Just wanted to drop by and let everyone know that The Fall, which has been on sale for 99¢ for a month, will be returning to its regular $2.99 selling point come Monday, June 13th.  That means you have two more days to pick up the fantastic first book of The Rift for its bargain-basement price.

Purchase The Fall for your kindle here.

Here it is - the first review of DoW from the review copies I sent out.  And it's a pretty durn goodun' if I do say so myself.  Feel free to click on the link below to read it!

http://readersfavorite.com/cat-71.htm?review=3983

That's right, fair readers!  After much deliberation with my writerly cohorts in the IAM and Kindleboarders, I've finally come up with a couple solid titles for the 3rd book.  I feel they definitely capture the feel of the story, the dark and sinister places it goes.  To say I'm happy with them - and relieved I've at least got an idea now - would be an understatement.

So what are these titles, you ask?  Well here they are.

1 - SPRING IS FOR SAVAGES

2 - THE SAVAGE SPRING

So I'm just curious what all you who live in my hard drive think of these.  Which would you choose?   Do you think I need to work on it some more?  Right now I'm leaning towards #2, but that can change.  Please, feel free to let me know.

Also, I took a break from my updates for The Gauntlet this past weekend.  I'll be sure to have a new update posted this coming Sunday, however.

Peace!

RJD

There are a great many advantages to self-publishing, as long as you're willing to put in a ton of work and are able to develop a vast amount of patience.  However, once you obtain even the slightest morsel of success, you end up developing a certain mindset that can quite literally cause mind-numbing obsession.  And this mindset is...

(drumroll)

Doubt.

The sales of our books have skyrocketed (comparatively) of late.  For the last week or so, we've been selling right around 40 a day.  But on this particular Saturday, things have ground to a halt.  Our sales rankings are climbing higher and higher, and along with that goes my level of panic.  I have a great fear that one day everyone will look at my work and say, "Oh, that's right, he's no good," and everything I thought I've built will crumble.  It's a dangerous thought process to have.  I've been checking the KDP feed obsessively and pulling my hair out trying to figure out HOW OH HOW I will get everything on track.  My stress levels are through the roof.

The thing is, deep down I understand that this is nothing but a hiccup, that if I simply take a deep breath and forget about the immediacy of success, everything will even out.  We've put out a damn good product, after all, and I've always lived by the theory that the cream rises.  And we're that cream.  But this doesn't stop the fear, doesn't stop the self-doubt from infiltrating my every waking thought.

I've wondered recently if this is something that will ever leave me.  I've wondered how I'd feel if (hell no-when!) I ever reach Amanda Hocking or JA Konrath levels of success.  Will the doubt leave then?  Will I finally be able to settle down and not constantly wonder if the next book will finally be the one that sends me down the eternal shitter where all failed authors land?  Will I stop looking at my life with a soul-crushing fear of failure?

Somehow I doubt it.  And there's that word again.

It keeps cropping back up.

Damn.

RJD

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

So 2011 is here at last.  Time for some updates!

It turns out the full release of Dead of Winter will only be delayed for a month.  Jesse is hard at work on the illustrations, and we'll be getting together the 15th of January to put it all together.

Also, for some even better news, the prices of both books will be dropping.  I've decided that I didn't use my space appropriately last time.  We will be changing the format of the first book (along with DoW) in order to drop the page count, which in turn will drop the price.  Look for both to be in the $10 to $13 range.  Condensing makes them that much more affordable...not to mention appearing more professional.  Which they are, by the way.

As a final note, after the release of the final DoW version, we'll be hard at work constructing the print for The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales.   This one should come in the $5 to $6 range - a small and affordable book of shorts.

So we'll be seeing you soon, folks.  Remember to post reviews on Amazon or Goodreads whenever you finish a book.  We need your support.  There wouldn't be an us without you.

Peace,

RJD

Well, for anyone who's been waiting for book two of The Rift to be released, your wait is over!  In a way, anyhow.

As of right now, Dead of Winter is live on Amazon for the Kindle.  I know, I know, the print book is supposed to be available, too, but we've run into a couple snags along the way.  It won't be too long, however.  We're looking right now at the second week of January for the release.

That being said, anyone who wants to pick up Dead of Winter can simply click here to find the Amazon product page.  As I've said many times, this is my favorite book in the series, and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

I hope you will be, as well.

I'll now leave you with an image of the cover - which will change slightly, because the font is a little, well, weak.

It's a fantastic piece of art, folks.  And the interior illustrations are going to be just as good.

Peace. 

- RJD

Buy Dead of Winter for the Kindle:

That's right, folks.  My new compilation of short stories - "The Gate: 13 Dark & Odd Tales" - is now available in ebook format for the Amazon Kindle.  Some of the stories are intense, some are poignant,  some of just made to entertain.  There are also four additional tales by fantastic writers Mecedes M. Yardley, David Dalglish, Daniel Pyle, and David McAfee.  Feel free to check it out.  There is also a super-special bonus at the end.  Click on the image to go to the Amazon page.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction
The Gatekeeper by RJD
Sullivan Street by RJD
The Container of Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley
Sins of Our Fathers by RJD
Blight by Daniel Pyle
Feeding the Passion by RJD
Dispatch #337 by RJD
Exhibit A by David McAfee
The Emancipation of Po-Po by RJD
I Spy by RJD
Kitty in the Cellar by David Dalglish
Perfect Blue Buildings by RJD
Empty Spaces by RJD
Traipsing Through the Dark (by all authors)
Excerpt from "Dead of Winter: The Rift Book II"

(as a reminder, this book will also be reissued in January as a digest-sized print book

Here is where we stand right now when it pertains to the two separate projects we have going on right now:

#1 - Dead Of Winter

Yes, the final round of edits for the second book of The Rift are now finished!  The manuscript has been sent off to our first editor to look over.  When it comes back, it will be sent to yet another editor.  By the time it comes back to us complete, it should be a pretty spit-and-polished final product - unlike the many versions of The Fall in which the mistakes we (I) made cost me a ton of money and will not be repeated.

Jesse is also hard at work putting together the cover and interior illustrations.  When he's finished, we'll be putting it all together, producing the paperback and hardcover, and then it's up to me to format and upload a version for the Kindle, Nook, and iPad.  Yes, it's still a lot of work to do, and many more sleepless nights.  But in the end, it's all worth it.  This is going to be a fantastic book, better than the first, and will hopefully please those looking forward to following the exploits of Josh, Kyra, Colin, and a host of new and interesting characters.  And yes, our release date is still tentatively scheduled for around December 15th.

#2 - The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales

This is a special - and now collaborative - project.  I have collected nine of my best short stories, and gathered contributions from a few great writers I know - David Dalglish, Mercedes Yardley, David McAfee, and Daniel Pyle.  These shorts will all be gathered in this 50,000 word tome.  It will be released at first for the Kindle only, again with Jesse's artwork adorning the cover.  Then, after we put finishing touches on Dead of Winter, we will go about creating a digest-sized paperback, complete with sketches from the fabulous artist himself based on the stories included.

There are a wide range of tales in here, everything from straight horror to science fiction to slipstream.  It's quite exciting for me, and all the stories (even mine) are good.  Look out for this to be released by the middle or end of this month.  Here is the table of contents in the order I have them right now:

1 - The Gate
2 - Sullivan Street
3 - Container of Sorrows (Mercedes M. Yardley)
4 - The Sins of the Father
5 - Blight (Daniel Pyle)
6 - Feeding the Passion
7 - Dispatch #337
8 - Exhibit A (David McAfee)
9 - The Bandits of Yaddo
10 - I Spy
11 - Kitty in the Cellar (David Dalglish)
12 - Perfect Blue Buildings
13 - Empty Spaces

That's all I have for now, folks!  Check back later for more.

Well now, folks, The Fall is now available for sale on Barnes and Noble as an ebook for the Nook.  The price is $2.99, same as for the Kindle.  So any Nook users that stumble upon this, feel free to check it out!

The Fall for Nook at Barnes and Noble.com