Independence Day sale

For the next week (at least) Caverns of Mercury is on sale for 99 cents.  It's also a part of Kobo's Independence Day promotion.  When the book was approved for the promotion, I decided to put on sale at the other retailers, too.

Thanks in advance to everyone who buys it, and I hope you enjoy the book.

Progress report

Still working on book 3 of Wheel of Fire.  I'm currently re-writing the climax.  Something was bugging me about it, so I put some thought into it, and now I think I've mostly got it figured out.  Still got a long way to go, but it's getting there.  I'm also detailing some military vehicles.  Trying to decide on acronyms and whatnot.

June is now officially my best-earning month on Apple of all time.  Thanks for your support, Apple readers!  :D

New cover

I just uploaded the new cover for Mr. Wilson to all my retailers.  It should be up in a matter of hours.  Here it is:

I changed the formatting, too.  The story's no longer in block paragraphs.  It uses plain old indented paragraphs now.  I don't know if this will change the listed page count on the product pages or not, but it doesn't really matter.

Once the links are live, I'll change the sidebar image.  I'll try to change the image on Goodreads, too, if I can.  And LibraryThing, and Kboards, and wherever else it pops up.

Anyway, I think the new skin is a definite improvement over the old one.

UPDATE: The listed page count at Amazon is now 35 pages instead of 40 pages.  I'm not surprised that it changed.  I changed the formatting, and I also uploaded an epub instead of the original .doc.

UPDATE 2: I've changed the cover on the blog sidebar and on Kboards.  I tried to change it on Goodreads, but it turns out only librarians can do that.  I can ask them to do it, but it seems like a hassle, so I'm not going to bother.  Same for LibraryThing; if someone there notices the new cover, then they can change it, but otherwise, I'm not interested in wasting any more time on this matter.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The bad: I'm in the process of trying to make a new cover for Mr. Wilson, and I've run through several iterations.  I've spent way too much time on this.  It's a short story, and shorts don't sell, so it's not like a new cover will spark new sales or anything.  So there's no financial incentive, but I'm still burning away the hours on it.  I'm frustrated with myself for spending so much time on it.  But I think I've got a design I like now, so maybe I can get that monkey off my back.  Still, though, the time I've spent on this is time I haven't spent revising book 3.  Grr...

The ugly: I found a centipede in my bedroom.  I don't like centipedes, and I certainly don't like them in the same room where I sleep.  Naturally, I did what anyone would do.  I fetched my trusty Ka-bar and carved him up like a Thanksgiving turkey.  Then I flushed the still-squirming pieces of him down the toilet, because those things are way too creepy to simply dump in the trash.

The good: Last month was the first month in which I made more money on Apple than on Amazon.  This month looks like more of the same.  I've already sold more this month on Apple than I did last month, and there are still 10 days left.  If the trend continues, this will be my best month ever on Apple.

Also, Caverns of Mercury will be included in Kobo's Independence Day promotion.  I'm pleased about that, not just for the obvious reasons, but also because the theme of the trilogy--the terrestrial planets achieving independence from Earth--is completely suited to the holiday.

More about the promotion to come later.  Stay tuned...

Progress report

It's been slow going, but I finally got a scene fixed in the current work-in-progress.  Sometimes a scene will just nag at me, and then I have to think about it a while in order to figure out what's wrong with it.  And then I have to think some more about how to fix it.

The weather hasn't cooperated.  I turn the computer off when there's lightning around, and there have been a lot of storms lately, so that's slowed my progress.  I think the last completely rainless day was some time in May.  It's felt like a South American jungle or something around here, complete with low-hanging patches of steam.

I've about settled on a new cover design for Mr. Wilson.  If I can't think of a way to improve it over the next few days, then I'll probably upload it.

I've had a headache today, so I haven't gotten much done.  But it's coming along, and I expect to be finished with my first-draft notes very soon.  Then I can move on to the "fleshing out" stage of revision, and that should move a little faster.

If my art...

...is ever as awesome as that of John Williams, then I'll consider my life a wild success.  I'm listening to the Jurassic Park soundtrack right now, and "Journey to the Island" still hits me right in the soul.  It's so freakin' triumphant.

I saw this movie in the theater back in the day, and I purchased the soundtrack soon after.  It was one of my first compact discs.

If you ever have a decent sound system, get this and other symphonic music on compact disc.  Even if you choose to rip and stream, you'll still have the cd as a hard-copy backup or as another listening option.  But never settle for mp3.  Not for stuff like this.

Progress report

I wrote 800 new words for book 3 (second draft).  This scene wasn't part of my original outline, so I had to stop and think multiple times about how I wanted to proceed.

I'm getting close to having all my notes from the first draft incorporated into the second one.  Again, though, some of this stuff means writing scenes I haven't outlined, which means it's slow going because I have to think it all through.

Once those notes are done, I'll re-write the whole thing in a line-editing fashion.  That'll take a few weeks at least.  So I won't have this thing published by midsummer, but maybe I can get it out before Labor Day.  And, of course, one never knows when life will throw a wrench into the machinery of one's plans.  Let's hope that doesn't happen.

But I'm making progress, and the book is slowly taking shape.  Stay tuned.  :)

Thanks, Apple readers!

Sales and downloads on Apple were better in May than they've been in any other month so far this year.  I had more than twice as many free downloads of Clouds of Venus in May than I had in any other single month of 2018.  As far as paid sales go, I didn't quite double up like I did with free downloads, but there was still a stark increase.  Around 50% or so, I'd guess, over the second best month of this year.  Haven't done the math, but that's the ballpark figure.

May is also the first month in which I've made more money on Apple than on Amazon.  :o

My best month of all time on Apple is still last October.  No month of 2018 has matched it yet.  But I'm getting closer.  Perhaps June will set a new record.

So, thanks for your support, Apple readers.  Y'all are awesome.  :D

Patty Jansen's promotion: all books 99 cents

It's that time again!  Patty's got her lineup of books ready to go, and my own Cities of Mars is one of them.  All books are 99 cents.  Check it out:

Direct link:

https://pattyjansen.com/promo/2-3-june-2018-99c-promo/

Browse around and see what's there.  If something piques your interest, consider giving it a try.  Promotions like these are a great--and inexpensive--way to support the independent author community.