So here we go folks.  The paperback versions of The Gate 2: 13 Tales of Isolation and Despair is now live and ready to be purchased over at the 'Zon. Click here to head over there and pick one up!

Also, it's time to strap in and get the words flowing on the The Summer Son: The Rift Book IV.  I'll be starting tomorrow (March 4th), and the goal is to write 10,000 words a week over twelve weeks, which would put the second draft as being finished before the first week of June.  I'll be posting updates every Saturday night to let you all keep track of my progress.

So here's where we stand right now:

March 3: 9,828 words


I'll be seeing you next week at this time, if not sooner.

Peace, gentle readers.

RJD

In this publishing game, it's not an understatement to say that perhaps book bloggers are the most important people in the life of an author.  Without them, there would be no word-of-mouth.  Without them, there would be no promotion.  Without them, there is very little chance of we little guys getting the word out to prospective readers.  So on this day, a day that Pushy (Heather Bannon) from the Bewitched Bookworms posts a review of the third book in our post-apocalyptic series, The Rift, that we offer everyone out there in webworld the opportunity to download (on the Kindle) each and every book in our library...for free.

That's right.  For this day only—Wednesday, February 1st--every book we've released is available in e-book format for free.  It is seriously the least we can do for all the kind words these fantastic individuals have given to us.  It is for them, these ladies and gents who've read and loved the words I've written (not to mention the paintings The Cranky Artist has created), that keep us going.

So right now, I'd like to give a shout-out to my favorite blogs, first of which are the reviewers.  Please, follow them, read them...trust them.  These are people who know what they like, who know BOOKS, and it through their guidance that many an unknown have been discovered.  I present to you my favorites, with those I love the most getting some special words of approval:

Bewitched Bookworms: Pushy, Danny, and Heather M. run perhaps the greatest blog out there.  Each of these ladies are completely passionate about their work, their choice of entertainment, the power of their words.  Their reviews are poignant and introspective, and they aren't shy when it comes to telling anyone what they like and don't like.  As an added bonus, they also run a blog touring service called Kismet Book Touring, a service I gladly used when we released Silas, with fantastic results.  I swear by these ladies, and you should too.

Paranormal Wastelands: This site is operated by Darkfallen (Kaycee) and Greta, perhaps two of the spunkiest ladies you'll ever run across.  Their enthusiasm for literature is readily apparent, and just like any review worth their salt, they're more than willing to tell you what they like and don't like about any given work.  I follow each of their reviews, no matter what author or genre it is they're diving into.  Yes, their interpretations of the work is that good.

The Bookish Brunette: Oh, Ashley.  Probably the most outspoken and opinionated blogger on this list.  Reading her reviews—whether I agree with them or not—is a highlight for me.  Spunky and excited for the next-best-thing, this is a woman who can't help but put her true self out there, no matter the cost.  Read a couple of her posts.  You'll see.

And these are a few others I frequent:

Supernatural Snark
Juniper Grove
My Shelf Confessions
The Slowest Bookworm
A Casual Reader's Blog
Pages of Forbidden Love
Red Adept Reviews
Books and ThingsOodles of Books
Wagging the Fox
Just One More Paragraph
aobibliosphere
The Well-Read Wife
Le' Grande Codex
The Book Faery Reviews
Flurries of Words

Also, along with book bloggers, we also have ebook "bargain" sites—blogs dedicated to helping readers discover cheaply-priced books in a timely and easy fashion.  In my opinion, these are the two best:

Pixel of Ink:  Sharon, the creator of Pixel of Ink, is perhaps the best friend an author can have.  She is always on top of the game in terms of cheap Kindle books and freebies offered.  Her door is always open to authors, helping them promote their work and offering a kind word for those who know her in person.   I'm completely dedicated to this site, it's professionally run, and it's helped me find more than a few books that I otherwise wouldn't have discovered.

Ereader News Today:  A great site.  Greg puts out a fantastic product, highlighting some of the best independently published books out there. 

For anyone who owns a Kindle and wants to find something new, these two are must-read sites.


And that's it.  So in dedication to these fantastically hard-working bloggers, whose efforts I feel aren't appreciated anywhere near enough, we are of course offering our entire library free for today.  Here are the links for any who are interested:

The Fall: The Rift Book I
Dead of Winter: The Rift Book II
Death Springs Eternal: The Rift Book III
Silas: A Supernatural Thriller
The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales

So there it is, folks! Download the books, read them, and peace to you all!

-RJD

Well, in a way, anyhow.  The ebook - without illustrations - has gone live at Amazon, cover and all. It will stay the way it is until the grumpy artist finishes the interiors and the paperback is made available - sometime in the middle of next month.  Until then, enjoy book 3, and here's a link to the Amazon page and a sneaky peek at that cover.

DEATH SPRINGS ETERNAL AMAZON PAGE

COVER:

Pretty, ain't it?  I thought so.

Till next time,

RJD

In order to get things going for the holidays, I've decided to ramp up the game by offering a free promotion for both The Fall and Silas. 

The Fall ends at 3AM eastern time December 15th, while Silas will end its free run at the same time on the 16th.  So get over there and pick up a couple good books...for nothing but the effort it takes to press the purchase button.

THE FALL: THE RIFT BOOK I
Click here to purchase at Amazon for free!

SILAS
Click here to purchase at Amazon for free!

Wow.  It's been almost two months since I've posted here.  TWO MONTHS!  Can you believe that???

Anywho, since it's now closing in on the end of November, I figured it's time to come at y'all with some much-needed updates as to what's going on in the world of TRO.

First of all, I've had three short stories appear in different anthologies over the last two months.  The first is a tale called CHORUS (inspired by one of Jesse's drawings), that appears in J.L. Bryan's DARK TOMORROWS alongside Amanda Hocking, Joel Arnold, and S.W. Benefiel.  The second is one of the favorite tales I've ever written, a little ditty called 39 DAYS, which leads off the Daniel Pyle-edited UNNATURAL DISASTERS compilation, including the likes of the fantastic Scott Nicholson, William Meikle, and J.A. Titus.  And finally, I wrote a disturbing short titled ONE GOOD TURN that is included in the Holiday Special Ebook Edition of SHOCK TOTEM MAGAZINE.  In this issue it's the staff who gets to shine, as the editors and reviewers (moi!) steal the show, our voices heard loud, squishy, and (mostly) clear.

In other news of a more US variety, I'm right now putting the finishing touches on the 3rd Rift book, DEATH SPRINGS ETERNAL.  From there it's on to editing and proofing, and Jesse then has to get his ass in gear with the cover and illustrations.  This is both an exciting and nerve-wracking project, as it's so different than either of the first two books.  However, I'm confident it's still a good book - I'm thinking it's the best of the bunch so far - so we'll see how that plays out.  The release date is (fingers crossed) January 5th.

After that, it's on to the second installment of THE GATE.  For this one, I've collected stories from 10 fantastic writers - a few carryovers from the first issue, plus some rather exciting additions.  The tentative release date is February 15th, though with the unexpected snowfall at the beginning of the month setting Jesse back a bit, it might end up being closer to the end.

This is a REALLY busy time for us.  Personally, my schedule is jam-packed with projects, which means my partner's is, as well.  Interested to see what my plan is from here on forward?  Here's a list of what I have slated to be released through January 2013:

January 5, 2012 - DEATH SPRINGS ETERNAL: THE RIFT BOOK III
February 15, 2012 - THE GATE 2: 13 TALES OF ISOLATION AND DESPAIR
March/April 2012 - THE FOREVER MAN (working title)(novella)
July 2012 - THE SUMMER SON: THE RIFT BOOK IV
November 2012 - THE GATE 3: 13 STORIES OF MONSTERS AMONG US
January 2013 - THE MIRROR OF SOULS: COVENANT BOOK 1

So there you have it.  That's six planned releases in a span of 12 months.  Too ambitious?  We'll see...

Peace, folks, and we'll chat soon.

RJD

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.

So yes, folks, we're well on our way.  Silas will be released in ebook format on June 1st, with the paperback to follow on the 10th.  I've seen the cover, and it is SPECTACULAR!

In other news, in celebration of the new book we will be lowering the price of The Fall to 99¢, both to drum up interest and offer folks a cheap alternative to be introduced into our world.  So look out for it in the next few days...

Peace, all, and the next time you hear from me, the new book should be up and running.

- 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

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