor! Tell that Facebook friend that you've never actually met!

It's Alive!

Self-publishing makes it difficult have have a precise release date. Amazon has a lot of bells and whistles that take time to get working. I compensate for this, by publishing sooner and hopefully, by the release date, I'll have everything squared away.

For those of you who follow my blog, and want to be the first to read All for Owen, I have a little secret... It's live.

Be the first to read and review it, and I'll love you forever. 

You can download the ebook here
Or, get your hands on the paperback here
 

Goodreads

Publication time is approaching. Don't believe me? Here is proof:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18662597-all-for-owen?from_search=true

This is the link to the All for Owen profile in Goodreads. I highly suggest adding it to your list of books to read in Goodreads.

I will post the link to the Amazon.com page as soon as I get it.

Surprise!

There's only a week left until All for Owen is released into the world. I can't wait to move on to the next project, not because All for Owen wasn't fun to write -- it was -- but because I just need the mental stimulation of thinking about a new story.

I had mentioned a surprise regarding the release date, so here it goes.

Yes, the official release date is October 16th, but I want to give my friends, family, and die-hard fans a little incentive for being awesome.

The All for Owen ebook version will be absolutely free to download on Tuesday, October 15th, under one condition:

Read it and review it on AMAZON.COM

Your reviews do so much to help me sell books, so this is a good "scratch your back if you scratch mine" moment.

Busy

This has been an incredibly busy week. And not just because of all the insane editing I've been doing. It's been one crazy day after the next.

All for Owen is still on track to be published on October 16th.

I think I'll go take a nap.