November 2018

Good morning, everyone.

I hope you’ve been well! We’re a little past one month since Shadow King launched and it has been quite the ride. I had two successful book signing/author events in October and hope to have more in the future. Right now, I’m planning to be at Arisia in January (in Boston). I’ll keep you posted on that.

I was also interviewed by WBZ-AM Radio’s Laurie Kirby for her Women’s Watch segment. You can listen to the interview on the WBZ website if you’re interested.

IMPORTANT:
 If you were one of my early backers and have not yet received your copy of Shadow King OR a link to download the e-book (or both), please contact Inkshares customer service at hello@inkshares.com and they will be able to help you out.

I’ve had a few people ask about their copies -- in most cases, people thought they ordered a hard copy but only ordered the e-book version. But you were all so kind as to support me early on in this adventure, I want to make sure you get your book!

Have a great weekend - and I’ll update again soon (I have two other interviews coming up and will share those links when they’re available!)

Best,
Susan

Hello all!

Things are really moving for me now. I have some exciting news that I just had to tell someone and who better to tell other than the good folks here at Inkshares.

I know my last couple of post has been about the book I just released  (Visit dljonesbooks.com/hypo for info on that book) But this bit of news is about Billette Hall!

I have to be honest, That contest last year, which I had Billette Hall entered, really drained me. I knew when I entered, I had an uphill battle. I didnt have many followers on inkshares, I’m more of a lurker than anything else on any other type of social media but I had a story that I thought would fit in that contest and I thought was different enough from your typical horror that I figured I had a shot at maybe getting picked as one of the others (The rules at the time said there may be other winners based on other criteria if you weren’t one of the top 3). I don’t know if anyone other than the top 3 were ever picked... I checked for a while then I slowly stopped checking.

During the 3 or so weeks I was entered in that contest. I wrote about 40k words of Billette Hall, about 12k-15k of that writing I scrapped.

To be honest, Billette Hall was something I started several years ago...as a Screenplay... Back when I was on a screenplay writing kick. I hadn’t gotten far along on the screenplay but I had a brief outline and the characters already created, I knew where I was going with the story when I started writing and I had pages from the screenplay that I had already written to give me a nice little head start.

Once I didnt win (which I never thought I would be one of the top 3... but I had strong hopes) I looked into self-publishing and that became the plan.

But I was drained... so I took a small break.

After my break, which was longer than I planned, I got back into things. I went crazy actually. I wrote and self published 9 Shorts under a pen name that completely different than my main. I then published 3 shorts and a full novel under my main pen name. Also got back to writing Billette Hall.

On to my news, what I’m excited about. This is getting long so I’ll spare you any more details. But I came across an opportunity to have a profession quality cover made and I jumped at it.

Zita Harrison is the cover designer... her site is  https://zitaharrison.com/

Today she sent me the final cover design for the ebook and I am very happy with it. It looks awesome. Its a lot different than the one I used on this site. Some of the same concepts but different. I really want to show you guys but I’m not ready to put it on this site just yet.

Other news, I’m almost finished writing the book, I have editing/proofreading lined up waiting on me. and now I have a cover!  The date I’m looking for as my release date is January 7th. I will do a pre-order way before them. This last book launch for HYPO taught me a lot of things. My plan was to release Billette Hall in the middle of December but after the HYPO book launch I feel I need to wait so that I can do things a little different

thanks for reading.

Hi, readers!

Guess what? I have AWESOME news! The Fairy Stepmother Inc. has a release date. It’s...dun dun DUN...December 11th! That’s right, it’s really soon! And in time for the holidays!

Actually, if you ordered an ebook, it’s even sooner. Digital copies will be available on November 30th. There’s a good reason for this that really helps me. One of the best ways for my book to be seen on Amazon and other retailers is for it to get some good reviews. So if you ordered a digital copy, you’ll get it in time to read it and maybe leave me a good review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. If you enjoy the book (and aren’t, like, my mom or dad--sorry, Mom and Dad), I would so, so appreciate some stars and some good words. If you’ve taken a chance on a book from Amazon, you probably know how reviews help you make a decision. I’d love to be one of the books that makes it into the "Other customers liked..." section.

This also means that it’s a SUPER APPROPRIATE time to make sure your mailing address is correct. Sign in on Inkshares with the email and password you used when you bought the book, and in the upper corner of the screen there should be a little circular icon with a picture. Click on that, and the dropdown menu should have a line that says mailing address. Unfortunately, I can’t look up what address you have on file, but if you have trouble, you can email hello@inkshares.com. Their customer service is super nice and super helpful.

You can still order copies if you’d like! Just pop over to 

https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-fairy-stepmother-inc-

And while you’re there, check out our official cover art! It’s shiny and pretty!

Thanks so much for your support. You’ve all made it possible for me to say I’m an author!

Best,

Maggie

Greetings, adventurers!

A happy #MushAnch Monday to you all! 

I’d like to start by wishing good luck to everyone currently participating in NaNoWriMo. Mushroom and Anchovy actually started off as three separate NaNoWriMo books ten years ago, and now it’s in the process of becoming an actual physical book for you all to read. 

I may not have any news, but I wanted to check in and let you all know that my next project is well underway. I won’t go into too much detail, but its name is Mossheart. I will be sure to post updates as I go through my various channels. I am typically posting mostly through my website, the Practical Escapist, my Facebook page, as well as my Patreon page. 

Things remain busy here as we try to sell our house before Christmas (eep!), but I’m still managing to get some work done. I hope everyone’s enjoyed a fantastic Halloween--we certainly did.

See you next time, adventurers. Until then, may your adventure be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting,

K. M. Cooper

Hello readers,

To my surprise and delight, Grimalkin rose to 3rd in its first week as an entrant in the 2018 Inkshares Horror Contest, but it’s down to 4th. I’d love your help in pushing it back into the top 3. To those of you who have already pre-ordered Grimalkin, thanks so much for your support. Also, Chapter 5 is now available to read and delves into the question of what’s scarier: mean girls or bloody squirrels?

https://www.inkshares.com/books/grimalkin

https://www.inkshares.com/books/grimalkin/book_segments/chapter-5-69b581

Remembrance Day, 11 November, is a week away now. I believe I mentioned last week that this will mark the 100th anniversary of the WW1 armistice. I don’t know if there’s much I could say in an update that hasn’t already been said better in an editorial, so here’s a picture from my last visit to Bristol:

This was taken in May this year. And that’s how it should be. Whatever we remember on 11 November, I hope we do not forget on 12 November.

For those of you who are in the Montreal area, I will be joining five other mystery writers next Saturday, 10 November, from 10am to 6pm, at the Chapters Pointe Claire (6321 Transcanadienne) for a day of readings, signings, Q&A, and general discussions of all things fictionally criminal. Come join us: Michael Kent, Katherine Prairie, Jim Napier, Barbara Fradkin, Robin Harlick, and me.

Meanwhile, on Inkshares news, consider checking out "Ruining Boise" and "Ripe for Execution", two very strong and dedicated contenders in the Mystery & Thriller contest. The first concerns a single father who turns to burglary in a desperate bid to keep his family going; a grim situation, yet I get the idea that it’ll be thoroughly laced with black humour. The second concerns the hunt for a terrorist who demands the reinstatement of the death penalty in the UK; check out the author’s reading of the first chapter, here, for a better idea of what it’s all about.

And finally, of course, is a reminder to check out "Cat’s Paw", my second novel, which is still in its Inkshares funding campaign. Your support is always appreciated. Thank you.