Paperbacks

By this morning, paperback versions of the Gray series should be for sale. Within a few days, Quake and Erupt paperbacks will be available, too. I went through CreateSpace only, so people and libraries can get them through Amazon.

I apologize to my Australian readers for the near-impossibility of getting indie paperbacks there. It isn't just me frustrating you, as you probably know. It's the system, and it's unlikely to change soon. (I wish Amazon would get KU to Australia, too!)

For future books, I'll release the paperback version  a month or two after the e-book release. And I'll be working on starting on audiobooks  in May, so that will be happening this year, as well.

Gray I
Gray II
Gray III

Thanks for reading!

Update on Gray III

I'm a day or two away from handing over a revised, edited, and proofread Gray III to the first of my team of proofreaders. I've somehow managed to finish it on schedule despite moving to a new place this week. (Ouch--did I just strain myself patting my own back?)

My mailing list will get the news the instant Gray III goes live at Amazon...and I will give them a discount price for 24 hours (or a few hours more) because they are such enthusiastic, loyal fans. I'm guessing January 12 will be the date, but it could be a few days either way. A few days later, Amazon sends out their email about the release, for followers through Amazon.

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I'm excited to have received books for research into the next series (I'll write three novels in 2016 and release them starting in September or October) I'll reveal more about the topic later...but not much until September. Keeping it a secret pushes my energy for writing to the highest peak. This next series is going to be great fun to write, and the setting is so cool. I know most of the characters. I know some of the events. I'm rarin' to go. What joy to dive daily all year into the imaginary world. (Sticking my head up from there only to release already-written books in April and July.)

Happy New Year to all!

Too busy to blog

My apologies, but I'm deep into edits of Gray III, and so I've no time to blog intelligently today.

Fans of my novels will be happy to know it's going well and that I'm ahead of schedule.

Those who follow my blog for natural disaster news and history will be relieved to know I'll be back next week with a post on that topic.

Readers' questions answered

Some readers have asked me questions that I thought might be worth answering for everyone to see.

When is Gray III coming out? 

January, and I'm 99.99% certain of that now. When I pass it to my final proofreader, I'll put a notice up here and pin a tweet on Twitter with a more specific date. The day of its release, I email my mailing list. Three days later, Amazon mails anyone who "follows" me there after asking for a message from me to include in that mail.

You're a wonderful writer. Where have you been hiding before now? 

First, thank you!

I have been writing for years, but for the few years before I began self-publishing at Amazon in 2014, I was definitely feeling hidden while being given the run-around by agents. The more I read about indie publishing versus traditional, the less I was interested in traditional anyway, so I put myself on this path. (In hindsight, I should have done it three years earlier!). I focused on short stories and poetry for many years, and I only began writing novels in 2005.

Why didn't you answer my question on readersandwriters.au? You're rude! 

I'm sorry I missed it. But, to be honest, I'm sure to miss more such questions as time goes on.

I appreciate your interest in my books, but if I spent two hours every day hunting every possible book discussion page or site in the fifteen countries where I currently sell books, hoping for questions directed to me (or at another pen name I use), I wouldn't be able to write new novels. There are only so many hours in my writing day, and if you like my books, then you really do want me to spend those hours writing more books, not on social media and ego-Googling.

There are two reliable ways to contact me. Here, on the contact form (or figure out my not-mysterious gmail address--(myname)@gmail.com) or via twitter @loucadle. Anywhere else? I am not likely to stumble over anything you ask me.

Do you have paperback books?  I have a friend who only reads physical books.

Soon I will. Learning the two required pieces of software and the interface at CreateSpace takes time, and I've been spending my writing time on writing and required business tasks. The next few months, I've carved out time every day to peck away at learning this. If I can't gain the skills in that period, I'll pay someone to do it all. By June 2016, at the very latest, I'll have six paperback books for sale through Amazon.

I'd also like to produce audiobooks next year if I can carve out the time.

Why don't you write faster?

I appreciate the implied compliment.

If I did write faster, the books might not be as good. A typical traditionally published author puts out one book per year. I'm putting out three to four right now. It's not entirely impossible that after I work at this rate for another year, I'll be able to streamline the process and squeeze in a fifth, but it's equally possible that I'll burn out creatively, drain that mysterious well that writing comes from, and need to slow down to one a year by 2018.

Will you sell a combined bundle of the Gray series?

Yes, but not soon. I have it on my publication schedule for 2017. Often, if an author does not do this, Amazon bundles them on its own initiative.

Why did you stop selling your books at B&N?

They do nothing to promote indie books. When I switched to exclusively Amazon, I made more money in 12 hours on Kindle Unlimited borrows than I'd made on any other site in a year. More income = more freedom to write books = more books for you to read, even if you do have to download the Kindle reader app on another device.

Do you have a Kindle yourself?

I have a Fire, and I love it. Though once, early in our time together, I fell asleep on it and woke up with a black eye; but I can hardly blame the Fire for that.

Gray I news and thanks

First of all, I want to thank everyone who read and liked the Gray series. For those of you who recommended it to a friend or reviewed it, an extra helping of thanks for helping it find more readers!

Gray III is drafted, I begin revisions tomorrow, it should be for sale in January (exact date depending on proofreader availability.)

This month, Gray I crested 10,000 sales and rentals at Amazon, and the only reason it did that was because of you, my wonderful readers. I firmly believe I have the smartest readers around, too--and not just because you like my writing! (grin) As I add people to the mailing list, I often see a little something about them, and you all are fascinating, with many of you being professionals, business owners, academics, world travelers. I'd love to have a party for you all. (Though all the airline tickets from Australia would break the bank, so I won't…)

Not as a direct result of reaching that number, but I'm going to be raising the price for Gray I from 99 cents tomorrow, December 1. (Tell a friend to grab it today!)

Even writers' eyes will glaze over at this rationale, but I'll explain the reason anyway. It has to do with using the most effective ad sites for books, which require a book be discounted, in addition to Amazon's requirements for when that can be discounted relative to the last price change, in addition to my planned release date for Gray III. Or, to be more concise, the price has to go up so it can go down for sales.

My tentative publishing schedule for 2016:

• January - Gray III
• April - Storm (a stand-alone disaster novel)
• July - Crawl+ (2 novelettes bundled together)
• Summer - Paperbacks of all novels
• October - New Series Book I
• December or January - New Series Book II

Gray III is drafted

I'm still on track for a January release of Gray III. I'll be revising it in December and if all goes well, several proofreaders will look at it sequentially in January. Deranged Doctor Design has the cover finished for me:

If you want to be emailed at its release, just sign up in the form on this page (on most browsers/apps, it should be to your right.) You can also "follow" me at Amazon if you'd prefer and they will notify you about three days after its release.

Thanks so much for reading!

Update on Gray III

I know my readers want to know when the final installment of the Gray series is coming out. In brief, I'm on track for a January 2016 release.

I've written over half of the draft, and I have an outline for the rest of the novel (which I may or may not stick closely to, but it's still a good thing to have.) I work on it every day. My hope is that I'll be done with the draft on October 20.

My process thereafter is this:

• Forget about it for three or four weeks while I work on something else
• Revise on screen
• Edit on screen (revision is "big stuff" and editing is "little stuff," the way I use the terms)
• Printout and another edit on paper
• Enter those changes and send it off to three amateur proofreaders, in sequence
• After those people are done, send it to my pro proofreader
• Enter those changes
• Upload to Amazon
• Email my mailing list

The pro proofreading may fall right around Christmas, so I'm not sure yet about availability/timing. Best case: nothing goes wrong, and a January 1 release. Worst case, I have a revision brainstorm which pushes this all back nearly a month, as happened with Gray II.

After that, I have another standalone disaster novel nearly ready, and I will put it up for sale in April. I have a short story/novelette to release in summer 2016.  I hope to get to releasing paperbacks in early 2016, too. I have a new series that I'm already researching and jotting notes here and there, and I hope to have two of those done before I release the first in late September 2016. The further into the future we go, the less certain I am the plan will work out precisely, but if the crick don't rise, it'll be close to that schedule.

Thanks for reading!

Edits on Gray II

My edits on Gray II are going better than I'd hoped. Depending on the availability of my proofreaders, I could have this up for sale before August 1! (If not, the first week of August for sure.)

I'll email my mailing list fans so they can catch the days it'll be 99 cents. If you haven't signed up for the mailing list, please do so.

Gray II

I've been revising Gray II, and I was nearly done, when a brainstorm hit me. I think the new idea will make it a better novel, so for those of you I've told it will be out in June, I'm sorry! I still think it will be out before the end of summer, and a better book than it would have been had I not had this new idea. Hang tight, and it will come...!

Proofreading news

Hello, fans!

Because of the success of Gray this past month, I can now afford better proofreading services. Thank you to my readers for helping me get to this point. If I could shake every one of your hands in thanks, I would. I'm getting Quake and Erupt proofread this week and next, and by the first of May they should be as error-free as human effort can make them.

If you keep your updates turned on when you buy indie books (and not just mine), you can always have the best, current version of those books. Not every indie author has the money in hand to pay what can be thousands for developmental editing or hundreds for proofing or hundreds or thousands for a professional cover. My budget certainly did not allow for any of that, except for a few pre-made covers.

A friend of mine joked with me a few years ago that we looked up at the poverty line with great longing, even awe: wow, maybe we can be up there one day! I'm still laughing, not whining, about that. I made the choice to be poor, and I made the choice not to seek any governmental assistance when I was. But a decade of living on very little (often only $350 US per month), while it left me with time to write, did not leave me with a big pile of loot to pay for the launch of the books I had written during that time. Now, I can return my profits into the business and offer readers a better product. (Getting a phone can wait, right? I've lived without for many years, so it must not be that important.) Maybe I'll even be able to afford a real website by the end of 2015.

I thank you for your patience, and I thank you for your patronage. And a grateful shout-out to my family and friends who did my proofing these past six months. (No one proofs the blog but me--we'll all have to live with the occasional typo here.) Now...back to drafting the last chapters of Gray II, which I hope to have out in June.

word cloud

From a first-draft scene from Gray II

Gray Part I released! 99 cents!

A dense black cloud boiled up in the southeastern sky. It rose high and fast, like a time-lapse movie of the birth of a thunderhead. But it was no rain cloud. Wholly black, it reached up and loomed over her, blocking out the sun. Somehow, she knew, it was Death coming at her.

Pre-med student Coral is on vacation in Idaho when something terrible happens. The black cloud is followed by a wildfire and searing heat that lasts for days. She survives deep in a cave but emerges days later to find the world transformed, blackened trees, an ash-filled sky, and no living creatures stirring--except her.

So begins her desperate journey: to find water, and food, and other survivors...and the answer to the mystery of what has happened.

Gray I is for sale for 99 cents. Available at Amazon,  iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Nook, and many other sales channels.

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And don't forget, as with all indie books, keep updates turned on, so you can always have the best version!

#amwriting

I'm back to work (after a holiday break) on a final revision of Gray, my next natural disaster thriller. I'll be serializing what I have written, which had become too unwieldy to be one book.

I've found a spot to end the first book that should be a satisfying ending for anyone not wishing to read further in the series. Though it's full-novel length, at 55,000 words right now, I'm going to make this a 99-cent book permanently. Current projected release date is February 15.

Happy New Year to everyone.