July 2, 2010

Got back from family reunion Sunday. We stayed the Elms Resort in Excelsior Springs, Missouri for three days and two nights. I highly recommend the place, as it is beautiful. They have a pool in the basement that is stellar-cool-bossanova and one outside that is full of boobs and sun. Also, we might have seen Stephen King there, but it could have been a very good look-a-like.

Anyways, I got something in the mail the day we were leaving: my proof copy of the next edition. Naturally I want to just tear it down and have another go at writing an author's note that I like, but it’s set in stone and I’m giving it the green light. The site’s look has been updated to match the new cover.

The old cover was a great idea that I still wish had worked out, but the new one just looks fantastic. Plus this way it’ll be easier to tell the early ones from the rest. Just so we are all clear, the new cover is a photo I took one foggy night at the graveyard a few blocks from my house. The wife used some fancy whizz-bang computer stuff to make it all work out and now it’s done.

We haven’t ordered a new batch yet, but we will soon. There is advertising on the horizon now, and we will be pushing the book's name, not to mention mine, into the public eye. Somewhere in all of this I need to get back to typing! Grrrrrr! I want to just write again, dammit!

I’ve worked on my signature as well. The new one is actually legible (a real plus) and I like the looks of it. So bonus for all of you with the old signature: your copies are more unique, which should mean dollar signs if I get famous. However, in exchange for all this great value, I would like to make a request.

Y’see, my book is going into the Ingram catalog, which means that it is on the radar of corporate chain stores. The problem is that I have to charge $15 to the chain stores to make anything at all. I want to move some numbers to get attention from agents, who can chew the price down and get me, and more importantly my fans, a better price. I want it to go for no more than $8, with me getting a dollar a copy. Then I want to sell a million copies a week.

This is where you come in. Each of you buys ten copies and have your friends do the same.

Okay, that won’t work, so here is plan B. Go into a store that sells books and ask them to order the Vampire of Meadow Lake. They will order a copy for you and normally, order a spare or two and stick them on a shelf. Notify me through a polite Email or a facebook message, telling me what city and which store location, and I’ll add it to the list of places that sell the book. Then tell your friends to go pick the new copy up.

We are trying to make a rebate coupon code that drops the price at store locations, but so far it’s not working. We make diddly squat on copies bought through Amazon, and even less on the ones bought at big chains. This is just to get the name out. If you want to buy it cheaper, and give me a fair share of the price, buy it direct from the website. You MUST (as in “have to,” and “can’t be done without”) use the FACEBOOK COUPON CODE from the Facebook fan page to get it for cheap ($10.)

We are interested in bulk sales to bookstores and anyone else that thinks they can sell ‘em, so contact me if you think you’d be interested in selling them at your brick-and-mortar store, college dorm room, blue van, etc. I’ll see what I can do. 

May 18, 2010

The mysterious Mrs. E. has finished the final edit of the novel, and we are now putting those revisions into the computer version. This couldn’t have come at less opportune time as the Little Wifey-poo just started a new job driving around collecting information for the census. This means she spends a lot of time doing paperwork for them, and doesn’t want to do more when she gets home. Some of the people round these parts don’t like the gov’ment poking round, so it can be stress full, but she’s been lucky thus far. On top of all that, her mom and dad have chosen this week as the time when everyone comes out early in the day to assist in readying their house for the market. So as I type this, I need to be getting ready for bed.

We have had a great reception with the book so far. I thought it was really cool being on the front page of the local paper a while back. My ego died a little when I found a more recent copy of that same publication. You know you live in a small town when the ENTIRE front page is dedicated to a particularly talented bird dog.

This hasn’t slowed the book down any. Sales are steady through our favored outlet, Books & More. Tammy has had us bringing her fresh copies on a regular basis. The quickest way to fill a pool is with more hoses, so we approached other places in Topeka and Lawrence. So far we have the Raven in Lawrence taking orders, and now The Break Room has jumped the band wagon. Max Ellis, who despite his best efforts is decent guy, vouched for the book and got us some shelf space at the shop, though as of the day of the All American Kansas Cruise, they hadn’t put them up for sale. The place is loaded with cool people and stuff to look at. For a price you can take most of it home with you, so drop by and boss Max around for me while you're there.

I’m trying to keep more active than I have in the last few months, and so far its working. I’ve been working a lot on the sequel(s) lately. I’m learning a few new songs on guitar, and might even torture you all with a recording if you don’t behave. We’ve been trying this thing we haven’t done since college where we hang out with friends on a regular basis, too. To top it all off, I’m renewing my efforts on the ’66 Riviera in the very near future.

For now we’re just stuck cruising the family’s newest acquisition, a ’63 Galaxie 500 dad fell in love with. It has a 390 engine, but is better characterized by what it doesn’t have: horsepower, seatbelts, decent brakes or stereo. It’s only a lane and a half wide and nearly a block long., To put it simply, the thing is a blast!

I’m having trouble getting everything together for book 2, but 3 is falling into place more and more easily as time goes by. This thing might end up being just a trilogy, though, as there is little to build on after book 3 as of yet. We’ll set what happens, so enjoy what I have for now. I’ll say that I have been listening to even more 50’s Rock N Roll, as well as oooold country ballads, and it’s weaseling it’s way into my writing.

So there you have it: I have wasted another ten minutes of your life and all you have to show for is some random tidbits about the great and wonderful me. Have a good one, and hope I get something done amidst all this chaos called late spring. Peace-out and God bless!

Oh, almost forgot: I have posted some pictures that I took last night of the cemetery a few blocks from my house, on the Facebook fan page. Please feel free to check that all out.

April? Definitely 2010, at least!

Work on the sequel continues, though writer's block is a pain in the neck.

This was a full week. We did a bunch of stuff, most of it important, but little of it memorable. We hung out with friends a few times, cleaned, and rued the Kansas weather. I hate spring. All it is to me is muddy paws and allergies, and a miserable wife. Love the storms, though!

But there is a silver lining around the crappy spring cloud: my writers block I gone. I’ve been working out a couple songs on guitar, scripting a video game, a collector card game, my short story compilation, and of course the all-important second book. I have a fresh direction for the story, a new idea for an ending, and a host of stuff in store. Now I just have to write it. Wish me luck.

The first book is being edited by my dad’s secretary, Edna, who apparently likes it so far (last I heard) and as soon as it comes back, I’m going to apply the edits to the version for sale. This will effectively end the first edition. No more. So if you have an early copy, hold onto it: the typos will soon be a thing of the past. If you have one of the original ones with the dull cover, guard it with your life: there are only 27 of 'em in existence. And if you have one that isn’t signed, all the better: only 3 were sold online and I signed all the rest.

As soon as the second edition is up for sale, we will be doing two things: sending it off to as many agents as possible (suggestions welcome!!!!) and I am going to start drafting an audio play version. As of this time, I am not sure how I want to do the audio version. I can go one of two routes: a straight-up traditional reading by one guy who does the voices for the entire thing, or the path less traveled. Y’see, when my brother and I borrow dad's surprisingly powerful Cobalt SS we could care less about the 270 ponies under the right petal: it has satellite radio and that means we can listen to the old radio dramas. I think I’d be fun to do that, complete with narrator, full cast, sound effects and sound track.

There are a bunch of hurdles, not the least of which being budget. I am a firm believer that audio recordings are to be shared as often as sold, so I intend for it to be offered to the public free (like the radio or library.) But how are you to get a full cast of talented people to work for free? I haven’t the foggiest, but I will find a way. I’m going to offer the whole thing up for free listening on the web site (you’ll have to create an account to book mark the file) The Wonderful and Talented Sarah Petty has offered me time at the studio of RadioRichandFriends.com on Saturday afternoons to record it, and she’ll even man the equipment. All I have to do is everything else. Unfortunately, she lost the registry key to her software from college and even covering one eye with a patch isn’t helping her find it.

At any rate, all I can do is take things one wonderful step at a time and enjoy the trip. Who wants to be the guy with a boring story about an easy victory? Good stories are ones that don’t go as expected. I don’t expect to hear back from an agent anytime soon. Hopefully this turns out to be a good story!