Merry Christmas! Here's a Present!

Since my writing is really the only gift I have to give, starting today the book that started it all, DYING EMBERS, is free.  (And the other two SCIU books - FERTILE GROUND and EARLY GRAVE - are only 99c.)

DE is free through Saturday.  FG and EG are on sale through Monday night.  Grab one or grab them all.  Send them as gifts to friends and family.  If you already have them, thank you so much.  Your support means the world to me.  I wish I had a prezzie to give you, too.  :hugs:

Merry Christmas to you and all of your loved ones.  Here's to a Happy New Year for us all.

Happy New Year!

May this year bring you all the good stuffs you deserve.

More Marketing Stuff

I'm trying something a little different today.  I purchased an ad for Project Hermes (formerly Blood Flow) with Bargain Booksy and for once, I didn't lower the price.  However, since my books are all priced reasonably, it qualified. 

After the ad is over and the subsequent residuals (if there are any) have stopped, I will be raising the price of this book.  So, I guess, in a way, it is kind of a sale.  Buying it now will save you a buck or two.  (Haven't decided whether it'll be $3.99 or $4.99 yet.)

We'll see if I get enough sales to cover the $55 ad.  I need to sell roughly 27 copies.  Fingers crossed I sell more.  Fingers really crossed I sell enough that I don't want to kick myself for trying this.

Part of me thought 'July 4th... political suspense... Perfect.' and then another part thinks 'July 4th... nobody will be buying books today because they're all out celebrating'.  Time will tell which part is right.

The ad is live on their site and relatively near the top of the page (7th book down).  It'll go live in their newsletter sometime between 9am and noon eastern. 

And Happy Independence Day, folks!  I didn't forget.  I just put something up over at The Writing Spectacle instead of here.   This is the work blog, after all.  ;o)

Have a great day and be safe out there. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

From B.E., Hubs, and Kira-cat...

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, joyous and awesome holiday season - whichever holiday you celebrate.  May you all be safe and crime free in the days to come.  (Unless it's fictional crime, then have at it. :wink:)

And if you're looking for ways to fill that new Kindle or to fill the Kindles of your loved ones, all my books will be on sale starting Christmas morning and running through to New Year's Eve. 

Crime at the Holidays

Christmas is the season where we're supposed to be all giving and full of the milk of human kindness for our fellow man.  Unfortunately, there are also shitheads who don't care and make this time of year their hunting season.  And then there are the people who use the stress of the holidays and the imbibing of alcohol as an excuse to commit crimes against other people.

So far this week, right here in the back of beyond, we had a murder in a house I pass every time I go to the park to go fishing.  One gentleman stabbed another repeatedly.  Early reports are that they were friends.  And the gas station, where I fill up my vehicle with fuel and myself with coffee, got robbed by an employee who also had a bunch of drugs in his car.  AND someone busted in the front door of the feed store where I pick up grain for the critters.  Assholes didn't get anything, thank goodness, but still, you really don't expect that shit in the middle of freakin' nowhere.

I assume most of you don't live in the middle of nowhere, though.  You're living in more heavily populated areas and thus must be even more vigilant than my fellow Ozarkians.  (I'm vigilant all the damn time because I have lived in big cities and little cities, burgs and towns and villages and rural locales.  It all made me watchful.)

I watched a video this morning of police officers asking whether a woman had locked her car before going into the mall.  She said 'yes, of course' and then another officer went to her car.  The back door opened right up.  Her alarms went off, of course, but by the time anyone would notice (or care... car alarms go off all the time and no one cares anymore), her stuff would've been gone.

They'll steal stuff out of your car.  They'll steal stuff out of your cart - like your purse, if you aren't paying attention.  They'll steal stuff off your porch...

I saw a report a few days ago of a city's police department leaving fake packages on people's porches around town.  The packages were equipped with GPS tracking, so when the assholes stole the packages, the police could catch them in the act.  Smart.

Anyway, be alert out there.  Stay away from drunks.  You know who amongst your friends and family can't handle their booze and become 'instant asshole' (instant asshole, just add alcohol).  Lock everything, all the time.  If you're having packages delivered, be home.  And if you can't be home, have them delivered to someone you know will be home or at your place of work or to a rented PO Box.

Don't let a criminal ruin your holiday season, okay?  And have as merry a little Christmas as you can.  Or a pleasant Hannukah.  Or whatever.

Independence Week Book Sale!

Hi all!  Just thought I'd let you know that Blood Flow is on sale today through the 7th for only 99c.  You know, because it's a political suspense and what better time to have a sale than around Independence Day? 

Agent Randi Kruz knows Project Hermes is killing people. But the government won’t allow anything to hamper their plans for microchipping the populace. Despite numerous threats against her, she has to uncover the truth before anyone else dies. Locating the madmen responsible will be difficult. Stopping them might be impossible.

From the reviews...

"...BloodFlow is a taut medical/political thriller that rides the edge of reality in today's tense political climate. There's murder, villainous politicians, and heroic investigators and doctors...." 

"This is a very good book! With technology advances I can see this happening someday. Nanotechnology is great, but it can be deadly if misused and controlled by evil. Great book!"

"Very real story. It was well written and the three main characters were terrific. It is scary in that this could so easily be happening today...."

"... It’s a scary scenario which I can definitely see happening in the future. The main characters were solid, their voices clear and their dialogue sound. Their interactions with each other & the other characters were realistic and believeable....I found it an absorbing read and I’m happy to recommend it to y’all."

It's got a 5-star rating on Amazon (3 reviews) and a 4.75-star rating on Goodreads (4 ratings, 2 reviews).  

Now's your chance to give it a whirl.    

Happy New Year

First things first, we have a couple winners to announce here.  Deb Salisbury won a paperback of whichever one of my books she wants.  Fran won a postcard and a PDF copy of whichever one of my present or future releases she wants.  Both Deb and Fran need to contact me via email at besanderson at gmail dot com and let me know what their preference is.

The Goodreads giveaway for BloodFlow ended last night and I'm just waiting for the winner's info to arrive in my inbox.  The Goodreads giveaway for Wish in One Hand is through the end of today, so click the link and enter for a chance to win one paperback copy of that with the new and improved cover.  Plus I'm chucking in a bookmark and a postcard, cuz that's how I roll.

Okay, so with that out of the way, I suppose I should look back or look forward or something.  New Years Day is for stuff like that, right?  Except thinking about it last night, I realized that other than swapping out a new calendar and spreadsheet, not much will change.  Last year, I made the big change to self-publishing.  This year will be more of the same.  Fingers crossed that it's even better than it was.

And that's really what New Years means to me.  A hope for better things.  Even after a year that was pretty darned good - all things considered - I would hope for a 'continuing better things'.  Otherwise, it's backsliding or stagnation.  And who wants that?

So, my hope for you all is a wonderful New Year filled with special surprises - happy things and things that make you glow.  A year overflowing with better things.

And I'll be doing a look-back kind of post on Sunday over at The Writing Spectacle for more personal things and Monday at Outside the Box for professional things.  I hope you'll stop by.

Because It's Christmas Week

Because it's the days leading up to Christmas, I'm going to take a break from talking about work - which means no informational posts, no marketing posts, and no mayhem posts.  Just quiet enjoyment of life in general. 

I will say to look for a special post on Christmas that will be kinda markety, but fun.  (At least, I think it'll be fun.  But I'm not a typical person, so your mileage may vary.)

Today, tell me something you have that you would want under your tree if you didn't already have it.  For me, last year, my husband gave me the gift of supporting me in my decision to self-publish.  He's giving it to me again this year.  Yay.  But if I didn't have that gift, I sure would be happy to see it under the tree.  With a pretty bow.

How about you?

Back to Work

Yeah, I know the 'holiday' weekend isn't over yet.  I've always been a bit confused about taking a day off to celebrate working, but that's a post for an alternate universe.  Anyway, writers don't work like other people, so weekends and holidays are often still work days.

So, of course, I'm working.  Not as hard as I have at other times this year, and not as diligently as I should be working, but I am working.  Right now, I'm reading through the beginning I already wrote for the next book in the SCIU series - a sort of unattached sequel to Dying Embers.  It's called Fertile Ground.  And it stars Agent Teri Buchanan - a rape victim assigned to catch a serial rapist.  (See a pattern?  Pyrophobic agent goes after serial arsonist/murder.)  It's a hard book to write and it's one the mainstream would probably toss me out on my ass for, but I think it's one that needs to be written, so I'm writing it.  Look for this one to release in maybe May 2016.

To the end of getting this book right, I watched an interesting show about serial rapist/murderer Dusty Rhodes last night.  A forensic psychologist interviewed him.  It was gratifying to know I'm already on the right track with my own villain. 

Also, I sent Bloodflow off to the editor this past week.  She already sent me a note saying she dove right in when she was supposed to be doing something else and loves it so far, which is always good.  I've been working on the cover copy for that, too.  Busy busy.  This book will release in November - good lord willin' and the creek don't rise.  I'll share the copy later.  I read it to Hubs, and he said 'Ooo, good one!', so I got that going for me.

What were you up to over the weekend?  What's on the schedule for this week?

No Wicked on Christmas Eve

There's enough wicked in the world right now, so I thought I'd give it a rest for today.  After all, it's Christmas Eve - when everything should be about peace and joy and love and junk. 

Here at Sanderson, Inc., we're having a laid back holiday - like usual.  I finished this round of edits on Dying Embers last night and will be sending them off to the editor this morning, so I won't be working on THAT for a bit.  I might actually write some stuff.  Or I might get back to editing another book so that it'll be ready to send to the editor when I'm at the jumping off point for publication of a second book. 

Hubs is quietly working on his computer.  Today he might start cleaning the new car.  (It came with about a pound of dog hair in the back seat and something gooey in the ashtray.)  Or he might just relax.  Whatever he wants to do.

Today, I might read. 

Tomorrow, I have a ham to bake.  Everything else is either pre-made or quickie-cook.  I even bought cheesecake for dessert (because I am feeling just that lazy). 

What's on your agenda for today?  Are you busy-busy, or is today a day of rest before the big event? 

And if I don't see you tomorrow, have a joyous day - whether you celebrate a holiday or not.  :hugs: