Dan Walsh's Blog, page 24

Finding Riley Releases TODAY!

Finding Riley, my newest novel, just released on Amazon. The Kindle and Print versions are both available TODAY. Some of you might remember the nightmare I had getting the print version of Remembering Dresden to work (finally happened a month late). Well, Finding Riley’s cover came out great the first time, and it’s already available on Amazon (for those of you who still love to turn real pages).

This is the sequel to Rescuing Finley (267 Amazon Reviews, avg 4.8 Stars) but–as with all my novels written in a series– it can be easily read as a stand-alone. Finding Riley is also a Christmas Novel (my 5th one).

To order your copy, CLICK HERE.

Would you help me Spread the Word? And if you do get a copy (and you like it), would you take 5 extra minutes to leave an Amazon review? Even a few sentences would be great. Thanks.

FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED.

Some Great Personal News

My wife and I are very happy to announce we are GRANDPARENTS AGAIN. Two weeks ago, Lucas Quinn Mosier joined our family. He’s the 3rd child born to our daughter Rebekah and her husband Chris (and our 3rd grandchild).

He weighed in at 8 lbs, 5 oz and was 20.5″ long. The best news? Both Mom and Lucas are very healthy (thank you, Lord). We were babysitting Lucas’ older brother and sister during delivery but got to see and hold him the first day. We are blessed to have both of our married kids living only 10 minutes away.

Our son, Isaac, and his wife Sierra celebrated their first anniversary over the summer. No grandkids from them yet, but we’re expecting that to change someday. They both love kids and are eager to start their family when the time is right (if not, sooner, eh?).

 

Finding Riley Available to Pre-order Now

IT’S HERE (well, almost) – Finding Riley, Book 2 in my Forever Home series is AVAILABLE for Pre-order NOW on Amazon. It will be released on Oct 1st on Kindle and in print (looking into the possibility of creating a hardback version, too).

As you can see from the cover, Finding Riley, in addition to being a sequel to Rescuing Finley, is also a Christmas story (my 5th Christmas novel). Here in the first week of Sept, I doubt many are thinking about Christmas (you might be a little more in October when the book comes out).

Here’s some BONUS INFO about the book. The dog on the cover (playing Riley), is actually a rescue dog named Charlie. My wife and I adopted him 2 years ago. Cindi trained him (he’s incredibly smart and knows a ton of tricks). Also, you can get to know Charlie’s personality a lot by reading Finding Riley (borrowed heavily from Charlie for Riley’s scenes). The bottom pic is a better pic of Charlie.

The success of Rescuing Finley has enabled me to continue writing the Forever Home series (right now, it has 251 Amazon reviews, avg 4.8 Stars). I plan to release Book 3, Saving Parker, in the summer of 2017.

Between Finding Riley’s release and Book 3, I’ll be writing Book 3 of the Jack Turner Suspense series (hope to have that book out in the Spring).

Click on the Cover Pic or CLICK HERE to pre-order your copy of Finding Riley. And please, forward the link to this post to any of your dog-loving friends.

Thanks so much,

Dan

Remembering Dresden is Free Right Now

Hey folks, wanted to let you know I’m offering a great book deal. My newest suspense novel (released May 1st), Remembering Dresden, is TOTALLY FREE on Kindle today and will be through Tuesday, July 26th.

I’m sure some of you have already gotten a copy. If so, could you please do me A BIG FAVOR and forward this info to your friends (especially fiction lovers)?

Here’s a little bit about the book:

A young history professor. An old lakeside cabin. A decades-old cold case that traces back to a horrific event in WW2. — Only out since May 1st, already received 90 Amazon reviews, avg 4.8 Stars (FREE on Kindle Unlimited).

To check it out – CLICK HERE

Mid-summer Book Updates

Even as I typed the words for the headline of this post, it seemed crazy to think half of the summer is almost gone. So much has been happening, I’ll try to keep the updates brief.

Before I get into the updates and forget to do this, I wanted to mentioned that, once again, I’m offering the entire 4-book set of the Restoration Series (co-authored with Gary Smalley) for only $25, plus $ shipping. These are brand-new, signed print editions with matching bookmarks. To order, don’t respond here. Just send me a brief email saying you want to respond to the special offer, and include your mailing address (send email to: dwalsh@danwalshbooks.com).

The Jack Turner Suspense Series

After the release of Remembering Dresden on May 1st, the two-book series has been doing extremely well. Both with sales and the reviews. The last week of May, I offered Book 1, When Night Comes, for free. Over 44,000 copies were downloaded. After it returned to its normal price of $3.99, both books stayed on Amazon’s Top 20 Christian Suspense list for over 6 weeks.

New reviews, mostly 5-Stars, poured in during this time. It brought the total Amazon reviews for When Night Comes over the 300-mark, still maintaining a 4.5 avg. As of this moment, Book 2 (Remembering Dresden) has already reached 85 reviews, with a 4.8 Star avg. Both books are available on Kindle or Print (Kindle edition is $3.99 but Free to Kindle Unlimited members).

I’m already beginning to rough out the plot for Book 3, which I’ll start writing in earnest in October.

The Forever Home Series

The reader response to my first indie inspirational novel, Rescuing Finley (Book 1 in the Forever Home series) has been amazing. It’s only been out for 9 months and has already received 223 Amazon customer reviews, avg 4.8 Stars (84% are 5-Stars).

Sales have remained strong, as well. And this book is not just selling well to fans of Christian fiction. It has crossed over to the general market, reaching dog lovers and supporters of our Wounded Warriors all over the US and Canada.

This first book has done so well, I’m now working on Book 2 in the series, Finding Riley (in fact, I’m writing Chapter 10 today). It will include some of the same characters and setting as the first book, as well as introduce new ones (especially Riley).

I hope to finish the book by the end of this Summer and will release it October 1st. Just in time for Christmas (and it will be, in part, a Christmas story).

The Discovery Reaches a Milestone

My romantic suspense novel, The Discovery, just reached the 500 Amazon reviews mark this week, becoming my 2nd novel to do this (first was Remembering Christmas), all the while maintaining a 4.7 Star average.

The Discovery was my 5th novel, published through Revell. The cover, to me, though nice is a little misleading. It is more than an inspirational love story. It begins that way but then goes back in time to the homefront during WW2. There are Nazi spies, espionage, a murder mystery and an astounding discovery that forever changes the life of the main character.

It won the Selah Award for Best Historical Fiction (receiving a perfect score of 10 from all the judges) and was an ACFW Carol Award finalist. It also received a Top Pick! review from RT Book Reviews magazine, and was named a finalist for Best Inspirational Book of the Year by that same magazine.

Click Here to check it out.

 

 

Print Version of Remembering Dresden Here

It’s finally here (though almost a month late). For those who’ve been waiting for the print version of Remembering Dresden, it’s finally available on Amazon (Kindle edition has been out since May 1st). So sorry for the delay. We were having the hardest time getting the colors right (too dark to even see anything in the bottom half). The final version is still a little darker than the digital image, but I decided to go for it rather than delay its release any longer.

One good thing about the wait…it’s allowed some time for 24 Amazon reviews to come in (avg 4.7 Stars). Most people are saying they like it as much or more than When Night Comes (Book 1 in the series).

CLICK HERE (or on the cover) to get your copy on Amazon.

Some Fun News About Book 1 to Share

To help promote Remembering Dresden, I’ve been offering When Night Comes (the first book in the series) for FREE from May 21-25th (Sat-Wed). As of this moment (mid-afternoon, Day 4) a whopping 37,651 people have downloaded a copy. I put the first 2 chapters of Book 2 in the back, and a link to order it on Amazon. We’ll see how many do.

If you haven’t gotten your FREE copy of When Night Comes, you still can until tomorrow (Wed) night. If you know of any friends who like suspense novels and want to check it out, feel free to forward this email to them.

CLICK HERE (or on the cover) to go to the Amazon page.

Thanks to all those who’ve either ordered copies of the books or helped me to spread the word!

Remembering Dresden – Print Version Update

My apologies to those who’ve been waiting for the print edition of Remembering Dresden, my newest novel. I did my best to have it ready to release on May 1st, the same time as the Kindle edition. Unfortunately, the printer has been having the worst time trying to reproduce the cover. When they show it to me onscreen, each time it looks great. I order a physical proof (what they call it), and when I get it in my hands it’s WAY too dark to approve.

We’re on our 5th try now (almost a month has gone by). I’m awaiting that 5th copy now. I think this one might be THE ONE. As soon as I get it, and if we’ve fixed the problem, I’ll call them back and they’ll start printing them up. Those copies should be available on Amazon (free shipping if you have Amazon Prime) by next weekend.

I will send out the news to my Newsletter folks, on Facebook and Twitter. If you don’t get my Newsletter, that will be the surest way to be informed (between the way things scroll into oblivion on the other two, and the fact that FB only sends my posts to 3% of those who’ve Liked my page). You can sign up right there in the Left Margin.

Here are some pics to show what it’s supposed to look like, and what they’ve been sending. Again, sorry for the delay.

 

Want a Free Copy of When Night Comes?

Three days from now my newest novel, Remembering Dresden (Book 2 in the Jack Turner Suspense Series) comes out. Which means there’s only 3 days left to get it for $3.99 (will go up to $4.99 when it comes out). If you’d like to get a copy, CLICK HERE.

I wrote Remembering Dresden to work as a stand-alone novel, but I know you’d enjoy it more if you read Book 1 first (When Night Comes). So for ONE WEEK, I’m going to offer When Night Comes TOTALLY FREE to anyone who hasn’t read it yet but would like to. All you have to do is sign up to receive my email newsletter.

Let me tell you why I’m doing this…Over 3,800 people have Liked my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DanWalshBooks). But many don’t realize, Liking a FB page doesn’t mean you’ll get to read what I post on FB. Facebook has changed things so that only 3% of the people who Like my page ever see anything I post (unless I pay Facebook $30-50 per post to reach the rest).

A BETTER WAY to make sure you get any news and updates about my books is to receive my email newsletter (I only send them out every so often, but ALWAYS when there are important updates to share).

So, to encourage more of those 3,800 folks to get my newsletter, I’m giving a Free Copy of When Night Comes to anyone who signs up over THE NEXT 7 DAYS. It’s super easy to do. You can do it on the sidebar on the left or go back to my homepage and sign up in the box under the Welcome paragraph.

That’s it! For everyone who signs up, STARTING TODAY, I will email you a link to get a FREE copy of When Night Comes (and by the time you finish that book, Remembering Dresden will be on the shelves).

When Night Comes has sold over 15,000 copies and received 244 Amazon reviews so far (avg 4.5 Stars). Remembering Dresden picks right up with the same main characters (Jack, Rachel and Sgt. Joe Boyd, 1 year later).

Remembering Dresden Available for Pre-order

Folks, I am a happy man today.

It’s always a great day when you finish another book. Yesterday, I completed novel #16, Remembering Dresden. What made this day even better was that I finished the 2nd book in my new Jack Turner Suspense series. See, 2 years ago I wasn’t even “allowed” to write suspense novels. Only inspirational ones (like the books I’m mostly known for). I still love writing those, but I wanted to be able to write both kinds of books and my publisher said no.

The thinking was, suspense novels are not in my “brand.” Readers, supposedly, wouldn’t want to read books in a different genre from the same author. But YOU proved them wrong. Last year, I  released When Night Comes (WNC) as an indie, didn’t use a pen name, and YOU liked it just fine (well, many of you did). So far, WNC has sold over 14,000 copies, received 243 reviews on Amazon, maintaining a 4.5 Star avg.

The success of this allowed me to keep the Jack Turner series going. So TODAY Book 2, Remembering Dresden, is available for pre-order on Amazon for $3.99. It is scheduled for full release on May 5th (ebook and print) but I’m hoping to get it out by May 1st. Here’s the back cover blurb (if you haven’t seen it):

Young history professor, Jack Turner, takes a retreat at a lakeside cabin just outside of Culpepper, Georgia to work on his doctoral dissertation. The cabin is owned by an ambitious state senator, an inheritance from his father. Inside, everything is exactly the way it was when the old man died ten years ago. While taking a break from his research, Jack snoops through the father’s books and finds an old photo album filled with black-and-white pictures of orphaned children. Intrigued, he continues searching and finds what appears to be evidence of murder and an old leather journal, handwritten entirely in German. Rachel Cook, Jack’s girlfriend, translates the journal for him. What it reveals instantly puts both of their lives in mortal danger.

Besides his bestselling inspirational novels, Dan Walsh is quickly becoming known for “unputdownable” novels of suspense.

What the Proofreaders Are Saying

Remembering Dresden has passed its final edits and is now in the hands of the proofreaders (hoping to catch any typos we’ve missed before it’s ready for the shelves). I just mailed it to them yesterday around 2pm. By 6pm, one of them already emailed me back saying:

“Oh my gosh! I’ve read 11 chapters already and am annoyed that I have to put it down and go out! It’s absolutely great so far. Hardly any typos at all. Can’t wait to finish reading it!”

Today, another one sent me this Facebook Message:

“Boy, you’re doing it again. I’m going to have to force myself to stop reading so I can get cleaned up and make dinner for our company.”

If you’d like to get your Pre-Order copy now, CLICK HERE.

Cover Reveal for Remembering Dresden novel

Yesterday afternoon, I typed the best 2 Words an author gets to type in a manuscript: THE END. I finished the manuscript for Remembering Dresden, Book 2 in the Jack Turner Suspense series. My wife and editor, Cindi, has already been editing the book and is more than halfway through. Then it goes to the proofreaders, then to the formatter. All of this to say, it should be out no later than May 1st.But I’ve already completed the Front Cover for the book and the Back Cover blurb (the paragraph on the back that gives you a thumbnail sketch of the book without giving too much away).

Here’s the Back Cover blurb for Remembering Dresden:

Young history professor, Jack Turner, takes a retreat at a lakeside cabin just outside of Culpepper, Georgia to work on his doctoral dissertation. The cabin is owned by an ambitious state senator, an inheritance from his father. Inside, everything is exactly the way it was when the old man died ten years ago. While taking a break from his research, Jack snoops through the father’s books and finds an old photo album filled with black-and-white pictures of orphaned children. Intrigued, he continues searching and finds what appears to be evidence of murder and an old leather journal, handwritten entirely in German. Rachel Cook, Jack’s girlfriend, translates the journal for him. What it reveals suddenly puts both of their lives in mortal danger.

Besides his bestselling inspirational novels, Dan Walsh is quickly becoming known for “unputdownable” novels of suspense.

This was so much fun to write and includes all the characters from Book 1 in the Series, When Night Comes (except, of course, the bad guys who died). As with the first book, it is set in Culpepper, Georgia, a sleepy southern college town. And again, you can expect another tense, sometimes thrilling, but always clean suspense story.

When Night Comes – Marked Down

If you haven’t picked up a copy of When Night Comes yet (Book 1 in the series), I’ve just marked it down by 50%. It’s only $2.99 now. I’m writing the books so they can be read and enjoyed as stand-alones, but I think you’d really enjoy them more if you read them in order. You can  CLICK HERE to get a Kindle copy. It’s totally FREE for Kindle Unlimited members. Nook readers can email me for a copy at the same price (purchase will be through PayPal, since B&N is only carrying the print version of the book). Just reply to this email and let me know if you’d like a Nook edition.

I’ll post on this blog again when Remembering Dresden is available for pre-order, probably in 2-3 weeks.

Ending on a Personal Note 

Here’s a pic of my 2 grandkids with their Mom, Rebekah. That’s Caden and Nora at a nearby park a couple of weeks ago. It’s already getting warm enough here in the Daytona area not to need those sweatshirts anymore. Rebekah and her husband just set up a kiddy pool on their patio for the kids to swim in (our pool is still a little too chilly…maybe a few more weeks).

Hope you all have a wonderful beginning of Spring!

Gary Smalley in Heaven Now

 

If you haven’t already heard, I have some sad news to share. A great man of God is now–to use the apostle Paul’s words–”absent from the body and present with the Lord.” Gary Smalley died on Sunday, March 6th. Here’s a statement put out by his family yesterday:

It is with heavy hearts that we announce Dr Gary Smalley, at age 75, graduated to heaven last night. The family gathered and surrounded him, his loving wife Norma kissed his forehead gently and sang to him. This beautiful transition came to an end as these words were spoke over him “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.” (Numbers 6:24-25)

Gary was a bestselling author or co-author of over 60 books (6 million in print), a renowned marriage and relationship expert, and had been a sought-after speaker for the past 4 decades. He appeared regularly on national TV programs including Fox and Friends, Oprah and the Today show. He appeared on Focus on the Family’s national radio program over 50 times. Gary helped hundreds of thousands of couples learn the secrets of God’s idea for marriage through his books, videos and conferences.

My Experience with Gary

Some of you might know, I had the privilege of co-authoring 4 novels with Gary, called The Restoration series, between 2011-2014. Our relationship began with a phone call from my editor. She sounded pretty excited as she explained they had been interacting with Gary Smalley and his team for the last month or so. He had decided to work on another collaborative fiction project, similar to the books he had done with Karen Kingsbury ten years earlier (the Redemption Series based on the Baxter family).

At the time, Gary was still traveling a lot, so he gave his team an assignment to find a fiction author he could work with, whose writing had a similar emotional impact as Karen’s. That began a process of evaluating a sizable number of authors from different publishing houses. After Gary and I had become friends, his executive secretary shared with me a little of the process that led up to Gary’s decision to work with me.

She said the box that came from my publisher contained books from a number of authors, but I was the only male author in the bunch. She smiled as she told me (somewhat apologetically), “I decided to read your books last.” After all, Karen Kingsbury is a woman, and she connects with women very well. Women make up the majority of the fiction reading audience. But after reading a few chapters of each of the books in the box, she set them aside. They were nice but not what Gary was looking for.

Finally, only my books were left.

She started to read my first novel, The Unfinished Gift, and said she couldn’t stop reading it. She even rearranged her schedule around it and cried at the end. She picked up the second book, The Homecoming, and the same thing happened. She felt certain Gary would want to see these books, so she handed them to him as he headed out the door for his next trip. A few days later, after reading the novels, Gary called her back through tears to say, “Call Revell, I want to work with Dan.”

We worked closely together over the next 3 years writing the spiritual saga of the Anderson family (The Dance, The Promise, The Desire and The Legacy). After every chapter or two, I’d send them to Gary. He always read them right away and would get right back to me with any suggestions or encouragement. Which reminds me…he was always SO encouraging. In fact, he was a breeze to work with.

That was especially one of the great blessings of this chapter in my writing life. Getting to know Gary better. He was the real deal. Sometimes, disillusionment sets in the closer you get to someone famous. For me, the opposite was true. My respect for Gary grew stronger, the more time I spent with him and his family. Gary loved God, loved life, loved people and especially loved his wife of 52 years, Norma, and his family. And man, did he love his grandkids.

In fact Gary’s lasting legacy, probably to an even greater extent, is not the millions of books and marriage videos he has left for us, it is the treasure of his family. All 3 of Gary and Norma’s adult children and their spouses, are making a significant impact as they follow in their father’s footsteps championing the cause of Christain marriage and family life.

I’d like to end my tribute to Gary sharing these words I read on the Focus on the Family blog last night, from his son, Greg speaking about his Dad: “He was passionately committed to living out the greatest commandment: to love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others as himself. He built his ministry on the concept of honor—treating others as priceless treasures. His favorite verse was Romans 12:10, ‘Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor’ (ESV). What I loved best is that who my dad was up on stage was exactly who he was at home. He spent his life honoring his wife and family and helping others have an intimate relationship with the Lord and a thriving marriage and family.”

That was certainly my experience. My life is richer for having gotten the chance to work with and become friends with Gary Smalley. This world is a richer place for the time he spent here.