Thursday, May 19, 2011

Marketing time

Spent much of the day marketing and promo on Kindle sites. Can't believe I'm actually starting to sell books. This Kindle thing is great! More marketing and promo tomorrow and then conventional work at night.

Must start tagging my stuff and figuring out exactly how it's done. This seems to be the way most writers are getting their books noticed. Once again, buy a copy of AFTER for just $1.79.

AFTER available on Kindle:

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

It's Done! My baby is born!

Well, after many long weeks and many refinements, AFTER is complete and available for sale at the Kindle bookstore for a mere $1.79. I've been approved with Smashwords and am just waiting for it to appear in their premium catalog. Then it will be available everywhere. Here is the pitch followed by the link to purchase. I've hardly started to market and I've already sold a few. Major marketing promo blitz starts June 1st.


On the day we’re born we’re all destined to die. But what lies after? For fifteen–year-old Nick Murray, death is only the beginning. His entire human life has been an illusion in preparation for the epic role his soul will play in the destiny of the universe.

Nick always believed he was an ordinary kid until an unusual cardiac arrest strikes him down. Leaving behind his mother and girlfriend, his soul enters the hereafter and finds it is nothing like the fire and brimstone he’d always imagined. Incoming entities are distributed to levels according to the good vs. evil they had done in their lives. There’s only one problem, Nick never had any real human experiences. Fostered to be a celestial super hero, he must prevent the devil from damning for eternity all who ever lived.

Swept up by dark adventure, Nick learns the devil has caused global war in the mortal world. The devil intends to collect billions of souls and then turn them into a massive zombie army to take over creation. Spirits intent on stopping the apocalypse insert Nick’s soul into the human body of a prominent, young army commander who lives in the future. Thrust into the center of a historic battle, he takes on almost limitless enemy forces using skills learned from this other person’s life; only to die a second time and come face to face with the ultimate adversary.


AFTER available on Kindle:

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Book is up and ready to sell... damn, I screwed up the description

I decided NOT to pay the $25 for my epub guy to put AFTER into the e-world. I did it myself. And it was pretty easy. I would recommend people try to do it themselves and only if they can't then hire someone to do it. Getting on smashwords is a little harder but I think I'll be able to figure it out. I'll let you know how it goes. That said, and being all proud of myself, I realized to my horror that I made a mistake in my description. I have my character being two ages. Fifteen and seventeen. I was easily able to fix the problem but now it will take another day or two until Amazon makes the changes. Good thing I hadn't done hardly any marketing since the book just went live yesterday. You can still purchase AFTER on Kindle right now, just don't laugh when you read the description.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Ebook finished... now what?

So I just got the "it's finished" email from my conversion guy. Now what? First of all, I'm having trouble downloading it and then I still have to figure out how to place it on all the sites. After much thought, I've decided not to place it on the sites... myself. For a mere $25 my guy will set up the book on all the sites (Kindle, Apple, etc.). I know it's copping out nto doing it myself, and I know Smashwords is easy to setup, but for $25, I can't resist just saying  "do it!" I'll let the conversion guy know my plans and then, I guess, it'll go live. I've still got June 1st as my big online promotion and announcement day. This means I'd better start marketing.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

First look at the finished ebook, AFTER

Got the first look at the ebook file for AFTER. Looks great. My ebook guy did an excellent job and is very quick to get back to me with answers to my questions. Again, I used ebookeditor.com. I'm assuming the conversion will be completed shortly and then I can get them on the Kindle and Apple ereader sites. I've scheduled the official release for June 1st. The new logline is:

Everybody dies eventually. But what happens after?

Friday, May 6, 2011

So much to do so little time

Work. Work. Work. That's all I seem to be doing these days. And not the good kind of creative work, but the work that pays the bills. I'm still waiting for AFTER to be editted into professional ebook form. While I wait I continue to work on my new YA novel, WASTED, which is nearly complete. With WASTED, I'm going to try to get an agent, which may be a mute point in publishing. I guess wanting representation is just a desire to fill my ego. There are blogs saying all agents will be gone in five years. Still, I'd like to get a professional publishing contract before I die. 

Monday, May 2, 2011

Work Sucks

Ain't that the truth. Work means no writing and no writing makes Neil a dull boy. Finally a day off, but of course it's beautiful outside so now I'm torn whether I should do some outdoor things, like mow the jungle that the lawn has become. I think I'll re-read a chapter of WASTED, my forthcoming gritty YA novel. I can't do anything with AFTER now that it's out of my hands. Oh by the way, the Paypal finally went through so we're getting the machine rolling.