I have a short story in this collection of horror tales that we will be launching on the 30th of October.
Pre-orders are available here: http://paperroadpress.shopezy.co.nz/store/products/baby-teeth-print/
Category: Marketing
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Orangeberry Summer Splash Guest Blog Post
I am participating in the Orangeberry Summer Splash blog tour to promote The Spiral Tattoo, which is somewhat funny for me being in winter. Anyway this guest post will be appearing on a number of blogs soon…Tradition is the cord that binds the fabric of society…
“What are you writing Elanore?” I asked as I flew into her kitchen through the window.
“A short treatise on tradition,” Elanore replied.
“Why?” I asked setting down on the table and glancing at the neat handwriting on the page before her.
“The answer to that my friend as that he requires it.” Elanore carefully dipped the quill in the ink pot, the feather held firmly in her clawed hand.
“Who requires it?”
“Him,” she said and arched her great bushy black eyebrow at me.
“O Him,” I said and sat down next to the page. “What does he want?”
“He requires that I write what tradition means to me.”
“How far have you got then?”
“Tradition is the cord that binds the fabric of society together as a homogenous whole,” she read from the page.
“That’s an interesting point of view for a Troll to have,” I said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather play a game of dice.”
“I would rather be sewing my new dress however needs must,” Elanore said. “Now if will excuse me I need to finish this.”
“All right don’t get your leathers in a twist,” I said leaping from the table and darted out the window as behind me the sound of quill scribbling on paper filled the kitchen.
Tradition is the cord that binds the fabric of society together in a homogeneous whole. All cultures and folk within the lands have strong traditions that they hold to. Even my more simple cousins amongst the Trolls hold strongly to tradition. Otherwise the clans would fracture into anarchy.
That being said, there is room to challenge traditions. Tradition would have had me killed as a young cub, my body left to feed the vultures. I cannot say that I am upset my grandfather chose to overturn and ignore that tradition. Yet he instilled in me a strong respect for tradition. This conflict had formed a great part of the conflict that has informed my formative years.
Now, as I sit here, tradition means strength and cohesion, it also means restrictions and bondage and fear. The battle in the mind and within society is to respect those traditions that can still have meaning and help hold us together, while challenging those that are wrong without upsetting the balance of society.
Elanore Fursk, Corporal, Delvenport Guard. -
Kindle Rush For Christmas! Bet The Price Rise!
This Friday I want to get a Kindle Rush going for The Spiral Tattoo on Amazon. Lets see if we can get The Spiral Tattoo onto the Amazon charts for Christmas!
This will be last time it will be available for $0.99 as well. After Christmas we will be putting the price up to $2.99 so there will never be a better time to buy.
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Amazon’s KDP Select Program: dancing With The Devil?
So Amazon has dealt a new hand and produced a very enticing offer that only helps to solidify them as the player in the book sales market. It is a very tempting offer, but will it deliver the goods? Should I go with them?
What it offers:
This is what it offers:
- Reach a new audience – Distribute books through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and reach the growing number of US Amazon Prime members.
- Earn a whole new source of royalties – Earn your share of $500,000 in December and at least $6 million throughout 2012 when readers borrow your books from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
- Promote your book for free to readers worldwide – The newly launched Promotions Manager tool will allow you to directly control the promotion of free books.
- Instant feedback – Check real-time performance of your books in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
The draw back?
What does it mean to publish exclusively on Kindle?
When you choose KDP Select for a book, you’re committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital. See the KDP Select Terms and Conditions for more information.
Jeff Bennington writes Why I’m Joining Amazon’s KDP Select Program
Amazon is playing games and they’re changing the rules again. They’re changing the game, and they’re doing it in time for Christmas. Most Amazon authors and publishers have received an email from Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform. Got mine today. If you haven’t, check your email, check your KDP account and check it fast.
What are they doing? They are playing the Monopoly card, hoping to sway authors to publish solely with them, forsaking all others. And as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to play too. Essentially, Amazon’s Kindle store has set up a program called, Amazon Prime. This program costs kindle owners $79 a year, but once they are a member, they can access kindle books from the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library FOR FREE.
Authors who publish on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform have the option to “opt-in” to the KDP Select program that will make their books available to Amazon Prime members. If an author chooses to do this, he or she will receive part of the $500,000 cash available in the program for December 2011, and the estimated $12 Million in 2012 as an additional source of royalties.
Is there a catch? Yes. You have to make your ebooks available EXCLUSIVELY through the Kindle store. You can still sell your print books anywhere, just not your ebooks. You can no longer sell them on Barnes & Noble, iBook Store, Goodreads, Smashwords, etc.
Will authors get paid for their books? No; not with traditional royalties anyway. The royalties, from what I understand, are based on the number of books borrowed divided by the amount of money in the fund. They hope to loan 100K ebooks by the end of 2011. If they reach that goal, authors whose books were borrowed will receive a proportional amount. For example: if your book is loaned 1,500 times before the end of December, and they reach their goal of 100K total books loaned, you will get 1.5% (or $7,500) of the $500,000.
Sound complicated? It sort of is. Sound risky? Yes. Could it be worth it? I think so. The way I understand it, Amazon is doing what Netflix did in the movie rental business; only with Amazon it’s Pay a yearly fee and get free books all year. I think it’s a great idea and a model that Libraries should follow.
Jeff makes some good points as do those who comment on the post.
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An Interview With Me On Podioracket Ep 64
You will find an interview with me here:Podioracket Ep 64 James Keeling and Michael J. Parry
Michael J. Parry’s Elanore and Gurt Tales:
Synopsis: Book one The Spiral Tattoo introduces the reader to Elanore, the eight-foot tall troll, and Gurt, the six-inch tall (don’t you dare call me a fairy) Eleinu, both guardsmen in the city of Delvenport, tackle their most baffling case yet. When they find a dead waitress, naked except for an intricate tattoo in a spiral across her body, they’re launched into an adventure in the seedier side of Delvenport, filled with rogue mages, prostitution, and narcotics. But can they solve the case before madness and riots take over the city? And Book 2 The Oaks Grove is a fantasy country mystery.You can get book one in Ebook right now on Amazon for only $.99.
Bio:Fantasy mystery author writes fantasy and science fiction, mixed in with the occasional piece of contemporary fiction. He live on a small block of land in the Tararua district of New Zealand, where he and his partner grow trees and our children. To earn a crust he works in a University library as the Digital Initiatives Librarian.
For more information
Website: http://michaeljparry.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Michael_J_Parry
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-J-Parry/177255755657054 -
The Oaks Grove Episode Two
Elanore and Gurt visit a bookseller before arriving at Oaks Grove. Elanore learns something about Gurt that he rather she hadn’t.
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What Would Make You Follow A LInk On Twitter To Buy A Book?
As I grapple with this whole shameless self promotion thing and try to sell my book [Buy here] 🙂 I am constantly looking for new avenues and better ways to do things.
I have been using Twitter to promote my book, which is good, but I have been trying to figure out some things. So a couple of questions for you;
- How often should an author tweet their links? Is there an optimum ratio of sales pitch to interaction? What is overkill?
- What makes you follow a link? What’s a good short pitch in 140 characters or less minus hashtags, links and title [there goes 40 characters already]?
