Hello Pre-Orders
One of the things I wanted to explore with my books this year was pre-orders. Obviously, that is to allow readers to order a book in advance of its publication date. So the cover and details appears on Amazon maybe months before the official release date of the book and the reader can "order" but not pay for the book. So once it is published it is sent to the reader that day. This is used by all "big" authors--not sure what big means in that context; maybe only large writers? Anyway a very common thing to do and has been for a long time. I haven't done this because I have no patience. Once I have a book finished; I want it published. Maybe I'm afraid I will lose the manuscript?
The advantage to the author is any promotion done pre-publication can generate pre-sales immediately and not have people forget the date the book will be available. The other advantage can be a strong boost of sales on the launch day. This can push the book into the Amazon best selling lists, which can boost even more sales. So there are good reasons to do this.
The down side, beside my lack of patience, is that you have to have a manuscript to upload, does not have to be the finished book; but you do have to have the actual final cover. And, the big one is that you have to have a final manuscript loaded some days prior to the publication date--which you have selected as part of the pre-order set-up. Normal people handle this just fine. They finish the book and select a publishing date months down the road. I finish a book and want it published next week. So I'm having to change my ways--which is probably a good thing. If you don't have the final manuscript ready on the publication date Amazon punishes you by dropping a house on your head, very wizard of oz like. This always troubled me to make an enemy of the great oz Amazon. Anyway I'm going to try the pre-order with my next two books.
That was a long winded way of explaining why I already have covers on two books that will be published much later this year. Even though the books are not immediately available I thought you might like to see the covers.
Fiction No More, the third Vincent Malone book which will be published (haven't selected the exact date yet) probably around May 15th, 2019.
And Four Corners War, the third Pacheco & Chino book which will be published probably in July or maybe August 2019.
Some of you may be familiar with Four Corners War due to a preview that was included in the back of Sky High Stakes when it was released in May of 2016. Yes almost three years ago. I had written about a third of the book at that point and feeling confident about the completion, stuck in that preview. The book did not happen. It's a long, ugly story but I just lost it. I stopped writing. Still don't know how much of this was FCW and how much other things. But I could not finish the book. For almost a year I didn't write at all.
Then with effort I started writing again. I have written six books since that time and suddenly after three years was ready to tackle FCW. It was my own war against FCW. I once said I stopped because I forgot the ending--that is close to the truth. One of the problems I had is that as I was writing, the ending I had in mind no longer worked and I didn't have a new one. I was stuck. Well, years later I finally came up with an ending. Hurrah! Make that two Hurrahs!!
I have finished FCW. It is headed into editing and the black hole of umpteen reviews, but I finished it.
The book will end in such a way as to leave doubt about whether there will be another P&C book. There is some chance that there will not; I haven't decided for sure. Ray is getting older and kind of fed up with the world, I think we can all relate to that. I liked those characters in P&C, but I have discovered a great affection for Vincent Malone. Will try to write at least three more Malone books and then re-think P&C.
Keep a look out for the pre-orders on Amazon for these two books (yes, I will let you know when the pre-orders are up and running). Those pre-orders can really help create a successful launch of the book. Yeah, I know, I just ask you to buy my book--big shock it's what I do.
The advantage to the author is any promotion done pre-publication can generate pre-sales immediately and not have people forget the date the book will be available. The other advantage can be a strong boost of sales on the launch day. This can push the book into the Amazon best selling lists, which can boost even more sales. So there are good reasons to do this.
The down side, beside my lack of patience, is that you have to have a manuscript to upload, does not have to be the finished book; but you do have to have the actual final cover. And, the big one is that you have to have a final manuscript loaded some days prior to the publication date--which you have selected as part of the pre-order set-up. Normal people handle this just fine. They finish the book and select a publishing date months down the road. I finish a book and want it published next week. So I'm having to change my ways--which is probably a good thing. If you don't have the final manuscript ready on the publication date Amazon punishes you by dropping a house on your head, very wizard of oz like. This always troubled me to make an enemy of the great oz Amazon. Anyway I'm going to try the pre-order with my next two books.
That was a long winded way of explaining why I already have covers on two books that will be published much later this year. Even though the books are not immediately available I thought you might like to see the covers.
Some of you may be familiar with Four Corners War due to a preview that was included in the back of Sky High Stakes when it was released in May of 2016. Yes almost three years ago. I had written about a third of the book at that point and feeling confident about the completion, stuck in that preview. The book did not happen. It's a long, ugly story but I just lost it. I stopped writing. Still don't know how much of this was FCW and how much other things. But I could not finish the book. For almost a year I didn't write at all.
Then with effort I started writing again. I have written six books since that time and suddenly after three years was ready to tackle FCW. It was my own war against FCW. I once said I stopped because I forgot the ending--that is close to the truth. One of the problems I had is that as I was writing, the ending I had in mind no longer worked and I didn't have a new one. I was stuck. Well, years later I finally came up with an ending. Hurrah! Make that two Hurrahs!!
I have finished FCW. It is headed into editing and the black hole of umpteen reviews, but I finished it.
The book will end in such a way as to leave doubt about whether there will be another P&C book. There is some chance that there will not; I haven't decided for sure. Ray is getting older and kind of fed up with the world, I think we can all relate to that. I liked those characters in P&C, but I have discovered a great affection for Vincent Malone. Will try to write at least three more Malone books and then re-think P&C.
Keep a look out for the pre-orders on Amazon for these two books (yes, I will let you know when the pre-orders are up and running). Those pre-orders can really help create a successful launch of the book. Yeah, I know, I just ask you to buy my book--big shock it's what I do.
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