Isn’t it beautiful? I absolutely love the cover and the dynamic it brings to the As Darkness Ends series. It’s been a long and winding road to get to this point but today brings yet another announcement, the name! As you can tell from the cover, the book’s official title is REDBACKS. If you read the first book, you should be quite familiar with what they are and boy, are you in for a wild ride for this one.

I’m still working on uploading files and making the appropriate updates, but you can read the full synopsis of the book here. In addition, you can add the book to your GoodReads bookshelf and let all your friends know that this is on your ‘To Read’ shelf.

February 29th is coming up quick and I’m looking into doing another virtual launch party that evening through Google+, Facebook and Twitter. More details to come on that soon, but for now, let’s just bask in this awesome cover!

Related posts:

1. Cover Reveal & Contest Today begins the cover reveal for As Darkness Ends: Book...
2. Cover Reveal: Piece Number Three As promised, here’s the next piece of the book cover....
3. Cover Reveal: Piece Number Four All right, it’s your last chance to get in on...

All right, it’s your last chance to get in on the contest! This is the final teaser before Friday’s big day! Again, good luck and can’t wait to share the final cover with you all on Friday!

Related posts:

1. Cover Reveal: Piece Number Three As promised, here’s the next piece of the book cover....
2. Cover Reveal: Piece Number Two It’s Friday and that means the second piece of the...
3. Cover Reveal & Contest Today begins the cover reveal for As Darkness Ends: Book...

As promised, here’s the next piece of the book cover. Are there clues to what the title is? Perhaps, perhaps not. The good thing is that you have another chance to win a copy of the book. Plus, I’ll put you all out of your misery on Friday when the title and full cover are revealed!

Good luck!

Related posts:

1. Cover Reveal: Piece Number Two It’s Friday and that means the second piece of the...
2. Cover Reveal & Contest Today begins the cover reveal for As Darkness Ends: Book...

It’s Friday and that means the second piece of the cover to book two is here! I know it’s not much to go on but it’s another opportunity to take a stab at the book’s title.

Don’t forget that the first person to comment with the correct answer gets an autographed copy the day before it comes out! You’ll get another chance to guess on Monday. Enjoy and everyone have a great weekend.

Related posts:

1. Cover Reveal & Contest Today begins the cover reveal for As Darkness Ends: Book...

Today begins the cover reveal for As Darkness Ends: Book Two. Now, I know a lot of authors reveal their covers in one shot but I’m going to be a complete tease and will be revealing pieces of the cover for five days, with the fifth day showing the full shebang. The image above is the first piece of the cover!

One reason I’m doing this (besides drawing something like this out for a week) is that there’s a guess-the-name contest too! For each cover-reveal blog post leading up to the full reveal, I am running a contest for you to guess the name of the book. The first person who leaves a comment with the correct answer on that day’s blog post will win an autographed eBook copy of the book, delivered to you the day before it’s release!

Pieces of the cover will be released on:

-Today (obviously)
-Friday, Feb 10th
-Monday, Feb 13th
-Wednesday, Feb 15th

The full cover (and title) will be revealed on Friday, February 17th.

So what do you think the title of the book is called? Comment below! All the winners will be revealed on the post on the 17th.

Good luck!

*Please note recipients of an ARC are not eligible for this contest

Related posts:

1. We Have a Launch Date! Happy Monday, Copious Notes readers! I have a lot of...

Happy Monday, Copious Notes readers! I have a lot of news to share.

This post is the launch pad for events leading up to the release of As Darkness Ends: Book Two. My second round of edits are complete and with just one round to go, I can begin to get a lot of things set for the book’s release. The edits went well and I got a lot of good feedback from my editor. I’ve punched up sections that needed work and exercised the comma demons! I’m as excited as ever to get this book into your hands.

All right, I’ve stalled long enough so here’s three pieces of news:

1. I have set a release date for the book! As Darkness Ends: Book Two will be available on Wednesday, February 29th, 2012. Yes, leap-year day! In four years from now, I can say the book is only one year old.

2. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) requests are now open. If you are interested in obtaining the book in advance, please look to the top of the right-hand sidebar of this blog. I’ve set up a simple form where you can request an ARC. This is a limited-time window, so be aware that the deadline to request an ARC is Monday, February 13th at 9:00 PM Eastern.

3. As I mentioned previously, this book isn’t simply titled ‘Book Two’. It has its own special name that gives it a set place in the series. As such, I am going to have some fun by revealing the cover in small increments. The title will be revealed last, but there’s a bonus: There will be a contest to guess the name. More details will come in the next few days.

It’s exciting times as I gear up to launch this book into your hands. I can’t wait to hear everyone’s feedback once it’s out. There’s plenty more to come before the 29th, so be sure to check back soon.

No related posts.

This past week has been one of not having the utmost control over my work, one where I was not the sole person in charge. This is good news. Just over a week ago I fired out book two of As Darkness Ends to my editor and also had my cover artist begin her work on one of the most important pieces of the book. Of course, nothing goes as planned.

I (mistakenly) thought I would be done with the first round of edits on the manuscript by Thursday the 12th and I would email it to my editor. Surprise, surprise, it didn’t work out that way. Some things came up and I ended up getting the edits to the final chapter and second-half of the previous done late Friday evening. I did make the deadline and got it to her.

The world isn’t without its gremlins because with only 5-pages to go until she got to the end, my editor’s computer bit the dust and wouldn’t boot. She was panicking because she likes to get work back fast but being a techy guy, I know what these things are like and I said it wasn’t a worry. My edits were returned in a week, which is still stellar.

Then we get to the cover. All I can say is wow! My cover artist took a murky idea that I had in my head, let me see that my vision was all wrong and by my request took the reins to create a beautiful cover that I absolutely love. My original idea was busy, muddled, and I did not have much of an idea of what I wanted aside from a few cues I took from other covers I liked. Want to know what a disaster looks like? Well you won’t because I’ll never let those versions see the light of day. I applaud my cover artist on her efforts to make sense of what I wanted when it was a complete mess.

Sometimes you need to scrap what isn’t working and let someone with the knowhow take over. Given the fact that I’ve put together only one cover (Paradox) and she’s done hundreds, I have no problems admitting she’s the expert and has a better eye for this. Admitting defeat was the best move I could’ve made. The cover is great and I am excited to have it be the first impression of the book. As of Saturday, the cover was done and finalized.

With the cover and edits complete, book two is hitting the final stages towards gracing your eReader. Next comes a second round of edits with me going through the corrections and suggestions from my editor to tighten it up and strengthen any areas that may need some adjustment. Lastly will be a final read-through for polish and then it’ll be whisked off to Amazon, B&N and Smashwords.

As I get closer to the final book, I will set a ‘street date’ and I also plan on having a big cover-reveal party and an unveiling of the book’s title (it’s not just going to be ‘book two’!) before that. As those dates and details work themselves out, I’ll be sure to let you all know!

Related posts:

1. Commence Book Two! Oh, what’s that you see there? An outline for As...
2. Back To Work Last week was quite the whirlwind and honestly, I wouldn’t...

Last month Amazon made headlines, yet again, with the launch of a new program for people publishing with their KDP platform. This offering, called KDP Select, is an aggressive move by Amazon to lock up the market of eBooks while providing value to authors and readers.

In a nutshell, enrolling a book in KDP Select allows the book to be included in the Amazon Lending Library. This is available only to their Prime members and is another perk of signing up for it (which I did since their 2-day shipping is well worth it). Within the program, you are allowed to borrow one book per month and keep it ‘out’ as long as you want. There’s no extra charge and it gives lots of value to that $80 membership fee everyone ponies up.

As a writer, Amazon provides a royalty on every borrow via the Lending Library but there is a very big requirement to this: your book must be exclusive to Amazon. You cannot sell the eBook on Barnes & Noble, SmashWords, iBooks, not even on your own website! You’re essentially cutting out every market except Amazon and putting all your eggs in one basket.

I’ve sat back and watched the past few weeks to see what the reaction was and it’s been mixed. I’m not completely sold on KDP Select but without trying new things in the Wild West of self-publishing, there’s no way to know what works or what fails.

I’ve decided I am going to dip my toe in the water and I’ve enrolled Paradox into the KDP Select program. This has an upside for everyone that if you are a Prime member, the book is yours for free to borrow! In addition, I will have the opportunity to run some promotions for Paradox a few times during various times over the next three months. Stay tuned for that.

If you haven’t checked out Paradox, it’s a great, quick read!

No related posts.

Hello 2012! Let’s add this blog post to the deluge of people reflecting on the past year and the year to come. Consider me cliche and unoriginal as I do the same. I will put a spin on this to bring some updates to what is happening in my writing world.

2011

The past year was one of milestones and frustrations. I submitted my first story ever, got my first-ever rejection, and Spirit Hackers is still in the editing stage.

On the up-side, I took my rejection and set the story free via ePublishing. It lead me to realize I could craft a novelette series with a cool concept and to finally dip my feet into the world of self-publishing. I’m really proud of the As Darkness Ends series and book two is nearly done. I’ve been quietly updating the progress over on the right side-bar and I’m delighted to say that the book is already 1/3 longer than book one! The second book has a similar feel to the first but with a whole different spin as we view the global events of the first installment from a different point of view. I anticipate the book to be out in the wild sometime in February.

November was a milestone month as I worked to raise money for Share Our Strength, which is fighting childhood hunger in the United States. I exceeded my goal of $300 by $20 with the help of so many generous people. Even better, my timing was excellent because at the time I donated the funds, the charity was having every donation matched dollar-for-dollar! So, in essence, we raised $640 for the charity! It’s a job well done.

Finally, I’m thankful for all the positive feedback, ratings and reviews book one has garnered. The general consensus is that it’s a solid book and I’m happy to see that people I don’t know are enjoying it. That means a truly unbiased opinion.

2012

For this year, I’m keeping it simple. I read on Dean Wesley Smith’s blog that goals are set based on things you hold 100% control over, while dreams are things you would like to achieve but are dependent on others. I couldn’t agree more.

Goals:

-To complete and release book two of the ‘Darkness’ series no later than March 1.

-To complete the third (and final) round of edits on Spirit Hackers, then submit it to at least one agent.

-Write and release book three of the ‘Darkness’ series no later than the end of 2012.

Dreams:

-Break a pre-set sales goal I have in mind for each of the two books in the ‘Darkness’ series.

-Return to Loopback and resume writing it. (This is a dream due to only having so much time in the day to manage all my writing)

-Land an agent based on querying Sprit Hackers.

————-

So that’s where I stand for this new year. I have one personal dream and one personal goal (both of which I’m keeping to myself). I hope 2011 was good to all you writers out there and I look forward to bringing you more works from the recesses of my mind throughout the year.

Related posts:

1. Fighting Back in 2010 Welcome to 2010! The future. Well, not so much. We...
2. Amazon Brings Back Their Breakthrough Novel Award Last year Amazon.com started a publishing contest called the Breakthrough...

Happy December everyone! I’m very happy to announce that November’s fundraiser was a complete success! I was able to meet my goal of raising $300 (I raised $320) for Share Our Strength because of your generosity.

Of course we have a little bit of housekeeping to take care of because for every dollar donated, each person gained one entry into a drawing. Yesterday I rounded up all the names and dollar amounts donated and threw them into an Excel spreadsheet. Each person was given a range of numbers, dependent on the amount donated. Once set up, I used Random.org’s random number generator to provide a number from 1 to 320 and let ‘er rip!

Lucky number 223 was drawn and the winner is….. Coral Biegler!

*throws confetti*

Coral is the winner of the grand (and only) prize: a character will be named after her in As Darkness Ends: Book Two! Congratulations Coral!!

I want to take this moment to thank everyone who donated to this fantastic cause. Share Our Strenth’s goal is to eliminate childhood hunger by 2015. I cannot think of a better cause during this time of the year. Thank you all so much for being so generous. I am grateful that I was able to use my powers for good and make a difference in this world.

Related posts:

1. And the winner of the worst writing of 2008 is … From CNN: SAN JOSE, California (AP) — A grotesque comparison...
2. Using My Powers For Good Donations are now closed. Happy November! The year is quickly...