So about a month ago, I gingerly dipped my toe into the e-pub/self-pub/indie-pub/whatever you wanna call it world.  As the industry continues to shift and change, I’ve tried to pay attention to which way it’s going.  THREAD OF HOPE was shopped diligently to all of the traditional publishing houses, but after a couple of very near misses, it was more or less just gathering dust.  So I decided to do what all of the cool kids seem to be doing and self-pubbed the book thru Amazon.

It’s been like starting all over again, which isn’t a bad thing.  But after spending years studying traditional publishing, the learning curve for this brave new world has been pretty huge.  And one of the weird things to get adjusted to is the idea of giving your book away in order to expand your audience.  (Actually, Tyrus showed me that it works when they offered LIQUID SMOKE for free for a couple of days in the fall and I think I got more exposure in those few days then I got in the previous five years.)  So I’ve hemmed and hawed over the last couple of weeks, trying to figure out when to give THREAD OF HOPE away for free, to hopefully find a few new readers.

And today is the today.

Right now, if you skip on over to Amazon, you’ll be able to download THREAD OF HOPE for free.  Tell all of your friends.  And ask them to tell their friends.  Should be free until sometime Tuesday night.

All I ask is that if you do download the book, please consider posting a review at Amazon after you’ve read it – good or bad, no strings attached.

Don’t say I never gave you anything.

See?  I told you this was gonna be a regular thing…

A little bit about the protagonist in THREAD OF HOPE:

Joe Tyler is a former Coronado police officer.  After his daughter was abducted, he left the small Coronado force under a cloud of suspicion and in hope of finding his daughter.  The cloud never lifted and he never found his daughter.  Now, he spends his life looking for other people’s children, hoping to spare them the pain he has to endure every day in not knowing what happened to his child.  He’s a bit of a vagabond, but as I mentioned last week, he gets called back to San Diego to help a friend.  He hasn’t been there for a number of years and he doesn’t plan to stay.  He’s now divorced – the abduction destroyed his marriage – and he’s not comfortable staying in one place.  Because he needs to keep looking for his own daughter.

Will he find her?

I don’t know.

But Joe will be around for awhile.

You can get the book right here and if you’ve already read it, I’d love it if you’d post a review over at Amazon.

And be on the look out involving promotions for both THREAD OF HOPE and STAY AT HOME DEAD in the next few days…

Okay, so you know how I wrote that other book under that other name?  STAY AT HOME DEAD by Jeffrey Allen?

Well, now they’ve got my fake bio confused with someone else’s real bio who is totally not me.

Confused?  Me, too.

Read about it here.

Okay, so it’s Thursday and I wrote a book called Thread of Hope and those things kinda go together so I’m turning Thursdays into Thursday Threads.  See what I did there???  My cleverness astounds you!!!  Anyway, now that you’re astounded, here’s what it’s all about – every Thursday I’m going to post something related to Thread of Hope.  BOOM!  You know you like it.

Since today is the first day, just a little background on the book:

Seven years after Joe Tyler’s daughter Elizabeth was abducted, he hasn’t stopped looking for answers, and he hasn’t forgotten the friend who stood by him as he lost his wife, his home, and his career in his search. Now he’s been brought back to San Diego by the news that this friend has been arrested for beating up a teenage girl—a girl not much older than Elizabeth would be now.  Joe is convinced Chuck Winslow is innocent, but Chuck is in a coma and can’t explain what happened. And the more Joe hears about what Chuck’s been up to in the years he’s been gone, the less Joe recognizes his old friend. To find out the truth, he will have to face his ex-wife, his former bosses, and a hometown full of wealth, lies, and illicit privilege. When Chuck’s accuser goes missing, Joe must decide where his loyalties truly lie, as he continues to wrestle with the haunting memories of the past.

OMG.  How good does THAT sound???  I wish I had written that book!  Oh, wait.  I did.  Awkward…

And the readers at Amazon love it.  LOVE.  IT.  Here’s one review:

“I have been a Noah Braddock fan for a long time and was thrilled to see this new title by Jeff Shelby. Riveting characters, snappy dialogue and a lightning-fast plot make this a can’t-put-down page turner. Joe Tyler, the protagonist in this series, isn’t just another Noah — he’s deeper, richer, more complex. The first person narrative of a man who has lost his daughter allows the reader to experience his pain and anguish firsthand and I guarantee the last few pages of the book will leave you demanding the next in the series….SOON.”

YEAH THEY WILL!!!

Hey, so, if any of this interests you, you can find the book right here.  It’s cheap.  I promise.

Thursday Threads.  Get used to them.

I didn’t get four stars.  The other guy did.  That other guy who is me.

What?  You’re not following?

Then click here.

This is pub day for my alter ego, Jeffrey Allen.

You can read about it here.

Oh.  Hi.  How are you?  It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you.  I was starting to take it personally, like you didn’t like me that way or something.  Totally awkward.  What?  It was me that’s been gone?  What.  Ever.

Anyway, guess what?  Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong.  Wow, you are really bad at guessing.  What you should’ve guessed was “I’ll bet Jeff has two pieces of news so exciting that it’s going to make me squeal with delight!!!”  Because then you would’ve been CORRECT.

Exciting piece of news #1:  Remember way back when when I told you I wrote another book under another name?  Wow.  Your memory isn’t very good because I did tell you.  Well that book – STAY AT HOME DEAD – written under another name – JEFFREY ALLEN – is now OUT.  (Technically, it’s not out until Tuesday, but it’s already showing up in bookstores, so I didn’t want you to be the last to know.) Since you didn’t even remember that I wrote the book, here’s a reminder as to what it’s about:

Deuce Winters is a stay at home dad in the small town of Rose Petal, Texas and his life gets a little complicated when he finds the dead body of an old high school rival in the backseat of his minivan.  As Deuce continues to battle the misconception that he is a stay at home dad because he’s lost his job/can’t find a job/leeching off his wife/lazy/incompetent/a little girly, he must now attempt to clear his name of wrong doing.  In doing so, he runs up against devious PTA moms, a toupee-wearing Elvis lookalike and a midget private detective.  (Yeah.  I said midget.)  Hilarity and hijinks and mystery solving ensue.

Are you all sweaty with excitement now?  You should be.  Before you shower it all off, you can click over here to see what it looks like and decide where you want to purchase it.

But wait!  There’s more!

Exciting piece of news #2:  I wrote another book.  Under my own name.  It’s called THREAD OF HOPE.  In some ways, it’s similar to the Noah books, but in a lot of ways, it’s not.  Here’s a description:

Seven years after Joe Tyler’s daughter Elizabeth was abducted, he hasn’t stopped looking for answers, and he hasn’t forgotten the friend who stood by him as he lost his wife, his home, and his career in his search. Now he’s been brought back to San Diego by the news that this friend has been arrested for beating up a teenage girl—a girl not much older than Elizabeth would be now.  Joe is convinced Chuck Winslow is innocent, but Chuck is in a coma and can’t explain what happened. And the more Joe hears about what Chuck’s been up to in the years he’s been gone, the less Joe recognizes his old friend. To find out the truth, he will have to face his ex-wife, his former bosses, and a hometown full of wealth, lies, and illicit privilege. When Chuck’s accuser goes missing, Joe must decide where his loyalties truly lie. 

Whoa.  That sounds like a book I’d like to read.  Wait.  I did read it.  When I wrote it.  So now it’s YOUR turn to read it.  And because I love trees and the environment, THREAD OF HOPE is currently ONLY available as an ebook to read on one them new-fangled electronic reading devices called Kindles.  Oh, and it’s dirt cheap.  You wanna see the cover?  Okay, here you go:

You can go here to get it.

You’ll be hearing alot about both books in the coming days.  I promise.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hey, where have you been?

Oh, wait.  It was me that took a little hiatus.  Sorry about that.  It won’t happen again…until it happens again.

Anyway, I’m back and I’m a little irritated.  No.  Actually, I’m really irritated.

Like all good narcissistic authors, I check sites where my books are sold and I read the reviews people leave.  I’ve been fortunate that most are good.  Occasionally, I’ll run across one where the reader does not care for the book and while that admittedly stings a bit, I’ve always maintained that anyone who purchases a book has the right to dislike it.  I have pretty thick skin and it doesn’t bother me if someone doesn’t like something I’ve written.  Stings yes, but it doesn’t linger and I don’t harbor any ill will toward the reviewer.  In fact, I’ve engaged with folks who have written less than flattering reviews, essentially telling them I’m sorry they didn’t like the book, but I appreciate the fact that they gave it a shot.  That’s about all you can do.

But I read one last night that….really irritated me.  Because it really wasn’t about the book.

It was about me.

Over at BN.com, some person using the handle wem3124 wrote the following:

I read the book and thought it was pretty good story, in spite of one glaring grammatical error carried through the entire book that makes it difficult to read. One character speaks and the author includes a second character’s response in the same paragraph.Before submission of this review, there were four Customer Reviews and one Editorial Review. One of those Customer Reviews appears to be legitimate. The other four reviews, including the Editorial Review, all appear to be written by the same person. I invite others to read the reviews and compare them. In an interesting coincidence, the name used for one of the characters in this book is ‘Santangelo’. The same as the name of a main character in books by successful author Jackie Collins. Any other coincidences? I wonder.

Now, if wem3124 wasn’t a gigantic coward and hadn’t set their profile to private, I would’ve been happy to address this “review” directly with them.  But since wem3124 has chosen to take a shot at me without giving me the chance to respond personally, I thought I’d go ahead and respond publicly.  Let’s break this down, line by line:

“I read the book and thought it was pretty good story, in spite of one glaring grammatical error carried through the entire book that makes it difficult to read.”

Well, thanks wem3124.  I’m glad you thought it was a pretty good story.  That’s probably why you gave it three out of five stars, which I appreciate.  Grammatical error, you say?

“One character speaks and the author includes a second character’s response in the same paragraph.”

Actually, this isn’t a grammatical error.  This is most likely a typesetting and/or formatting error.  They occur often, especially when books are formatted for electronic reading.  I’m not sure how much you know about publishing – actually, I don’t think you know anything about it, given this “review” – but when an author submits their work, it’s vetted by a number of professionals:  editors, copy editors, typesetters, etc.  Numerous people work hard to make the book better and to get it as clean as possible.  Unfortunately, even with all of this attention, errors still sometimes occur.  Especially when the technology is new.  But regardless – I’m sorry this took away from your reading experience.

“Before submission of this review, there were four Customer Reviews and one Editorial Review.”

Whoa.  Your glaring lack of a coherent transition there made this somewhat difficult to read.  But go on…

“One of those Customer Reviews appears to be legitimate.”

Uh, okay.  Why wouldn’t it be?

“The other four reviews, including the Editorial Review, all appear to be written by the same person.” 

Well, now this is gonna get awkward because I’m starting to see what you’re getting at and I don’t like it very much.  I’m also starting to think you aren’t very smart.  You do see that the editorial review (you shouldn’t capitalize this – again, your glaring errors are making your observations hard to read) was written by Library Journal, right?  You understand what Library Journal is, right?  It’s an industry publication that reviews books prior to publication.  Right up there with Publisher’s Weekly.  It’s not some  fake periodical I made up.  Oh, and you should also know that they select books randomly.  Publishers submit their books for review, but there’s no guarantee.  They don’t accept bribes or first borns.  Despite your ignorant insinuation otherwise, it’s…legitimate.

I can’t speak to the other four reviews.  I don’t know who wrote them.  But let’s be very clear about this fact:  I did not.  And to hint that perhaps I did is idiocy on your part.

“I invite others to read the reviews and compare them.”

Big of you.  Did you send out an Evite??

“In an interesting coincidence, the name used for one of the characters in this book is ‘Santangelo’.  The same as the name of a main character in books by successful author Jackie Collins.“

I had to look this up as I haven’t looked at a Jackie Collins book since I was a teenager and my mom had a few lying around the living room.  I was unaware that Ms. Collins had a heroine by the same name, but thank you for the comparison to an author who’s had an incredibly successful career.  I guess it’s interesting, though I’m not really sure why.  You’re insinuation seems to be that I stole the name.  Really?  Are names even stealable?  Have you heard of Harry Potter?  Do you want to know an interesting coincidence?  There is also a book called Harry The Dirty Dog!  I hope J.K. Rowling didn’t “steal” the name Harry from that book!  But to be clear:  I had no knowledge of the Collins character and did not intend in any way to capitalize on an already established fictional character.  I don’t think anyone was dumb enough to buy my book after reading Liz’s last name and think that I was Jackie Collins.  Except for maybe you.

“Any other coincidences? I wonder.”

Well, you tell us, Sherlock.  Were there any other coincidences?  I’m guessing no, otherwise you would’ve gladly attempted to point them out and continue to suggest that my work isn’t original.  I think that’s also what you implied in your clever little title of your review – Is This Author Blowing Smoke?  I see what you did there!  So cute!  So funny!  So utterly stupid.

I have no problem if you didn’t like the book, but the moment you decided to question my integrity, that was the moment I decided I’d hit you in the mouth if you were here with me right now.  Attack the book if you don’t like it.  Tell all your friends not to buy it.  I really don’t care.  But don’t attack my character when you don’t know me, don’t know anything about my books, don’t know anything about the work that went into them and then decide to hide behind the veil of an anonymous Internet moniker.

I seriously hope that this finds you, wem3124.  I’ll be happy to refund your money in full.

You just might want to duck when I hand it over.

 

So I’ve developed this pain in my right wrist.  I can type for a few minutes before it acts up and makes it fairly uncomfortable to continue.  I’ve tried different positions and a wrist pad and several other things, all to no avail.  WTF?  It’s seriously hurting me and, yes, I feel ridiculous even admitting that, given that I’ve mocked my best friend for the last twenty years for developing carpal tunnel while managing a Baskin-Robbins while in college.

It is actually beginning to affect my writing output.  That concerns me.

Make it go away.  Please.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I didn’t have much planned.  Some writing, a possible museum trip with my daughter, a ton of school work, some football, normal Sunday laziness.  But I opened my email and in my Google alerts, I saw that Liquid Smoke was being offered for free for Kindle on Amazon.

Weird.  I didn’t know anything about it, so I checked the Amazon listing and sure enough, it was free.

Hmmm.  Interesting.

So I set about letting everyone know on Twitter and Amazon and I posted on the Kindle boards for the first time.  I thought it was an opportunity to get the book to a few people who might not otherwise see it.

And as the day went on, it started to climb.  I think when I first saw it in the morning, it was somewhere just over 1,000 in all free ebooks and I didn’t notice the mystery ranking.

About an hour later, it jumped into the 200s and was 19th in mystery.

And then it hit #10 in mystery.

Then 8.

Then 5.

Then 4.

And then at 3:30, it was #1 in Mystery and I think 22 overall.  I honestly can’t remember because I was surprised.

I’ve never had any book hit #1 on ANY list.  I had to keep checking it make sure I was right.  And I was.  It was #1.

And as the day wore on, it held at #1 and crept up overall.  Last I checked, it was at #13 last night.

I got an email during the day, asking me why I cared because obviously I wasn’t making any money because these were free downloads.

Here’s why I care:  in one day, my book got the kind of exposure I’ve been trying to get for six years.  One day.  My audience just expanded exponentially.  There is no price that you can put on that.  None.  My hope is that a few of those people will read the book, like it, maybe review it, maybe buy the other books already out and hopefully buy future books.  It was an investment in the future.

So a HUGE thank you to Ben LeRoy at Tyrus Books for throwing LIQUID SMOKE out there for free.  I don’t know how long it’s gonna be free.

But I know yesterday was awesome.