Just The Facts

I’m asked many times why I don’t charge more for my full length novels, especially since a few of my series novels have become popular, and fifty thousand words has become the new norm for novel length products. I’ll admit to some very simple truths. I’m not Stephen King, James Patterson, or Tom Clancy. I’m not even in their realm of popularity, or close to it. I enjoy what I do, but I’m not blind to marketplace facts. My partner, RJ Parker, and I have tried everything to enhance our products for the market. Giving them away, or doing 99 cent sales is a hit and miss proposition. We either keep writing or disappear. That’s the standard. While I understand the arguments for pricing according to standard, I also realize we as authors are in a wild west type market. If you don’t have Stephen King type name recognition, you’re fighting for a step on the ladder with thousands of others. The argument is we’re cheapening the market. That’s a funny one, because if I charged $5.99 and up for my novels out of the chute, I’d disappear in a heartbeat, which the mainstream publishers would love. It would mean less competition. :)

Here’s the real downside I see as a writer. When I started out, I wrote 150k length and above novels, because I loved the storytelling. Novels the length of my offerings such as PEACE and SOTELLO, and CASSERINE take time to create with a flowing scene depiction and ending. I could write those length novels every time I begin a new offering, because I’m a storyteller. I’m not a marketer, or a ‘short-story as a novel’ con artist. I write novels with characters capable of transporting me past this reality trail of tears, and therefore the readers I seek to reach. I’ve accepted the shorter domain between 90k and 110k as my parameters for what attracts readers, and I damn well deliver to the best of my ability for the bargain price of $2.99. Until I’m popular enough to return to much longer novels, I will compete in the market I’ve chosen. I promise the story won’t suffer, but reining in my prolific storytelling side must be gauged to the market – hence the $2.99 cost. I hate serials, so every one of my novels, including the series additions, always have an ending, I hope has readers wishing for more, but always holding a completed storyline. That’s the blog for today as I shoot past 84k in Hard Case Book V: Blood and Fear.  :)

LAYLA - Second Edition

Because of a host of reasons having to do with what I am finalizing in a living trust for my kids, I am putting all of my novels under my partner’s banner: RJ Parker Publishing, Inc. RJ and I are friends, and since starting this, we’ve worked together without contracts or anything in formal writing. My wife passing away so suddenly has left me with decisions to be completed, making certain my estate transfers to my kids smoothly. I am shifting my other five novels under my name, we haven’t had time to fool with, under the banner. Then we can get legal papers made up in the event of my passing.

The first of my novels to be switched over is LAYLA with a new cover, and an added bonus ‘what if’ story at the end. It is a second edition, of course, but I wanted to make certain as I convert each one over to RJ Parker Publishing, Inc. that our readers don’t think we’re pulling a stunt. Here is the blurb, and link for the second edition of LAYLA for RJ Parker Publishing, Inc.

Cole Warren finds a paranormal answer for his problems at ABC Auto Repair - a Djinn named Layla. Cole embarks on an adventure where he and the beautiful Djinn gather a new crew for Cole's ABC Repair Shop: a Werewolf, Wraith, Witch, and of course, Layla. Together, they face down all manner of mythical monsters, while practicing ABC's main purpose: auto and truck repair.

LAYLA

Escape into a New Year

A new year dawns in troubled times. No year passes without leaving the dregs of itself spewed across our present day’s mindscape, filled with bittersweet moments lost in hurried lives. Welcome 2015. I have no idea what new kindness, nostalgia, or torment you bring. My many pulp fiction characters stand ready to shield me from your darker moments with stories and plots to bend your bleak reality. They remain loyal, steadfast sentinels, eager for new fictional forays into their worlds, unhampered by your yoke of promised sadness yet to come.

Happy New Year to my many Ethernet acquaintances, writing their own escape into fictional vistas, or reading a new flight of fantasy. May 2015 be a year of renewed hope, with a sunny day once in a while, to help in this unknown trek into reality ahead.

I passed my New Year’s Eve goal of 70k words in Hard Case Book V: Blood and Fear before the heralding horns, gunshots, and fireworks struck. John Harding and his crew helped ring in the new year with me, their voices blotting out the real world’s shadowed realm once again.  :)

I'm sorry the sale is over on the first book in John Harding's first adventure - HARD CASE, but it's still a bargain, as a 100k word action packed, pulp fiction adventure for only $2.99.  :)