Tag: OtherWhere Market

Weekly Update – October 4, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Renaissance faires, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment

First, a big thank-you to the producers of the Connecticut Renaissance Faire for hosting me as part of its annual Meet the Authors Series this past Sunday. I moved quite a few copies, but no so much I’m scrambling to reload for my next event in a couple of weeks.

Remember that CTRF runs for four more weekends, each day of which features a new author. My friend J.M. Aucoin will be there on Monday, October 10 so make sure to say hello to him and grab one of his swashbuckling adventures.

I’d also like to remind everyone that my interview with The Authors Show is on the air today. It’ll run for 24 hours and then be re-broadcast over the weekend.

book-giveawayI’ll also mention that today marks the beginning of the Young Adult Book Heist that I’m participating in. Head over to the Facebook page to learn how you could win a Kindle, free print and e-books — including copies of Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins — swag, and more, or go to the sign-up page now to enter.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done and I’ve scheduled the manuscript with my editor, Julie, who plans to have it all finished up by the end of the year.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing. Same goes for this short, which will run as a back-up/bonus story in Power Play.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: I’m taking a week off from the studio, so I have in total eight glorious days of writing! I expect to get a lot done.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in progress

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

MISC.

powered-by-indie

Throughout the month, Amazon is shining the spotlight on independent authors through its Powered by Indie campaign. Go poke around and perhaps you’ll find a new favorite author.

Advertisement

Weekly Update – September 27, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Renaissance faires, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment
Copyright 2016 Patricia Lupien
Copyright 2016 Patricia Lupien

Lots going on this week, but I’ll start with the big news: the Kindle edition of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot: Assassins Brawlis now available on Amazon! You can grab it for $3.99 or, if you prefer print, for $13.99.

If you’re interested in grabbing a signed copy and you’ll be in the Connecticut area this weekend, you’re in luck. Scroll down to the Events section for details. And if you can’t make it? Well, you’ll be able to catch me at a couple other events in the coming months, and I will at some point in the near future set up a page here for your direct purchasing pleasure.

And I’ll mention this here so it won’t get buried, but I’m participating in a special giveaway event featuring several other indie authors, which kicks in on October 2. Head over to the Young Adult Book Heist Facebook page to learn how you can win a Kindle, free print and e-books — including copies of Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins — swag, and more.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing. I’m waiting to hear back from my editor Julie about her availability, but my hope is to send it over to her sooner rather than later so she has plenty of time to do her work and I can still have Power Play ready for a late February/March release.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing. Same goes for this short, which will run as a back-up/bonus story in Power Play.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: Got a little more work done, and I expect to make a lot of headway on it in a couple of weeks. I’ll be taking a vacation week from my wife’s studio to focus on my stuff, so I should be able to put a good dent in both projects.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in progress

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

ct-renaissance-faire-header2

MISC.

The giveaway for The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich, despite its delayed start, was a solid success. Hopefully that will turn into many, many sales of my other books — which stands to reason, based on how well my first major giveaway went (Secret Origins, as a lead-in to the release of Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women).

I was recently added to an impressive roster of YA authors on the Young Adult Authors Rendezvous website, so thank you to Patrick Hodges for that.

On Friday I recorded a segment for The Authors Show, and that interview is tentatively scheduled to run on October 4. It’ll run for 24 hours and you can listen to it for free during that time. It was a fun interview and Linda Thompson was a great host, so thank you Linda and TAS for having me on!

On a final high note, Secret Origins made its way back into the #1 position on Amazon, which was a pleasant surprise.

number-one-sept

Weekly Update – September 20, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Cover art, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment

The free giveaway for SandA Ad SquareThe Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich is finally underway. There was some kind of screw-up or glitch on Amazon’s end that caused the giveaway, which I set up quite a while ago, to disappear entirely. Not the thing you want you want to find out on Monday morning, several hours after the giveaway was supposed to start.

It’s been corrected and the giveaway will proceed as planned. The Kindle edition will be free from until Friday, September 23, so grab a copy for yourself or gift one to a friend, and then go pre-order the Kindle edition of book two, Assassins Brawl, which comes out next Tuesday — assuming the Amazon gremlins don’t attack again.

If you can’t wait for next week or you’re a fan of hard copies, the print edition is available now!

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: Managed to sneak some work in on both last week, and I’ll get some more done in a few days, but my wife’s show schedule continues to be disruptive, but that’s okay — especially since the next show on the schedule is the Connecticut Renaissance Faire, and I’ll be the featured author on Sunday!

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in progress

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

ct-renaissance-faire-header2

MISC.

nbbf-promo-imageThe New Bedford Book Festival is posting author bios as they lead up to the big event, and I was featured in a recent post — complete with one of my book covers, which is flattering.

Finally, I’ve been kicking around the idea of starting up a newsletter, but then I realized I didn’t need to, because you can choose to follow this blog via e-mail, which is basically a newsletter subscription. Scroll to the top of the page and look right under the header, on the right, for the “follow” button. Click it and get the blog posts sent to you directly!

Weekly Update – September 13, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment

In case you missed it from yesterday, the cover art for The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot: Assassins Brawl is out, and it looks awesome. Here is the original post if you’d like to see it unadorned, and here it is again in the context of the full cover wrap:

Copyright 2016 Patricia Lupien
Copyright 2016 Patricia Lupien

Remember, the book is currently available for pre-order and will be released in just two weeks! In the meantime, get ready for next week’s free giveaway for SandA Ad Squarethe first book in the series, The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich. The Kindle edition will be free from Monday, September 19 until Friday, September 23, so grab a copy for yourself or gift one to a friend.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: Got some more work done on both over an abbreviated weekend, which will be the last I get done for a bit as my wife and I have a show (Granite State ComicCon) this coming weekend.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in progress

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

MISC.

As I mentioned above, due to the con and other upcoming commitments, I won’t be getting much writing done for a few weeks, but I will have two October events in there, so I’ll still be doing writerly stuff.

I’m also in a holding pattern on Arisia 2017. November will be the big month there, because that’s when I will (presumably) get confirmation on my vending space, as well as whether I made it onto any panels. I put my name into the mix for a half-dozen or so, but I’ll be happy if I at least get onto a panel to discuss writing swordfights and hand-to-hand sequences – especially since I suggested that panel.

Weekly Update – September 6, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Cover art, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment

This week’s big announcement: The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot: Assassins Brawl is now available for pre-order!

The Kindle edition is scheduled for a September 27 release and will retail at $3.99. The print edition should be available around that time as well, and I’ll post price info when I get it.

SandA Ad SquareThe week before Assassins Brawl‘s release, the first book in the series, The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich will be available for free through Amazon for five days, You’ll be able to get the Kindle edition for free from Monday, September 19 until Friday, September 23, so grab a copy for yourself or gift one to a friend.

WRITING PROJECTS

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: Got some good work on both books done over my long writing weekend. The great thing about having book six already in the pipeline is that I can take my time working on the next two in the series, which is a big benefit in light of how very different book seven is going to be from the other stories.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  I received the first chunk of the audiobook this morning and it’s sounding pretty good. I asked my narrator, Jen, to re-do the exposition-heavy first chapter to punch up the pacing and energy a bit, but that’s a minor tweak. I’m eager to see how things sound once she really gets into the meat of the story.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

MISC.

First, as a mere point of amusement, I stumbled across this German blogger who reviewed Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women. The Google translation isn’t perfect, but it works well enough to know this reader liked it.

Last week I learned that Secret Origins and Scratching a Lich had been nominated for something called the Summer Indie Book Awards. I don’t know how they ended up on the nomination lists — I have to assume a fan of the books submitted them — but they’re there.

While it’s nice to be nominated, I’m not putting a lot of stock in this. There are a ridiculous number of awards programs for indie authors to apply to, almost none of which are, in my opinion, worth anything. They’re too often backed by a for-profit outfit rather than an industry organization such as the Horror Writers Association or the World Science Fiction Society (which present, respectively, the Bram Stoker Awards or the Hugo Awards), charge a hefty entry fee, have extremely liberal guidelines for nominations (if they have guidelines at all), and aren’t judged based on a given work’s merits.

The Summer Indie Book Awards, for example, is a flat-out popularity contest. I could literally go onto the voting site every day and vote for myself. I could rally readers to go vote for me on a daily basis. The eventual winner is more likely to be whoever coordinated the best “vote early, vote often” campaign rather than who wrote the best book.

And what does the author get out of winning? Bragging rights, mostly, a chance to say they’re an “award winning” author — which is what so many of these awards are counting on. They’re preying on authors’ egos to make a buck, and there is too much of that going on in the industry.

Friendly word of advice for fellow indie authors before you fork over an entry fee for any kind of awards program: Google the award’s name and add the terms “Writer Beware” of “Water Cooler” to see if the program has been red-flagged by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America or Absolute Write. If it looks like a for-profit venture, avoid it.

Weekly Update – August 23, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Renaissance faires, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment

SandA Ad SquareAnother slow week. We have one more convention to get through this month, then I’ll be able to get back to writing. More specifically, I’ll get to work finalizing The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl for its September release.

On that note, remember that next month, I will be making the first book in the series, The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich available for free through Amazon for five days! You’ll be able to get the Kindle edition for free from Monday, September 19 until Friday, September 23, so grab a copy for yourself or gift one to a friend.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: No progress to report.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

MISC.

Arisia 2017 has begun putting itself together, and I’ve put in for my table alongside J.M. Aucoin once again. We’re not going to hear back from the organizers until November or so, so it’s waiting game time.

 

Weekly Update – August 16, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Cover art, Event, Novels, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment

Not too much to report this week, as I was busy as hell helping my wife prep for Boston ComicCon.

However, I do want to announce that as I ramp up for the release of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl next month, I will be making the first book in the series, The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich available for free through Amazon for five days! You’ll be able to get the Kindle edition for free from Monday, September 19 until Friday, September 23, so grab a copy for yourself or gift one to a friend.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release. Plus, draft cover art has begun to appear in my inbox! Tricia and I came up with a fun concept and I think you’ll love the end results.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: No progress to report. Alas.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

MISC.

Speaking of my wife Veronica, this week she made a major announcement regarding the future of her business, Storied Threads. You can read it here on her blog.

What does this mean for me? Hopefully it means I’ll have more writing time, but I’m not counting on that until we see if this new approach works overall. We might have to make some adjustments, so consider this a work in progress.

Weekly Update – August 9, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Cheap Thrills Digest, Event, Freelance work, News writing, Novels, Renaissance faires, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young Adult2 Comments

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00056]Earlier this year I released Cheap Thrills Digest to sell exclusively at live events and through this website, and I’ve been debating whether to make it available through Amazon as well.

I’ve decided to go ahead and do it in the interest of enhancing my Amazon catalog and perhaps goosing my income a little.

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War and Action Figures – Issue Eight: I got some work done on both books, which is good, because last weekend was my last writing weekend for the rest of the month. I’m busy helping my wife out with shows until September, when I’ll be diving back into Assassins Brawl to get that prepped for its release.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

MISC.

This week I officially dove back into the world of journalism after nearly three years away. I’ve started doing a little light freelancing for the Worcester Telegram, covering Auburn Board of Selectmen — nothing too glamorous, but it keeps me busy and brings a little extra money in.

 

Weekly Update – August 2, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Renaissance faires, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young Adult2 Comments

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: With my editor, still on-track for a September release.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Got some more done on this, and I’m building toward the mid-point scene, which will be a big one.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Did quite a bit on this over the weekend. I know, working concurrently on two books is odd, and putting more into the later book in the series seems counterproductive, but books seven and eight have some overlap, just like six and seven did, so jumping back and forth is really the best way to ensure that the stories mesh.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins:  Audiobook recording in process.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

MISC.

Lots of miscellaneous this week!

I received my DVD copy of my interview from Upton Community TV and watched it with a kind of morbid fascination. Seeing myself on TV was just plain weird and awkward, but it was a good interview. It hasn’t aired yet and I haven’t taken the time to try and upload the video myself, so be patient. I will subject myself to your scrutiny soon enough.

I had my show last week, and to cut a long story short, it was a mixed bag. I met some cool people, did some networking, and met Mike Girard, lead singer for one of my all-time favorite bands, The Fools. That alone made it great night, but from a pragmatic (read: monetary) standpoint, the day was a bust. The lesson I am learning is that I do better at shows that specifically cater to the geek crowd.

Joshuas Island CoverFinally, I’d like to give a shout-out to fellow author Patrick Hodges, creator of the James Madison series. Patrick came across Action Figures and loved book one so much he felt compelled to contact me. We talked shop a bit over the weekend, he introduced me to a YA writers’ group online, and he’s sending me a copy of his first book to check out. I recommend you all do the same!

Weekly Update – May 3, 2016

On By ronsonbeckIn Action Figures, Event, Novels, Renaissance faires, Strongarm & Lightfoot, Writing process, Young AdultLeave a comment

Welcome to the new website! Today is the official relaunch but I’ll be fine-tuning things, so please be patient while I work out the kinks and polish things up. Now, onto business…

WRITING PROJECTS

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: Revisions continue. I’m into act two, but with my weekends occupied with the Connecticut Renaissance Faire for the next five weeks, progress will be on the slow side. I’ve sent my artist Tricia some notes for the cover, and I’ve worked up a first version of the back cover text, which goes a little something like this…

You’re invited to the wedding of the year! In lieu of gifts, the bride and groom humbly ask that you do not try to murder them.

After barely surviving Habbatarr the lich-lord and the Dead City of Hesre, Derek Strongarm and Felix Lightfoot and their companions are ready for a well-deserved rest. All they want is some good food, cold beer, a warm bed, and maybe a few days without someone trying to kill them.

And then they encounter a damsel in distress and, well, so much for that idea.

The damsel in question is the Lady Alyssa Spendle, a spoiled noble promised to Lord Paradim as part of a brokered political marriage, and the distress comes in the form of a determined group of kidnappers looking to make a quick profit off Alyssa’s ransom.

But Derek and Felix learn there’s much more to the plot, and the heroes soon find themselves entangled in a vast conspiracy that threatens to topple a kingdom and take them down in the process.

Get ready for another wild adventure with Strongarm and Lightfoot as they fight for their lives against backstabbing thieves, cutthroat mercenaries, the crime lords known as the Seven Jewels, and the mysterious assassin Ruined Isys.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl is the second book in the irreverent fantasy series by author Michael Bailey (Action Figures), a tale filled with noble heroes, dastardly villains, a colorful secondary cast, mildly interesting background characters, a bunch of people who don’t even get names, political intrigue, thrilling action, and snarky asides that don’t advance the plot much but keep things from getting too serious.

Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.

Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: About a quarter of the way through the first draft.

APPEARANCES and EVENTS

The author, fellow writer J.M. Aucoin, and our sales associate Beatrix.
The author, fellow writer J.M. Aucoin, and our sales associate Beatrix.

MISC.

J.M. Aucoin and I sold and signed a few books at the OtherWhere Spring Steam Affair on Saturday. Wasn’t a busy day but it was a fun little event, and we definitely had the best assistant in the world in the form of my dog Beatrix.