Tracy Falbe's Blog, page 5

The Rys Chronicles on sale at Kobo Books - Complete fantasy box set

When the real world gets you down, a good book can take you away from it all. This weekend, you have a great opportunity to pick up a fantasy box set at Kobo Books. Through 5/31, The Rys Chronicles Complete Series is only $6.99 or its foreign currency equivalent in the Kobo store.

This box set includes four full-length novels: Union of Renegades, The Goddess Queen, Judgment Rising, and The Borderlands of Power. It's over 600,000 words, and it's certain to keep you caring about its many characters as they face challenges in a world set aflame by warring magical beings and a rapacious human empire.

In addition to the sale price on this box set, you'll find all of my fantasy novels at Kobo. I have 10 titles out within 3 different series. Prices have been reduced on all of the ebooks this weekend, and here's the best part:

I have 3 free ebooks at the Kobo Store!

So, pick up The Rys Chronicles for $6.99 or 3,600 super Kobo points or look over all of my fantasy books. 


A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

5-star review for new Kindle Unlimited dark fantasy release

My new release, Lessons Learned, has earned its first review, and...hand me the envelope...it's 5 stars.

These days, I rarely solicit reviews when I put out a new title. I prefer to take the slow path and allow reviews to come in organically from readers.

Lessons Learned is a short story that I created within my Rys World, where 8 of my epic fantasy novels are set. In this story, I reveal back story for Shan when he is just coming of age and still in love with Onja, who will become his great enemy in The Rys Chronicles.

Right now, this ebook is available exclusively in the Kindle store. Kindle Unlimited subscribers can also read it. 

Lessons Learned: A Rys World Short Story is only $0.99.

Kindle US
Kindle Canada
Kindle UK
Kindle Australia
Kindle Netherlands
Kindle Germany



A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Snowden movie by Oliver Stone releasing September 16

Oliver Stone will be releasing on September 16, his newest project, a film about Edward Snowden.

I'm definitely excited to see this one. I've admired Stone for years. His treatment of his subjects is always insightful and informative.

I especially admire this whistleblower for alerting all of us to the terrifying technological reach of our Big Brother overlords. All who find themselves in a position in which their jobs require them to do wrong and harm others are morally required to, at a minimum, resign.

Apparently, I'm not alone in my interest in this subject. The official trailer was published on YouTube today and already has over 2,700,000 views. 


A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Stephen King would be an indie author today

I believe that Stephen King would have a hard time getting a book deal if he was just starting out as an author today.

His first novel was Carrie. It's an unforgettable novel, and King demonstrated tremendous talent in its creation.

But I don't think that any publishers would pick him today if he was just a no-name nobody searching for that first book deal.

Just imagine the hand-wringing horror that would ensue if book stores suddenly stocked a book about teenagers plotting a cruel prank against a weird girl. And then poor, picked-on Carrie lashes out at everyone in a mass killing spree.

Wouldn't that be just the new book to chat up on the Daily Show?

People would blame it for encouraging the next school shooting. School shooting victims would deride it for trying to turn their horror into cheap entertainment. Despite the strong anti-bullying message in Carrie, critics would call it irresponsible that Carrie did not find a warm and fuzzy nonviolent solution to her predicament.

I have trouble imagining that a mainstream publisher would bring out a novel like Carrie today because of its startling nature. Of course, its provocative content is precisely what makes it such a compelling read.

Although large highly consolidated fiction publishers today might not take a chance on publishing a novel like Carrie today, almost anything still goes in the indie publishing world. Authors with stories that would give  publishers public relations nightmares can still reach an audience.

So, if King had been born years later, I believe he would have self published. He's a gifted storyteller who worked hard on his art through all of his adult years. The demands of his creativity would simple have overflowed into the public arena even without a publisher.

Of course, if King were unjustly flung among the digital hordes, he probably would need to make Carrie a free ebook in the hopes of snagging attention among readers. Then, he could hope further that some people would pay for his other novels as they came out.

I want to believe that he would have risen to the top just like he did because his style impresses me every time. His prose flows like Niagara Falls, and his vivid word choices reveal a genius's understanding of humanity, especially when under stress.

Right now, I'm reading The Shining by Stephen King. I read many of his novels when I was a teenager and young adult, and, in recent years, I've been going back and reading more of his work.



Unlike Stephen King, who most certainly deserves his high-profile success, I'm a member of the little-known ranks of indie authors.

I've published 10 fantasy novels and 3 works of nonfiction.

My newest fantasy series is Werewolves in the Renaissance and you can start reading it right now with a free ebook.Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf TaleKindleEpubPDF


A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Dark Fantasy Preorder on Kindle - Lessons Learned

I'm pleased to announce that I have a new title about to release in the Kindle store on April 30th. My life has been a little rocky the last couple years, which has impeded progress on my writing, but Lessons Learned is a short story I wrote several years ago. I dusted it off and took another look at it. I was pleased with its quality and prepared it for exclusive release on Kindle.

The short story derives from the Rys World, which is the setting for eight of my epic fantasy novels. In Lessons Learned, I present a crucial episode from the back story for Shan, one of the main characters in The Rys Chronicles.

Lessons Learned is a dark fantasy with strong emotions. Shan will experience a pivotal moment in his development as a worker of high magic. His abilities are superior to the rest of the rys, except for Onja, who rules them all. She means to twist Shan to her purposes, and, in the process, he endures some hard lessons.

The short story can be preordered at Amazon for automatic delivery to your Kindle on April 30th. It will also be available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Lessons Learned: A Rys World Short Story is only $0.99. 

Kindle US
Kindle Canada
Kindle UK
Kindle Australia
Kindle Netherlands
Kindle Germany

Although Lessons Learned will only be sold by Amazon right now, all of my other works of fiction are available at all ebook retailers, including my website Brave Luck Books.

A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Free Ebooks for Fantasy Fans from Kobo Books

Fantasy readers can be fussy when picking out a new series, and rightfully so, but my novels might offer you a refreshing alternative. I'm not ruled by formulas, and I don't just write the "young orphan boy or girl discovers magic powers and must save the world..." story. Although that can be a great story, it's just not the only possibility.

My characters tend to fall under the New Adult label, but there are people of all ages involved. In The Rys Chronicles, which spans seven years in the characters' lives, my characters develop with age.

My storytelling approach involves showing the drama from many viewpoints. As a series progresses, I weave together the adventures of the characters.

At Kobo Books, people worldwide can sample any of my series for free because each series starts with a free ebook.

Rys Rising: Book I


Union of Renegades: The Rys Chronicles Book I


Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale





A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Massive Smashwords Sale - Save 50% on any of my ebooks

Every March, Smashwords runs a big promotion. Participating authors can enable discounts on any of their ebooks. I always participate, and this year I'm offering a hard-to-resist 50 percent off on all of my titles.

To get the discount on my ebooks at Smashwords, enter code RAE50 when you're checking out, and the prices will be lowered by 50 percent.

I'm primarily an author of epic fantasy and historical fantasy. All of my series start with free ebooks. If you want to continue with the sequels, get them this week (March 6 - 12) and use code RAE50.

























A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Sales up for fantasy novels by indie author Tracy Falbe at Google Play

The Google Play store, with its global reach and easy access from the home screen of most Android phones and tablets, has given author Tracy Falbe another venue for reaching readers.

Titles from all three of her series experienced rises in sales in February. As expected, most of her readers hail from English-speaking countries like her native United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. She also had a few sales pop up from India and South Africa.

She's the author of three different fantasy series. 

The Rys Chronicles
Rys Rising
Werewolves in the Renaissance

Her stories have dark overtones, lots of magical adventures, and many new adult characters. Giving her stories a try is financially effortless because the first book of every series is free.

See more about her free ebooks:


Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale (historical fantasy set in the Holy Roman Empire in 1561)

Rys Rising (dark epic fantasy)

Union of Renegades (dark epic fantasy)




A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Author D. Allen Rutherford praises Rys Rising in a Podcast interview

I received some positive word of mouth on an episode of the Speculative Fiction Cantina. The guest was D. Allen Rutherford, author of Wargs: Curse of Misty Hollow. At 58:43 minutes into the interview, when talking about authors that he enjoyed, he mentioned me. He said that he liked Rys Rising and loves the way I write the fantasy series.



I'm very flattered to receive such praise out of the blue. It reminds me that my stories reach people all the time.

I listened to Rutherford's entire interview and his Wargs Trilogy sound tremendously interesting and exciting.

He develops these stories upon existing genetic engineering technologies that make hybrid plants and animals. For his purposes, human and wolf hybrids have been created.

About the Wargs Trilogy from his website:

The Wargs Trilogy is a SciFi Thriller that follow the exploits of Dr. Mathew Kershaw, a college professor on a quest to find and document a new species of wolf.  While investigating an attack on a forest ranger by what is described as strange or unusual wolves he becomes an unwitting player in a battle between transgenic wolves and therianthropes which takes place in an isolated village nestled deep within the American Northwest Wilderness.

As well as being sold at Nook and iBooks, Wargs: Curse of Misty Hollow has earned glowing 5-star reviews at Amazon.






A note from Tracy Falbe: Be the first to know about my new releases and special sales at Brave Luck Books. Join the Readers' List. Ebooks and audiobooks available worldwide. Print in select countries.

Seeking Like-Minded Authors For Multi-Author Promotional Box Set Publication

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to participate in a promotional ebook box set, then I’m interested in making that happen for you, myself, and others.

To introduce myself, I’m Tracy Falbe, and I’ve been an indie author for years. I have 10 novels published right now – 8 epic fantasies and 2 historical fantasies. They sell modestly at all retail channels and I’ve earned good reviews.

I’ve recently been lucky enough to participate in a box set produced by Paper Gold Publishing. The results have encouraged me, and I’d like to use this marketing tactic again.

So, I’m prepared to take on the publishing duties and seek authors interested in collaborating on a box set. Realistically, you can expect to gain a few new readers, recoup your small investment, and pocket some money. Best case, we’ll do better than that, but I can’t promise much.

Because this box set obviously is intended as a promotional tool across multiple retail channels, it won’t have access to the promotional opportunities given those who participate in Kindle Select. Eventually, I’d like to develop a different box set to place in Select in the future. 

Box Set Goals

1. To increase discoverability at the following retail channels:

- Amazon Kindle

- Smashwords and its distribution partners Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

- Google Play Store

- I will also sell the box set at my websites.

2. To create a box set featuring 5 to 10 authors including myself.

3. To market the collection as a $0.99 bargain ebook. This price point seems to get a lot of attention and can generate good sales. However, I am open to the discussion of higher price points. We’re worth it!

4. Create a theme for the box set. Because of the genres I write in, the project will need to have a fantasy focus. Possible theme ideas for this first project are assassins, warriors, magical races, etc.

5. This box set will continue indefinitely and serve as a promotional vehicle for participants and a source of revenue. That said, I’m open to the idea of having a set term, like one year, for the box set if participants want to do that.

Project Details

1. Participating authors will pay for production costs. I’m planning to keep the individual contribution in the $20 to $30 range. This will help pay for cover design. If anything is left over, I’ll put it toward promoting the box set.

2. Once a cover is developed, I’ll enter the box set into the assetless preorder system at Smashwords for distribution to its retail partners.

3. I’ll format the box set interior and upload the file to all retail sites. I’ll establish a preorder at Kindle and Google Play as soon as possible.

4. I’ll help coordinate the group efforts of participating authors to enable promotional efforts. This could be managed as a private Facebook group. Our combined efforts on social media and our individual marketing channels should create greater visibility for the box set and drive sales.

5. After the release, I’ll keep records of sales at all channels. Proceeds will be split equally among all participants, including myself. I’d prefer to pay everyone via PayPal. I’ll pay monthly once the sales at Kindle and Google Play get rolling. Payments to me for this box set from Smashwords will occur quarterly and those proceeds will be paid out the month they arrive in.

To apply for consideration for publication within this box set project, please fill out the form below. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT A TITLE IN KDP SELECT. THIS IS A MULTI-RETAILER BOX SET PUBLICATION.

Use the “ideas” section of the form to provide me with your comments, concerns, or suggestions for this project. I’ll be reaching out to authors whose books represent a thematic fit for the box set. I’ll give particular consideration to book titles that have positive reviews at one or more retailers. Pulling quotes from reviews for titles in the box set will be needed to market the collection. Loading...