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Sunday, April 17, 2016
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Great Authors from Wizard World Comic Con St. Louis
Great Authors from Wizard World Comic Con St. Louis
By Brad R. Cook
This
past weekend I had the honor of sitting on the Villains vs. Villains panel at
Wizard World Comic Con, St. Louis. Panels are always an interesting time. It’s
a discussion of a topic with like-minded writers and a very enthusiastic audience.
This was no different, though I have to say I shared the stage with some
amazing authors and wanted to share their books with you.
I was
joined by Genese Davis, Ryan Dalton, Zac Brewer, and Emilyann Girdner. We all
brought a love of different villains to the table. We all shared a love
for the bad boys, and girls. If I had to sum up our talk in a few
words – Our top three villains would be Moriarty, the Joker, and Darth Vader.
We all appreciated a good female villain, or when the bad guy is something existential
like small mindedness or The Nothing from The Never Ending Story. And lastly, everyone
hates Delores Umbridge. I had a great time on the panel, the authors had a lot
to say, and the audience asked some wonderful questions.
Allow
me to introduce you to my fellow panelists. Snatch up their books and
definitely stalk them online, each has something exciting coming soon.
Genese Davis,
author of The Holder’s Dominion
The Holder’s Dominion
After her father's death on a
mountain rescue mission, Kaylie Ames watched her family shatter. She fled
Tacoma for college in faraway Austin, figuring that even the worst campus drama
would be a relief. But when her old friend Elliott turns up on his knees in the
grocery store aisle, raving about something called a morphis, Kaylie feels
compelled to enter Elliott's unfamiliar world.
Guided by Elliott and his friends, Kaylie signs on to the massively popular online game Edannair. There she discovers a world of beautiful vistas and magical creatures, where people from all over the globe step into the roles of warriors on fantastical quests. But a real-world evil threatens the players: the mysterious Holder, leader of the elite team known as Sarkmarr, is coercing his followers into traumatic offline dares known as "morphis assignments." To save her friends, Kaylie must infiltrate Sarkmarr and survive the Holder's tests.
Will she find the courage there to hold her real-world family together?
The Holder's Dominion
Guided by Elliott and his friends, Kaylie signs on to the massively popular online game Edannair. There she discovers a world of beautiful vistas and magical creatures, where people from all over the globe step into the roles of warriors on fantastical quests. But a real-world evil threatens the players: the mysterious Holder, leader of the elite team known as Sarkmarr, is coercing his followers into traumatic offline dares known as "morphis assignments." To save her friends, Kaylie must infiltrate Sarkmarr and survive the Holder's tests.
Will she find the courage there to hold her real-world family together?
The Holder's Dominion
She has
something very cool and super secret on the horizon that she teased but couldn’t
talk about, so check out her site for more.
Ryan Dalton,
author of The Year of Lighting
The Year of Lighting
When 15-year-old twins Malcolm and
Valentine Gilbert moved to a new town, they never imagined that the old house
across the street could bring them so much trouble. Inside the old house, a
secret machine with the power to pierce time has reawakened. Meanwhile,
lightning storms are breaking out all over town. They’re getting worse every
week, and seem to enjoy striking kids who just want to pass science class and
mind their own business. When Malcolm and Valentine discover a connection
between the house and the storms, their situation goes from mysterious to
crazy-stupid dangerous. Someone is controlling the great machine, and their
purpose is nearly complete. In a race against time, the twins must uncover the
chilling plan, the mastermind behind it, and the force that’s driving the
deadly storms. They’ll hunt a powerful enemy that threatens their town’s
existence, and the only clues are written in the sky.
The Year of Lightning
The Year of Lightning
Emilyann Girdner, author of The Labyrinth Wall
The Labyrinth Wall
Summary:
Araina’s lonely teenage life is forever altered when she witnesses a man with supernatural powers emerge through a rippling wall into the dark and deadly labyrinth she calls home. She is left to solve the mysteries of who he is, why he has special abilities and what is on the other side of the labyrinth wall through which he came.
Araina’s lonely teenage life is forever altered when she witnesses a man with supernatural powers emerge through a rippling wall into the dark and deadly labyrinth she calls home. She is left to solve the mysteries of who he is, why he has special abilities and what is on the other side of the labyrinth wall through which he came.
Read Amazon Best-Seller, Reader's
Favorite 5 Star rated, Dante Rossetti Award 2014 Finalist novel, The Labyrinth
Wall, the first book in the Obsidian Series. Imagine a story set in an epic
fantasy world like The Hobbit with a dark dystopian feel (and it is written to
be a quick read like The Hunger Games). This adventurous tale will transport
you into a magical but deadly world with new races, creatures, heroes and
villains that you won’t soon forget. Even Sean Astin (from Lord of the Rings,
Goonies, Rudy, and 50 First Dates) got a copy of The Labyrinth Wall and tweeted
about it.
The Labyrinth Wall
The Labyrinth Wall
See
what’s next and where you can see this great author on her site.
Zac Brewer, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Blood Between Us
The Blood Between Us
Family secrets
turn deadly in this edgy page-turner about the insidious limits of labels and
the ties that bind just a little too tightly, from the New York Timesbestselling author of the
Chronicles of Vladimir Tod.
Growing up, Adrien and his sister, Grace, competed viciously for
everything. It wasn’t easy being the adopted sibling, but Adrien tried to get
along; it was Grace who didn’t want anything to do with him. When their
scientist parents died in a terrible lab fire, there was nothing left to hold
them together.
Now, after years apart, Adrien and Grace are forced to reunite at the elite
boarding school where their parents were teachers. Being back around everyone
he used to know makes Adrien question the person he’s become, while being back
around Grace makes him feel like someone he doesn’t want to be.
For as much as Adrien wants to move on, someone seems determined to
reopen old wounds. And when Adrien starts to suspect that Grace knows more
about their parents’ deaths than she let on, he realizes there are some wounds
no amount of time can heal. If Adrien isn’t careful, they may even kill him.
The Blood Between Us
The Blood Between Us
Find out more about the Minion Horde
and me, Brad R. Cook, author of The Iron Chronicles
The Iron Chronicles
High Adventure in the Age of Steam and Steel
In a steam-powered Victorian world
where pirates prowl the sky and secret societies determine the future like a
game of chess, Alexander, Genevieve, her little bronze dragon, and a crew of
Sky Raiders must save the world from the four Iron Horsemen.
Iron Horsemen, Book I
In a steam powered Victorian world
where pirates prowl the sky and secret societies determine the future like a
game of chess, an American, sixteen-year-old Alexander must save London from
the four Iron Horsemen.
Iron Horsemen
Iron Horsemen
Iron Zulu, Book II
When a series of murders are blamed on
the visiting Zulu delegation, Alexander and his friends chase the real assassin
from the cobbled streets of London to the great deserts and savannas of Africa.
Iron Zulu
Iron Zulu
Iron Lotus, Book III, coming later this year
With Genevieve, the baron’s daughter, still
missing, Alexander races to the top of the world, and discovers the terrifying
machines created by the Golden Circle to enslave the world. The race is on from
the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas to the shining capital of the new
world.
More on this coming soon… including the
cover!!!
Remember, if you're in the St. Louis area, you can always get signed copies of my novels at Main Street Books in historic St. Charles, MO. Especially on Independent Bookstore Day, coming later this month on Saturday, April 30th.
Remember, if you're in the St. Louis area, you can always get signed copies of my novels at Main Street Books in historic St. Charles, MO. Especially on Independent Bookstore Day, coming later this month on Saturday, April 30th.
All of them are great authors. It was a pleasure to get to know each
of them for the short time our paths crossed. I hope it’s not the only time. If
you needed something new for your shelf here are four great authors to try –
you’ve all read me… right?...
Kidding. The next time you’re at Comic Con, or if you should run
into these authors while traveling across the country drop by their tables and
say hi. You won’t be disappointed. And if you’ve never been to Comic Con or one
of the conventions, I recommend trying out at least one. They are fun places
filled with books, characters from your favorite movies and shows, actual celebrities
from those same shows and movies, video games, vendors selling everything from
t-shirts to lightsabers, good greasy food, and of course panels about Villains!
See you at the next Wizard World Comic Con!
Brad R.
Cook, author of the YA steampunk series, The
Iron Chronicles. Iron Horsemen - http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Horsemen-The-Chronicles/dp/0989207951 and Iron Zulu - http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Zulu-Book-Two-Chronicles/dp/0989207978. A member of SCBWI, he currently serves as
Historian of St. Louis Writers Guild after three and half years as its
President. Learn more at www.bradrcook.com, on
Twitter @bradrcook https://twitter.com/bradrcook,
or
on his blog Thoughts from Midnight on tumblr http://bradrcook.tumblr.com/
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Local Authors at Wizard World Comic Con, St. Louis!
Wizard World Comic Con is this weekend in St. Louis, Missouri.
Several local authors will join authors, artists, and celebrities from across
the country for a weekend to celebrate all things in the world of science
fiction!
I’ll be one of many panelists featured this weekend! Brad R. Cook
Villains versus Villains
A battle royale between villains! What makes a great monster or
just plain psycho-antagonist? Creators divulge which villains claim the best
villain award. Why do some win our hearts while others creep us out? Special
guest speakers Genese Davis (The Holders Dominion), Ryan
Dalton (The Year of Lighting), Emilyann Girdner (The
Labyrinth Wall), Brad R. Cook (The Iron Chronicles), and Zac Brewer (The Cemetery Boys) will
share their perspectives and creative process including what key ingredients
they focus on when creating vicious characters. Don't miss this thrilling
discussion.
Saturday, April 2, 2016
12:30-1:15p
Room 130
Several other local authors will be there
My illustrator and author Jennifer Stolzer will be a panelist on It’s Your Write.
Meredith Tate will be a panelist on Ode To Leading Ladies
Shawntelle Madison will be on both Ode To Leading Ladies and Visibility
Isn’t A Superpower
Plus New York Times Bestselling Author Zac Brewer will be presenting
Visibility Isn’t A Superpower and Villains vs Villains, plus signing books.
It’s not an April fool’s joke. It’s happening. So come for
Shatner, Tennant, Piper, or Smith but stay for some great St. Louis Authors.
Plus those who come to my Villains versus Villains panel will get
to see for the first time anywhere… the brand new cover for my third novel IRON
LOTUS.
It will be an exciting weekend under the Arch!
Wizard World Comic Con
St. Louis 2016
April 1-2-3, 2016
Fri-Sat-Sun
St. Louis 2016
April 1-2-3, 2016
Fri-Sat-Sun
LOCATION
America's Center
701 Convention Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63101
America's Center
701 Convention Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63101
SHOW HOURS
Friday, April 1, 2016 – 3pm - 8pm
Saturday, April 2, 2016 – 10am - 7pm
Sunday, April 3, 2016 – 10am - 4pm
Friday, April 1, 2016 – 3pm - 8pm
Saturday, April 2, 2016 – 10am - 7pm
Sunday, April 3, 2016 – 10am - 4pm
Photos from Wizard World Comic Con, St. Louis
Monday, March 28, 2016
Friday, March 25, 2016
Vicki Lesage: Promoting Your Price Promo
Guest Post by Vicki Lesage
As an author, one of the most powerful tools to
get exposure for your books is doing a price promotion. By reducing your book’s
price for a short period of time, you can get more sales, increase your
ranking, and thus get more exposure. Which can lead to more sales, which leads
to an even bigger increase in ranking, and so on.
Don’t worry about any short-term losses in
profits—unless you’re making millions (and even then) your book can surely
benefit from increased sales and exposure, and you’ll continue reaping the
rewards long after your book has returned to full price.
 |
| http://bookstardaily.blogspot.com/ |
Pricing
If you give away your book for free, you’ll
obviously attract more people (possibly up to 10x as many). This is great if
you have a series or other books you think people may buy after reading your
free book. For example, I give away my book Petite
Confessions (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UESOPYA) for free
in the hopes that people will like it and will go on to buy other books in my
Paris Confessions series (http://amzn.to/1dE9Lyv).
 |
| http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UESOPYA |
After your promo is over and your book returns to full price, your improved ranking will result in increased full-priced sales, so you’ll continue earning even after the promo is done. Also, if you’re in the Kindle Unlimited program, people may download your book for free during the promo and you’ll get paid for pages read (so, even though it’s not an actual sale during your promo, it’s still another gauge of the promo’s success).
Timing
If you’re in KDP Select, you have 5 free days
per 90-day enrollment period or up to 7 days to discount your book during a
Kindle Countdown Deal. If you’re not in KDP Select, you can change your price
as you wish (or as your publisher wishes).
I’ve seen the best success running a promo for
3-5 days and focusing most of my ads on the first day (where possible). That
will give you the biggest spike in sales, which will result in the biggest
spike in your ranking. Once your rank is high, you will continue to sell more
books at the sale price simply because your book is now visible to more people.
Any ads you weren’t able to secure for the first day can run on the other days
of the promo and will help sustain your ranking.
Where to
advertise
Putting your book on sale is only half the
battle—people have to find out about your sale too! So be prepared to spend a
little time and/or money and submit to the sites below.
You’ve likely heard of BookBub. I jokingly call
it The Almighty BookBub among my author friends because it’s super hard to get
into, but if you’re accepted you’re pretty much guaranteed success. (Around 95%
of their promotions make their money back.) I highly recommend following their author’s
blog (http://insights.bookbub.com) and
soaking up their invaluable advice. You can use their tips to improve your book
and thus have a better chance of getting accepted by them, but even if you
never get accepted (only about 10-20% of submissions do get accepted so don’t
feel bad) their tips will still help with your other marketing.
So where else can you submit? Here are my
favorites:
Read Cheaply:
It’s currently free to submit, their newsletter is clean and uncluttered, and
they deliver a nice little bump in results.
Robin
Reads: They’re reasonably priced and are worth it, as long as your book
fits within the genres they promote (check their site for the current list).
Ereader
News Today: Same benefits of Robin Reads—you’ll pay a fair price to be featured
and you’ll see some nice results. They have nearly every major genre.
BookStar:
Hey! Why does this sound familiar? That’s because I run this newsletter! So of
course I recommend it because we put our blood, sweat, and salty tears into
selecting the best books at the best price for you. We’re relatively new so
we’re still pretty inexpensive to advertise with. We focus on the following
genres: women’s fiction, romance, and chick lit, and the occasional thriller,
bestseller, or memoir as long as it’s written by, for, or about women.
Book
Barbarian: We really like them because they do what we do—focus on a niche
and do it really well. So if your book is sci-fi or fantasy, submit to them!
Plenty of other sites exist as well, each with
varying prices and varying degrees of success. Many are free, so it will only
cost your time (though don’t expect amazing results). And plenty are more than
happy to take your money but won’t necessarily deliver results. It’s up to you
how much you have in your budget, how big of a risk you’re willing to take, and
how much time you have to submit to them all!
Strategy
I would recommend the following:
1.
Read BookBub’s blog and learn everything you
can. You can’t read the entire internet but you can read a decent chunk of
their blog to polish up your book’s presentation and your marketing techniques.
Check the books they’re featuring in your genre to get a feel for what they’re
looking for (what the covers look like, how their blurbs read, the number of
reviews they have, etc.). If you’re sure your book is up to snuff, move on to
Step 2.
2. Submit your book to BookBub for a price promo.
Be prepared to get rejected a few times. Resubmit as often as they allow. After
each rejection, try to look at your book critically and see if there’s anything
else you can improve. Get more reviews? Polish your blurb? Try to get editorial
reviews? Then submit again.
If you get accepted to BookBub, jump for joy! Schedule your price promo and then submit to the other sites above. Promote your deal on social media and shout it from the rooftops.
If you get accepted to BookBub, jump for joy! Schedule your price promo and then submit to the other sites above. Promote your deal on social media and shout it from the rooftops.
4.
If you keep getting rejected from BookBub, don’t
despair. Schedule a price promo anyway and submit to the sites above. While
BookBub is king, there are still plenty of princes and princesses out there!
Hope this helps, and good luck with your promo!
About Vicki Lesage:
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Three Thoughts About Worldbuilding
Three Thoughts About Worldbuilding
By Brad R. Cook
Every
writer creates a world, some more complex and unique than others. This isn’t
just for the science fictions and fantasy writers out there. Even if you write
contemporary, your world may be different from what the reader knows. Maybe
they live in a different part of the country using different terms, and slang,
or with unique customs. Worldbuilding may not be inventing a whole new world, but
to the reader is a place they’ve never been.
If your
building a whole new world, or if you’re only molding this one, here a few
thoughts to keep in mind.
1 – Remember the Details
Details
are everything in Worldbuilding. As a steampunk author, my novels are set in
the Victorian era, a time when the modern world was emerging. It is the details
I provide that recreate that world. Plus once I add the steampunk elements, I
have to describe in detail what something is, or no one will understand. A lot
of people might know what a carriage looks like, four wheels, a driver’s perch,
and passenger compartment, but do they know what a steamcarriage looks like?
With a detailed description of the sound of the engine, where it sits, and how
the driver controls the carriage, the reader will understand.
Same goes
with any world. A unique world is not sold by the broad strokes of a writers
paint brush – like this world has wizards. What sells the reader on a unique
world, and more importantly what sets your world apart from any other writers
are the details. How does the wizard cast magic – with words, hand gestures,
elaborate potions, magic wands, or technology? Focus on the details and
worldbuilding will come more easily.
2 – May Not Use Everything
Writers
can spend weeks, months, or even years creating the details for their worlds. Writers
can get lost in the minutia of a world and never write a single sentence, but
they are important. However, that doesn’t mean you need to include them in
every scene you write. The point is to impart enough details to immerse the
reader in your world. Sometimes though, a coin is just a coin, or a carriage is
just a carriage. If you describe what every coin in the characters pockets
looks like the reader will get bored. In my novels I describe the
steamcarriage, but I only mention what the reader needs to know about the
regular carriages.
I
always think about JRR Tolkien when I’m world building. The Hobbit and the Lord of
the Rings trilogy are wonderful books with immersive worlds filled with
details and yet, if you’ve read The
Silmarillion which was published by his son after Tolkien’s death, then you
know he created thousands of years of history. More languages with more words
than would ever be used in the books, but they were there if he needed them. As
writers, we might create more than we’ll ever need, but what’s important is
that the writer provides what the reader needs.
3 – Everything is Connected
Nothing
in the world exists in total isolation. Okay, yes there are creatures that live
in caves, or fish that only live in a single pond. But, my point is that the
cultures you create interact with the cultures and the environment in which
they live. Plus, even within a culture, there is change. Every culture or environment
is dynamic – even elves – our own world is classified by decades. Change is
what people are about. We share or steal ideas from other cultures.
Environments
are even more connected than cultures. The snow pack that falls on the mountains
melts into the stream, which flows into the river, and is carried to the sea.
When creating your world use real natural formations as an example. One of my
favorite examples is temperature. Common sense says it will be cooler up the
mountain and warmer in the valley, however, cold air settles. So depending on
conditions cold air can settle in low parts and be warmer at a higher elevation.
It’s all about the world you create.
Remember
too about rivers. Cities tend to be built on their shores, along the entire
length from the mountain head waters to the deltas. Something to remember though
is that trade, fishing, transportation and ideas flow upstream and downstream. There
is a symbiosis to everyone along a river, whether that is for good, or through
conflict.
Build
your world. Populate it with unique people, and interesting technology. Your
reader will appreciate it, and make them want to visit more.
What is
your favorite part of Worldbuilding? Let us know in the comments.
Brad R.
Cook, author of the YA steampunk series, The
Iron Chronicles. Iron Horsemen - http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Horsemen-The-Chronicles/dp/0989207951 and Iron Zulu - http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Zulu-Book-Two-Chronicles/dp/0989207978. A member of SCBWI, he currently serves as
Historian of St. Louis Writers Guild after three and half years as its
President. Learn more at www.bradrcook.com, on
Twitter @bradrcook https://twitter.com/bradrcook,
or
on his blog Thoughts from Midnight on tumblr http://bradrcook.tumblr.com/
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