After careful consideration of my sales numbers, I’ve come to the following conclusion: few people are buying my books on iTunes or Barnes & Noble.

So, I’m going to try an experiment. Amazon offers a program called KDP select in which authors can add their books to certain promotions that may help to increase sales. The catch: they require exclusivity. This means I have to take any books that I want to enroll in their program off all of the other sites that sell them.

I’m not super-fond of this. I think it’s a sleazy attempt by Amazon to acquire a monopoly in the eBook industry, and I have resisted going this route for a long time for that reason. However, as sales on Nook, iTunes, Sony, Kobo and the rest have dwindled while my Kindle sales remain strong, it has become more and more apparent that Kindle is the dominant eBook platform of our times. In fact, even a large chunk of my iPad/iPhone readers use the Kindle app, rather than buying through iBooks.

With all that in mind, and since I know all of my most-loyal readers have already picked up Blood Hunt and The Children of the Sun, I’m going to give Amazon’s KDP Select program a shot with my vampire books.

This will not affect The Broken God Machine. That book, when it comes out, will be available for all platforms simultaneously, just like my other books have been. This is strictly about the II AM Trilogy. Update: this will also NOT delete any copies that have already been bought. If you own a II AM Book on the Nook or from iBooks, you will retain it.

I’ve begun the process of removing the books from other services. Once they’re gone, I’ll enroll in KDP Select for 90 days and see how it goes. Then I’ll reevaluate and decide whether I want to put the trilogy back on the other websites or not.

A lot of readers are starting to report in that they’ve finished The Children of the Sun and so far the response is overwhelmingly positive! This is just a reminder that if you’ve finished the book and liked it, please please please go rate and review it. Doing so helps me move up the standings, move up in searches, etc. It really helps me immeasurably, and I greatly appreciate it!

Here are places you can review/rate TCotS:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• iBooks (note: you have to have iTunes installed to actually rate)
• Smashwords
• GoodReads
• Shelfari

Remember: you don’t have to have bought the book from a certain place to rate it there!

That’s right, I’ve released the third book in the II AM Trilogy 12 days early! You can get The Children of the Sun as an eBook or a print book (including signed copies) right now! What are you waiting for? Oh, a link? Here it is!

Note to my Nook fans: I’m very sorry but Barnes & Noble is taking forever to approve the book for sale. As SOON as they approve it, I will update the II AM Trilogy site with links (and post an update here, on Twitter, etc). If you want it right now, the standard Epub version or the Smashwords Epub version will work just fine with your Nook.

After a couple of months of planning and getting everything together, I’ve launched the Kickstarter for The Children of the Sun! I’m really excited to be giving my readers the chance to pre-order the book, and to have a shot at some cool extra rewards as well. If you want a chance to get TCotS a week before it comes out, get signed copies of the print edition, or even get a chance to read my future work before it comes out, you should definitely check out the site.

If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it’s easy and convenient: you can sign up using an existing facebook or amazon account, or make a new Kickstarter account. Then you select a pledge amount and a reward tier (you can pledge higher then the reward you choose, if you want), set up payment through amazon.com, and then wait to see if the project succeeds. If it does, your card will be charged on August 29, and I will send you your reward(s) in November.

You can pledge anything from a dollar or more, and rewards start at three bucks, so it’s not expensive. Of course, if you want to drop some extra cash, you can get some pretty great perks!

If the project should fail, don’t worry — I will still release the book on time in November. However, there will be no chance to get it a week ahead of time, signed copies will be extremely limited in number, and there will be no additional rewards. So your best bet is to back the project.

Oh, and make sure to watch the video so you can check out the star turn by my adorable cat, Baron Salvatore H. Lynx II!

The Children of the Sun at Kickstarter

As some of you might remember, a while back I was interviewed by Darrell Pitt for his blog, Writing and Life. Well, after compiling many an interview, Darrell decided that it would be a good idea to compile an eBook of what he considered his best interviews. The good news is: I made the cut, and am included in the eBook. The even better news? The eBook is free!

The book contains talk with a whole batch of really interesting folks talking about both the business and the craft of writing, from people like me who are just starting to be recognized to people who are pretty famous in their respective areas. It’s a great collection of information if you’re an aspiring author or just interested in the world of writing.

Check it out: Secrets of Succesful Authors by Darrel Pitt on Smashwords

UPDATE: Smashwords is back up. Hooray!

At least in the northern hemisphere, February is officially the worst month (no offense to those born during it). It’s cold and grey and dark, there aren’t any big holidays to get excited about, and spring is still so far away the it seems like it will never get here. With that in mind, I have an offering that will hopefully make your February a little less crappy!

How about two full chapters from The Children of the Sun, more than fifteen THOUSAND words, that are completely free of spoilers because they are set in ancient Egypt and tell the story of how Ashayt came to be Ashayt-Sa. Interested? I hope so, because that’s what I’ve got for you, and the best news is that it’s totally free!

Well, OK, it’s totally free if you get it through Smashwords. If you got through Amazon or Barnes & Noble it’ll cost 99 cents. Please note that Smashwords offers formats that are supported by both the Kindle and the Nook, so the ONLY reason to get it from anywhere other than Smashwords is if you feel it’s super-convenient to just go through the other website and not have to manually transfer it to your device, and you therefore find it worth a buck for that convenience.

Anyway, enough with the talking. Here is where to get Amun Sa and the Girl from the Desert:

• Get it free from Smashwords – works with Kindle, Nook, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Sony Reader, Kobo, and pretty much any other device ever.
• Get it for 99 cents from Amazon (Kindle only)
• Get it for 99 cents from Amazon UK (Kindle only)
• Get it for 99 cents from Barnes & Noble (Nook only)

That’s all there is to it! Big thanks to Karla Ortiz for providing the kickass artwork that you see above (and in the book). She comes up with amazing visuals of my characters. Thanks also to Lauren for once again helping me dot the I’s, cross the T’s, and kill about a million unnecessary commas.

Remember to drop me a line on Twitter or on my Facebook Page and let me know what you thought!

The results are in! I’ve drawn winners for all of the prizes in the II AM Trilogy “I Want a New eReader” Contest. Thanks to everyone who entered (more than 1,100 of you!) and congratulations to those who won. I’ll be holding more contests in 2012, including one for an early look at The Children of the Sun, so stay tuned!

Here’s the winner list:

Grand Prize

• Tiffany Tillman

First Prize

• Joiceann Fromm
• Clinton Ferreira
• Tammy Grice
• Fiona Cox
• Nanang Denny Vagustira

Second Prize

• Tyler Holland
• Brooke Jennings
• Sadie Samways
• Nadine Nel
• Luke Wolf
• Diane Ellison
• Richard Cook
• Julie Murray
• Caroline Massey
• Ginamarie Calix

My readers have been good to me. Blood Hunt is selling very well, particularly for an indie eBook, and feedback on the book has been extremely positive! With that in mind, I’ve put together a little contest. I’m giving away a free iPad 2, Kindle Fire, or Nook Color … along with some signed copies of my books (or gift cards for people who already have signed copies). Part of the idea of the contest is, of course, to drum up new readers, but it’s also a chance for existing readers to win something cool. It’s a way of saying “Thanks” for all the support and encouragement that so many of you have given me.

The contest runs til November 30, so there’s plenty of time to read The Blood That Bonds and Blood Hunt, if you haven’t already, and make sure you get those questions right.

You can visit the contest website now to see what the questions are or to enter. Good luck!

Why look, there are buds on the trees. Spring is here, and with it I’ve brought some very exciting (I think) updates on my projects!

Blood Hunt

I’ve decided to go ahead and move forward with getting Blood Hunt ready for eBook and print formats. I’ve hired an editor, Lauren, who did the first editing pass on The Blood That Bonds way back in the day, and am working with Adrian again on a cover, which should be more complex than the cover for TBTB. I’m about to send the draft off to Lauren so she can start on her end of things, which should take 8-10 weeks. Meanwhile I’ll be incorporating her edits into BH as she sends them in. The result of all of this is that, while I don’t have anything close to an exact date for Blood Hunt yet, I’m pretty comfy saying it will be available as an eBook at LEAST on Amazon, B&N, the iBookStore and Smashwords sometime this summer! There’s a very good chance that I’ll actually be able to do a simultaneous print and ebook launch.

The eBook version of Blood Hunt will be priced at $2.99. The print book price isn’t determined yet. The Blood That Bonds eBook will remain free, but the print edition may come down a bit in price. I’m looking into ways I can shave off the cost.

The Children of the Sun

The Children of the Sun, or TCS for short, is the final chapter of Two’s adventures. Will it be a happy ending? I’m not exactly sure, yet. Two’s world, like the real world, has its share of sadness, misery and despair. Two’s pretty fiesty, though. I wouldn’t bet against her!

I’ve started on the first draft of TCS. Not much written yet, but it’s a start. I’m also working on its entries in the master time-line I keep for the II AM saga, which extends all the way back to about 5000 BC! When all of the books are out, I’ll probably publish it on this here website for people who are interested in it.

The Broken God Machine

I had meant to go from BH to the second draft of The Broken God Machine, but the truth of the matter is that the demand for Two and her adventures is so great right now that I don’t feel comfortable putting them off to work on another novel. So it’s in a holding pattern for the moment. When I finish the first draft of TCS and send it off to my trusted readers for their thoughts and comments, I will try to squeeze the second draft of TBGM into that time.

Short Stories

My Sci-Fi short story “Watchers”  — which Lauren also edited — has made it through three rounds of critique from the readers for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and is now short-listed, which means there’s a good chance they’ll publish it. Should hear about that in the next couple of months. I’m also working on a short-story about a serial killer set in the early months of 1918. More on that as it develops!

That’s about it for now. Stay tuned.