E.M. Thomas's Blog, page 2

Blog Tour Day 1!

Been a little quiet lately, but not so much behind the scenes - I've been busy prepping for the start of the Blog Tour forThe Bulls of Warwhich I've mentioned a few times.  Today is the first stop, with a new stop just about every weekday through the end of November - which is to say there will be a lot more posts coming up.  The content will vary day-to-day, as some sites seek a guest post, some sites seek more of a formal interview format, etc., so stay tuned and follow along.The first stop on the tour can be reached here -https://jhthomas.blogspot.com/- so stop by, check it out, and leave me note!And of course, Happy Halloween!

The Bulls of War Shortlisted for an Award!

Some exciting news that's sure to drive away your Monday blues -The Bulls of Warhas been shortlisted for an award!  Specifically, the2016 BookViral Book Award.  You might recall their review of my novel from a few weeks ago (clickherefor a refresher); as it happens, that timing let itjustsneak inside the deadline to be considered for the 2016 award (which closed 10/1/2016)!  Winners are determined by a number of criteria, one of which is readership votes for the novel.**Here's the ask: if you've readThe Bulls of Warand feel it's worth the praise, I would greatly appreciate you clicking on the screenshot above (or clickhere) and voting forThe Bulls of Warby clicking the "Vote" button beneath the book cover (located second row, second from the right, at least on my browser)!**And if you're still on the fence about who to vote for in the Trump/Clinton election, but feel like you have to vote for something this fall, take solace in voting* forThe Bulls of War(*again, if you've read it and feel it's deserving, of course)!

Latest Bulls of War Review: 4/4 Stars!

The Bulls of Warpicked up its latest review, which I'm happy to report is another good one - 4/4 stars from OnlineBookClub, in fact.  One of my favorite snippets:"This is a fantastic book. In the story, the author explores such powerful themes as love, war, justice, revenge, honor, trust, family, and loyalty and he does so with the utmost skill. One of the marks of great writing is to show and not tell, and the author does just that. He clearly conveys the fear, the anger, the pride, and the patriotism of the characters during the battle scenes, and in the heartfelt, emotional scenes between loved ones."Clickhereto read the rest.  The site has a very active and engaged membership, so poke around the forums afterwards too.

A Bridge Too Far – The Bulls of War Hits a Wall at Number 2 on Amazon’s Best-seller List

Well, despite the best single day of sales thatThe Bulls of Warhas yet seen, it couldn’t quite get over the No. 2 hump to claim one of Amazon’s vaunted Best-seller tags.  In hindsight, it really goes to show the vitality and strength of sales of the book in front of it, but in any event, I’m still pleased at hitting No. 2 for my first sales blitz – I say that through gritted teeth, of course, but I still say it!  :-)And a big thanks to all those who supported the push and followed along throughout; for those of you that gave it a read, I would GREATLY appreciate it if you could leave a short review on the book'sAmazon page- can't be said enough, reviews are the life blood of any author.The next campaign on the horizon is a book blog tour starting October 31 and running through November 25.  More to come on this, but at bottom, a blog tour is the same as a live bookstore tour, except it’s entirely virtual, with bookstores replaced by respected blogs.  A lot of authors speak highly of it and it’s yet another mechanism to increase the book’s visibility, so I’m looking forward to it.So between that and the new group of fantastic indie authors I recently began working with, theBullsmarketing saga marches on.  Cheers!

The Bulls of War Day 4: Gunning for No. 1

Day 4 ofThe Bulls of WarCountdownbegan like any other - me consuming cereal and downing coffee - it ended with my novel's strongest push for a #1 ranking yet;#2to be exact.  Sooo close.  So very, very close.If it peaks at #2, then that fact paired with Bulls' best day of sales ever (byfar) means it's still something to celebrate - at least that's the rationale side of things; but that #1 spot would look great.  Fingers crossed as the sale moves into Day 5 - grab it below while it's cheap!Amazon USAmazon UK 

The Return: The Bulls of War Back in the Top 10 + New Review!

In case you were wondering what all those fireworks were about that you saw earlier,The Bulls of Warreturned to one of Amazon's Top 10 fantasy lists today.  Pretty excited, as today was the best day of sales yet during this week-long sprint.Also received another "formal" review fromSelf-Publishing Review, which you can take a look athere. The review is well-written and worth the full read, but the CliffsNotes version is thatBullsreceived a 4.5/5.0 rating with the reviewer offering the following in summary:"Vast in its conception, saga-like in its imagining, the dramatic realization of the battle will pull readers into its dense, murderous clutches. The description of this book as genre fiction should be drowned out by the exquisite research and lyrical writing: battle becomes ballet, blood becomes a song, honor becomes its music. What Thomas has achieved in this book is both wonderfully surprising and incredibly enjoyable for anyone who wants to read good fiction whether they are a fan of this subject matter or not."

The Bulls of War on Sale Day 2 - Still Going Strong

I'm on Day 2 of my first "Kindle Countdown" (Amazon parlance), and The Bulls of War continues to climb back up the charts.  Highest rank so far has been No. 11 in my category, so we'll see if we can finally grab that elusive No. 1 spot by the time this is over.Also sat down for a nice interview with ManyBooks recently, so when you have a second, give it a read and let me know what you think!  It's availablehere.More to come!

The Bulls of War (Temporarily) on Sale for $0.99!

So today kicks off my first week-long book sale promotion, during which timeThe Bulls of Warcan be snagged on Kindle for only $0.99!  I have it set up for distribution among a few dozen book blog/distributors, so you may see it advertised that way, but if you want to skip to the front of the line, just click here to go directly to the Amazon page.  Hope you’ll take a look, and if you do, I only ask one thing: please leave a review onAmazonand/orGoodreadswhen you’re done!As an additional aside, I have another interview coming out tomorrow on ManyBooks.net, so stay tuned!

Kudos to Book Blogs

A toast to book bloggers, the unsung heroes of the publishing world...Some quick notes this week as we gear up for the big promotional stretch next week...Really enjoyed having the chance to appear for an interview onThe Book’s the Thing blogtoday.  Realizing the power of the blogging community and their unsung service to writers generally has been one of the biggest revelations I’ve had throughout this crazy process.  Most of them are as passionate about reading and getting the word out there on books as the authors are about writing the material. The vast majority of book bloggers are so overrun with requests from writers that they’ve accumulated the equivalent of traditional publishing houses’ “slush piles”, but even so, just as many are more than willing to help in other ways.  I have more interviews on the way, so I’ll take this time to tip my cap to the legion of book bloggers out there.The reader reviews have continued trending positive, keeping steady at 4.5/5.0 on Amazon.  I was also very pleased with my latest “formal” review, this one coming from BookViral – take a lookhere, which is also reproduced in full on myBulls of War Amazon page.  Humbled by the last line: “A deeply layered and exhilarating read that ensnares the imagination,The Bulls Of Warproves a remarkable debut and is recommended without reservation.”  Thanks!  In any event, take a look around if you can, they run a great site with lots of informative articles and resources for my fellow writers.

D-Day + 46 - News & Notes About The Bulls of War

D-Day + 46 - News & Notes About The Bulls of War(pictured above: my latest ad forThe Bulls of War)A few nits and notes to share in the world of (publishing)The Bulls of War:I’m finalizing the production format for the audio version of the book, which has been a far more interesting process than I’d expected.  Honestly, I’m fairly new to the world of audio books, so it’s been a learning experience on two fronts.  I won’t spoil the surprise and share too much about the narrator, but I’ll leave it that it’s pretty awesome to hear your writing brought to life by such talented voice actors (makes me envision the TV/movie version that is just demanding to be made…).  For those unfamiliar with the process, you simply upload a sample piece of text to ACX (the company I’m using for the audio conversion), then the auditioning readers upload their sample reads of that text; within a couple days of uploading, I had ten auditions with solicitations from several others!In other news, I’m running my first promotion through Amazon during the week of 9/21-27.  So far I have over 30 sites lined up to help get the word out, so my hopes are high; the goal is to take a No. 1 slot, or at the very least return to anAmazonTop 10 list.Bullshas fluctuated among the top-teens to top-50 since peaking last week.Next month brings the start of my book blog tour, which for the uninitiated is essentially the equivalent of an in-person bookstore tour, just in blog form.  Should be a couple dozen blogs with varying degrees of interviews, reviews, and giveaways, so I’m looking forward to it.  The in-person appearances and other local press are in the works too, but no firm dates yet.  Once there are, you will be the first to know!More to come!