Writing with a mission.

Category: ebook Publishing (Page 1 of 2)

New YA series released by author C.L. Wells!

The new YA novel by C.L. Wells, Dylan & Faedra – The Super-Not Chronicles, is now available for pre-order!

Plot summary:   What if you lived in a world where 99% of the population had superpowers – but you didn’t? Dylan and his best friend Faedra are two super-nots trying to navigate high school where almost everyone but them has superpowers.  A lie, a kidnapping, a run-in with a bully, and Dylan’s realization that he is starting to have more-than-friends feelings for Faedra makes for an exciting adventure!  Pre-order book #1 in this exciting new series now!

For links to retailers where you can pre-order this book, including Amazon, Smashwords, iBooks, & Barnes and Noble, click here!

 

New short story from C.L. Wells – Domestic Bliss

Sariah Delphi is excited to be bringing home the latest domestic humanoid robot for a test run. A robot that she helped develop, it is the most advanced of its kind. She should be blissfully happy, but her ex-boyfriend-turned-stalker, Jerry, is putting a damper on her mood. As Sariah puts her new domestic robot through its paces, Jerry becomes increasingly bold in his attempts to get Sariah to take him back. But as things get heated between Jerry and Sariah, Sariah’s new robot turns out to be a surprising ally in helping to keep Jerry in line.

Offering a futuristic and intriguing look at domestic violence, I hope you will enjoy this suspense-filled story with an entertaining twist.  Download it for FREE here.

The Testament Stone – just published!

I’m excited to announce that I just published a new paranormal mystery entitled The Testament Stone: A Megyn Keith Paranormal Mystery!

When her best friend is murdered by a deranged killer, Megyn Keith unexpectedly inherits an ancient pendant with strange powers.  She is led on a journey of discovery as the powers of the pendant begin to manifest and reveal clues about who the murderer is and why they committed the crime.  As Megyn gets closer and closer to the truth, she unknowingly becomes the killer’s next target.  Out of her element and running out of time, she must discover who the real killer is and avenge her best friend’s death before she becomes the next victim.

This first book in the Megyn Keith Paranormal Mystery series is fast-paced, filled with memorable characters, and contains plenty of plot twists to keep you guessing until the very end.

You can pick up a copy HERE. Enjoy!

 

Help me select my next book cover

I’m looking for some feedback on the cover for my upcoming novella The Testament Stone. Please let me know which cover you like best and why.

Plot: A young woman inherits a pendant with strange powers when a friend is murdered and she sets out to help find the real killer, unknowingly becoming the killer’s next target.

Thanks!

The Book Cover Argument

It’s been a while since my last post, so I thought I would post a quick update regarding my own writing before I get into the main topic.  I’m currently busy writing a new paranormal murder-mystery entitled The Testament Stone, which should be ready to publish in about a month.  If you want to be notified when it comes out and get one of my books for free, simply sign up on my reader’s list here.  On the marketing front, I’ve recently joined Nick Stephenson’s dream team network, where authors can network with each other and run joint promotions.  I believe it is currently open exclusively to members of the first 10,000 readers program (another great Nick Stephenson program), which you can find out more about here if you are so inclined.

Now, on to the book cover argument!

One of the often overlooked arguments in favor of publishing your own work instead of going with a traditional publisher concerns book cover art.  In a traditional publishing arrangement, the standard contract stipulates that the publisher, NOT the author, has final control over what the cover looks like.  It would be a mistake to believe that the publisher’s main goal in selecting a cover for your work is to create a cover that best represents the spirit and content of your work, be it a novel, novella, or picture book.  I think it is safe to say that, in most cases, the goal of the publisher in selecting a cover for any book they publish, is to MAXIMIZE SALES.

Now, as a writer, you may be thinking – GREAT!  I want to maximize sales too, let them have at it!  But what happens when the cover design they select is something you consider to be a mis-representation of your work, or worse, a total betrayal of the spirit of your work?  I came across an example of this recently in an article published in Poets & Writers magazine by author Steve Almond.  In the article, he cites an experience he had recently concerning how his publisher handled his cover ideas for his recent book Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto (Melville House, 2014).  Steven had campaigned for a violent and combative image, but his publisher disagreed:

“My logic was that a dangerous book should have a dangerous cover.

The publisher disagreed. He expressed concerns that a violent image would turn off female readers and might prevent the book from being stocked in larger venues, such as Costco. A draft of the proposed cover he sent along some weeks later consisted of the title atop a stock photo of a shiny red football helmet sitting upside down.

In the end, our views of how the cover should function were entirely incompatible. Even worse, the process of trying to negotiate these differences eroded all sense of good faith.”

For good or bad, the first thing most people notice about your book is your cover.  Many people (including myself) often make a visceral decision over whether to investigate a book’s content further because of how they perceive and judge the cover art.   Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, your work is a work of art – that’s certainly how I see my own work.  The cover is also a work of art.  I personally want 100% creative control over the cover art of my books, and as an indie publisher of my own work, I do.

I’d love to hear what you think about this topic in the comment section below.

Grammarly – a great editing tool

I have been busy since my last post. I have released two new books, attended YALLfest in Charleston, SC, survived a cold I caught from my seven-year-old which caused me to miss my own book release party, and survived the birthday party for said seven-year-old (who is now 8!).

Like most people with a blog, I sometimes struggle with what to post. I need to post something in order to keep and grow readership (or so everyone tells me). However, I have so much else going on in my life; I don’t often think about what my next blog post should be about. In lieu of just putting something out here to fill up space, I have decided to give a plug to a writing tool that I have begun to use recently called Grammarly.

My wife first put me on to this handy little tool when she purchased it for use in editing papers for college. One version of it can be used online for free, and the premium paid version can be downloaded and installed as a plugin for MS Word and Outlook email (and possibly other apps – check the website for a complete list). I have begun using it to correct grammar mistakes in my manuscripts, and I have to say I am impressed. It catches far more than the MS Word grammar and spell-checker does, and it gives contextual notes for every suggested correction if desired.

Not 100% of the suggestions the program makes are worth taking, but the vast majority of them are, and it has helped improve my writing. I’m sure my editor will be thankful I have begun using this little jewel when I send her my next manuscript. The program also checks for plagiarism in an extensive online database (I haven’t seen this part in action, though). This tool saved me from three comma placement errors in this post alone. At $139 a year for the paid version, it is a bit pricey, but if you are a full-time student or seeking to be a professional writer, it is definitely a tool you may wish to consider. You can always use the free version if the price isn’t right for you.

Free-eBooks.net – a good place to post your permafree book.

Many indie authors know that having a permanently free book (a.k.a permafree) available for readers to download is a great tool to use when building your mailing list and garnering new readers for your books – especially if it is the first in a book series.  But for many new authors, the problem is knowing how to go about making people aware of the fact that your free book is available at all.  No matter how good your work is, if people don’t know about it, they won’t read it.

Alas, I am a relatively new author, having just released my second fiction book – The Tucson Prophecy.  This book is now permafree and is the prequel novella to my full-length paranormal thriller novel The Seer (The Seer is now available for pre-order through a variety of retailers and being released for sale on November 11, 2016).  When I released my book, I had ZERO people on my mailing list, and a pitifully small following on my Amazon author page, Goodreads author page, and blog (read less than about fifteen followers all-told).  So my big challenge was (and is) HOW do I make people aware of my permafree book so they will give me a chance as an author and possibly buy my book The Seer when it comes out.

Enter Free-eBooks.net.  Now, as a matter of full disclosure, I have already listed The Tucson Prophecy for free on a number of retailers, even getting up as high as #13 in the top 100 free books on Amazon.com for my category (yeah!).  I have also reached out on social media and even handed out fliers to people on the street advertising The Tucson Prophecy.  All this activity had netted me a total of  eight sign-ups on my email list as of yesterday.  In keeping with the great indie tradition of never resting on my laurels, I next set my sites on putting my book on the free ebook list sites.  Through my research, Free-eBooks.net came up and I decided to give it a go.

I uploaded my permafree ebook 23 hours ago, and already I have 4 downloads from Free_eBooks.net and someone else just signed up on my email list.  Not bad, in my opinion.  Now, I have no way of knowing if the recent email list sign-up was from my listing at Free-eBooks.net, but it encouraged me to keep plugging away at making more and more people aware of my free book via the free ebook list sites.  So here’s to all of you indies out there.  Keep writing great books, and give Free-eBooks.net a try!

Happy writing,

C.L. Wells

Tucson Prophecy Book Launch Day!

Attention all thriller fiction fans!

Today is launch day for my new book entitled The Tucson Prophecy: a prequel to the Paranormal Gift series.  As part of a special promotion, you can get the eBook version of this novella for FREE!  Here’s the book description:

The Tucson Prophecy book cover

Jimmy O’Conner, an enforcer for the Chicago mob, is in a race against time.  A visit from a supernatural being, a cryptic prophecy, a psychotic killer, and a little girl named Angel have turned Jimmy’s trip to see his dying sister Sarah upside down.  Can Jimmy save the little girl from the killer’s clutches and possibly help save Sarah’s life?  Who is sending him these cryptic messages to enlist his help?  Can this mysterious person really help save his dying sister?  Jimmy’s not sure exactly what’s going on, but he is certain of one thing; he would do anything to help save his sister’s life – anything.

As an ADDED BONUS, I have included a link in the front of the book where, for a LIMITED TIME, you can download book #1 in the Paranormal Gift series, The Seer, ALSO FOR FREE!

The Seer book cover

That’s 2 great thrillers for the price of… well, for FREE – only for a limited time.

Here are the links to several popular retailers where you can download The Tucson Prophecy prequel, find the link for your free copy of The Seer (Book #1), and start this thrilling series:

amazon-icon

publishing-logo-ibookssmashworks-logo publishing-logo-pi publishing-logo-pf publishing-logo-kobo

 

 

Enjoy!

C.L. Wells – author

Interview with author Andrew Linke

Staff of Moses by Andrew Linke

Staff of Moses by Andrew Linke

Author:  Andrew Linke

Genres: pulp adventure and science fiction

Andrew has played at writing stories and comics since childhood.  He started writing seriously in 2011. Since then he has published several novels, including a number in the Oliver Lucas series, available on Amazon.com and other retailers.  Andrew currently works as a middle-school English teacher in Virginia.  The following is an interview I had recently with him:

Q:  Can you tell my readers about what genre you write in and why you chose it?

A:  I primarily write pulp adventure and science fiction.  I chose pulp adventure because I love films like Indiana Jones and books like Neuromancer: Gritty adventures with heroes who are not great role models, but always end up doing the right thing.

Q:  Can you tell us the title of your most recently published work, and a bit about the storyline?

A:  Over the summer I finished two books: Words of Power is the fifth novel in the Oliver Lucas adventure series. Directly following the events in the previous novel, Words of Power follows Oliver as he tries to finally assemble the mystical machine which he has been seeking for over ten years. Wrapping up plot threads from the previous four novels, it is not the end of the Oliver Lucas series, but a close to the first “season” of the series before I launch the next season of Oliver Lucas books in a year or two.

Q:  Are you working on any new project at the moment, and if so, can you tell us about it?

A:  I’ve always got several projects running at once. With Words of Power and Dyson’s Angel wrapping up I’m currently focusing on a couple of short story projects while I finish my outline for a crime novel called A Cold Day to Drown.   A Cold Day to Drown will be set in an east coast city about 50-100 years in the future. The main character, Talbot Liu, is a private detective who turned to working the underground after repeated anxiety attacks disqualified him for work as a Field Agent with the federal government. The genre will be something between cyberpunk, a genre which is difficult to write now that many of its core features have either been surpassed or proven impractical by modern technology, so you might call A Cold Day to Drown a post-cyberpunk crime thriller.

Q:  How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?

A:  I write about two to four pages a day in the evening and on weekends, between working on lesson plans and grading papers for my full time job as a teacher. At that pace, I finish the first draft of a novel in about six months, then take another three to six months to revise it. Overall, I tend to write about one and a half books a year, plus a few short stories and role playing game supplements.

Q:  What are some goals you would like to accomplish as a writer in the next five years?

A:  My biggest goal in the next few years is to make enough money from my writing to join the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. I’m close… but not quite there. I’ve also started submitting my science fiction novels to publishing houses and, while it would be nice to make a living as an independent writer, I would be thrilled to have my novels picked up under a traditional publishing contract.


If you would like to connect with Andrew and/or learn more about his writing, check out these social media and contact links:

Website: www.andrewlinke.com

Facebook: facebook.com/booksbylinke

Twitter: @darkillumine

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Linke/e/B009YN1WGA

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/andrewlinke

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6454208.Andrew_Linke

email address/contact form link: readers@andrewlinke.com

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