Book Announcement :P

Yes, I do realize that this page is somewhat lacking in the fanfare that I should have, but I'm not really sure how else I'm supposed to attract reviewers and bloggers willing to host guest post spots for my new book, Panoptemitry that I can link to on my official release page.

This would be the longest piece I've ever written at just under 62,000 words. If you like bizarre sci-fi spacey fantasy, this might just interest you. If you review books and think you might like to review this, drop me a line and we'll see about getting you a copy. (You don't need a fancy review page, Amazon lets anyone review.)

I wrote this book because the great people at http://www.iwritereadrate.com offered to pay for me to get an MSS-editing report from Cornerstones Literary Consultancy for my first draft. (I'd be happy to get your review on their page too :) they just require that you actually buy the book from them first)

If you're still undecided the first 2.5 chapters are free wherever it's sold and on its Goodreads page.

I'm pretty sure you can get to it all from the official release page, but if you've any questions, just leave a note here or contact me through one of my social networks.
My work here is done~
Enjoy!
-Sarah Baethge

Big Book Blog Tour - The Speed of Darkness

The Speed of Darkness was the title of a short novel I wrote a couple of years ago. I just have fun with how I can make things happen in this story and on a whim worked out some notes that could let me expand it into a 5-6 book series. At the moment I have a very early draft of what would make sense as the prequel to what I have already written. (I've taken down the original with plans to fix what others have complained about it along with just about doubling the its story to serve as my third book.)

I mainly took it down so I could fix one line I wrote about my character Bart Meyers who will play a major part in the second book. But we can worry about that later- here I'm talking about book one:

Go check out the fun work of the blogger who added me to this chain:

Sherri Rabinowitz - http://rithebard.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/special-blog-book-tour-edition/

1) What is the working title of your book?

'The Illumination Query'

2) Where did the idea come from for your book?

When I wrote 'The Speed of Darkness' a couple of years ago, I wrote one scene where my fun mad scientist character (who I'm told acts a good deal like me) told a bit about what happened to him in the past, and I couldn't stop just expanding the story in my mind. Eventually I decided that I needed to work that story into a book as well.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Would you call a book with lab testing on were-wolves fantasy or sci-fi?

4) Which actors would you choose to play in your movie rendition?

Ever since I saw 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog' I can't keep myself from casting Neil Patrick Harris as my Dr. Nigel Hunter.

5) What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

If they don't even blink an eye when Dr. Hunter suggests experimenting on himself, what exactly are the Eclipse Co. workers willing to do normally?

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am interested in finding an agency because I don't really have the inclination to advertize when I could be tinkering on a new story.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I'm still working on it and it's currently on the back burner as I finish editing my other book, Panoptemitry.

8) What other books would you compare this story to?

I wrote it as something different, can't really think of what it's like.

9) Who or what inspired you to write the book?

I just kind of enjoy writing, I think I started on it because the story would be fun to make.

10) What else about your book might pique the readers interest?

I've had a couple of people comment on my 'Speed of Darkness' book about how my werewolves aren't quite exactly like any they've seen elsewhere.

Posts coming next week:

Lauren Walker-Klever - http://thesecretwatchers.com

P.I. Barrington - http://thewordmistresses.com/

Jeanette Anderson - http://plus.google.com/100650116437843520516

Sharon L. Norris -  http://www.sharonlnorris.com.au/my_blog

Alex Shiffer - http://www.alexschiffer.com/blog.html

The Next Big Thing - Panoptemitry

Because I'm about 1/3 done with the final edit for my new book, Panoptemitry, I jumped at the chance to get into a few blog chains to talk about it. There was a bit of confusion (I claim fault here), but I had enough links for two posts in what I thought was 2 different blogging memes before I realized both were part of the same chain. To be fair, when I make my other post on Wednesday, I will describe my other (Speed of Darkness) writing project. So, if you've gotten me the information on how to link to you (before now) don't worry; your link will be in that post.

Already Up:

here is the link of the blogger who invited me:

http://afstewartblog.blogspot.ca//2012/12/the-next-big-thing.html - AF Stewart
here is the link of a blogger who posted last month and had some trouble getting links for his chain:
http://grahamsmithwriter.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-next-big-thing-my-turn.html - Graham Smith


1. What is the working title of your book?
'Panoptemitry' - (yes, I had a bit too much fun trying to put together words for a short title :P)
2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
I really wish I knew where book ideas came from, that knowledge would make trying to write a bit easier. I was playing with a few story ideas, filled a folder in my computer with different .doc(s) to try working into a story; but truly, I had just about given up on it and moved the files to my magic 'work on another time' pile when I won a free MSS edit report on a 100,000 word story from http://cornerstones.co.uk/ through IWriteReadRate.com and I decided that this story was my best chance at producing a work of anywhere near that length within a few months.
3. What genre does your book fall under?
It's a Sci-fi/fantasy set in deep space.
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I almost never imagine real people when reading a book or concocting a story, so I can't really pick someone.
5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
When the growth of technology begins to hold the same powers as religious doctrine has declared divine, does simply recording events become blasphemous?
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Because iWriteReadRate is an online bookstore for self-published books, I will be publishing this myself.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I believe, I wrote it in about 4 months.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I'd like to say it's like Star Wars without so many freakish aliens.
I don't remember the title for the book it brings to mind...
Books, there were two of them in the series- where the people were all human, or just scientifically advanced humans.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I spend far too much time on the internet, and was trying to piece together how an interplanetary internet could work.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
My new idea I had that allowed me to continue the book after giving up was the creation of a powerful god-like being that often possibly lies and gets annoyed with its worshipers as it denies any claims to godhood.

Future Links to the Chain: (I will try to update links to the actual posts when they appear next week)

http://lightninggeorge.blogspot.com - A.George Moye
http://charmainetdavis.blogspot.com/ - Charmain T. Davis
http://about.me/tlloydreilly - T.Lloyd Reily
http://jlmanning.wordpress.com/ - J.L. Manning
http://www.blazemckenna.wordpress.com - Katie Smith

Are You Writing The Next Big Thing?

If you are, you might like to get into this blog chain that I'm scheduled to post in the second week of December called 'The Next Big Thing'.
I need to find 5 bloggers to link to who will make their posts during the week of December 17-23
I'm also linking back to the blogger who included me.
If you want to blog about what you're working on, with a link back to me and a link to 5 new bloggers who will post in the same way the week after you do, just leave me a note or message me!
Anyone following the blog chain will be able to find an ever-growing web of information about what is currently being written :)

This review made me grin

Sue Owen from Paper Mustang emailed to tell me of a new review for my book, The Speed of Darkness. As I'm currently writing a prequel, this was cool for me to read. It pretty much said my story was interesting, but my characters wren't likable.
Fair enough I suppose- better than the opposite.

           Should I worry that I've been told one of those disliked characters is quite like me?

The Forever Girl, by Rebecca Hamilton – Treasure Hunt Tour

Welcome to the treasure hunt tour for The Forever Girl!

Here's how it's done:

Each stop on the tour will have a small excerpt with a code hidden it. Visit all the stops to gather the letters, unscramble the phrase, and email it to :

sandra.ashton-holtzman[at]bookandblogservices[dot]com

The stops list can be found here: http://www.bookandblogservices.com/book-tour-for-the-forever-girl-by-rebecca-hamilton

The winner will receive a goody bag including:

1 Forever Girl Ring
1 Forever Girl Keychain
1 Forever Girl Necklace
1 Forever Girl Bookmark
1 Forever Girl Candle

1 signed copy of The Forever Girl

1 signed copy of the companion novella, Her Sweetest Downfall

IMMORTALIZATION: The author will also immortalize the lucky winner by giving them a cameo appearance in the next Forever Girl book.

Bonus: If you've already reviewed The Forever Girl on Amazon, include the link to your review along with the unscrambled phrase for an additional entry!

Book Blurb:

“Sophia's family has skeletons, but they aren't in their graves.

At twenty-two, practicing Wiccan Sophia Parsons is scratching out a living waiting tables in her Rocky Mountain hometown, a pariah after a string of unsolved murders with only one thing in common: her.

Sophia can imagine lots of ways to improve her life, but she'd settle for just getting rid of the buzzing noise in her head. When the spell she casts goes wrong, the static turns into voices. Her personal demons get company, and the newcomers are dangerous.

One of them is a man named Charles, who Sophia falls for despite her better judgment. He has connections that might help her unveil the mystery surrounding her ancestor's hanging, but she gets more than she bargains for when she finally decides to trust him.

Survival in his world, she learns, means not asking questions and staying out of the immortal council's way. It's a line she crossed long ago. If Sophia wants to survive the council and save the people she loves, she must accept who she is, perform dark magic, and fight to the death for her freedom.


The Forever Girl is a full-length Paranormal Fantasy novel that will appeal to lovers of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, witches, vampires, ghosts, paranormal mystery, and paranormal horror.”

“Where is this place?” I asked Ivory.

“You’ll see.” She hooked onto an exit ramp for Castle Rock then turned onto a side road miles before the city. This wasn’t the Castle Rock I was familiar with; this place was some run-down, off-the-map kind of place. “We’re almost there.”

Several blocks later, she turned down a narrow, garbage-strewn road. The street was a dead end, with a beat-up building backing up to a wooded area. A rickety billboard your code is o towered without anything to advertise. Ivory pulled into the lot and parked beside cars I hadn’t noticed from the road.

Soft whispers throttled through my mind. A chill prickled at my arms and goose bumps ran all the way up to my scalp, a tingle burning the back of my neck and along my ears. Taking a deep breath, I fought to push the voices away.

Want to help my book get seen?

 Right Now Goodreads is holding their Goodreads Choice Awards. (as in, you can go vote for the best books you read in 2012, Right Now) They ask for a category, so what popped in my head Right Now was paranormal fantasy but that's basically because it's not completely a standard science fiction or fantasy. You have a better choice, feel free to vote there. I doubt I'll even come close to winning, but please just vote, and help me get noticed.
Seriously, I haven't even hired an artist, Right Now.
If you want to read it before voting, it won't take up too much of your time. The eBook estimates I've seen give it 21-22 pages.
It won't take up too much of your money either, it's only 99 cents. (and I think there's a place or two linked to the goodreads page where you can get it free for the rest of the year.)

Other than that, what can I tell you? My name is Sarah Baethge, and I'd love to get noticed by a possible publisher. (Someone who won't just stand by and let me go through my whole book spiel without bothering to state the name of the short story I'm trying to sell.)

Advice that is sure to Help Me

When I looked in my email yesterday, I got the MSS report on the draft of my upcoming novel Panoptemitry from Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (cool prize I won from iwritereadrate.com). It had not only ideas for how I can polish this book to make it pretty for publication, but it gave me a connection with an editor who seemed to genuinely care about the made up characters in my story.

(Now that's a cool feeling for a wanna be author.)

Matt R wrote out for me advice on how to improve my style of writing. I need to allow the action to happen- not just tell about it happening.

Confused about the difference? No one's ever explained it to me so I understood the concept right before now, so I might not say this clear enough:

wrong way: Having looked at this report will help improve my writing.

(I tell about what happened)

right way: Reading this report improves my entire approach to writing.

(it happens)

That wasn't everything of course, but most of the rest was kind of specific to the story; what was good, what could be improved. Why, and how so.

I'm still just thrilled I got my book evaluated like this. The timing of the report is perfect too because now I'll have advice specific to my own style of writing fresh in my head just in time for NaNoWriMo.

Vote for My eBook!

Check it out-
     My short story, Right Now is in a contest where YOU can vote!
http://www.voteformyebook.com/

Giving 'The Speed of Darkness' another go

So today I played around a bit with an image sitting in the folder of what I'm currently pulling my notes together for, a new story I'm calling 'The Illumination Query.'

If you follow my silly attempts at an online-evil-empire (don't ask me how evil got in that word, it just sounded right...), you probably know that my most noteworthy accomplishment involves the writing of a book called 'The Speed of Darkness.'
Now I did take that down off of Amazon/Smashwords/Goodreads a couple months ago, but that wasn't quite because I'd given up on it. You see, what actually happened it that the story semi-exploded in my mind- I'm not saying that it was destroyed; no, it was wonderfully  augmented off of both ends!
Keeping that first silly book intact and coinciding with all of my story additions finally seemed it would be more trouble than it was worth, so I'm just going to write a new and improved rendition when my characters make it back to Nevada.
Instead, I feel like starting maybe a year or two before those events come to pass and going a bit more fully into the story of Nigel Hunter.

The story is down!

3.29032~ months and my story's done!
This would be the longest story I've ever written, too. (currently at 54,039 words)
Pretty short amount of time when I consider how long I've worked on other pieces that I'm still not satisfied with.
Sure, I'll read over it a couple more times and polish it up some more before I send it to the editor, but if they demanded it right now, I could probably give it up.

Notice, will you, I do have an editor this time. Want to know how that came about?
I've mentioned it a few times :P but in case you didn't hear, I have a few short stories on a self-published literary website called IWriteReadRate.com. Fun place; after you read a story you're given the opportunity to tell the author what you thought of it. The idea is what finally gave me the guts to try to sell my writing. It just felt safer and less scary than baring my imaginary ideas to the whole world through Amazon.

To try interesting people into putting their books on it, they decided to hold a drawing. Anyone who loaded a story to the site would have the chance to have the IWRR people pay for a book of up to 100,000 words to be edited by Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (worth close to $1000, I hear).

If you like writing, I encourage you to come check out http://www.iwritereadrate.com/. If what I've said hasn't interested you yet, you still have the opportunity to win  a great prize by uploading some of your writing there. If you don't write but still like to read, you can have your say, too. IWRR holds a monthly competition at http://www.voteformyebook.com/ where the author of the highest voted book wins a Cornerstones professional critique of a work up to 2000 words long.

Damn you Microsoft!!! count so far is: 2

Sorry for the title; I generally try not to cuss. (probably do it a little more often on the computer because the other person isn't really there)

Its just when something happens once, I can buy that it may have been an accident but TWICE now?

What I'm talking about is what's started occurring when Windows magically decides it needs to download several megabytes and then restart itself. The thing is, when this happens on my computer,  the data files for my Chrome browser mysteriously disappear.
It's like they want to use those 10 minutes (would be 5 on Chrome) it takes to download a new Chrome to just REMIND me how glitchy and slow internet explorer really is. (Like today after it sat there stuttering a bit it gave me a happy little error window saying it needs to cut off a few extensions.)
Today, at least, my new Chrome kindly remembered it's background and applications I already had loaded (last month I found that the background I had been using was no longer available so Microsoft still owes me something for that)
As I mostly work with blogging and ebooks, the browser is of more use to me than a cell phone.
Whatever there happy updates are doing with my computer what it ultimately comes down to is they are STEALING my access to my programs.
And taking away from the time I planned to be working on the book I'm currently writing (I do have a deadline this time remember?).

So, this type thing happening to anyone else? Feel free to stick around with me and I'll count how many times their competitor's magically disappears through their routine housekeeping. (As far as I can see, nothing else in my files has been touched.)

I really wasn't going for a common theme-

Yesterday when writing on what is to become my new novel, Panoptemitry, I came to the realization that I seem to be stuck upon a constantly re-occurring (hopefully)fictional happening. Whatever else might be happening in my story, I can't seem to resist throwing in some unlucky character who suddenly finds himself as a test subject for some sort of mad scientific medical experiment. 
[already have 3 or 4 instances of this (all of my published work)]
[Nigel Hunter                                        in The Speed of Darkness]
[both Samuel Parker and Linael Darrow           in Breaking Away]
[Joe                                                                           in Right Now]
Now, as what I'm writing is 60%-75% done with an editor waiting on me in September, I really don't have time to try and change the story so I can work events out in a new way. I just thought I should make note that I do realize this is happening so I can try to keep from doing it again.

{I do plan on explaining in more detail about how the great people at iwritereadrate.com hired me this editor when the book becomes available for purchase, but if you're curious, check out their blog post about it: here.}

And no, I swear I wasn't ever experimented on myself, to cause this seeming obsession.
I'm sure it just stems from bored daydreams I had in the hospital after a car wreck, wishing to get some sort of fantastic super power as fair payment for an accident I still don't actually understand.

future review cover reveal- Shadow of the Blood Moon by Robin Waldrop

Genevieve Labreck is back with a score to settle. Her mom has been kidnapped by Zane, hybrid and all-around monster.  Rumors fly that Gen’s mom is holed away in Prague, a city recognized by humans for its serene beauty and intense culture, but Gen and Will know something humans don’t. Prague is haunted by dark, evil forces.

Can Gen and Will save her mom, or will they be too late?

Some will live, others will fall. At what price do you walk away from those you love?

Shadow of the Blood Moon by Robin Waldrop, the sequel to Ties to the Blood Moon now has its artwork, so it can soon be released. Need I mention that I like werewolves? I am looking forward to reviewing this book on my review blog.

what I'm up to (Windows 7, don't fail me now... :P)

As I'm somehow attracting new blog followers, so thought I'd share what happened today. For once I actually have a writing deadline (on my upcoming sci-fi novel Panoptemitry for  http://www.iwritereadrate.com/ [more on that later]) so I've messed with my Windows settings to make it only able to kick me off for a 'magical update' once a week. So if that is gonna happen, the magic day is Friday.
You know what that means -today it supposedly did its thing and asked for a restart.
Trusting me, I click Ok.
Big surprise: my machine won't start back up.

Did I mention that most of the 32,800+ words I already have written exist only on this laptop?


Sure, there was an earlier version of maybe 4-5 non-sequential chapters Calibre-converted on my Kindle, but as I'm now writing on chapter 12, that's more than half of what I've written! Plus all of my notes...
Eventually, after a few annoying unsuccessful runs through start-up repair  my computer came back on.
Of course the machine wants to retry its update. I'm cool with that. I'm on the internet so much, I don't exactly want to miss out on some kind of update that keeps my files/programs running right.

I'll out smart it here, I think; just Calibre-tize the newest version of EVERYTHING and give Fred that whole story!(If you wonder, Fred's my Kindle. Just the first thing that came to mind when the Kindle asked me for a 'device name.')
So I start up Calibre and it tells me to go download the update [#0.8.61 I think]; you know my paranoia about updates, with hardly any thought, I download and run it.
-couple of postpones for the Windows update here-
Finally Calibre's ready to go supposedly, but now Calibre wont start.
-maybe another Windows postpone or two as I search through my files-


Thanking whatever computer god is out there, I see I never trashed the last few Calibre updates I downloaded. (hats off to you Calibre writers, a week never passes without 1 or 2 new versions)
The newest one I have on hand is 0.8.57
After I run this update (downdate?), I am able to create a .mobi of the newest version of my story and pop it onto Fred.

Still trusting something to watch over my notes (don't ask me why), I let the Windows update run. Oh sure, there were still a few snags and running's of startup-repair, but now I think my Windows is happy enough to go awhile longer without an update.

Now I can get back to my story, that I plan to finish by September!

Get a FREE eCopy of Particle Horizon!

For anyone still interested in the book, Selso Xisto is offering his debut novel, Particle Horizon, for free on Kindle during July 4th, 5th, and 6th. Click here to get your copy
 (LINK:Particle Horizon: Free on Kindle)!

If You Believe in Love at First Sight...

The Boroughs Publishing Group is having a romance short story competition.

If you could go to www.boroughspublishinggroup.com, 
find the link to the @ First Sight contest, 
you are allowed to vote for every story pitch that interests you.
     As I've one there, I'd be happy if you could go look at the contest!

SORRY IF YOU READ THIS EARLIER, I MESSED UP THE SCHEDULING

Now that's slightly irritating #KDPselect #SelfPublishing

I'm not truly much of a salesman, but I finally took the advice of more than one person who sell or review books and removed my book The Speed of Darkness from everywhere it was published, to give me to opportunity to rewrite it as a series; with better editing, more detail and a more professional looking cover(s).
Yesterday I had far too much fun playing with MSWord; linking together all of the folders on my computer that hold the separate books (in various stages of completion) to all be accessible through one file.
You see, I think it was unpublished everywhere but Smashwords before now (if you can still find it somewhere, I'd appreciate you're telling me), I just wanted to wait until the coupons I'd given to Operation eBook Drop expired before I removed it there.
I think some children's hospital in Oklahoma or Arizona may still have the manuscript to copy for bored patients. They can continue doing that as long as they want, along with any other school/hospital I may have sent it to to give out free.
That story will be rewritten as part of the eventual third book in the series.

What bugs me is the fact that now my Smashwords page stands free of anything but a few reviews I've written. I planned to upload my new short story (currently only on Amazon) Right Now to Smashwords by the time I'd taken TSOD down there.
I even made a point of not re-enrolling it in KDP select a month ago so their'ed be no legal snags in putting it on Smashwords (I know other people've done both at once, but that goes against all that happy little mini-writing that you must check-box AGREE to when signing up for kdp-select.)
It just seems that like Thursday, when I was checking out my Speed of Darkness info on Amazon (unpublished there; only exists as a draft on my account) something possessed me to re-enroll Right Now into KDP-select.) so anyone with Amazon Prime, you can get it free if you want until September 25 (The soonest date after which I'm allowed to move it to my Smashwords page).

You can win what I'm currently reading for review!

You know how on my other blog I write book reviews? Well, you can win an autographed copy of the one I'm reading now:

Book Info:

From the blood and dust of New Jerusalem, the Legion of the LightBringer wages a galactic war against those who would replace their god. Now, the time has come for the Union of Free Worlds to make a stand. The front line is the idyllic asteroid world of Angelhaven, where the greatest mind in human history has discovered an elemental power with far-reaching implications. A power that both sides will do anything to harness.



Marine commander Gomes leads the crack Union task force. An unrelenting warrior driven by revenge and a need for answers, he hides a strange ability neither science nor religion can explain.



On the other side of the war, Aja is forced to fight for a cause she doesn't believe in to protect her own secret.


Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's another interview of me: http://sinistreproseonline.biz/interviews/sarah-baethge-interview/

Check it out! I wrote a little in the May issue of eFiction

If you want to see a email/kindle literary magazine that focuses on online books/articles, here's a cool little publication that I found a couple of weeks ago.
I even wrote a book review in it.

Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews: The Speed of Darkness by Sarah Baethge: Interview ...

look! it's Laurie's post about my book (with a few different giveaways of my writng)

Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews: The Speed of Darkness by Sarah Baethge: Interview ...: Eric Omlup, (computer teacher, web design consultant) tries to be seen as a normal, friendly guy. He is determined to hide the fact that he ...

Fun With Shelfari

Well, yesterday I discovered the wonders of Shelfari. I had seen enough folks mention it that I knew I should look into attaching my books there, but yesterday when I finally had the free time to check it out, I found that it was much more than just another place to advertise. In fact, both of my stories on Amazon were already added by other people without my knowledge, so I guess you could say that my fun there came down to my love of books!
What I spent a long time on shelfari doing, was copying my book reviews off of goodreads to stand next to the book descriptions there. As many of the books I've reviewed aren't mainstream, well known books; there are a few that stand right now with no description other than my review. I do plan to go back through to give my list of books with no 'official' description the description that their author or publishing company have with the work where it is sold.
I just wanted to show off the cool shelf widget on the side off my blog that can show off a list of books I've read with pop-up copies of my reviews.

KDP Select promo-day schedule (and readers, please review me!)

My story Right Now is almost down to it's last free day on Amazon KDP select, and I'm sure everyone I know who cares has already gotten it free some earlier promo day. Cool enough, I gave away like twice as many as my other book has ever sold. (and that's only in America). I even managed to give away a few copies in Germany!
I did save back one free day for my birthday(March 17, St. Patrick's day). Maybe for luck or something?
Well, thinking about it yesterday, I figured I probably needed to advertize the Free day in a couple of new places If I want to catch someone who might get it yet doesn't have it yet. Simple, I figure, there's got to be a place or two where people list books with what day they are free.
You know? I fail at internet today. I haven't been able to find one place to do just that. Sure there are a couple of places that have their own pre-set days where you can screw around with your free day schedule and join them, but I want my book to be free on my birthday!
If you don't have it; It's free March 17 here:
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Now-ebook/dp/B007GOYX56
Or it's always free with Amazon prime.

And if you want to be cool you can rate it, or even write a review afterwards.
Just go to: http://www.amazon.com/Right-Now-ebook/dp/B007GOYX56 and click that little grey bar that says 'create your own review.'

(Yes, while writing this, looking for listings at Goodreads did occur to me; I'm off to do that now. If you know of anywhere else I could add to a listing of free kindle book days, please tell me!)

Results of my book hand-outs

I must say, I am more than impressed by the KDP select program. Last week it worked out so I was pitting my Kindle Free-Days of My New Short Story
against the Smashwords giveaway of my full-length book. I expected the new one to do a little better because, you know, Amazon is more known, and I couldn't expect friends and family who'd already read my silly sci-fi werewolf book to go get it AGAIN.
The size of the difference though, has floored me. the book on Smashwords made a good 13-14 sales. Yeah, I know that's nothing but it's maybe a third of my total sales on the site. The book on Amazon? 80!
And then, this morning I realize that's only 80 in the US. going through the Amazon paperwork/pages it looks like I sold 80 in the US, 35 in Britain and 3 in Germany!
Germany?
Geeze, I didn't expect that one.
Whatever, this all just makes me happy. And if you haven't yet, please check out at either Amazon or Smashwords.

Right Now, FREE: KDP select

I'm using my short story, Right Now, to try my luck with the KDP select program. For people signed up foe Amazon Prime it is free to download.
For those of us who haven't signed up for Amazon Prime, its only $0.99.
Now, of course, with KDP Select every 90 days you can slate 5 days where the writing is free to everyone. So you can get my book free here: http://www.amazon.com/Right-Now-ebook/dp/B007GOYX56on March 5, 7, 9, 10, and 17(just had to do that, March 17 is my Birthday :P)

Speed of Darkness, FREE: Smashwords promo

It seems, Smashwords is having a promo event from March 4 until March 10. This is your chance to get my short sci-fi book, The Speed of Darkness free!
Just go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/88625, click add to cart, and enter: RE100 as your coupon code, click update and your price should be at $0.00. Now just click checkout, and the book is yours for nothing!

I guess the only hitch you may have, is that they do require that you have an account to buy something; but such a thing can also come to your advantage. Forever more, from -ANYWHERE-, you will be able to download any ebook you've bought on Smashwords, in just about any different file type. They also send you very little mail. Other than notifying you when purchases are made by your account, or asking for reviews of what you've recently purchased, they are virtually silent.

It's gotta be a sign!

Yesterday I decided to put 'Right Now' the short story I had a lot of fun writing a few months back into the Amazon KDP select program. The idea of getting paid to let them hand out my book for free was somewhat appealing because it would have a better chance of attracting people I don't know to read my unknown work. I realize of course the fact that it's offered free will make some turn up their noses at the story as either cheap or childish. But whatever, my pricier book with its extravagant cost of $2.99 isn't exactly generating more than maybe 2-3 sales a month.
Of course, except for like 20 days/year 'free' is only free for people paying for special Amazon membership. and $0.99 for everyone else. But whatever, I'm somewhat curious to see how this works out for me.
I'd have probably tried it earlier if I could have enrolled my other book in it, but Amazon won't allow KDP select books to be distributed by anywhere else. Because most of the copies of 'The Speed of Darkness' that other people own were distributed through Smashwords, I was somewhat leery of taking it down from that site to play with some shiny new thing at Amazon.
So now, as I'm in the middle of preparing my 'Right Now' manuscript to upload onto Amazon, Smashwords sends me an email. They are about to start a week long promo on their site where I can easily give my book there to people free. Obviously, I'm being told to throw these book promotion schemes into competition with each other. So if I play with my kindle free-for-everyone days (I can use up to 5 every 90 days) as this Smashwords sale runs, I should be able to either capture a few new readers or get my first returning readers. Once the books go free, I'll post it right here. So if you haven't read me, or have and want some more/ know someone else who's ready to try a book at no cost; check back at this blog for the links I'll give out once the books are free.

My growing story

My book, The Speed of Darkness has no official page count because as of now it only exists within computer files. (Yes I'm still sure that someday it'll become popular enough that someone else will pay to print it. I can dream can't I?)
Before today or at least until recently Amazon estimated its length to be around 117 pages. That may have seemed a little short to me, but hey I wrote it; I realize that I'll probably see it as bigger and more important than anyone else. Hell, MSWord only has it as 104 pages; I just thought that the average book page was quite a bit shorter than the average document page.
117 and 104 seemed a bit too close to me, but maybe my whole page-length idea was just wrong. Whatever... Except when I was getting its Amazon page today, for some reason they've recalculated the book-length to 143.
Where did that come from? Were they miscalculating in the first place and so advertising my story as less than it is? Have they stuffed the back end with adds that they aren't paying me for? Either way, that just doesn't sit well with me.

Nothing to do with Amazon, The story actually IS growing. Right now I've started putting some notes together and rereading The Speed of Darkness to collect the elements I need to make a prequel. Right now I think it would be somewhat funny if I could fix it to be exactly 9,999 words because most of the short story publishing submission guidelines ask for a story of less than 10,000 words, but my length is not essential. If I build up a good story that gets messed up when I try to tweak the length, that idea can easily be abandoned. Mainly, I want a story that would easily stand alone but would also happily lead into the existing story. With my lack of advertising budget, this could be a great way to have others notice my writing. Even if it isn't, I had a ton of fun making The Speed of Darkness, and even if nothing comes of the prequel being an ad idea, it could eventually lead to my reediting of the original to offer in some sort of combo edition.

Gaaa!!! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!!

So I just sent off another round of review requests for my book, The Speed of Darkness, yeah? Of course I've found that most reviewers who offer to review for unknown authors ask for a copy of the book or a coupon to go buy it free.
Hey, I understand that! I'm not asking people to give me money so they can have the privilege of determining whether or not I'm a crappy writer. 'Twould be almost ridiculous (Not to mention that it would practically encourage fast thoughtless writing by people who write for the express purpose of turning around and to get rich directly from the reviewer's pockets.)
Anyway, I look in my email this morning to see I got one of those reviews posted. I'm OK with the misspelling of my name, that's common enough, but then I see my character referred to as SAM.

IN MY FINAL COPY, THE GUY'S NAME IS ERIC

Little story behind that... I wrote The Speed of Darkness nearly 3 years before I published it. By the time I put it on Amazon, I was in the middle of another still unfinished story/stories (online here) that also have a pretty important character named Sam. Having no real reason to keep calling people Sam I decided to switch one of their names to Eric. (A tribute to, I forget the name of the story, but it has a pair of twins named Sam and Eric). I forget why, but that other guy's name was unchangeable.

I tried to make the change everywhere, and I'm pretty sure now Sam Omlup is always Eric Omlup everywhere the book can be downloaded online. In most places on my computer it is changed too.
(I must have 15 different copies of the book on my computer to be ready for all the different file-formats people ask for, I also have 1 or 2 with the slight modifications Smashwords insisted on before they would send it to Barnes & Noble)


Looking back through my file system to destroy the offending 'Sam' files and create new 'Eric' files to replace them, I found 2 instances that hadn't been fixed within the folder where I was pulling copies of the story to give to reviewers who asked for them: the .pdf and the .mobi.

These are the two most common file-types reviewers want. So now I can look forward to a good score of possible reviews with names that don't quite match my story.

I've been interviewed today

Today I had a nice interview by Author Marcia Carrington.
Marcia's Book Talk

This is fun

I check my email/facebook and see that my book now stands within The Book-Junkies Library: Sarah Baethge page

Now, I might have tried to put it there myself, but I truly don't remember this one. Nice little surprise.

It's not mine, but if you like ebooks...

You want an ebook you don't have to open your pocketbook for? http://theriaka-ebooks.blogspot.com/2012/02/ebook-giveaway-falling-by-lc-smith.html It's a fantasy called Falling by L.C.Smith.

I think that last blog title hurt me....

Want to guess what happened to that story?
Don't worry about it, I'm sure I'll continue it at some time. In fact, Rachel Hadley's recent review of The Speed of Darkness has put me in the mood to write a prequel for it.
And don't let me try to get clever with words here in a way that's that's gonna leave me questioning whether or not the story will come to be; if I could end that other by saying my talk could curse it, I'm saying now- unquestionably, and quite assuredly- I AM going to write my prequel through to it's end without working on anything else until it's done.
-Sarah

Now this probably curses it, but....

I've gotten a pretty good sized set of notes together for a story I'd like to write. I still haven't decided on a perfect ending for it, but I have enough that I don't think I will be able to just give up on it. Even if I plan nothing new I'm gonna give up this planning in a couple of days and simply get to writing. If I get to a point where I can't write any more, I think that this story, now called 'Panoptemitry' will get finished; or at least join the other 2-3 I'm working on with parts on my Kindle.
So those of you who ask if I'm currently working on anything, the answer now is yes. I WILL start writing that first chapter tomorrow whether or not I decide on the ending today. If I get stuck I'll start back on the one I'm calling 'Meant to Be.' Even if that doesn't work I can always switch back to 'The Link' that I started in Galveston...
Yeah, I'm gonna keep up reading and reviewing new books; but with any luck, I will produce 1 (if not 2 or 3) full length books this year that will easily outshine 'The Speed of Darkness.'