Yes, folks, the new book is up and running - on Amazon and Amazon UK in ebook format, that is.  The paperback is still a few days away, but it'll get here, I promise. 

So, here's the cover and description:

"Ken Lowery is a man at odds with his life. He hates his job, is disappointed in his marriage, and feels resigned to leading a mundane existence.

That all changes when his wife brings home a rambunctious Black Labrador puppy named Silas, who forges a remarkable connection with Ken and begins to heal his inner turmoil. When some neighborhood children start to go missing, he takes it upon himself to protect those around him and is thrust into a surreal world where monsters roam.  Not everything is what it seems to be, he soon discovers, including his new best friend."

I really need to thank Dans Arenson and Pyle for their work beta-reading this manuscript.  And of course I need to thank Jesse for the fantastic cover, Mel Rico for the lettering, and my wife for putting up with me.  Last but not least, thank you Leo, my one-eyed yellow Lab, who was my true inspiration for writing this story.

You gentle readers can purchase the ebook at, as I mentioned earlier, Amazon and Amazon UK

Peace, folks, and we'll talk to you soon....

RJD

Here we are, everyone.  May 1st.  This date means something very special to me, so I thought I'd post about it right here, right now.

The Fall first went live in paperback on April 21st, 2010.  That means that Jesse and myself ave been going at this little thing called publishing for a year now.  This is as good a time as any to get everyone up-to-date on how the experience went for us.

As I said, we released the first book on April 21st.  In the last nine days of that month we sold 15 copies of the book - exclusively to family and friends.  I watched our rankings drop and thought, "well, this is how it's gonna be.  We're a hit!"

Then...reality struck.

Sales dropped in May, and we saw little to no movement.  In that time I decided we best get into this burgeoning ebook market.  On June 5th we released The Fall on the Kindle, and again I thought things would just take off. 

I sold a grand total of 5 ebooks that month.

However, this slow progress didn't deter me.  I kept plugging away at other projects while constantly updating our books with new corrections and edits.  I started my review blog, "Journal of Always", in July, and started to gain some exposure.  By the time October rolled around, when I took part in Amanda Hocking's "Zombiepalooza", her dedication to Halloween, things really started to take off.  In November we broke 100 sales in a month for the first time, along with releasing "The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales".  We were on our way.

So here we are now, with three books out there and one more to be released this coming June.  Our sales have been relatively consistent and we've made some more-than-significant progress.  Reviews have been (mostly) good and the reception has been greater than I would've hoped.

I know some people only believe numbers, however, so here you go.  This is how our books - The Fall, Dead of Winter, and The Gate - have fared over the last year:

The Fall: The Rift Book I

Paperbacks Sold - 65
Ebooks Sold - 2783
Total Sold - 2848

Dead of Winter: The Rift Book II

Paperbacks Sold - 19
Ebooks Sold - 1276
Total Sold - 1295

The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales

Ebooks (and Total) Sold - 1254


Overall Sales for TRO Publishing, our little baby here:

5397

Boo-ya!

Peace, folks

RJD

I just want to take a moment and show some appreciation for all the awesome people in my life...

To Jess Torrant, Artwiffy, for being smart, supportive, sexy, and downright fantastic...

To my parents, who've dealt with my quirks all my life and still love me...

To Jesse, who's been more than a little bit of an inspiration to me and is never afraid to tell it straight...

To Mercedes Yardley, whose own talent and overall awesomeness remains a driving force behind my own work...

To Jason Letts, who's always there with a joke to ease the tension...

To Dave Dalglish, who gives me more entertainment than I could ever wish for...

To Dan Arenson, whose ability to craft an intriguing story is only surpassed by his ability to rant...

To Mike Crane, who's always on my side no matter what...

To Sean Sweeny, who's got this way about him that's just lovable...

To Amanda Hocking, for giving everyone the example of success not going to one's head...

To David McAfee, for being an inspirational figure as one who's doing it...

To Caton Easton, who's always been there as my biggest supporter even though he's across the pond...

To Steven Pirie, for writing some of the best books I've ever read....

To John Skipp, whose words of support helped give me the confidence to make tough decisions and stick to them...

To Walter Mathis, who's been as constant as anything for me over the last 10 years...

To Pat Bukowski, whose ability to sing sometimes goes to his head...

To EJ Stevens, who's the best friend a writer of the paranormal could have...

To Heather Bannon, OnePushyFox from the Bewitched Bookworms, for just being fucking awesome...

To Sharon Rosen of Pixel of Ink, who's doing her best to further the careers of so many struggling writers...

And finally, to anyone who's ever bought and read our books, whether you loved or hated them.  It's you we do this for, and I hope we've entertained.

Okay, that's enough sap for today...

RJD

Well, here we are, folks.  If you've been following this blog, you know that the deadline for the competition between Mercedes Yardley and myself has been pushed back to May 1st.  However, this obviously doesn't mean that I've stopped working.  As of this moment, Silas is sitting at 97,000 words.  with my best guestimation, I'd say I have another 5000 words to write, perhaps a bit more.  The problem with endings, at least for me, is that I start to fidget.  I can see the finish line, and my knees start knocking and my fingers just want to fly away on the keyboard.  I actually have to slow down - otherwise the words I put down will be, erm, less than satisfying.

That being said, I plan on finishing this rewrite (and it is a rewrite; much like The Rift, it's a completely different book than what it started out as) by Wednesday, April 6th.  With this done, I can set it aside for a few days to hang out with Artwiffy, and then it's full-steam ahead on editing.

It's difficult to describe to you the feelings that go through my body when I'm this close to finishing a novel.  It's a strange mixture of confidence and complete dread.  One part of me thinks it will be the best thing I've ever written; another part fears it's absolute drek.  It's these contradictions that I assume plague every artist in every medium...at least I assume so.  I wonder if Stephen King or Clive Barker, upon finishing The Stand and Weaveworld, felt these same emotions.  I'd love to one day sit down and talk to them, to my favorite writers in general, and discuss the amount of fear that comes with putting yourself out there.

Does the skepticism ever end?  And if it does, are the emotions that replace it satisfying, or destructive?   Just like with Silas, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

RJD

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: