Sunrise Destiny coming May 21

I have a tentative release date for my upcoming sci-fi novel, Sunrise Destiny. The plan is for a May 21 release.

Although the book isn't yet out, the publisher, Red Rose Publishing, has created an order page for it, containing a thousand-word excerpt. The cover price for the ebook is $5.99. A print version should be out later. If you prefer, here is a direct link to the excerpt on my website. Here's the book blurb:

When private detective Donatello Sunrise is coerced into finding a Mob boss’s daughter, he stumbles onto a much bigger case. Dozens of women, all young, all petite, have disappeared in recent weeks. Mysterious and conflicting clues seem to point to a government conspiracy, a mad scientist bent on global domination, or perhaps abduction by bloodthirsty alien vampires. Nothing makes any sense.

Before he knows it, Sunrise and his hooker friend Lola find themselves in a life-or-death struggle. The Mob wants them dead, the cops want them for serial murders—even the kidnappers are after them. With the fate of two worlds intertwined, Sunrise and Lola must somehow help the good guys defeat the evil ones.

The trick is telling one from the other.

I'll follow up when I have a firm release date.

Mark.

Auctioned Bride is now available

If you like romance novels, check out Victoria Chapman's book, Auctioned Bride.

Erotic Romance: Contemporary, Interracial/Multicultural

ISBN: 978-1-60435-281-8
Word Count: 60,870
Release Date: January 15, 2009

Who will win the battle and who is going to win the war?

When Kathy Adams finds herself alone in a deserted building during a hurricane, the last thing she expects is to run into a stranger in the dark. He turns out to be a Peruvian billionaire who takes one look at her in the glare of his flashlight, and decides to add her to his collection of pretty toys. He offers her a dream job on his private island in the Caribbean, and their seduction dance begins.

He is handsome, arrogant, and thinks that every woman has a price. And she's a girl who won't be bought. She wants the real thing—she wants love. Paul Andros doesn't know the meaning of the word.

Kathy is falling for him against her better judgment, every instinct telling her to run. She'd never met his type of man before. Exciting, volatile and always in control. He uses sex as a weapon to leave her weak at the knees.

After one of their many fights, he bids for her at a charity auction, and pays three million dollars to teach her a lesson. The farm girl from Iowa, and the Inca King from Peru wage their final battle on their wedding night and find love and passion strong enough to bridge their differences.

Can hate turn to love? Find out in Auctioned Bride…

**********

To order, or for an excerpt, visit the order page or Victoria's blog.

Mark.

New web site

I finally got around to setting up a web site to promote my novels. You can find out about all five of my novels (finished, unfinished, and finished but unsold), as well as my short fiction, nonfiction, humor, poetry, and children's books. Feel free to browse around, read the blurbs/excerpts/bio and the linked stories and poems, watch the video, and so on.

This site may or may not be permanent, but it'll do the job until something else comes along.

Mark.

The life of a new author

Beyond the excitement of signing the contracts and being recommended by Oprah (I wish!), there's a lot of work involved in getting a book to market (and, with, luck, making it a success). I've previously mentioned working with the artist on a cover design and working with the editor on the galley proofs and to decide on the final title of the book.

In addition, there's creating a short blurb for the jacket to describe the book in such a way that a casual browser just has to buy it. And there's selecting a longer excerpt to represent the book on your web page. Not to mention creating said web page in the first place (and, natch, a blog). And writing an author's bio that's both informative and somewhat less dry than a 5,000-year-old mummy's throat.

But that's just the beginning. If you're not lucky enough to sign with one of the top publishers--with enough buzz behind your book to warrant a big-bucks promotional campaign--you as the author are in for a lot of work doing self-promotion.

I'm still learning about this, but there are many aspects to promoting yourself and your books. There are the little things, like printing up bookmarks to hand to people. (The bookmarks contain your cover art and something about you, the author.) Also, letting everyone know you just sold a book--including people in all the chat rooms, discussion groups/forums you frequent, as well as all your IM buddies. If you belong to writer's groups, book discussion clubs and the like, let them know as well.

Unless you're sure that every bookstore in the known universe will carry your book, it doesn't hurt to drop into all the local bookstores and offer to autograph all the copies of your book that they order. Getting a few copies in the door (especially if they're posted with a sign indicating that they're autographed), can't hurt. Who knows, you might sell a few.

In addition, you might email all the websites and ezines you can find that do book reviews and ask them if they'd review your book. You might be surprised at how many will trade a review for a free book. (It doesn't guarantee a favorable review, but when you're an unknown writer whose book sales are effectively zero, a positive review will help far more than a negative review can possibly hurt you. (You can't have negative sales, right?)

As for book signing, interviews, talk shows, etc., you should be so lucky. If it happens, sure, it'll be a grind, and after the first blush of excitement fades, not much fun. But it sure beats being ignored. Right?

Mark. (Still waiting to see the final cover design.)