BLOG
News, Fiction Updates & General MusingsSunlight: Now Available to Pre-Order
Hi everyone,
Just a heads up that Sunlight, a new post-apocalyptic suspense book I have coming out on October 30, is now available to pre-order at Amazon, Kobo and iBooks.
The pre-order links are below:
Amazon Kindle – http://smarturl.it/SunlightKindle
Kobo – http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/sunlight-9
iBooks – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sunlight/id932444074?ls=1&mt=11
If you pre-order, the book will be automatically delivered to your reader the second the book becomes available. So you’ll be the very first people to own Sunlight in the entire planet.
Pre-ordering is something new to me as an author/publisher, too. So always exciting to to try new things.
Here’s a little about Sunlight if you want to know some more.
In the Brightest of Light, Darkness Resides.
Jack Simm is a man with no responsibilities. He has a cushy job, drinks a lot, and hasn’t seen his two children in several years. To Jack, a life of freedom is perfect.
But when an unexplained and devastating event turns the majority of the population into genocidal maniacs, Jack is forced to protect his two estranged children and escort them to a rumoured safe haven at the other side of the country.
Reunited with his children, Jack must finally step up to the responsibilities of being a father while adapting to a painfully horrifying dystopian world of violence and bloodshed.
Sunlight is a gripping post apocalyptic suspense thriller from the author of the bestselling Dead Days series about the lengths parents go to protect their children. Both thrilling and subtle, horrifying and heartwarming, Sunlight is a riveting journey through a dark and dangerous world quite like no other.
And here’s that amazing cover, in case you missed it.
Thanks again for the support! Very excited to get this book out. Dead Days readers in particular will love it.
Ryan.
A Few Books Now Out of Kindle Exclusivity
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to give you non-Kindle ebook readers (all four of you) a heads up that my three month Amazon exclusivity contract on a few of my books has expired, and therefore they are all now available once more on the other big retailers.
The full list of books is as follows. Click on this link for all of them–the links are all through the page.
- Dying Eyes
- Buried Slaughter
- Nameless Kill
- Killing Freedom
- What We Saw
- The Hunger
- Sinkers
- Something in the Cellar
- Silhouette
- She Remembers
All of these books are available right now on Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Google Play and most other major (and a few minor) retailers.
They are no longer available in the Kindle Unlimited program, although the first two Blake Dent mysteries are. I’ll talk a little more about why tomorrow.
Cheers,
Ryan.
Sunlight: Exclusive Cover Reveal & Q&A
Hi everyone,
The end of the year is approaching, which means my releases are all building up. Something that happens every year, not sure why. I suppose I spend all year working on multiple projects and they all just gather around winter. Works for me, though!
Anyway, I’m absolutely delighted and excited to share with you the cover of a brand new post-apocalyptic suspense book I have coming out this Halloween: Sunlight. I’ve also done a little Q&A below for anyone who wants to know a bit more about the story.
Without further ado, here’s the amazing cover designed by Yoly from Cormar Covers. Yoly is my long-term designer, and I seriously can’t get enough of her designing skills. This might just be my favourite of the lot.
Okay, enough talk about it…
HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!
It seriously gets me excited for this new book, which is absolutely going to please fans of Dead Days and other post-apocalyptic fiction, for that matter.
Right. Q&A time.
Q: What the hell is Sunlight?
A: It’s a post-apocalyptic suspense thriller about an estranged father’s quest to keep his two children safe in a terrifying new world.
Q: Estranged father, blah blah. Tell us about the monsters!
A: There may be monsters. There may not be monsters. There’s definitely something grim and gory going on, that’s for sure. But they aren’t exactly zombies. And they aren’t exactly human. Or monsters. They’re something else.
Q: Worst. Description. Ever.
A: I know, I know. To be honest, I’m just trying to keep this story under wraps as much as I can. But I can absolutely promise that fans of Dead Days will be delighted, as will fans of post-apocalpytic movies, books and games.
Q: So how is Sunlight different to, say, Dead Days? Is it wise juggling two post-apocalyptic stories?
A: Sunlight is different from Dead Days in many ways. It’s more concerned with the event of the post-apocalyptic scenario itself rather than the working out how/why. It’s a story of survival, of fatherhood, of bonds in a world with little hope. It’s a tale of humanity on its knees, and the ways in which humans can pull together in the darkest of days. Or not, as the case may be.
Q: The human elements were a big part of Dead Days too though, right?
A: Oh yeah, of course. All my stories are primarily character driven. But I wanted to explore the bond of fatherhood in this book, something I haven’t really done in too much depth in Dead Days yet. I wanted to put three characters in an impossibly uncomfortable situation and see how they floated.
Q: Why not just make this a Dead Days spin-off? Surely that has more commercial potential.
A: You’re probably right, Ryan 2. But like I said, there are some differences to Dead Days–especially with the antagonists–that I wanted to explore. I felt like this needed a whole new apocalypse to tell this story. There is a lot of weirdness going on–a lot of mystery about this apocalypse. Whereas Dead Days is so far along now that it’s a little more transparent. I wanted the reader to be just as puzzled, just as confused by this strange new world as the characters are. I like to think I’ve achieved that.
Q: Will there be a sequel to Sunlight? And does this series affect Dead Days in any way?
A: There will probably be more books in the Sunlight universe, but it’s a self-contained story in its own right. It has a beginning and an end. But there are still a few mysteries remaining.
As for Dead Days, a resounding “no.” Season Four is coming this Christmas. More on that soon.
Q: That’s it for now.
A: Cheers, Ryan 2. Have a good day.
Hope you’re suitably intrigued by Sunlight. Of course, if you want to be the first to be notified when the new book is available, sign up at my New Release Newsletter. You’ll also receive a few treats along the way.
Have a great day!
Ryan.
When Sales Slump…
I’ve had a few questions from readers about what to do when book sales slump, or how to kick sales off that haven’t even had chance to slump. I thought I’d answer very simply and publicly in this post with a few words of general advice and guidance.
Firstly, don’t panic. Sales do slump over time. It happens to everybody. I had a sales dip in September, but they’ve picked up again this month. It’s the nature of business, so don’t fret about it.
Secondly, ask yourself what you can do to help give sales a boost, but also whether it’s worth it at this moment in time. Sure, your book might be selling a few less than last month, but is it really worth discounting it again? Or is it not just better to get on with the next book and run a promotion when you put that new book out? Probably the latter.
Thirdly, if it’s been a while since you last did any promotion (and by a while I mean months, not days or weeks), take a look at some ad sites like Bookbub, KindleBooksandTips, Bknights on Fiverr, Booksends. But don’t just buy an ad without a plan — ask yourself whether you can really make that money back, whether the promotion is right at this moment in time. If you’ve only got one book out and you’re running a free promo with it, almost certainly not. If it’s the first book in a lengthy series, perhaps.
Oh, and give things a chance. If you’ve switched from $5.99 to $4.99 and $4.99 isn’t selling any better, don’t go switching it again after a day. Give it a month. Study. Stay aware.
Fourthly, and most importantly, keep writing. Keep working on the next book. It’s a cliche, but it really is true that the best form of promotion is a new release. Don’t do anything silly like stop writing to spend “a few weeks promoting.” That’s a terrible idea, especially if you’ve only got one or two books out. Instead, get to work on the next book. Keep focused. Keep writing.
And that’s it, really. Simple, but true. If your sales are slumping, the key things are not to panic and to view sales over a monthly rather than daily period, and to keep on writing. Run ads when you need to, like special occasions or new releases. If you’ve not got many books out, the absolute best thing you can do is keep on writing. Amazon doesn’t owe anyone a living. It isn’t anyone’s fault that your one or two books aren’t selling yet (well, maybe it is: see in a moment…). You just don’t have enough work out yet to properly advertise it.
An expansion to all of this: as well as keeping writing, you have to make sure you’re keeping professional. Which means learning about craft, learning about business, learning about genre and covers and product descriptions. And it sometimes means swallowing a bit of pride. Yes, your cover might be fantastic, but does it really reflect your genre? Will a reader stumble upon it and think, “Oh yeah, that looks like the epic fantasy I want to read right now?” Or will they just turn away, confused, and move onto something that does?
And your formatting. Yeah, it might be “good enough.” But “good enough” isn’t good enough for readers. You want to stand out as a professional. So take the time to be a professional. Same for your blurb, editing, genre, everything.
Understanding genre is really important. So important that I’ll do a full blog on it tomorrow. Until then, remember the key points.
Write. Finish. Advertise when applicable. Keep writing. Keep learning.
Enjoy.
The First TWO Blake Dent Mysteries, Now Available
Hi everyone,
It’s a very exciting time to be a writer.
There’s a lot of freedom, not just to express ourselves but to experiment with different release methods. There’s more opportunity than ever before to follow our gut and give seemingly crazy things a try.
So that’s exactly what I’m doing right now when I announce the launch of not one, but TWO Blake Dent mysteries, right here on day one.
And the first of those books is absolutely free this weekend.
The books are Bubblegum Smoothie and Cucumber Coolie. Those amazing covers to the left? That’s them. You can read more about them on their respective pages by clicking their titles, but for now, take one portion of darkness, add a large handful of humour, sprinkle a helping of mystery on top, and you end up with the Blake Dent mysteries. Darkness that the McDone fans will enjoy, but also a satiric commentary on contemporary detective fiction.
But mostly just a lot of fun.
Click for: Bubblegum Smoothie
Click for: Cucumber Coolie
Why am I releasing two books on one day?
Well, because I’m crazy probably. But mostly because I wanted to give my readers a little extra for their support over the last two years. That, and I love a challenge.
And why have I made the first book free for the next few days?
A gift, really. A gift for you to enjoy. And if you do enjoy it, it’d be very cool if you reviewed it and then went on to read the next book, Cucumber Coolie, for just $3.99/£2.99.
Enjoy the books. I had an absolute blast writing them. There will definitely be more of Blake Dent in the near future.
Until then, I’ll have more on Sunlight. McDone 4 and Dead Days Season 4 very soon. Have fun and keep on doing what you enjoy!
Ryan.
PS: my mailing list subscribers were the first to hear about this new release. They’ve been enjoying these two books for a couple of days already. If you want to be notified as soon as new releases are available in future, head to this link.
Write What Terrifies You
I started writing a new book today.
I don’t like talking about my work in progress while working on them, especially in the early stages (which kind of shits all over the idea of a blog but hey), but one thing became immediately clear: this book is dark.
Now I’m no stranger to writing darker books. Killing Freedom was dark. The McDone books are dark. Dead Days was dark. Even the Blake Dent books, full of humour and comedy, are dark too.
But this book is particularly dark. So much so that I wondered whether I really wanted to carry on writing it.
And then I realised something.
By writing what terrifies me, I’m pushing myself to be original.
It’s easy to play it safe when we’re writing stories. It’s easy to avoid writing certain swear words because we’re worried about what our parents might think, or easy to hold back against our creative impulses because of some superficial idea of what “writing to market” is.
It’s easy to water down our true creativity in the search for success. To copy those who were bestsellers before us in an attempt to replicate achievement.
But it’s important that we embrace the fear–embrace what terrifies us–and run with it. It’s the key to uniqueness in fiction.
This isn’t just for dark suspense or horror writers. It could apply to comedy writers too, or romance authors. Trust yourself–trust your creative instincts–instead of the voice telling you to ease off in your mind, dumbing you down, making you sound like everyone else.
Trust in your ability to tell a unique, original story.
Write what terrifies you.