A shout out to locals that I will be at the Northwest Book Festival this Saturday July 26 with special deals on my paperback versions of the Alysian Universe Series. Come by Pioneer Square in Portland, Oregon from 11:00 to 5:00 p.m. I’d love to see you at booth #14.
There will be candy.
And loads of great reads.
Also…(da dum)
On August 9 from 1:00 p.m. To 4:00 p.m. at Jan’s Paperbacks on TV Highway in Aloha, OR, I’ll be signing books and chatting with everyone. Meet me there.
As you can see, summer weather stirs the body and our recent gorgeous weather means I just have to get out and about to enjoy the company of others. (sorry Jo Walton)
Lately, I have been experimenting with several of Amazon’s marketing programs to see which is more effective.
In May, I enrolled in KDP Select and made Caught in Time available for free for five days after Mother’s Day.
As I reported, 4,500 downloads all over the world resulted. And then, my other books in the series took off.
Readers appear to read the first and then continue on with the series.
I was so excited with the program that I couldn’t see how the Amazon Countdown could be any better.
But I was willing to experiment.
I started the Countdown Deal on July 5th, and extended it through the 12th. Once again, I enrolled Caught in Time since it deals with the earliest events.
The surprise is, that now near the end of the July, the net revenue of both programs is within a dollar of each other.
The only difference is that I still have a large number of books sitting on to-read shelves from the free downloads, and once read, hopefully readers will want to continue on with other exciting stories in the series. I’m curious to find out how the long tail plays out.
Because I write time travel, Cosmic Entanglement can also be read as a first book. Therefore, I decided to offer it this August 16-23 under the Amazon Countdown Program. It will start at $.99 and every two days increase in one dollar increments for seven days.
This one is a nice summer read roundup.
After reviewing Sharon Shinn’s Angel series, I discovered she has started another series.
And there was a book in the Twelve Houses Series I hadn’t read, actually a companion piece put out after the series wrapped up.
So….I couldn’t resist.
Fortune and Fate proved very satisfying.
The story centers on Wen who is one of the fifty elite riders sworn to protect King Baryn, only she is fighting at his side when he gets mortally wounded from a rebel attack on the palace. On top of that emotional blow, her lover marries another and Wen runs away and changes her identity, roaming the land, trying to save others as atonement for not saving her king.
Unexpectedly, she saves from abduction and rape, young serramar Karryn, noble lady to one of the rebel houses. With her father dead, her uncle Jasper Pallamar looks after Karryn and her scatty mother. Upon returning the young lady to House Fortunalt, Wen notices how poor security is, and comments to Jasper. The uncle is more intelligent nerd than brawny soldier and convinces Wen to stay for a short period of time to organize a home security guard. Her subsequent experiences at House Fortunalt are touching and exciting, and worth a read.
The new series, Elemental Blessings, starts with Troubled Waters as book 1 and continues with the second book Royal Airs. I started with Royal Airs first because of availability, and may pick up Troubled Waters now.
I enjoyed the light romance between the mysterious professional gambler Rafe Ardova and Princess Josetta. Shinn deploys a new and interesting magic system based on the elements: air, fire, earth, water, plus wood. Each element pairs up with human attributes. However, when blessings are drawn for Rafe, they are either extraordinary blessings or blanks. Then he is told that his parents are from another country. Several mysteries develop over Josetta’s position in the royal ascension and Rafe’s true origins.
A light and enjoyable fantasy read.
Summer is flying by. Enjoy every juicy bit of it and I hope to see you out and about.
ScifiBook Review 