Anyone who has written a book or a series will tell you that they started holding their breath when it became the right time to announce the arrival of the book. Something created from the mind of the author is about to be laid bare for readers to see. The author is taking a chance that everything was done well, and there is a tremendous hope that the readers will say the author nailed it.
It is my extreme pleasure to make two announcements to my readers.
Earlier this year I entered into a contract with Tantor Media to produce The Infected Dead on audiobooks. I am happy to say that the first book, Alive for Now, will be available on December 10, 2019 to purchase from Amazon as an Audible Audiobook. The books are read by Graham Halstead, a man with an impressive resume and equally impressive reviews. His performance brings the characters to life like no one else could, and I am thrilled to have him read my books. You may find the audiobook at the following link on 12/10/19 or you find it directly on the Tantor website:
My second announcement is that the seventh book in the Infected Dead series will be available this week on Amazon to purchase, and it will be available on Kindle Unlimited immediately. This year I moved the entire series to Kindle Unlimited, and it was a good decision. I am proud to reveal the cover and the name at this time. I hope you will look for it on Amazon this week.
Thank you, Bob
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Before I went to bed last night, I did something I don't normally do. I checked my reviews. That's a real double-edged sword when you're about to go to sleep. That's why I don't usually check them at night.
Every author has experienced the exhilaration of an awesome review and the despair caused by a less than favorable comment. An author I've always admired is the great Shel Silverstein, and he said he stopped reading reviews because if you're willing to accept the good ones, you should be prepared to accept the bad ones.
Rather than to stop reading them, I've chosen to learn from them. What made the reader like or dislike the book? This is the sixth book in the series, and I'm still learning. By now readers are generally coming back to my next book because they at least enjoyed the last one enough to keep reading the series, but sometimes I learn more about myself than I do about my writing. I've learned what really matters to me.
In the acknowledgments of Buried for Now I mentioned Tim & Teddy Moriarty. Tim wrote an email to me saying that he and his teenage son read my books together. That mattered to me because I had an impact on a father and son relationship, and I had a feeling from his email that his hope would be that I cared to know about that impact. He was so right. Was his email about my writing style or what I needed to do differently? No, it was about how I influenced their lives.
That's what I found last night when I checked my Amazon sale page and read this five star review from Lisa Greene:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So Worth It
March 1, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I stumbled onto this series by a set of random clicks. I stayed with this series because a story presented itself in a way that was intriguing and thought provoking. I have loved reading about characters and getting caught up into the suspense like they had become family members updating me at Christmas in a card. I don't like spoilers so I am going to end with a happy ENJOY
I don't know Lisa personally, so I can't picture her face, but what really matters to me about that review is that I can "feel" the smile. I MADE SOMEONE SMILE!
Yes, I know all caps is shouting, but that's what I want to do right now. I want to shout it out to everyone who reads this that I made a reader smile, and that really matters to me. Bob
This is one of my favorite parts about finishing a new book. The cover for Buried for Now is done, and I hope you react the way I did. My cover designer is Lorena Martin at premadeebookcovers.com, and the photos are purchased from depositphotos.com. I originally designed my own covers, and it's obvious that Lorena does a better job. She chose the fonts and the colors to create a theme for the series, but the hard part is finding the images that cause a reaction and whether or not it can be used. It's amazing how many photos get rejected because they don't work with the colors, and then there's the size. Would it work if it was larger or smaller? Would it work if we just cropped out part of the photo?
Having some idea what the book is about (yes, I just said that), I tell my wife what I have in mind without telling her the plot or any details. Together we scour the catalogs of professional photos on a large screen TV, and she gets a sense of what I want just by how I react. I might just say to her, "Go back to the last page and expand the picture on the bottom row." She knows which one I want to see even if there are 20 or 30 on that row, judging by what I've already been drawn to. Eventually, there's that "wow" moment. We see what we agree would work, and I do a rough cover from screenshots. Lorena and I send things back and forth between South Carolina and London, and because she's the professional, she makes recommendations.
When Lorena sent the last set of variations on this angel, my wife and I zeroed in on one in total agreement. We both had feelings about whether or not her wings are opening or closing. Is she lowering her eyes to look down, or is she raising her head to look at you? In other words, we saw motion, and I got chills when I felt like she was raising her eyes to look at me. That's what I want a cover to do for me, and I hope it does the same for you.
