I’ve got a few Amazon copies of Rogue Skies to giveaway. Are you in the US and interested in an exciting collection of sci-fi and fantasy novels? Click the links below to redeem your copy of Rogue Skies. You’ll get over 20 books for FREE!
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/77cc0a991449fa11-hetkaeqg
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/e01ed4cd29225457-t6bec31g
A thousand years before the events of The Blood Stone, a dark ritual between man and dragon binds the two races together.
In a bid to save her father, the young dragon Etain reluctantly joins with a novice from the Order of Eschar to create a power she doesn’t understand.
Curse of the Drakku: Origins is a prequel story set within the world of my new fantasy series. Grab your copy of Curse of the Drakku: Origins today exclusively in the Rogue Skies boxed set!
Want to know more? Here’s an excerpt from chapter 1 of the book. I hope you enjoy and decide to give the story a try. Get it now for only .99 and you’ll also get over 20 other scifi and fantasy novels!
Dragon Lord Avess strode across the stony outcrop that jutted from his cavern home. Inside the mountain behind him was the home of the Drakku, the dragonkind of Rowyth. He’d been anticipating this meeting with the griffons of the southern lands for years, and now that it was here, nerves grew thin.
The griffons were a distant cousin to the dragons under his charge, though in truth, the griffons were technically under his leadership as well, even though they hadn’t been in formal communication for years. Not that there was any animosity between the cousins, but long-term peace within the world didn’t need the Drakku meeting often.
“Father, are you well? Can I get you something?”
It was Etain, his one and only child and heir to his title. He loved her more than anything. Which often meant he could be harsh.
“Etain, you were commanded to stay behind with the griffons. Are you with them now?”
“No father. But I—“
“You disobeyed me.”
He turned on her, standing at least twice as tall with wings that could wrap around them both. While in the meeting, he preferred to remain in human form as did the griffons. It helped so that no one was looming over the other. The griffons hated when the dragons did that.
Etain lowered her head. “But father. It was a break in the meeting. There were no discussions for me to learn from.”
“That’s why I’m the Dragon Lord and you are the little girl unfit to lead!”
“Father!”
Avess rose to his full height and extended his wings. Etain knew what that meant.
“If you were paying attention at all to what I’ve been trying to teach you, you’d know that a break in the formal meeting often leads to idle talk. It is during those moments when you learn the most from your enemy or in this case, our brethren. Do you think they will keep up their formal dialogue amongst themselves? You can learn a lot as they talk of drinks and family. Have you considered that maybe they are here to assert themselves as free of the Drakku? What do you think they’d talk about if they thought no one was listening? You wouldn’t know because you’re here with me instead of remaining where I commanded you.”
“I’m so sorry father. I only meant to assist you.”
“You’d do better if you remained inside with Grymryg. At least he’s there doing what needs to be done.”
Small puffs of smoke escaped her nostrils and Avess knew he’d gone too far. He hadn’t meant to get that angry with her, but she had to see why he did what he did and why he told her to do the things he wanted her to do. He understood sitting quietly while the negotiating partners spoke of dinner or other mundane things might be boring, but he needed eyes and ears to catch what they tried to hide from him while formally discussing the matters at hand.
Get the entire story Curse of the Drakku: Origins as part of Rogue Skies for only .99!
Hey everyone, I have an awesome opportunity for you to get an EXCLUSIVE novel of mine from an amazing boxed-set of science fiction and fantasy novels.
Transport yourself to new worlds where dark magic clashes with witty witches, diabolic demons, feisty fae, and sexy shifters. Or travel through time and space with cosmic spies, space thieves, and telepathic pirates. Add in a dash of Victorian heroes and inhuman soldiers, and you have a one-of-a-kind science fiction and fantasy collection of intoxicating proportions.
Fans of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Anne McCaffrey, John Scalzi or Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Tamora Pierce, Lois Lowry, and Maria V. Snyder will find themselves transported to weird realms and epic otherworlds in this reality-optional boxset.
Rogues and Rebels, Magic and Mayhem, Futures and Fantasy—there’s no limit to the excitement that awaits when you turn the pages of this collection of spellbinding adventures from some of today’s best-selling Science Fiction and Fantasy authors.
This collection will feature a prequel novel to my latest Curse of the Drakku fantasy series available nowhere else but here! Not only will you get this exclusive novel, but you get 24 additional science fiction and fantasy novels all for only .99!
Even if you don’t intend on reading all the books, this will be the only way to get my prequel novel for the discounted price of .99.
Sound like a deal? Please consider pre-ordering Rogue Skies on Amazon, Apple Books, or Nook today!
Still not convinced to give it a try? We’re offering a FREE GIFT of 19 stories if you pre-order Rogue Skies. All you need to do is follow this link to get the info.
25 novels. 19 stories. All for .99? Get yours today!
Hey everyone, I wanted to alert you to a couple promos I’m participating in where you can get FREE books!
The first is the Summer Speculative Fiction Promo, which I’m hosting. There are over 140 free science-fiction, fantasy, and horror novels to choose from. There are short stories, sample chapters, and full-length novels. Want something new to read? Check it out! Click the image for more info.
The other promo I’m participating in is the Summer is Coming Fantasy promo. This is all fantasy, all the time! There are a ton of great books available. Find out more by clicking the image.
That’s it for today. Please check out the promos and share this post so others can learn of the free goodness available. Thanks!
He slays dragons for a living. Now he’s on a mission to wipe them from existence.
I’m thrilled to announce that my new novel The Blood Stone: Curse of the Drakku Book One is now live! You can experience a new adventure fantasy with this fast-paced tale.
The Blood Stone: Curse of the Drakku Book One
Lailoken longs to slit the throat of the beasts who abducted his wife. And with the winged monsters raining havoc on the northern lands, the vengeful dragonslayer’s bloody skills have never been in higher demand. Finally granted the chance to rescue his long-lost love in exchange for a dangerous, magical gem, he sharpens his sword for the quest of his life.
Venturing deep into enemy territory to collect the dragon-killing artifact for his fanatical leader, Lailoken prays that he’ll have one more chance to hold his beautiful bride. But as his single-minded hunt for revenge reveals a darker truth, he fears he may be fighting on the side of evil.
Will Lailoken reunite with his love and slay dragonkind, or has he unwittingly triggered the realm’s destruction?
The Blood Stone is the first book in the fast-paced Curse of the Drakku fantasy series. If you like intriguing magic, powerful dragons, and honorable heroes, then you’ll love Jason J. Nugent’s epic adventure.
Buy The Blood Stone to watch a dragonslayer get his revenge today!
Thank you all for your continued support. I hope you enjoy the new book as much as I did writing it!
Today’s pet peeve is brought to you by “Middle Aged Grouchiness: The Only Thing Worse Than Teenaged Angst.”
A couple phrases I absolutely hate hearing are “I will ___ when I get a chance” or “I’m going to do ___ when I have time.” They grate on me like nothing else. (And to be fair, I’ve uttered those words and regretted it every time.)
When someone tells me “I will do this or that when I get a chance,” it’s more like a brush-off. It’s as though they’re telling me “I can’t be bothered. Let me tell you something to get you off my back.” It’s frustrating. Just do whatever it is you need to do! Why wait? Why imply a promise of action when you could be doing the action instead?
The same goes with “I’m going to do this or that when I have the time.” Ugh!! Do it now. Take care of it now. You know what needs to be done!
These phrases have irked me for some time. Yes, I’ve used them before and I’ve not felt good about them.
What brought this to my attention was a recent interview I heard on NPR with an author whose new memoir contained egregious plagiarism. The author (sorry, I don’t remember her name) replied to the accusations by saying “I will get to them soon.” She knew there were problems, pointed out several of them herself, and carried on like it was nothing. If I recall correctly, I think many of her citations to other books were wrong or led to the incorrect pages of her cited works.
No! Do them now! You know the problems are there and you know the solutions. Fix it now! Why wait? What do you have to gain from postponing the action?
It sounded more like she was deflecting away from the errors and giving an answer she thought would satisfy her critics while doing nothing about it. She promised future action as a means of quelling the immediate problem.
Can we all stop this? Can we be people of action and not deflection? I include myself in this. I’m just as guilty as the next person. The sooner we can take ownership of the problem, the sooner it will be fixed. Responsibility folks: it’s a beautiful thing.
Rant over. Thanks for dropping by.
Want to win a $350 Amazon gift card? I’m participating in another BookBub giveaway where a lucky winner can nab a sweet gift card. Click the image below and follow the instructions to enter the giveaway. Good Luck!
Lately I’ve found myself sharing my experiences with other writers as though I’m some sort of “Johnny Appleseed” of indie authors, planting my advice wherever I can. Let’s get that idea debunked now: I’m not an expert.
But what I am is a person willing and eager to share my experiences with the hope they will help someone else. My experiences might not be the most relevant or the most powerful, but they are mine not to keep to myself, but to share with others.
I belong to several indie author Facebook groups where new and experienced writers can exchange their stories and learn from one another. I’ve taken it upon myself to answer a lot of questions from the newer authors because if I were in their shoes, I’d want someone doing that for me.
It’s paying it forward and we need more of that.
Navigating the often difficult path to indie writing and publishing can be daunting without the proper guidance. I’m not going to say I know it all or I’m an expert by any means. My mistakes and low sales are evidence to that. But I do have experiences that if shared, can help others after me grow faster and possibly sell way more than me. And I’m cool with that.
I don’t see indie writing and publishing as a cut-throat scenario where I’m gonna keep my successes (and failures) to myself so others will be at a disadvantage. I want us all to rise up and be better. As fellow writer and all around good-guy Brian K. Morris says, “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats.” If I succeed, I want other writers there with me.
There are always unscrupulous people out there in every facet of life; indie publishing is no different. Sometimes the advice or experience I share might benefit them too. It’s a price to pay for being willing to open up with others.
I hope you’d consider sharing your experiences, good and bad, with other writers and people in your life when you can. We should all be learning and growing. Our advice and recommendations may make it easier for others and might help them surpass our own efforts.
Cool, bring it on. Let’s all grow better together!
Last week I posted about reviews. This week, I’d like to ask for them.
My boxed set of The Forgotten Chronicles: The Complete Trilogy is chilling on the various ebook retailers all alone without a review to accompany it. Would you be willing to leave an honest review? If you bought the boxed set or read the trilogy on its own, you can leave a review for it on Amazon. For the other retailers, you’d have to actually buy the trilogy. So…if you could help a brother out, that would rock. I plan on running promos in the near future and as I posted about last week, many services need to see a certain number of reviews before they’ll promote your book.
Thank you!
Book reviews are like gold for authors. We all want them. They’re the “social proof” our books are being read by readers. But…how important are they? How many do you really need? What’s their point? What do we do with them?
Earning reviews on books helps potential readers decide if the book is for them or not. I worked hard to earn 50 reviews on my book The Selection. I joined groups for reviews.
I started a Facebook group called The Review Circle where a bunch of authors would agree to read and review the book of another author while also being read and reviewed by a third author. It works like this: Author A reviews Author B. Author B reviews Author C. Author C then reviews Author A. I didn’t want review exchanges, but the freedom of the author to read and honestly review a different book knowing they were not being reviewed by that same author. The concept works and we’ve done many “review circles,” but it was difficult to keep up with, especially when the same authors signed up and we avoided (as best we could) having people review authors who have already read them.
With all that work, how important are reviews? It depends on what your goals are.
Many book promotion sites require a certain number of reviews before they’ll accept your book. Many need to see at least 10 reviews, others less. It’s funny because the largest and most effective book promo site, BookBub, does not have such rigid requirements. I understand why some of the services do. They want their readers to know the books they’re promoting aren’t hack pieces and have some legitimacy to them.
How many do you need? I guess this depends on what you need them for. If your book sells even though you have few reviews, maybe you don’t need that many. Or, maybe you could use more to increase those daily sales. If you want to schedule an email blast promo, you’ll need as many as they require for you to sign-up.
Why do we crave reviews, what do they do for us? The easy answer is that they let us know we’ve somehow touched the reader with our book in a way that compelled them to leave a review. It’s one of the most gratifying experiences to read a positive review of your work. At the same time, it’s crushing to read a negative one, though if taken as a learning tool, it can help sharpen the writer’s skill for future works.
I welcome any and all reviews, as long as they’re honest. If you’ve spent your money on my books or picked them up for free during a promo, I fully expect that your time will not be wasted in my words and my hope is that you’ll leave an honest review of my work. If you don’t, that’s cool too. It’s your call.
I’ve retrained myself to always leave a review of the books I’ve read, especially if it’s a fellow indie author. My hope is that it will encourage them to continue or maybe give them just enough to book a promo they’ve wanted to do. And the great thing is, it doesn’t have to be a long in-depth review. Just a few words saying “I really liked this book” or something like that works too.
What’s your take on reviews? Do you think they carry more weight than I’ve described above? Do you leave them? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Have you followed me on BookBub yet? If not, click the image below enter into a drawing where two lucky winners get a $100 Amazon gift card. All you have to do is follow me to enter. Gain over 80 additional chances by following the other scifi and/or fantasy authors as well.
Want my book The Selection for free? Grab a copy when you sign-up for my email list through the Birthday Book Party giveaway. While you’re there, check out all the other free scifi and fantasy novels!
Last week I discussed a few myths about BookBub Featured Deals. This week, as promised, I’m sharing raw numbers for both of my deals. I hope to help shed light on how great these promos are, even with such a high cost.
A few things to clarify first. Both books are standalones, which means no read-through in a series. They are both in Kindle Unlimited. Both were originally $2.99 and the deal ran for .99 in the US and International markets. As horror novels, both Featured Deals cost $356 to run.
Now, on to the numbers.
My first Featured Deal ran on Sunday August 5th. I was a bit apprehensive of a horror novel being featured on a Sunday, but it turned out fine. I hoped to have a ton of downloads and make my money back on the first day.
That didn’t happen.
Honestly, I was kinda freaked out about this development. I questioned my ability as a writer. I considered throwing in the towel. It really bothered me. Then I took a walk around Lake Murphysboro and let the stress dissipate. I’ve read all kinds of stories about authors selling tons of books and here I was with a total of 308 copies sold. I ended the month selling 443 copies. That wasn’t enough to cover the cost of the promo. However, I also had 44,751 page reads. Those helped recoup the costs of the promo and were key to a successful run.
It took nearly three weeks for me to earn back my money, but it was well worth it. I introduced a pen name to a world of readers who knew nothing of me before.
Then I had my second Featured Deal run on December 26th. I was super pumped about this and couldn’t wait to see the results.
It started out ok with 312 copies sold on the day of the deal with another 64 on the day 
after. Sweet! I thought. They tapered off pretty quick after that.
Since the date of the promo, I’ve sold 461 copies of the book with just over 22,000 page reads in KU. It’s taken a little bit longer to recoup my costs with the lower overall page reads, but as of this post, I’m nearly there. I have no doubt if these were for a series, I’d have covered my ad spend a long time ago.
So I ask…is BookBub worth it? Yep! There is no service that performs like them. I’ve tried others and they lack the volume BookBub delivers. I’ve read about how they aren’t as good as they used to be which might be true, but of all the email blast promos out there, they are by far the most effective.
Marketing, whether you’re traditionally published or an indie author like myself, is key to long-term sustainability. BookBub can give your efforts a major boost if you’re willing to be patient and let the promo run its course. I plan on trying them again when I can.
How are your marketing efforts? What’s working and what’s not? Feel free to comment below. If you’ve had a BookBub deal, how’d it go? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Care to follow me on BookBub? Want to try for an Amazon $100 gift card? Click the image below for a bunch of chances to win by following scifi and fantasy authors on BookBub, including myself. It’s free to enter and who knows, you might win!
Getting a BookBub is every indie author’s dream. It’s a spectacular email blast promo service that shares your discounted or free book to eager readers waiting to buy. There are other services, but none pack the punch of BookBub.
Because they don’t share what really goes into a Featured Deal acceptance, rumors run rampant throughout the indie author community about what it takes in order to get them to select your book.
I’m not an expert, but what follows are my experiences which I hope will help other authors plan and hopefully experience the joy of “Getting a BookBub!” Let’s start with a couple myths.
Myth #1: You need at least X amount of reviews to get a BookBub.
Ok, so reviews are important. They’re social proof that readers like your book. I work hard to earn honest reviews so hopefully other readers will see how my book might appeal to them.
One of the biggest myths I’ve heard about BookBub is that they need to see at least 50 reviews on a book to even consider it. Umm…no.
I have no idea if they really have a baseline for number of reviews. What I do know is that both of my books selected for Featured Deals had less than 10 reviews at the time of the deal. Actually, they both still have less than 10 (one of them only has 3 reviews!)
From my experience, the thought that you need at least 50 reviews for BookBub to accept your book is flawed. Yes, you want reviews but they won’t hold you back. It’s funny because services that have a much lower ROI than BookBub require a certain amount of reviews and both my books would have been denied on that point alone.
Myth #2: You need to be wide (Not Amazon exclusive).
It might actually help if your books are wide (meaning on more than just Amazon) but from my experience, it wasn’t necessary. Both of my books were in Kindle Unlimited and still are.
What’s this mean to you? If you’re comfortable going wide, do it. If you prefer to stay within the confines of KU, do that. No matter what, present the best book possible, which leads to my recommendations.
I think what tipped the scales in my favor were a few factors.
The first was the cover.
For my horror novels under my pen name, I chose a new cover designer that rocked it! They nailed the genre while touching on the material within the book. I think if you want to be considered for a BookBub, make sure you get a killer cover first.
My novel “The Selection” has been rejected like a dozen times from BookBub, but the first time I submitted my first horror novel, it was accepted. I want to recover all three books in my trilogy but…money.
The second thing that helped was a decent blurb. So, I suck at these and always need help. I’m never satisfied with them. However, you want to make sure you create a blurb that leaves the reader wanting more and ready to hand over their money for your book. I think mine weren’t perfect, but they were good enough.
Finally, I think genre had a role. As I mentioned, my young adult scifi novel has never been accepted, but both my horror novels were. I’m thinking maybe not too many apply for that genre? Or maybe it’s a genre that’s growing? I honestly don’t know but I think with the great covers and decent blurbs, I stood a greater chance to get accepted.
Are there other myths you’ve heard that I didn’t touch on here? Please leave a comment below and let’s get the discussion going.
How did my BookBub Featured Deals do? Come back next week for a follow up post where I peel back the curtain and let you know exactly how they did.
In the meantime, why not click below and follow me on BookBub? You’ll always be alerted when I have a new release.
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