Okay, I've been kinda keeping something under wraps and I thought it's about time to spill the beans.
I'm writing a Christmas book.
In fact, I've been working on it for two months and am about ten chapters and 20,000 words into it. This is usually the point where Jesse ...reveals the plot to me, and he did last week, which enabled me to go back and write chapter one.
Yeah, I know. It's weird. But it's how I write, simply conveying the story from the characters as they give it to me. It's called "discovery writing," because the writer is discovering the story in the same way the reader does. One word and one sentence at a time.
Anyway, I wrote Chapter One yesterday, and just finished polishing it up this morning.
Here's the last part of Chapter One.
He opened the car door, then stopped again, one foot in the car and the other on the ground.
His phone vibrated and he pulled it out. A text message.
Confirmed?
He stared at the message for a moment before typing a two-word reply. Target eliminated.
He pressed Send then got into the car and started the engine, knowing he’d have to go back to Miami.
Across the street, the apartment building stood silent in the morning stillness.
When he stopped at a traffic light at the next block, he looked at his watch in the predawn quiet of a Key Largo Christmas day.
It was 6:15.
The sudden loud explosion didn’t cause him to flinch. Behind him, windows blew out, raining debris across the highway as flames erupted from the second floor.
He continued watching the mirror as an orange fireball curled upward.
The light turned green and the killer slowly pulled away, grinning at himself in the mirror as he began to sing. “There was once a pig, went out to dig, on Christmas day in the morning…”
Sleighed
Jesse series, volume 33
Coming Christmas Day in the morning.
You guys...
You rock! Thank you so much. I really love telling these earlier stories.
Done Deal was released on Amazon this morning in ebook, audiobook, and paperback formats!
Although we always strive to get all three formats released at the same time, it rarely happens. Sometimes the audiobook has a hiccup, but usually it's just that Amazon needs a lot of lead time for ...the paperback.
Even more rare, in fact never, have all three formats been linked on a single Amazon page on release day. Not once in 13 years and 50 books.
My youngest daughter Jordan has taken over all post-writing duties that I used to have a number of people doing. This happened slowly, and Done Deal was her first start-to-finish project.
Whenever a new or aspiring author asks why being an indie is better than a publishing contract, I give the same reply. Nobody will work as hard for you, nor devote as much time to your potential success, as you will for yourself. Or, a close family member.
Bravo Zule, Jordan!
Done Deal was released this morning at my online Ship's Store in both ebook and audiobook formats. If you preordered, Book Funnel emailed it to you shortly after midnight last night.
It's the fourth in the Jesse McDermitt Tropical Adventure Series and it's been over a year since ...the previous Cocaine Cowboys.
In my store, the ebook is $2 less than Amazon and and the audiobook is discounted up to $5 over anywhere else. The Amazon release won't be for another week, along with the audiobook at most retailers.
If you're just starting the series, go ahead and grab Rising Storm, book 11 of the series, for 80% off, wherever ebooks are sold.
It's the only one of the 32 in the series with a picture of Jesse on the cover. Look real close, near the bottom, beneath and just to the right of the palm... tree.
Done Deal can now be preordered on Amazon!
Good news! Cursed will be released early!
We're only waiting for one file, which I should get over the weekend, then everything will be uploaded to Amazon, as well as to my online store.
The May 1 Amazon release will likely be moved up to next Wednesday, 4/29, and the Ship's Store... release will be moved up to this coming Wednesday, 4/22, and $2.00 less than Amazon.
There's still time to preorder at Amazon or the Ship's Store.
Credit for this goes to Jordan, who has filled the positions of several contract workers and is now our Chief Operating Officer.
My daughter, Jordan, has taken over many of the responsibilities that were once carried out by numerous other people. As a result, the process of turning a finished manuscript into an ebook or paperback now takes less time. Indulgent Charity was released on Amazon three days early.
Cursed ...isn't scheduled to be released for another three weeks, but it's just about ready. The audiobook is complete and has been uploaded to our distribution partner, and all the major retailers are now going through their own QC process. The ebook has been formatted and uploaded to Amazon, and the paperback is nearly complete.
Cursed will be released early, no doubt about that.
How early still depends on the retailers, but I'd bet at least a week. As usual, our own Ship's Store will deliver preorders a week before Amazon, possibly within the next 5-10 days.
Cursed is on preorder at Amazon, as well as in my Ship's Store, which by the way, is $2 less than Amazon.
And my store is currently the only place to preorder the audiobook, which is priced $5 less than the major retailers will be selling it for.
So, as I often say in my exercise videos, "Get up and move!"
And since we're updating, Cursed is back from my editor and I'm rewriting it this week, and the audiobook will be recorded in two weeks. It's not scheduled to be released until May 1, but just like Indulgent Charity, we're ahead of schedule, and it might be released in the next ...four or five weeks.
As always, those who preorder it will be the first to know when it's released.
