Discussion

Hey there Adventureketeers!

A quick update before I delve back into the depths of grad schooliness to let you know that An Unattractive Vampire is Audible’s Daily Deal. For the rest of today (Tuesday February 21st) (2017) The Unattractive Audiobook is only $3.95. Why that’s less than $4.95! (I think...I’m in school for writing, not math.) That’s an entire book--hours of entertainment--for less money than three songs on iTunes. Just the thing for road trips down desolate, lonely roads whose secrets are buried deep from all but the unluckiest outsiders. Nothing says "ignore the feeling that the woods/desert/endless void is watching you with a vampire comedy read by a soothing British voice. 

"PUT IT IN YOUR EARS!" ~ G. Derek Adams, author of Asteroid Made of Dragons

http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/An-Unattractive-Vampire-Audiobook/B01IC3E52U?source_code=SNGGBWS0428160002

Happy Week of Days With Descriptors!

We are nearly at the end of said days, but as the focus of today is "Giving" it is the perfect time to remind everyone of my raffle. I have six Audible codes for the An Unattractive Vampire audio book and if you give money to an at-risk cause, your name will be entered in to win one of them. If you need more information, visit my website or see my last update. There are lots of lists out there of groups who need help. Groups like Trans Relief Project, CeaseFire Illinois, Doctors Without Borders, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and more. 

Once you’ve donated (and you did donate, didn’t you? *Guilt stare*) tell me you did. You can respond here with a comment (don’t just like the post, that doesn’t actually tell me anything) or find me on twitter or e-mail me at anunattractiveemail@gmail.com. Your name will be entered into the contest which ends December 15th.

Look it’s win/win. You win because you get to feel good about yourself AND might win a free audiobook. They win because they get the money and resources to help people who desperately need it. And humanity wins because the entropic decay of the universe will be put off a little longer. EVERYBODY WINS!

Except for the cannibal Futurekind. They don’t win.

So yeah. Long time no update. 

Stuff has happened. Probably a lot of stuff and I’ve been busy with grad school, but really I don’t feel like talking about any of that. Because right now sucks. A lot. 
 

Why I’m updating everyone at this time when so many of us just want to curl up into the fetal position and do nothing is because while I don’t have a lot of money to donate to causes that may need it in the next four years or the skills to help people (I write silly stories about monsters), what I do have are six codes for the audiobook version of An Unattractive Vampire. 

So here’s the deal: between now and December 15th, donate to an at-risk cause. Here’s a list from Jezebel to get you started. Once you’ve donated, tell me. Tweet at me @jimmcdoniel or leave a comment on this post telling me that you’ve donated or walk past me on the sidewalk and give me the Elder Sign. Just make sure I know and your name will be added to the list. On December 16th, I will draw six names and those lucky do-gooders will be able to experience my book as it was meant to be experienced: read to them by a British man.

So hey, let’s get out there and make this all suck slightly less.

Trish Hughes Howard · Reader · added over 7 years ago
Why does the link for ’Morose’ show as not found? Is it no longer in the G&S competition? Our book club read ’An Unattractive Vampire’ as our October book and we LOVED it! Looking forward to new books from you!

Dear Readers,

Or should I say...Listeners? For behold, thanks to the magic of Inkshares and Drew Campbell’s British accent...

An Unattractive Vampire is on Audible!!! 

Thank you to everyone at Inkshares, Audible, and Mr. Campbell for making this happen. 

So I know you’re all thinking: "Jim, I need this for my sound holes, but money has decided (literally) to see other people right now." Well, here’s a thing: Audible sponsors just about every podcast in existence. They offer so many deals and promos, it’s kind of ridiculous. For example: Lore podcast, Hardcore History, and Blurry Photos all offer trial codes. So yes, listen to awesome inspiring podcasts and when you’re done, listen to my book as well.

Also, just a reminder that the Dragon Awards are quickly approaching, so time is running out to VOTE for Inkshares/Sword and Laser books including The Life Engineered, Asteroid Made of Dragons, and, of course, An Unattractive Vampire which also all happen to be available in e-book for the special low-low price of 99 cents until the end of the month. (Completely coincidental, I assure you. *WINK*) So please, vote for An Unattractive Vampire because what could be better than mixing vampires and dragons?

Greetings All,

So lots of things. First of all, as of a day or two ago, An Unattractive Vampire broke 2500 books!

MAKE IT RAIN!

In other big news, An Unattractive Vampire is up for an award! 

  AUV along with its sibling books in the Sword and Laser collection, The Life Engineered and Asteroid Made of Dragons, has been nominated for The Dragon Awards at this years Dragon Con in Atlanta. Yulric and company are in the "Best Horror Novel category (with Life Engineered in Sci-Fi and Asteroid in Fantasy.) Here’s a link about it. And another one. 

So I know what you’re thinking: "Jim, you’ve been nominated, but how do you win this fire-breathing award?" Well, I’m glad you asked. You just go to here and vote. And while you’re there, cast a vote for Asteroid Made of Dragons and The Life Engineered as well. Sword and Laser 2016!

P.S. We’re also going to be having a Sword and Laser Dragon Award sale on e-books starting tomorrow. So if you have friends with electronic devices who like vampires or bargains...send them Inkshares’ way. (Yes, I really did type that. Shut up. I’ve got a really bad cold.)

And finally, with all this exciting vampire talk it’s easy to forget other small details like THIS OTHER BOOK I’M WORKING ON.

That’s right, my tale of Death building a life for himself at the end of the world (a natural comedy) is off to the races of the Geek and Sundry Contest. Already there are nearly three hundred books that have been submitted which is daunting and scary. (I am feeling very, very daunted and very, very scared.) So here are a few things you can do to help me with this process.
1. Order a copy.  Easy. No frills. 
2. Tell your friends to order a copy. It’s all about the number of people who order in this contest, so more people >;;; more books.
3. Recommend the book. Go to the Morose’s Inkshares page, read the sample chapter, and click like or recommend. Highlight sections of the book you liked and comment on them. (I promise I’ll add more soon.) You can even leave a review. It all works out to more eyeballs on my page, more good words, more hype, more encouragement to take a chance on this new story with a slightly harder to sell premise than "Vampires."

Anyway, that’s the news for now. Thanks everyone.

UPDATE!!!

First and most importantly is a reminder that An Unattractive Vampire will be An Unattractive Audiobook at Audible.com starting the 23rd! So if you’re tired of physically reading the book with your eyes and would rather have it read TO you like you were some kind of Roman Emperor/Empress, lying on a couch being fanned and fed grapes, head on over to Audible and preorder it today! (Fans, couch, grapes, and Roman titles not included.)

Next is the BIG NEWS!


That’s right! There’s a new book contest, this time with Geek and Sundry, producers of pretty much most of the shows I watch, and I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring with my second book currently entitled, Morose: A Comedy.
The pitch: Death gets laid off at the end of the world.
The synopsis: The End is nigh. Armageddon has come. And with the four horseman taking over soul-collecting duties from the children of Death, the tragedy-masked member of the Reaper family most dedicated to his work, Morose, has something he never expected to possess: time. If only he had any idea what to do with it.

With the helpful prodding from his eternally irresponsible twin brother and vengeful, sometimes murder-god sister, not to mention those few humans who don’t immediately wet themselves in his presence, Morose will explore the most puzzling questions the mortal realm has to offer, like:
why caves don’t count as shelter,
why immortals shouldn’t be telemarketers,
pinball, 
proper wedding bouquet etiquette,
the meaning of life,
...and his brother’s insistence that he buy a television screen at least seventy-two inches wide.

However, Morose better find his answers soon, because the apocalypse is heating up and as the death toll rises, he might just be the only one who can stop it.

In the tradition of Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job and Terry Pratchett’s Reaper Man, Morose is a comic tale of life, Death, and the end of the world.

If you’d like to view a sample chapter or pre-order the book, you can head over to the project page for Morose: A Comedy.

A few of the contest details...
This contest is a little different than the last. Instead of total number of books, its based on number of unique readers buying books. So rather than buying a book for each of your coworkers, cousins, neighbors, and goth nieces and nephews, I need you to convince your coworkers, cousins, neighbors, and goth nieces and nephews to buy THEIR OWN copy.

The three books with the highest individual reader count by November 1st will be published by Inkshares and have the opportunity to be a part of GEEK AND SUNDRY! Have I mentioned how much I love Geek and Sundry? Let me count the ways.
How about this picture of me with Felicia Day?

Or this OTHER picture of me with Wil Wheaton while wearing a Tabletop t-shirt?

Or maybe there’s the Critical Role fan fiction I wrote? 

Yeah. I’m a fan. It would be a huge deal for me to be a part of their community. So what do you say? Let’s make Jim-erica Book Again!

Greetings All,

So it’s been awhile since last I updated, but it’s also been a hectic mess of conventions, deadlines, and submissions so...there.

CONvergence was great. All 250 ribbons I made were handed out. One of my fancy shmancy posters was vandal-eyesed, so clearly I made it. I played D&D for the first time and lots of people asked about my book (spurred on by said fancy shmancy posters.) All in all, it was a huge success.

But the BIG NEWS is: (Trumpet sound) An Unattractive Vampire is now available for preorder on Audible!  It will be released officially on August 23rd. So, if you need a bit of reading for when you’re stuck in traffic or catching Pokemon, you can listen to the sultry British tones of narrator Drew Campbell read my book to you. (Did I mention sultry British tones?)

Other news:

After eight seasons, Our Fair City just had the final read-through...EVER!   Oh the wonder and glory of watching actors squirm over their character’s fates. The power. THE POWER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! If you want to catch up before the end, including checking out the current season head over to iTunes or visit www.ourfaircity.com.

Also, for those writers amongst you, the submission deadline for Deathscribe 2016 is quickly approaching. Scripts must be in by July 31st. So, if you’ve a scary story to tell (in radio play format), then throw it on some paper (digital paper) and send it to Chicago! (via e-mail)

  

So hey, guys. How was your week?

Mine? Oh you know, it was...okay. I did some stuff. And then some other stuff. Oh and then this happened.


For those of you who did not immediately click on the link and then devolve into frantic happy dances (like I did...at work) here’s the context. Patrick Rothfuss...THE Patrick Rothfuss...best-selling author of the Kingkiller Chronicles READ MY BOOK! And...he liked it! EPIC SWOON!

In other great news this week, we hit our first Amazon milestone of 50 reviews!

  
What does this mean? It means that An Unattractive Vampire has reached the first Amazon algorithm tier. It might be featured in newsletters or start creepily showing up as a suggestion to people who also bought Interview with a Vampire or a My Little Pony. That sort of thing. Basically, more books in more hands. 

So time to just rest on our laurels and do nothing, right?

WRONG!

There is another...larger goal. At 100 reviews, we activate the second Amazon tier where the book gets even more promotion and I assume some form of giant robot Avatar.

  
So keep reading! Keep reviewing! Keep telling your friends about this great book (or your enemies about this "great book" *snicker, snicker.*)

Also...thank you.

Greetings Everyone,

Long time no update. And there has been news. Oh how there has been news. But also, there has been school and so I’ve been hunkered down with tales of prophecy and murder while contacting scientists who monitor space debris and...well, that’s all done now. School is out, so instead of all that writing, I can spend my time doing...other writing. But like I said, first...news.

I write audio drama/radio plays. (I might have mentioned it.) So naturally one of the first questions I was asked (via the Our Fair City Tumblr page) was whether or not there would be an audio book version of An Unattractive Vampire. Honestly, I hadn’t given it much thought, being too preoccupied with "Oh my gosh, I have a real, physical book out." But Inkshares thought about it. They thought about it a lot.

  

I am incredibly pleased to announce that an An Unattractive Vampire audio book is currently in production at Audible. Oh...you know Audible, the leading provider of audio books. They only sponsor about every podcast ever. (Hence why I know they’re intro pitch.) I am very lucky that they have picked up the audio rights to my book and will keep you all posted on this story as it progresses.

Also, I am pleased to report that we are just four reviews shy of hitting our first magic number (50) on Amazon. What does this mean? It means An Unattractive Vampire will show up more in Amazon searches. Which means more eyes. Which means more purchases. Which means money, which means time, which equals writing. (Because that’s how math works. So, please...go to Amazon and review An Unattractive Vampire. I’ll wait.

Other, other news:
A few more positive reviews went up on HorrorTalk.com and Fanbase Press. You can check them out here. Or you know, send them to friends. 

Did I mention that I write audio drama? Well I do and my first episode of Our Fair City Season 7 went out last week. After last seasons cataclysm learn the (tragic?) fate of our lovable molepeople in "A Molepup Misadventure."

So about this audio drama thing. (Pretty sure I mentioned it.) This last weekend was also the HEAR Now Festival in Kansas City, MO, celebrating audio drama and my MAT contest winning piece "Last Transmission" was an official selection for the podcast showcase. (In case you missed it before, you can listen to it at the Midnight Audio Theatre website.)

At the end of June (beginning of July) I will be in Minneapolis for CONvergence. I’ll be doing a couple panels. plastering the convention with postcards and posters, and making my second attempt ever at playing D&D. So if any of you are up in the Great White North, come say hi and watch me flounder around as I try and not judge myself for not being Critical Role. 

That’s all for now.

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