Welcome, new folks!

Hi, there. If you've joined the mailing list recently, I want to make sure you get your free Frosthelm book, Traitors Unseen. If you haven't gotten it, you can get it free here (the site will ask you to sign up for this newsletter, which you're already getting) or here from Smashwords. It's also on Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. Please, enjoy with my compliments.

A huge Kenai giveaway

A little over a week ago, I ran a free giveaway for my latest sci-fi novel, Kenai. That's a pretty standard thing to do for indie authors like me. It does a couple of things. One is, it puts your book in the hands of a ton of readers, which is the whole point of writing a book anyway. Another is, it rockets you up the bestseller charts in the free book category, which can lead to some increased exposure. More readers means more reviews, more page reads, more people potentially talking about and sharing your book with others - all good things. There's also usually an afterglow period for books in Kindle Unlimited, where Amazon's mysterious algorithms boost a book that many folks are (or have recently been) reading.

To get this to work best, you want to let people know about it, and there are a bunch of sites which do promotion of free book giveaways. Ideally, you stagger these across a giveaway period so that there are new people finding your giveaway every day. That's what I did with this one - picking the heaviest hitters first, and then adding more of the rest in as the five-day giveaway moved on. Here's what that looked like for me, with over 5,000 copies of Kenai downloaded over five days:

It's a little ironic (even counterintuitive) to be paying money to advertise a free product, but this does get your books out to readers, and you can make back some (or even all) of the money eventually with the increased visibility this gives you. I'm still figuring out the best way to market my stuff, but this always seems fun and exciting. Also, you tend to rocket up the charts for a bit, which is fun (if not that meaningful).

So, fun times. Kenai has been picking up some page reads on Kindle Unlimited too, so we'll see how long that lasts - hopefully, as people read and post reviews, the book will stay visible.

The blue is Kenai, so you can see the little wave the promo created. I'm also up to 15 ratings on both GoodReads and Amazon, which is much better than the two or three I had before on each.

Other projects

I got a lot done on my latest puzzle card game (the fourth in the Doctor Esker's Notebook series), including watching testers play it, which is always fun. I even have a prototype deck ready for when my brother visits soon.

I'm also working as a writer for a video game project. I can't share much about that yet, but I'm excited to share that with you as well once it's farther along.

Finally, with the card game almost ready to send to the printers, I'm trying to figure out which book project is next. Probably, it will be finishing the first draft of my next modern-day thriller about a down-on-his-luck professor forced to come home and live in his mom's house. I'm about 70,000 words into that one, and it should finish at about 90,000 (total guess), so I just need to get that last part done.

Some stories to try

I'm part of several author collectives, and we share each other's work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. Here are some new books I have to share this month:

First, I have Ruins on Stone Hill by F.P. Spirit. This sounds like a D&D style adventure with a band of adventurers, complete with witty dialogue, exciting battles, and derring-do done. With a whopping 830 Amazon reviews, this is a very popular series, and the first book is only $0.99.

Next, I have The Soul Seekers by Sheryl Frazer, the third book in her series about empath psychics, this time facing a dire threat and trying to convince the world that an apocalyptic event is coming in time to head it off. If we won't believe scientists about global warming, maybe we'll believe psychics about this...

Next, I have The Blackmail Job by Shane Shepherd, a prequel to his series about a paroled inmate in a future society facing limited prospects on the moon of his homeworld. Finally finding work as a bodyguard, his employer is blackmailed, and Tuck needs to set things right.

Next up, I have a sample of A Queen to Come by Frances Ellen. This is a sneak peek into a YA fantasy series about a set of young defenders of the Queen who need to protect her from an enemy who wants her power.

Finally, I have a big list of fantasy books that are all (1) the first in a series, and (2) free on Kindle Unlimited. If you're a KU subscriber, this is a huge variety of worlds, magic, and monsters to explore.

Thanks

Thanks so much for reading my books and signing up for the newsletter. I hope you're finding great new worlds to explore this year (and every year).

May the Bloodmother watch over you - 

Dave